This chorus might have been sung perhaps a dozen times when there was a shrill scream, a bustle round the platform, and a general rise of the audience. To add to the confusion four of the forms fell backwards, and threw their occupants into a common heap on the floor. So great was the commotion in the centre of the room, so terrifying was the din, that this incidence, which would have thrown an ordinary congregation into uproar, passed almost unnoticed. It is written that the angels rejoice when one sinner turns to repentance. Surely, this was no type and example of their rejoicing.
Several figures are bent double near the platform, groaning and wringing their hands.
At a distance, confused shouts blend into something like harmony. But shut in between four walls, such noises as are here made sound horrible. This is one item less for the next exhibition. The fat is at once in the fire, however, when penitents come forward. Let me endeavour to recall some details of the fearfully confused scene which was to be witnessed at half-past three o'clock on Tuesday morning.