The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-03-25

look through a mans very soul!
Il tcgir to think l have yer seen
yours. ] doubt if you have a soul"
well, what's the use Of a soul? It
cant sctisfy the wants of ny body"
Answer my question. Do you believe
in anything?"
Yes he replied, his voice sinking to
a tense whisper, Il believe in woman
IL love-
I'm woman"
Eyes, woman"
you mean women she sneared.
He started at her answer, looked in
tently at her, and said deliberately:
4 mean you, the one woman, the only
woman in the world to me-"
L do not believe one word you have
uttered, yet, l confess with shame, you
have always fascinated me-"
why with shame? You have but one
life to live. The years pass. Even
beauty so rare as yours fades at last.
The end is the grave and worms. Why
dash from your beautiful lips the cup OF
life when it is full to the brim?"
How skillfully you echo the dark
thoughts that fit on devil wings through
the soul when We feel the bitterness of
life's failure, its contradictions and mys-
t~eries!" she exclaimed, closing her eyes
for a moment and leaning back in her
chair.
you nave often talked TO me about the
necessity of some sort of slavery for the
negro if he remain in America. | be-
gin to believe that slavery is a necessity
for all women"
Il fail to see it, sir"
"All women are born slaves and choose
to remain so through life. 1t is curious
to see you, a proud imperious woman,
born of a race of unconQuerable men,
staggering today under the chains of four
thousand years of conventional laws
made by the brute strength of men.
And you, if you struggle at all, beat
your wings against the bars that the
~slaveholCing male brute has built about
your soul, fall back at last and give liz
to the will of your master. This, too,
when you hold in your simple VIII the
key that would unlock yolr prison door
and make you free. It's a pitiful sight.
How shrewd a temptert"
There you are again. He who darcs
to tell you that you are C yourself 8
living being. divinoly free. is Il tempter
from the devil. You are thinking about
eternity, Well, now is eternity. Live
stand erect, take a deep breath, and dar,
to be yourself and do what you please
That is what do. The future IS 6
myth"
Yes, l know the freedom of which vo'
boast" she quietly observed, 1T is the
freedom of lust. The return to nature
you dream of is simply the fail downward
into the dirt out of which a rational an
sLilitual manhood has grown | feel anC
know this in spite of your handsome face
and the fine ring of yoir voice.
McLeod's anger was fast rising.
Don't fool yourself" he sneered
You may overwork your maternal in.
buttons. You remember the Kiss you
gave me when a boy inst fifteen? Well
you fooled yourself then about it's ma.
ternal quality. The magnet of my rec
head dew your coal black one down t,
it with irresistible p~wer."
"Terhaps so, Allan. Your work i
done. There is the doo-. | say a las
sood-rve, with pity for your SHALLOW ma
tire ana the bitter revelation you hav'
given me of your worthlessness."
Without another word he left, but will
a dark resolution of slander with which
he would tarnish her name, and wrin'
the preachers heart with anguish.
CHAPTER Xxx.
CASTOR tried to wait in patience ar
other week for a word from the woman
he loved, and when the last mail came
{ and brought no letter for him, he fount
himself face to face with the deepcs
5 soul crisi of his life.
After all. thoughts are things. TIL
9 report of her social frivolities at frs
made little impression on him. But h
? thought had fallen in his heart. and i
: was growing a poisoned weed.
l 1t is possible to kill the human bod
q with an idea. The fairest day the sprin
ever sent can be blackened and turne
from sunshine into storm by the fittin
. of a little cloud of thought no bigge
than d mans hand.
SO Castor found this report of dancin
and flirting in a gay society by the wo
man he had enthroned in the holy Q
holes of his soul to be destroying hi
strength of character, and like d deadl
cancer eating his heart out.
V He sat down by his window that nigh
unable to work, and tried to reconcil
such a life with his ideal.
. why should l be so pr%ovincial," h
t unused. The thing only shocks me be
t cause [ am unused to it. She has grow
up in this atmosphere. To her it is
harmless p%astime.'
Then ne would take out of his des
d her picture, light his lamp, and look lon
n and tenderly at it. until his soul wa
G drunk again with the memory of he
: beauty, the warm touch of her hand, an
o the thrill of her full soft lips in the onl
two kisses he had ever received frol
e the heart of a woman.
The picture he held was a finely ey
IL ecuted miniature on ivory her father ha
made of her when she was eighteen. Sh
had given it to him.. Her father ha
told her to demand it's return. She ha
c done SO, but there was such a sweet COZ
d Trajectory accent in her voice, that Gas
ton refused.
is Then I've obeyed my father, I cannc
take it by force" she said lovingly.
is No" he answered. 1T is mine.
II will keep it. If l am buried with it n
i heart will beat again at it's touch"
He looked at it now with infinite Ions
Y ing, and kissed it.
At one o'clock he went to bed al
1t tried to sleep. He tossed for an hou