The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1881-04-15

/
| barking at their heels the rog=eS, refugees
| and gamblers, with pistols IN their belts and
/ big knives peepng from their shirt boSoms,
while here and there might be seen a sprink-
! ling of well-dTessed planters with their wives
and daughters.
The tumut was deafening, tornado of
| babbting tongues, talking, shouting, quarrel
/ ing, betting and cursing for amusement
/ Suddenly a cry arose, Colonel Watt Foe
man Hurrah for Colonel Watt FOeman -
and the crowd parted right and left to let
the lion lyncher pass.
turned to the yancing load star of all
eyes, and shuddeTed invoiuntarily at the
/ tanic cOuntenance that met my glance, and
! yet the features were not only youthful, out
{ eminently handsome the hideousness lay in
I the look of savage fire ferocious murder
Gus. 1t was in the reddish yellow eve balls,
/ with arrowy pupiis that seemed to flash tets
of lurId flame in the thin, SIPering lips with
| their everlasting icy smile. As to the rest,
ne was tail, athletic, powerful man. lis
train, dozen armed deSperadOes followed
/ him.
Foeman spoke in a voice sharp and piercing
as the point OF dagger: 'Eh. Brnson, where
is the new missionary? We want to give
him a plumed coat
''He has not yet arrived, replied the plan
ter.
"Well, 1 suppose we must wait for him
, but put the barbecue on the boards [ am as
hungry as starved wolf
| Il cannot till the missionary comes the
/ barbecue is his property"
A fearful light blazed in Foeman's eyes as
he took three steps toward Brnson, and fair
| ly shouted, Fetch me that meat, instantly
or I'll ill your own stomach with dinner
of lead and steel"
This was the ultimatum of one whose au-
thority was the only law, and the planter
obeYed without murmur. The smoking
VlanGS were arranged on the table 10y a score
, OF slaves, and the throng prepared to COM
I mence the sumptuouS meal, when a voice
pealed from the pulpit, loud as the blast of q
J hqf Iar and 10
dies, till the giyer Of the barbecue asks Gods
blessing %
Every ear started, every eye was directed
to the speaker, and a wiiiSperlesS silence en-
sued, for all alike were struck by his remark
able appearance. He was almost a giant in
stature, though scarcely twenty years of age
HIS halr, dark as Il ravens wing, flowed
down his immense shoulders in masses of ma
tural ringIetS more beautiful than any ever
Wreathed around the ieweled brow of queen
by the laboTed achievements of human art
his eyes, black as midnight beamed like
stars over place as pale as Parian marble
calm, paSSonleSS, spiritual, and wearing a
singular, indefnable expression, such as
might have been shed by the light Of dream
from paradise, or the luminous shadow of an
angePS wing The heterogeneous crowd
A hunters, gamblers, hOmcides, cazed in mute
astOniShment
The missionary prayed, but it sounded like
no other prayer ever addressed to the throne
OF the Almighty. 1t contained no encOmiums
on the SplendOr of the Divine attributes no
petitions in the tone of commands no orison
OF distant places, times OF objects no i'm
pIIed Instruction as to the administration of
Jle government of the universe. 1t related
exclusively to the present people and the
present hour; il was the cry of the naked
soul and that soul was beggar for the bread
and water of heavenly life.
He ceased and not till then did | become
conscious of weeping. l looked around
through my tears and saw hundred faces
wet as with rain
Now, my friends, 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 simple
words were uttered, that made him on the
instant 500 friends. One heart, however, in
the assembly was maddened by the evideu-
ces OF the preachers wonderful powers
COL watt FOeman exclaimed in a SuPeTiup
voice 'Mr. Paul Denton, your reverence
mas lied You promised us not only a good
barbecue, but better liquor. Where is your
liquor?"
'There!' answered the missionary in
tones OF thunder, and pointing his motiuness
hnger at the Double Spring, gushing up in
two strong columns, with a sound like a
shout of joy from the bosom Of the earth
inere =. ne repeated, with n look terrible
as lightning, while his enemy actually trem.
hled at his feet; "there is the LIQUOR which
God, the Eternal, brews for all his children (!
Not in the simmering still, over smoking
hTeS, choked with poisonous gases and sur
and rank corruption, doth your Father in
Heaven prepare the precious essence of life.
pure cold water. But in the green glade
and grassy dell, where the red deer wanders
ana the child loves to play, there God himself
brewS it and down, low down in the deep
est valley, where the fountains murmur and
the rills sing, and high upon the mountain
tops, where the naked granite glitters like
gold IN the sun, where the storm cloud
broods and the thunder stOrTns crash; and
, away, far out on the wide, wide sea where
the hurricane hOwls music and big waves
roar in chorus, sweeping the march of God >
there He brews it, that beverage of life,
health giving water.
: And everywhere it is a thing of beauty ;
cleaning in the dew drop; singing in the
summer rain shining in the ice gem till the
trees seem turned to living Jewels; spread. .
ing golden veil over the setting sun or a
$ white gauZe around the midnight moon ;
sporting in the cataract; sleeping in the
glacier; dancing in the hail showers: fold
ing bright snow curtains softly above the
| Wlntery world and weaving the manv-coIOr-
ed iris, that seraph's zone of the sky, whose
warp IS the rain of earth, whose woof is the
sunbeam of heaven, all checkered DER with
celestial flowers by the mystic hand of rare
faction, still always it is beautiful, that
blessed cold water. No poison bubbles on
. Its brinF its foam brings not madness and
I murder; no blood stains its LIQUID glass :
pale widows and starving orphans weep not
burning tears i'll its clear depths no drunk
ards Shrieking ghost from the grave curses
II in words of despair! Speak out, my friends,
would you exchange it for the demon S
, drink, ALCOHOLIC"
l shout like the roar of the tempest an
Swered Nor Nor
l Critics need never tell me again that back
wOOdSmen are deaf to the divine voice of ell
oquencn; for | saw at that moment the mis-
D Sionary held the hearts of the multitude as
it were, in the hollow of his hand and the
popular feeling ran in a current so irresisti-
l bic that even the duelist, Watt FOeman,
dared not venture another interruption dur
ing the meeting.
have just reviewed my report of that sin
Y gUlar speech in the foregoing sketch; but,
1 alas 1 discover that have utterly failed ia
; convey the full impression, as my reason
| and Imagination received it. The language,
e to be sure is there that l rever could for
: get but it lacks the spirit, the tones of un-
! utterable pathos, the cadence of mournful
: music alternating with the crashes of terrible
+, power; it lacks the gesticulation, now grace.
$ full as the play of the golden willow in the
wind, and anon violent as the motion of a
e mountain pine in the hurricane it lacks that
y pale face, wrapped in its dreams of the spir
. it land, and those unfathOma5le eyes flash
: ing a light such as never bPamed from sun Ol
] stars, the mighty soul that seemed tn diffuse
e itself among the hearers as a vipwlesS stream
of electricity, penetra ting the brain like SOm6
e secret fire, melting all hearts, mastering evO
Y lutiOnS
The camp meeting continued, and revi
: val attended il such as never before, o
since, was witnessed IN the forests of Texas
u But unfortunately, on the last day of tn,
: exercise, news arrived on the ground that 2
q neiglfbOring farmer had been murdered anC