The advocate., 1894-05-02
[COPYRIGHTl
The Dead Line.
by GIDEON LANNB, D. ID.

so we must look elsewhere for our evil
dence. Other people where you then
lived doubtless know Of the circum-
stances and of your fathers protracted
absence since. An unexplained absence
Of seven years raises a legal presump.
tiOn Of death, and that will be enough
in this case. Write to some of those
who knew your father and knew of his
failure to return, the rumor that he
had been killed in a railroad accident,
and so on, and ask if they will give
their depositions as to the facts"
Mason wrote Mrs. DelOrme that
Judge BOlder had known her when
she was girl. He also wrote to sew
eral persons whose names were given
him by his mother, and requested their
dispositions as to his fathers death: for
his financial condition was growing
desperate. One day he returned from
the pOstofice greatly excited, and
hurriedly handing his mother a letter
exclaimed:
Mother, you are right. Read that. /"
1t was a letter from an old man who
had once been postmaster in the viii
lage where Mrs. Mason had lived.
X X
Next day, Sunday, Grace Alden and
Kate Cotterell dined with Mrs. Mason
and her son, who expected to leave next
day and go in search of employment.
In the afternoon, Grace picked up from
the lounge a pamphlet which Mason
had been reading that mOrning-Inger-
soils lecture on "Crimes Against Crimi
nails"
"Do you read lngersoll, Mr.. Mason"
asked she in astOnishment.
81 read anything that is good, Miss
Alden" replied Mason. "The man
who will not read the other side con-
fesses conscious doubt of his own.
Colonel Ingersoll's ideas have made q
great stir in the world, and dealing as
they do, mostly with theology, it seems
to me that clergymen, more than any
other people, are bound to know what
those ideas are. And from whom are
we to learn those ideas if not from
Colonel Ingersoll himself? l heed the
old lines:
Seize upon truth, where'er' tbs found,
Among your friends, among your foes,
On Christian or on heather ground.
The flowers divine Whereer II grows,
Neglect the prickles, and assume the rose
Besides, this particular lecture does
not deal with theology, but with our
treatment Of those unfortunateS whom
we pharisees call criminals, because we
have not been caught. When see a
man on trial for crime, feel somewhat
as Wesley did, when, on seeing a poor
wretch led out to be hanged, the great
preacher exclaimed-'There goes my
other selfp You have read Les Miser-
ables, presume, Miss Alden ?"
"Yes, sir, and l continue to read it.
If the character of Jean Vatican drawn
there by Victor Hugo be at all true to
human nature, it seems to me there
must be better men among criminals
than among almost any other class. Do
you believe it possible that so noble a
nature could lie dormant in an ex-con-
VictY Do policemen really make men
hardened criminals by persecution as
indicated by Hugop Are there really
such characters as Javert among our
policemen"
"Yes, to each of your questions, Miss
Alden. Not long ago q man in Chi
cago went to magistrate and asked
protection from just such persecution.
He had been convicted Of some offense,
served out his sentence and returned
to Chicago and was trying to live an
honest life, but whenever he succeeded
in finding employment policeman
would come around and the man would
soon after be discharged. He COM
planned that the police were making it
impossible for him to earn an honest
living. Of course l do not think all
criminals are good men, any more than
/ think all men outside the prisons are
good, but l do believe there is many a