If the human eye had power to slay, Ginny Babe would now be dead. Vinegar Atts glared at her with such a murderous look that the congregation forgot to sing and watched him. Ginny Babe turned and gazed at the preacher with the air of a hurt child, and quietly took her seat.
There was continued silence in the congregation.
Vinegar raised another tune:
“I muss tell de good Lawd all of my trials,
I cannot bear dese here burdens alone!”
There was continued silence on the part of every one except the preacher. The congregation knew the song and loved it, but they acted like they had never heard either the song or the tune. They were certainly lacking in that Christian coöperation which the song recommended, and Vinegar had to tell his troubles and trials without their assistance.
Then in utter desperation, Vinegar turned again to Dinner Gaze and said pleadingly.
“Fer Gawd’s sake, brudder, come out here an’ sing us a sweet toon—it don’t make difference even ef we don’t know it.”
Long after Dinner Gaze had ended his brief sojourn in Tickfall, the congregation of the Shoofly Church remembered him as he stood before them with his scarred face and sang the song of the shining shore:
“My days are gliding swiftly by,
An’ I, a pilgrim stranger,
Would not detain ’em as dey fly
Dem hours of toil an’ danger;
Fer, Oh! We stand on Jordon’s strand
Our frien’s are passin’ over;
An’ jest befo’, de shinin’ sho’
We may almost discover.”
After this Vinegar arose, announced his text, and began his sermon.