on for fearing any
harm to the earth or its inhabitants from its occasional appearance.

I have since learned, however, that many people were frightened at
the sight, and feared that the last day was at hand. One sister in
particular, not far from here, wrung her hands screaming almost
spasmodically, fearing in her soul that the next thing would be the
sound of "the last trumpet."

Some may smile at this; but suppose the trumpet had then sounded!
Would those who now smile, or perhaps laugh, have been able to hear
the thunder of its voice with a steadier nerve than she? Her faith was
strong; nay, too strong for the weakness of her feeble body. She
believed every word of Divine Truth. She believed in a final judgment,
than which nothing is more positively declared in the sacred
Scriptures. But because she had never seen such a sight before, and as
no one could account for it, the conclusion was quickly reached that
it was supernatural and sent as a herald of the coming Lord.

But he will come, and every eye shall see him. But "who shall abide
the day of his coming?" Only they who shelter under the almighty wings
of Jesus. "How often"--said he to Jerusalem, and now to every one
else--"would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen doth
gather her chickens under her wings." To those who laugh at sacred
things now, it may _then_ be said what follows in the above
connection: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."

"Hide me, O my Savior, hide;
'Neath the shadow of thy wing."

The above phenomenon lasted till midnight.

SUNDAY, February 12. "Peter Nead was with me at the Plains to-day."
Whether Brother Kline saw or heard something in Peter Nead to-day that
especially wrought upon his attention, he does not say; but this
follows in the entry: "Brother Nead gives promise of becoming a very
able speaker and a very useful man. May the Lord prosper him in all he
sets his heart and hand to in his service." The church now knows the
singular correctness of Brother Kline's estimate of the man, written
over sixty years ago.

Brother Nead, like many other good and live men, may have had some
apparent eccentricities in the direction of practical conservatism and
the like; but, take him through and through, it is questionable if the
church has ever been favored with a purer or sounder man.

THURSDAY, May 4. Preparations are being made to-day for the Annual
Meeting. The brethren and sisters are all alive wi