The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-10-12

U1OJneE O1C LIeuOS SulOnS ZIG lSe-ieS u
Tamworth, and there was not one of them
whom she liked as a counselor. Then she
remembered a sermon which DR.. Wlther-
spoon had preached few weeks before. OF
which the doctrine was, Face Your Per
plexities." be had told them they should
not run away from their perplenties. but
must look them in the face and find cut
how great they were. She remembered
that some man she had talked with not
long before had told her that the turning
point of Robinson Crusoe's fortunes comes
in the moment when he faces his perplexi-
ties. On some piece of paper he had. with
some ink ne had made, he wrote them down
so that he could look at them and see what
they were Edith took a sheet of note pa
per and proceeded to write down hers. The
list took the following order:
!. am fool.
? believe l am thief, but am not GER
tain
3. have no money.
4. have taken from the Waverley bank
~ which l had no right 70.
BY adding up the amount on her checks
and comparing it with her own account
she had found the fatal mistakes which
showed that instead OF having SO in the
should have done.
Edith's list went on:
5. l owe honest tradespeople who have
trusted me $1121l.
&. l wish | had as much as SIS in the
house, if it were only TO keep up decent
appearances till papa gets home.
Z. In fact / have SIl.97. l suppose the
housekeeper would lend me something,
4 i L l.
right to starve the family
Then, by an unfortunate suggestion OF
one of those lower powers who have been
alluded to, who are permitted to have some
part in the government of this world, IN
der strict orders from higher authorities,
however, it happened that Edith rernem-
bered horrible scandal which had con
vulsed Tsnworth a yeer or two before,
when q certain Mrs. John Fisher had bor-
rowed a thousand dollars at "A jewelers. on
the pledge of bracelet, which became very
famous in the scandal of the town.
Edith said 10 herself: Il wonder il I
could not borrow 500 Of somebody l
think if l were a man / should know how
to borrow 500 observe in books that
men always borrow money when they want
it. do not see why l cannot borrow this
money
For Edith had been so little tempted in
her younger life that she had never learned
what most young men learn when they are
younger-that there are two devils Of spe-
cial danger in modern life; that the larger
devil is named Drink and the smaller devil
is named Debt There had been 10 coca
sion for Edith 20 have these lessons taught
her, and though the poor child had lad
some reasons 10 know the first devil-as
everybody has in American lfe-she was
profoundly unconscious of the dangers Of
the temptations of the second. She did
know what a horrible scrape Mrs. John
Fisher had got into, and she dreaded any
such sCrape. But on the other hand she
knew that in the jewel case under her hand
were baubles she never used which were
worth twenty times the sum that would
make her perfectly comfortable till her
father came home. And so Il was that
having read in novels shout poor people
pledgng what they bad 10 borrow money
the thought did cross her mind that she
might borrow something if she knew how,
on the pledge of some part of her jswelry.
1t is a very curfous 1henomenon belong
ing to human nature. whether Of men or
women, that person in a scrape generally
prefers 20 tell some utter stranger of his
trouble and not 10 tell some near or init
mate friend. This is not the place 20 dis
cuss the reason for this phenomenon, but
il Is phenomenon observable by all people
who hold the position Of general counsel
for mankind. This PHENOMENON showed
itself In Edith's case. She did not go TO
DR.. Witherspoon; she did not so 20 her
fathers partner; she did rot 20 70 any Of
her somewhat distant relatives IN Tam
worth, nor, as has been said, 20 any Of tho
old friends Of the family But before
night came on she felt "a II she should die
il she did not take advice of somebody.
She made her choice of a conhdant almost
Mt harlhnzard