244 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



he threw his arms and legs about as if trying to throw 

 them from him. He screamed and yelled in his piercing 

 sharp tones till my ears quivered with the horrible noise, 

 while his brethren and sisters groaned and " amened " 

 in an agony of ecstasy. Finally he went " into the 

 spirit," otherwise a foaming fit, on the floor, where he 

 lay while a hymn was being sung, by which time he had 

 recovered and resumed his seat. When the hymn was 

 finished he sang a verse by himself, snapping out the 

 time with his fingers with a noise like castanets. 



Then followed prayers by the elder and a woman, and 

 another hymn, after which the sermon was delivered. 

 There was much twaddle in this discourse, but nothing 

 particularly outrageous, and a few of the remarks were 

 sensible enough ; but needless to say that the speaker 

 revealed himself a vulgar, ill-informed man, or that the 

 sermon was unconnected and without point. It certainly 

 could not have made any impression on the mind of an 

 ordinary commonplace man possessed of a grain of 

 common sense, but it seemed to give immense gratifica- 

 tion to the brethren, for they groaned themselves — I 

 was going to write, into a fury of enthusiasm. I do not 

 know how otherwise to put it. 



The sermon over, there was sung another hymn, and 

 then followed the proceeding to witness which I had 

 been induced to be present at this orgie. It was com- 

 menced by the young blacksmith. Stretching his legs 

 out stifily before him, and throwing his body back so 

 that he could look straight up to the ceiling, he com- 

 menced a series of the most horribly blasphemous in- 

 vocations to the Holy One of God to come down. His 

 language, even his gestures, are quite indescribable. 



While this awful invocation was going on, a woman 

 arose, quietly enough, and began to shuffle round a space 

 in front of the platform where the speaker had stood. 

 She was followed by others in quick succession, till about 

 a dozen were shuffling around, the benches being pulled 



