I knew she thought everything of that him, and thought mebby it would sort o" quiet her some since she rejected the paneky I spoke of. But her face at the very last looked white and riz up and luminous, and her eyes shone. I felt queer.
The next day wuz Sunday and Josiah and I went to the Tabernacle to meetin". Faith havin" a headache didn"t go. But before I go any furder I will back up the boat and moor it to the sh.o.r.e, while I tell you what the result wuz so fur as Mr. Pomper wuz concerned. At the breakfast table next mornin" he cast languishin" glances at Faith, and then looked round the room proudly as much as to say:
"Gentlemen and ladies, behold my choice, and I hain"t sorry I chose her out of the throng of waitin" wimmen."
But some time durin" that day he found out his mistake. I don"t know exactly how Faith managed to pierce the rhinocerous hide of his self-conceit with the truth, but she did somehow let him know that his attentions wuz futile, futiler than he ever mistrusted his attentions could be.
But he wuzn"t danted and down-casted more"n several minutes, I guess, for anon I see him walkin" with a woman almost as ponderous as he wuz, and as she wuz all janglin" with black jet and as humbly as humbly could be, I mistrusted that he had gone back to his allegiance to the widder, and I think he looked happier than I had ever seen him. He looked as if he wuz rejoiced that his temporary thraldom to sentiment wuz over, and common sense and practical gain wuz in the ascendancy agin. And though it hain"t much matter, I will say I read his marriage in the paper the next week:
"Amaziah Pomper to Euphrasia, relict of Elnathan Fatt."
But I d"no as Faith knew anything about it, for she didn"t stay with us only a few days longer, she went on to visit her aunt Petrie and so on to the Ohio, makin" a solemn promise to me to stop and visit us on her way home the last of September. Well, I will now onhitch the boat and row back, and then let it sail on down the stream of history. As I said, the next day after that singular experience of Faith"s wuz Sunday, and my pardner and I went to the Tabernacle. We wuz told that there wuz to be oncommon exercises that day owin" to the visit of a great Evangelist from the West. Lots of folks had come on the night boats so as to be there to hear him. For if the angel Gabriel wanted to preach there to lost sinners, he couldn"t land there on Sunday unless he swum or come cross lots (that is, unless he flowed down).
The folks on that island are too good to let anyone come there to meetin" unless they come sarahuptishously. I asked a trustee once why it wuz wicked for folks to ride there to meetin".
And he said, "A merciful man is merciful to his beast."
Sez I, "A steamer hain"t a beast, and if it wuz, it wouldn"t tucker it out much to come over from the bay or Clayton." And he said the sailors would have to toil to git "em there.
"So the driver and the horses have to toil to git sinners to meetin"
on the main land," sez I. And he said, "The steamers would make noise and confusion, and disturb the sweet Sabbath calm." I felt there wuz some truth in this, though it wouldn"t make nigh so much noise as the thousands of church bells clangin" out church time in cities and villages.
Sez he, "If we allowed boats to land here we should be overrun with excursionists who don"t care for Sunday as a day of holy quiet and rest, and our peaceful Sabbath would be turned into a carnival of pleasure seekers, flirtations, giggles, brown paper parcels, egg sh.e.l.ls, cigar smoke and sandwiches."
And I sez, "Like as not that is so." And I felt that mebby he wuz in the right on"t. But some don"t like it and feel that they"d ort to take the resk.
CHAPTER TEN
WE HEAR A GREAT TEMPERANCE SERMON, BUT JOSIAH STILL HANKERS FOR CONEY ISLAND
CHAPTER TEN
WE HEAR A GREAT TEMPERANCE SERMON, BUT JOSIAH STILL HANKERS FOR CONEY ISLAND
Ever since I had been to the Thousand Island Park, my mind had roamed onto that idee of the Tabernacle with a sort of or. It is a big impressive word and one calculated to impress a stranger and sojourner. And so when we made up our minds to attend to it I almost instinctively put on my best alpacky dress (London brown) and I also run a new ribbin into my braize veil and tied it round my bunnet so it would hang in graceful folds adown the left side of my frame, I also put on my black mitts and my mantilly with tabs; of course I carried my faithful umbrell.
I looked well. Faith had a bad headache, I guess the job of gittin"
that information into Mr. Pomper"s head had tuckered her out, so I and my pardner sot off alone. All the way there my mind wuz real riz up thinkin" I wuz goin" to see sunthin" very grand lookin" and scriptural, and I said over and over to myself a number of times with deep respect and or, "Tabernacle! Tabernacle!"
