The Cairo bulletin., 1911-02-27

he was going sac knew, Every week
d2r ni5bt ior years ard 3ears Silas
lid one do%ya 10 tie village to loaf
'hii sab for two Or three hours. lGv-s
cry Eight he iaGuired for mail at the
postodicc. and every night he received
4 shake of the head.
On this evening, however. Silas did
something he bad never done before
He stopped for a moment to look at
his wife and children, as If bidding
them farewell,
Mr.. Wigs had come to be forty-eght
years old. He had worked all his life
He hadn't broken his back At 1t. but he
had done fairly well for man who
hated work There were days when
he was hoeing corn for some one for
ST day that he got so mad he Jumped
up and down and whoopod He want
ed to take life easy, but he couldn't
He wanted to have d whole sack Of
1our and three pounds of butter ahead
of the appetite Of the family and then
so fishing, but the day had never
come
Neither the village postoffice nor the
that evening nor for many long even
ings to come, 1t was remarked that
something must have happened to
him. Something had. On leaving the
house he had walked IN the opposite
direction from the village. He had
walked all night and all the next day,
In fact, he kept on walking until he
was 100 miles away, Then lie stopped
and got work in a hotel barn for few
weeks. He finally found the man he
was looking for, and after several in
terviews with him Silns put fifty more
miles between him and home Then
he sat dewn in hamlet in the midst
Of rich farming community and got
his breath AS soon as rested he an
nounced himself as Abliiah, the proph-
ct. He had come there to warn sin
ners and all others that the last trump
WIS about to sound He set the day
for it to sound. The date had been
given him in dream.
silAs' hair hung down to his shoul-
ders, and he had venerable appear
anee and a deep voice No one around
there had ever seen n prophet, but it
wasn't long before everybody was.
agreed that Silas at least looked like
one. At first he was laughed at and
ridiculed, but that only made him the
more earnest lie spoke from the
steps of the tavern, and he went from
house to house ard from farm to farm.
He spoke to the women more than 10
the men. In two weeks lie had half
dozen of them with him. Then he
found male converts, This was in
May. The last trump was to sound ON
the 4th of August es
u In four weeks two-thirds OF the pop
ulatien OF a county were converts, In
six weeks there were only few out
siders. The weekly papers seoffed at
Slas and his dreams and predictions,
but he sllonced them by asking, "ITow
do you know that this thing won't
come to pass" They didn't know it.
They couldn't declare it impossible.
They couldn't sneer at the last trump
business without offending their Chris
tian subscribers. II was the same
with lawyers and doctcxs. They jump
Cd on Silas to jump off again.
You believe there is heaven, don't
your" he would ask
ooh. yes"
ever been there?"
cot course not" ,t%
ever see any one who hadp "
mo"
"Then why do you believer
Because tho Bible says So"
"But it also says there shall be
Judgment day"
Eyes. but why on the 4th OF An
gust|'
"Why on any day? Why not on thu
day MS well as another?"
IF the last trump Is to sound what
of our property"
1 ut will he destroyed with the earth.
of course" was the reply.
That suited some, but not the major
! fly.
! All day on the Sd Of August the coun-
! ty held its breath. Farmer and vii
| lager put on clean shirts and did no
work. II was said that children forgot
| to cry and that never n rooster crowed.
Hundreds Of people sat up all Tint
night. going TO their doors now and
then to consult the heavens.
| On the morning Of the 9Th there WIS
gathering on hills and knobs and n
| farewell shaking Of hands. People
! spoke in whispers. and husbands AMI
wives held hands. 1t was so up to 10
I O'clock. to noon. to mdafternoon, to
sundown. Then Silas Wigs stood mp
and said to the people around him:
at has not come and we will dis
! perse. but to hold ourselves in readi-
ness for week yet, It may be TINT
| Gabriel has mistaken the date" .e
Did they swarm for him? Did they
bring out n rail and tar and feathersf
Did they 20 TO the courts and cast him
into Jail? Nothing Of the kind for Sias
/ Wigs They allowed that there was
mistake somewhere, but II might DO
Gabriel's fault instead Of Mr.. Wigs
! He hung around for week and then
! withdrew b. daylight rs an honest
b. ruup chCutd IJo coiJ ho yt.oufd Il raor IN