The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-09-26
SELECTED STORY.
He's Coming Tomorrow.

ing, coming lnUO UtS WOrlQ again Win
power and great glory?
Will this ever really happen? Will
this solid, commonplace earth see it?
Will these skies brighten and flash, and
will upturned faces in this city be
watching to see him comingl
So our minister preached in a solemn
sermon; and for moments, at times, L
felt thrill of reality in hearing. But
as the well-dressed crowd passed down
the aisle, my neighbor, Mr. Stockton,
whispered to me not to forget the meet
ing of the bank directors on Monday
evening, and Mrs. Goldthwaite poured
into my wife's ear charge not to for
get her party on Thursday; and my
wife, as she came out, asked me if
had observed the extravaganza toilet of
Mrs. Pennyman.
$50 absurd" she said, when her in
come, l know, cannot be half what ours
is, and l never think of sending to
Paris for my things. l should look on
it as morally wrong"
i spoke of the sermon. Y es," said
my wife, " what a sermon so solemn.
wonder that all are not drawn to hear
our rector. What could be more pow
erful than such discourses? My dear,
by the bye, don't forget to change
Mary's opal ring for diamond one.
Dear mel the Christmas presents were
all so on my mind that l was thinking
of them every now and then in church
and that was so wrong of me-"
my DEAR" said L, sometimes it
seems to me as if all our life were I'M
real. We go to church, and the things
that we hear are either true or false.
If they are true, what things they are |!
For instance, these Advent sermons.
If we are looking for that coming, we
ought to feel and live differently from
what we do. Do we really believe
what we hear in church, or is it a
dream?"
81 do believe" said my wife earn
estly (she is good woman, my wife),
eyes, do believe, but it is just as you
say Oh, dearl l feel that l am very
worldly have so many things to
think OIL" and she sighed.
So did l, for | knew that l, too, was
very worldly. After a pause l said,
"Suppose Christ should really come
this Christmas, and it should be author
itatively announced that he would be
here Tomorrow"
81 think" said my wife, there
would be some embarrassment on the
part of our great men, legislators, and
chief councillors in anticipation of a
personal interview. Fancy meeting
of the city council to arrange a recep
ton for the Lord Jesus Christi"
Perhaps" said l, " he would refuse
all offers of the rich and great. Per-
haps our fashionable churches would
plead for his presence in vain. He
would not be in palaces"
Ohp' said my wife earnestly, " if l
thought our money separates us from
him, would give it all, yes, all, might
l only see him."
She spoke from the bottom of her
heart, and for a moment her face was
glorified.
"You will see him some day." said
l." land the money that we are willing
to give up at a word from him will not
keep him from u.s." ~-S
That evening the thoughts of the
waking hours mirrored themselves in a
dream.
| seemed to be out walking in the
streets, and to be conscious of strange,
vague sense of something just declared,
of which all were speaking with sup
pressed air of mysterious voices.
There was whispering stiffness
around. Groups of men stood at the
corners of the streets and discussed an
impending something with suppressed
voices.
heard one say 10 another, " Really
coming? What, to- morrow? And the
others said, yes, tomorrow, on
Christmas day. He will be here"
1t was night. The stars were glitter
ing down with keen and frosty light,
the shops glistened in their Christmas
array, but the same sense of hushed
expectancy pervaded everything. There
seemed to be nothing doing, and each
person looked wistfully on his neigh
Dor, as if to say, Have you heard?
Suddenly, as walked, an angel form
was with me, gliding softly by my side.
The face was solemn, serene, and calm.
Above the forehead was pale, tremu-
lous, phosphoric radiance of light, purer
than any on earth-a light of quality
30 different from that of the street
lamps that my celestial attendant
seemed to move in sphere alone.
Yet, though l felt awe, l felt a sort
of confiding love as l said, "Tell me
is it really true? Is Christ coming?"
''He ISL said the angel. ITO
morrow he will be here"
''What joy!" cried.
SIS it joy?' said the angel. Alas,
to many in this city it is only terror.
Come with me-"
In moment seemed to be standing
with him in parlor of one of the chief
palaces of the city. A stout, dorid,
bald-headed man was seated at table
covered with papers, which he was
sorting over with nervous anxiety,
muttering to himself as he did so. On
sofa lay sad-looking, delicate woman,
her emaciated hands clasped over a
little book. The room was, in all its
appointments, witness of boundless
wealth. Gold and silver and gems and
foreign furniture, and costly pictures
and articles of vertu-everything that
money could buy-were heaped to-
gether; and yet the man himself
seemed to me to have been neither ele-
waited nor refined by the confluence of all
these treasures He seemed nervous