The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-12-05
PARSON
O
The Colonel Describes a Meeting
He Once Attended at
Beecher'e Church in
Brooklyn.
3. L. R. Dane in New Orleans Times emocrat.

B. L. R. Dane in New Orleans Times Democrat
"Rut of all the preaching I ever
heard, BrownlOw's took the lead.
You remember, Sally. don't you,
about my being in Brooklyn just af-
ter LincUn's assassination? l heard
him there. 1 used to suffer dread
fully with nervousness then. After
the constant turmoil and excitement
of war and the life in the open al, I
found the combining city life almost
insupportable. AT any hour of the
night or day the restless tit would
seize me, and as irresistibly moved as
| Ahasuerus, I arose and went. One
| night about half after eight, l drifted
! into Beecher's church, where May
nard and BrOwnlOw were to speak.
Ten minutes after I was seated the
crowd surged in. and were packed in
there like sardines. The organ
struck up John Browns Body
and you never did see such a stale as
those people got themselves into.
I've seen many a negro protracted
meeting, but never any thing as wild
as that. They burst into full chorus
with the organ, and, 1 tell you, it
sounded grand; its a stirring tune,
and every one did his best. Directly
they got wrought up and swayed
from side to side, and the pressure
was awful in that crowded place. AS
the verses went on they got wilder
and wilder, and in the end it had
grown to a fierce, dreadful roar.
Some fellow changed the words to
"we'll hang JEFF Davis" and then,
sir, they grew simply wild they
sprang upon the benches, they sang, |
they stamped, they swore, shrieked, !
and some finally burst into loud weep
ing with rage and excitement. Beech
er and the rest saw twas time to quiet
them, so Maynard came forward on
the platform and petitioned for ST.
lence. In ten seconds you might
have heard q pin drop. A great,
long, lank creature he was, with a
pale face, and such a stream of acri-
monious speech l have never heard
before or since; but it didn't have the
faculty of appealing to the imagina-
ton. He spoke for some time, for
Browlow was in New York address,
ing another meeting, and they were
waiting tor him to come back. He
did come after a while, and, my
dear Basils, he was a speaker! With
a big voice, too. Why, my dear sir!
he could just bring the dragon out of
hell by his chain, mouth running
with bloody slobber and foam, teeth
clashing, tail writhing, scales gilt
eyes shooting fire and
leathern wings trailing their
.ony points on the floor! He
could make You see it all plainly.
Call upon all the devils in hell
the tiniest imp to the great Lu-
,ifer himself-to come, clothed upon
with rage and diabolical fury, with
all the weapons Internal malice can
to plunge to the black hearts
If the fiendish rebels! Those may
lot he his exact words, but it's how
final peroration sounded to ME.
I'd had all the excitement [ wanted {
md more too. When the thing Was {
[ went quietly home and slept a
whole night through in bed, a thing {
I'd not done before for two months"
do, Charles, come to supper" '
aid madame, plaintively, who had s
'een waiting patiently in the door 8
way for the colonel to finish. s