St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-11-03
CHAPTER VIII.
TIE STRUGGLE IN TIE DARK

that cumlurllcss bed in the 'sturdert cor
nCr" Of the loft of Pete JUnes's house,
shiveling with cold, while the light snow
tlat wis falling siited in upon the lag
2ed patch work quilt that covered him.
Nerves shattered by slceplcssncss imagine
many things, and for the first hour
Ralph felt sure that Pete would cut his
throat before morning And you, friend
CalIow. who have blunted your palate
by swallowing the Cayenne pepper OF
| the penny dreadfuls, or OF IL certain sort
Of Sundayschool books. you wish me to
make this night exciting by II hand-to-
hand contest between Ralph and rob-
her. You would like it better ii there
were trap-door. There's nothing so
convenient as Il trap-door, unless it be Il
suhtcrranean passage And you'd like
something OF that sort Just here. It's 50
pleasant to have ones hair stand on end ,
you know, when one is safe from danger
to ones self. But if you want each in
dividual hair 10 bristlc with such :,
Struggle in the Dark" you can bay
trap doors and subtcrranean passages
dirt cheap at The next news stand. But
it was, indeed, real and terrible
'Sirugglc in the Dark" that Ralph
fought out at Pete Joncs's.
When he had vanquished his fears of
personal yioltnce 10y reminding himself
that it would be folly for Jones 10 COM
nit murder in his own house, ;hr qneS-
,ion of Bud and Hannah took the upper
most place in hi Thoughts And as the
imagc of Hannah spelling against the
master camr up to him, ~ the mcmCrY
of the walk, the talk. the box alder tree,
ii seemed to Ralph that his very life de
pended upon securing her love. lie
would shut his teeth like the Jaws OF Il
bull-dng, and all buds muscles should
not prevail over his resolution and hi
~irata%em-.
1t WA, easy t. Persuade hmSel! that
this was ght. Hannah ought not tl
throw herself away on Bud Means Mer
OF some culture always play their con-
cent oil against their consc.cnces. To Il
man of literary habits it always seems
to he :: GREAT boon that hc cunfcrs on 4
woman when H. give- her his love.
Reasoning thus, Ralph had fixed lii
resolution, and II the night had been
shorter, rr sleep possible, the clor OF
liS lite might have been changed.
But sometime aloh" IN the tedious
honi~ rlme the memory 81 h- chlidhrrd
the words of his mother, the old Bihlc
>tuIic-, the aspiration after mobility "t
spirit, the solemn rc-plul ~ T." H. trnr
10 | i, conscience. Thr-r tn"rI- ut the
memory came hocking back before the
animal, the -doeyednr>-, had ",cl, -
~ workers i'll plaster say. lie remcm.
! brrrd the story of David and Nathan
and it seemed to him that he, with al
hi- abilities and ambitions and prospects,
was about 10 rob Bud of the one eve
lamb, the only thing lie had to rcioic,
in in his life. In Getting Hannah, l.,
would make himself unworthy of Han,
! hah. And then there came 10 him 4
vision of the supreme value OF Il true
character: how it was better than sue
. Nt~~- DNlltl IMAM " lc lONt'l, DSllCI lllil
heaven. Aud how near he had been tC
missing it, And how certain he wa,
when these thoughts should fade, to mis-,
it, lie WAS a$ one fighting for a grea
prize who feels his strength i;ilirg IN,
is sure of defeat.
This was the real, awful "Htruggle ii
the Dark \ human >oul lighiin,
with heaven in sight, bat certain OF slip
ping inevitably into hell 1t was til,
same Old battle. The image OF Go,
fought with the Image OF the Devil. |
WAS the same fight that Paul describe,
80 dramatically when he rcprc-cntcd til,
spirit a. cOntending with the Flesh
Paul also called this dreadful something
the Old Adam, and suppose Darwin
would call it the remains of the Wild
Beast. But call ii what you will, it j.
the battle that every wcll-endowed sou
must fight at some point. And I,
Ralph it seemed that the final victory o
the Evil, the Old Adam, the Flesh, til,
Wild Beast, the Devil, was certain.
For, was not the pure, unconscious fac,
of Hannah on the Devils side! And :,
the battle had Just a. we'll be given NJ
at once, for it must he lost in the end
But to Ralph lying there in the still
darkness, with his conscience us wide
awake as il i: were the Day Of Doom
there seemed something 80 terrible il
this overthrow of the better nature whicl
he knew 10 be inevitable as soon as tn,
voice of conscience became blunted, thai
hc looked alb ut for help. lie did no
ut first think of God; but there came in
to his thoughts the memory Of Il travel
wcrn Galilr;ln peasant, hungry, sleepy
weary, tempted, tried, like other men
but having II strange, divine Victory il
him by which everything evil was van
qulshcd at his coming. He remembers
how He had reached out Il Hand t,
every helpless one, how lie was til
Helper Of every weak one. And out q
the depths OF his s0ul he cried to III
Helper, and found comfort. Not vicio
ry, bur, what is better, strength. An,
80, without ii thought ut the hlCctits I
theological distinctions, without dream
my that II was the be2Innln@ ul relI9
iuu> experience, he found what hc need
ed, help. And the Helper gave his ht
loved sleep
CHAPTER IN.
Has Con FORGolTtN SuOCkY
, Pap wants 10 know cf you woul
spend TO morry and Sunday at on
house p said one OF Squire Hawkin'
, girls, on the very next evening, whicI
, was FRIDAY. The old Squire wa
e thoughtful enough 10 remember !ha