Three of them were talking
at the same time to different groups of mourners. The louder they
exhorted the louder the sinners cried. The fourth preacher walked down
the aisle searching for those who were yet hardening their hearts and
stiffening their necks. He paused beside a prim little old maid who had
lately arrived from Tidewater Virginia. Her bright eyes were dry.
"Dear lady, are you a child of God?" the preacher cried.
The prim figured stiffened indignantly:
"No, sir! I'm an Episcopalian!"
The preacher groaned and passed on and the Boy stuffed his fist in his
mouth.
For half an hour the roar of the conflict was incessant, and its
violence indescribable. It was broken now and then by a kindly soul
among the elderly women raising a sweet old-fashioned hymn.
Suddenly an exhorter threw his hands above his head and, in a voice that
soared above the roar of mourners and their attendants, cried:
"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world!"
Quick as a flash came an answering shout from the red-headed man who
leaped to his feet and with wide staring eyes looked up at the roof.
"I see him! I see Jesus up a tree!"
A fat woman lifted her head and shouted:
"Hold him till I get there!"
And she started for the red-headed man. There was a single moment of
strange silence and the Boy laughed aloud.
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