The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-10-08

1T us with her glorious eyes, began to
sing.
Her voice, rich soprano, even and
true rose and :ell. now soft, now
strong, but always filling the building,
pouring around us floods Of music. I
had heard PATHS Home, Sweet
Home" and Of all singing that alone
affected me as did this.
At the end of the first verse the few
women in the church and some Of the
men were weeping quietly, but when
she began the words,
when I remember all
The friends once linked together"
sobs came on every side from these
tender hearted fellows, and Shaw quite
lost his grip. But she sang steadily on,
the tone clearer and sweeter and fuller
at every note, and when the sound Of
her voice died away she stood looking
at the men as if in wonder that they
should weep. No one moved. Mr.. Craig
played softly on and, wandering
through many variations, arrived at
last at
Jesus, lover Of my soul"
Is sine sang the appealing words her
face was lifted up, and she saw none
of us, but she must have seen some
one. for the cry in her voice could only
come from one who could see and feel
help close at hand. On and on went the
glorious voice, searching my souls
depths, but when she came to the
words,
Thou, O Christ art all want"
she stretched up her arms-she had
quite forgotten US; her voice had borne
her to other worlds-and sang with
such passion Of abandon that my soul
was ready to surrender anything, ev-
erything.
Again Mr.. Craig wandered on through
his changing chords till again he came
to familiar ground, and the voice be-
gan in low, thrilling tones Bernards
great song of home, Jerusalem, the
Golden"
Every word, with all its weight Of
meaning, came winging to our souls till
we found ourselves gazing afar into
those stately halls of Zion, with their
DAYLIGHT serene and their jubilant
throngs. When the singer came to the
last verse, there was pause. Again
Mr.. Craig softly played the interlude,
but still there was no voice. looked
up. She was very white, and her eyes
were glowing with their deep light. Mr..
Craig looked quickly about, saw her,
stopped and half rose, as If to go to
her, when, in a voice that seemed to
come from a faroff land, she went OF:
"oh, sweet and blessed country"
The longing, the yearning, in the Sec
ond "Oh" were indescr+bable. Again
and again as she, held that word and
then dropped down with the cadence III
the music my heart ached for l knew
not what.
The audience We're sitting as in a
trance. The grimy faces Of tie miners,
for they never get quite white, were
furrowed with the tear courses. Shaw
by this time had his face, too, lifted
high, his eyes gazing far above the
singers head, and knew by the rap
ture in his face that he was seeing, as
she saw, the thronging, stately halls
and the white robed conquerors. He
had felt and was still feeling all the
stress Of the fight, and to him the
vision Of the conquerors in their glory
was soul drawing and soul stirring.
And Nixon, too-he had his vision, but
what he saw was the face Of the singer
with the shining eyes, and, by the look
of him, that was vision enough.
Immediately after her last note Mrs.
Mavor stretched out her hands to her
little girl, who was sitting On my knee,
caught her up and, holding her close to
her breast, walked quickly behind the
curtain. Not a sound followed the
singing. No one moved till she had dis
appeared, and then Mr.. Craig came to
the front and, motioning to me to fol-
low Mrs. Mavor, began in a low, dis
dnct voice:
Gentlemen, it was not easy for Mrs.
Mavor to sing for US, and you know
she sang because she is miners wife
and her heart is with the miners. But
she sang, too, because her heart is his
who came to earth this day so many
years ago to save US all, and she
would make you love him, too, for in
loving him you are saved from all base
loves, and you know what mean.
"And before we say good night, men,
want to know if the time is not come
when all Of you who mean to be bet
r than you are should join in putting
from US this thing that has brought
sorrow and shame to US and to those
we love? You know what I mean.
Some Of you are strong. Will you
stand by and see weaker men robbed
of the money they have for those far
away and robbed Of the manhood that
no money can buy or restore?
"Wiil the strong men help? Shall
we join hands in this? What do you
say? In this town we have often. seen
hell, and just q moment ago we were
all looking into heaven, the sweet and
blessed country Oh, men," and his
voice rang in an agony through the
building-"oh, men, which shall be
ours? For heavens dear sake, let US
help one another! Who will:'
I was looking out through slit in
the curtain. The men, already wrought
to intense feeling by the music, were
listening with set faces and cleaning
eyes, and as at the appeal "Who will?"
Craig raised high his hand Shaw, Nix
on and a hundred men sprang to their
feet and held high their hands.
have witnessed some thrilling scenes
in my life, but never anything to equal
that, the one man on the platform
standing at full height, with his hand
thrown up to heaven, and the hundred
men below standing straight, with
arms up at full length, silent and al
most motionless.