’Neath Thy care.”
An experience of the days before prohibition was recorded in The Youth’s Companion, when
Judge and Criminals Listened To “The Holy City”
Thirty men, red-eyed and disheveled, lined up before a judge of the San Francisco police court. It was the regular morning company of “drunks and disorderlies.” Just as the momentary disorder attending the bringing in of the prisoners quieted down, a strange thing happened. A strong, clear voice from below began singing:
“Last night I lay a-sleeping,
There came a dream so fair.”
Last night! It had been for them all a nightmare or a drunken stupor. The song was such a contrast to the horrible fact that no one could fail of a sudden shock at the thought the song suggested.
“I stood in old Jerusalem,
Beside the temple there,”
the song went on. The judge had paused. He made a quiet inquiry. A former member of a famous opera company, known all over the country, was awaiting trial for forgery. It was he who was singing in his cell.