River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-12-13

THE DEACON RELATES HIS STORY.
ELDER she says, what's the Bible
| but poetry, and what's poetry but the
music OF words and ideesg As far as |
| can learn the LORD never had use for a
prophet that hadI't music in him. And
| as for prayer, pys a notion that you can't
/ get prayer out or a man when il ain't
/ in him. Prayer is oil very we'll when
you've got 1t in you, but to my mind
music puts that into an empty soul that
| leads up to prayer anu Worship She
was on her high horse now, and was
/ bound to ride the Elder down. where's
prayer aud the Bible in Heaven she
says. They amt there. tor they don't
need 'em. Music's all they have in
Heaven; aud sinsin' aad plsyin' is the
occupation Of the angels and the joy of
/ the saints.
"'Wa'n't il you tellin' Us awhile back
about Orpheus, who played his Tyre and
kept his sailors from wreck and ruin
among them cannibal Syrians, settiu'
among bones and skulls. There amt an
other word TO say, Elder; I've got Script
ure for the Idee, and I've got human nat
ure, aud they're a powerful team when
they pull together
'It's remarkable how the Idee kept
a-growin' and spreadip' itself in mother 5
mind, like the foreign tree I've
read Of, which begins in one pleas
ant shade tree and ends in becom-
ing whole forest. Music was the cure
for all ills of human society. What
would proven. the strikesg Music?'
What was needin' TO ciyllize the Indi
anss Music" But this country couldn't
hold her Her mind went out to tina
heather, and she naturally argued that
nothiu' could elevate a people that didn't
have no more idee OF music than clat
term gongs and poundin' tom toms;
and she made a move, which didn't fiud a
second. that the WOman's Missionary So
ciety should start branch for the music
al education Of the heather.
Then she kept track OF all the new
tangled musical instruments which was
invented. and saw the prophecy OF the
millennium drawin' to fulfilment in the
multIplyin' OF music machines.
''Ot all the happy women, size was the
happiest when she got hold OF An orgui-
nette, with music like an embroidery pat
tern, that only had TO be tackled on the
machine and worked over the holes. She
hadn't perked up so much since our lone
boy Jason up and ran away from home,
following a circus.
"It's hard thing. Elder, when your
child is torn away from You by death. and
goes away from We stree Chin out his
arms to the one that nursed him, 10th to
leave them he knows ana loves. for
strangers. But how easy that seems 10
lOsin' child when he crawls out Of his
warm bed that lovin' hands had m ade for
him. and away from all the little oom-
forts that lovin' hearts had provided
and goes away into the night with
out a goodbye kiss or partin' word;
without even thrOy-in' look Of pity be-
hind him for them that would laid down
Their lives for him; aud our boy went
that wav.
''After Jase went mother lauguished for
time and thought the lice was lOsin'
its grip; but it want long before it got to
bein' whispered around among the neigh
bOrs that it WANT nOthin' else but the
Idee that drove Jase away from home.
when she heard that, mother bracsd
right up; the Idee took new grip; and
however she may havs felt in her own
secret soul, 50 far as my seem went. the
Idee seemed more to her than ever.
poor mother! Not to say word against
the Idee OF her that adopted it. it dill
seem as if the 10y lods little crowded by
the lee at times. You see when We get
down to music as n steady diet and music
for medicinal purposes, you're apt to get
10 dislike it; same as a child gets to dis :
like the Bible when YOU give him dose
Of Scripture. as if 1t was sulphur and
sorghum, to purge the msauness Outeu'
him.
That's about the way it vas with Jason.
/ 'Twa'n't so bad when mother rigged up a
musical attachment to the SEWN ma
/ chine, but when she got one onto the
/ churn, it was a iittIs wearyin'-sor a boy.
1T takes an old bird 10 Offset the shrill
note Of his mate with the patience thai
| built the nest aud warmed the eggs and
/ hoped and fluttered from sua-up to sun
/ down 10 fill the mouths that was always
gapin'
You see it want all plain sailin' be-
/ tween the lice and Jason. When he was
a growin' child he was powerful curious
and also of an iuvestigatin' turn OF mind.
and when lie got tired of his bazOO and
I harmOuica, he'd go tc meddlin' with
mothers pet music-box, till one day he
/ dropped some corn into it, which played
/ havoc among the teeth, 50 that the ma
J chine, ever after. played Annie Laurie
as If il was whistlin' with its front teeth
/ out 50 Jase made acquaintance with
/ mothers slipper pretty c5tsn through the
| Idee; aud think mOther'l have been rea.
sonably happy if she'd Only had music
= al slipper which whOud have playe
| Home Sweet Home white she was beat
I in time on that boys Jacket Amt it
| strange, Elder. that gocs people will get
! possessed with an iSee until they
MAKE their children livin' sacri-
I fiees to il, like the heather that made
/ their children pass through the fire to
/ MoIOch. I've known people TO make a
/ very idol OF their homes. AMI slave. and
/ slave. from morn TIL night as il life de-
pended on il. dus-'u' aud sweepin' and
I pOlishia', till every Thing was that shiny
I and sIippy that believe an angel couldn'i
Z a sat on q chair. or walked the floor. with
! ont balauCin' with his wIGgs, like bird
on a teterin' bough. Many's the family
/ that's been drove out into the streets,
passing right under the motto: God
| bless our nome