s
THE HESPERIAN
poa flowers with his bare toos. Aftor a and asked him where ho had boon all those
while, ho put his basket away, and wont into nays, w " u. -., 40,.u8,
his hot, closo, little dug-out. Ho did not but aaiih Come into tho oavo, 1 want to
sloop well, and ho droamed a horrible dream, sooyou.
l . I . , ., ,x ., i n i.. Soino six or onrht bovs horded noar tho
Mn. f liMiirht- in snw tin HUM llllll 1111 1US "
..! ;ti. ,vi.l,n,, Wfc H, mil. clouds. S 'own UV01T summer, and by thoir rem
and thoy loosed all tho damned in Hell, and Mnod ollorts thoy had dug a cave in tho sue
thoy came, poor tortured things, and drank of high bank It was largo enough to hold
up whole elouds of rain. Then he thought tl" " comfortably, and lngli enough to
stand in. There tho boys used to go when
it rained or when it was cold in tho fall.
a strango light shown from tho south, just
m-nr flin nvnr bluffs, nnd the clouds nartod.
and Christ and all his angels were descend- Thoy followed Lou silently and sat down on
ing. Thoy were coining, coining, myriads tho floor. Lou stood up and looked tenderly
and myriads of them, in a great bla.o of down into tho little faces before him. They
glory. Then he felt something give way in wore old-faced little fellows, though they
his poor, weak head, and with a cry of pain woro not over twelve or thirteen years old;
ho awoke. He lay shuddering a long time ! work matures boys quickly,
in tho dark, then got up and lit his lantern "Boys," he said earnestly, "I have found
and took from the shelf his mother's bible. out why it don't rain, its because of the sins
It opened of itself at Revelations, and Lou of the worltl- You d011' know how wickwl
began to read, slowly indeed, for it was hard the worW is its a11 l),wl ,lll GVOn Ui,k.
work for him. Page by page, he read those People lmvo buon sinning a long time, but
burning, blinding, blasting words, and they thoy won't imich longer. God has been
seemed to shrivel up his poor brain altogether, matching and watching for thousands of
At last tho book slipped from his hands and ycnr8i und iillinS ul the phials of wrath, and
he sank down upon his knees in prayer, and now hc is SoinS to pour out his vengeance
stayed so until the dull gray dawn stole over and lot lle11 loosG uPon the world, lie is
the laud and he heard the pigs clamoring for burning up our corn now, and worse things
their feed. will happen; for the sun shall bo as sack
He worked about the place until noon, and cloth, and tho moon shall be like blood, and
then prayed and read again. So he went on the stars of heaven shall fall, and the heavens
several days, praying and reading and fasting, shall part like a scroll, and the mountains
until he grew thin and haggard. Nature did shall be moved out of their places, and tho
not comfort him any, he knew nothing about great day of his wrath shall come, against
nature, he had never seen her; he had only - which none may stand. Oh, boys! tho
stared into a black plow furrow all his life, floods and the flames shall come down upon
Before, ho had only seen in the wide, green us together and the whole world shall perish. "
lands and the open blue the possibilities Lou paused for breath, and the little boys
of earning hiB bread; now, ho only saw in gazed at him in wonder. The sweat was
them a great world ready for the judgment, running down his haggard faco, and his eyes
a funeral pyre ready for the torch. Were staring wildly. Presently, he resumed
One morning, he went over to the big in a softer tone, "Boys, if you want rain,
prairie dog town, whore several little Danish there is only ono way to get it, by prayer,
boys herded their fathers's cattle. The boys Tho people of the world won't pray, poihap
wore very fond of Lou; he never teased them if they did God would not hear them, for
as the other men did, but used to help them they are so wicked; but ho will hear you, for
with their cattle, and lot them come ovor to you are little children and are likened unto
his dug-out to make sorghum taffy. When the kingdom of heaven, and ho loved ye."
thoy saw him coming, they ran to meet him Lon's haggard, unshaven face bent toward