A SHATTKHKI) FAITH.
REV. DR. TALMAGE TO THOSE
EURDENED WITH DOUBT.
Freacbts n Kloqueat ermon Show
ins the Poolilme4 of Qaetioninu
the Flan of vation- Hetlirrtomn
Many Objection Hi wd by bkcptica.
Talraace In Florida.
After many years of imitation. Dr.
Talinage preached last Sunday at De
Funiak Springs, Fla. Frotn all part of
the South the jieople are assembled. The
sermon is mightily helpful fur those who
find it hard to believe everything. Dr.
Talma ire return this wk to Washing
ton. The subject of this senium is "A
Shattered Faith," and the text Arts xxvii..
44, "And some on broken piece of the
ship."
Never off Goodwin panda or the Sker
ricki or Ci'pe Hatteras a a ship in
worse predicament than, in the Mediter
ranean buirieane. was the grain ship cm
which 2i5 passengers were driven on the
coast of Malta, lire niiles from the me
tropolis of that island, railed Citta Vec
chia. After a two weeks' tempest, when
the ship was entirely disabled and captain
and crew had become completely demor
alized, an old missionary took command of
the vessel. He was small, crooked bak
ed and sore eyed, according to tradition.
It was Paul, the only unscared man
aboard. lie was no more afraid of a
Euroclydon tossing the Mediterranean
sea, now up to the gates of heaven and
now sinking it to the gates of hell, than he
was afraid of a kitten playing with a
string. He ordered thera all down to take
their rations, first asking for them a bless
ing. Then he insured all their lives, tell
ing them they would be rescued, and, so
far from losing their heads, they would
not lose so much of their hair as you could
cut off with one click of the scissors nay,
not a thread of it, whether it were gray
with age or golden with youth. "There
shall not a hair fall from the head of any
of yon."
Knowing that they can never get to the
desired port, they make the sea on the
fourteenth night black with overthrown
cargo, so that when the ship strikes it
will not strike so heavily. At daybreak
they saw a creek and in their exigency re
solved to make for it. And so they cut
the cables, took in the two paddles they
had on those old boats and hoisted llie
mainsail so that they might come with
such force as to be driven high up on the
beach by some fortunate billow. There
she goes, tumbling toward the rocks, now
prow foremost, now stern foremost, now
rolling over to the starboard, now over to
the larboard; now a wave dashes clear
over the deck, and it seems as if the old
craft has gone forever. Hut up she comes
again. Paul's arms around a mast, he
cries: "All is well. God has given me all
those that sail with me." Crash went
the prow, with suc'j force that it broke
off the mast. Crash went the timbers till
the seas rushed through from side to side
of the vessel. She parts amidships, and
into a thousand fragments the vessel goes,
and into the waves "Tti mortals are pre
cipitated. Some of them had been brought
up on the seashore and bad learned to
swim with their chins just above the
waves, and by the strokes of both arms
and propulsion of both feet they put out
for the beach and reached it. But alas for
those others! They have never learned
to swim, or they were wounded by the
falling of the mast, or the nervous shock
was too great for them. And others had
been weakened by long seasickness.
Oh, what will become of them? "Take
that piece of a rubber." says I'aul to one.
"Take that fragment of a spar," says Paul
to another. "Take that image of Castor
and Pollux." "Take that plank from the
lifeboat" "Take anything and head for
the beach." What a struggle for life in
the breakers! Oh, the merciless waters,
how they sweep over the heads of men,
women and children! Hold on there!
Almost ashore. Keep up your courage.
Kemember what Paul told you. There
the receding wave on the beach leaves
in the sand a whole family. There an
other plank comes in, with a life cling
ing fast to it. There another piece of the
shattered vessel, with its freightage of an
immortal soul. Tbey must by this time
all be saved. Ye, there comes in last of
all, for he had been overseeing the rest,
the old missionary, who wrings the water
from his gray beard and cries out, "Thank
God, all are here!"
Gather around a fire and call the roll.
Paul builds a fire, and when the bundle of
sticks begin to crackle and standing and
sitting around the blaze the passengers
begin to recover from their chill, and the
wet clothes begin to dry, and warmth be
gins to come into all the Bhi'vering pas
sengers, let the purser of the vessel go
round and see if any of the poor creatures
are missing. Not one of the crowd that
were plunged into the sea. How it re
lieves oui' nnxiety as we read: "Home on
broken pieces of the ship. And so it came
to pass that they escaped all safe to land."
