Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-17

Bender's daily wage had been 80 cents, but
never before had three square meals been
thrown in
Mrs. Spillane had a right to know about
this turn of the wheel and to her Bender
! hurried. His triumphal progress some
what retarded by the second floor, rear,
man, who sat, staring, on the StOOp of the
house. Not that the man of the second floor
was given to idle talking, but his very
presence alone was enough to interfere with
Benders pursuit of the moment at any
time. There had been times when that
mans step on the stairs had held Bender
spellbound until the slamm:ng door re-
sounded behind him. And so, as he came
through East@5d street, his steps drew more
dragging and dragging the nearer he got
to the house. His affairs were forgotten
for the instant and he thought so deeply
of the others that. unconsciously, he
halted to ponder with greater concentra-
ton. The others prOtracted scowl, direct
ed at Render. set the latter again in mo-
ton and sent him flying up the stoop with
an unreplied, Good morning"
In the hall Mrs Spillane was trying to
rub some gloss into a dilapidated hat
stand when her favorite lodger entered.
We'll, any luck today?" she inquired list
lessly.
Bender reported the events of the day
and. pointing al the stoop ended with:
And how's his nibs today?'
oh. about the same's usual replied the
landlady, and closed the interview.
Long after Mrs. Spllane had retired to
her beloved basement regions. where
dodgers were not permitted to intrude, Ben
der still stood in the hall, fairly boring
holes with his eyes through the door, be-
hind which the second-tloor man was tax
ing his Sullen airing. And again, later,
when Bender at last had started on his
climb, he stopped at the second floor,
rear, door and came as near to eaVesdrop-
ping as his conscience would permit him.
Whatever he heard or discovered, after
vigil of perhaps two minutes, Bender
direfully shook his head and continued on
10 the top floor.
During his three months in the Army
Bender had carefully absorbed and prac
tiCed the dOgmas of that remarkable body.
Scarcely any of the small daily tasks were
performed by him without holding COM
| munion." And so. as soon as his cubby-
hole was reached. h again resorted to
communion in this travail of his SOUL
These "cOmmuniOnS' were not perfume
tory matters, but events accompanied by
much detail. First he went to the sink
in the hall to cleanse his hands; then he
brushed his hair and spread a newspaper
on the floor before his cot. After this mise
en- scene had been arranged, he again went
to the sink and once more washed his
hands Back in the room, he locked his
paper beside the bed. With folded hands
and unified eyes he remained for a
moment before communing with Him, his
God, the God of Bender.
please excuse me, God, for coming to
You again with my troubles, but, honest,
can't help it. And it amt only my trou-
bleS / want to talk to You about, but l
want to thank You. too. for what You
done for me about getting that job at the
restaurant. It's no use q talking, | needed
it. and. You can bet, it came in awful
| handy. But l don't know what to do about
| two funny people the second floor.
| They're my neighbors and i got to do
! something for them because it is my duty,
! but | don't know how what and ! got
to put it up to You and hope You'll help
| me- II You would only give me a little
Sllore nerve SOS l could speak to that fell
! low about coming over TO the Army some
| night with me, think it would be all right.
| He's been sinner all right, for Capt. Aggie
Haskins says you can read a whole lot in
| faces and his face don't look right TO me at
| all. / guess that's about all | can tell You
| just now and l hope You'll send me some
! inspiration SOS | can rescue that fellow
| from his wiCkedness. And now | thank
You for Your goodness to me and ask Your
| blessing and strength SOS / won't fall by
| the wayside. And-and, so long, Father.
] Amen"
| And truly, that prayer was heard.
| They were celebrating Hot Time Even
/ ing at the Salvation Army that night and
! Bender, of course, was present. The trend
| of his simple life was sadly disturbed by
| the strange couple on the second floor, rear.
The only thing he knew about them from
| observation and through Mrs. Spillane was
| that they were poorly situated.
! Had he known all about them he might
! have deemed their fate commonplace, but
| the mystery surrounding them and the odd
|
! cination for Bender. He had thought
| about them and how to help them all day
end at the Hot Time" he found applica-
| ton 10 them in every song, every speech,
| every testimony uttered.
| 1t was after the song, Were All Going
| Home TO Heaven" sung to the air of I'VE
! Won't Go Home Till Morning." that Ben
| ders psychological moment came to him.
! Throughout the evening a pale, ascetic
man, in officers uniform, had sat brooding
on the platform After the last chorus of
We're All Going Home to Heaven" the
commanding officer of the post stepped to
| the edge of the platform to make the fol-
! lowing announcements:
Comrades and friends AS you all
| know, we have with us tonight Col Harvey
! Timberall, the Silver-tongued orat tor Of the
! golden west. Col Timberall has been fight
ing glorious battles out In the wicked dig
ger towns of Nevada and Colorado and
| Montana and he is going to tell you how
| to fight the battle on to victory. And now
let us give three cheers for Col. Harvey
| Timberall.
The cheers were given and much noise
| was made while the colonel made his way
| to the center of the platform.
| How his speech ranked according to Sal
| walton Army criterions cannot be stated
| but TO the average listener il was q weird
! compound of twisted theological doctrines
| and bombastic rhetoric But-and that was
| the point-the audience liked it. Greedily
they swallowed the sentences and often in
terrupted the orator by tumultuous ap-
| plause after some particularly appealing
| sentiment.
Benders attention was so rapt that al
| most the entire speech was memorized by
him. And when the speaker came to the
practical hints. telling his congregation
how they. too, every one of them, could &c
| out into the world and do as much for their
! fellow-men as he had DONE then Bender
| knew and felt that the sermon had been
| preached solely for his benefit.
"' And there, behold, there He stood
| upon the mountain, facing the multitude
proving beyond peradventure that He was
the savior of the lowly. What did He say;
| The foxes have holes. and the birds OF the
air have nests, but the Son of Man hath
| not where to lay His mead And what die
He do? Did He remain facing the multitude
No! He went right down among them and
gave them the message of the Master And
L thPse the nd Of fha