Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-08

| Gradually first one man and then an
other paused to listen, until there was
a general cessation Of the hubbnh.
and every eye was turned in the direc-
tion whence this quiet stream of words
flowed. There mounted upon barrel,
was Elias B. Hopkins, the newest of
the Inhabitants Of Jackman's Gulch
with a good-humored smile upon his
resolute face. He held an open Bible
in his hand, and was reading aloud a
from the Apocalypse, If remember
right The words were entirely irrel-
evant and without the smallest bear
J ing upon the scene before him, but he
plodded on with great JUNCTION, waving
his left hand slowly to the cadence Of
his words.
| There was a general shout Of laugh
ter and APPLAUSE at this apparition, and
| Jackman's Gulch gathered round the
barrel approvingly. under the impress
| sion that this was some ornate joke,
and that they were about to be treated
| to some mock sermon or parody of the
chapter read. When, however, the read
er, having finished the chapter, placid
| ly commenced another, and having fin
ished that rtppled on into another one,
the jewellers came to the conclusion
that the joke was somewhat too long
| winded. The commencement Of yet
| another chapter confirmed this opinion,
as an angry chorus Of shouts and cries,
with suggestions as to gagging the
reader or knocking him off the barrel,
| rose from every side. In spite Of roars
and boots, however, Elias B. Hopkins
plodded away at the Apocalypse with
the same serene countenance, looking
as ineffably contented as though the
| babel round him were the most graf
| flying applause. Before long an oca-
sional boot pattered against the barrel
or whistled past our parsons head; but
| here some of the more orderly Of the
inhabitants interfered in favor Of peace
and order, aided curiously enough by
the aforementioned Maule and Phillips,
who warmly espoused the cause Of the
little Scripture reader.
His effort had the effect Of checking
the more active signs Of disapproval,
and the party Of disorder attempted
to settle down once more to their ca
rouse and to ignore the shower Of
Scripture which was poured upon
them. The attempt was hopeless. The
drunken portion fell asleep under the
drowsy refrain, and the others, with
many a sullen glance at the impertur-
able reader, slouched off to their huts,
leaving him still perched upon the
barrel. Finding himself alone with the
more orderly Of the spectators, the
little man rose, closed his book, after
methodically marking with lead PEN
ell the exact spot at which he stopped,
and descended from his perch. ITO
morrow night, boys" he remarked In
his quiet voice, "the reading will COM
mence at the 9th verse of the 18th
chapter of the Apocalypse" with which
piece of information, disregarding our
congratulations, he walked away with
the air of man who has performed an
obvious duty.
We found that his parting words
were no empty threat. Hardly had the
crowd begun to assemble next night
before he appeared once more upon the
barrel and began to read with the same
monotonous vigor, tripping over words,
muddling up sentences, but still boring
along through chapter after chapter.
Laughter, threats, chaff-every weapon
short of actual violence-was used to
deter him, but all with the same want
of success. Soon it was found that
there was a method in his proceedings.
When silence reigned, or when the
conversation was Of an innocent ma
ture, the reading ceased. single
word of blasphemy, however, set 1t go
ing again, and it would ramble on for
a quarter Of an hour or so, when 1t
stopped, only to be renewed upon SINH
lar provocation.
For more than a month Elias Hop
kins carried on this campaign. There
he would sit, night after night, with
the open book upon his knee, and at
the slightest provocation off he would
60 like a musical box when the spring
is touched. The monotonous drawl be-
came uncomfortable, but it could only be
avoided by conforming to the parsons
code. A chronic swearer came to be
looked upon with disfavor by the COM
munity, since the punishment OF his
transgression fell upon all. At the end
of a fortnight the reader was silent
more than half the time, and at the end
of the month his position was a sine
cure.
Never was moral revolution
brought about more rapidly and more
completely. Our parson carried his
principle into private life. / have seen
him, on hearing an unguarded word
from some worker in the gulches, rush
across, Bible in hand, and, perching
himself upon the heap Of red clay
which surmounted the offenders claim,
drawl through the genealogical tree at
the commencement of the New Testa-
ment in a most earnest and impressive
| manner, as though it were especially
appropriate to the occasion. In time an
oath became a rare thing among us.
Drunkenness was on the wane, too.
Casual travellers passing through the
Gulch used to marvel at our state OF
grace, and rumors of it went as far as
Ballarat, and excited much comment
therein.
There were points about our evan
gelist which made him especially fitted
for the work which he had undertaken.
A man entirely without redeeming
vices would have had no common basis
on which to work, and no means OF
gaining the sympathy Of his flock. AS
we came to know Elias B. Hopkins bet
ter we discovered that in spite OF MS
| piety there was a leaven of old Adam
| in him, and that he had certainly
known unregenerate days. He was no
teetotaler. On the contrary. he could
choose his liquor with discrimination,
oh