Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1910-01-20

Yes added David with a sigh, -and
seemed to brush away and obliterate
all traces of his sorrow and his sins" !"
They did not speak during their
homeward journey, and when they
reached their rooms David paced un-
easily backward and forward until the
shadows OF evening had fallen, When
he suddenly observed that 1t was dusk.
he took his hat and went out into the
streets, There was something so rest
less and unnatural about his move
ments as to excite the suspicion OF his
friend, who waited for a single mo-
ment and then hurried after him.
The night was calm and clear, the
autumn stars were shining in a cloud
less sky, and the tide of life which had
surged through the busy streets all day
was ebbing like the waters from the
bays and estuaries along the shore of
the ocean.
A few moments walking brought
David to a weird spectacle A torch
had been erected above a low plat
form on which stood a man of most
unique and striking personality. He
looked like giant In the wavering
light of the torch He was dressed In
the simple garb of Quaker; his head
was bare; great locks of reddish hair
curled round his temples and fell down
upon his shoulders. His massive coun-
tenance bespoke an extraordinary
mind, and beamed with rest and peace.
AS he sang an old familiar hymn, he
looked around upon his audience with
an expression such as glowed. no
doubt, from the countenance of the
Christ when He spoke to the multi
tudes on the shores of Lake Genessa-
ret.
Close to the small platform was
circle of street Arabs, awed into ST.
lence and respect by the charm of this
remarkable personality. Next to them
came a ring of women-some of them
old and gray, with haggard and wrin-
kled countenances upon which Time,
with his antique pen. had traced many
illegible hieroglyphs; some Of them
young and bedizened with tinsel jew
them middle-aged, wan, dispirited and
bearing upon their hips bundles wrap
ped In faded shawls, from which came
occasionally that most distressing of
sounds, the wall of an ill-fed and un-
loved infant, crying in the night.
Outside of this zone of female mis-
cry and degradation, there was belt
of masculine stupidity and crime; ro-
with corpulent bodies, bull necks, dou-
BILE chins. pile driving heads; men of
shrunken frames, cadaverous cheeks,
deep set and beady eyes-vermin- Cow
cred, disease -dsvoured, hope deserted.
They clung around him, these con cen
trio circles of humanity, like rings
around luminous planet, held by they
knew not what resistless attraction.
The simple melody, borne upon the
pinions of that resonate and cello-like |
voice. attained an almost supernatural
influence over their perverted natures
When 1t ceased, an audible sigh arose. |
an involuntary tribute of alteration and |
Of ave. AS soon as he had finish his |
hymn, this consecrated apostle to the |
lost sheep of the great city opened a |
we'll worn volume.
The influence which he exerted over |
the mind of David was as irresistible
had the charm Of perfect familiarity.
Every word and phrase had fallen |
from his own lips hundred times in
similar exhortations. In fact they |
seemed to him strangely like the echo |
Of his own voice coming back upon |
him from the dim and half forgotten |
past.
(To h. continued