Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-30

ford a welcome substitute for the geneflux-
Ton. And on this point l think with the
crowd.
Twas in Danville, in the Old Dominion.
where this first-hand information on the
Holy Jumpers was obtained. A whole day
and the Sabbath at that-in the railroad
yards at Danville is enough to make any
proposition welcome. and when. about Z
O'Clock Sunday evening, somebody suggest
led wandering up the street and watching
the Holy Jumpers perform, 1 rose at the
idea like hungry trout. So we started out,
half dozen of us, for the scene OF the ex-
element.
Still in the LimeHght.
Although the Holy Jumpers have been do
ing stunts around here for quite a number
of harvest moons, they are still an attrac-
ton with the good folks of Danville. And
can see the reason why. IT'S for all the
world like the broncho-busting feature of
Buffalo Bits wild west. The same horses
feel the leather every day. but not one Of
them ever cuts up twice just alike That's
the way with the Jumpers. The same old
regulars turn out for every service-if it
may be called that-but the fits are assort-
ed. various and different.
We certainly weren't much impressed
with the Holy Jumpers tabernacle, or
whatever 1t Is. 1 wouldn't call 1t church
for nine dollars in real money and If 1 did
something would surely happen before the
special got back to Washington. And I
the chance.
Anyhow. we found the Holy Jumpers
hang-out to be a battered. shattered, paint
less building, used in the days Of old
Rameses as some sort of lecture hall. The
walls and the floors and the ceiling were
grimy and gray with dirt and age, and in
the whole place there wasn't single thing
to make for attractiveness. In the front of
the long room-which imagine would seat
about 500 people at pinch-stood the pull
pit a boX-like affair of sapphire Stats, and
looking like combination piano crate and
chicken coop. The rest of the space was
filled up with wooden benches, frail and
rickety and dirty beyond belief
We got to the hall a little ahead of time,
and 1t was about fifteen minutes 50 be-
fore the Jumpers came in-about twenty of
them-and all of them marked by a slant of
brow and CLEAN Of eye that would have
made watching alienist snort with joy
and reach for his notebook.
The hall was crowded long before the
Jumpers came in. A three-ringed circus on
free day couldn't have packed the limited
space with more specimens of sweltering
humanity.
Booked for Trouble.
As I've mentioned, the Jumpers came in
after the crowd. including our own Wash
ington half dozen, had settled down for
the evening but they didn't lose any time
in getting started. Their minister hope
/ haven't called him out of his name
climbed into the chicken coop and an
nounced that there was g. recent convert on
the premises booked for trouble-or words
TO that efYect-and that the Jumpers would
wrestle with old Hoofs-and- Horns there
and then. With that he climbed down
took seat on one Of the front benches
with the other Jumpers and In a minute
you could have heard pin drop in the
hall.
But this Senate chamber chill didn't last
long. In little while--though 1t seemed
about an hour to u.s. sitting there wait
ing for something to happen-somebody
moaned. 1t wasn't a cheerful moan nor
that demanded an encore. 1t was
reminiscent of the ghost scene in Hamlet
with a little al frescO tombstone work
thrown in. There was silence for another
minute. followed by another moan. And
] began to feel as nervous a triplicate
widower at a slate writing test.
Then things began to liven up. The con-
vert, middle-aged woman with a Ito let
expression in her faded eyes and her back
hair done up in a London bun. dropped to
her knees from the mourners' bench and
began to shed hairpins. She was a rapid
worker. but long before the bun became a
thing of the past there was something
doing. A pale, frowsy young with a
dignfed Adams apple started things off
with a mild treble yelp. and from that
time until the close of the service it was
right hard to think. The Jumpers proved
mighty strong in the vocal apartment. and
their cute little songs were as inspiring
the death chant of a cave-dweller.
But l soon discovered that all this