The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-06-11

Home" At first only those immediate
ly about her heard her voice. but by
degrees the noise subsidized and her
voice reached farther and farther out
over the tent. Within two minutes q.
death-like stiffness reigned.
The child's voice was soft and sweet,
and l doubt If any prima donna ever
put more feeling into that dear old
song than she put into it that night.
1t was a cry from the heart Of the old
home, and not a repetition of ~another's'
words. It was not a song, but a long
ing desire-a piteous plea. 1t went to
the heart of every person in that au-
dience and carried him back to other
days. Even the cowboys began to
think over the past and to recall their
old homes in the east. They remem-
bered suddenly the old gray-haired
mother who had believed in Christian
ity and had found such comfort in it,
and of the old father who had lived
such a quiet. peaceful life, finding his
greatest pleasure in reading the Bible.
There was no more yelling, no more
Jeering, but in breathless silence those
rough cowboys listened to that old
song. 1t had touched a tender spot
In their hearts. and had subdued and
tanned them completely, and before it
came to an end tears glistened in the
eyes OF more than one of them. At the
conclusion the minister arose and made
some appropriate remarks, keeping his
xyntan In f,-1 Ia l. 49,
singing had awakened. He spoke feel
ingly of the old homes his auditors had
left in he east. of the happy scenes
of childhood, and of the great love and
goodness of the old father and mother.
He carried his hearers back to those
old happy home days which no one
ever outlives. He warmed and softened
their hearts and brought tears to their
eyes.
hen he appealed to them in the
name of Christianity, and drew a beau
tiful picture of the great heavenly home
where many of those gray-haired par
ents who had been left in the old earth
hour, and no one disturbed him, and
the cowboys leaned forward to catch
every word he uttered. ,
At the conclusion of his talk they
sang an old fashioned hymn, and every
body was invited to come up and give
their hands if they desired to live bet
ter lives.
Old Zeph Bowers was the first one to
come forward, and he was Immediately
followed by the rest of his crowd. They
were all in earnest. too. Whether any
Of them ever became religious I don't
know, but I do know that for the time
being they were changed men. They
attended the camp meetings every
night, and they were as quiet and or
derby as anybody in the audience.
That song, which reminded them of
their old homes, and brought back to
them the scenes of their childhood and
youth, quieted and quelled them be-
cause it touched the tenderest chord in
their hearts. 1t awoke in their ma
lures the one fond memory which no
man ever outgrows-home and it's sac
red ties and associations.
One little girl, with that sweet old
song, had accomplished what all the
men in Dodge City could not have
done. She had tanned, as if by magic,
that crowd of lawless cowboys, and had
made lambs Of them. But no one won
dered at what she had done. Every one
felt, after hearing her, that it could not
have been otherwise.
No amount of preaching, no amount
of pleading or reasoning would ever
have brought those men to a sense of
their duty, but a simple appeal to their
feelings had worked wonders. Others
had appealed to their minds-she had
appealed to their hearts.