Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-08-02

the protection of the dog was entirely un-
| necessary The deacon's wife brought in
lamps and few well thumbed hymn books.
The deacon reused Halsey from his pleasant
chat with the remark, II guess ell s come
that IS coming;;" and the doctor, handing him
\ a Bible, insisted that he should take charge
| OF the meeting.
twin some one select q hyInngn he asked in
| fear and trembling and one of the Misses
| Pearce started "Sweet Hour of Prayer Al
| its close he read chapter from the Gospels
chosen quite at random. Having closed the
| Bible he called upon the doctor to lead in pray
er, and endeavored during its slow progress
| TO evolve some train of thought suitable to
the occasion. Suddenly the story of Blind
Bartimaeus, which he had just read, suggested
a sermon of Henry Ward Beecher's. His
short hand report book was in his pocket,
and fortunately, the notes were legible.
| Before the doctor had reached "Amenn he
| had selected two pages, had read them over
twice, and was prepared to repeat them in
an Off hand manner, with quite the air Of
giving utteranee to something entirely his
| own. As he began he noticed that the eyes
| Of the doctors niece were fixed upon him as
though in anticipation of keen enjoyment.
''He is going to get into lnuddle,n they
seemed to say: "rny attention viii add to his
embarrassment, and / am going to be very
nice and attentive
Halscy spoke fuently ana saw her air OF
amused superiority fade iuto one of blank
wonder, which said palmer than any words,
81 have made a mistaken estimate Of this
| young mans abilities; he is not such ninny
as he looks"
After speaking for twenty minutes, Halsey
apologized for occupying SC much time, gave
out another hymn and called upon the dea-
con and Brother Slocumbe to fill the remain
ing minutes with prayer and exhortation.
AT the close of the meeting the doctor
shook hands with him, with genuine appro-
baton. "The Lord has committed great
talent TO your trust, my son. he said to him
in the dusk, as Halsey hoped him into his
/ conveyance. go not out to the battle "a
! your own strength Remember the admcn-
| ition of the King of Israel Let not him that
| girdetE on his harness, bdas5 himself as he
that pu Iteth il off His niece was shyer than
She had been before the meeting. Evidently
she was impressed with Hslsey's superior
abilities, and the young mans heart swelled
with elation As he returned TO the house
the Misses Pearce were just leaving with their
smoky lantern, and he coald do no les than
offer TO sec them home The way was long
and it was pitchy dark when he returned,
but the eldest Miss Pearce had insisted ON his
availing himself Of her lantern "You can
| give it to me at church tomorrow she
| said, "and you viii rurely fall into
/ the brook without it. As there really
seemed some probability of this Halsoy took
| the lantern, at the Same time reproducing
| himself for his politeness The deacon had
/ los. u
minded character Of his hearers that he de-
termined to avoid all flights Of oratory and
to give his audience sermon as full of com
mon sense as could be found in his collection
A lecture by the Rev Robert Collyer
struck him as most likely to be popular. It
| abounded in incidents of country boys com
ing to high positions by unremitting toll and
determination. He read the lecture well,
with much Of the hearty manner in which it
was originally delivered, for he was capital
actor in amateur theatrcals, and was accus-
! toned to anluse his friends by giving ''per-
! sonationsn OF the different public men with
whom he was familiar. While in the Pull
flight of successful oratory, while he felt that
every eye in the house was fixed upon him,
and that perhaps no one present had ever
heard more effective speaking, his eye
which ran before his tongue, discov-
cred o danger in the path. Mr..
! Collyer spoke Of his own early ex-
! periences, OF the cottage in Yorkshire with
its floor SO white that you might have eaten
| your dinner from it, with no harm to any
thing but the floor; and Halsey in his
anxiety to escape this trap fell INTO a worse
one, for skipping the description of his Eng
lish childhood, lie launched iconsiderately
into particulars of his thirst for study and
reading as q youth, how 1.-THE Pilgrims
Progress" and one or two other books were
the constant companions of the forge. Hal
seys white and shapely hands hardly carried
out the assertion that he had been trained to
a blacksmiths trade; but his bearers did not
stop to consider this. They accepted what
he said as true, and listeded to the brave,
earnest words with kindling enthusiasm.
Halsey finished his sermon in en- agony of
| apprehension. He wiped away lie beads of
perspration from his forehead and during
the singing Of the las; tyi..a regarded the
congregation furtive!. on behind his
handkerchief, expect in some faces
at least to read scorn and denun-
citation. Instead of this there was
a look of pleased surprise and adj
miration on every countenance. He
turned slowly to the right, where tho choir
sat. There, too, an open eyed and open
nouthed delight was everywhere displayed.
There was one face, however, which he could
not see, though he would have given much to
have known its expression. The doctors
niece sat at the cabinet organ, with her back
toward hinl-a 1.-THE, willowy figure, using
the pedals with vigor and the stops with a
freedom and grace which betol1ened more
skill than was usual with the organist Of a
country choir. Her auburn hair was knotted
in O loose, abundant mass on her delicate
neck. Her bonnet was a dainty creation,
with u decidedly Partisan air and her hands,
though ringless, were exqUsitely modelled.
Take her to the city, Halsey thought, "and
no one would detect her country training y
Then came q swift conviction that this was
no rural maiden; everything combined to in
dictate the influence of the city. Yes, he was
in danger Of detection, ard it was from this
quarter that he must guard against it.
After the close of service the superin.
tendent of the Sabbath school was intro
duced, and Halsey was invited to take
the Bible class. lie found himself con
fronted by three seats full of whispering and
giggling young misses, who relapsed into ap-
parently awe struck silence upon his intro
duction. Prominent among them were the
two Misses Pearce, and Halsey remarked in.
considerably: II have brought your lantern
as you suggested. Il is behind the outer
door, His announcement was greeted by q
violent blush on the part of the older Mis-
Pearce, and a giggle from her sister, which
started a subdued litter throughout the en-.
tire class. Halsey dimly perceived that Mis-.
Pearce looked upon his attendance upon hel
the night before as a romantic secret, which
| his too public return Of the lantern had
thoughtlessly divulged. After the opening
| hymn the doctors niece left the organ and
took her seat before him. The look of sur
prise and shy appreciation which he hac
thought he had discovered in her face the
night before, had given place to q
puzzled doubt, grave wonder which
showed that something in the morn
ing's sermon had troubled her Halsey.
glance fell before her earnest one-h,
could not confront those questioning, trutI
loving eyes The lesson of the day told 81
the early inhabitants of Canaan. AS they
read the text he asked himself what he knew
or could tell them of the Girgashites, th'
Amalekites, the Perizzites, the Hittites, th,
Amorites, the Invites and the Jebusites. Al
the close of the reading the doctors niece
asked question: ''The Bible Dictionary say
that the descendants of these tribes are tn,
Bedouin Arabs. VIII you tell us something
Of your experience among themf'
"Who told you that l have had any sucl
experiencesF he asked, smiling, while a feal
Of detection seemed to Eumb all his facul
ties
I'm your very interesting talk at prayer
meeting last evening you described the Jeri