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A firsthand memoir of life serving as an itinerant religious worker and Bible-society agent on the Southwestern frontier, recounting long horseback travel and immersion in pioneer communities. The narrative mixes personal anecdotes and observation of local customs—hospitality, basket-meetings, barbecues, baptisms, weddings—alongside accounts of political canvassing, candidating, circuit-riding, illiterate preachers, and fervent lay workers. Descriptive passages evoke rural landscapes, social intercourse, and the power of sacred song, while concluding reflections consider the practical labors undertaken and the moral and communal character shaped by religious activity in that region.
[2] This was, alas! too true—and true of a very large portion of country that I have visited, where the great majority of the preachers were uneducated.
[3] At the time of his death this property would have sold for nearly or quite a quarter of a million dollars. The plantation alone was sold under the hammer for ninety-five thousand dollars.