Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-03-25
JOHN CAMPBELL's CONVERSION


the crowd of do-nothings that caused
down and face about. Mr.. Campbell did
dicated precipitation, and John Camp
bell never did but one precipitate thing
his whole life long and that was some
months later.
"This poor boy is seriously injured, /"
said the lady to the druggist; i fear
his leg is broken. Will you take him
into your private office and examine the
hurt? Perhaps can help you dress it,
l have had some experience"
While she spoke the lad was carefully
carried behind the glass doors at the rear
of the shop, and the crowd, finding
itself deprived of the rich treat of gaz-
ing at fellow beings suffering, melted
away with the wonderful facility for dis
persement that marks the throng that
never had any adequate cause for COL
lecting.
Then John Campbell and the brown
eyed lady were left alone. She uncon-
scious of any presence but her own, her
thoughts a thousand miles away; he
calmly finishing his interrupted hot soda
and watching his companions face. AT
that unfortunate little fellow belong to
vice In helping you home with him?"
For the first time she looked up at him
brightly and said: ooh, dear, no, sir!
He was knocked down just as came
along, and as the men who picked him
up seemed not to know what to do with
+ To
his leg Is fractured he will have to 90 to
the hospital, and / should be glad to pay
for carriage to take him there If you
would be good enough to find one"
Before Mr.. Campbell could reply the
only badly sprained his ankle, and
begged the kind lady would hold his
hand while the druggist bandaged the
leg; for by this time the poor little fellow
was crying nervously, as much from fear
as from pain. She rose at once to follow
the man of potions, while John Camp
bell followed her, partly from an unac-
knowledged thrill of curiosity, partly
from genuine desire to be of service.
The lady kneIt by the child's side,
soothing him to quietness in that cooling,
dove-like way peculiar to women whose
strongest instincts are toward mother
hood. Then taking the cloths and lotions
from the apothecary's hand she quickly
and gently bound up the swollen ankle,
talking softly to the boy the while. John
Campbell looked on wonderingly at the
deft performance, thinking that If he
had been the Arab, instead of the heir to
the great Campbell estates, it would be a
strong antidote to pain to be tended by
those long, slim fingers that did their
work so swiftly and so well.
"Now must CO." said the lady, rising
and shaking out the folds of her simple
gown. "But wish could set this boy
on the way to the hospital first. He will
get so much better care there than he
will at home"
81 will take him there myself my own
carriage is at the door, and | can do so
without trouble" returned Mr.. Camp
bell, promptly, reused to pitch of
benevolence he would have regarded as
impossible two hours before.
thank you, sir" responded the little
woman, smiling up into his face with
her beaming brown eyes. II am sure
you couldn't do a kinder act. am
sorry cannot go with him myself"
And the shadow of regret that had
crept into Mr.. Campbell's mind after
making his offer faded into nothing.
John Campbell wasn't a bit mean. He
would give you money, and literally, too,
for almost any object under the sun; but
there's no denying he was chsry of him
self, his personal satisfaction, his indi-
viduality. He was fastidious also almost
to morbidness. While he would gladly
have paid for dozen carriages, had they
been necessary to remove the injured
lad, to transport him in his own clarence
required degree of self-sacrifice that
would have been incomprehensible to
the unknown woman he wanted to
please. Why he wanted to please her he
could not have told. He had never seen
her until an hour before. He had hard
ly exchanged twenty words with her,
and those of the most ordinary kind.
He did not know her name, even her ma
tionality, though, with q flesh-born pat
riotism, he decided she must be his own
countrywoman. She was not young ncr
conventionally pretty; but there was
that in her face he felt to be more beau
tiful than beauty. He should never see
her again, yet he was not only willing
but anxious TO do something positively
unpleasant for the sake of honestly earn
ing that bright, thankful smile.
AS he drove off with his charge he
said to himself: "What a fool / am ~
which might have been freely rendered
into: How magnetic she Isl"
Safely ensconced before the fire in the
luxurious solitude of his own library,
Mr.. Campbell could not keep his mind
from the incident of the afternoon. He
was amazed that his well-disciplined
intellect was entirely absorbed in solving
the insoluble problem Of: Who is shef
No question in speculative philosophy
had ever held his thoughts more steadi.
ly. or with less prospect of an ultimately
satisfactory result. At last, giving it up
as hopeless, he changed the form to-
What is shef
That she was a woman of character
and courage went without saying; that
she was lady born and bred was as
plain in every fold Of her garments as In
the carriage of her small person. This
was SO evident that he did not even think
OF it; but that she was something be-
sides all this, that she "did something"
he could not help believing against his
wish. There was that In her air, the di-
rectness with which she said what she
meant and did what she said, that con.
WINGED him she was used to responsible.