Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-01-06

Stuart couItl hear him tearing down
the stairs three steps at a time. They
looked at each other in silence and
then rose and went over to the win
dow.
Crossing the square by one of the
diagonal paths cut through by the
snowplow was Mrs. Binney, the wife
of the injured miner, the woman who
had come in to see DR.. Saxon the day
before Stuart and Eric had been caught
; in the mine. She was carrying basket
on one arm and was on her way home
after having been down to Champion
from her house up on the hill. An
drew had been up to see Jim several
times.
Eric and Stuart, looking out, saw
Andrew wade through a snowdrift that
reached almost to his neck and stop
the astonished Mrs. Binney just as she
was turning off to go up across the
railroad tracks. He gave her the roses
in the paper. She put them in her
basket and bowed her curiously shawl
ed and bonneted head. Andrew rushed
back, darted up stairs, pulled a broom
out of the closet, retired to the hall,
/ brushed himself off and, coming back,
said, painting: Excuse me. am some
| times taken that way. It is not dan
| gerous."
ut would be a good thing if it was
that is, if it was catching" said Eric
significantly.
AS for Stuart, he had gone back to
hiC Cnot f,1l IN
great study over many things.
Il am wrestling with a problem
greater than any that ever challenged
me-" he said at last - the others re-
manned quiet. II need more wisdom
and more knowledge. l believe, as
Eric says, that money can create
miracles of a certain sort in Cham
pion, but shall say: Go to- now! Be
hold me! l am Stuart Duncan, the
mine owner. 1 have a million dollars.
l am going to spend this money for
| your benefit My friends, how will
| you have it? In libraries, souphouses,
music, flowers, lectures, preaching, art
or what not? l am ready to Chris
| tianize, elevate, improve and lift up, to
bridge over the chasms that lie be-
tween rich and poor and educated anu
ignorant. You just keep quiet, and
the million dollars will do the rest Is
that the idea? Given, a million dol
lars to bring in the millennium. Is
| that the relation between a million dol
lars and a million years of paradise?
! 1t is not so easy. l can see the hall
dedicated to labor. That is a posi-
| bility. And the music and the flow
ers and all that. Good. But there is a
| good deal more behind and within.
One thing | know very certainly: 1
must see for myself what the needs
are in Champion. l know in a general
way, but l want to know in detail"
There's one person can tell you all
about it," said Andrew.
"Who's that?"
"Miss Dwight"
Stuart flushed. From where he sat
he could see the front of the Salvation
Army hall. Rhena was just going in
with one of the women belonging to
the army.
I'm told that she is familiar al
ready with nearly every case of suf-
A>A'AA0 III NAiStl1iplOh, ALI
drew. she has even been out on the
hills as far as Cornishtown. It's a
| pokerish place in winter, full of pit
holes and abandoned prospecting
| shafts. / wouldn't want to get caught
out there and lose my way after dark
| with this new snow covering up bad
| places
Stuart did not answer. He was look
ing from the window and saw Rhena
and the woman come out of the hall
with bundles. They crossed the street
and disappeared behind the engine
house, going in the direction of the
| Cornishtown path.
what did you say?" asked Stuart
| suddenly as he came back from his lit
tie journey With Rhena. Andrew and
Eric were sitting where they did not
see what Stuart had seen.
Il said that in case you ever fall into
hole in COrnishtown it might be just
as well to leave the spending of that
money to Eric and me-" replied An
drew, noddng at Eric. "That is. leave
it before you fell in. For the chances
are that 10 one will be prospecting
! around at tnlS time or the year with
rope to pull you out"
Il beg pardon" said Stuart. "Let us
get at the subject again. It's very evil
! dent we cannot settle this matter off
hand or in a hurry. But I'm sure the
Lord will lead us to do something
right. He hasn't given us brains and
hearts and then left us to make fools
of ourselves, especially when we don't
want to-
We do not need to give in detail the
afternoons discussion. The plan for
using the money was not fully shaped
in any definite way. 1t could not be.
Even Eric was obliged to confess
that the element of time was necessary
to help in the solution. They were not
planning for day or a month or one
winter, but for a good many years to