Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-10-27
one. Good Cod. What are " to DO "

one. Good God! what are ws to DO"
He stamped desperately on the noor.
and then remembered his patient and
stopped. The preacher did not stamp.
I'm get you some money" he said.
'T think I can. Yes"-he shivered q
little In the cold draught-'I'm sure I
can"
I'm an hourr
within an hour. I'll 60 now"
You're a BRICK" said Jeff, as he
turned on his heel. Then the profes-
sional element in him asserted itself.
Have something to eat before you
come out into this cold again, mind"
he commanded.
The preacher nodded and went away
with q dreary smile on his face. Per
haps there was a hidden irony in the
situation which he alone could per
ceive, for he smiled more than once as
he hurried through the darkening
streets to the house where he had har-
borage. Once. as he passed q lighted
church where the choir was practicing
for the morrow and his eyes fell on
the notice board, the smile very nearly
became a laugh. Yet there was moth
ing laughable in sight. The notice
board merely bore the sufficiently So
Der information that Rev. John Alling-
ham Taylor would preach next day 10
that church.
The preacher hurried on. and climb
ed to his rooms with a white face and
fiuttering breath. Arrived there, he sat
down on a broken chair and painted.
The room was almost as bare as those
cells wherein the hermits dwelt Of old.
All the little personal possessions
which had adorned 1t once had vanish
ed in that dreadful winter. All the
little money which had been paid to the
preacher by the family which had dis
carded him was gone. The only two
things which remained Were a large
and handsomely bound bible. lying on
the foot of the bed, and a little ivory
crucifiX hanging against the bare wall.
The preachers eye fell on these and he
sighed. Then he got up resolutely.
took down the crucifix and opened the
bible. On the nyleaf was an inscrip-
ton. He tore the page carefully out
and slipped 1t into the breast pocket
Of his thin coat. Then he took up the
bible and cruciix and went out
Not an hour later jeff. In a wretched
attic, bent over a shrunken figure and
forced brandy between Its lips. At the
further end Of the room two children
small. starved, wolflsh-eyed-sat over
the remnants of a meal like wild beasts
tor gave a muttered exclamation Of
relief The children glanced up and
then returned rayenously to their food.
Their mothers eyes opened for a mo-
ment upon Jeff's face. and she whis-
pered n word of thanks. And well she
might. for he had dragged her out OF
the jaws of death.
Mea nwhile the preacher plodded
wearily back again to the shelter of
the four bare walls he called home. He
did not hurry this time. Very slowly
he climbed the creakIng stairs, and al
most staggered into the room. 1t was
growing dark and the cold was in
tense. The preacher sat down and his
eyes involuntarily sought the nail
" btit Nht iitAC u hat
too. his hand drew out the
page which he had torn from the bible.
He bent over it and read the inscrip-
tion-was 1t the twilight which made
the letters dance and sway? 1t was
very cold and the darkness seemed to
come closer every moment. Perhaps
1t w9s only his weakness that made 1t
seem SO dark and freezing. He thought
OF Jeff and his work with a curious
gladness that shut out the falling
night. Then a great WEAKNESS seized
him and he rose and tried TO cross the
room. Tne darkness was wnIrIins
round him now and he fell on his
knees beside the bed.
jeff, coming In late that night to tell
him of his success, found him there
kneeling beneath the nail where the
crucifix had hung. He did not answer
when the little doctor called to him,
and lighted match revealed the fact
that he haG clipped from world
which had rejected him as a man of
no account. The bare room told ST.
lent story that brought tears into Jeff's
eyes.
And in the dead preachers hand was
a piece of crumpled paper, upon which
was written John Allingham Taylor
and date-that was all.
In a certain church on the following
morning. Rev. John Allinglam Taylor
preached, to the great edification Of his
audience and himself. 1t was char
ity sermon, and 1t is popularity sup
posed to have been the finest thing
which that congregation had sat out
for some time.
But JEFF. who occasionally attended
that assembly. rose in the middle of
the discourse and went out with
heart full Of bitterness. Those studied
periods did not edify him. He renem-
bered a finer sermon-and its text was
a mans life. 1t was that of the priest
who had preached without due author