The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-06-09
A TAILOR'S son.
no You Think His Ambition Was
q Selfish Ono?

.;,ctly that morning seven years ago,
when Miss Sturgis had come with her
mother 10 his fathers shop to be meas
,red for riding habit. lie remem-
bered the frock Of large plaid that she
wore. all green and blue and black, and
no remembered her blue felt hat with
~ ostrich feathers; but what had made
a still deeper impression upon his boy
ish mind was her pretty pink-and-white
face. her great hazel eyes and her sun
nv curls. which, after being caught at
,he napc of her neck with dark blue
ribbon. went ripping down over her
rough brown coat nearly To her waist
He had stood at the little desk in the
corner making out bills-for IL was a
saturday. and there not being any
school, he was engaged at his usual
holiday occupation.
He was sixteen then, and he fancied
that she was "A year or two younger; for
he had overheard her mother say that
il was her first riding habit. and that
they did not care for an expensive one
because She would outgrow il. He re-
called that she had blushed at this. as
though il were crime To be young and
growing. and that "A feeling OF resent
mcnt had come into his heart against
her mother for subjccting her To such
an embarrassment
Seven years had wrought a great
many changes, but the shop was in the
same old place there on sixth avenue,
under the shadow Of the jefferson Mar
Let police courts brick walls, and with
the elevated railroad trains rumbling
past the windows Of the upper room
where he studied and where he slept.
Kari Engfer. the tailor's son, however,
was no Longer schoolboy. looking
after his fathers books and making out
bills on holidays. He was now stu
dent at the general theological seminary
"A Protestant Episcopal clergyman in
embryo and he wore somber black
garments of Il somewhat clerical cut &c
indicate his chosen profession.
Just why he had gone into the church
he hardly dared to confess. even TO him.
self because he was really conscien
tious Young fellow at heart. and he be
lieved that there was such q thing as Z
divine call to the priesthood. In IN
ease he doubted if the call was divine
The orthodox teachings of nader
lady who presided over class in tn
mission Sunday school that he ATTENDED
on Carmine street had not been withou
their effect. He had accepted thu
Scriptures as truth. he had been bap
tised and he had been confirmed. bu
the impulse to go forth and preach tn
Gospel had come rather from wish t
elevate himself above the level of TIN
surroundings in which he had becl
born and raised than from any burning
desi re TO lift his fcllow-man from tn
Slough of Despond.
Young Engfer now and then inflicte
upon himself a sort of moral fiagella
ton. At such times he opened hi
heart TO his own honest gaze. and h
invariably found there "A deeper under
living motive for his course, Of which h
was half ashamed IL was nothnl
more ror less than an ambition to gal
n position from which he might aspir
to the love Of the little maid in tn
PLAID froclS who had ordered her firs
riding-habit from his father on tina
Saturday seven years ago.
Ii would not have been an unworth
ambition. he told himself. under othe
circumstances II it were only Sc
ondary consideration. If he had give
himself TO the church first. and this d.
sire had come afterward. he could ha,
pacitied his Gliding conscience with n
assurance that "A wife such as Madelii
Sturris would make MIN would he ,
incalculab,e assistance to him in h
parochinl work: but now he felt that
n. L.. 1tv,fv
10 accomplish an end that was distnc
" selfish. and as such hypocriticall
base.
These moods. as might be suppose
were morbidiy depressing. All II
afternoon he had been fighting ov
again in his heart the same old bait
between the RICH and the wrong OF
and now. tired out by the struggle.
had come down from his little upp
room into the tailor shop ON the grou'
floor. and was standing looking o.
through the glass door AT the passiI
throngs on the avenue.
Working men and workingwom
Were hurrying home from their da'
toll; the surface ears were crowde
and al short intervals long. heavy trai
numbered by on the eleVatcu roah Wv
head. The hurry-skurrv of the see
diverted him for the moment. an.
would probably have been lifted co
plcicly out of his dolfrnms. had \
that one name spoken by his fathe
voice. at that instant fallen upon h
ear.
The old man was evidently in troub
He had spoken somewhat gracious
to his cutter. who was busy chalki
out pair Of trousers, which were
Herr Flcischman, the walking gent
man at Amberg's thcater, and VIII
must be finished in time for the prem
of the new comedy on the followi
evening. His question was as TO
could carry home a certain riding ma
for "Mccs Sturgis." The errand !
was out. Karl knew that IL was
busiest season of the year with
father and that Gottlieb. the cutt
could not be spared for outdoor scrvi
But the garment was promised Q
must bc sent.
Karl turned away from the door