St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-09-21

| and the dull humble Of his voice rose
| to q triumphant shout. His gestures,
which had been said to lend superb
grace to his oratory, were spasmodic,
sometimes ridiculous. His sermon,
1 when unaecompanied By the power Of
elocutlon, was commonplace. It
could be seen he was skipping pages
IN desperation, and sigh of relief fol
lowed the amen, from the preacher as
Iwellas the audience.
| The man was failure. He even
/ felt it himself ashe stood in the yestry
| listening to labored compliments.
The Manners faction was gathered
lin the vestry; the circle seemed to
have grown smaller. They had ex-
changed their air Of self-confdenee
for perplexity Their conference was
disturbed BY the bluff voice Of sena-
tor Rhoads:
"Electing your candidate, gentle
men r.
One Of the men turned on his heel
and crossed the yestry to look out at
the window.
/ eBe amiable, gentlemen, entreat-
ed the senator, and let us look at
YOUR candidates failure from com
mon sense view. I'm the only man on
the other side who had the nerve to-
come and see you. / guess they've
| all gone home" He shut the vestry
door Z guess we will be allowed
ten-minutes conference behind
closed doors. There are some women
out there who have half anhour' wor-
ship to get through with yet. Your
candidate deserves our hndliest con-
sideration."
He was il" said one man, loyalty.
You'd have had gnifcent out
burst Of oratory if you had lodged him
somewhere else than at Mrs Hoyd's;
at my humble home, for instance 2
The senator laughed genially .That
woman was the cause Of his downfall" J"
eWhat do you mean, senator?"
Without any disrespeet for the
cloth, doyou remember Mark Iwain's
story Of fthejumping frog Of Calaveras
county? TO speak plainly, did you
watch the reverend gentleman eat?"
4 can't say that / did. Ibid notice
he drank no wine. / heard him tell
Mrs. Floyd he had no prejudice
against liquor. He RETAINED from it /
because he felt a pastor ought to set
such an example. I thought thatwas
fne.'
Playing to the gallery, said the
senator, grufiy. g on didn'tsee him
eat9"
Il cant say did. Twas attending
to my own dinner" Smith was not
cordial.
Well, / did. Ny wife and ARE
plain, oldfashioned people. I have
toskip large portion Of Mrs Floyd's
dinners. They are fine, but a few Of
them would kill me, | got interested
in watching your Rev. Percy Man
ners, because I knew he was getting
beyond his carrying capacity A man
who has to get up and pose as an ora
tor cant do it on a full stomach. I |
know too many who have triedit, and
died Of it. When I'm going to
speakand preaching is just as great
strain as a speech in the senate
chamber or at political meeting
do it on plate of soup or a bowl Of
bread and milk. sat across the table
from your candidate, and ] can tell
you exactly on what his strength was
built. He began on bluepoints, then
be strolled ahead, skipping nothing:
Turtle soup, olives, fllets Of halibut,
tomatoes, Iarded fllet Of beef with
horse radish sauce, potatoes, string
beans, asparagus, sweetbreads, punch,
9roiled quail, celery salad, lemon pie,
ce cream, wine jelly. cheese, waters,
black coffee, and more Ice water than
ever saw poured into man. I tell |
you, Smith, from the fact that your
nan got through this hot afternoon
md preached sermon any kind Of
sermon1'm willing to give him q
Tote simply because ! admire his
lerve. f
Yon needn't get sulky, Smith.
m simply demonstrating that your
nan wasn't in a fit state to preach the
Gospel. I've as much respect for a
lrunkard as for glutton, and
7 on needn't rub it in any deeper. Il
enator said Smith, gloomily. sI
nay as well tell you that before YOU
nteTed we had unanimously agreed
8 join in the call to Rev. Mr. Piggott.
ae seems to be the choice Of the con-
Tegation. Good Housekeeping.
An Elizabethan Cup. ]
Il -