THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 21 



rush. Grave professors, students, and sportsmen all joined 

 in a grand triumphal march in the wake of the Salvationists, 

 and lifted up their voices in a hymn to the tune of " March- 

 ing through Georgia." It was an extraordinary procession as 

 it passed along the main street chanting to the accompaniment 

 of a most vigorous and well-meaning, if erratic, band. Never 

 before, perhaps, had this section of the Army of the Lord 

 gathered in so many stray sheep. 



I shall never forget the look of joy upon the face of an old 

 salt who marched at the head of the procession beating a 

 bass-drum with a nervous energy, as if he were thumping the 

 very devil himself. At length a little, low meeting-house was 

 reached, and when we had filed in and taken our seats the 

 usual singing and clapping was gone through with. Pale, 

 nervous -looking women, clad in tlie ungainly uniform of the 

 Salvationists, with a wild, fanatical look in their eyes, hopped 

 up and down on the stage, clapping their hands and chanting. 

 Then came an address from the captain of the band, a strange 

 hotch-potch, interspersed with many " glories " and "amens." 

 He pictured the glories of the hereafter for the faithful sol- 

 diers of the Lord, and the eyes of the pale women gleamed 

 with the light of hope and anticipation. ^' If there is joy in 

 heaven," said the captain, raising his voice, " over one sinner 

 doing repentance, what must be the joy in heaven when a 

 soldier of the Salvation Army enters into the pearly gates ? I 

 can picture myself after death ascending upward, and a voice 

 saying to me, ' Who comes here V and when I answer, 'Jim 

 Watson is coming,' oh, I can hear the echoes ringing through 

 heaven — * Jim Watson is coming, Jim Watson is coming I* 

 Oh, I tell you, friends, there will be exceeding joy in heaven 

 upon that day !" And so he went on in his simple egotism. 

 Indeed, I hope that Mr. Jim Watson's reception in heaven 

 will be more enthusiastic than the one he was accorded by his 

 hearers ; for the natives of Sydney did not appear to respond 



