Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-12-02

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full gift He Is harmless and well dis
posed, and in his playing there are (
voices out Of heaven. beg of you,
therefore, give food and shelter to this
poor child of God, If he will accept
them, and bear with him as brother,
remembering the promises Of Holy
Writ"
He lay down upon the sofa in my |
study and slept hour after hour until
the sun was far down. Then he woke
and, rubbing his hands, said, Hun
ger" i read his wishes and took him
to my room. where he washed and
shortly came down to supper in clean
linen. He ate hurriedly and without
speaking. Then lie went and sat at
one of the windows. humming an old
hymn tune. had made up my mind
to take him to play for us that evening
at the church, and when carried his
violin and spoke to him lie understood
and came along without urging. He sat
beside me quietly on the rostrum In
the church basement. There were
many about the doors who crowded In
after us, and in a moment the seats
were full. After prayer and few
playful remarks by dear old deacon,
whose applause of his own jokes gave
them q saving humor, introduced my
master of the violin. He sat as still as
rock, his head bent forward, and
never once lifted his eyes, finished,
but he made no move. felt a little
touch Of fear when brought the vio-
lin and laid 1t in his lap. He took the
bow and felt it's white bridge of hair
and then dropped 1t on the sounding
roof Of his instrument.
Presently the bow lay on the strings
and for n moment teetered in idle
phrases. choosing its way. Then 1t
was OFF like fleet horse in "The Girl
/ Left Behind Me" l am n man of
experience In misery and have some
wit to save me in contretemps, but
I was floored. had brought the mu-
sic Of the devil into the house of pray
er, and was helpless, like man ina
trance. hoped for something better
to follow-something sacred and SOL
emn enough to save us. Sister Perkins
had already given me n look and walk
ed out with n deadly swish of her
| gown Before knew 1t the sacred
walls OF tile old basement were ring
| ing in i; riot of jigs and reels. Storms
Of praise and prayer and mourning had
shaken their fibers for half century,
but 1t was left for me to profane them
with unlioly music. There were those
to whom it was iiallowed with sacred
memories of the | U!.r OF peace and
conviction. of the day Of mourning. of
the bride in her beauty. of holy vows,
Of imperishable hopes. The crowd was
breaking. half of 1t was gone, and l
got to my feet Just as the player
stopped. Deacon Harper had risen
also, and gave way to him, but the
good deacon had scarcely begun say
ing that he hoped the people would
keep their seats when the stranger
turned in his chair and an oath shot
out Of him that nlade my blood chilly.
"Horriblep "Disgustingl'' Shame
full" were words that rose above the
confusion of their retreat. Some of the
men hung back ms came down from
i Iue EOSlEulu, Dut luOSl udu WOiASu WIN
them and were literally dragged away.
To the few that waited made a weak
apology and was shortly alone with the
author of my confusion. ! reeled, look
ing down into the depth Of my folly
and despair. My poor minstrel tuned
the strings while stood in thoughtful
4 silence. put on my hat presently and
went out into the cool air of the church
\ yard. md he came with rc,--brlngfhs
his violin There among the groves hi
began to play. / can hear now the
tremulous wailing of that silver string
az 1t sang In the still night:
''Jesus lover of my SOUL
Let me to thy bosom fly.
could see the tears shining on hii
face in the moonlight. have heard
men praying with grand and print
tive eloquence. when the love of Coo
had first come to them. but here wal
voice that somehow spoke for hu
manity. The ninth song of Mendels
!, sohn followed. and the twenty-second
sweeter to me than NIL others.
Far into the night sat on moss,