After these two great revivals of Tom Jones and Anderson whereby the church was fully established, was it not a pity, even a calamity, that anything should arise to mar the religious serenity of Knott's Island. But deviations from the straight and narrow path were soon in evidence and on hand for investigation.

The Devil, having been disconcerted and his working plans upset by the recent religious wave, had now determined, as usual in such cases, to disarrange the present order of the Island; and he soon saw the means to do so.

As has been said before the Marsh road, the only highway to get off and on Knott's Island, had often been and was then completely submerged in mire. This road across the Great Marsh, with its meandering, is four miles in length, and is laid across north from the center line of the Island to Morse's Point through a sunken Marsh; and at that time it ran in many places through the arms and coves of Barl's Island bay, which bay had a tendency in wet weather to flood the road.

The people of the South-End of the Island had to travel from three to six miles to work and patch this road, which required many days work during the year; and notwithstanding all this work, in a wet season it was still found in an all but impassable quagmire.

The people of the South End had often discussed the propriety of cutting another road farther south than this old roadway, and some two miles or more from the South End of the Island.

They declared that a road cut there would be on higher marsh, would be clear of the inundations of Barl's Island bay, and furthermore, there would be timber in plenty for puncheons from the knolls of the marsh and from Mackey's Island nearby.

So a petition was gotten up to carry out this plan by the southern part of the Island, the list of signers comprised more than half of the men of the Island; against this move the people of the north-end of the Island arrayed themselves in bitter opposition. However, when Colonel Jones, who lived in the new road district and who was chairman of the County Court, wished to have anything pushed through this court, he always met with success. So the Colonel laid this petition before the court, advocated its adoption, and it went through like wildfire.

The people of the South End of the Island from William Smith's gate South, were to build the new road, beyond this line North the people could continue to work the old road. The people on Morse's Point by vote were to work on the road that each preferred.

Now everything was ripe for a general Knott's Island row. Nothing could have culminated more effectively to this end. The old road men said that the road men had no right to pass over the old road as they did not help keep it up, and went so far as to say, coupled with an oath, that they should not do so, without suffering the penalty of a thrashing. The whole Island was now thrown into a clamorous and hostile state giving rise to wrangles, tumults and fights, which nothing apparently could restrain, with now and then a pistol muzzle poked under the nose of a disputant. This state of affairs had a tendency to weaken, if not to crush, the religious feeling recently taken hold there.

The men of the South End of the Island went to work with an energy unparalled on the new road with Leven Whitehurst and Mordica Beasley in turn as overseers. They commenced at the Goosepond as a base, where E. D. Bowden now lives, west of the Methodist Church; thence westwardly through the pond and swamp to the Round Knoll; thence, as the crow flies, to Morse's Point and had completed it with puncheons and dirt thereon to Back-Creek, and had bridged that creek and had ditched it to Morse's Point. They had also hauled a good many puncheons for the unfinished part. With this unfinished portioned puncheons and with some soil thereon the road would have been ready for use, and would have appeared to a spectator a second Chinese Wall. The road, so far was creditable and would have been a good, serviceable, marsh road; and doubtless a fair better one than the old road can ever be made.

The North End people though could not be blamed for their opposition to the new road, for many of them would have had to go from five to six miles to and from this new road, before crossing over to Morse's Point; and this distance directly out of their way.

At this stage of the new road work, time had somewhat lessened the bitterness between the opposing parties and a calm was on; the people had tired fussing about the road matter; their tempers had receded nearly to the normal. The Devil and his co-workers, after being so successful in sowing and cultivating a large crop of strife in the road matter, now seeing this turn for the better, laid a plan to thwart it, by introducing the unexpected.

It is a law of nature that the energy which these Southenders commenced their new road and the constant and persistent working of the same for quite a time, would at last be succeeded by laxity; and so it was a halt took place on that road, the direct cause of which I cannot recall. It may have been on account of the cultivation of their crops, but I have a faint recollection that the overseer cut his foot, which may have been the cause of the halt.

The old man Dennis Simmons, about whom I have had something to say before, lived in the North End of the Island and was opposed to the new road. This man was a Justice of the Peace as well as Colonel Jones, and was often made chairman of the aforesaid court in Jones's absence.

While Jones was on one of his pleasure trips to Norfolk or elsewhere, a court came on. Simmons was not a compromise man like Jones, but made up of the qualities of energy and persistence; he now thought it a good time to put a quietus to this new road business. He took some witnesses, and over to Court he went; he stated and proved that this new road was a sham contrived to get rid of working the road that they were using every day; that it was a great hardship for the few to keep up the old road for the benefit of the new road men, who didn't work at all; thereupon he asked the Court to have the former order of the Court granting a new road vacated and annulled and it was so ordered.

When this court proceeding was heralded to Knott's Island a smile of satisfaction was observable on the faces of the Northenders, while a violent hurricane of furious rage over-spread the South-End.

"We will tear up that order made upon such false evidence and representation, at our next court, said the men of the South End. The next court was three months away. The next court they did go with Colonel Jones, their spokesman, but never could undo what Simmons had done. Jones was accused of waning interest in the matter; anyhow the new road was gone!

In the meantime the overseer of the old road warned the men of the new road to present themselves on the old road with prescribed tools for work. He got many cursings in carrying out this duty. There were some who never did work on that road any more; they paid their fines to the end; but be sure and give these the lawful warning or they would get clear of both work and fines, which was often the case. Lack-a-day: Oh: Lack-a-daisy:

Of course there were many whose feeling for the church was stronger than for this road quarrel, who had tried to allay the bitterness that had taken hold of the people church members as well as others; but their disinterestedness in suggesting rules of forbearance toward one another would often subject them to accusations of old or new road partisanship which placed them on the defense. So you can see blood was in the eyes of this religious people, all on account of the roads.

So has it ever been: Man's materialism modifies, even controls, his higher sentiments. A few days' labor, a little advantage or disadvantage, an insignificant gain or loss--before these poor mites of earthly materialities the lovable and essential Christian virtues of forbearance and toleration have been known to perish.

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