Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-11-16
The Lady or
the Gospel ~
By GEORGE BEARDsLEx.
copyrighted by Daily Story Pub. Coz

THERE is girl could love-I'n
bet L could. And I'll bet I
never saw another girl in all my life
that really could love, though I've
thought I've have many time"
1t was Silver T. Sly, the young
gambler bachelor editor of the Platte
Vile News, who silently formulated
the foregoing propositions. He sat
in church, in the back row. The girl,
with a blue ribbon tied exquisitely
round her throat, was at the little or
gan playing Onward, Christian Sol
1iers.'
''These meetings." said the fat
preacher, ''wil1 continue for two
weeks, God willing, and we have great
hopes that many of you who have
come tonight as strangers and our
guests will be, moved to come again
and again, and that before the end of
the series you will come as one with
us. We hope this crystalline Febru-
airy weather will continue, that we
may make hay for the Lord and His
Gospel, that the spirit of the COM
munity may experience new birth,
and that righteousness may run down
our streets. We will sing Onward,
Christian Soldiers and those who do
not care to remain for the after serv-
ice may pass out during the singing"
The little editor fingered, his eyes
upon the organist, until the final
verse. Then he heard his name whis-
pered from behind:
'Sly, come along to Fps"
1t was Doc Gray's voice, and the
editor slipped out of the pew and
joined his pals.
"What'd you think of the preach
er, Shver?" asked one. The new ed
itor was SO short and slight that the
boys had transposed two letters in
his name and dubbed him Silver.
"The preacher?" echoed the editor,
absently Truth to tell, he had not
followed two consecutive sentences
of the exhortation. He made an
equivocal answer:
"Must have been good" said he;
Seemed awfully Short
''Short! Why, we thought he'd de-
cided to preach the week out at
sittin' It's one o'clock"
Silver Sly was desperate to find out
the name of the little organist and
all about her. But he thought not
for an instant of asking that crowd.
He felt an impulse to slip away from
them, and started off, declaring he
had some writing to do. They knew
that was improbable; he had never
before hesitated to join their Sunday
game in the three weeks since he
came to Platteville.
''What's the matter with you,
Sliver?" cried one, impatiently.
SGnnnsE r0ilra On the old
man. said Doc, the editors best
friend.
Sly reluctantly yielded. All that
glorious afternoon and nearly all
that moonlight night the five young
fellows sat round the table at
Epanetries, with hats drawn down
over tense, inscrutable faces, playing
poker.
Monday evening they all went to
the revival meeting again. Don't i'm
agine they went to scott; they went
quietly and respectfully, to be enter
tanned. The hymn singing, the light
and warmth, the faces, interested
them as much as they did the deacon
and the Sunday school superintend-
ent.
Just as a line of young men had
filed into a pew near the door bevy
of young women passed up the aisle,
and one of them wore blue ribbon
at her throat.
''Bess looks sweet as ever" said
one of the fellows.
Sly, the editor, heard, and drew a
quick breath. He had heard "Bess
SWING spoken of from time to time,
lust as he had heard of half a dozen
other girls. But he only knew one
or two of them by sight. He regard
ed himself rather blase on the girl
subject, and had not been able to
take any interest in the Platteville
rosebuds, who all seemed quite too
young for him. This evening, when
he heard that remark: ''Bess looks
sweet as ever" something told him
it was the organist who was referred
to. For she is the only sweet girl
in the bunch,' he reflected. But
Bess!" He grit his teeth. ST could
smother whoever fastened that name
on her. Elizabeth would be far
enough off-sLe- must have a middle
name that fits better
The meeting was a rouser. The
three preachers-the rosy fat one,
the handsome slim one and the con-
sumptiye ascetic-threw their whole
souls into the work, and it was truly
thrilling. The corpulent minister did
the exhorting, and stopped every few
minutes to catch his breath and cast
hin eye shrewdly about for repentant