Catoctin clarion., 1900-11-22
teach, l take it,
Wye les 90 ourselves Somebody


suggested.
Wouldn't work worth d-n! Dave
returned; shed sabe tn bluff an call
us down before tn draw. But--Oh l
say, ,boysp he cried clapping his leg, she
said she was goin' ter do missionaryin'
down ter San Pablo, so what's tn mat
ter with givin' her er job O that kind?
We're needin' es Sunday school ter beat
the band l take it.
This suggestion met with the hearty
approval of the others, and returning
to The Angel, Dave laid the proposition
before her. For several minutes he
spoke earnestly of the camps need of a
missionary; Of the boys eagerness to
haye her; and he strenuonsly urged her
to remain. She made no immediate
answer, but drying her eyes stood re-
volving the matter in her mind. Why
not stay' she asked herself. Mr.. Ed
wards could easily get somebody else
to help him, and where else could she
be Of hreater service to the cause than
in this heretofore unknown pest-hole of
iniquitv? She was not disturbed by the
reflection that she would be the only
woman in the place; she was an apt stu
dent of human nature, and one glance
at the faces of those rough lawless men
told her that nowhere would she be
safer than in their midst; and she ended
by deciding to remain.
When Dave communicated her an
swer to the boys, they gave vent TO their
delight in prolonged cheer, and then
began devising ways and means locking
to her comfort. An unused shanty of
two rooms that stood alone on a hillock
near the camp was assigned her as a
place Of residence, and it was quickly
stocked with startling variety CT
things, every man in camp having con =
.ributed something toward its furnish
ing. The poor little house was the scene
of wonderful disorder when The Angel
took possession of it, but under the
magic touch of her deft hands, the rude
interior speedily took on CHEEKY, home
like aspect that drew looks OF wonder
ment snd longing from the boys.
This did not escape The Angels eyes,
and divinlng that it was their home
lessness, and not innate viciousness that
impelled them to while away their idle
time in the gambling hells, she invited
them to spend their evenings with her.
At first only few accepted, bnt these
finding it pleasant far beyond their ex.
pectation to be so entertained. and re-
porting to their fellows, the number Of
visitors quickly grew until the little
sitting room would be entirely filled
before the evening was over. On these
occasions she would talk to them OF
their lives, their work, and of their
hopes for the future. Not once did she
upbraid them for their wicke edness, nor
did she preach to thsm; but gently
under guise Of pleasant conversation
she showed them how abhorrent to hel
we're imtempeance. gambling, and Other
voices with which they were afflicted
In no other way could she have 80 pow
erfully influenced them for their good
for, ANXIOUS to please her, they begar
weaving themselves from the things she
disliked, and soon there was percep-
tible falling off in the patronage Of the
gambling cables and saloons. The ze-
NTH of her influence was not reached
however. until Lucky Dan, the propri-
etor of the principal gambling house o
the camp was brought nigh unto death
by the knife of a murderous Mexican
and she had nursed him back to lif,
and strength. He was now slave to
her wishes, and he Immediately inaug
urated crusade against his fraternity
that drove the last gambler from th
place, and closed a majority of the sa-
looms.
At this juncture The Ange! conclud
ed that the time was ripe for bette
things, and, with the consent OF tn
boys. she applied to the Board of Mis-
sions for a clergyman to carry farthe
the good work she had 80 we'll begun
The Board responded promptly, send
ing the Reverend Charles Warren,
young man of much piety, learning ,ant
sound sense, and under his direction
the boys erected rude rude abode
building wherein he should direct thei
lives heavenward. He saw the wisdom
of The Angels methods, and carefully
refrained from berating the boys TO
their wickedness, and from picturinl
its awful consequences in the life here
after; instead, he would explain to then
IN carefully chosen language the wrong
Of vice end crime, and how it sears th'
and deadens the conscience; next b.