The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1901-09-27
BORN TO EERDE
BY CHARLES M. yHELDON
Author Of STEPS" QUESTION CLASS"
EDWARD Etc.
BY CHARLES M. SHELDON,
(copyrigAt, 1900, by Charles NJ. sheldon,

mind"
mo, but it would be a beginning,
and think know where / could get
more to go with it," Mrs. Ward was
growing very interested, and Mr.
Ward was obliged to caution her
against excitement; so the matter
was dropped there.
But in a few days Mrs. Ward brought
it up again in Barbara's presence.
81 think something could be done
with a properly equipped building"
Barbara said in answer to a question
put by Mrs. Ward. They had discussed
the matter several times before Mrs.
Vane's invitation to Barbara to come
to her evening gathering. Mrs. Ward
had not yet limited at any means for
realizing such project.
'How much do you suppose such a
building would cost?" Mrs. Ward
asked, noting Barbara's growing in
terest.
80, I've no real idea. Almost any
amount. 1t would cost good deal to
maintain it, also. The greatest diff
Guilty would be to secure a proper per-
son Tor superintendent.
"And then the next thing would be
to get the girls to attend the house
keeping school,"
II think we could find plenty of
girls"
I'm not so sanguine as you are, Bar
bara," Mrs. Ward answered, slowly.
"But Mr.. Ward and / are willing to
show our faith in such an attempt by
given $4,000 towards the erection of
such building"
She explained to Barbara Aunt Wal
lace's legacy, and added that Mr..
Ward had offered to put $500 more
with it 90 make it $4,000
81 think Mrs. Vane and some of the
other ladies in our church and society
will give something, so that we can
begin with pretty good building and
have enough to equip and run it. Sup
pose you go over and see Mrs. Vane
some day this week and have talk
with her about it,"
81 WILL" said Barbara, tingling with
eagerness. Something real and tan
gible seemed about to come to pass in
her career. She grew excited as she
thought of possibilities. A building
of the kind she had dreamed of was
not by any means an answer to the
servant girl problem, but it was at
least real thing, and if the idea was
properly worked out it might result
in great things.
So she talked with herself as she
bar Il
resolved to go over to Mrs. Vane's at
once, and yet even in the midst of her
growing excitement and her genuine
| interest in her career, Barbara was
not altogether free from depression
| that had it's origin in the best feeling
she had ever known. This feeling
was her love for the young minister,
Mr.. Morton. Barbara no longer tried
to conceal from herself that he had
become a real part of her life. The
trouble in the Ward household had all
tended indirectly to increase her add
miration for him. With the tenderest
sympathy he had entered into the
family's grief. 1t was only natural
that in the weeks that followed Carfs
death Mr.. Morton should call fire.
quently at the house where he had
become such a familiar guest in col
lege days. Scarcely a day passed
when he did not drop in for meal,
or to spend part of an evening.
In one way and another Barbara
met him a good deal. He was always
the same earnest, Sentlemanly, kindly
speaker and listener. Gradually in
little moments of conversation when
Mrs. Ward was not able 20 come down,
and Mr.. Ward and Morton had lin
gered over little talk on social ques-
tions after tea, Barbara had taken an
unconscious part in the discussion.
More than once she had with almost
guilty haste gone out of the sitting
room after one of those important
discussions in which she had revealed
a part of her ambitions to the young
minister and Mr.. Ward; and in the
midst of her work, as she finished
some kitchen task, she reproached
her heart for yielding to what seemed
like a hopeless affection. But the
girls life was opening into full bios
som under the spell of a power as old
as the human race, as divine an in
stinct, as religious hunger, as hui
manity ever knew. She was more
than dimly conscious of all this, even
in the midst of her self-reproaches.
But the consciousness of her posi-
tion as household servant and of his
position as leader in the pulpit of the
most influential church in Crawford
was sharply painful. The gulf be-
tween them was not very deep per-
sonally. She was fully as well edu
Gated along lines of general culture.
She was almost his equal in matters
of knowledge and perception. 1t was
the social distinction that separated
them. And, as the days went by and
she felt more and more the mental
stimulus of his presence and the at
Effectiveness of his manner towards
her, she shrunk from the thought of
the suffering in the future which she
was making for herself in even allow
ing his life to become part of hers.
All this was in her mind as she went
over to see Mrs. Vane that afternoon.
The new plan proposed by Mrs. Ward
and the gift of the money to make 1T
practical appealed to her ambition,
and she reselutely set herself to sat-