Dodge City times., 1888-07-05

of those in the sleighs, he shouted:
''Sing Coronation; all sing. so we can
time our strokes" and without lower
| ing his voice he sang:
''Al hail the power OF Jesus nameI
Let angels PROSTATE fall,
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all
The order came SD unexpectedly that
few joined in singing this verse, but
when it came to the next stanza almost
all the voices were heard, l felt sort
of relief when the soprano, alto, tenor
and bass voices all struck the words:
Grown Him. ye martyrs of our God.
Who from His affairs call"
But l feared the time when the bass
would be left to carry line alone.
There were but three or four bass
voices in the entire company, but my
friend was numbered among them.
noticed that he husbanded his breath
for this, as a strong man saves his
strength for some great effort. Never
theless, l could hear alternating with
the words:
''Extol the stem of Jesse's rod
the crack - crack = crack = crack
crack of the brittle shell that was be-
tween us eternity. 1t was wondrous
relief when four parts instead of one,
and hundred voices instead of four
took on the words, which sounded like
an anthem of praise:
..Extol the stem Of Jesse's rod,
And crown Him Lord Of ALL
We were now approaching the mid
die of the lake, where the water was
the deepest; SO deep, indeed, that no
line in the village could reach the bot
tom, and where the ice must be the
thinnest because it was the last to
freeze there. l knew this, but l felt
that we were going with such rapidity
there would be no new danger so long
as there was no break in the singing
l singled out tree on the shore we
were trying to make, and calculated if,
at the rate we were then singing, there
were verses enough to last until we
reached. l feared lest the leader might
omit stanZa, as was sometimes done
in church, and there might be space
over which we would be left to pass in
silence, OF with nothing to disturb the
silence but the cracking of the ice.
! had no cause for alarm, however,
in the matter. There was, indeed, that
dreadful crack-crack- of the ice
distinctly heard during the singing of
one line in each stanza of the hymn, but
it was either that l had become more
accustomed to it or because it was more
faint than little time before that it
failed to affect me us at first. So. too,
there was little breadth of ice to be
passed over after the singers had closed
the verse:
Let every kindred, every tribe
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe.
And crown Him Lord Of ALL"
But our momentum was then such
that knew we should reach the shore
in safety, which we soon did. On
reaching the shore there was the same
boisterous noise that marked our start
ing, each one untying his sled or sleigh
and joining the little party with which
he came. But of the peril through
which they had passed. The
danger from which they had been
rescued, no one of them had
the slightest intimation. The two
who knew all remained on the sandy
beach after the party had gone to their
homes. Their arms were about each
others necks as they knelt, and trem-
or closed the lips that would have
prayed. The next day was Thanksgiv-
ing. Singularly enough. the opening
hymn in the church service was the one
that was sung on the ice, but it was
not strange that two hands holding
hymn-books trembled when all the
congregation sang Coronation. y
Rodney Welch, IN Chicago Times.
Note.-This sketch, an actual Incl
dent in my life. was written substan-
TALLY as it is here nearly twenty years
ago, and published in weekly paper
issued in this city. The religious press
kindly took it up and carried it, be-
lieve, round the globe. 1t was printed
in paper on the banks of the Clyde,
and in one on the banks of the Ganges.
l saw it in several papers published in
Australia and New Zealand. About a
year after it was published received
letter from minister located in the
northern part of New England setting
forth the troubles he had encountered
in finding the author of the story.
was informed that it had been read at
prayer meeting in his church, and
that sit had been the means of putting
new spiritual life into his society, re-
calling many back-sliders. and con.
verting twenty-seven sinners" For
once, only once, l presume, l had writ
ten better than l knew. This incident
has led me to inquire how many of us,
engaged in the hard, dull drudgery of
common life, writing to fill space in
newspaper, planting trees, tending the
sick, repairing old clothes, minding
babies and doing housework-unloved,
uncared for, so we
be all unconsciously MAX
ing stars to wear in crown Of glory
forever and day? X. w.
r,e --.,n,e ~e rue oarrE