Penloe's sermon we will give, as told to her mother by Stella, and also the version published in the Roseland Weekly Gazette.
When Stella arrived home from church her mother noticed that her countenance was all animation, and her bright eyes seemed to glisten and sparkle brighter than ever; but she said nothing, knowing Stella would relate all she had seen and heard of any interest.
"Well, mother," said Stella, "I have had the greatest surprise and the greatest pleasure I ever had in my life."
"Why, Stella," said her mother, "I am very pleased to see and hear that something has delighted you so much."
"Who do you think I saw, and heard preach this afternoon?" said Stella.
"Why, I suppose the minister," said her mother, which was the same as saying, "I don't know, but want you to tell me."
"Well, mother," said Stella, "it was Penloe. I do wish you had been there to have seen and heard him. His face, when speaking, at times looked angelic. His eyes are so clear and bright, his voice sweet and musical, and he is so graceful in his movement, at the same time so simple and unassuming in his manner. He is symmetrical in his build, and as handsome as a picture."
"Is he really all that?" said her mother, with a smile.
"Yes," said Stella, "and there is something about him that is a thousand times more than all that; for there is an earnestness and sincerity of purpose and a power, such as I have never seen or felt before, in all he says and does. I don't know how to describe it, for he is so different to any man I ever met or saw; and, as for his subject, why, it was just grand. But I cannot help laughing when I think of the feelings of horror, and so much mocked modesty which I saw and heard expressed by many who were there this afternoon."
"Well, whatever could his subject have been about, to cause those feelings?" said her mother.