The National tribune., 1893-11-30

1t was che Deep bitter anguish tina. her hopeless
suffering created in him which rent thai frs. mad,
incredulous cry from his heart, God Godl Ex.
isti Be! Stop this agonyi Let her die! what
good can il possibly do? Let her die
That prayer was speedily answered, and alone
in the world, dipped of his inheritance and driven
from home by his stepfather. he sought refuge
among strangers. All the tenderness OF an Iii-
tenseiy Vulnerable nature gradually hardened INTO
q hnbituai misanthrOpy and rebeliton. 80
THE world is full of injustice he said. Il will
pay it back i'll its own coin"
gamblers. he concealed his birthright and became
one of them.
But all through his dubious career
HE NEVER FORGOT
the little sister whose influence reached out even
from the grave TO save him from utter ruin. ana
find him stealing back like convict one night
to- the garden where he had been used to roll her
invalid chair and throwing himself upon the old
familiar garden-seat to indulge in the bitter-sweet
memories of the checsered past.
But day he fell sick. and with his nearness
to death came reflection of the littleness OF his
life. One lucid day after weary weeks of suffering
anC Inconsistencies he reached out his hand, took
a Bible from the table, and turning 10 Matthew,
began to read.
He had never read the story OF Christ's life, and
to-day in his temporary remission from pain he
found the story interesting. Nothing more; but
with the desire to know more of This Christian
Life of Christ"
of reform little step, certainly but it ed for
much He resolved TO give up being "deeoy
for his companions and return to "honest gaming,
going TO Monte Carlo for this purpose -
But even into this hall of vice entered the re-
straining memory of the little sister. and with IL
entered also henceforth to be inseparabe from
hers the vision of a sweetfaced gray-eyed girl
that had once fascinated him in the park.
Worn with the excitement of gaming, he threw
himself upon ottoman and fell asleep, when the
strains of the orchestra woke him with thrill of
pain and memory. They were playing Dots
favorie air. "Vedrai Carno.'' which he had so
often played to her in the old happy times. He
took his hat and left the Casino.
We remember the failures, the temptations over
with which he worked out his destiny.
At last, sick and penniless, he was taken In by
DIR. Tremaine, who had attended his dying father.
and treated as a son.
Then came the hour when he discovered that he
| loved Gladys Tremaine. the gray eyed girl whose
face had hanted him since that day in the park,
and with true nobility he decided to leave the
house; because. atheist he could not ask q
Christian woman to be his wife. That was the
hardest struggle-to go away, perhaps forever. to
put miles and miles between himself and the wo-
man he loved.
We recognize the grandeur OF the nature that
caused him to endure the opprobrium heaped upon
him by the cousin of Gladys. when the one word
OF explanation he would not speak could have set
him right.
But the grand climax of magnanimity was
reached when, hearing that his relentless step
father was i'll of contagious disease and forsaken
even by his wife, he relinquished dear plan In
order to nurse him.
Atheist as be was, the deed was the essence OF
Cbristiness and charity.
II hold that Christian grace abounds
Where charity is seen. that when
We climb to Heaven, it's on the rounds
OF love to men.
"'Tis not the wide phalactery,
Or stubborn fast. nor stated prayers
That makes US saints; we judge the tree
By what it bears"
But the light dawned at last-here at the DEATH
bed of the man who had cruelty wronged him.
After days of nursing the dying man demanded
proof of Donovan that he was not seeking revenge.
II can't prove 1t in words" said Donovan, but we
have been so long together, surely you can believe
in now"
Then. in the solitude of midnight and the pres
ence of death, his own words turned upon him az
if from divine source, Surely you believe in
me now" aud with that came the revelation OF
former words spoken to him by his friend Charles
OsmOnd, and he knew that he did believe.
II was only after all doubt had been dispelled.
| and he could go the believer in divine love and
mercy, that Donovan returned to share with
Gladys what he could not have asked her to halye
with an infidel, and better and better and Drawer
and sublmer of nature for the ordeals he had met
and conquered.
Georgia A Martin, 528 East Broadway, Louis
vile, XIV.