The Newtown bee., 1896-08-07
FOSTER, BESSIE x CO.,, ag-STORE OPEN MONDAY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY EVENINGS

than to grow up recognizing what he was, and being warped by his evil infu- ence. What folly to be at hand grips with Death for such 8 life Why not cease the tense, exhausttng struggle It was easy enough to call up the serv- ant to take her place for half the night, while she took the rest which every nerve in her body called out for; easy. after all, to fling eff the responsibility winch was not really hers. Would this mau have SD much as pureed his wife for an hour: Nay, when her life had how cred in the balance, had he not gone oil carelessIy to his own companions and his own pleasures, and cared little for the outcome? Was not this very ill., ness of his the result of broken laws and reckless living? Were those who lived rightly bound to the service of evil that had oVerreached itself thus? Here was one @ho set every thing L bout him wrong, and would always do so. And were the sutferers to strive to fasten the burden upon their shoulders again? She knew that her br0ther~in-law, when he recover ed, would rail at her nursing, and find fault that he had not been better cared for; that every delicacy would be de- mauded and every sacrifice expected, and yet despised. Was there any duty in such a farce?
 Did it make any difference? Suppose she struggled through this vigil, and he died in spite of it? What difference would the few hours of rest make then |? What tho the ignorant servant did make some mistake or even tall asleep upon her post? When Death is advancing resistlessly, such trines make no change in his steady steps. And if, in tlte subtle balance of vitality and disease, the scale turned finally upon her staying or going-why, after all, should she not go? Leave it to Fate; let the Unknown wo k out the problem that was too wide for human solving. Weak, exhausted. doubting, she could see but a confusion of thought whichever way she turned.
 What was duty, after all? A code by which the selfish ruled the unselfsh and the evil took advantage of the good. Helen's "duty" meant submission and suffering; her duty meant this spend. ing of herself for an unrepentant enemy. And for him duty" meant only that up- on which he could rely in others to save him from the conse quences of his own disregard of it. "Duty'' meant that in which he was so utterly locking, that he despised 1t, even while he traded upon it in his wife and sister. In the tired stumbling of her thoughts. she Saw duty always bearing the burden, and evil ever pointing the tInger of scorn at it, down through the long ages in which good. ness lad sulf9redoa and sin had rioted. since the world began. Why not rebel, since it was an unjust law that govern sd?
 A wave of bitterness surged over her leart-a wave of revolt, of slow anger and hate toward the man beside whose pillow she sat. A mighty force of evil seemed to respond within her, and open channels for the food. Yet with it ,ame horror, and the power of resist | snee. The sudden consciousness of came upon her, as if she had welcomed enemy into sacred place. l No, mol" she said, half-aloud, in her Il am not like that; want | 2 do right. l must do right She glanced hurriedly at her watch; it was 1ast the time for the stimulant. She 'oured 1t out quickly, and lifteds the patient in her arms as she gave t, with ID anxiety that was almost tenderness. The heavy eteiids closed again over the
  lnseeing eyes, as she laid the sick man town, and covered her face with her lands, as she remembered the impulse f hate that.had shaken her soul Slowly, lowly, the mi:ts cleared from her bought, and she saw where the had