Page 62 - 1918 VES Meteor

98 TnE )l.r:TEOR
The air was filled with a resistless, terrifying sound like the breaking of many wa,·es upun lofty rocks, like the unpleasant hum of some gignntie mechanism. It was the cries of a mob pregnant with ominous, grim detenuination. Down the quiet street they came, changing peace to 11m·est, quiet to din. They gathered recruits as they "·ent, without a word of persuasion, only the intangible magnetism of the mass. GretHer and greater grew the crowd, and as it increased in size it increased in seriousness. Children, e,·en, tagged at the heels of their elders, knowing nothing of their errand, but powerless to resist the attraction of the throng. Finally the mob, as if by instinct, turned aside frum the street and o\·erflo"·ed into a country Jane which led toward
a house. It was simple and neat and was surrounded by a white picket fence almost hidden b,v flowers. The mob halted when it reached the fence, as if at the last batTier of decency and restraint, but only for a second. In a moment fence and flo\rers alike "·ere trampled in the dust, and arouud the house seethed tl1e cro"·d. Some uf their cries became recognizable, and the "·ords, "The German," ·'The spy," "Lynch him," ''Tar and feather:;," etc., rose in the air like the angry drone of a swarm of hees depriYed of their queen.
Suddenly the door opened and a man stepped upon the little porch enveloped in honeysuckle. Tic was not a young man nor a big man, but old and small, yet he bore himself with a quiet courage that was mistaken for cowardice by the ignorant mob. They had paused, smprised by his sudden appearance, bnt were about to ad,·auce when halted by his words: