Home devotions.
Supper Dec 29. 1901.
"The great old Bible on the stand. My Grandsire's wedding gift.."
The devotions in our home were solemn moments. Morning and evening. We had the long prayer and a chapter from the Bible. and the prayer was a long one. Often too long for my short little limbs At mealtimeAs Written:meal time we had grace before the meal and returning of thanks after." Inquired the listener "And you have these two prayers after every meal, morning, noon and night." "Yes." was the response. After every meal and they were not always short ones either." Nor did it matter how threatening was the storm and how many tons of hay were in the field Father never permitted the order of these devotions to be altered in any particular.
Did your mother ever lead in these services. was asked. "Never." was the reply. "Women were then expected to keep silent and yield the place to their masters." But mother prayed much alone and was a deep student of the Bible.
Father was always called upon to act as chaplain As Written: chaplin for the militia. and I have never seen one who had such a gift for prayer as my father. Appropriate passages of Scripture flowed from his lips in boundless measure and his earnestness and zeal in prayer were to my knowledge withoutAs Written:with out parallelAs Written:parallell.
On Sunday the entire family attended the forenoon and the afternoon service. And the children were not allowed to go elsewhereAs Written:else where than to the church. Not even to the cemetery. The family were kept in the tightest harness by father that I have ever known.
When my sistersEditorial Note: Abigail Baker Tilton and Martha S. Pilsbury were having young gentlemen callers. he would step to the door and say. "Let all conversation and pleasure be in harmony with the will of God."