The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-23

! torship. Nor had the preacher told his
wife of his discovery. They had quar-
leled several times about Mcleod. His
wife seemed determined 10 remain loyal
to the boy she had taught and he said
nothing.
| Mcleod waited a week on a Saturday
when the preacher was absent at one Of
his county mission stations he called al
| the hotel for long afternoons talk. He
determined to press his suit.
! DO you know, Mrs. Durham, what
gives a preacher his boosted power OF
the spirit over his audiences?" he in.
quired, with curious laugh, in the
midst of which he changed his tone OF
voice.
mo, YOU are an expert on the pathol-
cgy of preachers, what is it,"
Very simple. Religion is founded or
love, there never was magnetic preach
er who was not resistleSs magnet for
scores of magnetic women. If you don't
relieve it, watch how resistless is the
impulse of all these good-Iooking women
to shake hands with their preacher, and
how fondly they look at him across the
pews if the crowd is too dense to reach
his hand!'
frown passed over her face, and she
WINGED at Ia" ti, Gst, yet her answer
WAS n surpl ,gi7g question to him.
do you really believe in anything,
Allan?"
"You ask that?" he said. aiming
closer you whose great dark eyes
look tLro ugh a mans very soul!
Il begin to think / have ever seen
yours ! doubt if you have a soul"
well, what's the use of a soul? 1t
can't satisfy the wants of my hody"
Answer my question. Do you believe
in anything?"
Yes" he replied, his voice sinking to
tense whisper, Il believe in woman
III love-
I'm woman?p
Yes, woman"
you mean women she sneered.
He started at her answer, looked in
tently at her, and said deliberately:
Il mean you, the one woman, the only
woman in the world to me-"
Il 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-
teries!" she exclaimed, closing her eyes
for a moment and leaning back in her
chair.
You have often talked 20 me about the
necessity of some sort of slavery for the
negro if he remain in America 1 be-
gin to believe that slavery is a necessity
fer 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 imperous woman,
born of race of unconcuerable 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
male brute has built about
your soul, fall back at last and give I'D
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 tempter!'
There you are again. He who dares
to tell you that you are of yourself n
living being, divinely free, is Il tempter
from the devil! You are thinking about
eternity! Well, now is eternity Live.
stand erect, take deep breath, and dary
to be yourself and do what you please.
That is what l do The future IS a
myth
Yes, / know the freedom of which Won
BOAST, she quietly observed, lit is the
freedom of lust. The return to nature
you dream of is simply the fail downward
into the dirt out of which rational AMI
spiritual manhood has grown l feel and
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 its ma
ternal quality. The magnet of my red |
head dew your coal black one down tc |
it with irresistible p~w,3r.'
Perhaps so, Allan Your worl: is |
lone. There is the dooc. | say a las.
goodbye, with pity for your shallow ma |
-Hre ard the bitter revelation you have
given me of your worthlessness."
Without another word he left, but with
4 dark resolution of SANDER with which
ne would tarnish her name. and wiring
he preachers heart with anguish.