The National tribune., 1901-03-21


ty girlr' murmured Sears.
Margaret made grimace ut him and
slipped ahead TO Mr.. AshbclS side, Ieav-
ing Gilbert to devote both his ears to little
Mrs. Ashbel's chatter-aud truly they
were both needed.
Chautauqua dimes at midday. The Gus
tom is almost as bad an one as recent
Presidents habit of having pie for lunch
con at the White House; and like that
climacteric defiance of the cdicts of fash
ion. is justified by the same reasonable
rules of conduct-cOnvenience and prefer
ence. The President of the Great he
nublic liked warm apple-pie and honey at
noon, and ordered it, regardless o. ms
chefs horror and the semi-comic conf
mentS of the press.
At Chautauqua all things must bow to
the program of the school and entertain
meuts, to the three congregations in this
most wonderful of temples At 10 in the
morning. at in the afternoon, and at
at night, thousands gather in the vast
amnhitheater and in the scores of lesser
auditoriumS, TO listen to n series of III
tellectual, artistic, spiritual and pcdagogi-
cai entertainments. day after day, through
all the lovely, sultry Summer.
On the day of their arrival the Ashhe'S :,
finding themselves comfortably settled,
sailed forth after dinner with Sears. Mar
>Caret pleading q headache. asked to be
allowed to stay behind. The great open
amphitheater was beginnins 10 fill. The
Ashbels took seats almost below the plat
form, not only that Mrs. Ashbel might at
least get an inkling of what the speaker
said. but that her husband might see
something of the man to whose words he
listened. For the pastor of the First Con
gregationalist Church at Summcrdale and
his wife were as oddly assorted Il couple
as one could find in a days journey. One
was even more than the traditional hard
o. hcarin'," while the others range of Els-
ion. though aided by the most powerful
glasses. was so restricted that from his
pulpit his congregation was fact that
had to be taken entirely on falth. But
his ears were as keen as his wIfeS eyes
were. and between the two few things oc-
currd in their church or town without be
ing noted by the kindly. childless couple
who had dwelt for 20 years in the ivy
wreathed parsonage TO which they had
come as bride and groom. And the strange
ly isolated children, Margaret Keep and
Gilbert Sears, had come TO take the place
of son and daughter in those hearts so
lonely yet so oveTflowing with love. De
spite their personal popularity, the Rrab-
bic had reacted on Gilbert and Margaret.
Both of them were proud and sensitive
in the true New England way, and their
pride raised an indefnable barrier of reti-
cenee and self-cOnsci0usnesS between them
and the towns people. 1t was only IN the
restful, CHEEKY atmosphere of the Ashbel
home that they forgot the uESightly feud
that hung over their lives. Long before
Miss Lucy Greenlee had adopted the
young boy, little Maggie had become die
tator extraordinary in the parsonage, and
when the lad came he only shared her
throne.
Almost the only people in the county
who remained through it all on friendly,
even intimate, relations with the warning
factions, by their tact and geniality, as
sisted by the authority of his priestly Of
fice-which u minister, if he is fitted TO
do so, still wields in smaller Eastern
townsville Ashbels had done much to
soften the more absurd and intense mani
festations of this Montaguc-and-C Capulet
quarrel between the two women whose
wealth and prominence made their viru-
lent animosity the more scandalouS. The
pastor was known even in the old world
for his erGditiOn, but his people esteemed
him rather for the beauty of his charac-
ter which his wifers more distinctly hu-
man goodness and sympathy completed.
When Mrs. Keep declared that her lit
tie daughter should not play with nor
speak to Mrs. Greenlee's nephew the Ash
bells sighed, and after prayerful reflection
assumed part from which they never
wavered through all the din and raucor
of succeeding years. Without really in
her mother, they clung TO the hope that
through the two children so dear 10 them
the stain which had so long dishgured
Summerdale might be washed away. Ii
was a sweet thought, but dangerous ex-
pertinent.
AS the boy grew into boisterous, wilful
youth, Mrs. Ashbel began to tremble for
his future; her husband was not less
troubled over the inscrutable character of
the girl he loved as a daughter. Gilbert's
aunt's death, the unexpected disposition of
her estate and Mrs. Keeps formal decla-
ration that she would disown Margaret un-
less she broke with the young man at
once and absolutely, had come as terrible
shocks to the good minister and his wife
They knew Mrs. Keeps temper only too
well. And while Mrs. Ashbel would not
have taken Margaret to any place where
she knew the young girl would be thrown
into Gilbert's company, she was heartily
reioiced that destiny had taken the mat
ter out of her hands and brought them to-
gether. True she had consented to Chap
erone" Margaret, but as she said, she
was an old-fashioned lady, with a very
dim comprehension of what the word
meant, and a very definite conviction that
gently-bred girl was her own best guide
in love affairs. For Mrs. Ashbel thought
love, and love alone, the one essential pre-
requisite of happy marriage, and love,
true and reciprocal, quite sufficient to
make any life happy. 1t was philosophy
that is being rapidly eradicated from the
minds of the rising generation; but she
had faith in Gilbert and Margaret in the
clear, true ideals which life in the ivy
draped parsonage had for so many years
held before their young eyes.
The amphitheater was crowded that af-
ternOOn. A distinguished foreigner was
10 demonstrate to a picked American au-
dienee the essential harmony between the
Divine VIII and the English Ideal. He
had written a book which, having been
indiscreetly criticised by some American
critic, had at once come in for an intense
and feryid admiration on the part of
everybody else. Nowhere does the Amer
icaD "hankering' is no other word
after foreign celebrities show itself so
strongly as in the desire to hear them
speak. The desire is not apparently based
on any intellectual or moral quality which
they may have or any benefit or amuse-
ment to be derived from what they may
say. And Chautauqua, when it was
found that imported attractions paid bet
ter than domestic talent, and could be OBJ
tanned for much less cost, provided il in
all grades Of relishability.
In the amphitheater, on small circu-
lar platform jutting like a hcadland into
4 sea of 10000 faces and buttressed by
the gallery of the vast choir, there stands
little desk. On it is generally q vase
OF flowers. Sometimes il is n large bou-
quot and sometimes 4 small one Clau-
tauqua is kind to those IL loves and many,