Having on previous occasions looked at
the other passengers, I confine myself to
day to an examination of those who came
in on broken pieces of the ship. There Is
something about them that excites in me
an interest. I am not so much interested
in those that could swim. They got
ashore, as I expected. A mile of water
is not a very great undertaking for a
strong swimmer, or even two mile are
not. But I cannot stop, thinking about
those on broken pieces of the ship. The
great gospel ship is the finest of the uni
verse and can carry more passengers than
any craft ever constructed, and you could
no more wreck it than yon could
wreck the throne of God Almighty. I
wish all the people would come aboard of
ber. I could not promise a smooth voyage,
for ofttimes it will be tempestuous or a
chopped aea, but I could promise safe
arrival for all who took passage on that
Great Eastern, so called by me because
its commander came opt of the east, the
star of the east a badge of hb authority.
But a vast multitude do not take regu
lar passage. ' Their theokofy is broken in
pieces, and their life is broken in pieces,
and their worldly and spiritual prospects
are broken in piece, and yet I believe
they are going to reach the shining shore,
and I am encouraged by the experience
of those people who are spoken of In the
text, "Sonse on broken piece of the hip."
One okdect in tU sermon la to en con r
aga, all thoaa who cannot take the whole
tytteai f Miigioa a we believe It, bat
tit roally belter something, to eft
a" oft that ftt plank.
ttt aft MttNMt tiaO VftfM of ft
frsnl la. ifr, bwt where fat aft tl
l rNraaarrihaajanMoajni Mm
or. believe iti Aniiiniu and t!i"U l:alt be
saved? or. believe in synod (' D.rt and
tlioii sl'nit l- sated? or. believe in the
Th;r y nine Art.cl. nnl thou i,:i!t be
saved? A 111.1:1 may be onIimIox ami go
to hell or heterodox Slid go to iieav.-ll.
1 he man who in the deep affection of his
heart aceepts Christ is saved, and Uf
man who docs not accept him is lost.
I believe in l.th the lleiiJelWrg and
Westminster catechisms, and I wish you
all did, but you may believe in nothing
they contain except the one idea that
Christ cume to save sinners, and that you
are one of them, and you are instautly
rescued. If you ciu couie in un the grand
old ship, I would rather have you get
aboard, but if you can only Cud a piece of
wood as long as the human body, or a
piece as wide as the outspread human
arms, and either of them is a piece of the
cross, come in on that piece. Tens of
thousands of people are to-day kept out
of the kingdom of God because they can
not believe everything.
I am talking with a man thoughtful
about his soul who has lately traveled
through New Kngland and passed the
night at Audover. He says to me: "1
cannot believe that in this life the destiny
is irrevocably fixed. I think there will be
another opportunity of repentance after
death." 1 say to him: "My brother, w hat
has that to do with you? Don't you real
ize that the man who waits for another
chance after death when he has a g.ssl
chance before death is a stark fool? Had
not you better take the plank that is
thrown to you now and head for shore
rather than wait for a plank that may by
invisible hands Is? thrown to yon after you
are dead? Do as yon please, but as for
myself, w ith pardon for all my sins offered
me now, and all the joys of time and eter
nity offered me now, I instantly take them
rather than run the risk of such other
chance as wise men think they can peel
off or twist out of a Scripture passage that
has for all the Christian centuries been
interpreted another way." Yon say, "I
do not like Princeton theology, or New
Haven theology, or Andover theology." I
do not ask you on hoard either of these
great men-of-war, their portho.es filled
w ith the great siege guns of ecclesiastical
battle, but I do ask you to take the one
plank of the gospel that yon do believe in
and strike out for the pearl strung beach
of heaven.
Says some other man, "I would attend
to religion if I was quite sure about the
doctrine of election and free agency, but
that mixes me all up." Those things used
to bother me, but I have no more oerplex
ity nloiit them, fur 1 s-r v to myself, "If I
love Christ and live u good, honest, useful
life, I am elected to be saved, and if I do
not love Christ and live a bad life I will
be damned, and nil the theological semi
naries of the universe cannot make it any
diffi r lit." I floundered along while in'the
sea of sin and doubt, and it was as rough
as the Mediterranean on the fourteenth
night, when they threw the grain over
board, but t saw there was mercy for a
sinner, and that plank I t.s.k, and I have
been warming myself by the bright fire on
the shore ever since.
