even if they had desired to publish a history of themselves, were unequal to the task of writing one. Furthermore, the War of the Rebellion, which broke out at the time of the dissolution of the society, and other important events which followed in its wake, engrossed public attention to the exclusion of all other matters of less general importance. Still, the memory of the Bishop Hill Colony cannot die, for it is part of the pioneer history of a great and flourishing State, and is cherished in the hearts of the descendants of the Jansonists, who are to be found scattered throughout the length and the breadth of the United States. THE BISHOP HILL COLONY. I.-DEVOTIONALISM IN HELSINGLAND FROM 1825 TO 1842. The history of devotionalism in Helsingland from 1825 to 1842 revolves around the person of one man. Jonas Olson was born December 18, 1802, in Söderala Parish, in the province of Helsingland. The environments of his boyhood were not of a character to encourage the development of a religious disposition. His father, Olof Olson, a coarse and illiterate peasant, was an habitual drunkard, who when in his cups was in the habit of brutally maltreating wife and children. Nor was his mother a Monica to lead him to Christ, although she loved her son after a fashion, and encouraged him in his endeavors to obtain an education. For Jonas was a bright lad, and was not satisfied with knowing how to read the hymn-book and the catechism, but aspired to learning how to write and cipher, uncommon accomplishments among the peasantry at that time. It was in these unlawful aspirations that his mother encouraged her son, by procuring the necessary writing materials, which as soon as they were discovered by the angry father were ruthlessly destroyed, with the remark that such things were not \ intended for peasants' sons. At the age of fifteen, when he had been confirmed in the faith of the Established Lutheran Church, Jonas was compelled to shift for himself. For five years he served an uncle on the father's side as a farm-laborer. It was here, among the peasant-fishermen on the banks of the river Ljusne, near the Gulf of Bothnia, that he learned the art of preparing salmon for the market in Stockholm. For two years he served an elder sister, and then, at the age of twenty-two, returned home to take charge of his father's estate, for the eldest son-there were three sons and two daughters-had, like his father, become incapacitated for work by strong drink. He found everything in a deplorable condition, but with the vigor of youth he set to work to repair the buildings and reclaim the waste land. In the summer-time, while employing common laborers to attend to the work in the fields, he himself bought large quantities of salmon, which he cured and disposed of to good advantage on the market in Stockholm; so that ere many years had passed it was rumored that Jonas Olson was one of the most prosperous men in the parish. The year 1825 was the epochmaking period of his life. If there was any one vice which the peasantry was addicted to more than another it was the vice of intemperance. But hand-in-hand with intemperance went general laxity of morals. The clergy was no better than the peasantry. The Rev. Mr. Sherdin never waived his privilege of dancing the first round with the bride at weddings, and drank as deep as any of his parishioners. The tithes of grain which the good pastor received he sold again to his flock in the form of distilled liquor. Moreover, it was known that at least one unfortunate girl had owned the associate pastor to be the father of her child. It was at a dance in the winter of 1825 that liquor was passed around in sacrilegious mockery of the Lord's Supper. The incident made a deep impression on Jonas Olson's mind. He became converted, and forthwith resolved to lead a new life. He renounced all worldly amusements and gave himself up to the quiet introspective life of a follower of Christ. He studied the Word of God assiduously, and read the devotional literature of the Lutheran Church, especially the works of Luther, Arndt, and Nohrborg. On his frequent visits to Stockholm he bought books and visited the public libraries, so that, for a peasant, he became an unusually well-read man. It was in Stockholm that he made the acquaintance of C. O. Rosenius, the |