Yes, I felt some as if I wuz the Queen of Sheba and Josiah wuz Solomon, though I might have knowed, my pardner lacked the first ingregient in Solomon"s nater, wisdom. And I probable wuzn"t so dressy as Miss Sheba, "tennyrate I hadn"t no crown or septer, a brown straw bunnet and umbrell meetin" my wants better, but not nigh so dashy lookin". But my feelin"s all come from the name of the place we wuz bound for, and the patriarchical, Biblical past my mind wuz rovin"
round in. Yes, my mind wuz rousted up and runnin" on the trimmin"s of the Ark and Temple. I thought like as not I should see purple curtains hung on shinin" poles, jest so many cubits long and high, and gorgeous carpets to walk on and ornaments and fringes and tossels.
I would not ask questions, but I wuz prepared for splendid lookin"
things and lots of "em. Well, if you"ll believe me there wuzn"t a thing there that I expected to see, not a ornament or curtain or tossel, and nothin" but jest common ground to walk on like our suller bottom or dooryard. And long benches all through it as fur as the eye could reach almost.
The platform wuz big as most meetin" housen, but bare and plain, and there wuz what seemed to be sheets hung up round the hull concern, though rolled up so we could see out all round us. There wuz only one way it come up to my idees, and that wuz the cubits. I should think it wuz jest about as many cubits long and broad as anything ever wuz or ever will be. They say it will hold five thousand folks, and I should judge they wuz all there that mornin", and had brung their children and relations on both sides.
They wuz havin" a song service when we went in, and to hear five thousand voices or so fillin" that Tabernacle full of high and inspirin" melody, wuz indeed a treat. It filled it so full that it oozed out of the sheets on all sides and soared up through the encirclin" green trees, up, up towards the blue sky, and no knowin"
how much furder it did go upwards, clear up to Heaven like as not, for that place we have always been told is the home of music. It wuz sunthin" to remember as long as you lived to hear that great flood of melody flow out and swash and sway round us, bearin" us some distance away from ourselves.
My Josiah tuned up and sung jest as loud as any of "em, but his singin" would have sounded better if he had sung the tune the rest did. He sung the tune he had always been used to singin" hims in, he is dretful sot on it, and don"t like to change. But as he seemed to enjoy it so much, and the great rush of melody wuz so powerful his voice wuz onnoticed. The him wuz, "How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord."
Mr. Pomper wuz jest ahead on us, and thinkin" he would see better, I spoze had got up on the bench, and jest as he shouted out with the rest, "How firm a foundation," the bench broke and down he come, but in the big volume of sound, his yell of fright wuzn"t heard no more than the note of a mosquito in a cyclone.
In the intervals of silence Josiah sot and made comments to me on the surroundin" seen, that alas made me know his mind wuzn"t riz up on such hites as mine wuz. He commented on the looks of the men around him, and cast the idee in my face that there wuzn"t any on "em so good lookin" as he wuz, or nigh so distinguished in their means. I felt sorry to think he wuz so blinded, though of course he looks good to me. And he talked about the wimmen and advanced the idee that they well might take pattern by his pardner in their looks and deportment.
Josiah after all is a man of good sense.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "_Mr. Pomper, thinkin" he would see better, got up on the bench, and jest as he shouted out "How firm a foundation," the bench broke and down he come._"
(_See page 168_)]
As I looked round me, I liked the place more and more. What need wuz there of upholstery and carpets? Brussels never turned out such a carpet as old Mom Nater had spread all round that Temple of hern. Old Gobelin never wove such tapestry. No Empress of the wonder-laden East ever had hung in her boodore such a marvelous green texture as drooped down in emerald canopies above us. No golden lamp ever gin such a light as sifted down over the matchless green overhead, to light that solemn sanctuary. No organ ever gin out such sweet sound as the birds warbled anon or oftener. No jeweled ornaments ever sparkled on a altar like the emerald and gold winged b.u.t.terflies flutterin" round that sacred hant, amongst the wild flowers that blossomed even up to the door. And it seemed as if the soul could soar up easier somehow when you could look right into the blue mystery of the sky, the trackless path that souls mount up on in prayer and praise. Somehow plaster and mortar seem more confinin". Though I d"no as it really makes any difference. Heaven is over all, and the soul"s wings can pierce the heaviest material, bein" made in jest that strong and delicate way, but yet it seemed more free and soarin" somehow, and as if the path heavenward wuz clearer.
The breezes kind of hung off and didn"t come in. Josiah said they wuz afraid to land on Thousand Island Park for fear of bein" fined for travelin" on Sunday, but it wuzn"t so, they didn"t come because it wuz so sultry and kinder muggy.
I"d hearn that the man who wuz goin" to preach wuz a dretful smart man, a Evangelist and Temperance Lecturer. A man so gifted and good that folks would go milds and milds to hear him, he seemed to hold the secret of inspirin" men and wimmen, and rousin" "em out of their cold icy states, and drawin" "em right along towards the mounts he habitually stood on. He"d done sights of good, sights on it.
