The Opelousas courier., 1895-04-06

should not be harmed. The man, so
runs the tale, scrept from his hiding
place and with tears in his eyes told
her that he had repeated that prayer at
his mothers knee. He had neither ut
tered It o heard it TOR years, but It
hid reached the one tender spot which,
the optimist assures us,remains evenin
the hardest hearts.
Prayer as a specific for burglars
ought to commend itself to a preacher
Ebove all men, and yet only the other
day-less than aaweek ago, in fact
there was recorded in one issue the &C
count of one minister down in Mis-
souri, who shot a burglar who called at
the parsonage in the middle of the
night presumably for something more.
tangible than spiritual advice) and an
other gentleman ef~the cloth in In
diana who put a bullet into a pugilist.
A pugilist,,zof course, is clearly with
out the pale but there is always a pos
sibility of reform for a burglar-and to
sensitive natures the conception Of a
preacher with human blood on his
hands is not an agreeable one. The
instances just mentioned, however,
are by no means without precedent.
A Chicago artist who spent some time
s%ketching in England a couple Of sum-
mers ago tells a curious story in this
connection. In a pretty little church
in n of the rural districts he noticed
a stained glass window representing a
man with a pistol in his hand shielding
a woman and her baby, while at his
feet lay another man, witha mask over
his eyes, who had evidently received
his death wound. The artist asked the
history of the picture, and was told
that some years ago the rector, who
had since died, had killed a burglar in
the rectory. The rectorss wife got mp
to attend the baby, which began cry
ing in the middle of the night. and, dis
covering the burglar in the house, no.
tilted her husband, who always kept a:
pistol loaded for intruders. The rev.
erend gentleman fred justin time to
save his own life, as the burglar had a
weapon leveled at his head. III de-
vout acknowledgment Of what he on
sidered a Providential intervention
the rector had the sstained-glass
window referred to put in the church.
P~otiteness has been shownsto accom-
p1ish as much as prayer or moral
s%uasion in dealing withfburglars. The
story has gone the rounds Of a we'll
known Paris clubman, who, upon re-
turning$at a very early hour to his.
apartments, found a heavy-set indi-
vidual putting a lot of his valuables
into a bag. Without removing his
monocle from his eye Or apparently
being the least put out, II have not
the honor of Knowing you, monsieur"
he says to the stranger, but ! pre-,
sumo you are a burglar" I
THE same, monsieur, at your serv-
ice," replies the craftsman, equally at
ease. so
May r ask, then, NJ Burglar, to-
what 1 owe the honor Of this visit?"
ITO the fact that you were supposed
to be at your Cuba place, pardon me
for saying so-where d man Of your
reputation certainly ought to be at
such an hour. How was l to know
that you would be back here at such
an unearthly season."
Il quite agree with you," rejoins the
clubman. Your error reflects no dis
credit upon your professional reputa-
ton, which, l have no doubt. is very
high, but, since / have returned, will
you be so good as Il Sretire?"
with pleasure, monsieur..''s.
Have d cigars" - - ~ y . @
"With additional pleasure, mon
sieur," and SO with mutual assurances
of respect the clubman and his unin-
.vited guest part company.
This story. is quite good enougn:to be
fictitious, as is also another Of the |
American railway manager who, upon
hearing noises downstairs in the night
at his suburban residence, descends in !