The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-02-01

| petition to the lnnnlte, MAKE ILLS
| soul dear to thee, to behold thy love
| For him. and make him see that it is not
| against me, mere man, that ne mas
| sinned, but against thyself-agalnst
the purity and holiness and affection!
| Oh, my, God, thou who didst come In
| the likeness of sinful men to seek and
| save that which was lost, stretch out
the arms of thy salvation now to this
| child and save him from himself, from
| his own disbelief, his hatred OF me or
! of what | have said! Thou art all
| merciful and all loving. We leave all
souls of men Ia the protecting, infoid-
ing embrace of thy boundless compass
sion and infinite mercy"
There was moment OF entire quiet
| in the room, and then Philip said faint
| ly: Sarah, / cannot say more. Only
| tell the man / bear him no hatred and
commend him to the love of God"
Mrs. Strong was alarmed at Philips
| appearance The scene had been too
much for his strength. She hastily
commanded the officer to take his pris-
| oner away and with the help of her
friend cared for the minister, who,
! after the first faintness, rallied and
| then gradually sank into sleep that
proved more refreshing than any he
had yet enjoyed since the night Of the
| shooting.
The next day found Philip improv-
ing more rapidly than Mrs. Strong had
thought possible. She forbade him the
s-l,A 1f oil hnUnUnr n
| sisted that he must keep quiet His
wounds were healing satisfactorily,
and when the surgeon called he ex-
pressed himself much pleased with his
patients appearance.
"Say, doctor, do you really think it
would set me back any to think lit
tle?"
mo. l never heard Of thinking hurt
ing people. l have generally consider
ed it healthy habit"
'The reason asked" continued Phil
ip gravely, twas because my wife alb
solutely forbade it, and l was wonder
ing how long I could keep it up and
fool anybody"
"That's a specimen Of his stubborn
ness, doctor" said the minister's wife,
smiling. "Why, only a few minutes
before you came in he was insisting
that he could preach tomorrow. Think
Of it, a man with shattered shoulder,
who would have to stand on one leg
and do all his gesturing with his left
hand; a man who can't preach with
out the use OF seven or eight arms and
as many pockets and has to walk up
and down the platform like lion
when he gets started on his delivery!
And yet he wants to preach tomorrow
He's that stubborn that l don't know
that can keep him at home. Youwould
better leave some powders to put him
to sleep, and we will keep him in
state of Inconsistencies until Monday
morning."
"Now. doctor, just listen to me
awhile. Mrs. Strong is talking for
two women, as she agreed to do, and
that puts me in a hard position. But /
want to know how soon can get to
work again."
you will have to lie there a month"
said the doctor bluntly.
Impossible! l never lied that time
in my lifep' said Philip soberly.
sit would serve him right to per-
form a surgical operation on him for
that, wouldn't it, Mrs. Strong" the
surgeon appealed to her.
81 think he deserves the worst you
can do, doctor"
But say, dear people, l can't stay
here a month. / must be about my
Masters business. What will the
church do for supplies"
Don't worry, Philip. The church
will take care of that"
But Philip was already eager to get
to work. Only the assurance of the sur
geon that he might possibly get out in
little over three weeks satisfied him.
Sunday came and passed. Some one
from n neighboring town who happen
ed to be visiting in Milton occupied the
pulpit, and Philip had a quiet, restful
day. He started in the week determin-
ed to beat the doctors time for recov-
cry, and, having a remarkably strong
constitution and tremendous will, he
babe fair to be limping about the
house in two weeks. His shoulder
wound healed very fast. His knee
bothered him, and it seemed likely that
he would go lame for long time. But
he was not concerned about that if on
ly he could go about in any sort of
fashion once more.
Wednesday OF that week he was sur
prised in an unexpected manner by an
event which did more than anything
else to hasten his recovery. He was
still confined to bed down stairs when
in the afternoon the bell rang, and Mrs.
Strong went to the door, supposing it
was one of the church people come to
inquire about the minister. She found
instead Alfred Burke. Philips old col
lege chum and semiL Try classmate.
Mrs. Strong welcomed him heartily,
and in answer to his eager inquiry con-
corning Philips condition she brought
him into the room, knowing her pa
tent quite well and feeling sure the
sight Of his old chum would do him
more good than harm. The first thing
Alfred said was:
"Old man, l hardly expected to see
you again this side of heaven. How
does it happen that you are alive here
after all the times the papers have had
you killed?"
bad craftsmanship principally. l
used to think / was big man. But
after the shooting | came to the con-
clusion that | must be rather small"
"Your heart is so big it's wonder to
me that you weren't shot through it,
no matter where you were hit. But
tell you it seems good to see you in
the flesh once more"
"Why didn't you come and preach
for me last Sunday" asked Philip
quizzically.