noon
He pokes fun at the hymn book and laughs at the Bible and every one that tries to follow it word for word . Jack thinks he 's all kinds of an infidel ; but he is n't . I have a notion of my own that he 's a better Christian than he allows , better than a good many church members I could name . In fact , I believe if the Lord Jesus were to get off at Cedar Mountain from to-morrow 's noon train , the first thing he would do would be to go to the post office and say : ` Can you tell me where Jack Shives , the blacksmith , lives ? He 's a particular friend of mine , he 's done a lot of little odd jobs for me and I guess I 'll put up at his house while I 'm in Cedar Mountain . ' '' And so he talked for the allotted time , translating the age-old truth into terms of to-day and personal application . A few of the older folk thought he treated some very serious subjects too lightly ; they preferred the sing-song tone so long associated with scripture texts .