But there's a kin' o' roost that
gathers and a kin' o' moth that breeds i' the gowd and siller whan
they're laid up i' the hert; and the roost's an awfu' thing for eatin'
awa', and the moth-craters hae teeth as hard's the siller that breeds
them; and instead o' eatin' the siller, like the meal-worms, they fa'
upo' the girnel itsel'--that's the heart; and afore lang the hert
itsel's roostit awa' wi' the roost, and riddlet through and through wi'
the moths, till it's a naisty fushionless thing, o' no use to God or
man, not even to mak' muck o'. Sic a crater's hardly worth damnin'."
And Thomas threw trowelful after trowelful of rough-cast upon the wall,
making his hypocrite in all the composure of holy thoughts. And Annie
forgot her trouble in his presence. For Thomas was one of those whom
the prophet foresaw when he said: "And a man shall be as an
hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of
water in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land." I
do not mean that Thomas was felt to be such by all whom he encountered;
for his ambition was to rouse men from the sleep of sin; to set them
face to face with the terrors of Mount Sinai; to "shak' them ower the
mou' o' the pit," till they were all but choked with the fumes of the
brimstone.
Pages:
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508