The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1859-06-01
The Famous AeOssrophe
gss water.

Some time since, we alluded to the
famous apnstroIhe TO water, which John
B. Cough. the eleqaeit lecturer on tem-
Derancc, hes repeated to electrified thou
sands in America and England. We
stated that it originated with Paul Den
ton. an itinerant of the Methodist Church
in Texas, end that it was delivered at q
barbecue which Denton had prepared
and to which be invited the strangers. 1t
had been wears since we read the incident,
and we are delighted to find it in an eg-
change, creiitel to 2 Texas paper. We
feel sure our readers viii. be equally de-
lighted with its perussi. Pittsburgh Dis
patch.
The smoking yiands we're arranged on
the tables by scores of slaves. and the
throng prepared to commence the sumpt-
Gus meal, when voice pealed from the
pulpit, loud as the blast of the trumpet i'll
battle, "Stay, gentlemen aud ladies, till
the giver of the barbecue asks Gods
blessing"
Every tasn started, every eye was d.
racted 10 the speaker, and whispesless
silence enslle,l, for all alike were struck by
his remarkable appearance. He vas
q giant in stature, though scarcely thirty
years of age. His hair, dark as the raw
ems wing, flowed down his immense
shoulders in masses of natural ringlets,
his eyes black as midnight, beamed like
stars over a face pale IS Paran marble,
calm, psssionless, spiritual, and wearing a
singular, undefnable expression. The
heterogeneous crowd, hunters. gamblers,
and homicides, gazed in mute astonish-
ment. The missionary prayed, but it
sounded Ike no other prayer ever nd
dressed to a throne of grace. 1t was the
cry of q naked soul, that soul beggar
Tor the bread and water of heavenly life.
lie ceased, and not till then did l be-
coma conscious of weeping. l looked
around through my tears, ana saw hun
dreds OF faces vet as with rain.
"Now, my friends" sad the missiona-
rs, ''partake of Gods gifts at the table,
and then come and sit down and listen to
his Gospel
1t would be impossible to describe the
sweet tone OF kindness in which these sim
pie words were uttered, that made him
on the instant five hundred friends. One
heart, however, in the assembly, was mad
dened by the evidence Of the preachers
wonderful power.
Col. Watt Fornian exclaimed 10 a mock
ing voice: "Mr. Paul Denton, your rev.
erence has lied. You promised us not
only good barbecue, but better liquor.
Where is the liquor?"
''There," answered the missionary, IN
tones of thunder, pointing his motiones8
finger at the matches Double Spring,
gushing upin two strong columns, with
q sound like shout of JOY from the Boz
som of the earth. "There," he repeated,
with look terrible as lightning, while
his enemy actually trembled at his feet,
- there is the liquor of God, which the
Eternal brews for all his children. Not
in the simmering still, over smoky fires,
cboked with poisonous gases, and sur
rounded with the stencil Of siekemine
odors and rank corruption. doth your Fa
ther in Hsaven prepare the precious es-
sence of ife, the pure, cold water
But in the green glade ami grassy dcl,
where tho red deer wanders, and the
child loves to play, there God himself
brews it; and downtown in the deep
valleys where the fountains murinur and
the rills sing; and high on the tall noun
tain tops where the naked granite glitters
Ike gold in the sull-whore the storm
clouds brood and the thunder tones crash,
and away far out on the wide, wide sea,
who're the hurr cane howls music and the
big waves roar the chorus, .'sweeping the
march of God;" there He brews it, TIL; t
beverage of life, health giving water
And everywhere it is thing of beauty f;
cleaning in the dewdrop, singing in the
summer rain, shining in the ice-gem, till
the trees all seemed turning to living Jew
e's-spreading golden veil over the set
ting SIP, or white gauze around the
midnight moon; sporting in the cataract,
sleeping IN the glacier, 6;neing in tie ball
shower; folding its bright snev-curtains
softly abouJ tbs wintry world and weav-
lug the many co!orei iris. that seraph's
zone of the sky, whose wool is the sun
bean, Of heaven, ell checkered over with
celestial flowers by the mystic hand Of re-
fraction. Still always it is beaut ftll-that
blessed life of-water. No poison bubbles
on It's brink; its foam tripgs not madness
aDd murder; no blood stains It's liquid
glass; pale widows aud starving orphans
weepnot burning tears on its clear depths !;
no drunkard's Shrinking ghost from the
grave curses it in words of eternal despair.
Speak out, my friends; would you ex-
change it for the demons drink, alcoholic"
A shout like the roar of tempest, an
swered ''nop'
Critics peed never tell me aeain that
back woodsmen ara deaf to the divine
voice of eloqaenee, for | saw at that mo-
roent the missionary held the hearts of
The multitude, as it were. inthe hollow of
his hand, and the popular feeling ran in
current so irresistible that even the du-
eiist, Watt Forman, dared not venture an
other Interruption during the meeting.