The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-11
THE MINISTER'S TEMPTA-
 TION.
BY JOHN GAsToN,

The Reverend Robert Boyd was tn, most promising young preacher in ai the great city. His devotion to hil calling led him to give his time and his talents to all the details and de. mands of his ministry, and made hin familiar figure in the homes of tho sick. the sQualid tenement districts and tn, hospitals. Without seeking public approval the very fervor of his work and his seif-denial made his name widely heralded.
 He was a handsome young fellow too, a perfectly formed giant with broad shoulders and a Byronic head, eyes and lips that bespoke all healthy human passions and impulses. He did his work because he loved 1t and be- cause he was thoroughly interested in 1t. He believed in the church. in the creed. and In himself.
 It was the deliberate and emphatic opinion of the entire feminine wing of his church, declared at many sewing circles and aid society meetings, that 1t was a shame that he did not take unto himself a helpmeet. But he was too busy with his work. and his am- bilious plans to hasten the millennium, and gave little thought to the allure ments of womankind. In vague sort of way, he sometimes thought that when his work seemed better in hand, he would marry and establish hearth stone. But no particular face figured in these thoughts.
 Suddenly and in the midst of his la bors, and while in the prime of his life, there came to him a great temptation.
 It came quickly as the lightning and with the force of an avalanche. Re- turning from visit to hospital, with l. l. t-l lx.4 theme of his next Sundays sermon, as he turned the corner, he ran directly into a young woman. Glancing up with an apology on his lips he beheld a face which startled him. It was a face glowing with life and color, deli cate and perfect in feature. alive with intelligence and piquancy, crowned with . mass of jet black hair tossed up un- der jaunty little hat with apparent carelessness. But it was the eyes which rivsted Robert Boyds attention the eyes and the mouth, and which sent through his veins thrill the llke of which he never had experienced
 As she flashed coquettish glance at him from under the long lashes the clergyman recovered sufficiently to lift his hat and murmur a word of apology. She swept on and as he walked on his way more slowly after her he could not fail ts note the perfection Of the 1.-the figure and the jaunty grace of every movement. AS he entered his study and sat down to his desk he be- came conscious that his heart was humping at a rate quite out or the normal and that the blood was cours- ing through his veins in a manner he had not experienced since his football days. As he took up his pen he real ized that his sermon had faded from his mind. Instead there foated before his mind & figure with great. mis- chievous black eyes. He glanced at ms hand holding the pen and he noted that it was trembling. He threw the pen down, rose abruptly and walked to the window. This would never do. What did 1t mean? What sort Of erect was this exercised over him by a wo- man he had never seen before and in all probability would never see again? Pshaw. 1t was nonsense. He seated himself, took up his pen again and began, methodically, to work out his sermon. Page after page piled up un- der his rapid writing. After a bit the writing stopped and the preacher found himself staring into his grate fire where he saw in the glowing coals @ pair or sensuous lips which he was conscious of desiring passionately to press against his own. Coming to With a start he jumped to his feet, put on his hat and went into the street.
 ''This is dangerous" he muttered to himself, "I must be on the verge Of paresis. Me, a minister of the gospel, the preacher of self-control, to be un- able to keep my mind on my work and to permit 1t to be fixed on a casual young woman with whom I collided on the street! It Is shameful. l will have to take medical counsel. l must have been working too hard"
 Then he hurried into the tenement district and occupied himself all day with exacting and absorbing work ,..ong the unfortunates there
 But he was unable to get rid of the impression made upon his senses by the girl. It became less acute as the days went by, but still it haunted him sleeping and walking.
 This had been going on for some weeks when he did meet her again and most unexpectedly. It was in the public hospital where he spent some time cheering the afflicted. A young woman had been brought in suffering in the last stages of consumption. She was an actress, they had told him and ftr away from friends and terror stricken at the thought of death. One morning he went into the ward and found the girl who had haunted his dreams knee!ing beside the cot where the dying woman lay and with both arms around about the sufferer and full of tenderness and pity speaking words