Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-06-12

a..
would catch up your soul In ecstacy
and bear it irresistably. away to the very
confines of heaven itself. No doubt, such a
concert, under such conditions, would do
that thing providing you had any
music in your souls which, alas, too many
of you have not.
These profound thoughts, dearly beloved,
and the scattering ones which follow, crawled
through your preachers wool yester-
day morning, in kind of sleepy fashion, as
through the open window came the sweet
bresth of morn, laden with the songs OF
mary birds and christened with the glisten-
ing dews of Heaven. As the light of day
struggled for the victory. first from the
throat of one little songster and then an
other, and then Others and still others, un-
I'll the foliage that all night long had only
in whisperings answered the night-winds'
soft caresses, suddenly became vocal with
the melody of the feathered songsters-
Every experience in life invariably links
itself to some other of the memory, for
Evermore something is or seems
That touches us with mystic CLEANS
Like glympses of forgotten dreams;
OF something felt, like something here
Ofsomethlng done you know not where
SO these birds and their simple melodies
carried US back. forty years or moro, to the
rugged laurel-crowned hills of old Virginia
where
by shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sang madrigals"
And to the little spot whose green swsrd,
studded by simple slabs bearing the names
of our ancestors, is protected by the shad-
ows of the interlocking limbs of great
sturdy oaks and broad-spreading beeches,
TO the church at whose font we
were duly christened and where
the women all went in at one door and sal
down on one side, and all the men went ii
at another door and sat down on the Other
side, and where Henry Clay Dean, then {
fiery evangelist, perched up in a pulpit sc
high that his head nearly touched the cell
ing every time he emphasized point oil
spoke Of things unutterable. Henry Clay
ID. talked in much different fashion to hi:
congregation them days from what we dc
now TO ours. They hadn't even com
menced TO work up the new revision of the
old Bible, and when Dean took an ordinary
reprobate up by the nape of the neck and
the extremity of the pantaloons, it was moi
for the purpose of shaking him ovel
"sheol," not by a long shot, but it was ovei
hole deep. black and red hot The Eagle
was then a very small bird and didn't dare
chirp as he tremblingly sat upon the side Of
the handles, still it strikes US al this dis.
lance of time and space that that congrega'
ton of dudes and dudesses, in their home
spun and lnsy-woolsey, were not entirely
without interest.
If you, my patient congregation, can't
catch on 10 the thread Of this discourse, We
can't help it. 1t is simple enough TO your
preacher. The birds of this morning and
their voices, the divided flock Of Dean, and
our own flock which we are about to d.
vide, the Sunday morning, of the then and
the Bible without any "hell'' of the now,
constitute thread as connected if not as
instructive, as those for which you are pay
ing cash money right along, without any
grumbling and with very poor music fol
"iilling in" at that But TO the division o;
our flock. 1t makes your preacher groan
in spirit, the spectacle you present, with the
Wrens and Hens, the Doves and Ducks
the Geese and Gutter-snipes and the Pullets
and old Pelicans on one side and the Roos-
tiers aud Owls, the Blue Jays and Shitepoke:
the Peacocks and Gamblers upon the othei
side. Please rise and sing, that we may be
better able to compare your jargon with the
symphony Of Gods little feathered warblers
which so pleasantly broke in upon oul
slumbers this morning. Hark to the key.
notes upon the soprano side Of my congre-
cation. How phenomenally harmonious
There goes the cluck Of the old hens, the coo
of the doves, the quack of the ducks, the
hiss of the geese, the eackle Of the pullets,
and the screeching of the old pelicans. Nov
turn TO the bass side of the gathering, and
do you call that growing, hooting, squawk-
ing, screaming and yowliag, music! Yet,
there you have the music Of this life as put
UP by the flock human.
II the hen-pecking side Of our congrega-
ton viii please rise, they shall be dismissed
without another word, for we haven't the
heart TO tell you of your ioibles and short.
comings, of your envyings and pride, Of
the truth that you wear all the fine feathers
and are eternal ding-donging the other
side for still finer ones, in face of the
fact that the Creator gave all the
fne feathers to His male birds presumably
AS q pointer to the daughters Of eve:
Her voice was harsh and she jawed all day,
Till the man was crazy, as one may say;
From moru till night IL was chin, chin, chin,
And people who couldn't help hearing the din
Knew well that the man had cross 10 bear,
And he cried in the depth of his wild despair
pye loved, I've Lowell her through thick and
thin,
But still her only cry was, Tin, tin, tin!''
Go Pullets, Pslicans, Hens and Wrens,
with your cooling and chattering, your feath-
ers SO flattering, with your enormous MILL
merry bills and whole dry goods stores, and
all your extravagsncies; but, hold depart
in peace, for Heaven only knows how we
would get along without you, the only IN
centiye we have to make money and more
money to pay your awful bills.
This leaves us alone with the Rooster side,
the side OF the stiffnecked Ganders, wise
Owls, light-headed Peacocks, short-sighted
Snipes and cranky Cranes, with that crowd
OF which ''every one is as God has made him,
and oftentimes great deal worse" If the
warblers whom we have but just dismissed
are full of frailties, how soft ana beautiful
withal when they are compared 10 these, to
the spleen, avarice, obstinacy, lust, hate and
cowardice of this dunghill crowd. A pretty
lot of birds you are indeed with the single
reciprocating consolation that you have all
got to die before you can be made into an
gels; an interesting herd of peacocks, who,
when your tails are spread, can never see
behind, while Others can never see anything
else. In the presence of such subject,
words and sentiment ali fail US. Yes, dear
brothers, taking you as flock of male
birds, you are sorry lot of high-fyers, and
he-old l1ickers whose TIE Deum is like unto
the harmony OF rasp on rusty cross-cut
saw; and, right glad for your sakes are we
that the revisors of the Bible substituted
SO mild word as sheol for hell, although
your feathers we fear win be found poor
protection 'gainst brimstone-fed fire, for
the revision, to the contrary notwithstand-
ing, the devil is still the devil, aud if he
don't count you as his sure-enough chicks,
he's not the cute gentleman we have been
lad 10 hal;ave Kim To be-