River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-12-01

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@ ERVICB was over, and Rev. John
y PoindeXter was resting quietly IN
the Yegtry. The elaborate ritual had
been carried out without mistake; even
the choir-boys had not misbehaVed
themselves, and the acolyte, whose
red cassOck had at first s:andalized a
congregation accustomed to an evan
gelistic rector, had at last satisfac-
torily performed HE part Of the cere-
mony. The faint odor of incense pene-
trated the vestry from the chancel, and
the clergyman dozed in his ample chair,
the warm sun beating upon him throug
the window.
He was an ascetic. so he persuaded
himself, a celibate who held strong
views upon the marriage Of the
clergy. He had satisfied his nat
orally sensuous temperament with the
fragrance of incense, the colors of
stained glass, and the beauties and
harmonies Of an involved ritual
But temperament is a willful thing.
hard to put to sleep, or to buy off
with a substitute, and the leaVen
worked in the rector as he dozed
in the vestry with the sun warm upon
him.
He nodded drowsily; light branches
brushed tenderly against the windows,
making strange effects against the
green and gold, orange and scarlet, and
In him there stirred uneasily the pas
sion OF beauty, esthetic ecstasy, the
little torment which he had so far
always lulled with ecclesiastical spells.
"A lady and gentleman want to see
you, sir" said the sexton, putting his
head in at the vestry door.
The clergyman rose with a yawn,
stretched himself with an air of i'm
patience, and assumed a clerical dig
nifty which well became him, and
which the ladies of the Sunday school
always admired.
Give me my cassock, Jenkins" he
said, and the sexton took it from the
cupboard and handed 1t to him. 1t
was a beautiful cassock, rich and silk,
with broad band from which hung
a long, soft fringe. The clergyman
slipped into it, and the sexton fas-
tened the long row of buttons.
Now, my biretta," and Rev. John
Poindexter, rector of St Ethelfredas,
stood ready to receive his visitors.
They came in, a middle-aged man,
tall and austere and a beautiful girl,
not more than %, graceful and dig
nifed. The couple paused at the door
for a moment a moment in which the
clergyman appeared to himself to lose
the sense of his own identity. He who
had lorded it over Sunday-school
teachers, to whom the ladies of the
Kings Daughters had been merely so
many souls to be kept neat and trim
by frequent HASTINGS and regular COM
munions, felt for the first time in his
life a certain trepi1atiOn in the pres
ence Of woman. Still he showed no
emotion. The well-trained figure stood
firm and erect; the mouth stern with
the rigidity of years Of repression
never quavered; no movement, even
of the tassel on the biretta, testified
to any disturbance of his mental bal
ance. He looked at the man and fan
cied in some -ndistinct way that he re-
membered him.
''We wish to be married." said the
latter, and produced a paper, the reg
plar license. The clergyman looked at
1t and appeared to recognize the name,
without consciously placing it, how
ever.
II prefer not to marry people on
Sunday" ne said.
1--WE must marry now" replied the
man. 1--WE belong to your church, but
unless you will consent to marry us,
we must get the minister of another
church. We are alone in this town.
and must be married"
"Have you ever Eeen divorced?"
asked the clergyman, quietly and cas-
ually, for the question was the GUS
tomarv one.
Eyes, l have been divorced" an
swered the man, looking somewhat
perturbed as he said it.
The girl whitened visibly at the
words, and hesitated, evidently unde-
termined whether to speak or not, and
finally with an effort said hurriedly,
almost blurted:
You never told me that Andrew"
Because it did not seem necessary"
said the man.
But l should have known: l ought
to have been told" said the girl.
would it have made any differ
ence?" softly asked her middle aged
lover.
She looked at him quietly for a mo-
ment, then the passion leaped into her
eyes so plainly that even the clergy
man saw 1.-THE positive glow of en-.
thusiastic love.
No. dear" she said. cit would nave
made no difference"
The quiet, composed words remind
ed the clergyman of the fact that he
was staring absorbedly at the girl The
clerical sense of dignity, which had so
often helped him when perplexed, came
now to his aid against the demon
which had arisen in his heart
"You have been married and d.
vorced. cannot marry you," he said,
at last, with GOODNESS and finality.
"But l was not the party to blame.
The church allows one divorced to re.
marry under certain circumstances"
said the man.
81 woulL rather not marry you." said
the priest, and as he said it, he looked
again and he knew +he man.
In a moment the scene required to
him. Years before he had seen his sis
ter married. He remembered how she