The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-10-22

from the world, believe snree- -fourths
OF Its religion would DO gone. The lula
bys Of mothers which keep sounding on,
though the lips that sang them forty
years ago became ashes, the old hymns
in log-cabin churches, and country
meeting-houses, and psalms in Rouse's
version in Scotch kinks, the anthem in
English cathedrals, the roll OF organs
that will never let Handel or Haydn. or
Beethoven die, the thrum Of harps, the
sweep Of the bow across bass viols, the
song OF Sabbath-schools storming the
heavens, the doxology of great assem-
blages-why, thousand Jerichos Of
sin have by them all been brought
down.
Seated by the warmth Of our camp
fires that evening OF December 9, amid
the bricks and debris of Jericho, and
thinking what poor music has done and
what mightier things could be accom-
plished by the blessings of God on good
music, said TO myself: Ministers have
been doing grand work, and sermons
have been blessed, but would IL not
be well for US to put more emphasis
on music? 0, for campaign Of Old
Hundred! o, for brigade Of Mount
Pisgahs! o, for cavalry charge OF
Coronationsl o, for an army Of
Antiochs and st. Martins and Ariels!
O, for enough orchestral batons
lifted TO marshal all nationsl AS Jericho
was surrounded by poor music for seven
days and was conquered, 30 let our earth
be surrounded seven days by good gospel
music, and the round planet will all be
taken for God. Not wall OF opposition,
not throne OF tyranny, not palace of
sin, not an enterprise OF unrighteous-
mess could stand the mighty throb of
atmospheric pulsation. Music! 1t
sounded at the laying Of creations cor
nerstone when the morning stars sang
together. Music! II will be the last re-
verberation, when the archangel's trum-
pee shall wake the dead. Musicl Let
Its full power be now tested to comfort
and bless and arouse and save.
While our evening meal is being pre-
pared In the tents we walk out for q
moment to the Fountain OF Elisha"
the one into which the prophet threw
the salt, because the waters were poi
sonous and bitter, and lol they became
sweet and healthy; and ever sidce, with
gurgle and laughter, they have rushed
down the hill and leaped from the rocks,
the only cheerful object in all that
region being these waters.
Now on this plain Of Jericho the sun is
setting, making the mountains look
like balustrades and battlements OF
amber and maroon and gold, and the
moon, just above the crests, seems TO be
q window Of Heaven through which i'm
mortals must be looking down upon
the scene. Three Arabs as watch
men sit beside the campfire at the
door OF my tent their low conver-
sation in strange language all night
long soothing rather than an inter
ruption. had dream that night never
TO be forgotten, that dream amid the
complete ruins OF Jericho. Its past
grandeur returned. and / saw the city
as II was when Mark Antony gave II TO
Cleopatra and Herod bought 1t from her.
And heard the hoofs OF Its swift steeds
and the rumbling Of the chariots and
the shouts Of excited spectators In Its
amphitheater.
And there Was white marble amid
green groves Of palm and balsam; cold
stone warmed with sculptured foliage;
hard pillars cut into soft lace; Iliads
and Odysseys in granite; basalt jet as
the night, mounted by carbuncle fam
ing as the morning; upholstery dyed as
II dipped in tho blood OF battie-helds;
robes encrusted with diamonds; mosaics
white as sea-foams flashed on by auroras;
gayeties which the sun saw by day,
rivaled by revels the moon saw by
night; blasphemy built against the sky;
ceilings stellar as the midnightheavens;
grandeurs turretted, archivolted and In
tercolumnar; wickedness so appalling
that established vocabulary fails, and
we must make an adjective and call 1t
Herodic.
The region round about the city walls
seemed to me white with cotton such as
Thenius describes as once growing there,
and sweet with sugar cane and luscious
with orange and figs and pomegranates,
and redolent with such fora as can only
grow where tropical sun kisses the
earth. And the hour came back TO
me when in the midst Of all that
splendor Herod died, commanding his
sister Salome Immediately after hisdeath
| 10 secure the assassination OF all the chief
Jews whom he had brought to the city
and shut upin circus for that purpose,
and the news came TO the audience In
the theater 40 some one took the stage,
and announced tothe excited multitude:
"Herod Is deadl Herod 10 deadr Then,
in my dream, all the pomp Of Jericho
vanished and gloom was added 10 gloom,
and desola ton 10 desolation, and woe 10
woe, until, perhaps, the rippling waters
OF the fountain Of Elisha suggesting it,
as sounds will give direction 10 dream
Il thopght that the waters Of
Christs salvation and the foun-
tains ''open for sin and unclean-
moss" were rolling through that plain,
and rolling across that continent, and
rolling round the earth, until on either
aide Of their banks all the thorns be-
came flowers, and all the deserts gar
dens, and sll'the novels mansions, and
all the funerals bridal professions, and
all the blood Of war was turned into
dahlias, and all the grosns became an
thems, and Dants's Inferno" became
Dante's "Divins Commedia," and "PAr-
adise Lost" was submerged by para
disc Regained, and tears became crys-
tails, and cruel swords came out OF
foundries glistcntng plowshares, and