Night passed into morning, and it was the next day. Jacob rose with the sun to take the first step in his long journey. He prepared himself carefully as a man setting out to precise and exacting work. He put on his most presentable suit of clothes and combed his hair just so, leaving not one strand out of place. He read the most inspirational passage of scripture that came to mind, and prayed that the Spirit would be with him as he set his hand to the plow. And so it was.
He stepped from his father’s house to the crowded city streets and walked over to the speaker’s corner. He knew it well; many times had he listened to men speak at this very place. And now it was his turn to speak out. He found another minister of his denomination giving cool and rational discourse on the very same topic he wished to speak of, as it seemed to be on everyone’s lips in those days. Seeing his young colleague approaching, the middle-aged man stopped in mid-sentence to give a nod acknowledging Jacob’s newly acquired right to speak to the people. The elder clergyman stepped from his elevated position to join his fellows, giving the newly minted minister a chance to give his maiden oration. Jacob paused just long enough to pray that the Fire of Heaven would come down upon him. Then he rose to the occasion and unleashed the thunder held within.
“Brothers and sisters, friends and Americans, lend me your ears, I beg of you. For I have not come to praise Washington but to bury him. Democracy past has given way to tyranny present, and only by removing from our closets the skeletons of Washington, Jefferson and all the other whip-cracking hypocrites shall we ever regain our birthright. Our fathers elected a general, but they got a coward who laid the foundation of our government upon the sinking sands. And who do we have
15 to lead us today? We have thieves and slave drivers, tyrants and murders, every last one of them!”
The crowd gathered to hear Jacob speak. Some came only for the novelty of so booming and fiery a ministerial address. But most applauded Jacob for his words. “I tell you the truth, it would have been better for us if that city had never been built upon the swamp. For the swamp that is stinks ten times worse than the swamp that was. Instead of governance, we got tyranny. Instead of a Congress, we got a pack of cheats, liars and thieves. Instead of judges, we got executioners. Instead of a President, we got a murderer. And it matters not whether they are the Southerners who whip the slaves or the Northerners who allow them; they are all complicit in the great crime that has been perpetrated on our nation for centuries now.”
There was a great press in the crowd as all were now seeking the way forward that they might better hear the youthful firebrand. For Jacob was right, there were indeed many who felt just as he did. And his time had indeed come. “The time for talk has passed long ago, for endless and tiresome talk has only confused the issue. I tell you the truth; there are now only two kinds of men in our once great nation. There are those who will stand up and fight for the civilization that we know to be right and good, and those who would sell it off for a mess of pottage. If you would auction off the fair maid of our nation’s virtue, then to hell with you, for surely that fate awaits you. But if the blood of ‘76 still beats in your heart, then we are miles from daylight my friends.”
Apprehension now covered every face in the crowd as Jacob paused for dramatic effect. The silence was so thick that one could not have cut it with an axe. The old men by Jacob’s side wished that he would cool his temper, but not his rhetoric. They could find no fault with the young man’s message, and so they held their peace. Jacob did not. “I tell you the truth; it is only by leaving civilization that we shall ever find it. The time has come when good men must meet spinelessness with steel. We must meet cruelty with an intolerance of our own. We must draw a line in the sand and declare ‘This far, and no further.’
“The citadels of civilization have folded one by one. The have yielded ground until they had none left. Our only hope is to build a new one, and I shall tell you where that foundation is to be laid. It is in the west. It is in Kansas. It is there that we shall turn the tide. It is there that we shall stem the coming flood. I go now as a lone voice crying out in the wilderness. But I go to prepare a way that is straight, so that others may follow. Who is with me?”
The blood of the multitude bounded up into their temples. Immediately they responded with a mad howling.“We are coming!”
“We are with you Reverend!”
“We shall make the slave drivers pay! We shall make the tremble with fear!”
The blaze was lit, and it burned hot. His kindling spent, Jacob gazed out in wide wonderment at the fury he had unleashed.
