St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-06-24


could be seen terror and despair. NOT
since years before when their daughter
had been brought home corpse, VIC
tim of the wicked pleasures and vices
of Sodom. had ne seen similar express
sion on her face. -
But Lot needed no urging. An over
towering dread Of impending disaster
filled his heart, and his uneasy con-
science acted as a spur to his terrified
feelings.
By way Of reply, he pushed the street
door open and without word he sped
forth. into the darkness, and down the
street over which he had so proudly
walked with his two guests but few
hours before. Their last words were
still ringing in his ears, and over and
over again he could hear the solemn au-
thoritative tones as they declared:
Hast thou here any besides? Son
in-lsw, and thy sons and thy daughters,
and whatsoever thou hast in the city,
bring them out of this place; for we Will
destroy this place, because the cry OF
then, is waxen great before the face OF
the lord; and the Lord hath sent us
to destroy it."
Fer lent swiftness to Lots feet, and
despite the darkness, and repeated
STUN bling over the uneven, rough road,
the troubled father made good time.
His errands took him to the far side OF
the city, where his daughters dwelt.
Gould it be- he pondered, as he went,
''that it was only yester afternoon that
/ talked with King Bera regarding the
extension of the boundaries of the city?
Neve,. was the city so prosperous, never
were there so many people within our
gates, never were the markets of So
dom so frequented by the people from
the gurronding country? And now all
is to be swept away and Lot groaned.
Gould itbe?" he exclaimed, fercely, and
stopped short in his flight, as the mean
ing Of it all swept over him.
Lots administration of the affairs
of the city had proved more than sue
cessful. and with the material prosper
| ity had come increased population, SO
that no longer did the walls of the city
compass all the people who sought
hatitation therein. Many at the pres
ent time were dwelling outside the
| walls, and the conference with the king
| the previous afternoon had resulted in
definite plans being laid for the partial
rebuilding and extension of the wall.
And the memory of all this made Lot
pause suddenly and ask himself over
| and over again:
Can it be that all this is to be lost?'
He remembered the pride and salts
| faction with which he returned to his
post at the city's gate; he recalled the
deferential mods and bows of the popu-
lace as he passed along the street, and he
remembered thinking at the time with
self-conscious complacency OF how
| much better the city was than it would
have been had he not been there to curb
| and stem the currents of vice. But with
the latter thought came the memory
| of the awful violence of the night, of
| his appeal for order and decency, and of
the mad brutishness which made the
people Indifferent to his authority and
deaf to his appeals. The coming of the
two strangers to Sodom had aroused
| hellish passions and hatred which he
| had never dreamed existed in the city.
Lot trembled at the thought of that
awful hour! He realized that he owed
| his own life to his two guests who had
| dragged him within the house when the
frenzied mob had rushed upon him, and
then had stayed with miraculous hand
| its wicked purposes.
| How dare he pause? he asked him.
self He knew the two strangers were
! God s messengers, and again their warn
| ing rang in his ears, and feverishly he
hurried on. The night was far spent,
and save for an occasional straggler re-
turning from late debauch, the streets
were deserted AS he proceeded, the
| sound of wild, drunken revelry was
heard in the distance, and as he drew
| nearer, he saw the lurid glare of the
torches of the attendants as they pilot
ed the roisterers to their homes. Had
Lot not been in such haste he would
have made wide detour to avoid them,
but thinking he could slip by unnoticed,
he continued on his way. He was al
most past the group, and few more
steps would have taken him into the
sheltering darkness just ahead, when
one of the fellows pushed his way to the
side of Lot and, leering up into his face,
said in half-drunken gutteral:
"Well, by the gods, if it isn't Fathe.
Lott"
! And then, throwing wink and nod
towards his companions as they gath
cred about him, he continued, with q
facetious chuckle:
"The sweets of Sodom taste best al
night, hey, Lot. It's time you were get.
ting few of the pleasures. Sorry you
didn't come sooner. Oh, but we have
had night of it"
The outburst of wild laughter would
have encouraged the speaker to con.
tinue his ribald speech had not some
thing in the expression on Lots face
caused him to pause. What a scene thai
was. The drunken crowd; the Pickering
lights which lit up the nce-seamed
faces; the wild, reckless laughter, and
Lot, trembling and overcome by the hor'
ror of it all, revealed in his face the re
vulsion of feelings which the goddess
J Life Of Sodom was rolling in upon him.