Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-07-31

!I0uI8Qdy au4 CvO& VsAA&SH nAo4AS S>.>ss3 :
Sunday at Uncle Samuel RAndalFs
grocery store.
.Do they work there?'' he asked.
20, no, they just sit there and whit
tie and talk politics and spin yarns
On the next day Mr. falcon held q
special meeting OF the committee on
investigation.
II have called you together" he said,
ito announce that in this otherwise
quiet and law-abiding community
there is one evil resort which must be
wiped out by our society. It interferes
with the service in our churches, and,
because of the temptations it offers to
our young men 1t is a menace to every
home in Rocktown.
Where is this placer" asked the
members of the committee, indignant
and ready to combat evil at once.
L refer to place kept by Samuel
Randall 1t is supposed 90 be a gro
Gerry store, but l understand that that
is only to conceal its real character.
Friends, as yet we have no proof, but l
feel sure that behind that grocery
store, where our wives and daughters
| go daily to trade, there is back room,
where the men of this town, some OF
them members of our own church, con-
gregate night after night. 1t is need
less for me to tell you what they do
there 1t is needless for me to tell you
what our plain duty is"
That also was a favorite speech OF
| the chairman, but it acted as wet
blanket On the ardor of the committee
on investigation.
One member tried to explain to the
minister that he had been misinformed.
| Another went SO far as to say that it
was ridiculous. But they were all
| ruled out of order, and sternly re-
buked for swerving from the path Of
duty because of personal friendship.
"A motion as to how we shall act, is
in ORDER" the minister said. But none
was offered.
I'VE won't act at all so far as l am
concerned" said one member
very we'll, l alone will assume the
responsibility and carry forward the
work. Will the committee authorize
| me to act?" asked Mr.. falcon.
/ Some one said that he could do as
| he liked, and the meeting adjourned.
Long before the meeting of the Ben
evolent alliance every one in town had
| heard of the minister's declaration OF
war on old Samuel Randall and his
back room, and there was revolt in
the Rocktown socety'for the suppress
| sion of sim Still, the members were
anxious to see what their president
could do, and awaited developments.
Their curiosity was soon satisfied.
Mr.. falcon never wearied in reform
! ing things, and on the next night he
! called at the home of Peter Bliss, the
| town constable.
"Mr. Bliss" he said, II call upon you
as an officer to accompany me in my
capacity as president of the society for
the Suppression OF Sin, and. if neces-
sary, to exercise your authority to ar
rest evildoers. We are to go to Samuel
Randall's so-called grocery store
When Mr. falcon and the constable
! entered the grocery store Uncle Samuel
was laboriously engaged In making
| change for little girl who had placed
a 25-cent piece on the counter in ex-
change for a seven-cent bar of soap.
Good evenin', Mr. Talcon," he said,
looking over the rims of his "near-to''
spectacles, necessary to distinguish
white pennies from dimes. won't you
stop while? You'll find some Of your
! church folks in the back ROOM"
The minister was Mortified at the i'm
| piled invitation to enter the back room,
the very den of iniuuity, which was
about to fall before his crusade against
| vice. But he accepted, pulling at the
front of the constable's coat as signal
for him to follow.
Here's the minister, boys. Henry
Virgins put up them cards and finish
your solitary bimeby. I guess Mr.. Tai
| con won't object to the dOminoes and
that game of checkers"
Mr. falcon stood just inside the
doorway and stiffly declined to take
the vacant chair beside the reveller
who had been playing solitaire.
mo, I'm neither pastor nor custo-
mer tonight. l come in my capacity
as president of the Rocktown society
for the suppression Of sin, and chair
man of the subcommittee on investi-
CATION
Look here Mr.. falcon" said the
storekeeper, I've been a member of
your church since it started, 40 years
ago-some years, l guess, before you
were born-and l don't want 90 seem
backward in dom for it. But business
is business. | gave my wife S. to be-
come a life member of your sin society,
and l gave my daughter 81 to join for
one year. | think that's enough for one
family, especially as you're the first
parson in this town who hain't traded
with me since l started this store So
years ago."
''Mr. Randall, you persist in misun-
derstanding the purpose of my visit.
! I am not here for funds You will no.
tice that l have an officer of the law
with me-"
Yes; took notice that Henry Bliss
came in just behind you. Get out of
the constable's chair, Jim, and let him
sit down. You're late in getting
around tonight. Are the boys
botherin' you much playing tick-tack
and robbing orchards? You haven t
had any one in that lookup of yours
for five or six years, have you?'
"Not since 1892, when Bob Yardley
came home from Boston so drunk that
had to arrest him." replied the officer,
forgetting temporarily his embarrass-
ing position in the excitement of re-
calling his first and only capture in his
ED TO KNOW.