Litchfield enquirer., 1872-11-21
V n good and wise Providence. !"

by good and wise Providence" Of course Dr. Potter looked upon this production as the height of irreverence and irreGgion, and proposed to excommu- nicate the authors of it. Hence the dis senters declared themselves seceders, and took immediate steps to form new socie- | V. It was at this stage of the excitement that I returned to Troubleton and made my call upon the Doctor. felt anxious to save my old friend and worthy pastor. l saw, that, if he continued in his present | the other, of his influence, his position, his religion, and his reason. That very evening after the usual conference meet ing was over, over, I called again on him, and found him in truly lyrical frame of spirit
 ''Oh, my dear friend, there is no end to 1t ]" exclaimed he. ssThe doors are open ing, one beyond another. Wonder shows forth after wonder, miracle after miracle Behind the veil behind the veil p 'Indeed!" said I, rather vexed. You'll find yourself behind grate some day. There IS now no question of the phys
 ical value as well as the spiritual subhmi- ty of these revelations, he continued, 1 without observing my sheer. Life and death, the sparing of precious blood, the prevention of crime, the punishment of the guilty,-you can appreciate these things, I presume.
 "When l am in my senses, returned l. But what is the row if may use that worldly expression. Has MT. John M. Riley been brought to confess any state prison offences?'
 'tAh, Elderkin p sighed the Doctor, let
 ting go my hand with q look of sad re proaeh. 'sBut no: you cannot remain forever in this skepticism; you will be
 brought over to us before long. Let me tell you what has happened. But. .remem- Der, you must keep the secret until to- morrow, as you value precious lives. Mr. Riley has just left me. He has made me a | revelation. prophecy, which will be proof to all men of the origin of our pres ent experiences. He has had a vision,
 thrice repeated. It foretold that this
 very night a robbery, and murder, would
 be attempted in the city of New Haven
 The evil drama will open between two and
 three o'clock. There will be three burg
 lars. The house threatened is situated in the suburbs, to the east of the city, and
 about mile from the colleges"
 ''Is it And what are you going to do
 about it ?-telegraph?
 ''No. We will be there in person. We
 will ourselves prevent the crime and seize
 the criminals. I shall have word in sea- | son for that family, Sir. I wish to i'm prove the occasion for its conversion to a full belief in these sublime mysteries.
 MT. Riley, with three of my people. will
 meet me at the station. We shall be in New Haven by eleven, stay an hour or
 two in some hotel, and at half past one go
 to the house"
 ''My dear Sir, remonstrate," exclaim-
 ed I. ''You will get laughed at. You
 will get shot at. You will get into dis
 grace. You will get into jail For pity's
 sake, give up this quixotic expedition, and
 gr,snt me an absolution before the fact for kicking Riley out of doors."
 The Doctor turned his face away from
 me and walked to window. His air of
 profound, yet uncomplaining grief, struck
 me with compunction, and following him
 held out my hand. "Come, excuse me-" said l. ''Look
 here.-n this comes tpue, I'll quit geology
 and go to working miracles tomorrow.
 I'll come over to your faith, if have to
 wade through my reason"
 'Wil1 you?" he responded, ioyfully "You will never repent it, There, shake
 hands. am not angry. Your unbeief
 IS natural, though saddening To-mor- l TOW night, then, come and see me again
 and will tell you the whole adventure.
 l must be off to the train now. Excuse me for leaving you. Would you like to
 sit here awhile and look at Humby's
 Modern Miracles 2'
 ''No, thank you. Prefer to look at your
 miracles am going with you.' s'Going with me? Are you? I'm de- lighted p he cried, not in the least star tied or embarrassed by the proposition,
 Nov you shall see with your owh eyes. :" -"Yes, if it isn't too dark, will, word of a geolegist We'll, shall we start ?"
 "But won't you have weapon? We go armed, of course, inasmuch as the scoundrels may show fight when we come to arrest them"
 'I don't want it, said I, gently push ing away pocket-pistol, about as dan gerous as squirt, 'Al the burglars you see to night may shoot at me, and
 welcome" We walked to the station, and found our party waiting for the Boston train. The Doctor intrduced me, with much af- fectlonate effusion and many particulars concerning my family and early history,
 to the man of unearthly ingoes. He was
 a tall, lean, fiat-chested, cadayerous kind of being of about forty, his sandy hair nicely sleeked, thin yellow whiskers spat- tered on his hollow cheeks, his nose short and snub, his face small, wilted, and so
 freckled that it could hardly be said to
 have complexion. In short, by it's it- tleness, by it's yellowness, by it's appear ance of dusty dryness, this singular phys iognomy reminded me so strongly of a psnch of snuff, that almost sneezed at sight of it. His diminutive green eyes were fringed with ragged haxen lashes. and seemed to be very loose in their red dened lids, as if he could cry them out at the shortest notice. I obserayd that he never looked his interlocutors in the face but stared chiefly at their feet, as if sur l missing whether they would kick, or gazed into remote distance, as if trying to see round the the world and get view of his own back. His dress was a full shit of black, line in texture, but bagging about him in way that made you wonder wheth- or he had not lost hundred weight or so in training for his spiritual battles. His manners were quiet and would not have been disagreeable, but for an air of un- comfortably stiff solemnity, which draped him from head to foot like robe of nor al oilcloth, and might almost be said to rustic audibly. Whether he was a. practi- cal joker, swindler, fanatic, or mad man, my spiritual vision was not keen enough to discover at first sight. Beside him and ourselves the party consisted of a
 butcher, baker, and candlestick- maker, all members of the Doctors church and in- defatigable workers of miracles. plain men and foolish, but respectable in stand ing and sincere in their folly. Mir. Riley was so commonplace as to address me in English, probably because he wanted an answer.
 "Do you accompany us, Sir, on this blessed crusade against crime and unbe- ief?" he asked.
 "My friend, Dr. Porter, has granted me that inestimable privilege" respond ed l.
 t'I hope-in fact. firmly believe-that Providence will aid us, ]" he continued.
 sI hope so, too, "said l. 'sBut wouldn't '