Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-03-21

! together with endless tracts and pam
! phlets. Everard purchased the "Secret
| Penitcnt," and the "Expiation," after
! turning over the leaves Of the ser
! mons wondering at their commonplace
character, and listening to a long
culogy on the author from the book
seller. Then he walked up the hin to
the station, dipping into his new pur-
chases as he went.
Having claimed his modest posses
! siOnS, he had them conveyed to the
George Inn, where he d!ned in first
! floor room with a bow window looking
out Oh the sunny, bustling High Street
and while he dlned he turned over the
! leaves Of the deans book, recognizing
| Cyril's style and certain peculiar turns
Of Thought and traits Of character as
ne read, and feeling more and more
that neither the poems nor the dcyO-
tiOns We're the work Of a conscious
hypOcl'tr. From an artistic point Of
view they were not calculated to take
the world by storm; but there was an
unmiSlakable ring Of reality through
ont which entitled them TO respect.
and accounted for the influence Dean
Maitland was said to exercise over
mems minds nhc Secret Pcnitcnt"
had passed through many editions. 1t
must have COmfOrtcd the souls of
thousands of human beings; 1t could
only have been written by man Of
deep religious convictions and high
, toned morality.
Everart sat in the bow window,
listening TO the hum Of the streets and
the cIdenCes Of the bells, and ponder
ing with Il bewildercd mind over this
enigma of human character; and again
he wondered, as he had so often WON
dercd during the earlier days Of ms
cradle broodlng In his captivity. how
it was IhSslble that sl1ch II man could
lrave slnned so heavily? He recalled
his sensitive refinement his excessive
exnIltiation of the spiritual above the
animal, his scorn for the facile follios
Of youth, his plety, the purity of his
emotions, his almost womanly tender
ness, and marveled with a bewildcrcd
amazcment. He had himself not been
llmrlcQlainted with the fires of tempta-
tIon, but his life had been unsca thed,
nevertheless, because he had been
STRONG enough TO resist. But that such
fires should have power over Cyril
seemed incredible, especially when he
remembered his austcrc, almost ascetic
life.
Equally strange did it appear to Cy
rIl himself, as he lay PROSTATE before
the crItiiX, face with his sin, and
wondering if indeed he were the same
man MS die who went astlWy twenty
years ago.
Yet the first sin was simple enough,
given the components of Cylils char
actcr and Alma'S, the strange and i'm
eXplicable ENHANCEMENT OF the animal
and the spiritual in human nature, and
the blind madness In which passion,
once kindlcd, involves the whole being.
Alma was then innocent Of heart;
but what is innocence before the fierce
flame of temptation, unless guarded by
high principle and severe Selt-maStcry?
cyril could not live without alteration,
and when Marion turned from him, he
caught at that unconSciouSly offered
him elsewhere. telling himself that
there could be no harm to such as he
above temptation as he WIS, in watch
tng the ImpaSsloncd Tight of Ama's
beautiful eyes. and that pity required
10 lgt,,,ln.cs i,itn
stricken and guilcless a heart,
So In those IDLE days of Shotovrr
curNcy he trod the primrose path of
dall!Ance with Il careless and ungual'd
ed heart, and did not wuken to Il
sense of danger until he found him
self and another precipitated down
ward INTO the very CULTS of hrll. The
shock of the fall Sobcred him, and sud
denly qucnched the delirium OF the
senses which had hitherto blinded him
and left a mingled loathing and con
tempt in Its place; and the abasrmcn,
of his own fail and the TERRIBLE sense
Of having wrought the ruin of another
stirred the yet unawakrncd depths OF
beginnings of deeper moral and Spr.
itlnl NE Had he but possessed thr
courage and strength Of will to accept
the consequences, to confess where con
fcSSiAn was due, and To atone as far
rs atoncmcnt WAS possible, both he
ami the more innocent partner OF his
guilt might have recovered moral
hearth. aud even happiness, and he
might have led the nohltSt II not per
hAps the happirSl of lives deriving
N'rn-!h from his very weakness
For his HE hlu till Then been I'M
tempted, and all his impulses had been
good and hWut tul. Rut he WAS a
coward, and loved tile praise OF men
And more than all things aud persons
lie loved cyril Maitland. lie was also
Il self drrciyrr; he druggrd his con
science. lie was dragged into the tor
tuuuS WiudmGS uf his own inward Ne
rett; and tAllS he fell from depth 70
depth like lArcifrr, falling all the
drpprr because of tNN hrtght from