He
sang no wild hymns, nor did he make any ecstatic speeches; nevertheless
his influence was great among his old acquaintances and upon the young
men of the town. To "stand up for prayers" was to the latter class the
supreme indication of courage or conviction; and any of them would have
preferred to face death itself, at the muzzle of a gun, to taking such
a step. But that was not all; Bartram had for some years been the
leader of the unbelievers in the town; the logic of a young man who was
smart enough to convince judges on the bench in matters of law was good
enough for the general crowd when it was brought to bear upon religion.
As one lounger at Weitz's saloon expressed himself,--
"None of the preachers or deacons or class-leaders was ever able to
down that young feller before, but now he's just the same as gone and
hollered 'enough.' It's no use for the rest of us to put on airs after
that; nobody'll believe us, and like as not he'll be the first man to
tell us what fools we be. I'm thinkin' a good deal of risin' for
prayers myself, if it's only to get through before he gives me a
talkin' to."
When, however, the entire membership of the church aroused to the fact
that work was to be done, and Judge Prency and other solid citizens
began to take part in the church work, Bartram rested from his efforts
and began again to spend his evenings at the home of the young woman
whom he most admired.
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