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Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892

"Tales and Sketches Part 3, from Volume V., the Works of Whittier: Tales and Sketches"

A fashionable young woman in the
western part of this State became an enthusiastic believer in the
doctrine. On the day which had been designated as the closing one of
time she packed all her fine dresses and toilet valuables in a large
trunk, with long straps attached to it, and, seating herself upon it,
buckled the straps over her shoulders, patiently awaiting the crisis,--
shrewdly calculating that, as she must herself go upwards, her goods and
chattels would of necessity follow.
Three or four years ago, on my way eastward, I spent an hour or two at a
camp-ground of the Second Advent in East Kingston. The spot was well
chosen. A tall growth of pine and hemlock threw its melancholy shadow
over the multitude, who were arranged upon rough seats of boards and
logs. Several hundred--perhaps a thousand people--were present, and
more were rapidly coming. Drawn about in a circle, forming a background
of snowy whiteness to the dark masses of men and foliage, were the white
tents, and back of them the provision-stalls and cook-shops. When I
reached the ground, a hymn, the words of which I could not distinguish,
was pealing through the dim aisles of the forest. I could readily
perceive that it had its effect upon the multitude before me, kindling
to higher intensity their already excited enthusiasm.


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