Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/704



the country, was awaiting trial for forgery. It was he who was singing in his cell.

Meantime the song went on, and every man in the line showed emotion. One or two dropt on their knees. One boy at the end of the line, after a desperate effort at self-control, leaned against the wall, buried his face in his folded arms, and sobbed, "O mother, mother."

The sobs cut the very heart of the men who heard, and the song, still welling its way through the court-room, blended in the hush. At length one man protested:

"Judge," said he, "have we got to submit to this? We're here to take our punishment, but this—" He, too, began to sob.

It was impossible to proceed with the business of the court, yet the judge gave no order to stop the song. The police sergeant, after a surprized effort to keep the men in line, stept back and waited with the rest. The song moved on to its climax:

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Sing for the night is o'er! Hosanna in the highest! hosanna for ever-*more!"

In an ecstasy of melody the last words rang out, and then there was a silence.

The judge looked into the faces of the men before him. There was not one who was not touched by the song; not one in whom some better impulse was not stirred. He did not call the cases singly—a kind word of advice, and he dismissed them all. No man was fined or sentenced to the work-*house that morning. The song had done more good than punishment could have accomplished.

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SONG IN THE NIGHT

Years ago, when the Ocean Monarch was wrecked in the English Channel, a steamer was cruising along in the darkness, and the captain heard a song, a sweet song, coming over the waters, and bearing down in the direction of the voice, he found it was a Christian woman on a plank of the wrecked steamer singing:

"Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll,  While the tempest still is high." (Text.)

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Song of Cheer—See.

Song, Power of—See.

SONG, THE GOSPEL IN

The ministry of song in modern times has been of incalculable value in spreading the truths of the Word. Speaking of a city-wide revival in Boston, a current news item says:

The city is ringing with revival melodies. Everywhere Mr. Alexander's songs are being hummed and whistled and sung. A number of revival hymns have been published in the newspapers, and a few days ago two drummers were seated in a train going out of Boston, holding a newspaper before them and singing from it lustily, "Don't Stop Praying." A gentleman who happened to be in the same car, which was filled with people, said that he finally approached them and asked them if they were ministers. "Oh, no," was the reply, "we are just drummers." In one of the hotels some theatrical women were singing, "He Will Hold Me Fast," instead of their own songs. These are simply indications of the way in which the gospel songs have permeated the entire city. (Text.)

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Songs Born in Trouble—See.

SONGS THAT ENDURE

George Sylvester Viereck, in "Prisoners of Song," has these suggestive lines on the immortality of the song:

With rumbling thunder and discordance hideous The gods and stars shall tumble from the sky, But beauty's curve enmarbled lives in Phidias, And Homer's numbers can not die.

And when the land is perished, yea, When life forsakes us and the rust Has eaten bard and roundelay, Still from the silence of the dust Shall rise the song of yesterday!

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SOOT

The Chicago public laboratories recently made tests to determine the amount of soot and dust deposited from the air in that city. The acreage deposit, as estimated from samples collected at eight different heights during a period of four weeks, was, approximately, at the rate of 8.5 tons per acre per year. On the Board of Trade Building, 110 feet above the street level, the estimated an