Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-08-13

out right, | know. just go right on
with your work. I understand it all
| perfectly. I'm old enough to be your
grandmother. and I've seen more re.
markable things happen. The Lord
takes care of more things than we give
Him credit for. We must trust Him
when we are in all sorts Of trouble.
And yours isp't the worst, by any
meanA But Nh zoo hta tor you to 90
home nov. III send William oper to
tell Mrs Ward. Il anyone is up there
that you ase to stay here tonight"
So Barbara remained with the great
hearted old soul that night. and in the
mornfng she went back to her drudg-
cry. sohAred hC the Grants Of that
eventful evening, and trembling lit
tie because she had intrusted her
secret even to one so old and SO loving
| 10 MIRA Yane. But on the whole IL
oomfortsd her. Under other circum-
stances she would have told no one
but her mother. But Mrs. Clark was
nervous and irritable, she did not I'M
dsrstand Barbara, and lived daily
protest against her choice Of life
work. To learn now from Barbara
that she had come to think great
deal OF the brilliant young minister
OF the great Marble Square church
would have seemed to Mrs. Clark like
another madness. and what Barbara
needed at this crisis in her life was
not reproaches or tears, but encour-
agement and good-hearted affection.
She was girl who gave her own
affection quickly. From the day she
met Mrs Vane she had understood
her. II was the same with Mr.. Nor
ton II Is mistake to suppose that
tho greatest feelings must develop
slowly. The feeling that Barbara ex-
perienced was not long in point of
time. but she herself was the best
judge OF Its strength. 1t is probable
that she was afraid of its develop
ment in so comparatively short time,
and one way she took to ascertain the
truth was to talk to Mrs. Vane frankly
about 1t. Some things the old lady
| gave her that evening out Of her own
experience treasured her as to her
own heart. Barbara had been afraid
that her apparently sudden giving up
of her life as it faced this other life
was wrong. There was tremor in
the thought OF unseemly haste I'M
worthy of so sacred an event.
But. as the days went by, she found
It was not so. one did not know all,
herself. but the experience that had
come to her lent strength to her re-
solve to prove herself worthy of the
faith he had said he had in that kind
OF life. the life she had chosen. At
the same time. she faced with grav-
ity that was making her older than
her years. the fact that the very ma
ture of her position would make it
impossible for her ever to realize an
answer to her own heart from his.
So it was with mingled feelings Of
ambition that Barbara took up the
daily round again. The results Of the
evening SO far as her own position
was concerned We're Insignificant.
Mrs. Dillingham; kept her word, and
called on Barbara's mother. She also
sent a note to Barbara, inviting her
to call; and a little later she even in
cluded her in quiet afternoon tea
at her house.
Barbara ought to have accepted
these overtazres, for they represented
a good deal Of courage on Mrs. Dill
lngham's part. Barbara regretted
a little later that she had not gone,
But she had at the time. after that
one night at MIS-. vene's. concluded
that she had attempted thing that
was of no value. She would approach
the matter from another side. She
was tTyipg. to, thhipls il all eut and
had many talks with Mrs. Ward and
Mrs. Yane about it. when an event oc-
cured that threatened to interrupt
all her plans and prove real and
serious crisis in her life as servant
It must have been three weeks aft
er that evening at Mrs. Vane's when
4 Alfred came home from college for a
4 few days. He had not been in the
house an hour before Barbara was
annoyed by his attentions. They
were SO marked that his mother no.
ticed it. Barbara was intensely in
dignant, and Mrs. Ward was much
disturbed over it. In the afternoon,
Barbara could hear loud voices in the
sitting-room; and in the midst of it
all Carl came out into the kitchen,
crying and trembling, and saying
that his mother and Alfred were
quarreling. Barbara, knowing what
it was all about, could not help feel
ing relieved when the voices ceased;
and after time Mrs. Ward came out
and had talk with Barbara, apolo-
1 giving for Alfred and promising that
there wouiu be no recurrence Of the
matter
| Barbara listened in silence. and
when Mrs. Ward was through she
said: ..Alfred never would have be-
haved as he did if he had not been
drinking.s
"Do you mean to say that Alfred
drinksq" Mrs. Ward almost shrieked.
The experiences of the moSning had
given her one of her headaches.
"He does. He drank when he was
here last fall"
Il can't believe it possible. He has
nervous headaches. He bathes his
head in alcohol to relieve 1t. He has
told me SO many times" exclaimed
Mrs. Ward, Indignantly.
4 "But know he was drinking this
morning, or he would never have be-
haved so. No gentleman would ever
have spoken to me as he spoke, Mrs.
Ward, If he hadn't been under the In
huenoe of liquor"
4 Mrs. Ward lost her temper. After
wards. in quiet thoughtfulness, Bar