HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE EAST POINT BAPTIST CHURCH

The new settlers were men and women of substantial stock—a stock noted for strong family attachments and deep religious spirit. Some of the old clanship still persisted, but it was refined and modified and centred in the home rather than the clan. When the day’s work was ended, and the frugal evening meal finished, and the wood-fire was blaz- ing on the hearth, the mothers and daughters plied the knitting needles or the spinning-wheel, while the father read aloud in the sweet old Gaelic speech some heroic story from the well-worn Bible, and then all would join in singing some familiar Gaelic hymn, while perhaps the shrill, weird whistle of a prowling bear might be heard from the neighboring forest or the lonely ”hoot” of an owl float in from a distant grove. How they passed their first winter can only be imagined. They might have a plentiful supply of fish and game, but their store of vegetables and meal must have been exhausted. But with the tenacity of their race they survived, and faced the future with courage and hope. They cleared the

forest, burned over the land, sowed the seed, planted the vegetables and let Nature do the rest.

Many years passed after the first immigrants arrived before either organized religion or a church edifice was attempted. It was not till 1832 that any attempt was made looking towards a church home. The first settlers were mainly of Presbyterian ancestry, and religion was seldom overlooked by those sturdy champions of the Christian faith. Earnest attempts were made to keep the altar fires burning. Meetings were held in houses and barns where the Bible was read and psalms sung and ex- hortations and testimonies oflered. Until about 1823 the people of West River or Kingsboro, took their children over to Bishop MacEach- ren, who lived at St. Andrews, to have them sprinkled or christened. But the people craved a leader to instruct them more fully in the way of life. This lead: to an incident that should be engraved in marble and given a prominent place within the church edifice. It is the story of [Wm John Kennedy and Mrs. James MacDonald. who travelled on foot a distance of over fifty miles through a trackless wilderness to Three Rivers to secure a Hpreacher of the word.” They encountered severe storms on the way, and were exposed to dangers seen and unseen. The first night they reached North Lake. They took that route, though the longest, as there were occasional settlers scattered along the way. The next day they followed the trail along the north side of the Island till

they arrived at St. Andrews where they spent the night at the hospitable home of Bishop MacEachern, a kindly and broad-minded Roman Catho-

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