CHAPTER XIX



               THE GREAT AWAKENING.

   The first decade succeeding the Revolution was
marked by a serious demoralization which found expres-
sion in an increase of vice and crime; and as never a
crime wave sweeps state or nation that great reformers
do not arise to combat it, so now Baptist, Methodist and
Presbyterian preachers, enjoying at last a provident re-
ligious emancipation; preaching a gospel of law and ret-
ribution rather than of love, worked zealously and cour-
ageouoly combating the condition.
   At the end of the second decade, they had not only
checked the demoralization, but brought about a wide-
spread revival, historically known as "The Great Awak-
ening;" leaving in its wake a decidedly improved moral
condition.
   The converts at many of these meetings were smitten
to the earth under paroxysms of religious fervor or ex-
citement, locally known as "the jerks;" a name given
by those criticising the demonstration.
   Fully a half of the state was dominated by the spell
of this extraordinary religious revival, generally exhib-
ited at union or undenominational religious meetings. It
began at the Gasper River Meeting House in Logan
county in 1799 at a protracted meeting held by Calvin
Campbell and William McGee, two Presbyterian evan-
gelists, who were assisted by James McGee, a Methodist
minister and brother of' William McGee.
   When it was reported that the converts were smitten
to the earth under paroxysms of religious zeal, interest