Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-01-10
Always Open Church With
That Old Familiar
Sentence.
CONDITIONS VARIED
But Bills Reference to the
"Full Garners" Never
Changed.
rRv VERNON L. sAIITH)

The conviction is firm that there are
as many strange things OF daily oc-
currence in the rural districts OF
North Missouri as ever came to pass
up i'm the land Of the Yukon. Therc
is not as much fluctuation In day ana
night in north Missouri as there Is III
the Yukon country, but hour l0I
hour the time of night and dark VIII
average up pretty we'll And men dls
for gold in north Missouri, too, ana
if there is a place on the surface OF
land or water that men do not dlg lor
gold, let it speak up now or Forever
hold its peace. ..,....
1t is not strangely striking that there
are things of youth. Of early youth,
that lie slumbering somewhere IN 'He
region Of the head, unthought or ana
uncalled to memory until the needle
of another present-time scratches over
the disc of recollection and secures the
memory to the fact.
Some Old Memories.
Take, for instance, something that
YOU once heard spoke on the last day
of school, or on some unhappy Friday
afternoon as you sat shiverlng, win
your hands restlessly running from
desk TO pockets, waiting with an awful
thought Of your moment to get up and
face the school, waiting to make
stupid bow and caress Demosthenes
oratory with a thick tongue. rake one
of those speeches" you heard d com
panion make under such clrcun>
tancess. Apparently it has left your
mind forever. Never again, perhaps
will you think of it until you hear
again somebody beginning 1t. the nrst
a. r...agH 10
line or two may be total strangers 10
you, but gradually there comes recog-
nizance, and pretty soon there Will De
a couplet that forever makes you
know and remember having heard It
before. Then come flashes of quick
action memory, adjusting and fasten-
ing the speech" TO the circumstances,
the circumstance to the speech.
Not long since we attended prayer
meeting In little old country church
in north Missouri where we used TO
struggle with the Golden Text each
Sunday, while II took an equally great
struggle to get us to struggle. There
are always freaks everywhere you go
freaks of humanity and strange
types of persons who have strange ana
grotesuue figures, weird and strident
voices tuned TO high falsetto in ordl-
nary conversation and a regular ty-
estness with strange garbs and strange
gaits; and withal, mirtn provoking to
look at in the face.
A Regular Prayer.
We remember one poor old fellow
Of that type bearing the name of Bill
I,ucey who was wont TO lead In prayer
service at that country church In
north Missouri. For years and years
and years Bill Lucey had been leading
In prayer until it was as natural to
hear him I'm the lead as II was to
assemble at the church for service.
Perhaps il was more like expecting
breakfast each morning. And Lucey
had one of those high-keyed voices
that sifted out through wan and sere
mustache. The exhaust ended Ike
stiff broezes singing through dry reeds
while the resuscitation was equally
noisy.
And for years and years and years
we had heard old Bill Lucey open up
i'm prayer. Sometimes he prayed long,
sometimes ne prayed short but he al
ways prayed. There was one peculiar
thing noticeable in all his prayers
one certain part that he never omitted
from any prayer sentence that was
part Of them all. And this is what
I'VE thank Thee that our gamers
have been filled and that peace reigns
supreme within our borders
Always the Same.
More or less. thousand prayers
have we heard him pray, and that was
always part Of each prayer. 1t made
no difference 20 BIZ Lucey II the
farmers were shipping in their bacon,
corn and hay IL made no difference
to him had the season been excessively
dry or extremely wet: It made no DIFF
ference to him were the nation at
peace or at war, Bill Lucey was al
WAYS thankful that the garners had
been filled and that peace reigned
supreme. 1t might not be amiss to
state that as far az Bill Lueey's gar
ner was concerned. IL remained un'
affected by heat or cold. drouth or
flood. peace or war.
Recently when attending prayer
meeting at the little old country