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SKETCH OF FARNHAM MONTHLY MEETING113 From Canada Yearly Meeting—William Wetherald. From Indiana Yearly Meeting—Charles F. Coffin, Rhoda M. Coffin, Elijah Coffin, Jr., Luke Thomas, Harriet Steer (Cincinnati ), Elgar Brown (Rainsbor0, Ohio). From Western Yearly Meeting—Nathan Elliott Thornton, Andrew B. Tomlinson, Sina Tomlinson (Bloomingdale), Catherine Elliott Thornton, Jesse Kersey, Andrew Wooton. Benjamin and Jane Hollingsworth, Superintendent and Matron of the School, attended to the provisions, and their kindness and courtesy to their guests was much appreciated. The following Friends from Iowa were also guests at the School : Barclay Hinchman, Elizabeth M. Hinchman, Sarah M. Hadley , David W. Lupton, Ann M. Lupton, Emma J. Lupton, Grace Haisley, Hannah P. Hunnicutt, Margaret P. Hunnicutt, Lydia A. Wildman, Joseph P. Haines, Sarah Jane Beckwith. (Many of these assisted in the domestic work.) The problem of lodging and feeding these 40 to 50 persons in one not large house was a serious one, and many of the Friends found themselves in very close quarters, but the novelty and interest of the occasion was great and all enjoyed it. They did not allow the School to be their creditors, but left it in much better condition than they found it. It was not long after until the house caught fire and burned to the ground. A SKETCH OF FARNHAM MONTHLY MEETING OF FRIENDS. PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, CANADA. By Joshua Bull. In the winter or early spring of the year 1801, Gideon Bull, formerly of Danby, Vermont, removed with his family and settled in the eastern part of the Township of Farnham, in the Province of Lower Canada, as it was then called, now the Province of Quebec. His eldest son, Aaron Bull, was then a boy twelve years of age. At that time this part of the country was a "howling wilderness," the land being covered with a dense forest of heavy timber, and the settlers were few and far between. Probably all the families then living within the limits of what now constitutes the Town- 114 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY ship of East Farnham could have been counted on the fingers of one hand. Necessarily those pioneer settlers had to endure much hardship, and many privations. Even after they had made an opening in the forests by clearing away the timber so as to be able to raise a little corn and other grain, the nearest mill where they could get it ground was fifteen miles distant, and the only road was a trail through the forest, indicated by marked trees. As they had to take their grain on horse-back and follow this trail through the woods, it required two, and sometimes three days to go to mill, get a bag of corn ground into meal, and return home. Wild game was plentiful in this primeval forest, and during the fall and winter months year by year Aaron Bull used to spend much of his time in hunting fur-bearing animals, and the proceeds of the sale of the furs thus obtained contributed very materially to increase his little revenue wherewith to pay needful expenses. On one occasion when out hunting he missed his course and was obliged to spend the night in the woods; but being a firm believer in God's overruling providence in the affairs of life, he accepted the incident as providential and became convinced in his mind that the place whereon he was camping should be his future home. This eventually proved to be the case. He always fully believed in the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men to guide and direct according to the will of God, if His voice is carefully listened to, and His leadings followed. In after years he used frequently to rehearse to his children the story of his early religious experience, and his belief that it was the leading of the Holy Spirit that inclined him to unite with the Society of Friends, when at that time there was no Friend in that part of the country ; and no Friends' Meeting nearer than Ferrisburg, Vermont, about eighty miles distant. Sc strong, however, were his convictions that he made request and was received as a...

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