NEW ENGLAND 233 



But in those stormy days of the sixties, such 

 ideas were not merely heretical — they seemed 

 absolutely revolutionary. 



If this new view were accepted, in the minds 

 cf a large proportion of those who expounded 

 the subject in the earlj^ days in New England 

 nothing good would remain. 



Of course the history of the spread of this 

 new doctrine duplicated the history of every 

 other new idea. For the most part, people 

 of the elder generation could no more change 

 their old views and accept new ones than they 

 could make over their stature or the color of 

 their eyes. 



But, on the other hand, we of the younger 

 generation were quick to see the logicality of the 

 new conception, and were not hampered in its 

 acceptance by any cherished beliefs of a contra- 

 dictory kind. 



Not, indeed, that we children for the most 

 part concerned ourselves greatly about the mat- 

 ter. We went through our regular task of Bible 

 reading and churchgoing and learned our Sun- 

 day school lessons, just as we performed other 

 tasks that we could not escape. But none the 

 less were there instilled into the very sub- 

 structure of our minds the essentials of the new 

 manner of thinking, the new attitude toward the 



