Newspaper Page Text
January 17, 1912 ] T H E 1
which ia hidden even in the hard man's heart.
Mrs. Tennant asked whether he would take a cup
of tea; he accepted, and they had a very friendly
meal together. Then lie said, suddenly, he must
go, as he had an engagement in the "West End
at six o'clock.
As he turned away from the gate, down the
street, where the lamps had been lighted, he saw
_ n - ? - -
a ngure corning up wmcn he had no difficulty in
recognizing as Tennant. He strode on to meet
him, and waited under one of the gas lamps till
he came up. He saw that he was perfectly sober.
"Good evening, Tennant."
Tennant started violently.
"Good evening, sir. I didn't expect to meet
you here."
"Nor I you, Tennant. "Walk a little way with
me towards the station, will you? I have been at
your house."
"You have?but how, and why?"
"Don't inquire too closely. Suffice to say I've
been there. I've had a delightful hour among
them. Tennant, you are a worse fool even than
T took you for."
"Yes, sir."
"I can't understand how you dared, with a
wife and a home like that, to play fast and loose
with your slender chances. That boy of yours!
ITow haven't you been able to keep straight, for
him, if for nothing else? He has a face like an
angel."
"Have they told him?you didn't, sir? We
planned. Elspeth and me, to keep it from him
as long as we could," cried Tennant, and drew
his hand across his brow, while his voice vibrated
with a real anguish. Lovitt's heart smote him.
What had he done to help or encourage this
weaker brother? He had simply taken his
pound of flesh, and when the weight was short,
fired him out.
"He doesn't know, and if you like, Tennant,
he need never know You can come back tomorrow.
''
"Come back, sir! Oh, you can't mean it!"
"I do, and we'll fight this thing together, you
and I, for the lad's sake. I'll help you, if you
like."
Tennant could not speak. He wondered, indeed,
whether his imagination were not playing
him some trick.
"There's my hand on it. We'll talk further
to-morrow Yrm're not in a fit state to HismiRs
it now. Go home to that brave, fine wife of
yours, and those bonnie bairns, and buck up,
won't you?"
Lovitt strode on, and after a moment's dazed
reflection Tennant turned back towards his home.
Elspeth heard his key in the lock, and was at
the door to welcome him, no reproach on her
face.
"Did you meet anybody?"
4'Yes?Lovitt. I'm to go back to-morrow. It's
to you I owe this, Elspeth, with all the rest."
She did not say anything, but her eyes shone.
"You'll?you'll justify his goodness, Bob?"
"And yours," said Tennant under his breath.
"Sohelp me, God."?David Lyall, in the British
Weekly.
Extravagance in language is never of any
value and often puts the user in a most unfavorable
light. Sometimes it verges on irreverence.
For instance, we read the other
day of a good brother saying, in a public
speech in connection with a mission in the city,
that his denomination was at the beginning of
great things and was "going to give God
u chance." The man doubtless meant all right,
but he should have chosen a better way of expressing
what was in his heart.
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SI
STOOPING TO CONQUER.
"Evidently there are three stages in matrimonial
bliss!" exclaimed the young wife, with
Hashing eyes and a voice vibrating with pain
and excitement. "The first, during which the
happy couple always agree; the second, when
quarrels begin, but end in delicious reconcilliation;
the third, of contention leading only to
greater and greater estrangement."
"Call them the honeymoon stage, the stage of
disillusionment and that of alienation," suggested
Arthur, bitterly. "But there is still another
stage which you have failed to mention, my dear
?that of peace purchased at the price?of indifference."
Ilis face hardened as he spoke, and with the
fast words he left the room. A few moments
later Edith heard the house door close, and
knew that she was alone for the day. The flame
died suddenly out of her eyes; she shivered as
with an actual physical chill and a curious contraction
passed over her features. She did not
cry, however, but set her lips grimly and went
mechanically about her regular morning occupations,
dusting the bric-a-brac with hands that
did not tremble, spending her usual time at the
piano and giving orders for the day. There were
letters to be answered, notes to be written and
telephone calls to interrupt every hour. At ten
came the singing master, at half-past eleven a
committee met; then she dressed and went out to
luncheon. It was a brilliant winter day; the
keen air sent the blood racing through her veins
jinrl hrrmcrVi+ tho tn Vin? csu?. ?
??M bilv; W1W1 IU 11 V>x V.11CC1VS. UHC IXbelled
against her own heartache and tried to
abandon herself to the joy of the brisk walk,
but her husband's cruel words had cut deeper
and deeper into her consciousness with every
hour that passed, and now they haunted her with
a terrible insistence. Yet they had been such devoted
lovers, and were less than three years
married!