While I am talking to another man
about his soul he tells me. "I do not lie
come a Christian because I do not believe
there is any hell at all." Ah, don't you?
Do all the people of all Is-liefs and no be
lief nt all. of good morals and bad morals,
go straight to a happy heaven? Do the
holy and the debauched have the same
destination? At midnight, in a hallway,
the owner of a house and a burglar meet.
They both lire, and both are wounded, but
the burglar dies in five minutes, and the
owner of the house lives a week after.
Will the burglar be at the gate of heaven,
waiting, when the house owner comes in?
Will the debauchee and the libertine go
right in among the families of heaven? I
wonder if Herod is plaving on the banks
of the river of life with the children he
massacred. I wonder if Charles Gniteau
and John Wiikes Booth are tip there shoot
ing at a mark. 1 do not now controvert it,
although I must say that for such a mis
erable heaven I have no admiration. But
the Bible does not say, "Believe in perdi
tion and be saved." Because all are saved,
according to your theory, that ought not
to keep you from loving and serving
Christ. Do not refuse to come ashore be
cause all the others, according to your
theory, are going to get ashore. You may
have a different theory about chemistry,
about astronomy, about the atmosphere,
from that which others adopt, but you are
not. therefore, hindered from action.
Because of your theory of light is dif
ferent from others do not refuse to open
your eyes. Because your theory of air is
different you do not refuse to breathe. Be
cause your theory about the stellar system
is different yon do not refuse to acknowl
edge the north star. Why should the fact
that your theological theories are different
hinder you from acting upon what you
know? If you have not a whole ship fast
ened in the theological dry docks to bring
you to wharfage, yon have at least a
plank. "Some on broken pieces of the
ship."
"But I don't believe in revivals." Then
go to your room, and all alone, with your
door locked, give your heart to God and
join some church where the thermometer
never gets higher than Ttf) in the shade.
"But I do not believe in baptism."
Come in without it and settle that matter
afterward. "But there are so many incon
sistent C hristians. Then com in and
show them by a good example bow pro
fessors should act ."But I don't believe
in the Old Testament." Then come in on
the New. "But I don't like the book of
Romans." Then come in on Matthew or
Luke. Refusing to come to Christ, whom
yon admit to be the Saviour of the lost,
because you cannot admit other things,
yon are like a man out there in that Med
iterranean tempest and tossed In the Me
lita breakers, refusing to come ashore un
til he can mend the pieces of the broken
ship. I hear him say: "I won't go in on
any of these planks nntil I know in what
part of the ship they belong. When I can
get the windlass in the right place, and the
sails set, and that keel piece where it be
longs, and that floor timber right and
these ropes untangled, I will go ashore. 1
am an old sailor and know all about ships
for forty years, and as soon as I can get
the vessel afloat In good shape Twill come
in." A man drifting by on a piece of
wood overhears him and says: "Yon will
drown before yon get that ship recon
structed. Better do as 1 am doing. I
know nothing about ships and never saw
one before I came . on board this, and I
cannot swim a stroke, bat I am going;
aahore on this shivered timber." The
man in the offing, while tiring to mend
his ship, goes down. . The man who trust
ed to the plank i gated. Oh, my brother,
let your smashed tip system of theology gvt
to the bottom while yon raeae mm
0lin tared saaW. Ihh 0 hatha atfroaa
f tha ahta."
I do not know how yaw laaolafical gag.
u It tuny be ibat your
!i it !i only one plaiik.
!e or id hiiig. Or tio-v
rigid "lid severe ill re.
, may have been t
! llgs us discipline "I'd '.-nicked you overthe
I head with a pviluihook. It may be that
I some partner in loudness who 'n a in.-m-j
l.er of an evangelical church played on
I you a trick that disgusted you with re
J Tgiou. It may I that yoti have associates
who have tulked aaiimt Christianity in
I your presenile until you are "all at ,"
i and you dwell more oti things that vou
do not Ix lieve than on things you do t
lieve. You are in one respect like Ijord
Nelson, when a signal was lilted that be
wished to disregard, and he put his fa
glass to his blind eye and said, "1 really
do not see the sign:.!." Hi, my hearer,
put this field glass of the gospel no longer
to your blind eye and sy 1 cannot see,
but put it to your other eye, the eye of
faith, ami you will see Christ, and he is
all you need to see.
