The Days of a Man 1879 



the prophet used suddenly to appear and "super- 

 naturally" incite his peasant followers to renewed 

 activity. 



The few living members of the sect at Economy 

 have now, according to the press, inherited all the 

 accumulations in Pennsylvania. 



New The town of Bloomington had been originally 



neighbors se ttled mainly from the South : the leading citizens 

 were largely of Scotch descent, often Presbyterian 

 in faith, Republican in politics, and fairly rigid in 

 all their beliefs. As Presbyterians they were again 

 divided into three groups: Cumberland Presby- 

 terians (of which, however, there were very few), 

 who would not vote or accept citizenship in a 

 country where God was not recognized in the Con- 

 stitution; United Presbyterians, who excluded musi- 

 cal instruments from the church; and Presbyterians 

 proper, who conformed more fully to current custom. 

 The Among the more interesting citizens was one 



s"fo ol unique in his way, Henry S. Bates, the shoemaker. 

 of Phi- Soon after my arrival I gave a lecture on Thoreau, 

 at tn e close of which Bates and James Karsell, the 

 grocer, remained to talk with me. Both, I found, 

 were well informed as to Thoreau's life and writings. 

 Bates, seated at his bench, used to discuss with 

 students and professors the problems of literature 

 and life. The fact that though without much 

 formal education he did a good deal of thinking and 

 was withal a man of generous sympathies and 

 friendly interest, brought like-minded men to sit 

 at his feet. So the shoe shop came to be known as 



C 194 3 



