The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1907-01-30

NAL words was 20 embellishsd with
gay little runs and liquid trills tina,
it dubbed over into something
perilously like q waltz caprice be.
fore 1t settled down into . mour nful
B-fiat dirge.
The musical skill of Miss Sallie
was the pride Of the town, SO while
the audience listened and marvelei
at the brilliant effects produced upon
this simple long-metre theme, they
did not suspect that the sanetimoni.
Gus lines were being smoothed out Of
their sin-oppressei countenances.
while to the "Hark! from the tombs''
the flying fingers kept up q blithe-
some accompaniment Of trills and ar
peggio effects running in and out
among the dolorous words, tripping
up the death-bed and judgment-day
associations usually inspired by the
hymn, till at last 1t broke all bounds
and ripped into pagan caienza Of
worship to the Goddess of Spring.
As flowers after a parching blast
lift up their heads in glad response
to refreshing shower, these staid
old hearts ran out to meet this al
legro echo Of the Spring. Death
bed and judgment-day gave place
to the present Joy of lving--the
birds, the flowers, the smiling skies,
that told Of justice tempered with
mercy and the peace that passeth
understanding-till all unconscious
ly the spirit of the congregation had
fallen out of step with the hymn.
When the last little curley-Queues
of melody had died away 1t was
into praise-oftering, smiling, auii.
ence the flushed young pianiste
looked
Now Brother Broadside arose slow
ly and contemplatively. Spreading
out his broad, fat hands, he looked
into the smiling faces around him
just Il bit bewildersd. He, too. was
dimly conscious of the springtime
colorings Of the hillsides. the glory
of the resurrected world and the
lavish love it all betoken. Only dim
ly, however. But this smiling, hope
full state OF mind was not the effect
this hymn was calculated to produce
According TO his usual plan of cam
paign, the singing of "Hark! from
the tombs" turned the minds Of his
hearers to the subject of his sermon
and prepared the way for his text.
he had never before seen a congrega-
ton so little impressed by this
hymn.
Determining to put extra stress
on what was to follow, Brother Ezra
Broadside opened the heavy black
book that lay in state upon the heavy
plush mat and read his text. Every
person in that audience had proba-
bly, read those verses many times
calmly and dispassionately, but from
the lips of Ezra Broadside they were
hurled like curses until with the
final rendering OF 'Woe--Woe! his
voice al ose in towering tones Of i'm
pending doom. Woe unto you!"
he repeated, pointing a fat forefnger
at the collective and individual sin
ners before him, and followed his
gesture with a piercing scrutiny from
his beady eyes. Woe unto you
and you and you'll" pointing out
worlily-looking individuals here and
there over the house, and backing
up his wholesale denunsiation with
volley of threats against this
wicked and perverse generation. >
The depths OF the bottomless pit
were plumbed and sounded before
them till the atmosphere grew blue
and sulphurous, and the flames of
hell-tire seemed to seorch their sin
SCARED souls; the wrath Of God was
poured down in drenching floods up
on their unrepentant heads; the de-
generacy OF human nature, prone
to evil as the sparks fly upward,
was exploited by illustration from
criminal records until the Creator
| thereof must have blushed at His
own handiwork; the horrors of the
death-bed OF the unrepentant sin
ner painted in such lurid. gooseaesh-
inducing terms that the starting eyes
before him began to see the devil
stocking up the fires that were to
burn and blister but not consume
for millions and millions and mil
lions of years.
The perils of dancing were describ
ed in terms his clean-minded young
hearers did not understand, the SER
pent lurking in the bottom OF every
| A.