"Of course, neither of us meant what we
said," she thought, defiantly, "and when Arthur
comes home we'll both be on our good behavior
and just forget all about it?until the next
time."
The next time. The thought of it seared her
heart like hot iron, and she felt suddenly weakened
and frightened. But youth and hope were
strong within her, nevertheless, and deep in her
heart of hearts lay the assurance that, after all,
she and Arthur had not made the greatest of all
the mistakes of life So ?Vip Vior> +twiKl/> on/1
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determined to find a way of escape. For weeks
this crisis had been coming; now it was upon her
and would not be postponed.
There was an important club meeting in the
afternoon, but she sent a hasty message of regret
and went home, letting herself in with a latchkey,
and going quietly to her own room to "fight
it out" alone. "Defy him and prove your independence,"
whispered pride. "Stoop to conquer,"
pleaded love, and her woman's intuition
As the clock struck six the young husband appeared,
waving a flag of truce a handkerchief
tied to his cane, and Edith laughed and kissed
him, thinking that he had never looked more
handsome and careless than at that moment. His
quick eyes noticed at once that she wore his
favorite gown, but he was baffled by the expression
of her face. He could not know that while
he had been in the world of business she had
ill. Al- * ' ' ^
mxaiicu wiin cue angei ai nome. JJuring the
dinner he exerted himself to be agreeable, but the
conversation was a mere game of hide and seek.
Later, before the open fire, a grave silence fell.
"Arthur, it must never, never happen again?
never as long as we live!" Edith said at length,
half under her breath. "I have been a spoiled
child ill my life, proud, obstinate and willful,
but if you will be patient with me I'll try after
3 U T H ~~ (53) S 1
this to give up when we disagree, and believe
with the old woman in the fairy tale 'what the
good man does is always right.' "
Arthur looked up at her with astonishment and
admiration, not unmixed with annoyance. The
annoyance found utterance. "Well, I have
heard that girls lost their spirit after marriage!"
he exclaimed, perversely, "but I never expect
you to eat humble pie after this fashion?
thought the new woman had lost the art."
Edith's lip quivered as if she had received a
blow, but she answered without resentment.
"Of course, I expected you to make sport of
me at first, but if you think it takes less 'spirit'
to surrender than to fight, you are mistaken, and
I had rather be a successful wife than a new
woman, if I can not be both." She tried to
sneak lierhtlv hnt tlioro woo o v.
4 0 | w?.v VMVAV " UO U tl V/1UU1 ill 11 CI
voice that belied the steady poise of her haughty
head and went straight to his heart.
"You blessed, thoroughbred girl," he exclaimed,
trying to catch her hand, but Edith drew
back, refusing to be petted and praised just yet.
"I would not promise to 'obey' when we were
married, Arthur," she said, "but now I am
ready to adopt Paul's theory of wifely duty if
you will promise to do your part. Please do
not laugh again," and she took a little volume
from the table and held it toward him.
Arthur read: "Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands,
love your wives and be not bitter against
them."
4 f i *
leenng 01 solemnity toolc possession of the
young fellow, and, clasping the hands that held
the book, he said simply, "I promise."
The conflict of the morning seemed already
like a nightmare of the dim past.
"But what stage is this, Edith?" asked
Arthur.
"The final stage," she said.?Ex.
The underlying principle of all Christian giving
is the Apostolic admonition, "Upon the
first day of the week let every one of you lay
by him in store as God hath prospered him,"
the tithe or offering for the support of the
Church. There has been do change in this
principle, because it continues to meet with the
favor of all really Christian and well-meaning
people. But it does not simply mean, "When
you go to church, put something on the plate."
Tt rather encourages the disposition to have
constantly in mind the needs of the Church,
and to respond as generously as the prosperity
with which God has prospered us permits, to
the ever-growing demands of the work, and to
seek its largest welfare from week to week.?
Southern Churchman.
The year which came to us twelve months
ago, all fresh and young, is old and weary and
dying. A new year is at hand to crowd him
from his place. On the last day it is not mere
habit, it is a natural and healthy instinct,
which bids US stand hatwpan tlio t?qto
? .. v?av 4iv ww J UU1 aUU
the old, between the living and the dead, and
listen to them as they speak to one another.
The old year says to the new year: "Take this
man and show him greater things than I have
been able to show him. You must be for him
a fuller, richer day of the Lord than I could
be." The new year says to the old: "I will
take him and do for him the best possible only
in virtue of the preparation which you have
made, only because of what you have done for
mm already."?.Phillips Brooks.
The Incarnation is the sum of all the Sacraments,
the crown of the material revelation of
God to man, the greatest of outward and
visible signs.?Michael Fairlesa.
.