The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-09-13
THE DAY IN WHICH JASON WALKED
INTO THE LIFE OF MYRTILLA.

looking: might not this day really collie.
Now, there was no reason why the
mother should expect a letter, in fact
there was no IL i'll the outside world
TO write q letter to her. but it was Il
up with herself that SOM. day some
body might write her a letter.
story. the day in which Jason walked
into the life of Myrtilln. she was pom
dering ii great p~roblem-her Sunday
school lesson the previous Sunday had
treated of the eternal punishment of all
sinners, and the superintendent, in his
prayers had cheerftilly Assured the Lbril
OF his consciousness that I'VE are all
miserable sinners"
The context of Ideas had thrown
Myrtilla into IL state of dazed terror,
tnat left her no, capacity for enjoyment
OF the sunshine and flowers and birds
and trees, which had been created by
the same hand, which she was assured
was poised. ready to plunge her into
an eternity of misery, should she but
stray from the path Of right, as indi-
Gated by. her own particular chu rch.
the tni Iife tn of f fS;s nao, i ct 'ide xs,,, and int9
lassie, strolled Jason. He came down
IL shady lane, which let into the thor
o.ushtare just beyond the crossroad:
ne was a well-dressed. ~trim-looking lad
OF To; he enjoyed the beauties about
nun with the %sensuous delight of the
ply as he walked along. Jason was
the son OF a banker i'll New York; his
mother had died the year before, and
the banker, wishing to travel in Europe.
had given Jason a vacation, sending
him to his sister; who was the wife of
a count gentleman having Il place near
Myrtilla's home.
Jason WAS now on tho con,o orra..1
as Myrtllla. but with a better prospect
OF finding letters and parcels brought
to him by the stage.
He had almost reached the fiat rock be-
fore he and Myrtilla beca me conscious OF
each other; then Myrtilla looked up with
serious eyes. and Jason regarded her with
'1s this where the stage passes?' asked
Jason.
Yes" CURLY replied Myrtilla, and
her %sh,yness, she inquired:
where do o live?"
"Oh, l am at Mr.. Conroy's place." re-
sponded Jason; ..he is my uncle and I
shall be here al! summer / live in
The problem which had been upper,
most i'll Myrtilla's mind since Sunday
came back to her with a faint throb Of
hope as she realized the wider field of
opportunity which this boy had explored.
She regarded Jason seriously for a mo-
ment, then said:
"P'rabs then sou know how ter git
away from the wrath Of God?"
Jason looked startled for q moment,
then saying, "Well, you are Il queer
GIRL he burst into a laugh, which to
poor Myrtilla's childish overwrought i'm
a%gination seemed like the shrek of a
demon.
"What do you mean?" he asked when
his laughter had subsidized.
feelings vanishing before her sympathy
with the awful condition of one who
could laugh in the face of such possibili-
ties: don't you know we're all children
of sill, ind that we'll burn forever if we
don't repent and got graceY'
"Oh," said Jason, "that Is all stuff:
surely: you don't think that old'fashioned
story is true?"
Just here the stage coach rumbled up,
and the driver handed down a number
Of letters and paper. addressed to "Mas
ter IusIil Denhatt1," which Jason took
with ca getiitss, and with d .hastey, Good,
bye toward Myttilla.. hurried away
down the lane toward the CGhrOy place.
Old Williams, the stage driver, looked
City boys don't have much
Myrty,. how''s yer ina? Nothin' fur ye
today" Then he gathered up his reins
and started the tired old horses again
on their way, atid soon the coach disap>
peared around d curve in the pretty
wooded road.
After the stage had disappeared Myr,
the subject of her thought was that boy,
who was SO different from my boy she
had ever seen, and yet who was certainly
doomed to be eternally lost, since he
could dare to laugh at what the minister
had said was true.
Finally she slowly rose, picked up her
sunbonnet by n string and walked down
the dusty road and then across a stubby
field to Il weather-beaten, gray old farm
house, where she and her mother strug-
gled with the problem of existence.
The ~shrjll-voiced. toil-hardene1 mother
stood in the wOOdshe1 door as Myrtilla
came up. and said: "For goodness sake.
child, whar yer bin? Git sum kindlin'
now, quick, if yer want emmy supper"
real, and went into the woodshed,
where she chopped some old boards
into kindlings, which she took into the
kitchen and built Il fire, and the smoke
crept through the wide old chimney, up
through the dusky sweet-scented evening
air, up and ever up, but poor little Myr-
tilla was down in the dreary little kitch>
en-. with nothing but hard work and ter
rible thoughts for her helpers. and there
was no one to tell her that surely it
could not he a God who was entirely a
God of wrath, that the fairy-like smoke,
and the scent Of the flowers, and the
song of the birds, and the branches of
the trees, all turned up and eve up
| ward, like children eager to turn toward
d happy home. WIG.
AS the summer days went by Myrtilln
and Jason became great friends. They
met daily at the crossroad, where they
waited for the stage, holding long :egl,
yersations meanwhile Una aSon, With his
sreater lnowlsdEss % Observation-Disclosures