168 THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 



Valley north of it, still this section has grown in villages, 

 schools, churches, taxable wealth, more than any section we 

 lecall. 



RELIGION AND SOCIETY. 



It is claimed that there is a larger percentage of church 

 membership in- the Tennessee Valley than elsewhere in the 

 South, and it is asserted by the highest authority that churches 

 are better kept up in the Valley than in any section of the 

 Union. The writer is scarcely an authority upon this subject 

 further than a practical observation goes, but taking the claim 

 of those in position to know what they are talking about, 

 substantiated as it is by our observation, we can but conclude 

 in line of the thinking men of the country, that virtue, good 

 morals, good society and all the higher elements of manhood 

 must ensue from or follow this large church membership 

 condition. It is claimed that to be a Methodist Circuit Rider, 

 or presiding elder in the Huntsville circuit which embraces the 

 Valley, is to hold a position which for fine dinners, elegant pla- 

 ces to lodg'i, cannot be excelled by the crowned heads of the 

 world. This speaks well for the country, shows that good so- 

 ciety abounds. In fact any man would do violence to his fam- 

 ilv who w.juld locate where he could not hear a church bell 

 ring. H( can hear them in the Valley and hear them often, 

 for our people are a law-abiding God-loving people, the class 

 it is nice to live with and wise to die by. 



