A solemn note of deep
passion trembled, as it were, amid the floating music, and every word
went home. This jolly, rosy missionary is one of the best of living
popular speakers, and his passionate simplicity fairly conquers the very
rudest of audiences. The man believes every word he says, and his power
of rousing strong emotion has seldom been equalled.
Jim Billings sat and glowered; he understood every simply lucid sentence
that the orator uttered, and he was charmed in spite of himself.
"This is the blankest, rummiest blank go ever I was in," muttered the
would-be iconoclast.
His visions of a merry riot were all fled, and he was listening with the
eagerness of a decorous Sunday-school child.
Speaker Number Two arose, and Jim's bleared eyes were riveted on him.
The rough saw before him a pallid, worn man, whose beautiful face seemed
drawn by suffering. Long, exquisite artist hands, silky beard, kindly,
humorous mouth, marked by stern lines; these were the things that Jim
dimly saw.
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