The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-03-28


 the despatch of this letter, tract was slip ped under the door by me. It was al very impressive one: What dOst Thou Do upon SundayI Just at the moment 1 put it in, Professor Nabs happened to be playing very wildly upon the piano forte, so thought I might venture to ling the bell slightly, and wait te sec what would be the result.
 "The servant must have taken it straight up stairs, for only minute had elapsed when the piano stopped, but an instant afterward, to my great surprise, the keys were banged loudly about in all directions, making a most 5eafening and disagreeable noise; and Professor Nabs began calling out again and again the very name of the tract l had just given in: What dost Thou Do upon SundayT
 |" went away very much disheartened but have since heard from a friend of mine at the university-to whom did not, of course, communicate any of the foregoing that the improvisation of an- time of Professor Nabs. l was very much consoled to hear this, as 1 had thought he simply meant to insult me.
 A week after this, however, when 1 was just m the act of leaving another tr ,ct at his door ln the same manner, 1t opened suddenly, and servant said he had been told to give the depositor of these tracts his masters thanks and compliments, and the housemaid was now supplied with plenty of waste. paper for several months to come.
 "Lsst Saturday-all the members know what took place last Saturday ! Ho xevcr, as it is down on the books, l may as well repeat it.
 Last Saturday, after dark, the Flower mission met by arrangement, and went out in body to Professor Nabs' house, St. Peters Cliff They settled themselves into careless group upon the green bank under his windows, and sang in chorus that most effective and mpres- sive hymn Black, black, black, as thou art As you all know, however, scarcely was the first verse finished when Professor NAbs thrust his head out of the window, and waving his hands in a most rude fashion, called out, Go away go away 1 am bound to state. however, that l have since heard Mir. Spence, the geolo- gist, and Mir. Kingston. the astronomer, were just then engaged on a scientific consultation with Professor NaDs in hls drawing room.
 "That is all the society has to report, so far, upon the subject of the conversion of Professor N abs
 Miss Smith resumed her seat. There was a momentarv pause of ipdecision. Suddenl, the little lady tapped for at tentlon, and pushing her chair back, rose !" I beg to move" said she, "that this mission shall sit in absolute silence for five minutes, during which it shall be each members duty to do her utmost to think of what should next be attempted for the conversion of Professor Nabs At the end of five minutes, sll can speak"
 The motion having been unanimously carried, each member buried her head in her hands, and all began to think earnestly.
 Among the six Flower missionaries there was one poor creature.
 She was not at all poor in the otdi- narily accepted sense of the word but there was a certain confusion of ideas upon general su 1le cts, and entire absence of all detail regarding geography, history and arithmetic, as we'll as an utter want of manliness, so to speak, which had very soon brought the other memoers of the mission to unanimous conclusion that Miss Isabella Linn was but a poor creature. She would have tainted from sheer nervousness if she had had to read the reports, like Miss Smith, or to address the meeting, like the little woman, Miss Pointer. And, besides that, she was ac- tually pretty, in fair, delicate, old-fash- toned sort of way, which is, of course, a decided disadvantage to any wom an upon even so limited a sphere of the higher walks of life as fewer missions. She was only poor creature, with a large house and garden and a kindly heart.
 Thus, it came to pass that at the end of the five minutes, when one stood up and proposed one thing, and another stood up and proposed another thing, Miss Isabella Lima sat silent and blush ing in her place. For, to begin with, she had not been able to think of anything |; and, secondly. if she had, she would never have summoned up courage enough to propose it.
 And yet, so strange are the workings of Providence and the ways of nature, that out of all the six, there was not one who took Professor Nabs' Case so seri ously and bitterly to heart as Miss Linn.
 Like many another and more famous woman, if she had but little intellect, she had a mighty faith; and SO, all through the long balmy night following that meeting, little Miss Linn tossed and re- tossed upon her bed, all for the sake of poor, unworthy, ,benighted Professor Nabs. And just when the cold, gray dawn be- gan to creep in, she came to such a tragical resolve, that the very horror of it made her bury her fair little head under both pillows, and soon she was fast asleep,
 When she got up in the morning, her feelings were, doubtless. much the same as those experienced by Jerome of Prague and John Huss few minutes before their execution; only that theirs, of course could not have been half so fearful, be- cause they were Jerome of Prague and John Huss, whereas this was only little Miss Isabella Linn. A noor creature