The American Missionary | Page 7

one law, one liberty, for all the people of the United States."
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THE SOUTH.
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CHURCH BUILDING IN A DAY.
Condensed from the Southern Enterprise of April 18th.
Saturday morning, the 13th instant, at nine o'clock, was the time appointed for the laying of the corner stone of our first church edifice in Deer Lodge, Tennessee. Rev. G.S. Pope--founder of the church, and now General Missionary of the American Missionary Association for the Cumberland Plateau, had been notified of the occasion, but not in time to be present, and the duties were committed to Rev. Aaron Porter, the present pastor. The early morning was a little cloudy, but before nine o'clock the sun shone out, and the remainder of the day was as pleasant as possible.
The locality of the Church is on Ross Avenue between Knoxville Avenue and Spring Street, where four beautiful lots were selected some time ago by Rev. Mr. Pope and the building committee, and donated by Mr. A.L. Ross. At the appointed hour, the citizens and neighbors collected around the foundation, and occupied the piles of lumber as seats while they listened to the interesting exercises. These consisted of singing, reading of Scripture, an original hymn composed by the pastor, prayer, address, enumeration of articles to be placed in corner stone, depositing, cementing and closing the box, remarks, singing and benediction.
After a few moments of interchanging of views of the situation, and of the good fellowship now prevailing in our pioneer community--all the men present took hold, and soon raised the entire framework to its place; it having been prepared previously by Mr. Hodge and his assistants in such careful manner that every piece fitted to its proper place. The crowd then retired to enjoy the good dinners some of the citizens had prepared for them; after which they returned to the grounds, and before sundown had the entire frame work enclosed with sheeting in diagonal style. In addition, the frame of the tower was raised and encased. Saturday was a day of pride to Deer Lodge, as probably the same amount of work has not been accomplished in the same time on any other occasion in this country.
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ITEMS FROM WHITLEY COUNTY.
MRS. A.A. MYERS
In giving a little report of the condition of Prof. Lawrence, and of what has been done with the assassin who attempted his life in May last, I think I will but be answering the unexpressed wish of many of the readers of the MISSIONARY. Mr. Lawrence is far from well. We fear he will never recover from the nervous strain and great suffering of the past year. He has but little use of his right arm and hand. He is now at Champaign, Ill., and has not been able to attend trial. As to the assassin, he walks our streets and frequents our saloons at pleasure. He is out on $1,000 bail; whiskey men on his bonds. Northern people need not be surprised at such justice, when Haddock's murderers are running at large; and here we have not only whiskey and its money against us, but secret fraternities, Southern prejudice, and sectarian intolerance. We have hardly dared hope for justice in these courts, but rely on the truth of the motto we have put in our church on the wall near where one of the bullets struck--"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord."
One of our native preachers not far from here made this unanswerable argument in a sermon on apostacsy. He said, "'If they shall fall away'--means that they cannot fall away, for anybody that knows anything about the English language, knows it is a verb in the impossible mode and everlasting tense."
Two ministers in Whitley County had called a public meeting to discuss their peculiar doctrines. They became quite excited, and at the close of the discussion, one of them prayed, "Oh God, make Elder So-and-so's heart as soft as his head is."
A good meeting means a big excitement as much among the white people as among the colored. This little incident, which occurred in a service among the hills of northern Alabama, was told us by an eye witness, and goes to show the depth of Christ-like feeling (?) that prompts some, at least, of the great happiness they express. An underwitted youth seemed to get religion in one of these times of shouting and excitement. He swung his arms and marched back and forth shouting with the rest. To see him so happy made the others shout the more. Amid all the noise, no one knew what he was saying till, all of a sudden, as often happens, there was a lull; then, as he kept on he was understood, and these were the words he was repeating over and