Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-11-11


church, which in that day had neither steeple
nor bell, which had nothing church-like about
1t except the two arched front windows. There
was not even fence to enclose it, nor an ever
green nor an ivy about 1t; only few black To-
Gusts. For the Congregational puritanism of
New England was never 50 hard puritauism as
me Methodist Puritanism OF generation ago in
the West-a puritanism that forbade jewelry,
that stripped the artificial flowers out of the
bonnets of country girls, that expelled and even
yet expels country boy for looking with wonder
peZe in a circus tent. No other church, not
even the Quaker, ever laid its hand more en-
tirely upon the whole life of its members. The
dead hand OF Wesley has been stronger than the
living hand OF any pope.
Upon the hard, open-backed. implanted and
unyarnished oak benches, which seemed de-
Vised to produce discomfort, sat the Sunday
school classes, and upon one of these, near the
door, dEntremOnt sat down. He looked at the
bare walls, at the white pulpit, at the carpet
less floors at the general ugliness of things, The
chandeliers with their half burned candles, the
eight-by- ten lights of glass in the windows, and
he was favOrably impressed. With quick con-
science he had often felt the frivolous empti-
ness of a worldly life, and had turned toward the
religion of his uncle the able only to turn away
again Disguised with the frivolity of the relig-
ious pomp that he saw But here was religion
not only without the attractions of sensnous
surrounding, but religion that maintained its
vitality despite repelling plainness, not to say
a repulsiye ugliness in its external forms. For
that had Invested every women in the little
church Of every ornament? Doubtless he felt the
narrowness that could read the Scrptural in
junction so literally, but none could doubt the
Strength of a religious principle that submitted
to such self-denial. And then there was Pris-
ella. with all her gifts, sitting in the midst of
known as Shutdown" Yes, there must be
something genuine in this religious life and its
enure contrast to all that the Marquis had known
and grown weary Of attracted him.
= 6raxx $ko
hlled with people. The men sat on one side the
aisle and the women on the other. The old
brethren and sisters, and generally those who
prayed In prayer-meeting and spoke in love-
feast sat near the front, many of them on the
cross-seats near the pulpit, which were thence
said by scoffers to be the " Amen corners" ANY
would as soon have thought of taking a seat in
the pulpit one Of these chief seats in the syna
gogue- The Marquis sat still and watched the
audience gather, while one of the good brethren
led the congregation In singing,
% When can read my title clear,n
which hymn was the usual voluntary at the
" Let us continue the worship of God by singing
hymn on page 554" He 'lined" the hymn that
is, he read each couplet before it was sung. With
tangled things the good old custom of "iining the
hymn" had disappeared. But on that SUNDAY
morning the Marquis d'Entremont thought he
had never heard anything more delightful than
these simple melodies sung thus Justify BY
earnest voices. The reading of each coupfet by
the minister before is was sung seemed to him a
sort of recitative. He knew enough of English
to lind that the singing was hopeful and trium-
Phant. Weared with philosophy and bEdse with
the pomp of the world, he wished that he had
been villager in New Geneva, and that he
might have had the faith to sing of the
land of pure delight
Where saints immortal reign"
with as much earnestness as his friend Priscilla
on the other side of the aisle. In the prayer
that followed d'Entremont noticed that all the
church-members knelt, and that the hearty
GmeRs were not intOned, but were as spontan-
eous as the rest of the service. After reverently
reading chapter the old minister said I" Please
sing without lining,
''A charge to keep have"
and then the old tune of 50 Kentucky" was sung
with animation, alter which came the sermon
OF which the Marquis understood but few words
though he understood the pantomime by which
the venerable minister represented the return of
the prodigal and the welcome he received
When he saw the tears in the eyes of the hearers,
of an old brother or sister, and saw them glance
jOyful1y at each others faces as the sermon went
ON, he was strangely impressed with the gem
uineness of the feeling.
But the class-meeting that followed to which
ne remained, impressed him still more. The
venerable Scotchman who led it had face that
beamed with sweetness and intelligence. 1t
was fortunate that the Marquis saw so good a
specimen. In fact, Priscilla trembled lest Mr.
BOreas, the stern, hard-featured "eXhorter +"
should have been invited to lead. But as the
sweet-faced old leader called upon one and
another to speak, and of many spoke with
streaming eyes, d'EntTemOnt guiyered with
sympathy. He was not SO blind that he could
not see the sham and cant OF some of the
speeches, but in general there was much earn
estness and truth. When Priscilla rose in her
turn and spoke, with dOwncast eyes, he felt the
beauty and simplicity of her religious life. And
he rightly judged that from the soil of a cutie so
severe there must grow some noble and heroic
lives.
Last of all the class-leader reached MARQUIS,
Will our strange brother tell us how it is
with him to- day?" he asked.
Priscilla trembled. What awful things might
happen when a class-leader invited a marq1is.
who could speak no English, and who was dis
elpie OF Saint Simon, to tell his religious expe-
rlence, was 2ore than she could divine. III the
world had come to an end in consequence of such
concentration, / think she would not have
been surprised But nothing of the sort occur
red: To her establishment the Marquis rose and
said
40 is it that any one can speak French?"
brother who vas member of one of the old e.
Swiss families volunteered his services as inter
prefer, and d Entremont proceeded to tell them
how much he had been interested in the exer-
clses; that it was the first time he had ever been
in such meeting, and that he wished he had the
simple faith which they showed.
Then the old leader said, Let us engage in
prayer for our strange brother"
hard floor.
i could not understand much that was said.
but he knew that they were praying for him:
that this white-hared class-leader AMI the old
ladies in the corner, and Priscilla, were interce-
ding with the Father of all for him. He felt
more confidence in the efficacy OF their PRAYERS
than he had ever had in all the intercessions of
the saints OF which he was told when bow For
surely God would hear such as Priscillai
lthappened not long after this that d'Entre-
mont was drawn even more nearly to this simple
Methodist life, which had already m AIDE such an
impression ON his imagination, by an incident
which would make a chapter if this story were
intended for the Nei0 York Weekly DEXTER. In
deed the story of his peril in a storm and freshet
on Indian Creek, and OF his deliyerence by the
courage of Henry Stevens, is so well suited to
that periodical ant others of its class that am
almost sorry that Mrs. Eden, or Cobb, Jr. or
Optic, were not the author of this AOry. Either
OF them could make chapter which would ar
the title of - Thrilling Incident But with
an uncOnquerable aversion to anything and
everything thrilling" this present writer can
only say in plainest prose and without single
startling epithet that this incident made the
young Marquis the everlasting friend of his de-
liverer, Henry Stevens, who happened to be
Jealous Methodist, and about his own age.
The effort of the two friends to hold inter-
course was a curious spectacle. Not only did
they speak different languages. but they lived
In different worlds Not only did dEntremont
speak very limited English while Stevens
spoke no French, but dEntremOnt's life and
thought had nothing in common with the life of
~Eu~n