The Monitor-register., 1896-07-31

steady steps. And if, in the subtle bal
anoe 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 work ont
the problem that was too wide for human
solving. Weak, exhausted, doubling,
she could see but confusion of thought
whichever way she turned.
What WAS duty, after all? A code by
which the selfish ruled the unselfish 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
upon which he could rely in others to
save him from the consequences of his
own disregard of it. "Duty' meant that
in which he was so utterly lacking, that
he despised it, even while he traded upon
it in his wife and her sister. In the tired
stumbling of her thoughts, she saw duty
always bearing the burden, and evil ever
pointing the finger of scorn at it, down
through the long ages in which goodness
had suffered and sin had rioted, since the
world began. Why not rebel, since it
was an unjust law that governed {?
A wave of bitterness surged over her
heart--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 hor, and open
channels for the flood. Yet with 1t came
horror, and the power of resistance. The
sudden consciousness of treachery came
upon her, as if she had welcomed an
enemy into sacred place. "No, no ="
she said, half-aloud, in her resistance,
II am not like that; want to do right;
l must do right I" She glanced hurriedly
at her watch; it was past the time for the
stimulant. She poured it out quickly,
and lifted the patient in her arms as she
gave it, with an anxiety that was almost
tenderness. The heavy eyelids closed
again over the unseeing eyes, as she laid
the sick man down, and covered her face
with her hands, as she remembered the
impulse of hate that had shaken her
soul.
Slowly, slowly, the mist cleared from
her thought, and she saw where she had
been standing, and shuddered as one on
the brink of precipice. The great gulf
between good and evil, forever fixed,
opened before her. Where had her re
bellions wanderings led herP What was
sin, but contempt of good9 Duty meant
duty-not the easy thing, but the hard.
Duty meant to be right in ones self,
whatever happened outside of ones self.
Duty meant the one factor In every prob
lem that could be held to, whether the
rest we're clear or not-the simple life,
the simple rule of doing always the best
one knew. What if another soul were
evil-should one, therefore, abdicate
good? Nay, if there were aggressive
evil, was not each one bound the more to
counterbalanoe to overbalance it with
good?
The trumpet call of the thought rang
through her tired soul, and reanimated
Its forces. A sudden passion of over.
mastering pity came over her for the man
before her, who had lost his duty, who
had thrown away his birthright, who
could never make any one who suffered
from his sins, as wretched, as lost, as he
had made himself. Helen and herself
had tho sorrow of it, but he the shame,
the loss, the degradation that was the ore
awful because it was yet unfelt. How
could any human heart deny him mercy,
in this his extremity. if so be he might
yet live? If God spared him, it was for
wider reasons than man could know-yet
always reasons that m an could trust. a
new impulse of strength and love rose in
her soul, as she confronted again the
passing hours, and ministered pityiugly
and unfaggingly through the rest of the
long night.
The day broke at last, and the DOCTOR S
foot came up the stair. He looked tired
and worn, too, as he stood by the bedside
and examined the patient.
'lt's a narrow shave. but he's come
through! y he said at last, looking up,
II think with any one less careful than
you, Miss Mary, he would have slipped
out of life last night. He's had better
luck than my other patient. Poor Ford
poor boy He died just before left the
house to come hero. One dies, another
lives, and not always for tue best, as for
as we know"
'We don't know anything. except our
duty" said Mary. Her tired, white face
was alight as she said it; and the old
doctor nodded his head. -Independent.