One dancing-master in a community, with some concessions of a preacher
who has an easy conscience on the follies of the age, a little in his
favor, with one saw of his bow across the strings of an old fiddle,
will inveigle a whole community of wild and thoughtless young people
into the dance and hold them there half a night, and not one of them
will complain of the _long meeting_. Restraining these influences is
not so easy. It requires a combined effort of all the godly. We have
done all we could to restrain those terrible demoralizing influences,
and a noble band of as true men and women as live have stood by us and
encouraged us by extending their patronage and words of comfort. Truly
are we thankful to these and to the Lord who has put it into their
hearts to do what they have to aid us. We have this consciousness, that
to the best of our ability we have done our part. We have tried all
the time to exercise the best wisdom we could, and have continually
implored the Lord for wisdom and strength to perform the difficult part
of the work, in the providence of God committed to our hand.