nd stealing a march on
that usually wide-awake person, AEsop, had rented Belt Line Park, thus
forcing AEsop's crowd to make a poor second choice of the old
show-grounds, a treeless common away out near the end of Tennessee
Street. On top of this and in an unexpected quarter, even more
formidable competition was foreshadowed. A scant eighth of a mile
distant from the show-lot and on the same thoroughfare stood the Twelfth
Ward tabernacle, and here services would be held both afternoon and
evening of the Eighth. The Rev. Wickliffe had so announced, and the Rev.
Shine had backed him in the decision.

It was inevitable, with this surpassing magnet of popular interest so
near at hand, that for every truant convert who might halt to taste of
the pleasures provided by AEsop Loving and his associate promoters, half
a dozen possible patrons would pass on by and beyond, drawn away by the
compelling power of the Sin Killer's eloquence. Representations had been
made to the revivalist that, with propriety, he might suspend his
ministry for the great day. His answer was the declaration that on the
Eighth he would preach not merely once, but twice.

By him and his there would be no temporizing with the powers of evil,
however insidiously cloaked. Would not dancing be included in the
entertainments planned by these self-seeking laymen who now approached
him? Would not there be idle sports and vain pastimes calculated to
entice the hearts of the populace away from consideration of the welfare
of their own souls? Admittedly there would be drinking of soft drinks.
And into the advertised softness some hardness assuredly would slip. You
could not fool the Sin Killer. Having taken a firm stand, his rectitude
presently moved him to further steps. On his behalf it was stated that
he, personally, would lead the elect in triumphant procession out
Tennessee Street to the tabernacle between the afternoon preaching and
the evening. As an army with banners, the saved, the sober, and the
seeking would march past, thus attesting their fealty to the cause which
moved them. He defied all earthly forces to lure a single one from the
ranks.

And, after the preaching, under his auspices, there would be a mighty
cutting of watermelons for those deemed to be qualified to participate
therein. By the strict tenets of the Rev. Wickliffe's theology it seemed
that watermelons were almost the only luscious things of this carnal
world not held to be potentially