The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-01-17
DEATH OF OLD PAGE.
BY EDWARD B. CLARK.

was seated in front of the open fire at the
club, who had the courage of his convic-
tons. There was no scare in him even when
death beckoned and finally gripped him.
Yes, assented the halfway slleptic at
the other end of the fireplace, "Old Page
was certainly a consistent atheist. l did
not hear anything about his deathbed, but
suppose he died in the spirit in which he
lived. He was built that way"
A man with an ascetic face and with
coat OF clerical cut stood between the speak
ers. He is the rector of little Episcopal
church slowed away in poverty-stricken
district OF the sity. He is a club member
and moves i'll the smart set when he isn't
working away in the slums. The smart set
and the club get about one-tenth of his time,
though, as he often confesses, he believes
that they stand in sharper need of mission.
airy work than do most of the dwellers in
| the district to which he casts nine-tent!s of
his lot.
you say, Nelson" said the rector, ad-
dressing the first speaker, chat Old Page
at death had the courage of his convictions
| You never said truer word in your life;
| he did have l know something about it,
because the hospital where he died is in my
district and on my daily visiting list.
and don't know the whole story of Page
life. l know all about it.
You see, Old Page wasa bbGophile from
the day he first saw the letter A in his pic
ture alphabet as baby. The man was ac-
tualy book crazy. Some of the first books
| that he read and loved were agnostic in
| tendency. This led him to read absolutely
atheistical works, and finally his book-col-
l,o+
class. Old Page probably had the finest
collection of Shelley, yoitaire, Paine and
| the skeptic scientists books that We're ever
held by the book shelves of any private
house. Do you know that it was Pages
boast that he had never read religious work
| in his life; that he had never turned the
pages of {; Bible nor seen the inside of a
book of common prayer? He chose every
thing except what /, in humble imitation,
call the better part Page would go with
out food if it We're necessary to buy some
| rare first edition of a work with q faith
undermining tendency. There was a clergy
man one day holder than the rest who went
| to the bibliophile and said: why don't
You collect and read both sides, Mr.. Page"
The reason is, parson, said Page, that
f, there is only one side
That answer showed better than any
thing else the mans bent of mind. You
may have heard. perhaps, that he was a
great friend of Evarts, another collector,
who had bought and brought together books
| of all kinds irrespective of the nature OF
the teachings which they contained. 1t
was Pages wont to sheer a little at the
missals, the Old Fathers, the Brooches Bible
and the rest that Evarts had on his shelves
cheek by jowl, so to speak, with Noltaire
and our other unbelieving friends. Now
Page knew Evarts' library and the lay
of his books as well as did the owner him.
self. Page used to go to his friends home,
take out a certain copy of Noltaire and look
at it yearningly and lovingly for hours at a
time. 1t was the only Noltaire which he
himself did not possess. He knew this little
book was the first one of the series of atheis-
tic and agnostc volumes in Evarts' posses
sion. The book next it at the left on the
Shelf was the last one of the religious anc
theological volumes. When Page picked W
; this particular Noltaire he would careful
ly brush off the left-hand cover with hi
handkerchief to remove contamination
Yes, he was consistent atheist all right
He told Evarts once that he would give
his right arm to possess that Noltaire and
that he thought if pressed for more pay
ment that he'd sacrifice his right leg along
with the arm.
well, you know it was only two weeks
ago that Evarts' house caught fire. The
flames started in the basement and spread
rapidly. The old frame structure was like
finder. Page lived only a block from his
friends house and he reached the scene oil
the fire as quickly as did the tiremen. The
flames had eaten from the basement through
the flooring into the library. The bookroon
was a furnace. Evarts stood outside in the
street with a look of pathetic misery in hi.
face and with his thoughts fixed on his burn
ing books. Page grasped his arm and fairly
howled in his ear: That Voltaire will b,
lost
'.In another instant and before he coult
be detained, Page had darted mp the from
steps of the burning house. A fireman
dashed after him, but was driven bael
by a sheet of flame. Page was inside. Hell
get nothing but death there was tn,
thought weighing on every heart. 1t SCENE,
before out from the shrouding smoke an,
leaping flame the bibliophile appeared hold
ing little book tightly to his breast. Hi
hair and clothing were ablaze and he wa.
frghtfully burned.
and carried him to an ambulance. ii,
held tight the volume he had saved. L hav,
got the Voltaire' he said, and despite tn,
feebleness of his voice there was a ring
triumph in it.. They took him to the hos
pital and did what they could for him
but he had inhaled fame, and death wa
only question OF a few days. The,
thought he was unconscious at one time
and one of the nurses attempted to re
move the book which Page had saved from
the flames. Fiercely he said Leave it.
Then with sort of renewed strength h,
lifted the volume and opened it. He stared
at it almost blankly for a moment, and theI
an astonishment came into his face. l dc
not know whether Page bibliophile ant
atheist, saw the hand OF God in it OF not
but the book that he had saved at the
cost of his own life, let me say TO the
salvation of his SOUL was not rare edition
of Voltaire, but cheap copy of the price
less Gospel OF Jesus Christ.
Suffering as he was, he read the bool
for the first time in his life and believed
l baptized him one hour before he died
He called in all his atheist friends to wit
ness the sacrament. o, yes, Old Page ha,
the courage of his convictions. Chicag