Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1901-12-05
THE CONVERSION
OF PHILANDEE

His was one Of the most unique and
interesting recitals since the days when
Saul of Tarsus was suddenly converted
and savors OF the miraculous as well,
but TO get the full meat of it one must
hear 1t from the lips of the chief actor,
touched by the strong flavor of humor
he imparts to il. 1t is quite a different
heroic from the experience" he gives
in prayer meeting. quite as truthful,
but garnished with frills OF expression
that are easily forgiven TO an old sol
der, Philander being a veteran of the
civil war.
His whole name-it comes OF good
stock and is an honorable one-is Phi
lander Kile Tucker, and he was a men,
Der OF the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin
volunteers, Company c. with the rank
Of first sergeant. And one of the little
ironies of fate is expressed in the fact
that he fought hard and bravely and
went through the war without scratch
to find himself many years later badly
worsted by an agent of peace. Sergeant
Tucker believes absolutely that 1t was
divine plan carefully laid and carried
out to bring him into the fold.
II fought men part of my life. but l
fought the Lord all my life. You see. If
wasn't for him l must be against him.
Why, l was a terror in those days. l
used to swear like a trooper before l
was converted. By gum. sometimes the
air was blue with sulphur-wasn't 1t,
wife p
"Yes," admitted Mrs. Tucker with a
smile. Her face. with its corona of
white hair and pink color. looked as
sweet and serene as a Madonna's as
she sat opposite her soldier laddie and
heard his oft told tale with the same
amount of interest as II it were new.
You didn't mean any harm, father.
and you were honest but you had a
great gift of swearing. 1 noticed it
more after you came home from the
war"
II always swore, ever since ] could
speak, but you got kind of used to 1t.
Cuss words just seemed TO come kind
of natural. When 1 got mad, / swore.
That was before l was converted. What
year was that? 1t seems-particular-
that can't remember"
at was along In 1907" his wife said.
"Sure. You're right. as you always
are. 1t was in September. at 4 o'clock
in the afternoon. was helping neigh
Dor harvest, and was driving a steam
traction harvester, and that was the
time the Lord got ready to tackle me.
Il was backing up to hitch on to the
separator before moving to the next lot,
and just at that moment the folks came
out and asked me to come in to supper.
l wasn't hungry and would rather have
worked than eat, but farmers are kind
of huffy If you slight their vittles and
expect hands to eat early and often.
$50 went in to supper. and when
come out l found that engine blowing
off at lis pounds of steam. Whew! 1t
was hotter than-no, mother, l wdn't
swear-than particular, and l swore
then blue streak. And l don't doubt
the Lord heard me. ] certainly swore
loud enough.
''Then | took hold of the reverse lever
to back my engine up TO take on the
separator. and the pressure of steam
was so great on the valve the lever
pulled like runaway horse. gave 1t
quick. hard jerk. and that lever drop
ped from my hand TO the bottom of the
quadrant and that left the ports wide
open. and the engine lit out like Wild
fire and run back into the separator.
and when they came together / was
between the two. was squeezed like
lemon between the two machines, and
the engine run thirty feet with me be-
fore it jounced away from the separa-
tor. was saying to myself, old boy,
IL you're going to get out of this it's
time you were doing something your
SELF and with that l gave a shout. and
the men came running up and / was
taken out in sections-at least it seemed
that way then.
II said: Boys, catch me. I am going
to faint. This is the Lords doing, but If
he thinks I'm going to accept his love
in this fashion he'll find he's mistaken.
If I'm to go over the road. I'll go just
as l am And then | didn't know
another thing for two weeks. And l
wasn't converted then. by gum!
But when they had used a barn
door to splinter me together and l was
beginning to suffer the pain of healing
wounds l began to wonder why the
Lord hadn't finished the job and
squeezed me out altogether, and a kind
of feeling came over me that might as
well give up; If he cared enough about
my soul as to try to save 1t / might as
well help along instead Of kicking
against him, as / had done all my life.
And then l up and asked pardon for all
my meanness and promised to use no
more cuss words, and if one does slip
out now and then-Fd kept them on
tap so long-he isn't going to be hard
on me after putting me through what
he did to get me. Glory halleluiah~
Here Mrs. Philander ran her hands
over the keys of the little parlor organ
in an anthem of praise, and the old sol
der stood erect, a fine figure of a man,