Sunday go to Meeting

Going to church on Sunday was always a part of life for many of those living in my family's past generations. To get away from the daily tasks of life, and feed the spirit and soul was generally thought a good thing. The whole family; dad, mom, children, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends would share time catching up with one another. [It was more common for the moms than the dads.] Coats and ties for the guys, hats and dresses for the gals, allowed for a general family clean-up and dress-up. The first picture shows such a gathering outside the home church at Nada. Lots of children of course, more women than men, and lots and lots of white dresses stage the picture. One little girl on the front row is looking down at the shoes of the fellow standing next to her..."wher'd you git those shoes"...she seems to be saying. It must have been one of those "hell", "fire", and "damnation" sermons for there does not seem to be a lot of happy faces. I would guess the preacher man is the one standing at the upper right, since it appears that he is holding the Bible. I roughly count about 100 souls this Sunday picture...a "Sunday go to Meeting".


This is a picture I took of that very church as it stood this past summer. Windows boarded up, locked, and falling apart, it looked mighty empty and alone standing there. All the folks in the first picture must be dead by now, or at least close to it. No coats, no ties, no hats, and no white dresses...only boarded windows and broken down steps. Where have the Sunday go to meeting days gone?