Structural Material 77 
     
    
   
   
    
     churches would come to the homes where little groups would gather for 
     
     weekly prayer meetings or to the community hall for Sunday services. Rev. 
     
     Robert Patterson who came to North Bedeque Presbyterian Church in 1825 
     
     and began a pastorate that lasted through the next fifty-eight years is one 
     
     example of this visiting ministry. Of him it has been written; “he mingled 
     
     with the people in their seasons of joy, and spoke words of consolation at 
     
     such times as they mourned round their dead. For at least five decades he 
     
     was every week at his place in the sanctuary and for almost two generations 
     
     his words fell on their ears, familiar and mild as those of a mother.” John 
     
     MacKinnon, A Sketch Book, 1915. 
     
    
   
   
    
     SUNDAY SCHOOL 
     
    
   
   
    
     About 1865, church and Sunday School services were being conducted 
     
     in the community hall. Among the teachers in the Sunday School were: 
     
     George Doull, George Clark, William Curtis and John Picketts. George 
     
     Doull was class leader and the Doull home was generally the headquarters 
     
     for the Methodist minister when he visited the community. In later years 
     
     well remembered ministers who spent their Sunday afternoons at these 
     
     worship services were: Rev. Morris; Rev. Sellar; Rev. George Ayers, Kens- 
     
     ington Methodist; and Rev. A.K. Herman, Summerside Baptist. Mr. 
     
     Thomas Moyse, a lay preacher of Bedeque, quite frequently held church 
     
     services here also. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Mr. Percy Marchbank, New Annan, an elder in the North Bedeque 
     
     Presbyterian Church was responsible for organizing an interdenominational 
     
     Sunday School about 1910. This was held in the hall during the summer 
     
     months and continued for many years with Mr. Marchbank as 
     
     superintendent. The organist was Lily Huestis (later Mrs. Brent Waugh) 
     
     and the teachers included Harry Waugh, Mrs. Fred Clark, Mrs. Edgar 
     
     Sobey, Mrs. Ed Caseley and Mrs. Robert Hogg. Mr. Emerson Huestis also 
     
     helped as organist and superintendent. The lesson for the day was contained 
     
     in a little booklet that was given out beforehand and was studied at home 
     
     during the week. Young and old from miles around would come to the 
     
     Sunday School or to the church service which followed. Many people 
     
     walked wearing their everyday shoes but carried their Sunday best to be put 
     
     on just before they came in sight of the meeting house. 
     
    
   
   
    
     These Sunday afternoon gatherings for study and worship were also 
     
     times for socializing and the brief conversations with fellow worshippers 
     
     served to renew the bond of community living. 
     
    
   
   
    
     With the coming of the motor car and improved highways the church 
     
     people went various ways to their established churches but many have warm 
     
     memories of their first Sunday School teacher and the classes they attended 
     
     in Wilmot Valley Hall.