Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-07-21
CHAPTER K.

DOROTHY PROVES HERSELF HELPMEET'
Next day Malcolm Kirk had the mel
ancholy pleasure Of taking Philip Bar
ton out to saThe Forks" He had re-
covered sufficiently to be moved, and
Malcom borrowed spring wagon and
placed him in it comfortably. He COM
planned of feeling queer in his back,
and the doctor told Kirk before he
started that it would not be at all un-
expected II Barton should be paralyz-
ed. "In fact, Mr.. Kirk, my exam1na-
ton makes 1t almost certain that the
boy will probably never recover 30 as
to use the lower part Of his body. 1t
seems probable that the wheels OF the
hay wagon passed over him after he
fell out"
The prairie was one vast burned
stretch Of plain. with the road gray
and distinct through it. Philip Barton
Law back on the cot that had been ar
ranged in the wagon box and looked up
at Malcorc with a white, strained face
as he drove slowly along over the
smooth, elastic prairie road.
At first Malcom drove on silently.
The boy seemed to be quite comforta-
BILE, but unwilling to talk, and during
the first two miles hardly word was
spoken. Then Malcom stopped the
horses and bent down to arrange some
part of the cot When he had finished
and gathered up the lines to go on
again, young Barton spoke.
"You were one of the men that found
me and brought me into the town, MIR.
Kirk?" The boy had asked it twice
before.
"Yes," replied Malcom, smiling. You
can't imagine what great joy it was
to me when we found YOU"
"And Carver was the other manr"
eyes"
"That seems queer to me. How did
he happen to 60 with you?
"Well, don't know exactly. He
seemed eager to CO." ~
"Was he-had he been drinking?"
The question came with evident pain
full effort.
Eyes, think he had" replied NAL
com frankly. But he was sober enough
when we found you"
There was silence, and Malcom gath
cred up the lines again and started on.
The day was very still, and there was
q great cloud coming up in the south
west which promised rain before night.
"It was a great thing for you to do"
said Philip slowly. "Tn never forget
1t, Mr.. Kirk"
"It was a very little thing, my boy,
compared with what was done for me
once" said Malcom gravely.
"What was that?"
81 was lost once in q great wilder
ness and surrounded with wild beasts.
I was sick and starving and unable to
save myself. Night was coming on,
and every minute added to my danger.
Just when l had given myself up as
lost and the wild beasts had gathered
around me in the growing darkness a
friend suddenly appeared. He saved
me, but in doing it he lost his own life.
That is good deal more than 1 did for
you"
Philip bad listened intently. But
something in Malcom's manner kept
him silent.
THAT wilderness where I was lost"
continued Malcom softly as his early
life before he entered the seminary
came back to him. twas the wilder
ness Of sin, and the wild beasts were
my passions, and the friend who saved
me was Jesus Christ, the Saviour Of
the lost, who gave himself ransom
for many"
There was not particle Of cant or
attempt at preaching In what Malcom
had said. It was so simple, so natural,
that the boy on the cot hardly realized
at first what the minister had said.
When 1t dawned upon him that NAL
com had spoken Of his own conversion,
he closed his eyes. and his face twitch-
ed under his emotion. When he looked
up again, Malcom had turned and was
looking down at him.
do you mind If we pray here" said
Malcom.
Philip moved his head, and in his
eyes look Of expectant wonder grew.
Malcom stopped the horses. The prai-
rie was wide and desolate and black,
not a sign Of life anywhere; the at
mosphere was still; the sun shone over
it all; the town lay distinct in the rear
distance. And somehow it seemed as
if Kirk spoke to God close by. He sat
with his hands on his knee and looked
out into the line of the horizon.
Father in heaven" he said, 1--WE do
not know what it all meant when the
Lord came to this earth and lived and
suffered and died, but we know enough
to feel sure that love for us was what
made him do it-love for sinners. We
are always asking something, Father,
but what we want now is what thou
dost want. Save another life-this one
here that is in so much need. His body
has been saved for little while from
physical death. Save his life for all
time, from eternal loss. His mother Is
praying for him. All heaven is any
ious for his salvation. If thou wilt
show us what more we can do, dear