Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-03-13


himself on his hands and went
whirling around the stage amid
shouts Of hurrahs.
Bssohsr Makes Plymouth Congrega-
tion Laugh.
From the New York Sun.
Mr.. Reecher preached last eve.
ming upon the difficulty of acquiring
correct religious habits, and the
comparative ease of maintaining
them. "Many look upon religion" "
said he, Gas an insurance policy
against final loss by fire." He de-
scribed that kind Of religion SO fun
nily that the congregation laughed
outright. "They 60 to church every
Sunday" he said, pulling his coat
close around him, drawing his face
down dolorously, and rolling up his
eyes. "The hymns are doled out to
them, and the most eloquent pass
age of all is their going out. They
attend prayer meetings, too,-most
dismal prayer meetings" Here his
lower jaw dropped, more of the
whites of his eyes showed, and his
hands were clasped before him.
"There are some comfortable things
in Greenwood, but none in one of
these prayer meetings. They 60
through the exercises solemnly, and
the brethren try to say something
they do say the same thing they
have been saying for twenty years.
Then the services are mercilessly
cut short, and they go gloomily
home."
After describing true religion as
something independent of forms
and catechisms, Mr.. Beecher Illus
trated the process of its practical
requirement. He held an invisible
fiddle, lingering the strings with
one hand, drawing the bow with
the other, and adjusting the imag-
mary instrument under his chin,
while he said:
"Have you ever seen a boy trying
to learn to fiddle? 1 don't wonder
they call those strings catgut l
should say that the spirits of all the
dead old cats were in them. But
when the boy masters it" stop
ping short, he commenced to fiddle
gracefully, like good violinist.
Then he showed how a man learns
to set type, the desk furnished the
case from which he slowly and awk-
wardly carried the letters to sup
positions composing stick, spelling
ou, awkwardly s-h a-d. When the
congregation stopped laughing, he
gave the rapid motions of the same
man after his trade had been learn
ed. 81 was taught elocution," he
said, "although you might not think
of it. | was drilled in all the ges-
tures." He made the prescribed
gestures, and struck the attitudes
in awkward but rapid succession,
and then did them gracefully. in the
style of a speaker to whom they had
become habitual and unframed.
"When we try to be graceful" he
said, "we can't be. All those things
come by long and persistent usage,
and then without thought In the
country where board SIX inches
wide is laid in the mud, a man will
walk it without effort and never
step off," Taking his place at one
side of the platform, he walked cas-
lily in an exact line to the other side,
with his hands in his pockets and
his eyes wandering carelessly.
"Now," he went on, "put that board
at a height OF fifteen feet and not
one man in a dozen can walk the
length of it without falling Off" Ia
king his position as before, he fixed
his eyes in front Of him as though
on the elevated board, looked scared,
and commenced the imaginary pass
age. Wavering and balancing, with
his arms extended, he with difficult
ty got half way across, and then
stumbled as though falling. The
people laughed out loud at the elab-
orately perfect pantomime.
The greatest hit, however, was
the droll mimicry of the miser, who
resolved upon reform, and began by
releasing the mortgage upon poor
mans farm. The counterfeit sever
ity of the miser in demanding pay
ment, the fright of the debtor, the
blandness of the miser in presenting
the cancelled document, and the
joyous antics of the debtors wife
and children, were all produced
with the skill of a trained comedian.
Finally, when Mr.. Beecher as the
reformed miser, with benevolent
smile on his face, mounted his horse
and rode Offending his parted
knees and swaying his body in ex-
act imitation of a rider, and cutting
behind with an imaginary whip
everybody laughed until tears came.
Ono Devout Astronomer.
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