And anon I see a stir round the preacher"s stand that made me know the speaker of the day, the great Revivalist and Temperance worker had come. And most immegiately a tall figger pa.s.sed through the crowd that made way for him reverentially. There wuz a smile and a good look on his face for all the bretheren round him, some like a benediction, only less formal. As he come out on the stand and stood before us I could see that there wuz a light shinin" on his face as if ketched from some heavenly and divine power. His eyes wuz soft and deep lookin", as if he knew jest how mean and weak humanity wuz, and wuz sorry for folks, and would like to tell "em the secret he had found out, how to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, specially the devil.
His smile wuz sad and sweet, jest about half-and-half. His features wuz good, and his hair, which wuz light brown to start with, wuz considerable gray round his forward. His voice wuz like the sound of deep waters that penetrates through all lighter voices and that you hear through "em all, jest as you hear the voice of the great River through all the murmurin"s of the trees and bird song on the sh.o.r.e. He gin out a him in that sweet melogious voice that wuz as good as singin" or better. The him told how, though we could not climb up into Heaven to bring the Lord Christ down, yet how love had still its Olivet and Faith its Galilee. And one verse wuz:
The healing of that seamless dress Is by our beds of pain; We touch it in life"s care and stress And we are strong again.
And oh the truth of them verses! As that man read and prayed and spoke, that seamless dress seemed to float along by us, worn by the pityin" Christ, we laid holt on it with our yearnin" longin"s and outreachin" sperits, and felt that strength had gone out of it into our souls.
His prayer seemed to bring Heaven so near to us that we could almost look in. He asked the Lord to draw nigh to us, and He did. He asked Him to help us bear our daily trials and temptations, and the weary wearin" cares of life, and we felt that He would help us. We felt that that sweet strong appeal for the Comforter to come into our lives to bless and strengthen us for good work, wuz answered then and there.
The Word he read wuz that incomparable chapter in Hebrews, in which Paul tells of the mighty works wrought by faith, of them who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life agin. And on to the end of that matchless chapter.
And the text wuz, "Wherefore seeing we are encompa.s.sed about by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
And then follered a sermon that wuz better than any I ever hearn in my life, and I have sot under splendid preachers in my day. But this, though delivered in simple language wuz so helpful, lifting us, holding us up, so we could ketch a glimpse of the right way and inspire us with the strength to foller it.
He pinted out to us the sins that so easily beset us, easily indeed.
Not the old sins of Adam and Noah and the rest--patriarchal sins that made us feel reproachful towards the old sinful patriarchs and comfortable toward ourselves. No, he pinted out the besettin" sins that are rampant and liable to ruin us in the nineteen hundreds. After speakin" of the other deadly sins that are liable to lay holt on us, such as oncharitableness, envy, jealousy, bigotry, intolerance, injustice, over-weaning ambition, and other personal and national sins, he spoke at length of that monster sin, that national disgrace, Intemperance.
I spoze it wuz some as if when you tapped a barrel filled with pure water, why pure water would flow out of it. And I spoze he wuz so full of his great life work aginst that gigantick evil Intemperance, that them ideas had to flow out when the plug of silence wuz removed. And readin" what he had about them who through faith had stopped the mouth of lions, escaped the edge of the sword, I spoze he wanted to make his hearers feel that they too could so arm themselves with faith and the power of His might, as to stop the mouths of these nineteenth century lions, overthrow the laws entrenched in lion-like strength in the stronghold of National protection, and escape the edge of the sword of personal greed and selfishness, and put to flight the army of the aliens from G.o.d and the good of humanity.
And I spoze when he thought of them wimmen who had received their dead raised to life agin, he thought of the yearly sacrifice to Intemperance, the thousands and thousands of husbands, sons, brothers who are struck by the death blight now, makin" ready to fall into those oncounted graves. And he wanted to roust "em up and save their souls and bodies alive and give them back to these wimmen agin, raised from the dead.
Yes, his warnin"s and appeals wuz all directed to this present time and preached to us. He never mentioned them old Egyptians who wuz all dead and drownded out years ago, both by the Red sea, and the long swosh of the sea of Time, or the old Jews and Hebrews, nor he didn"t dwell on science or philosophy, but he pressed the truth home to the hearts of his hearers, how the Lord Jesus had once dwelt upon earth, how He had pa.s.sed through all the cares and sufferings that we wuz pa.s.sing through, how He wuz tempted by the sins, pained by the griefs of the world, and how He pitied us and would help us.
As I say, instead of Bible crimes that had been committed centuries ago, he dwelt strong and as if his hull heart wuz in his words on that terrible national crime back of most all the other sins and crimes of to-day. That stands a huge black shape blocking up the world"s progress, that we ort to try our best to fight aginst, and how we had a Helper. And his idee wuz that good men, clergymen and such, who are wont to stand off and look down on the battlefield, ort to buckle on their armor and join in the warfare. And he said that if sometimes the battle smoke hid the form of our great High Priest and Helper we mustn"t forgit that He wuz there, lookin" on, seeing how the battle went between the Right and the Wrong, and giving His help towards the right side in His own good time, and he gin us to understand that: