Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-06-25

received a very unfavorable impression
Of MI. Falck, nevertheless Mrs. Brinck-
man prophesied that before q month
was past they would all be in love with
him.
CHAPTER III.
The Rev. Anthem Falck wa the son
Of q custom house inspector who had
married the daughter Of Q rich lumber
merchant. He was an only child and
had been petted and ooddled from his
earliest infancy. He had been rather a
dull boy, but extremely studioua. His
mothers pride in him imposed obliga-
tions which he could not ignore. She
was firmly persuaded that her duckling
was a swan and tried her best to per.
suade him. But, though he loved her the
more for her maternal partially, he wa
not in the least deceived. His modesty
was Of q hard and unyielding substance,
like q stone wall, which repealed friend
" and hostile missiles with the SAINT
stanch imperturbability.
During his ~schooldays a certain in
nate shyness-a lack Of that boyish sa-
voir vivre which makes intercourse easy
and natural-had kept him apart from
his kind and made him lonely and un-
approachable. It was pathetic to see
him stand on the street corners of the
shabby little town and gaze with a
heavy heart at the games Of the boys
and then take to his heels like q fright
ened deer whenever they took notice Of
him. After his fathers death, which
occurred when he vas in his thirteenth
year, he had breathed an atmosphere
that was thick with the incense of ma
ternal alteration. He Stunned boys,
even though he yearned for their com
pany, because he did not know what to
say to them or how to behave. He had
IN uncomfortable feeling Of being laugh
ed at, and the ruthless criticism to
which he was occasionally exposed at
school wounded him cruelty.
In his eighteenth year he was sent to
the University Of Christiania and soon
began the study Of theology. His moth
er. who followed him to the capital,
kept house for him in q style much b.
yond the standard Of tho student world.
She continued from excess of affection
to monopolize him. to minister anxious
~ to all his wants and to foster in him
that shy aloofness which is the result of
loneliness and misdirected affection.
She had kept him, as it were, 80 stead.
lily In cotton from his very birth, guard
ing him against the cold drafts and
rude shocks Of life, that 1t would have
been q miracle If he had developed a
sturdy personality. Hi music, which
he had taken up to while away thu
hours that often hung heavy upon his
hands, she encouraged, playing herself
the piano parts, and evening after even.
ing they waded through interminable
sheets, rehearsing, repeating and prac-
ticing, with a dreary, terrible patience.
When Anthem was % years old and a
candidate o. graduate Of theology, hi
mother died, and he nearly grieved him
self to death at her loss. She had be.
come 40 Indispensable to his existence
that he was utterly incapable Of read
justing his life to her absence. It wa
his misfortune that he had money
enough to satisfy his few wants without
working. and in order to ave himself
from despair he had no resource but to
play-play-play from morning till
night. He travelled over miles and
miles OF musical scores-Haydn, Bee-
thoven and Berlioz-not 80 much be-
cause he enjoyed it as because it served to
divert his thoughts from breeding over
his misfortune. Waking up at last to
the fact that he could not continue to
idle away his life in this style, he re-
solved to enter upon some practical &C.
tivity, and at the age Of so, after many
misgivings and earnest self examine
ton, he answered Pastor Brinckman's
advertisement for q musical curate.
A dull. droary and rather common.
place man il. I believe, more easily toll.
Grated In the clerical profession than in
any other-nay, he may even make a
moderate success. His holy Office sheds
q halo about his dullness and invests il
with q kind Of sanctity. It becomes. il
not q sacrilege, at least q mark of frivol.
ity to criticise him, and, moreover, the
Biblical vocabulary which he is privi.
legged to employ becomes in the course
OF time . stereotyped form Of speech
and serves az Q substitute for thought.
The Rev. Anthem Falck was bv mo
means conscious Of any such advantage.
but be nevertheless profted by IT. II
wa his clerical Office rather than his
personality which had predisposed Mira
Brinckman In his favor, and it was the
same respect for his cloth which re-
strained the s~atirical tongues Of the
giris and made them maintain toward
him . colorlcss neutrality.
the first sermon which he preached
On the second Sunday after his arrival
caused some discussion at the dinner Ia
Die. IN which Hulda participated The
texs wa the parable Of the tares amonR
the wheat. and the pastor. a. he was in
duty bound to do. expressed . mild ap-
psoval OF the thoughtfulneas a. we'll az
Gh0 OWfhrSN~- ~ -