Evening journal., 1907-03-25

fairly boring holes with his eyes through the door,
behind which the second-hoor taking his
sullen airing. And again, later when Bender at
last had started his climb he stopped at the
"second floor, rear" door and came as near to
eavesdropping 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 to the top floor.
During his three months in the Army Bender
had carefully absorbed and practised the dogmas
OF that remarkable body. Scarcely any OF the
small daily tasks were performed by him without
holding communion" And so. his
cubby-hole was reached, he again resorted to COM
munon in this travail OF his soul"
These "communions" were not perfunctory mat
ters, 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 the floor before his cot After this
mise en- scene had been arranged, he again went
to the Sink and more washed his hands.
Back in the room, he locked the door and sank to
HE knees on the newspaper beside the bed. With
folded hands and unified eyes he remained so for
O moment before communing with Him, his Cod
the God Of Bender.
please excuse me, God. for coming to You again
with my troubles, but, honest can't help It, And
&c amt only my troubles / want to talk to You
about, but I want to thank You too, for what You
done for about getting that job at the restaur-
ant It's no o. talking ] needed it, and, You
bet, It in awful handy. But don't
know what to do about them two funny people
the second floor. They're my neighbOrs and / got
to do something for them because it is my duty,
but I don't know how or what and / got to put it
up to You and / hope You'll help me. II You
would only give me little more nerve SOS could
speak to that fellow about coming over to the
Army some night with me, think it would be all
right. He's been sinner all right, for Captain
Aggie Haskns says you can read whole lot in
guess that's about all tell You just now and
I hope You'll send me some inspiration SOS can
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 way
side And-and. so long. Father. Amen"
And truly, that prayer was heard
They We're celebrating Hot Time Evening 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
that they were poorly situated.
Had he known all about them he might have
doomed their fate commonplace but the mystery
surrounding them and the odd appearance OF the
man had strange fascination for Bender He mad
thought about them and how to help them all day
and at the Hot Time" he found Application 10
them IN every song every speech, every testimony
uttered.
Il was after the song, Were All Going Home
to Heaven" sung to the air of I'VE Won't Go Home
Till Morning that Benders psychological moment
came to him.
throughout the evening pale, ascetic man, in
officers uniform. had sat brooding on the platform
After the last chorus of Were All Going Home
to Heaven" the commanding officer of the post
stepped to the edge of the platform to make the
following announcement:
Comrades and frendsl AS you all know, we
have with tonight Colonel Harvey Timberall,
the silver-tongued orator of the Golden West
Colonel Timberall has been fighting glorious bat
ties ont in the wicked dgger-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 MS give three cheers for Colonel Harvey Tim
berall!r
Tho cheers were given and much noise was
made while the Colonel made his way to the cen
ter of the platform.
How his speech ranked according to Salvation
Army criterions cannot be stated. but to the aver
age listener 1t a weird compound OF twisted
theological doctrines and bombastic rhetoric. Bu
and that was the point-the audience hked II
Greedily they swallowed the sentences and OTTER
interrupted the orator by tumultuous applause
after some particularly appealing sentiment
Bender's attention was so rapt that almost the
entire speech memOrized by him. And Wher
the speaker came to the practical hints, telling
his congregation how they, too, every one Of them
could go out into the world and do as much fol
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
neradventure that He was the saviour OF the lowy
What did He say? The foxes have holes, and thu
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of MAJ
hath not where to lay his head And what did h
do? Did he remain facing the multitude? No
He went right down among them and gave then
commands of the Great White Lord: BE no
forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby SOM
have entertained angels unawares And he als
said Greater love hath than this that
man lay down his life for his friends. ="
That was the whole thing in a nutshell. thos
the commands of the Great White Lord, an'
Bender beeded them.
Devotional hysteria ran high that evening, an,
it was midnight before Bender crept up the stoop
on which the man from the second floor rear, wa
taking his sesta. Ordinarily Benders nerve woul,
have tailed him, out the influence or the 'HO
Time" was still potent and he determined to begiI
his mission at once.
'we had a poorly good time over at the Arm.
S tonight"
. The man looked up without speaking
y Yes, You see I belong to the Salvation
- Army" Bender bravely kept on, and. not gettin
an answer, asked you don't belong TO the Army? {?
. NO, scarcely" the harsh reply.
9 81 think YOU ought to-" declared Bender fer
=, vently. 1T made O. all right and yo
. ought to Join them too, for"
e What do you mean2" exclaimed the. man an
q grily.
Il "Oh nothing, only It makes a much haT
l. pier and-well,i It does a lot O. things"
l. 1T can't make or mine happy and I'm NOR
Interested in getting food than happiness. growle
Il tie stranger.
l. "'rhe Armyll give you food"
"ro be they viii and then will take NOR
e gage on my manhood. There's such a thing
r selfesteem it's the only possession ] have and
will not beg. have reached the limit of misery al
p forsaken by every living soul, she-but
+ won't beg"
IS "But when a man is IN your fix" Bender spok
didactically. only the Great White Lord can hel
l. him"
''The Great White Lord7"
e. yes" replied Bender. "I amt never been
ot school, know that Great White Lord ca