Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-27

out his hands as if he would clasp ana
hold them and began
My friends-Charley Davenport is dead.
He IS, as you say. out of the game Touch
his hand-there is returning pressure.
Speak to him-he does not answer. When
did that ever happen before? When did he
ever until now meet you without hearty
hand grip? When did he ever fail to
ply?
"A new thing has happened to him. He
cannot stir hand or foot He cannot speak.
He is dead. He isn't there any more. He
has gone!
Gone where? you ask l will tell you.
He has gone to be judged! He has gone
where the book of his life will be opened,
where his account will be read where he
will see at last what he has been and done
from the beginning, where he will be paid
his wages
Some time, perhaps very soon. this will
happen to you. They will touch your hand
and will let it fall, a limp cold thing! They
will speak to you and get no answer. You
will be dead. You will have gone like
him, to get your wages. You try not to
believe this, to run away from the fact,
but it's there, born with you. You can't
escape Il.
More than that Some of you-are very
nearly dead, already
You don't believe it? Deny 1t If YOU
can, you who sink into the apathy of
drunkenness and lie in a torpor and drag
yourselves out, from q gravel Deny il.
if you can, you who whip a jaded passion
till 1t fails to respond!
You are dead. 1 tell you. nine-tenths
dead, and death is creeping over you like
paralysis to take the other tenth!
Why you taking your wages before the
time, the wages of sin which is death?
Can you not walt for your hell? Must you
have it now?"
GREATNESS silence held the vast COM
pany. They We're getting what they wanted.
That's right. Go ahead" they seemed to
say. He could not make 1t too strong for
them. Frank Henley's words came back
to him. They are great wide-open mouths
and stomachs.' Even their religion must
''go down like a buzz-saw." as the cowboy
demanded of his dram.
Very well, they should have 1t, right
eousness and-judgment to come" He
would them to tremble as Paul
caused Felix More fervid grew his words
louder rang his voice. then sank to win
ming tenderness as he urged them to
consider 1.-The gift of God" as op-
posed to the wages of SIM" be-
sought them % lay hold upon it-for II was
eternal life, as surely as the other was
death.
While the stir of satisfaction was yet
perceptible throughout the throng, the COM
mittee performed their final and by no
means least important function. They
quickly whipped off their hats and pre-
scented them to each individual present.
moving rapidly from group to group.
Here you be- said Bill pressing silver
and gold and paper into the parsons hand.
Seventy-three dollars and two bits he
said, shaking the hand and it's contents
You done 1t up brown parson. that's what
you did. II Charley amt sittin' on a cloud
with a harp and a crown, singin' Halle
lujah,' faint our fault. Yer jaw panned
out when you opened It, / hope you'll be
on hand to plant me when my time comes"
He darted away to his place In the pro-
cessfon already moving c.rcumspectly away.
At the foot of the hill they broke ranks
and separated, some to return to work.
some to talk over what they had seen and
heard. some to "liquor." But there was no
dancing that afternoon and evening and
there was very little card playing.
The undertaken drove Vaughan to the
church and entered with him, to make sure
that his assistants had left everything In
order. Nothing had been done, the trestle
on which the coffin had rested still stood
below the platform. the chairs were hud-
about to make way for the formal entry
of the orders. The undertaken strobe up
and down and fumed. Soon the young men
came running IN
I'VE wanted to see, the show they re-
piled to his fault-fndng but say
warn't it greatg' They began zealously to
restore order.
Vaughan fdgeted from church to study
and back again. 1t was impossible TO set
tie down to any definite work. He wished
that he could talk over the events of the
afternoon with some one who would I'M
derstand and sympathize He wished the
Henleys were within reach If Galena
were not so far, or IL he had Black Birdie,
he would go TO them.
He wondered If the charming woman on
Rlchmopd Hill really meant what she said
about his coming again. He had half a
mind to put her to the test. Restless, ir-
resolute. he wandered to and fro went to
the door and looked out, returned. and An
ished by selling his hat and making for
Richmond Hill.
| (To be continued tomorrow