The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-15
Acossaassa.l

preacher we had seen holding forth on the wharf. He was engaged with the assistance of two men Of the Metilo- dist persuasion, in building a church. The three had themselves cut and \ hewed the timbers. MT, Taylor, for X that was his name. explained to me that having no money, that seemed the only way to get a church. He s nh0wed us his own place, a little shack not unlike the others, but inclosed, and p1anted with red ge-aniums, nastur- tipms and other bright things.
 sN < s.As far as knowy' he told us, with pride. Ythat is the first garden in San 4 Efencisco." ks
 In the back yafd he had inclosed three chickens, two hens and a cock
 .sI paid SIS for theraj'' said he.
 We looked at each other in startled 1stonishmenti The sum appeared h z trifle extravagant considering the just acknowledged inapecuniosity of the 5 church. He caught the glance.
 E''Boys,s he said quaintly "San Fran eisco is a very Lonesome place for the eodly The hosts of sin are very strong, md the faithful are very few. Mortal 4esh is weak. and mortal spirit is 'pfune to black discourngement. When I{ bought thoAe chickens I bought SIS ' W1rth of hope. Somehow Sunday morn ing seems more like the Sabbath with < fhAmN Nclucking around sleepy and lazy. md fnl of sun.' <. !, < Wejlfked him so much that we turn sed tc at odd times and helped him with h1s carpenter work. While thus en- < Eaeed he confided to us his intention { to preach against gambling the next Sunday in the Plaza. We stopped ham, znAemg to consider this.
 I shouldn't if were you" said I. The gamblers own the Plaza. They .are respected by the bulk of the com ,munity, and they won't stand any non 1hlhg of shooting man in their places. I 4ont think they win stand for 1t. I 1T affaid you win be roughly han
 sAlore likely shoty put in Johnny z b1nutly.
 3Esll, well, boys, wen see" said koy1or easily. N <' Nor Gould We move him in spite Of 4he fAct that. as we came tossee his \ 1n0sntddn was real, we-urged very ear ns6fly against 1t.
 We'll If you will, you will," Johnny ' eonceded at last. with | sigh. wen
 eS what We can do to get you . fair
 ~Nor. that is just what don't want 5op to do,s begged the old man ear- z Nef41y. @I w4nt no vain contention a4d51trife If the Lord desires that ] s1Teach to these sinners he will pro fect me 7 " v.
 In the end he extorted from us a re- affaE
 Taylor arrived about 10 o'clock ana proceeded briskly to the pork barrel that had been rolled out to serve as a < pulpit. He faced a lowering, hostile
 ~Gentlemen," said he, If some means Z Of contamination existed by which the United lstates could this morning know that stfeet preaching was to, be 7 Yattempted. tu tae streets of San Fran ciaco, the morning papers, badly in- < xOtmed as to the temper and disposi- tiCh of the people of this new coun- tfy would feel themselves fully justi- ncd in predicting riot, if not actual blpodshed Furthermore, I do not doubt that the greater dailies would hold their forms open to report the
 RagedyTwhen news of it should come 1n. But we of the west know better than that. We know ourselves rough and ready, but we, know ourselves also tp be lovers of feir play. We know that, even though we may not agKe { with a man, we are willing to afford him . fair hearing. And as for riot ( ing or bloodshed, we can afford to 7 smile rather than become argry at such wide misconception of our dc z ceucy and sense of fair dealing.~
 Having in this skillful fashion drawn the venom from the fangs of the mob, S 6e went directly ahead at his sermon. hammering boldly on his major the sis. He hnislzcd in . respectful silence, sloscd his Bible with a snap and strode eway through the lane the crowd open cd for him.
 Truth to tell, tbere was much in the sermon. Gambling, although consid
 cred one of the respectable amuse
 ments, undoubtedly dtd a great deal
 0f harm. Men dropped their last cents
 nt the tables. remember one young
 bu6iness man who had sold out his
 shafe fn hls firm for $10O00 in cast ' md three notes for S5.O00 each. He had every intention of taking this lit
 tJe fortune back to his family in the
 ehst. but he began gambling. First ht lost his &10,000 jn cash This took him
 3ubt two days. After facilitating an
 ethev day he staked one of the notes .at discount of course. This he lost
 As second note followed the first, and
 everybody confidently expected that
 the third would disappear in the samt
 fashion. But Jim Beckett, who was |
 very good sort, took this man aside
 and gave him good talking to.
 ssY0u confounded fool,y said he
 s.you're barred from my tables. My
 advice to you isNto go to your old part
 ners, tell them what an ass you've
 zaade of yourself and ask them to le,