Western Kansas world., 1912-12-28
CHAPTER w.
In Which the Parson Cruises u
STRANGE Waters,

strange WdtcTS.
The Come-Outer chapel was as bare
inside, almost, as it was without Bare
wooden walls, a beamed ceiling,
raised platform at one end with
table and chairs and the melodeon
upon it, rows of wooden settees for
the ongregation-that was all. As
the minister entered, the worshipers
were standing up to sing. Three or
four sputtering oil lamps but dimly
illumined the place and made recogni-
ton uncertain.
The second verse of the hymn was
just beginning as Ellery came in. Most
of the forty or more grown people in
the chapel were too busy wrestling
with the tune to turn and look at him.
A child here and there in the back
row twisted curious neck but twist
ed back again as parental fingers
tugged at its ear. The minister tip
toed to dark corner and took his
stand in front of a vacant settee.
The man whom Ellery had decided
must be Captain Eben Hammond was
standing on the low platform beside
the table. A quaint figure, patriarchal
with its flowing white hair and beard.
puritanica1 with its set,- -smooth-shaven
lips and tufted brows. Captain Eben
held an open hymn book back in one
hand and beat time with the other.
He wore brass-bowed spectacles well
down toward the tip of his nose.
Swinging a heavy, stubby finger and
singing in a high, quavering voice of
no particular register, he led off the
third verse:
"oh, who shall weep when the roll is
called
And who shall shout for joy?"
sat down. Captain Eben took a fig
ured handkerchief from his pocket
and wiped his forehead. The thin,
| near-sighted young woman who had
been bumped over the keyboard of the
| melodeon, Strengthened up. The wor-
| shippers relaxed a little and began to
| look about.
Then the captain adjusted his spec
| tacles and opened Bible, which he
took from the table beside him. Clear
| ing his throat, he announced that he
would read from the Word, tenth
| chapter of jeremiah:
Thus saith the Lord. Learn not
| the way of the heather, and be not
| dismayed at the signs of heaven; for
the heather are dismayed at them .
"A-men!"
| The shout came from the second
bench from the front, where Ezekiel
Bassett, clam digger and fervent re-
ligionist, was always to be found on
meeting nights. Ezekiel was the IA
| ther of Susannah B. Bassett, "Sukey
B." for short, who played the melo-
deon. He had been, by successive
seizures. Seventh Day Baptist, a
Second Adventist, a Nillerite, a Regu-
lar, and was now the most energetic
of Come-Outers- Later he was to be-
come a Spiritualist and preside at
| Itahle-tipping seances.
Ezekiel's amen was so sudden and
emphatic that 1t startled the reader
into looking up. Instead of the faces
OF his congregation, he found himself
treated to a view OF their back hair.
Nearly every head was turned toward
the rear corner of the room, there was
a buzz of whispering and, in front,
many men and women We're standing
up to look.
Ezekiel Bassett stepped forward
and whispered in his ear. The cap
| tain's expression of righteous indigna.
ton changed to one OF blank aston
ishment- He, too, gazed at the dark
corner. Then his lips tightened and
he raped smartly on the table.
My friends" he said. let us bow
In prayer"
John Ellery could have repeated that
prayer, almost word for word, years
after that night The captain prayed
for the few here gathered together:
Let them be steadfast- Let them be
constant in the way The path they
were treading might be narrow and be