The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1907-03-29
Ra@A@AmA@a kG2&a 90 "a R@m@
y Old Bottles and New Wine KS
BY SHAN +. BULLOCK

| Copyright, by ]
Twilight was falling through the
autumn evening when we pushed out
the black punt and set forth across
the lake.
We were gliding through the twi-
ngnt and the creeping mist away to-
ward Clackan and the cottage there,
In which Daniel was to prove himself
before us ALL
| daniel! How we'll We remembered
n,m. How short time it 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 cid playmates, were
gong to hear him preach the Word.
We made goodly company. From
lar and near people had gathered to
do Daniel honor. Clackan filed half
the room; Gorteen gave its best and
Wlsest. In the second row from the
table sat Mary, Daniels sweetheart,
her father on this side, her mother on
that. Everywhere one saw familiar
races, stern and rugged, beaten with
rain and wind-faces that in the morn
ing had looked up at the minister
from the pews in Derryvad, and now
were turned upon the door watching
for sight of Daniel.
Hush! The door opened, and lit
tie procession came in-the preacher
| n Tho 70, fo1@
after one by one - their places on the
first fN2,a
There followed a hymn then a chap
ter from Isaiah, read we'll and feel
lngly; then third hymn, and a
shorter and more personal prayer, in
which God was asked to bless the
preaching of fis word; then a min
ute of hustle, followed by a dead hush
as Daniel rose
! Ills face was flushed. his lips trem-
bled a little: slowly he read a text:
"Old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new" He re-
peated it as if to Mary and himself,
and then closed his Bible, laid it on
the table, and began
He opened confidently with tho
! surety of youth and the tluency of one
! we'll prepared. There was no hating;
| in breath he was white-hot, brim-
| ming with words. They came like a
| torrent pouring down a mountain, so
quick that one might hardly follow
them, so insistent that one almost felt
| them wbirl. l sat amazed, whelmed
| (you have seen willows bent toward
stream, or weed bowed toward the
sum; and already Daniel was deep,
and frowns had gathered on the
brows Of many, when of a sudden the
| glamour went, and l had plain see
ing.
What Daniel said have long forgot
ten Though men at Clackan will re-
peat much of it to you even to-day;
but given the text and the occasion,
and you may easily guess the fash
| ion OF his discourses. 1t was just
what you might expect of an ambi-
| tious youth gifted and not without ed
I 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. Clackan
was dear place, its people worthy;
but time had moved on, leaving it
! 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 a
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 ideas of religion
were antiquated. Our conception of
| God was childish. We had vain no.
| tions 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
pit, doubtless everything he said
would have won approval; but he was
preaching in hillside parlor to an ig-
norant little company, and he did
| foolishly, and we misunderstood him,
and set our faces against him in pity
! ing scorn. This our Daniel? This
the man we had trusted and loved?
This the result of education and
knowledge? All, the shame, thought
we; and Daniel, reading our thoughts.
maybe, closed with a rush, and sat
down.
A stir passed through us, like the
going of wind among ripe wheat: then
sprang into commotion at the sound
of one rising behind us in far cor
ner. With one accord we swung
around, and saw Henry Marvin him.