have passed away, you will witness one of the bloodiest civil wars on record."
An awe-struck silence pervaded the assembly when he took his seat. They were so taken by surprise that passion forgot to vent itself. All were spellbound, and it was some moments before the chairman arose, when the meeting was adjourned.
Many of Walter's old classmates were present, who went to express their sympathy with the objects of the meeting in whatever way accorded best with their spirit and inclination; either by cheering those who defended them or interrupting any who might chance to speak in opposition They were professed "law and order" men, as ready to instigate a mob for their preservation as to institute a well-ordered police to guard the peace. Though graduated at a university, they had not been taught to know the difference. Exceptions existed of course, but they were of too modest and lukewarm a character to volunteer their honest opinions in the face of overwhelming opposition. All, however, were for the moment swayed by an involuntary sense of admiration. There was something so bold and manly in the moral courage he had displayed, so truthful in his utterances and instructive in his prophetic warnings, as to command a hearty response from the un trammeled impulses of their souls, then just passing under the tuition which afterwards culminated in such melancholy expositions of the "higher law," and garbled interpretations of scripture texts, by which, when the laws of God and man conflict, the latter have been made to appear the better of the two to people of easy consciences.
