The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1877-11-22
20 VIEW CIRCUIT PREACHER.

-. sunday after Conference, and word had
cot around
or,r new pastor, Brother Green, had
iHA anne upon the ground;
| :. see he rodeup in the stage with Miss
~ h fransmittin' news, they say she beats
the telephone.
.,dsv the sky was swept quite clear of
sySry cloud that floats;
,,sokesi as if 'twould cut a host OF army over
coats; ..,
I ed chariot rolled,
| IA shone as bright, ut half past ten, as Cal
ifornia golo.
| IA then at night the stars shown out like
~ fragments OF the day,
/ !. ssoroe passing queen had dropped her
levels in the way;
| IA a. 10 both the services the folks turned
= out for miles;
essy filed the pews ana oVernowed the
benches in the aisles.
,aort inst now remember where the preach
ertook his text;
: memory will not hold thing from one
Il hour to the next;
Int Il was somewhere in the Psalms-about
man in clears"
..eSns dowr, field of his to reap in after
years. ob
j said that If we chose to SOW our fields to
amber wheat,
ssd pretty certain get a crop to thresh and
grind and eat
hi they that scatter thistle down, he safo,
would surely find
seir finger tips q -bleedin' when they come
to rake and bind.
aeTcolid sermon that he preached-I found
the text for wife
4g@ Be thou faithful unto death, anu get u
crown of life"
seb good instructions to the church, and
there was one at least,
Eho Thought the richest wine was kept to
close the Sabbath feast.
L passed us Oratory's flower tied up with
tL0gic's twine,
nousll such bouquets will seldom stick in
button holes like mine;
little Illustration, though, he put in for a
pin, cI
Aad So Che whole discourse, you see, was
firmly fastened in.
nFns little drummer lad who played the
royal strains;
heIrish took him prisoner on Gorey's bloody
plains; Hf
told him he should drum for them; he
shook his head and smiled,
Ehne loud and clear, like clarion notes, spoke
out the captive child:
1'Thedrum that played God save the King
shall ne'er for rebels beat"
Ind then he leaped upon its head and burs
it with his feet;
Ehen flashing spears proclaimed, alas! tina
Y death has surely come,
Ind there that hero poured his blood upol
NIe broken drum.
mere wasn't a dry eye in the house; th
) women sobbed aloud,
ind like passing hurricane the Spirit swep
= the crowd;
Nearer, my God, to Thee" was sung, as onl.
saints can sing,
Ind many pledged, in solemn vows, al
7 legiance to our king.
But like the sun, which scientists declare
while growing old,
fhtows off its heat so rapidly that some tim
i twill be cold
hme loved the last years preacher so, tina
when they were bereft,
Ihey really didn't seem to have q spark G
kindness left.
And so they brought their critics shears t
b cut out some mistake;
he clip, clip of those instruments just mad
e my old heart ache;
fof scores of pastors, now beneath the grave
yards moss and stones,
he there because before they died the Wi
II lures picked their bones.
AMthere were Brother Jones's folks-wel
:, there I've spoke the name;
Ine way they cut new preachers up is just
burning shame;
laon'tcare what man may be, he'll find
future hours,
acowl beneath their smiling and daggt
lin their flowers.
ucourse, there was the usual talk at Dime
al and at tea
aeout the preacher and his wife; but the
! don't scold to me;
iaey know Pm loyal to the church, and we
come all that come,
pay my quart'rage right up prompt, an
make them feel at home.
me spokes in the itinerant wheel are most
~, good and true,
anough some seem to be well worn an
others nearly new;
what happy time we'd have, if all ii
Il praying folks
r ulu urge the chariot on SO fast the
& couldn't see the spokes.
Philip j. Bell.