The herald., 1896-01-19

him and wonder how in the world he
came there. Jesus was quite
different. He did not stand off in fine
churches and sing "Come to Jesus !"
he went down among the Billies. He
WAS true democrat; we are pharisees.
Billy's been out in the adobe.
The honeysuckle tried to grow;
Angie Briggs mind sped on with
awakened speed-now recalling sci
entific lecture she once heard about the
responsiveness Of organisms to their
environment, then to Jacobs manage
ment of Laban's f1ocks and how rap
idly his share increased under changed
conditions.
'Dear! dearl how silly we Presby-
terians have been, asking God to do
the things we ought to do. Oh! Billyl
Billyl forgive us all! We thought it
was Christ who was to save you, and
we've taken the lands and royalties of
nature and crowded you toward the
slums-all of you-and thought our
selves 80 good. You're wrecks, no
doubt, and we Presbyterians-society
have pushed you down. Oh, God!
will we have to atone? That professor
said that every atom in the universe
Influenced every other atom; that a
pebble cast into the ocean affected
every particle of it's volume. How,
then, can life escape the influence of
such as you? Oh, Billy, it can't; we've
got to pay for it some time. Maybe
your children will be criminals and
kill ours, or rob them, or pollute them.
That was why Jesus said, "Love your
neighbor as yourself" and lived such
a democrat. He saw further, that it in
sured the safety of society. Strange l
never thought of that before-the well
fare of thu whole depending upon the
welfare of its parts--the oneness of
humanity. Strange, too, the preachers
never tell us about these things,
'twould be of some help. more than
talking about heaven. Here l am talk
ing all to myself. L must 60 and do
the churning. But it's just SO. Those
preachers don't know any more about
heaven than l do. believe they just
talk about it to befuddle people and
get their salaries, or are befuddled
themselves. My! l never thought I'd
be such a hereto. This will never do
the churning."
Two more days of work, then an
other charming morning.
The mists rolled and tossed, veered
and twisted into fantastic shapes as
they came drifting in with the smell of
salt upon them, tumbling down and
tiattenins out over "Nigger Slough" to
rise again in pretty tufts above the
eucalypti, or settle down in thick,
white bed of foam, cleft by the tops Of
the tall, dark trees.
Would that heavenly dews could last
Rnt fha Cnn warm III, YaN
hot and hotter until every mist was
melted. Then it beat and scorched.
Billy well-nigh collapsed. The "pesky
dust" the ''rhumatiz." the "heat" were
each and every one the "dirtiest thing"
ever contended with by mortal man.
For the forty-second time by Pierre's
calculation) he stopped to pull the
"pesky barley boards" from sock, pan
taloon or jumper. No fate could be
worse than his according to his &C.
county Briggs and Pierre would likely
have contested this upon obvious
grounds but for the fact that they
we're inclined to enjoy his miseries,
there being nothing else worth speak
ing of to divert them.
However, heat, dust, rheumatism and
barley boards were trivial preludes, as
a little, harmless gopher snake WIS
actually pitched up into the wagon
Billy jumped about six feet, SO Pierre
declared, out over the hay rack, and
yelled like an early Apache. +.
Billy said he couldn't stand that
rheumatic no longer; he was going to
San Pedro, where it was cooler"
Pierre laughed obviously and sug-
gested "snakes;" but Billy vowed dit
was rheumatic and the heat"
Briggs thought he had the tremens,
but Billy as always protested that he
never drank drop, sunless it was a
glass of beer now and then, just for
the sociability of the thing" Never
theless Billy had found excuse for 60
ing down to the village every evening
for "shave" or his "wash," always re-
turning without either and going on
the same errand the next evening with
strange looking bottles, until the whole
family had come to a tacit understand
ing of his necessities. When Pierre
was questioned he merely replied: IL
think he's pretty we'll used up; he can't
stand no w-a-r-k at all"