The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-12-26


heaven, where everything was so holy
and respectable and nobody wore tan
cord and the littlest angel had black
tail coat. She wished she hadn't call
ed him thief and Roman Catholic.
She hoped the German hadn't told him.
She wondered where those clothes were
when he came in rags to her door.
There was no doubt he was very re-
spectacle man, a gentleman.
The German began to read hymn.
At the end of each line Bonaparte i
groaned and twice at the end of every
verse.
The Boer woman had often heard Of
persons grooming during prayers to add J
a certain poignancy and finish to them.
Old Jan Vanderlinde, her mothers
brother, always did it after he was
converted, and she would have looked
upon it as no especial sign of grace in
any one. But to groan at hymn time!
She was startled. She wondered if he
remembered that she shook her fist in
his face. This was a man of God.
They knelt down to pray. The Boer
woman weighed $50 pounds and could
not kneel. She sat in her chair and
peeped between her crossed fingers at
the strangers back. She could not
understand what he said. but he was
in earnest. He shook the chair by the
back rail till it made quite little dust
on the mud floor.
When they rose from their knees,
Bonaparte solemnly seated himself in
the chair and opened the Bible. lie
blew his nose, p.lled up his shirt col
lar. smoothed the leaves stroked down
his capacious waistcoat, blew his nose
again, looked sclemnly round the room.
then began:
"All liars shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brim
stone, which is the second DEATH"
Having read this portion of Scrip
ture, Bonaparte paused impressively
and looked all round the room.
81 shall not. my dear friends" he
said, 'long detain you. Much of our
precious time has already fed bliss
fully from us in the voice of thanks
giving and the tongue of praise. A
few. very few. words are all l shall
address to you, and may they be as a
rod Of iron dividing the bones from
the marrow and the marrow from the
bones.
"In the first place. what is a liar?'
The question was put so pointedly
and followed by pause so profound
that even TIE Hottentot man left off
looking at his boots and opened his
eyes. though he understood not a word.
II repeat" said Bonaparte. what is
a liar?"
The sensation was intense. The at
tention of the audience was riveted.
"Have you any of you ever seen n
liar, my dear friends?" There was a
still longer pause. 81 hope not; truly
hope not. But will tell you what a
liar is l knew a liar once-a little boy
who lived in Cape Town, in Short Mar
ket street. His mother and l sat to-
gether one day discoursing about our
souls.
Here, Sampson said his mother,
go and buy siXpence of "meiboss''
from the Malay round the corner
much have you got?'
"'Five,' he said
"He was afraid if he said six and a
half she'd ask for some. And. my
friends. that was lie. The half of a
'meiboss' stuck in his throat and he
died and was buried. And where did
the soul of that little liar so to. my
friends? 1t went to the lake of fire and
birthstone. This brings me to the Sec
ond point of my discourse.
"What is lake of fire and brim-
stone? will tell you, my friends
said Bonaparte condescendingly 1.-The
imagination unaided cannot conceive it,
but by the help Of the Lord will put
1t before your minds eye.
r II was travelling in Italy once on a
time. came to city called Rome, a
vast city, and near it is a mountain
which splits forth fire. Its name is
Etna. Now. there was man in that
city of Rome who had not the fear OF
God before his eyes. and he loved q
woman. The woman died, and he
walked up that mountain splitting fire
and when he got to the top he threw
himself in at the hole that is there
The next day | went up. was not
afraid. The Lord preserves his serv
ants. And in their hands shall the,
bear thee up, lest at any time thou
fall into It volcano. 1t was a darl
night when | got there, but in the feal
of the Lord walked to the edge Of
the yawning abyss and looked in. Tba
sight-that sight, my friends. is i'm
pressed upon my most indelible mem
DRY. ] looked down into the lurit
depths upon an incandescent lake. s
melted fire. seething sea- The bill
lows rolled from side to side, and OF
their fiery crests tossed the white skel
eton of the suicide. The heat hat
burned the flesh from off the bones
They lay as light cork upon the melt
ed fiery waves. One skeleton hant
was raised upward, the finger pointing
to heaven: the other, with outstretch
ed finger. pointing downward, a:
though it would say, I go below. bu
yOu BOQlDarte. NAV soar above