If you believe nothing else, you certain
ly Iwlieve in vicarious suffering, for ou
see it almost every day in some shape. The
steamship Knickerbocker of the Cromwell
line, running between New Or lea us and
New York, was in great storms, and the
captain and crew saw the schooner Mary
D. Cramncr of Philadelphia in distress.
The weather cold, the waves mouutaiu
high, the first ofliivr of the steamship and
four men put out in a lifetsiat to save the
crvw of the schismer and reached the ves
sel and towed it out of danger, the wind
shifting so that the schooner was saved.
But the five men of the steamship coming
back, their Is.at capsized, yet righted
again and came on, the sailors coated with
ice. The Isuit capsized again, and three
times upset and was righted, and a line
was thrown the poor fellows, but their
hands were frozen so they could not grasp
it, and a great wave rolled over them, and
they went down, never to rise again till
the sea gives up its dead. Appreciate that
heroism and self-sacrifice of the brave fel
lows all who can, and can we not appre
ciate the Christ who put out into a more
biting cold and into a more overwhelming
surge to bring us out of infinite peril into
everlasting safety? The wave of human
hate roiled over him from one side ami the
wave of hellish fury rolled over bini on the1
other side. Oh, the thickness of the night
and the thunder of the tempest into which
Christ plunged for our rescue!
Come in on one narrow beam of the
cross. Let all else go and cling to that,
Put that under you, and n ith the earnest- ,
nen of a swimmer struggling for his life
put out for shore. There is a great warm
tire of welcome already built, and already
many who were as far nut as you are are
standing in its genial and heavenly glow.
The angels of God's rescue are wading out
into the surf to clutch your hand, and
they know how exhausted you are, and all
the redienied prodigals of heaven are on
the beach with new white robes to clothe
(ill those who come in on broken pieces of
the ship.
My sympathies are for such all the more
because I was naturally skeptical, tlis
H)ed to question everything alsvut this
life ami the next and was in danger of be
ing farther out to m a than any of the -"tj
in the Mediterranean breakers, and I was
sometimes the annoyance of my theologi
cal professor because I asked so many
question. But I came in on a plank. I
knew Christ was the Saviour of sinners
at.d that 1 was a sinner, an4J got ashore,
and I do not propose to go ouron that sea
again. I have not for thirty minutes dis
cussed the controverted points of theology
in thirty years, and during the rest of my
life I do not propose to discuss them for
thirty seconds.
I would rather in a mud scow try to
weather the w orst cyclone that ever swept
up from the Caribbean than risk my im
mortal soul in rscles and perilous discus
sions in which some of my brethren in the
ministry are indulging. They remind me
of a company of sailors standing on the
Iiamsgate pier head, from which the life
boats are usually launched, and coolly dis
cussing the different style of oarlocks and
how deep a boat ought to set in the water,
while a hurricane is in full blast and there
are three steamers crowded with passen
gers going to piece in the oiling. An eld
tar, the muscles of his face worked with
nervous excitement, cries out: "This is no
time to discuss such things. Man ;u life
boat! Who will volunteer? Out with her
into the surf! Pull, my lads! pull for the
wreck! Ha, ha! Now we have them. Lift
them in and lay them down on the bottom
of the boat. Jack, you try to bring them
to. Put these flannels around their hands
and feet, and I will pull for the shore. Cod
help me! There! landed! Huzza!" When
there are so many straggling in the waves
of sin and sorrow and wretchedness, let all
else go but salvation for time and salva
tion forever.
I bethink myself that there are some
here whose opportunity or whose life is a
mere wreck, and they have only i small
piece left. You started in youth with all
sails set, and everything promised a grand
voyage, but you have sailed in the wrong
direction or have foundered on a rock.
You have only a fragment of time left.
