Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1907-05-23
UM BOftIeSand'
New Wine
BY Shan r. Bullock
Copyright. by Joseph n. Bowles)

me lake.
We were gliding through the twi'
light and the creeping mist away to-
ward Clackan und the cottage there,
In which Daniel was To prove himself
before us all.
Daniel! How well we remembered
him. How short time Il seemed
since the days when he had sat among
us In the school house there among
the trees. And now he was back from
college; and every one was proud OF
him, and we. his old playmates, were
going TO hear him preach the Word.
Ii was TO be his first sermon In Clack-
an. For three years we had not seen
him.
We made goodly company. From
far and near people had gathered to
I do Daniel honor. Clackan filled half
the room; Gorteen gave its best and
| wisest. In the second row from the
table sat Mary. Daniels sweetheart.
her. father on this side. her mother on
! that Everywhere one saw fam ar
f. faces. stern and rugged, beaten with
, rain and wind--faccs that in the morn
Ing had looked up ut the minister
from the pews In Derryvad, and now
were turned upon the door watching
for sight Of Daniel. What II. in
stead Of Daniel. one wondered. they
. had seen the minister come In and
sit by the table? Would they have
welcomed him? Would he. coming
suddenly, have seen something in
them--a softness. a cheerful repOse-
which to him was strange? Maybe 30.
Maybe
Hush! The door opened and a lit
tie procession came ln-the preacher
first, Daniel next. the family following
after one by one TO their places on the
first form.
There followed n hymn then a chap.
ter from Isaiah. read we'll and feel.
ingly: then third hymn. and O
shorter and more personal prayer. in
which God was asked to bless the
| vi WIN. lutu
ute of hustle, followed by dead hush
as Daniel rose.
His face was flushed. his lips trem-
bled little; slowly he read q text:
odd things are passed away: behold.
all things are become new" He re.
peated II as II to Mary and himself,
and then closed his Bible, laid II on
the table, and began.
lie opened confidently, with the
surety of youth and the fluency Of one
well prepared. There was no hating;
In a breath he was white-hot. brim-
ming with words. They came like O
torrent pouring down a. mountain. so
quick that one might hardly follow
them. so insistent that one almost felt
them whirl. | sat amazed. whelmed
tyou have seen willows bent toward
q stream. or a weed bowed toward the
sum; and already Daniel was deep.
and frowns had gathered on the
brows of many, when of sudden the
glamour went. and | had plain see
ing.
What Daniel said have long forgot
ten Though men at Clackan will re-
peat much of II TO you even today;
but given the text and the occasion.
and you may easily guess the fash
ion of his discourses. II was just
what you might expect Of All ambi-
tious youth gifted and not without ed
ucation come fresh from the pastures
of culture to shed light upon the
darkness of his native hills. Three
years ago Daniel had left us, filled
with those old things; now, having
browsed happily. he had come back
shining with new things. ClackaD
was a dear place. its people worthy;
but time had moved on, leaving 1t
bound in ignorance. Such changes
had come upon the world; such won
ders been revealed of late In the do
mains of knowledge! There was this
wonderful theory of evolution. There
were those extraordinary discoveries
In science. There were these mar
velous doings of the higher criti-
cism. There was this new spirit of
the age moving across the face OF the
waters. Back there lay those old
dead things; here among us were
those wonderful new things, quick, i'm.
perative, claiming, said Daniel. In q
whirl of words. fullest consideration
of all Christian men.
To the consideration of these. there |
fore, Daniel passed; and before him
we ignorant loughsiders sat dumb our
faces set. and hard. Boldly he tramp
pied on our ignorance; boldly would
lead us into light. All his learning
and reading he drew upon, striving to
give us true knowledge. We were
narrow, prejudiced, intolerant; behold |
this new spirit Of the age which should |
make us free. All men were broth |
ers. One Christian soul was as good |
as another. Our idef of religion
were Anticipated. Our conception OF |
God was childish. We had vain NO
lions Of heaven and hell; we read our
Bible ignorantly: we had never grasp
ed the real spirit OF Christ's message
to the world.
Had Daniel stood In some city pull
Dit, doubtless everything he sai6