St. Tammany farmer., 1901-08-24
Storn1~Swept
BY F. H. Lancaster.
Copyright, 1901, By Authors syndicate.) }
THE quarrel had been bitter. N,


passionate outburst to be
ashamed of-or. to be forgiven. They
had come to an understanding: When
his pleasant afternoon jaunt was
ended they would return to town to
go their separate ways, and, yes, to
avoid each other for awhile, until they
grew accustomed to the dead feeling
- about the heart. In the meantime.
while their wheels glided on smooth
~ side by side, each found cause for
congratulation that the revelation
had come in time. But it affected them
differently, as was natural, since one
was man and the other woman.
To the man the afternoon stretched
into interminable perspective. To the
woman came the determination that
this perspective should be shortened.
"These roads seem to be getting
steadily worse" she remarked, with
!. careful civility. "Shall we turn
back?'
"As you like" he answered, mood
fly, for he was q man, and playing a
part did not come so easily to him as
to the woman.
They turned, only to realize that
while one storm had burst another
had been brewing. Huge masses of
blue-black clouds, shot athwart con-
'tinuously by lightning flashes, tow
cred above the treetops. An erie moan
crept through the pines-a herald of
the wild northwest wind that would
thresh the forest with its fail, strik-
ing down crest and branch-even lay
ing an occasional monarch low.
They both knew the danger, but
while the girl bent with disdainful in
difference over her handle bars the
man looked around for shelter. He
had a dim consciousness of having
passed wayside building when the
quarrel was on, and turn in the road
now revealed it to him-a little church,
log-built and straw-strewn. He
wheeled closer to his companion, and
shouted against the rising wind, but
che shook her head.
II say we must" he reiterated.
A moment later he was standing
with his hand on the handle bar, and
they were facing each other in the
midday gloom. Her eyes, ablaze with
unstinted scorn, could read in his
only a dogged determination aa re-
lentless as the grip of his strong right
hand.
The whole congregation was sing
ing. Their high-pitched, nasal voices
soaring through the forest roar
formed tumult fearfully and won
derfully made. The rain. having driven
dn all the men and boys from their
whiting and horse swapping, the
small building was crowded, but Cor
don secured a seat near the door and
motioned the girl into it. Yesterday,
.or even an hour ago, be would have
longed to share it with her. Now he
smiled to observe that by skillful
arrangement of her skirts she had
made that impossible. A rather un-
necessary maneuver, it seemed to him,
when it was all he could do to force
himself to stand there beside ner with
his hand on the back of the bench.
The united roar of nasal hymn and
having spent its force.
The voice of the preacher arose
against the raindrops on the roof.
Gordon turned toward the man me-
he was tall. stoop- shoul- |
dered, sunburnt. Evidently quite at !
home behind the plowshares, and yet |
his place in the pulpit seemed to suit |
him well. There was manly rever-
ence in mein and gesture, and al
though there were lines about the |
lips that spoke Of much smiling and
q twinkle lurked in his shrewd, kind
ly eyes, there were other lines on
that weather-beaten face, deep cut
and sad-a sign that time cannot set
save with the stamp Of pain.
In a strong, slow voice he read his
text: blessed be the peacemakers."
He closed the Bible and laid it
aside, then he turned to his congrega-
ton.
"Brethrsn," he began. in sn easy
tone. "br<thrsa. whsi
u this here peace that the Coed Book
keels about, and who ais is the peace
calls blessed? Is it them
that jaws agin their neighbor's cattle
when bits their own pesky fences
that's to blame? What's the reason
here amt no peace in this here set
tlement? You alls is law-abiding citi-
,ens: there amt no cattle driv of
,or sheep stole. Even the hogs amt +
neddled with. Brethren, let me tell 1 :