Then come in on that one plank. "Some
on broken piece of the ship." j
You admit yon are all broken np, on j
decade of your life gone by, two decades, j
three decades, four decades, a half cen-
tury, perhaps three-quarters of a century
gone. The hour hand and the minute!
band of your clock of life are almost par- !
allel, and soon it will be 12 and your day j
ended Clear discouraged, are you? I ;
S. t ".re'woHh ' mA
live that are worth anything to sin and ,
the devil, and then at last m.k God a !
p re sent of a first-rate corps. Bnt the i
past you cannot recover. Get on board
that old ship you never will. Have you
only one more year left, one more month,
one more week, one more day, one more
hour come in on that Perhaps If you
get to heaven God may let yon go out on
some great mission to some other world,
where you can aocnewhat atone for your
lack of service in this.
From many a deathbed I have seen the
hands thrown np in deploraxion something
like this: "My life ha been waited. I had
eood mental faculties and fine social nof. !
tion and great opportunity, bat through
worldlines and neglect all has gone to
waste save these few remaining hours. I
now accept of Christ and shall enter heav
en throjsch bis mercy, but, alss, alas, that
when i kight have entered the haven of
. f ... ... -
eternal fcat with a full cargo and been
greeted by the waving hand of a multi
tude in whose salvation I bad borne a
blessed part I must confess I now enter
the harbor of heaven on broken piece of
the shlpr
Gum drop are made by letting fall
from a mechanical derlc larg drop.
of, an alf-adjr prepared ayrup; tb
drop are pennlttd te fall upon tUreh
tetll Went to piecf
parciits started u
I tttid nl le!i,-v e 1 t
2 A NEWSPAPER MAN'S STORY. w
I
T Beems but yesierday that obi
Bill ljnina lurched into the otlkf,
fell over a chair or two. Kit bim-
wlf down upou the edge of my table,
ami aniioiiiiccl, with drunken, gravity,
that he was the Nt blank-dashed Jole
lrinter that bit the pike.
"Yes?" I mill, briefly, glancing up
from one of the pungent paragraphs
that used to cause tne so much ainuse
Dietit, yet were Hot appreciated by the
exchange editor of the mctrolHditan
pa pers.
"Didn't i fay so. young feller?" be
asked, in nn aggrieved tone, ns he
reached for my lox of smoking tobac
co and stowe 1 away a handful of It le
bind his wealth of bristling mustache
and whiskers. "(limine a Job?" be
added, closing one eye and viewing me
critically with the other, the while be
masticated the tobacco.
We nucdcd a man, so I called the
foreman.
"Give this man that bill bead job of
Dudley's. F.d. and sec what be au
do," I wild.
"I'll dern soon show ye what o" Hill
c'u do. young feller." grumbled Mr.
Ijains. as be rolled off the table and
followed i;l. "or Bill en turn out
artistic work fr'm a blacksmith pimp
Mich 's I take this t' lx snny," with
in corilcniptuous glance at the Interior
of , (imHisiiig-rim. Then
be hung up his coat, filled IiIh old cob
j J,
jlp with my tidiacco gnitiiM-a a
stick," and went to work.
! The nroof of that one horse bill bend
Job. when It was handed me. alsitit
thnt'-'iiinrtorsi of ail hour Inter, filled
me with Joy. It v.as a thing of iH-auty
a iiuisterpli-ce.
"Do you want totay here awhile?"'
I asked, having In mental view nu
merous orders for job work on the
strength of Mr. Ijaiu's umitiestlonable
ability In that line. Bill was Manning
with folded arms, leering at me with
that one-eyed squint of his.
" '("oiirse of ye c'n stand my price."
"What Is It?'
He named 11 figure nWitit seven dol
lars a week higher than 1 felt we
could afford: but as I pondered over It,
be added, "But I c'u do more work
th'n two ord'nary mcn-ef I git It t'
do."
!
"
'.Ml right," I said, filially, "we'll try
a week." and I turned again 10 my
work.
"Hold on," be said, "I want t' make
'n agreement with ye. Don't let me
have any money. 1 can't stand pros
perity, ye we. So, or ye'd Jest's soon
Btake me out at some bourdin'-lioiise,
an' git me a little eat lu' and burnin' t'
baeea, I'll be fixed."
This was agreed to, ns was also the
rerjueht that 1 "stake" him for another
drink, to "tdeady his nerves." Then
Bill fettled down to work and If ever
there was a utar of the first magnltudi!
