de the dedication of the pile of stone and
mortar which had stood before the face of the wind as sturdily as old
Harpeth itself. His words held the simplicity of those of a great poet
and each was a separate jewel that could be imbedded in the hearts of
his people to last for the span of their lives. He made a grateful
acknowledgment of the safety of the chapel and of the spared lives of
those before him, and in a few ringing sentences he prayed that we all
be delivered from the blindness of the prosperity which was upon us when
the disaster had made us halt in our rush and give time for brother to
face and call upon brother in affliction. So ringing and vivid was the
self-accusation of heedlessness in the few sentences when he dealt with
the condition of all of us when sorrow had come upon us, that we all
held our breath with almost a groan of conviction, and his promise of
our humbled and contrite hearts was ratified with a breath of relief.

Then we rose from our knees and sat once more facing him while he stood
before us and began to read the memorial services for our dead. And
through the whole beautiful ritual he led us to the very words of
triumph:

"Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written;
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?"

The warmth in his beautiful voice and the light upon his face poured
over us all with a healing that we knew would endure.

After the dedication prayer and the memorial service the old
Presbyterian minister, whom we had all known and loved since infancy,
talked tenderly and with great sympathy to us for a few minutes and the
stammering young Baptist divine gave us an insight into a heart of
youthful devoutness.

And then came my hour.

"And now that we have given to the Lord formally this sanctuary we have
builded for him, I want to open its spiritual doors to any of you who
feel in your hearts the desire to unite with us in our worship of Him,"
were the words of invitation that I suddenly felt beat themselves, in
the rich voice of the man in the pulpit, upon my heart. "I am going to
baptize the children, but are there any of you of 'riper years' who
desire to unite with us to 'constantly believe God's holy word, and
obediently keep his commandments'?" And as he spoke he came down from
the pulpit, stood at the chancel rail and stretched out his hands to all
of us. Without a second's delay I ros