The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-05-28
PROVIDENCE AND a PISTOL.

Rather Remarkable Story Which
Carries n Moral Teaching.
A half dozen or so men We're sitting
out in front of an uptown hotel the
other evening telling stories, and q
Star reporter was taking them all in
with an avidity peculiar to his class. n
when was 81" said a tall man,
Il had an ungoyernable temper and a
half brother three years older than my
self. We were both church members,
but that didn't seem to bring us any
closer together, for he was a Method
ist and I was a Baptist. You may
have observed" he threw in as a dec
Grafton to the story, 'that Christian
charity and brotherly love don't al
ways thrive on denominational feed
However, as was saying, we We're
of different Nominations, and we got
along fairly well together until we be-
gan arguing on our respective faiths.
Then we got hot, and I always lost my
temper. may say that he did very
nearly the same, but he wasn't quite
as bad as was in that regard
some day we were out hunting with
only one gun, a squirrel rifle, between
us, and I had the gun. I may add
here that we lived on farm, and a
| one-gun hunting party was not at all
unusual. We had sat down on rock
near the edge of a stream to. rest, and
in some way I slipped and went into
the water. It made me mad to begin
with, and when he began chatting me
and telling me that Baptist ought to
be used to a little thing. like that, I
got ten times worse and hit him alick
IN the face. He ran off a few yards
and picked up bowlder about as big
as your double fist, while I made a
grab for the gun, which had set up
against a willow tree under the bank.
''Of course, we did not know what
we We're doing by this time; only /
remember of telling him if he raised
his hand to throw the stone I'd shoot
him. He was nervy, though, and I
hadn't more than got the words out Of
my mouth than he let the bowlder
come at me, and, true to my word,
l banged away at him. We wern't
forty feet apart, and it was stand
off between the bowlder and the bull
| let as to which was the more danger
GUS, but providence, I reckon, was
watching over us, for as I fired the
boWlder flew into a dozen pieces, and
both of us were left standing looking
at each other in a dazed, helpless kind
OF way. Then, still not understanding
what had happened, but realizing how
nearly our tempers had brought us to
bloodshed, we rushed into each others
arms and began crying over each
other s1ss>@
When we had got over the excite
ment and collected our wits sufficiently
to make an investigation, we discover
ed that by the merest chance-by PROV
ldential interference, I mean-my bull
let and his bowlder had met in their
flight and nullifed each other. on
one piece of the broken stone we found
the blue mark of the bullet, and in an.
other place we found the battered bull
let. he took the bullet and took the
piece of, marked stone, and we have
Kept them to this day, as sacred souy-
enlrs, and as very potent reminders
never to discuss our respective beliefs.
Pm just as strong a Baptist as ever.
and he is equally a Methodist, but we
both believe that greater than either
Baptist or Methodist is the providence
| that watches over us .''-Washinc
! ton Star, e.... - ..