A PLEASANT NIGHT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 140, 5 June 1876, Page 4

A PLEASANT NIGHT.

A correspondent of the Southern Cross writes as, follows : — A squally dark night found me some three years ago wandering over, the fern ranges of one of our Northern settlements. I liad been out for several days alone, my business being to select a suitable line 'of road to run through the district. Being by myself, I carried no swag, but depended on the hospitality of those •settlers I met on my route. On the night in question I was driving through 'the fern trying to find some sort of Jjrack by the fitful light of a moon ever aud anon obscured by thick, heavy clouds, and blinding squalls of rain. After a weary search I found a track that led me through a patch of bush to l the head of a valley close by, A gleaming light showed that I was near a settler's bouse, quickening my pace, I approached the back door and knocked. The door opened, and I stepped into a large farm kitchen, lighted by the flickering fire of logs, which threw .strange weird shadows across the floor .and ; walls. The strong wind blowing shook the roof, so that several hams, strings of onions, and other articles .suspended there swung slowly backwards and forwards, causing their •shadows to dance a ghostly quadrille on tbe opposite "wall. I was made welcome in a hollow, solemn voice, and told that abed was at my service. ♦And now let me describe my host. A man above the middle height was hei with strongly marked features, of rather a majestic, prepossessing oast. The! eyes were large, sunken, and brilliant, forming a strange contrast to his white beard. His hair fell loosely on his shoulders in half-formed ringlets, and was almost white, though by the uncertain light I judged him to be not more, than fifty years of age. I was provided with a chair placed in front of the fire, and was soon at home drying my clothes, the cheering warmth imparted having a good effect on my spirits. The strangeness of the scene •wore off, and I' looked forward to a good sleep in comfortable quarters. The conversation between myself and host went on upon common-place matters till I happened to touch on the crops, which had as a rule, turned out well in tbe district. My host solemnly informed me that he had been an exception, as the devil always destroyed his crops, uprooted his trees, and killed his cattle. This extraordinary communication caused me to look at the man. Not a trace of insincerity was visible in bis face, the expression was earnest and, melancholy. In answer to my question, be told me that he had had revealed to him a new religion, and by this all things were revealed to him. I immediately made for my hat, being convinced that I was in the house of a maniac. He had my hat safe, and I sank back in the chair resignedly to see what extraordinary statement he would make next. I was kept listening for half an hour to the most horrible blasphemy, delivered in a calm, earnest, voice. This he called an exposition of his religion, which, from what I gathered, was spiritual. His. belief was that each man was possessed of two. spirits, a male and a female; these were continually struggling for mastery, and one of these battles of the spirits he had described in what he called a poem — a blasphemous doggrel, covering ' some thirty sides of foolscap paper. He produced this and read what he considered the most telling passages in which everything orthodox was demolished to his own satisfaction. The effueion had no merit of any sort, the rhyming and wording of the lines were execrable, while the Deity and everything sacred was reviled and dragged, in the dust. As the maniac read on, his gestures became violent, keeping rude time with the uneven fact of the " poetry." The flickering flames of the fire showed his face at intervals, pale and enthusiastic, his large lighted up with wild exultant fire. The wild moanings of the wind under tbe eaves accompanied the measured tones of the reader with an unearthly refrain ; the shadows in the room in their uneven movements adding to the eupernatural effect produced. Thus we sat, one on each side of tb« wide fire-place, he getting more excited in 'his' theme, and I feeling more chilled and horrified as the long old fashioned clock slowly ticked tbe hours away. Would'tbat I could have preserved a Bpecimen of the reader's words, but tbe only memory left of them is a horrible, devilish; collection of execrations on all that is Held holy by man. At last the enthusiast was through his congenial task, and as he ceased the storm grew 1(288 violent, the tain ceased, and the wind came in low soft oadences, sighing as it were at tbe wickedness of which I had been a compulsory hearer. The shadow-dance ceased on the wall as the last log of the fire fell over on the hearth, leaving a dim darkness over the room even more horrible than its previously half.illumined state. The silence was broken by my entertainer rißing and vanishing behind a small screen. He immediately reappeared, bearing in his arms a huge pile of manuscripts, which he informed me was, an account of a visit from the Devil and our Saviour to his house, with a graphic description of a combat between the two on his farm. This was too much, and, rousing myself from the half-entranced condition in which I was, I made for the door, and in spite of strong opposition from the luoatic, matie my way outside, determined to seek lodgings of a different kind. The clouds had disappeared with the wind and rain, and the moon was flooding

the forest-skirt valley with silver light, reflected back from the rain-bejewelled blades of grass. Away in the distance I could discern the white wall of a cottage, which I pitched upon as my destination. As I hurried across she fields, I saw my late hoßt standing on his threshold with outstretched arms, and, borne on the light breeze, the words came, " Behold the Lion of Judah, the future reformer, and I come from this peaceful valley." Wtat would have followed I know not, but quickening my pace into a run, I made for the house before seen, where I received a hearty welcome, and tried to sleep in a comfortable bed ; hut the events of the night had been t"o much for my nerves, and sleep was driven away by the continual appearance in imagination of my late companion. In tbe morning I learnt from my host that tbe individual described was a most remarkable man, being quite mad on religious matters. Since that day I have not had occasion to visit the district in which he lived, and should my business ever lead me there again, I will carefully avoid the dwelling of the "Lion of Judah," should he be in the land of the living.