, 1897-04-17
THE REWARD OF VIRTUE.
A Tale of a Garrison Coquete and a
Man who Tried to Reform.

sincerity, a nan can not reform among
his W people. He is not taken seri-
ously. His abstentions from deeds of
vice are imputed to interested motives.
Mankind at the club assemblies and
meets together to jeer at him; his broth
er laughs him to scorn; the women mis-
trust him. Only many years can set
him right with them-and a man does
not like to wait. When he reforms, he
wants to do it at once He has no fancy
for wearing the stained garb of sin I'M
til the sun of virtue shall bleach it
white. He would don Immediately the
snowy robe and be made welcome
among the elect. Which may not be. If
you mean to reform, you must go away.
Lovat grew sick of the life he had led
for 10 years-ever since he had been a
learning useful things. 1t had not been
such a very bad life. but it certainly had
not been a good one. He tried to do
right at home. and failed. Then he came
to the states.
Now the states-if O except, per-
haps. New York-is a place where there
are neither towns nor temptations. Ov-
er all it's broad p%rairies. where sleek
steers browse and gentle coursers stray.
there hangs an atmosphere Of soft, pas
toral virtue. There is also in the hu-
man heart a true, natural goodness
learned from the unspoiled savage.
There is no tittle-tattle, and a man is
what he is, not what he has been. They
know this in England. just as we in the
states know that there is one fair-sized
town in Australia and that all the rest
is brush"
Lcvat knew it, and he also knew that
it was most true o. Montana. That he
was aware of the existence Of Montana
shows that his, youth was not altogeth-
err wasted. His family had some land
there. OF this family it must be said
that nothing in England is better or
older. Lcvat is a name OF such lustre
n vi IL hAS mas
b%ehavoirs, could tarnish it. 1t is also
a rich family-very rich. Wilton Lovat
was the younger son, but he had a de-
cent fortune OF his own. Therefore he
could do pretyt much as he pleased, and
when he quarreled with his father and
his allowance was stopped, he didn't
care. His father argued with him per-
suasively: why the devil, if you want
to reform, can't you stay here and do
it?"
Because a chap can't in his own
town.
He can, il les any character"
mo, he can't"
=" it, | say he can. What he devil
do you suppose | did," His voice sub
sided as he contemplated himself in the
pleasant light OF an example.
You didn't reform. You only mar
ried."
Which happened to be so true that
Lovat senior was unable to reply. save
in the not uncommon parental fashion
of answering the unanswerable, known
to childhood as getting even" He cut
off the allowance, but graciously per-
mitted his ungrateful son to dwell upon
the Montana lands.
Wilton went at breeding racers, as is
the custom of Montana. He had a log
house on the ranch, and it was furnish
ed with rough chairs and tables and
instruments, and with pictures OF his
family. and Of some girls who had liked
him, and of professional beauties who
were not nearly so beautiful as his own
sisters. For his family was handsome
as well as Of great repute and rich.
There were also royal groups from the
Graphic and illustrated News on his
walls, and there were books in five dif-
ferent languages.
The change was not unpleasant. He
looked after his stock, and played must
cal instruments, and read the books in
five languages for a twelvemonth. He
decided that he was reformed then, and
began to grow tired Of being a patriarch
over his own herds. Patriarchs, as he
understood it, had wives and children.
He had only horses, and they didn't
take the place of society. He was fond
of society. So he made the acquaintance
OF some of the officers at Keogh. They
gave him stag-dinners in Miles City and
they entertained him at the post club,
but they did not invite him to their
houses. He did not meet their daughters
nor their wives. An Englishman has
to grow wise before he learns that this
is a small world and that tight little
isle is not too tight for rumors to es-
cape from it-that the rumors. morrow
er, are frequently exaggerated. Lovat
began to grow wise. At first he wonder
ed, then he understood. He asked him
self what, after all, is the reward Of vir-
tue; and ne determined that it has none.
There are those who hold otherwise, but
the question is not yet settled. He was
lonely, expatriated, and homesick. He
was also young and full of energy and
anxious to be mel halfway. But he
could not travel the whole road alone.
He turned and went back to where he
had started from. There. at least, there
was feminine companionship1of it's
kind. His vice was less gilded than OF
yore, but that was the fault Of the coun-
try.