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Some of these men were unlearned, some even illiterate, but their congregations were not scholarly and no one now can question the wisdom of utilizing even such as they in the moral and religious work of the times. Should the field have been left uncultivated until enough college-bred preachers could be sent to look after it?
Our forefathers were absorbed in making and protecting their rude homes and gathering their meager crops—in clearing their recently purchased acres—they therefore had little time for intellectual pursuits.
In his defense of dialect Riley says with truth, “Many of the heroic ancestry of our best people grew unquestionably dialect of caste—not alone in speech but in every mental trait and personal address. It is a grievous fact for us to confront but many of them wore apparel of the commonest, talked loudly and doubtless said ‘this away and that away, What y’doin’ of and whur you goin’ at’!”
But let us return to the settlement for which we have attempted by this digression to create atmosphere.
The Legislature included in the act ratifying the selection of the site provision for the election of three commissioners to lay out the capital and an agent to have charge of the sale of lots.
Judge Jeremiah Sullivan states that on his motion, seconded by Mr. Samuel Merrill, the town was named Indianapolis, a name which created some amusement when first proposed.
Of the commissioners elected, Christopher Harrison was the only one to appear at the place on the date fixed upon. Without delay he carried on alone the survey and the sale of lots, a proceeding very properly legalized by an act of the Legislature in November, 1821. Judge Harrison was one of the most interesting characters who ever reached Indiana.
