Without warning the one called would fall upon the floor as if struck by a bullet, and would lie there for hours, speechless and motionless.

Then the news would spread all through the neighborhood that this individual had received a "call." If he were inclined to resist the summons, he would fall or be made to fall a second or third time.

In the end he always yielded to the call.
While I wanted an education badly, I confess that in my youth I had a fear that when I had learned to read and write very well I would receive one of these "calls"; but, for some reason, my call never came.
When we add the number of wholly ignorant men who preached or "exhorted" to that of those who possessed something of an education, it can be seen at a glance that the supply of ministers was large.

In fact, some time ago I knew a certain church that had a total membership of about two hundred, and eighteen of that number were ministers.

But, I repeat, in many communities in the South the character of the ministry is being improved, and I believe that within the next two or three decades a very large proportion of the unworthy ones will have disappeared.