The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-30

brasses, rich curtainings and shining var
nish and paint From street end 10 end
the long crooked thorouRhfare is lovely in
its groupings Of color in luscious vegeta-
bles fruits and flowers. While leading
out from this the lanes. courts and broad
| er streets Of later days give charming
vistas as one may find modern homes of
opulence, villas large and ample, old hab-
itatiOns transformed to new, and all set
about in such wealth of hedge, tree
and flower, as to tell a CHEEKY pleas
ant story of Keswick folk and town.
All these are things the Travelled trav-
eler instinctively places by contrast at a
glance; but as I wandered up and down
the fine old street, seeking in vain for
place to lay my head during the night,
and at each inn or house of entertainment
| being met by the same CommiSerating eX-
! pressed word of Full o. tourists or
! Very last place taken by 'Kes'ick move
ment' folk!' l could not then quite IN
derstand the significance of the 'Kes'ick
movement" or account for a kindliness of
| speech, gentleness of manner and tender
! hush that seemed to pervade all keswlck
town, though every street was filed with
| people. Indeed in the half-shadOwy, SAT-
! irony light which came with the close of
| day, there was such softness OF football
and such meditation of activities and
! speech as seemed to give the effect of
| throngs moving in a dream.
The gay coachloads announcing by
| shrill bugle notes and resounding horn,
! their return from days outing in the
mountains checked their righteousness
! as the town-edge was reached, and crept
! quietly to the booking stations and inn
! yards. The cyclists, shooting from the
| heights on spheres of flash and speed,
| dismOunted and walked to their lodgings
! beside their cleaning wheels. The
| reet-preachers, those windy religious
| blackguards of summer evenings in all
| English towns, held the crowd around
! them in respectable and subdued dis
| course; and even those pansy-hOOded
/ wretChes of the Salvation army, who are
| gathering up the pennies of the poor in
| England at the rate of nearly half mil
| lion pounds year, sounded their loud
| tim brels in consOnanCe with the pervad-
| ing benignant spell, and salaamed, pir-
| ouetted and ricocheted as though
| somewhat graceful in grace. If
| it could be properly said of
! ten thousand folk of all degree, to the
| stranger Keswick town seemed in q
| dreamful sort of purring ecstasy from be-
slowed, rather than anticipated, mater
ial and spiritual content
| / noticed too, as the evening advanced,
| that at least half the folk upon the
| street held in their hands folded slips of
paper, large folios like programmes, or
! tiny bound copies of the gospels, their
pages interspersed with pressed noun
| tain leaves and flowers or with ribbons,
each apparently at the place of some
| timely text Most of these folk gradu-
ally changed the course of their various
prOmenades to a common direction.
| After a time, partly from vagrant i'm
pulse, something from curious interest,
| largely because l knew not where else to
| go, and no little from those emotions
I
| er's breast from something like home
sick fervor for human companiOnship,
| even if every face and form you look
| upon have alien ties, l followed the
| crowds through few squares of the
| compact old town.
just at its southern edge, where the
green sward dipped prettily to the water
way Of the romantic Greta stream, l at
| last came with the latest Corners to a
huge tent filled with perhaps five thous-
| and worshipers, then engaged in prayer
| / crept into the place, secured an unOccu-
| pied settle along the tent edge some
| distance from the door and strove with a
| keenly awakened interest to comprehend
| the exact significance of so great relig-
| ious gathering in so remote a part of
| England, and, with something like criti-
cal curiosity, to Judge if l might the real
| spirit of an assemblage, composed as
| could be instantly discovered, of repre-
sentatives of widely divergent faiths and
creeds
Straight opposite the entrance was a
! broad raised platform. Its central por-
ton was reserved for leaders and speak
| ers and a large wing at either side was
! filled with members of the choir. There
was naught else between the benches,
! ranged arena-like around the front and
| ends, with their occupants and the can
vas of the roof above Plain to severity
was the place of this great convocation
| The services, purely Of prayer and praise
in song, seemed equally free from the
| many common articles for exciting ex-
! traneous interest. Nor was there in the
entire evening service single ebullition
| of those physical phenomena which often
| attend certain conditions of religious"
| excitement. l never elsewhere heard
prayer in so softened tones. One
might almost liken it to a barely audi
BILE aspiration of spiritual longing
| for larger peace through faith, rather
than as in many similar gatherings, a
| startling verbal argument with the Al
| mighty for failure in granting greater
| lung power The hymns were from a col
| lection called Hymns of Conservation
and Faith" They spoke tenderly and
| devotedly those two essentials to the per-
| feet Christian life, and those alone. 1t
was as though an unbroken and unuttera-
| blC ltdtC lJOoSCSSGQ every OllC VI buOSG
| five thousand souls. From opening invo-
cation to closing word of blessing, there
| was but one exalted, peaceful strain
sweetly thrilling through every human
tone-'I am Thine and Thou art mine I"
| And then they went away with calm or
| glowing faces into the balmy summer
| night.
As the tent was being closed, hot hav-
| ing place to lay my head that night,
still sat at the tent-edge on the old settle.
| A half dozen men and women came to me-
| / attempted to explain that | could not
secure lodging in Keswick, though quite
able to pay my reckoning. They would
not hear me out. Their hearts were at
| tuned to the spirit of the place and the
words of the service they had uttered
They saw me travel-stained and house
| less, only with the eyes Of compassion and
! help. Two gave me a sixpence each
another a shilling, another a THRU
penny bit with words of material and
! spiritual consolation for the night, the
| morrow, and eternity. Even the old care
! aker, having seen these good souls out
and eXtiuguished the last lamp, stumbled
! back to me with an ancient lantern in his
! hand and let even his feeble light so shine
| that he found huge copper penny which
! he pressed into my hand with the kindly
! admOnition,
| 'Bide ere { mOarn, n I'll let tina cot
! for beet Ditto t my ain table Ma t.
! Laird be WI tina over neat an oalas
/ (1lR 1vrclf