The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-06-29

some OF MS paflSnlOnefS were saying.
They had been talking eXcitedly to-
gether.
MIR. Kirk. we are of the opinion that
this fire was incendiary."
| How is that?" asked Malcolm rous-
ing up a little.
THE first seen of it was in the tow
en- Now. the fire from the prairie
1 could not possibly have caught up
! there Some one must have set it
| Then different ones began to whisper
| their suspicious.
The next day while Malcolm and
| Dorothy We're staying With one of the
church members who took them into
his home. the rumor grew that the fire
was the work of the whisky men.
| Down on the street excited groups OF
men gathered that evening. discussing
the matter. Every one knew that Mall
| com Kirk had fought the saloons from
| the first day of his entrance into Con-
rad. He was feared and hated by
| them more than any one else. He had
succeeded to a large degree in getting
| the other churches to act together in
| the agitation now going ON all over the
| state. He was already noted for his
leadership throughout the county and
| had written and spoken on every posi-.
BILE occasion for the proposed prohibit
tory amendment.
So there was reason in the suspicion
held by the citizens. AS the evening
Wore OH l,rsof of a certain saloon mans
! guilt seemed almost sure. Two or
three persons had seen him coming out
OF the parsonage yard that afternoon
of the fire \ child had seen the same
man on the steps of the church few
minutes after Dorothy had left the par
sonage.
1t was now 10 o'clock The crowd at
the corner by the postoffice grew every
minute larger and more threatening.
Groups of men stood surrounding some
speaker who urged lynching as the
only satisfactory punishment for such
crime. The citizens We're eXasperat-
ed and nervous from the great strain
of the last two days.
Malcolm Kirk came down town late
that night to get the mail from the
east bound express and walked into the
mob just as cries of Lynch the fire
bug"' rose from many voices. AS soon
as the crowd saw him it surrounded
him excitedly.
MIR Kirk, we've proof that Big
Jake set fire to your church"
Malcolm looked over the crowd a
moment in silence. He had not been
thinking SO much about the loss of his
church and parsonage as he came down
town as about Dorothy and his future
prospects. But the sight and sound of
that mob of citizens brought his mind
back to the situation not only in the
town of Conrad but throughout the en-
tire state. For the time, therefore he
let his own personal plans go as lie
faced the fact of a grave crisis in the.
temperance movement
He had more than one Sunday even
ing held outdoor services at the very
corner where the crowd now gathered.
Dorothy had often helped him at
such services by playing and singing.
Every man in Conrad was familiar
With the tall homely, awkward figure
that now lowered over almost every
head, and every man in Conrad re-
spected him.
There was an empty dry goods box
near one of the stores, and Malcolm
Kirk asked some of the men to drag it
out to the corner of the sidewalk The
minute he had mounted it the crowd
became silent.
1t is rare gift to be able to speak to
great crowd of men out of doors and
hold them. Kirk possessed that gift
His voice was Il splendid instrument,
and he knew how to use it. 1t is said
OF Gladstone that in the days of his
greatest power as a speaker people
would lingef in the corridors of the
house of commons when he was talk
ing simply to enjoy the sound of the
tone of his voice, although they could
not distinguish a word that was said
Something OF this same quality made
kirk $ voice fascination for an audi
ence. Whatever it was it could truly
be called a great gift of God.
And me used ii now in Il godlile man
ner He began by calling attention to
the fact that the people of the state
were trying TO abolish the saloon by
legislative amendment to the constitu-
ton At such IL time as that. for the
temperance people TO act in !; lawless
manner toward even the enemies of
the home and the church would be an
act of folly so great that it might en-
danger the entire movement for proh-
bition.
Il am perhaps" continued Malcolm,
the most interested person in this
whole matter. 1t is my church that
has been burned and my home that has
been destroyed. And yet | say to you
men that if YOU attempt to use violence
toward Big Jake or any other saloon
keeper Oh the ground of this circum-
stantial evidence and take the law into
your own hands | will defend him
from such violence at the risk of my
own life. Let us act like men in this
matter-like men who see further than
personal vengeance and are determine
ed that our fight shall be directed not
against the saloon keeper so much as
against the business he represents.