El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-09
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people on the avenue gong by TO serv
ice turned curious. inquiring looks up
at the great house and went on. talking
of the recent events which had so
strangely entered into and made history
in the city.
At the First church Henry Maxwell
bearing on his face marks of the scene
he had been through the night before.
confronted an immense congregation
and spoke of it with a passion and a
power that came so naturally out of
the profound experiences of the day be-
fore that his people felt for him some
thing of the old feeling of pride they
once had in his dramatic delivery.
Only this was a different attitude. and
all through his imprisoned appeal this
morning there was a note of sadness
and rebuke and stern condemnation
that made many Of the members pale
with self accusation or with inward
anger.
For Raymond had awakened that
morning to the fact that the city had
gone for license, after all The rumor
at the Rectangle that the second and
third wards had gone no license proved
to be false 1t was true that the victory
was won by very meager majority.
but the result was the same as if it had
been overwhelming. Raymond had
voted to continue another year the sa-
loon The Christians of Raymond stood
condemned by the result. More than a
hundred Christians. protesting disciples.
had failed to go to the polls. and many
more than that number had voted with
the whisky men, If all the church
members of Raymond had voted against
the saloon, it would today be outlawed
instead Of crowned king Of the munich
pality. That had been the fact in Ray
mond for years The saloon ruled. No
one denied that What would Jesus dol
And the woman who had been brutal
ly struck down by the very hand that
had assisted SO eagerly to work her
earthly ruin-what of herr Was it any
thing more than the logical sequence Of
the whole horrible system of license
that for another year the saloon that
received her so often and comprised her
degradation, from whose very spot the
weapon had been hurled that struck her
dead. would by the law which the
Christian people of Raymond voted to
support open its doors. perhaps tomor-
row. and damn with earthly and eternal
destruction a hundred Loreens before
the year had drawn to its bloody closet
All this. with a voice that rang and
trembled and broke in sobs of anguish
for the result. did Henry Maxwell pour
out upon his PEOPLE that Sunday morn
ing, and men and women wept as he
spoke. Donald Marsh sat there. his
usual erect, handsome. firm, bright.
self confident bearing all gone. his
head bowed upon his breast. the great
tears rolling down his cheeks unmind
full of the fact that never before had he
shown outward emotion in a public
service. Edward Norman near by sat,
with his clear cut. keen face erect. but
his lip trembled and he clutched the end
Of the pew with feeling of emotion |
that struck deep into his knowledge of !
the truth as Maxwell spoke Of it. No !
man had given or suffered more to in !
duence public opinion that last week
than Norman. The thought that the
Christian conscience had been aroused
too late or too feebly lay with weight 7
Of accusation upon the heart of the
editor. What if he had begun to do
Is Jesus would long ago2 Who could
tell what might have been accomplished
BY this timer And up in the choir
Rachel Winslow, with her face bowed
IN the railing Of the oak screen. gave
way to feeling she had not yet al
owed to master her, but it so untitled
her for her part that when Henry Max
we'll finished and she tried to sing the
Of f1n ho,- vol. .
broke. and for the first time in her life
Unable to go on.
Over the church in the silence that
ollowed this strange scene. sobs and
he noise of weeping arose. When had
he First church yielded to such bap-
ism of tears7 What had become of its
ocular. precise. cold. conventional Or
Ter of service. undisturbed by any vul-
,ar emotion and unmoved by any fool
sh excitement But the people had
ately had their deepest convictions
ouched They had been living so long
N their surface feelings that they had
Utmost forgotten the deeper wells of
ife Now that they had broken to the
urface the people were convinced of
he meaning of their discipleship.
Henry Maxwell did not ask this
morning for volunteers to join those
Who had already pledged to do as Jesus
would. but when the congregation had
nally gone and he had entered the lee
ure room it needed but a glance to
how him that the original company of
blowers had been largely increased
The meeting was tender 1t glowed
With the Spirits presence: it was alive