In the Job-printing line, he wan that
game. I took samples of the first two
or three Jobs lie turned out, and with
these I sallied forth and liooked more
orders than we bad received in montha
past; but old Bill, (slow In IiIk move
ments 88 he was, proved equal to the
rush, and everythlus! was done on
time, as. promised. Not only was be
valuable in hla working rapacity, tint
be kept us all amused with a constant
Ilow of anecdotes, related In his dry
way In a drawling voice, rendered hus
ky by yearn of dalliance with John
Barleycorn and tobacco.
lie claimed to lie, and probably was,
over (iO years of age, and wan a walk
ing encyclopedia, of geographical infor
mation, having walked, he said. In ev-
fry country on the face of tile arth
where the English language 1 printed,
Of course be had worked on the New
York Tribune In Greeley's time, and
was one of the neveral thousand "only
men" who could readily decipher "old
Horace's" copy. Cairo, Egypt, was one
of the out-of-the-way places be bad
"held cases" In, and accordingly 11m
Ik.vs dublied hlui "Africa," which so-
briquet he did not resent in the. least,
He had been with us about a week,
when, one morning, be slouched Into
the office and dropped Into a chair near
rtie. For some time lie puffed away
ve 'd PPe w""" "Peking,
, . . , , ' .?
b,,t nmtt marked, apropos of noth-
Tell me ye write some f'r maga
zines, nn so on."
1 admitted that I itossessed literary
aspirations.
" 'F ye want s'm' rnttlin' good plots,"
said Bill, with some dlflldence, "I c'n
fill ye full of 'em. Make 'fin up when
I'm drunk 'r on th' road. Good ones,
loo."
"Yea?" I said, wearily for I bad
pent many a dull hour with that va
riety of bore with "a rattling grod
plot" to tell abont. "Why don't yon
write 'em yourself?"
"Can't: ain't sober long enough."
staid Bill, frankly. "When I am so-
, bf'r' 1 have V work ,h' ,n,,lp' V
. . .. k .1. ' . . . T, . . , I'M ' 1 1 .... .........
git qnl;k r'turnn. But I'll fell you aome
of 'em. hv7 awhile, after they go t
press, some nig:w an' we'll chaw th'
rag."
WI'H nil due gratitude to Bill for his
kindly Interest In my affairs, and the
P flaking way la which he Imparted
f. tbo" rf J Wf UDon whkh
M,( w.? f
55,2 2!ljl tUl. JtfL
of the plots mapped out by Bill drunk,
or his listener was singularly obtuse
and failed to see things as Bill himself
did. At any rate, I am it going to tell
what lie-ame of the three or four man
uscripts u which some of old Bill's
Ideas were cinliodied.
This saddened Bill and made him
morose. 'J'hc hist straw came In the
sbae of a note from an editorial
friend who had published a nunilwr of
sketches of mine, in which be frankly
stated his private opinion that I must
hate an awful nerve to expect him to
read such rot, much less publish it. I
blinded the letter to Bill, He read It
in silence, then, with Home lurid pro
fanity directed at editors in general,
turned and left the office.
At 5 o'clock in the afternoon he came
back, drunk and abusive, and wanted
what money was due him. 1 tried to
dissuade him. telling him we wanted
him to stay with the ollice awhile.
"T h-1 with you an' th' officer he
roared. "Gimme my time!"
"But the bank's closed. Bill." I plead
ed. "Won't a few dollars do until to
morrow':" "(ilve me my- time - now!"
I went out. cashed a check w ith some
diflicnlty. and came back and gave Bill
his money. He went out growling.
Next morning be came in, showing
the effects of his debauch, and sat
down by the stove.
"Heady to go to work. Bill?" I asked.
"No. I'm goln' t' hit th' road," he
said, grullly. "C'n ye let me have four
bits?"
"Great Caesar. Bill! You won't quit
us. with all those Jobs on tin; book?"
I cried. In dismay.
"Might as well. Won't lie any good
e( I stay," be replied, with considera
ble firmness. "Do I git th' four bits."
lie got it, and after shaking hands
all round, he dtsnpiH'iirci! In the direc
tion of the railway station.
Alsmt six monlhs later Bill floated
Into the office again. If he bad been
sober during the interval, there cer
tainly was nothing about bis appear
ance to indicate If. I have seen al
most every variety of bum and tramp,
but in all my experience I cannot recall
meeting one of such thoroughly un
wholesome appearance us old Bill pre.
sented that morning.
