Willmar tribune., 1900-05-16

uSIV SN{tsS "a #llI@OSsuS
Eesnsfe aerines on Inx,1ry
different pieces OF furniture and the
whole lpntnrancesof the room. q q 81 s
Oh understand said Philip, as his
glance Travelled back to his visitor.
.tthat this house Is not mine. 1t be-
longs to my church,, 1t is the parson-
age. and am simply living; II 1T as
the minister" >= 4os@
Yes, i understand. You, administer.
are living in this princely house while
other people ellave anot where Ito ::lay
their heads" I
Again Philip felt the same tempta.
ton to anger steal into him, and again
he checked himself sat the thought:
'"The man Is certainly insane. THE
whole thing lsA simply absurd! L will
get rid or him. And yeti
He could not shaketoff a strange and
powerful impression which the stran.
gers words had made upon him: Crazy
or not, the man had limited at the pos
sibi1ity insinccrity his part
which made him restless. He deter
mined to question him and: see 1T he
really would develop a streak Of In
sanity that, would. justify him in get
ting rid OF linn. for the night.
Brother ,Man,"'7 he said, using the
term his guest had given him, do you
think am living too cxtrava gantly to
live as do?"
"Yes, ~insthese~ times and after such u
sermon"
"What would you have ME do?" Phil
ip asked the question half seriously.
half amused at himself for asking adj
vice from such a source
''Do as you preach that others ought
to-"
Again that silence fell over the room.
And again Philip felt the same inn
preston of power in the strange mans
words.
The Brother Man." as he wished to
be called. bowed his head between his
hands again, and Mrs. Strong whisper
ed to her husband: "Now it is certainly
worse than foolish to keep this up any
longer. The man Is evidently insane.
We cannot keep him here all night.
He will certainly do something terri
bic. Get rid of him, Philip. This may
be trick on the part Of the whisky
men,"
Never in all his life had Philip been
so puzzled to know what to do with a
human being. Here was one, the
strangest he had ever met. who had
come into his house; it is true he had
inv h,,& l>o l,o< =
invited himself to stay all night and
then had accused his entertainer OF
living too extravagantly and called
him an insincere preacher. Add to all
this the singular fact that he had de-.
clared his name to he "Brother Man"
and that he spoke with a calmness that
was the very incarnation of peace. and
Philips wonder reached it's limit.
In response to his wife's appeal
Philip rose abruptly and went to the
front door. He opened it, and a whirl
of snow danced in. The wind had
changed, and the moan of a coming
heavy storm was in the air.
The moment that he opened the door
his strange guest also arose, and put
ting on his hat he said, as he moved
slowly toward the hall: Il must be 60
ing. thank you for your hospitality,
madam"
Philip stood holding the door partly
open. He was perplexed to know just
what to do or say.
"Where, will you stay tonight?
Where is your home?
"My home is with my friends" re-
piled the man. He laid his hand on
the door, opened it and had stepped
one foot out on the porch when Philip,
seized with an impulse, laid his hand
on his arm, gently but strongly pulled
him back into the hall, shut the door
and placed his back against it.
"You cannot go out into this storm
until know whether you have place
to 90 to for the night"
The man hesitated curiously, shut
fed his feet on the mat, put his hand
up to his face and passed it across his
eyes with gesture of great WEAKNESS.