The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1900-04-11
CuApTER XVIII.

When few minutes later Mrs.
Strong came up, Philip told her OK
acuy how he had decided
Il cannot leave these poor fellows in
the tenomonts yet My work is just
beginning to count with thcSl. And
the churcl-oh. Sarah, | loycFt for 1t
has such possibilities, and it must yield
in time. And then the whisky men-l
cannot bear to have them think me
beaten. driven out, defeated And in
addition to all the rest | have feeling
that God has a wonderful blessing In
store for me and the church very soon,
and ] cannot Danish the feeling that If
| accept the call to Falrview | should
always he haunted by that ghost OF
Duty murdered and run away from
which would make me unhappy in all
my future work Dear little woman"
Philip went on as he drew his wife's
head down and kissed her tenderly,
while tears of disappointment fell from
her-"little woman, you know you
are the dearest of all earthly beings to
me. And my soul tells me the reason
you loved me enough to share earth's
troubles with me was that you knew
could not be coward in the face Of
my duty. my conscience and my God.
Is 1t not so?"
The answer came in a sob of mingled
anguish and happiness;
ayes, Philip, but it was only for your
sake | wanted you to leave this work.
1t is killing you. Yet"-and she lifted
her head, with n smile through all the
tears-"yet, Philip, whittier thou goest
l will go, and where thou lodgest
will lodge; thy people shall be my peo-
pie and thy God my God. Where thou
dest will die, and there will | be
buried: the Lord do so to me and more
also If aught but death part thee and
me-"
There were people in Milton who
could not understand how n person OF
such refined and even naturally expen-
sive and luxurious habits as the minis
ter's wife possessed could endure the
life he had planned for himself and his
idea of Christian living In general.
Philip could have told them II he had
been so minded. And this scene could
have revealed 1t to any one who knew
the minister and his wife as they really
were. That was sacred scene to hus-
band and wife, something that belong
ed to them, one Of those things which
the world did not know and had no
business to know.
When the first Sunday of another
month had come, Mr.. Strong felt quite
well again. 4 rumor of his call TO
Fairyiew had gone out, and to the few
intimate friends who asked him about
il be did not deny, but he said little.
The time was precious to him. lie
plunged into the work with an enthu'
siasm and a purpose which sprang
from his knowledge that he was at last
really gaining some influence In the
tenement district.
The condition of affairs in that neigh
borhood was growing worse Instead OF
better The amount of vice, drunken
ness, crime and brutality made his sen
sitive heart culver a hundred times
day as he went lis way through 1t all
| His study of the whole question led
| MN 10 tue cOENlcllOu lhdt ohS VI 'h'
great needs of the place was a new
home life for the people. The tene
ments were owned and rented by mel
of wealth and influence. Many OF
these men were in the church. Dis
couraged as he had so often been II
his endeavor to get the moneyed mer
of the congregation to consecrate theil
property to Christian uses, Philip came
up to that first Sunday with a new
phase Of the same great subject which
pressed so hard for utterance that hi
could not keep II back.
As he faced the church this morning
he faced an audience composed OF very
conflicting elements. Representative
of labor were conspicuous In the gal