"Wle gebt's. sonny?" be hiccoughed,
cheerfully, holding out a dirty paw.
"Know me?"
I surveyed him with Ill-concealed
disgust, as I remarked:
"It is possible that a bath and a bar
ber might disclose the face and form
of my old friend Bill. But now -great
Scott, Bill! (Jo and get a bath and a
hair-cut."
He took the dollar I gave him, chuck
led hoarsely, and left, to return In
alsiul an hour somewhat Improved in
appearance, and ready for work.
"Say," he remarked, as he took off
bis rout. "I've got th' best denied plot
fr a short slory ye ever beard of. I ll
tell ye might."
But, nlas! It was like all the others
he bad given me, ami quite nn value
less ns those he subsequently Imparted
to me during his three weeks' sojourn
with us. At the end of that time, he
departed In much the same manner as
before. He got drunk, "went broke."
Isirrowed a half-dollar again, and
walked out of town.
For the next three years lie showed
up at Intervals of live or six months
departing as innocent of means as
when be arrived, always, however,
with a new suit of clothes. Never did
he fall to announce, upon his arrival,
that be had the "best denied plot" for
a story 1 ever heard of. Am! never did
one of his Ideas avail me anything.
A year or so after the death of the
always sickly Journal, of which I hud
been editnr-in-ehief from the begin
ning, I met Bill in Chicago. I was
then "doing police" on one of the morn
ing papers, and It was while attending
the Monday "round-up" at the old Ar
mory station that I Is-came aware of
his presence. As the police Judge, af
ter looking at the name on the sheet
before him, remarked something alsmt
"Jim-Jams" Isdng a more appropriate
name than "IJams," 1 glanced up, and
there, in the prisoners' dock, was old
Bill, looking, i h! so tough!-but with a
knowing leer on his fare as lie recog
nized me.
1 whispered to the Judge, who grin
ned. "Old friend, eh? William, the
officer say you were drunk and disor
derly, Saturday night. How about It?"
"Guilty, Judge," said Bill, cheerfully.
"M bin. F.ver Is-en here liefore.
Will In m?"
"Not as many time 's I ought t'
Is-en."
"Coming ngnln? No? Discharged.
Your friend here wishes to see you,
Wllllnm."
Bill was entirely unabashed wfien 1
met him at the door, and seemed great
ly amused ns my suggestion that tie
ought to lie ashamed of himself. "I
never thought you'd come to this, Hill,"
I Mild, severely.
"Fiddle-de-dee. Isiyl Likewise,
Rats'!" replM Hill, with coarse disre
gard for Ibe dignity of my official star.
"Kf I had two bits fr ev'ry time tbat'a
happened, I wouldn't be tryln" V bor
row a dollar now," he continued,
adroitly.
He got the dotuir, and oh the Way n
town unfotdad to tm oM of th "tsM
d. n.""l lots" for a -.'ory be bad ercr
e, Mved: Li t It was not g' -l em. ugh to
.-..I si b r. and my l;i.u;iicr t-ld bliu S".
Ml have ye her.-," If- said abrupt
ly ns we came to un Biueti street. '!
b-.k t.M. tough f go uptown wllh ye.
But I.H.ky. s-.niiy. lies' time 1 see ye,
I n. sure goln' f give ye n plot that'll
make y'r hair curl. l ndetsl:inil?"
of j, il the ubiquitous Individuals I
ever run arro in nil sorts of oiit-of the
way phiies and risen here. Bill IJams
was the one oflcticst in evidence. The
Mt time I saw him be as In New
York: next, I found blm officiating aa
foreman In a little new syiaper ollice in.
h Nebraska prairie town; and a year
l iter lie turned up in San Francisco,
and stumbled across my path. Oo
each and every occasion he had "the
best denied plot" nil ready to give me;
and. quite as regularly, nothing came
or it.
A few monlhs after seeing hlra in
San Francisco, while chatting with the
editor of a paper In Southern New
Mexico. I heard a familiar voice from
the d'M.r of the eomposlng-rmiiu asking
some question nlsiut a "Job." Behold
our old friend Bill, stick in hand, with,
the same old familiar one-eyed leer on
his grizzled countenance. After he
w ent out I told the editor alsitlt him.
