The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-11-01
Ill.

Roderick Jardine was not. | hope, a
worse young fellow thar most others
Of his age. or less soft-heayted.
Yet when he had fairly bade good-by
to his good, fearful mother-whO, he
knew well, would do anything in the
world for him, except let him do what he
(elt was best for him ,elf-thls parting
once owe he breathed o freely
than he had done for lar weeks.
His ~wild-goose clase" had res lived
itself into u deliberate purpose. or As
much SO Us was possible to hi, nature.
and at his aGe. He lad not been to
Bl4ckhal-hs harLly knew why, ex-
ce4t that his mother had thrown Il
god many i~mpediments in the way OF
tne Journey, so that percelvlng that
she did not like it, he gave 1t mp. But
he had a iong CORE spondencc with Mr..
Black. the old factor there, who knew
all the family affairs.
From him Roderick discovered that
there had been. half a century back.
three branches of Jardincs-repre-
sented by Silence .'ariine, Archipa d
Jardine, and Henry .lardine. his
father. Thence Archibald had sud-
denly disappeared abroai, taxing his
little patrimony. After many years he
was heard of as Il "pasteur" in some
Swiss canton: no very great cnange,
he having been intended for the Scotch
Cuurch: and he was said to be mar
ricd. with a family. Bat he had never
revived acquaintance with either OF
his cousins. and what were his present
circumstances. whether he were Il i've
OF dead. nobody knew.
He had only been able to catch one
clew whereby he mighttin hi, cousin.
Mr.. Back, the b ackhall factor, Il
strong Free Church man. had taken
some interest in a similar disruption in
the Sw.s; Church. and in orc Of the
controversial writer's therein, a pro
fesseut" OF "pastcur." or both-thc
good mans ideas on the subject were
misty at Neuchatel. To this NJ. Rey-
uier Roderick brought a letter Of in
PRODUCTION. but. on delivering it, found
the family were still al their ummer
retreat in the Jula Mountains. SO he
decided to make the best of Il bal blsi-
ness. and amusc himself till they came
back. He knew the language that
was n comfort and he Wa not If
the stOiid saxon temperament, which
refuses 10 take IN any new ideas. or 10
see any perfection in things to which
it is unaccustomcd. He was a true
Celt, impressionable and flexible by
nature, ready to love. quick to hate.
until the experience OF lie should
teach caution IN the one and tolerance
in the other. The world Will 20 hard
with you, my boy, his father had
sometimes said. half tenderly. half
pensivc.y; and Rodcrick. shaking his
black curls. had Only lau .hcd, AFRAID
of thing.
Nor was he discouraged ~ AFRAID
now. In fact, he rather enjoyed this
dropping from the c ouds-oh, what
soaking cloude.-int0 a new place and
new people. Not 80 very new after q l..
for when on Sunday morning ne fol-
lowed the dripping multitude up the
steep street which led to the cathedra
how q Protestant church-he found
everything so like home that bat for
the langUa, e he cOu.d have imagined
himself sitting under his mothers
iavorlte minister at ItlCherdcn. Only
when tie psalm arose, to a quaint and
beautiful tune. AID il was Il beautiful
psalm. too, for he read il out Of his
neighbor's book, bc-inning-
"GrAnd Dleu. non, to louols, nous t'ado-
rons. SeigneEr.
it contrIsted fave ABLY with the nasal
hymns which So t1rmcntsd him in
scotland. Ii was sung not badly, espc-
cially by one pure high soprano. Il few
seats behind. a voice 20 rood that he
vainly tried t. each sight Of the sing
err: and in It's sweet mai al French ii
seemed II express what he missed 80
often at home. the sense OF cheerful
ness in religion. TO thu last verse
Aou> n'e,percu-, o Dieu. du'ea IA grande
bontc;
Tu seul peut nou> alder dams notre adj
Ver~itc.
Eendre no, jenrs heureux Ell notre MO
conteule.
the invisible SINGER benin! gave such
path y that il vent right &c his heart.
The young man. called often "irrelig-
iOus" by his mother. because his rclig-
ion lay very deep down. longcd ca IL
estly FIR those jcUas heureuX. that
m C ntente. and Won cred if. by n
means. he could attain to the like-he,
all alone. with notcdy TO he p him to
he good, hundreds ready 10 allure him
to lie bal.
1t wa. Il mall thing. one of those
trihing incident which belail Us ali
only some of US note them and others
do not: but long afterward he remcm-
bered it with a strange >olemnily. like
a person who. believing ne was walk
ing III his own way. on mis- own feet,
finds out that hands unseen. untelt.
have been leading him ali the while.
Plugging back through the muddy
streets home what a ridiculous
word-to the dreary hotel, Roderick
m2de up his mird to give one day ;
more chance to the weather. ana to
the absent Protesseur Reynier, upon
whom. all his famille charmante, the
gar, on dilated enthusiastically: for
everybody seemed to know everybody
in this innocent little town. II, ON
the morrow. it did not cease raining,
and some token did not come in answer