CHURCH AND SCHOOL 219 
ceremony which is frequently deferred until the 
presence of some favorite preacher is obtainable, 
and to which come friends and relatives from far 
and near. 
The itinerant preacher is nearly always a native 
who has very little more " book-larnin' " than the 
rest of the people, and who may be seen in the field 
on week days ploughing with his "ole mule" ex- 
actly like his neighbors. He chooses his calling be- 
cause of his natural gifts, his reward oftentimes being 
the opportunity to exercise his talents. Once, ask- 
ing the wife of a hard-working farmer preacher how 
much he got for his arduous Sunday services, some- 
times requiring him to start the day before, the 
astonishing reply was, "Oh, he don't get nothing. 
He says it takes them as long to come and hear him 
as it takes him to preach, and the least he can do, if 
they take the trouble to come, is to preach to them." 
A novel and refreshing view of pastoral duty in these 
days. 
The people as a rule are Baptists, though there are 
a few Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopalian 
centres which are rapidly enlarging, but the religion 
of the mountains may be said to take naturally the 
Baptist form, and when you see a crowd down on 
the river-bank some Sunday, you may be sure there 
is a "baptizing" going on. 
The people are devout and good church-goers, but 
the old-time native preacher knows how to preach 
nothing but doctrine, he produces emotional effect 
by intonation and the frequent introduction of a 
