Mount Moriah, and other points in the east. He afterwards moved to Northern Texas, and his name appears as moderator of Elm Fork Association in 1866.

I have met brother Lucas, and from him learned much of the trials of the brethren in that section, where Moderators and Regulators once spread so much terror and confusion. He has been useful in the past, and still toils on in the gospel of Jesus.

At the sixth annual session, in 1855, the number of churches was ten, with two hundred and ninety-two members. Several had withdrawn to form other associations. Elder John L. Mills was moderator. The body, at this meeting, passed a resolution recommending the "State Legislature to pass the Maine Liquor Law, or one similar,” and at the same time urged pastors to speak out decidedly from the pulpit on the temperance question. Whether the churches in that section were cursed with a membership guilty of "dram-drinking" or not, the records do not show. Whether the evil prevailed in that section more than in other parts of the State, I cannot say; but one thing is apparent those brethren felt that the times demanded them to speak out, and they did it, even in the legislative halls of the country. By this act they unanimously rebuked the devil to his face, and we only regret that there are not more combinations in the land against an evil that creeps like a serpent into the abode of domestic happiness, and, after doing his mischief, mocks at a widow's tears, and laughs at the wretchedness of the fatherless. The spirit of Christianity knows no sympathy with this child, whose father is the Devil and whose mother is Beastly Appetite.

While I do not believe that Baptists in Texas, or in other States, are guilty of this sin above other denominations

professing to abide by the principles of Christ, yet the churches do not measure arms with this vice and hurl the monster from their midst as faithfully as the word of God directs. And now let every youth who reads these pages heed the admonition of an old man, and avoid all the paths that lead to a drunkard's life, a drunkard's grave, and a drunkard's hell.

To fill the vacancy in the body caused by the withdrawal of churches at former sessions, new churches were organized and added to the association, and in 1858 there were fourteen churches represented, with four hundred and ten members. The territory extended over the Counties of Shelby, Sabine, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Rusk, and Panola.

After the decline of my health, in 1847, which caused me to give up my appointment as missionary under the Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, my ministry was somewhat irregular. I kept up the habit, formed in early life, of making long tours whenever I could; but these were not so frequent nor extensive as in former years. Months sometimes passed during which I could do but little travelling, and these intervals in my ministry have continued to grow longer, until I can do but little more than sit in my room and pen the records of labor in the past. When at home, much of my attention was given to the farm, and as so many labor-saving machines had been invented, my mind went in search of an invention that would enable a man to plough up, plant and cultivate more of the rich prairie soil around me than it was possible to do with the implements of husbandry our fathers gave us. I never could see the reason why I should carry a jug of molasses in one end of the sack and a rock in the other simply because my father

did, when I could just as easily carry in the same sack another gallon of molasses.

The time to break new prairie land was upon us, and, visiting the shops in the country, I could get no ploughs made, for want of suitable iron. To expedite my work, while the iron was coming I made a frame in the shape of a common harrow, and put into it five old-fashioned duck-bill colters, which were afterwards increased to nine. The frame rested on two wheels sawed from a post oak, twenty inches in diameter, with a foot to bear up the front end. The whole, thus adjusted, was tied behind the fore-wheels of a wagon and dragged by a long team of oxen. Four acres of land were broken in a day; and when it was ploughed with this same implement across the other way the prairie was thoroughly torn up. This was the first plough on wheels that I' had heard anything of, either in Texas or any other State, and was certainly a success.

My friends were greatly amused for the entire season, but this led to the invention of the first planting machine, that I had any knowledge of, the following spring. A plough was attached to the fore-wheels of my wagon, drawn by two horses, that opened a furrow for the corn. The corn was regularly dropped, without the aid of human hands, covered and nicely harrowed over, while the driver rode on the machine and directed the team. Seeing that this experiment was a success, I invited my neighbors to examine the work. As they approached, they inquired of the young man engaged in planting how he was succeeding. His reply was, "I hardly know; but I have certainly multiplied myself into five men. I open the furrow, one; I drop the corn, two; I throw two furrows on it, four; I drag a har

row over it, five; and this is all done with so little labor on my part that I am afraid it is of no account."

Had I gone forward at once and secured patents for what I was justly entitled to, as my friends urged me to do, and devoted a portion of my time to improvements that suggested themselves to my mind soon after, the result necessarily would have been a large accumulation of money. Some conscientious scruples relative to the loss of time from my ministry and the danger of diverting my mind too much from preaching prevented me until 1857,— at which time I will notice the machine again.

CHAPTER XXVII.

HARMONIOUS ACTIVITY. 1850 To 1852.

O far as I am able to collect information, from minutes and other documents before me, no new association of Baptists was organized in 1850. A sufficient number of general organizations were in existence to meet the demands of the scattered churches, and the combined efforts of the denomination were being put forth to strengthen the infant churches and associations, and to supply the destitute communities with the word of life. While the missionaries, under appointment of the various Boards in the State, were travelling in every direction, and with marked success, there was manifest a general desire to correspond and co-operate, and ministers, with many of the private members of the churches, considered it a privilege to ride a hundred miles on horseback to attend their sister. associations, and thus aid, by their presence and counsel, in promoting the interests of our common cause, in every locality. Jealousies and dissensions were strangers among us. By this time we were well agreed in doctrine, and when we differed on plans of operation, exchanges of views, in private and in public, were marked with so much of the spirit of Christ that even these tended to bind us more closely together. Among the happiest recollections of my life is the peace that in those days marked the progress of our Zion. Some of our hearts had been caused