The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-03-28

selves can Judge, for you know his life,
and there are signs that tell such things.
His fall was swift and deep because his
place was high and noble.
+" 1t is his wish that | should tell you
the story. A part of it is also my story
and my confession"
Her eyes - clear, untroubled and
without abstraction-fell upon her audi
ence and travelled slowly over the up
turned faces-faces worn, most of them,
by toll, and wasted, many of them,
by want and vice; faces on which she
had been wont to read dependence, en-
thusiasm and devotion; all three she
read there now, but they were dom
mated by an invincible curiosity. A
look of compassion and affection sprang
iuto her eyes.
Sometimes l have caught the won.
der in your faces when l have called
myself the Child of Sin. When you
have heard all you will no longer won
der. l did not tell you before because
it concerned the dead. 1t concerned
my mother. Tonight new light has
come to me, and l know that must
speak.
d" Gerald Ainsworth and were low
ers. We would have been married but
for that which came between us. Be
was a preacher-eloquent courageous,
ambitious. His hearers were those
high in the city and in the land, and
his name was in the mouths of all. He
denounced evil and fought vice in high
places, as well as in obscure haunts.
AS for me, was nothing; but loved
him, and | was able to share in his
~.lr Co. I kn1 he t., l. -
to do good. And L was rich. 1 was
an orphan. My girlhood had been
spent in foreign schools, and l had no
knowledge of my mother, who lived in
a distant city. When l learned of her
death l also learned that was of what
are deemed the favored ones of this
world-for her wealth was very great.
More, at that time, did not know.
" 1t was on the day that had been set
for our wedding that l discovered by
chance the source of all this wealth,
and penetrated the secret which my
mother had striven 80 long and so hard
to hide from me. l went to Gerald
and told him that could not be his
wife. He pressed me for reason, but
l was dumb, for I would not tell my
mothers shame. He said, at length,
very gravely:
CO can guess what you have learned
but it makes no difference. You can
not answer for the dead. l love you,
and you must be my wife"
Z" You know, then?' l cried.
"' have known it for a year. he re-
piled, and l have prayed that you might
be spared the knowledge
g l shrank from him.
"'And you have permitted me to
use that money! cried. And YOU
you yourself have used It'll
" Only in the service of our MASTER
he replied.
CO You blasphemel l exclaimed.
He became alarmed, and strove to
reason with me and to tempt me. The
money he said would be consecrated in
our hands to good uses. Thus could
we partly make atonement for that
which had been. But in my face he
could read only bitter contempt. Then
love and manhood reasserted them
selves, and he stretched out his arms to
me.
6" Cast it away' he cried; the gold
you hate-I hate it, too. Only be
mine!'
81 repulsed him and poured forth
my scorn upon him. On me be the
shame of his fall l could have won
him back, but my hard words COM
pleted his downfall-though l was not
to know it then. Blind to the duty that
had been ordained mine, 1 abandoned
this grand, weak, tempted, struggling
soul, and turned my back upon the old
life and all connected with it. The rest
you all know. In my lust of pride and
self-will l have deemed my life of
poverty and labor here among you, my
friends and helpers, a sacrifice worthy of
heavenly reward. But now realize that
have been striving only for self-forget-
fulness, and that l can never atone for
the sin of duty shirked. This face
scanned with WEAKNESS, this soul stained
with folly and crime, are my accusers
here to- might.
81 entreat your prayers for him and
for me-sinners both, of whom my sin
has been the greater"
She paused for few moments. Her
face, which had been clouded in intro
spection and self-condemnation, cleared
suddenly. a joyous smile frightened
her eyes and parted her lips.
why | have been shown such great
mercy do not know, but he has come
back to me, and-and it is all different
now"
There was proud humility in her
aspect as she turned to the man.
81 have sinned and have been for
given. This is The token"
She laid her two hands upon his
shoulders. There was something al
most maternal in her look. Religious
ecstacy struggled with that which was
primitive and of the earth. She turned
suddenly to her people, many of whom
were sobbing.
"You cannot know" she said,
simply, how blessed feel tonight.
For we are together again-and love
him sol'-Adapted from the Argonaut.