Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

142 ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
to this place on a bright, sunshiny Sunday in midsummer that
our church people resorted to attend the solemn ordinance of
Christian baptism. Oh, how sweetly the music floated out
on that rippling stream, while the bluffs on the opposite shore
echoed the glad refrain, and how the great grove of ancient
sycamores "clapped their hands" that a soul was born anew!
I remember the little figure that sat in his chair on the margin
of that hmpid pool; and after the singing and a short address
the deacons carried Johnnie in his chair out into midstream
and laid him gently beneath the yielding wave. It was a glad
day for that dear young heart, which had so greatly desired
the liberty of becoming an obedient child of God. It caused
the shadows to lift from a difficult pathway and some shafts of
light to fall across it from the land of perfect day.
Uncle Jimmie McCash was a man of fine natural gifts; he
had a good memory and read the literature of his day. He
could tell both the religious and pohtical history of our land,
naming the presidents in their regular order and giving the
characteristics of their various administrations. Many a
morning he has come down to our house on one of his horses,
opened the kitchen door, and found us at breakfast. Before
he left he would be almost certain to refer to some anecdote in
history, showing the bent of his active mind. The daily
papers and multiplicity of books of to-day seem to one of my
generation to overfeed the mind. In those days we had little
time to read or discuss trifles, but with the clarifying influence
of fresh air and muscular toil permeating their minds, the old
neighbors when they met selected some of the very greatest
topics for their conversation, and healthy and wholesome discussion
often occurred in those farm homes of long ago. Let
not the generations reigning in the stead of these feel that their
ancestors were in any way unworthy of their children 's prog-
ress, success, and mental attainments, for these ancestors of
ours belonged to a time when some of our yet unexcelled heritage
was written and sung.
After Uncle Jimmie had gone back to his farm work
father would often remark on the great activity of his mental
powers, and he expressed himself as beheving that, had he