Go, ask pussy!"
Then I went into the back yard to interview my favorite playmate, our
big, black tomcat, and aroused him from his cat nap. But he blinked
sleepily only, saying nothing.
However, speech was not to be denied me in that manner, for I held
the combination which unlocks the portals of silence. I gave the
handle a double twist and he spat and spluttered: "Sh--sh--sht--t--t!"
As may be imagined, my father passed a sleepless night in the
solitude of his studio. He wrestled with a host of demons and made a
good fight of it; for finally in the small hours of morning he
overcame the evil spirit of worldly ambition and with true Christian
humility, his soul purified by vanquished temptation, resigned
himself unreservedly, good man that he was, to the mandate of a cruel
fate. He began to write his sermon for the Sabbath, and being
spiritually chastened and battle-sore, naturally his thoughts dwelt
on melancholy topics. Therefore, he took the text of his sermon from
the Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 3, v. I:
"I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath."
It may be stated here that on the next Sabbath, from "firstly" to
"seventhly" for two long hours father pondered over the uncertainties
of earthly life, and that on this occasion he delivered the most
effective sermon of his pastoral career.
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