" The audience room was crowded, and the
young minister had never appeared to better advantage, or declared the
teaching of his Master with greater freedom, earnestness and vigor;
and to the astonishment of the people, who should come forward at the
close of the service, to declare his belief in, and acceptance of
Christ as the Son of God, but the so-called infidel printer, George
Udell.
CHAPTER XXVI
In Southwestern Missouri, in the White Oak district, there are many
beautiful glens and sheltered valleys, where a sturdy people have tamed
the wildness of nature and made it obedient to their will. The fields
lie fertile and fruitful on either bank of murmuring streams, clear
to the foot of the hills where the timber grows. Always a road winds
down the valley, generally skirting the forest, and the farmhouses are
nearly all built of logs, though more modern and finished dwellings
are fast taking the place of the primitive mansions. Every few miles,
one may see little school-houses, most often made of good lumber and
painted white, with heavy shutters and a high platform in front. For
the Ozark settler takes great pride in his school-house, which is also
a church and a political rallying point, and meeting-place for the
backwoods "Literary;" and though he may live in a rude log hovel
himself, his hall of education must be made of boards and carefully
painted.
To this romantic region Dick Falkner went to spend his vacation, during
the latter part of October, the loveliest season of the year in that
section of the country.
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