"Early remembrances of church"

Dad left us a single-spaced handwritten page of his early recollections of going to church:

Early remembrances of Church

We regularly attended church from my earliest memory, going to S.S., church and Sunday evening meetings, and of course the Evangelistic Meetings every night for 8 to 10 days.

In my earliest years, we alternated Bethel church, 3 miles SW of Wadsworth on Mennonite Hill, with Guilford Church, NE of Seville. Guilford was an old church with no basement, and seating was divided, women on the left and men on the right. There were two aisles, and three seating sections, the center section divided by a wooden division a bit higher than the seat backs. My parents used to sit on opposite sides of the division, to be together and to better handle the children.

[diagram, also showing the 'Amen corners']

Both churches had sheds for parking, originally used for horses and buggies, but later for cars. The sheds have long since been torn down, and Guilford Church is also gone, though the cemetery remains.

Sunday School classes were in the main room for the most part, with no dividers, usually only one empty bench or two between. They did fix up a small space in the furnace room, a partial basement, for a small class of boys that I recall, and also used the coat rooms, or "ante rooms" for classes for small children.

Each Sunday we got a picture card on the lesson, with a brief lesson story on back, and the "Beams of Light" S.S. papers. Our techer had a picture scroll of teaching young children, a larger picture like the one on the card. Bertha Hunsberger, a single lady, quite heavy, was a primary teacher I remember.