The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-21
ctded that he was "s,ng1n Of a nine

I'll make him sing another tune till ne is
tired. I'll pay him for his onsulting mes
sage. I'm not a-gwine to kdl him, boys.
I'll leave life in his rotten old carcass, but
! that's all. If any of you'n want to hear
Old Sledge preach you'll have to go ten
miles from the roads, to do it,"
Slowly and solemnly tie preacher came.
AS he drew near he narrowed down his
tune and looked kindly upon the crowd.
! He was a massive man in frame, and had a
! heavy suit of dark brown hair but his
face was clean shaved and showed nose
and lips and chin of firmness and great de-
termination.
Look at him, boys, and mind your eye,"
said the horse thief.
where will l find my friend, Bill
Jones?" inquired Old Sledge
| All round they pointed him to the man.
| Riding up close he said: "My friend and
brother, the good Lord has sent me to you,
and l ask your hospitality for myself and
my BEAST" and he slowly dismounted and
| faced his foe as though expecting kind
reply.
The crisis had come and Bill Jones met it.
| "You internal old hypocrite; you cussed
old shaved faced scoundrel; didn't you
know that l had swored an oath that
would make you sing and dance and whip
you besides if you ever dared to piEen these
crossroads with your shoetracksf Now
sing, id you, sing, and dance as you
sing" and he emphasized his command
with ringing slap with his open hand
upon the parsons face.
Old Sledge recoiled with pain and sur
prise.
Recovering in moment. he said:
"Well, Brother Jones, 1 did not expect so
warm welcome, but if this be your cross
roads manners suppose l must sing" and
as Devil Bill gave him another slap on his
jaw he began with:
My soul, be on thy guard.
And with his long arm suddenly and
swiftly gave Devil Bill an open handler
that nearly knocked him off his feet, while
| the parson continued to sing in a splendid
tenor voice:
Ten thousand foes arise.
Never was a lion more aroused to frenzy
than was Bill Jones. With his powerful
arm he made at Old Sledge as if to annihi-
late him with one blow, and many horrid
oaths, but the parson Tended off the stroke
BIS easily as a practiced boxer, and with his
left hand dealt Bill settler on his peppers
as ne continued to sing:
Oh, watch and fight and pray,
The battle ne'er give DER.
But Jones was plucky to desperation,
and the settlers were watching with bated
breath. The crisis was at hand, and he
squared himself, and his clinched fists flew
thick and fast upon the parsons frame,
and for time disturbed his equilibrium
and his song. But he rallied quickly and
began the offensive as he sang:
Ne'er think the victory won,
Nor lay thy armor down
He backed his adversary squarely to the
wall of his shop. and seized him by the
throat and mauled him as he sang:
Fight on, my soul, till death
Well, the long and the short of it was
that Old Sledge whipped him and hum
bled him to the ground and then lifted
him up and helped to restore him and
begged thousand pardons.
When Devil Bill had retired to his house
and was being cared for by his wife, Old
Sledge mounted box in front of the
grocery and preached righteousness and
temperance and judgment to come to that
people.
He closed his solemn discourse with a
brief history of his own sinful life before
his conversion and his humble work for
the Lord ever since, and he besought his
hearers to stop and think "Stop, poor
sinner, stop and think" he cried in alarm
ing tones.
There were few men and many women
in that crowd whose eyes, long unused to
the melting mood, dropped tears of repent
ance at the preachers kind and tender ex-
hortation. Bill Jones' wife, poor woman,
had crept humbly into the outskirts of the
crowd, for she had long treasured the men,
cries of her childhood, when she, too, had
gone with her good mother to hear preach
ing. In secret she had pinned and lamented
her husbands hatred for religion and for
preachers After she had washed the blood
from his swollen face and dressed his
wounds she asked him if she might 90
down and hear the preacher. For a min
ute he was silent and seemed to be dumb
with amazemeut. He had never been
whipped before, and had suddenly lost
confidence in himself and his inf1delity.
go 'long Sally" he answered, eff he
can talk like he can fight and sing, maybe
the Lord did send him. It's all mighty
strange to me-" and he groaned in anguish.
His animosity seemed to have changed into
anxious wondering curiosity, sand after
Sally had gone he left his bed and drew
near to the window where he could hear.
Old Sledge made an earnest, soul reach
ing prayer, and his pleading with the Lord
for Bill Jones salvation and that of his
wife and children reached the window
where Bill was sitting, and he heard it.
His wife returned in tears and took seat
beside him, and sobbed her hearts dis
tress, but said nothing. Bill bore it for
awhile in thoughtful silence, and then
putting his bruised and trembling hand in
hers said:
Sally, if the Lord sent Old Sledge here,
and maybe he did reckon you had better
look after his horse" And sure enough
Old Sledge stayed there that night and
held family prayer, and the next day he
preached from TIE piazza to a great multi
tude, and sang his favorite hymn:
Am soldier sf the CROSSE
And when he got to the third verse his
untutored but musical voice seemed to be
lifted little higher as he sang:
Sure must fight if would reign,
Increase my courage, Lord.
Devil Bill was converted and became a
changed man. He joined the church, and
closed his grocery and helped to build a
meeting house, and it was always said and
believed that Old Sledge mauled the
grace into his unbelieving soul, and it
would never have got in any other way
Bill Arp IN Atlanta Constitution.
AlasI
She-You lack energy and push. Every
man is the architect ST his own fortune.