"Why don't you take the old vlllaia
out to the mine, and straighten blm
out. If you're going to lie there
awhile?" askeil Sherman. "He's good
for years if you ran- keep hlin sober;
but he nearly died after his hist Jara
Isiree. a few weeks ago. He's about
'due' again, by now."
Just then Bill's bend emerged from
the doorway. "Say. sonny," he remark
ed, "I've got some! bin' t' tell ye, ef
y're 'round t' nlglit. It's a corker, sure,
this time."
"All right. Bill. Come over and take
supper at the hotel with me."
Bill readily acceptiil the projiosltlon
I held out to Mm to go out to our ramp
ami work. He liked the prospect of a
change of employ merit, and also that of
liclng out of reac h of bis old enemy
when one of his "spells" came on. Hi
when I drove out next day, I was BC
iiitiipunird by this cheerful old repro
bate, who seemed happy ns a ls.y over
the outlook. He bint one or two "plot"
to unfold. t(K; but lie did not seem
hurt when I failed to enthuse over
tnem.
Bill had Is-en with us nt While Hawk
aUmt three months, and during that
time bad succeeded not only In stand
ing off "the enemy," but In making
himself the immt isqmlar mah In ramp,
besidi-s. So It was with genuine re
gret that every Is.dy hoard that he was
about to pull up siakes and move on.
But the roving fever had him, n
nothing we could say or do would In
duce blm to reconsider.
Without bis knowledge, "the Isiys"
bestirred themselves In his behalf, and
on the eve of his departure he was de
coyed up to Iliggins' boarding bouse,
where a "grand ball" was being held In
his honor. And when they presented
the old fellow wlih a handsome watch:
"This is aildin' Insult t' injury." said
Bill, with grateful Cars in his bleary
old eyes.
About midnight, when the bulb- was
at ils height, iiiuie startling news,
brought In by n late arrival from the
Arizona line. The notorious "Kid" ami
his etit-fhroat band of reds were out
on the war palh, and it ludiooved those
pnent -the men. at least to get to
their respective ranches and look after
their buildings and stock. . . .
A week later found us, a mere hand
ful of men. hampered by the presence?
of half a hundred women and children,
besieged in garrison by a hundred or
more agency-fed redskins, w ho bail ob
viously succeeded In bending off cour
iers going toward the military porfts,
and proposed to starve us out. Ami
we were In a sad way. There wis
plenty of water, but provision w-re
getting distressingly low, and worse
still, our supply of tiiilmunlllon could
not hold out much longer.
It was a very dejected lot of men
that gathered together that August
morning In Hlgglns", which was our
"fort," and discussed the sllwitloli. It
had come to the pass that, unless help
arrived very, very soon, we must man
age to get a courier Ihrough to the
foi-t-an undertaking that, more than
likely, meant death to the man at
tempting It. In this emergency arose
old Bill.
"I'll go, I'-nlght," said he. "I got no
body f keer fr me; no chick n'r child.
I'm nearly 70 years old, nn' not long
fr this world, anyhow. 'Course, I'm
a 4rnderfont, but I c'n try t' git
through, anyhow."
It must be confessed, to our ever
lasting discredit, that we saw the logic
of Bill's argumcnia, and the protests
against his proposition were few and
Inslm-ere. That night, mounted on the
Itest horse In camp, and heavily armed,
BUI IJams went out Into the darkness,
to give np what remained of his miser
able, mistaken life for others.
He must have got lost In the hills
that night; for when the reds sighted
him, next day, he was only a few
miles on hi way. He gave them a run
nlng light for several miles, but was
nmilly hit by a stray shot and obliged
to seek cover In the rocks. He made
a good light for hla ebbing life, as the
empty rartrldge-shrlls around the rock
where he had sought refuge amply
proved. We found him the second day
after he left us, stark naked mid hor
ribly mutilated. In his tightly clenched
left hand whs a scrap of aper, evi
dently overlooked by his murderer.
On II wax hastily written
"Boyn: They've got me, and I ran
we them crawling up. Good by. -BIB.
P. B.-Jtiat got one. Maybe Ninny rao
msheaatoryoutof thta." ...
There waa more, hat It was tmd
cIphernMe. 1 thoaght that, with fc
yw on toe eoamri had trie to owt
Him aDothar plot. -Lawta Katehaaft, la
Haa PraachKa Argnat
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