The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-10-29

innovation yet TO encourage as a fad.
The disilusioned customer would put
away her purse With defrauded air.
and the embryo reformer would fold
mp her goods and go Oh from village
to village along her suburban route
The coins In her ancient money bag
became fewer and smaller in demon.
nation with the canvassing OF each
new and old town the lich-toned com.
/ plexion faded to the color OF antique
/ ivory, and the rounded form lost It's
/ plump symmetry with the anxiety and
/ the scanter fare
! Three weeks Of tribulations sufi-
4 cient to discourage one to the religion
born. then Shalmai was reduced 10 her
last rootlet "of all evil"
Her employer wondered. then grew
wrothy, and finally anxious. as her re-
ports came from the yarioue towns
she was making such small sales that
one machine could overstock her mar
ket, while she was not realizing
enough in profits to provide her with
the essentials OF life Vexed and per.
picked at this sudden turn OF affairs.
he was conjacturing whether It was
Shalmai's lack OF learning that had
sold his goods so readily before tax
ing, on whether SC was her over-eth-
ical education that was losing sales
for them now. when Keinish came
into The Office to hear somewhat Of
her, and TO him the manufacturer OF
Illinois oriental embroideries relieved
his mind with regard to his fears for
Shalmai and also his opinion Of the
folly of that pledge.
With the eagerness OF lover long
ing for a pretext to again look on his
adored Kernish volunteered to go out
as a rescue expedition to the too thor
oughly Chrlstianized convert.
Whatever Emory Kernish's original
intentions may have been, they
seemed to undergo subtle change
on realizing the ravages that her
weeks of hardship had wrought on
Shalmai
He came upon her as she was drag
ging herself and her pack through the
slush 0f n country road. Her gay gar.
ments We're wind aud weather frayed:
She was soiled, exhausted. disheveled
she appeared nc longer dethroned
princess Of the house OF Judah. With
The furnishing of her fine feathers
Shalmai lost caste with her suitor--
and the expression that came over his
face was neither sanity nor pleasant
to look upon.
But Shalmai saw only her lover Of
The mission cOmins tO meet her. and
she fell into his arms with the limp.
ness of a rag doll and wept her glad
! lief
'Nhy Shalmai!" he exclaimed.
II have kept the pledge. but behold !
TO what it has brought me. and she
hushed her sobs to hear the commen-
dation Of her Christian lover II came.
IT was a foolish promise to make. |
and 4 more foolish compact to keep. |
But It is over now You must leave |
the reforming Of the world to those /
better able to cope with it, Your |
place IS here, safe sheltered in my
arms, beloved, and ! will care for you
forever and forever"
Her tears sprinkled him afresh, /
like April showers with the sunbeams
shining through, as he kissed the
glow back into her cheek
and consoled her with forecasts of a
future where he and she were soon to
Journey back to the shores of the
zithern sea and there live just for
each other
we will have one grand wedding
at the mission" mused shaimai with
blissful naivette.
Kernish flushed guiltily. then fal-
tered: 1T won't be necessary--a
just now might be fatal to
my prospects, Shalmai's stunned
silence encouraged him and, drawing
her closer he went on more glibly:
Ceremonies are merely form, Shal-
mai. Marriage is simply a business
contract, and no more requires the
dinary partnership requires the in
teryention Of an attorney. coven-
amt between two loving hearts should
be more sacred than the ordained
phrases of the ritual hereby prom
ise TO love and cherish you with
greater constancy than many who re.
quire a legal oath to hold them, and
he stopped to kiss the ripe red
mouth, but Shalmal sprang away
from him in sudden realizing horror.
Is this what You Chreestians cali
following in His Steps?" She cried
out in sharp pain
No! exactly in Ills stems. gas gas ,n
me footprints OF others i1-S perfect
Solomons. Dayid's. and-be reason
able-wait shalmal!' But shalmai
had caught up her pack and fed like
a frightened fawn across the fields, l
leaving Kelnish much disturbed as TO |
the report OF him she might carry |
back to the mission. and It's possible !
effect upon his consular expectations. |
When safely lost from Kcrnish in |
the shadows of the early twilight, !
Shalmai sank down on a bunch OF |
brushwood TO think over things and |
60 weep out the last Calling drop Of |
her disinusionment
Then she took a little calendar |
from her pocket and calculated care
fully: "Selah this is the last day
of the pledge," she sighed in forlorn
relief. and tomorrow IL is
too hard TO be a Chreestian In
Chrcestian cOuntree"