Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-02

said. and. leaving them his bcnediction.
he went AWAY.
In the morning he almost dreaded to
face the men. but the impression OF the
night had not worn away. True TO his
promise, the bishop secured work for
them. The janitor at the settle
ment needed an assistant. ow-
ing to the growth OF the work
there. SO Burns was given the
place. The bishop succeeded In get
ting his companion position Ms driver
for a firm OF warehouse dray mnnufac-
turors not far from the Actticment.
And the Holy Spirit, struggling In
these two darkened. sinful men. began
His marvellous work OF regeneration.
II was the afternoon following that
morning when Burns was Installed In
his new position "a assistant janlt1r
that he was cleaning OF the front steps
OF the settlement when he paused a
moment and stood up to look about
him.
The nrat thing he noticed was a beer
sign Just across the alley. lie could al
most touch II with his broom from
where he stood. over the street imme-
dintcly opposite were two large saloons,
and little farther down were three
more.
suddenly the door of the nearest sa-
loon opened. and u man came out At
~. = fioatcd up 10 Burns
= he ". :. on the steps Of the settle
ment. Q ciutchcd his broom handle
tight arl began to sweep. again. lie
had OF, foot on the porch ana another
on : itep Just below. He took another
step wn. atill sweeping The sweat
stood out on his forehead. although the
day was frosty and the air chin. The
saloon door opened again, and three or
four men came out. a child went In
with pail and came out n moment
later with a quart of beer. The child
went by on the sidewalk Just below him.
and the odor Of the beer came up to
him. lie TOOK another step down. Htiil
sweeping desperately. His fingers were
purple us he clutchcd the handle OF the
broom.
Then suddenly he pulled himself up
one step and swept over the spot he had
Just cleaned lie then dragged himself
10y tremendous efrort back to the foor
81 the porch and went over into the cor
ner Of the farthest from the saloon and
began TO sweep there. 20 God" he
cried. III the bishop would only come
back" The bishop had gone out with
DR.. Bruce somewhere. and there was
no one about the settlement that he
knew.
lie swept In the corner for two or
three minutes. His face was drawn
With the agony Of the conflict. Gradu-
ally he edged out again toward the steps
and began to 10 down them. lie looked
toward the sidewalk and saw that he
had lett one step unswept The sight
seemd to give him n reasonable excuse
for going down there TO finish his sweep
Ing. He was on the sidewalk now,
sweeping the last stop, with hts face
toward the settlement and his back
turned partly on the saloon across the
alley. lie swept the step dozen times.
The sweat rolled over his face and drop
ped down Mt his feet. by degrees he felt
that he was drawn over toward that
end Of the step nearest the saloon. He
could smell the beer and rum now as
the fumes rose around him. II was like
the Internal sulphur % the lowest hell.
and yet u dragged him, as by giants
hand, nearer Its source.
lie was down Ia the middle Of the
sidewalk now,stlll sweeping. lie clear
ed the space In front Of the settlement
and even went out Into the gutter and
swept that. He took on his hat and rub
bed his sleeve over his face. Ills lips
were paid and his teeth chartered. lie
trcmbled all over like palsicd man
and staggered back and forth. Ms " he
were already drunk. His soul shook
within him.
lie had crossed over the little piece ~
stone tagging that measured the width
Of the alley. and now he stood In front
Of the saloon. looking at the Ssn and
staring into the window at the pile OF
whisky and beer bottles arranged In n
great pyramid Inside. He molstencd his