River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-06-20

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teacher; had been county commits
sioner of schools, and we were sure
of his vote Our friends had chosen
another preacher, and we were sure
/ he would vote against US. These two
/ had chosen one of the local officers
constable-and until that year a
school trustee. Personally he be-
/ lieved the earth fat, but he had n
warm regard for me, and his children
were in school How he would vote
was uncertain. But apart from this
we wanted TO convince the commu-
nifty. So we prepared some simple
| apparatus to illustrate the motions
| of the heavenly bodies, and the next
night began again the discussion of
the question: Resolved, That the
earth is fat and stationary, and that
the sun moves around it once in "a
hours"
The discussion of the second even
ing developed no great or new ideas
on either side, but the arguments
| grew more earnest, and on the side
of our opponents more personal. The
second speaker was in dead earnest,
and was dramatic as web. He chose
a position beside my chair, and made
occasional hammering gestures de-
| scending toward my head. l thought
| of the trip hammer so finely adjust
| ed that it could touch watch on
the anvil and not break the crystal,
and 1 hoped his mighty poundings
would continue to stop above my
| head At the close of each heated
| period he cleared his throat with a
threatening gargle, looking down at
me the while. At times he INDUCED
| in sarcasm.
Hes college student-ah! And
he's come out here to instruct us
an! Yes, and to larn us about the shape
| of the yarth-ah! And he knows
more'n what Joshua did-ah! Breth-
ering, do we reckon Joshua didn't
know what to pray fur? Did he say
| 'Yarth, stand thou still on thine axel-
tree?' No. He says, sezee, Sun,
| stand thou still upon Gibeon-ah!
| And thou moon in the valley of
| Ajalon-ah,' But he knows moren
| Joshua! Yes, | shouldn't wonder eff
| he allows he knows more'n God
Almighty that writ this Sook-ah!
| tell We, brtehering, hits the docterin
of infdelity-ah! And any man that
II teach it ought to be drummed out
of the country-ah! R-r-r-r-r-ck!"
Truly, there was more to be said
on this side of the question than
had thought And it was evident that
the audience was by no means a unit
| in our favor The hour drew late
The discussion ended, and the judges
went out in the dark to decide.
The vote stood two to one in our
| favor. The constable cast the decid-
ing vote. But he admitted to me that
he was not fully satisfied. The deci-
sion lay somewhat heavily upon his
| conscience. He sought an interview
with me soon, explaining that his
vote was on the merit of the argu-
ment as he understood it, and not an
Endorsement of my position on the
| question. He asked me to come home
with the children and spend night
and answer some other questions.
So a few nights later | stayed at his
| house.
After supper | set a candle on a
stool, and, taking a ball of yarn,
stuck a knitting needle through it,
and walked round and round the
candle, holding the ball high on one
side and low on the other, aud turn
ing the ball the while. The explana-
ton lasted long, but at last it was
counted satisfactory. My friend the
| constable, declared himself converted.
So we went to bed, and the earth
rolled out into the sunlight again.
After all, we are not so far removed
from the same opinion. When Cotton
Mather preached in Boston that the
! sun is the center of the solar sys-
tenn and Cotton Mather, spite of his
vanIiy and follies, was a progressive
man in his day-so learned and intel
ligent q man as Chief Justice Samuel
Sewall, went home and recorded in
his diary his protest. Let us not
hasten to call people ignorant who
went into isolation in Sewal's time
and have kept pretty well the ideas
of his age on some matters.
But | must tell about two OF my
converts. One of them came to me
when l returned next year. He had
been to London, the county seat of
Laurel county. The railroad had just
been finished to that point, and he
had seen it. The rails, he said, were
as far apart as he could reach, but
as they stretched away in the dis
lance they almost came together.
Don't that show" he asked with
the zeal of new convert, that every
thing works toward the center of
gravitation?"
The other was my friend the con-
stable. The subject came up in our
first meeting. brought it up, and he
fought shy of it. So l pressed the
matter. for l suspected that he had
fallen from grace. At length, he said;
well, | reckon mought as well
own up. They say an honest confess
sion is good for the soul. You made
that seem mighty plain, and I thought