Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-05-16

LISTENING TO SWING.
are with him. 1t is one thing to preach
and quite another to get a congregation
to come and listen. Sam Jones has new
er lacked hearing. 1t is hard to ana
lyze why this is SO at first, but when you
notice that he does not pull his sermons
out of cyclopedia or concordance you
are coming close to the cause of it. We
! went the other evening to hear a cler-
gyman whose sermon bristled so with
statistics and cyclopedias that he did not
| dare leave his manuscript even to look
| at the fair young contralto who sat near
| him in the choir.
The congregation fdgeted around in
| the seats at last until he felt that he
must become more imprisoned or lose
his hold upon the people. Then he cut
loose and carved the air with his lily
| white hands. Reaching an imprisoned
squirt of eloquence at last, he balanced
himself on his toes, and cutting great
slices out Of the atmosphere he closed by
saying in clarion tones:
''Oh, isn't it thankful that this is thus:"
People who have q message from on
high do not make this class of state
ments. When he thought he had call
to preach, "it was doubtless some other
noise"
EYES," said Sam Jones awhile ago,
''young men come to me and say they
have call to preach. and I say to them
What will you tell to the people? What
world?' And they say. L will open my
81
Eyes, brethren, and he does too. He
fills it with wind, and there are hundreds
of these old airguns going around today
with their mouths full of words waiting
for the Lord to supply them with ideas"
We went last Sunday to hear Professor
Swing at Central Music hall, Chicago.
The house is comfortable and the acous-
tics good. The congregational singing is
elevating and full of genuine devotion.
A good organ adds to the beauty Of the
music, the hymns are selected with ex-
cellent taste and sense, and the sermon
offers something to think Of for weeks
afterward. The congregation looks in
telligent, and even though Mr.. Pullman
was present did not see a sleeper in the
audience.
Professor Swing is u very plain man,
ranking about third among the homeli-
est men of the United States. His deliv-
cry is undoubtedly bad. and his gestures
do not show a particle of Delsarte train
ing. He has only one or two gestures,
and they are not in good repair He has
a rather feeble voice, and when he speaks
he leans against the pulpit, emphasizing
his more earnest passages by peculiar
squat which dusts the dais with his coat
tails, and yet every listener hangs upon
each sentence with the most earnest at
tention because he has message to de-
liver. He is not hampered by the action
of convention or tied to a platform.
He is an unpledged delegate, free to say
and do what he believes to be best.
He truly said that no man could be
thoroughly eloquent without noble
cause to espouse and speak for. Daniel
Webster at the tent door Of a sideshow
could not have been an orator, but for
freedom and patriotism he could be elo-
quent.
Day before yesterday heard a young
clergyman in the car who had very
penetrating voice, and he was telling Of
the success Of his ''work."
eight, and last season saved 10 souls"
A man not yet 80 years of age who can
truthfully say that he has personally
saved 16 souls in one season ought not to
be ashamed to state it on the cars, and
think it is nothing more than right that
it should be put in the paper. So here
it is.
heard of an incident not long ago
where an effort was made to combine
politics and religion. Ephraim Taft was
a candidate in western Missouri for coun-
ty superintendent of schools, and the
prospects were that he would be elected
by an overwhelming majority unless
some great coup d'etat could be worked
In the campaign.
Ernest Paddock was the opposing
candidate, and he believed that Taft was
not, as matter of fact, old enough to
fill the statutory requirements for the
Office, the law stating that no man should
be eligible who had not attained the age
of 35 years.
So Paddock decided to make person
al investigation. He was not of re-
ligious turn of mind, but he made up as
Methodist Episcopal clergyman in
search of health and wended his way
down into the country where young
Taft's parents lived.
He fetched up at the old folks home
in the country about dusk and hitched
his horse He told them who he was
and asked if he might stay there over
night. Missouri hospitality is generally
understood from the southern hotel
down to the hu1nblest cot.
Paddock was invited to come right in
and make himself at home. He had
good, honest supper and chatted on cheer
fully with the elder Tafts till bedtime,
and then the old lady brought him
Bible to read chapter from. This was
what he had come for.
Paddock saw right away that there
was no family record in that Bible, and
SO he said he could not read such fine
print as that. Old man Taft asked him
if he used glasses. Yes, he used glasses,
but he had left his own somewhere or
other, he said. So the old man offered
his. but they did not fit. Then the old