The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-02-04
Book 4.
1.-THE MYSTERY OF iNloUlTYs DOTH ALREADY Work."

vent monotone, unmoved by the darkness
or the dissonance--
Tighten our darkness, we beseech
Thee. o Lord; and by Thy great mercy
defend US from all perils and dangers
of this night; for the love of Thy only
Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ"
The faithful, quiet voice. enduring
through the dark. was foreshadowing
OF the great cloud which was breaking
over the world, big with disaster. immi-
nent with gloom. 1t foreshadowed the
divinely aided continuance OF Truth
through such terror as men had never
known before.
1t meant many things, that firm and
beautiful vocc-hope In the darkest hour
for thousands of dying souls a noble
woman's happiness in time OF dire stress
and evil temptations and death worse
than the death Judas died-for Mr.. Schu-
abe the millionaire and Robert Llwellyn
the scholar, taking tea together In the
Athenaeum Club three hundred miles
away In London.
by Thy great mercy defend us from
all perils and dangers of this night"
Mr.. Philemon returned with q taper.
an old and wrinkled acolyte, in time
with his loud and sonorous AMEN.
CHAPTER II
IN THE WEARS STUDY
The vicarage OF Walktown was new
and commodious house with tall Chin
neys, pointed windows, and 4 roof of
red tiles.
1t was more than a mile from the
church. in the residential quarter of the
town. Here were no shops and little
traffic. The solid houses of red brick
stood in their own rather dingy grounds.
where. though the grass was never real
~ green. and spring came in veil of
smoky vapor when the wind blew from
fHa bar zs-ra w
gestion-
The trees rose from neatly kept lawns.
tho gravel sweeps of the drives were
carefully tended, and there was distant
colour in the elaborate conservatives
and paim-houses which were to be seen
everywhere.
Mr.. Pr-yde. the great Manchester solicit
tor. had his beautiful modern house here.
Sir John Neele the wealthy manufac-
turer of disinfectants. lived close by.
and large proportion of the well-to-do
Manchester merchants were settled
round about.
Not all of them were parlshioners OF
Many attended the more Fashionable
church of Pendleborough, mile away
In what answered to the Country;
others were leaders in the Dissenting
and especially the Unitarian worlds.
Walktown was stronghold of the
Unitarians. The wealthy Jews OF two
generations back. men who madevast
fortunes In the black valley of the IT.
we'll, had chosen Walktown to dwell In.
Their grandsons had found it more po-
little to abjuIe their ancient faith. A
few had become Christ!ans,-at least in
name, inasmuch as they rented pews
ut st. Thomas Shut others had COM
promised by embracing a faith, or rather
a dogma, which is simply Judaism with
NJ NJ, Il nj iSyaf nm
The Baumanns. the Hildersheimers. the
Fsteinhardts, fourished In Walktown.
It was people of this class who sup
ported the magnificent concerts in the
Free Trade Hall at Manchester, who
bought the pictures and read the books.
They had brought an alien culture to the
neighbourhood. The vicar had two
strong elealents to contend with.--for
his parochial life was all contention
on the one hand the Lancashire natives.
on the other the wealthy Jewish fam
lies
The first were hard, uncultured people,
hating everything that had not its ori-
gin and end in commerce. They dis
liked Mr.. Byars because he was a gentle-
man, because he was educated, and be-
cause--so they considered-the renting Of
the pews in his church gave them the
right to imagine that he was in some
sense a paid servant of theirs.
The second class of parishioners were
iPhilstine. certainly, but even more hope
less from the parish priests point of
view. In their luxurious houses they
lived an easy, selfish. and sensual life.
beyond his reach, surrounded by a wall
of indifferentism, and contemptuous Of
all that was not tangible and MATERIAL
At times the rector and the curate con-
fessed to each other that these people
seemed more utterly lost than any others
x,jf1, xxbp ho work Of the Church
brought them in contact
& Mr.. Byars was a widower with one
son now at Oxford. and one daughter,
Helena, who was engaged to Basil Cor
tire. the curate.
About six o'clock tho vicar sat in his
study with pile Of letters before him.
Tho room was q comfortable. bookish
place, panelled In pitch pine where tho
walls were not covered with shelves
of theological and philosophical works.
The arm-chairs We're not new, but they.
invited repose; the largel engraving over.
the pipe-littered mantel was a fine au-.
totype of Gacomo's st. Emilia. The
room was brightly lit with electric light.
MIR. /. BWars&fwas a man OF medium
height. bald, his fine, domed forehead
adding to his apparent age. and wore a
pointed grey beard and mOustache. Ele
was an epitome Of the room around him.
The volumes on his shelves were no
ancient ana musty Tones put Represents
ed the latest and newest additions to-
theological thought.
Lathom and Edersheim stood together
with Renens Vie de Jesus and Cler-
mont Gnnneau's Recueil d'Arch. Orient,
and Westcott guarded them ALL
The ivory cruciix which stood on the
Awrting-tablo completed the Impression
Of the man.
Ambrose Byars at forty-hve was thor-
oughly acquainted with modern thought.
and literature. Ills scholarship was tem-
ipered with the wisdom Of an active and
clear-headed man of the world. Ills
llife and habits were simple but unbigot-
cd, and his Observation-Disclosures never obs
scrred his unalterable convictions. He
lived, as he conceived it his duty to live
in his time and place, In thorough human
and intellectual correspondence with his
environment but one thought, one abb.
solute certainty Informed his life.
AS year by YEAR his knowIeclge grew