Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02

point at issue, that II was impossible for
the enquirer to proceed. All sickness aid
illness was inconceiyable, so said Lady
Yardly, because everything was Infinite
more than matter), and to state that fact
over and over again In a variety of ways
was held to answer any question that
might be asked, Of whatever kind.
OF course. Lady Yardly vas silly; she
seemed sometimes to have no mind, either
mortal or anything else: she was always
that-though a dear-and Maud, as she sat
here now eating her lunch in this nook in
about her and all the infinite beneficient
powers of nature pursuing their way heed
less Of any Interpretations that man might
choose to put upon them, felt she had done
an Injustice IN expecting a woman who
was. yes. very silly, to answer questions
which. though quite simple. were undeni-
ably profound, in that they concerned the
origin of things. Lady Yardly had not
been a Christian Scientist very long, and
Maud told herself that it was absurd to
expect her all at once (she who had under
stood so little before) to understand every
thing. But what rather nettled her, though
indeed she was not easily nettled, was to
find that this same dear, stupid person did
profess herself able to explain everything
mind. matter and God alike. She claimed
to have recaptured the faith OF child.
and to argue like a theologian about it.
Maud herself was professed and believing
Christian, but had a brilliant Atheist subtly
questioned her on the doctrine of the In
carnation, she knew quite well that he
could pose her. unless she chung to the
simple fact, which she believed, that God
was made man. She could not answer ques-
lions he might easily put her about tran
substantial ton and the Presence, but she
hoped she would not try by turning a blind
Ing squirt of texts upon him to make him
believe that she could explain everything
In the material and spiritual world. She
could not-certain things were mysterious.
But why not say so? That these things
were mysterious did not prevent her being
Christian. She believed too, the root doc
trine of Christian Science, that God was
the author Of the world, and permeated 1t
all. But surely it was simpler and truer to
confess that one did not understand the
whole working of the world in all it's de-
tails. For If one did, one could manage it
all ones self. Lady Yardly, Maud felt sure,
would undertake it with the greatest pleas
ure. And pretty mess she would make of
it! thought she. For Alice could never con-
trive that the carriage should ever call for
anybody either at the right time or the
right place.
Yet . the law of gravity, SO Maud
believed, was in sound working order, but
If one asked a mere child to explain it, and
he explained 1t wrongly, that should not
make one distrust the law, but only the
ability of the exponent. And in Christian
Science, one person surely knew more about
1t Cor, anyhow knew he did not know than
another, and she confessed to herself that
SiS Hdo HtT present lued Oh II Oh
the answers, or want of answers, given her
by Scientist whom she had always
thought silly: No doubt there were others
who were not silly. But what pity that
the silly ones were allowed to gable like
this! Lady Yardly had tried to proselytize
her, and had only convinced her of the alb
surdity of her tenets. But Mr.. Cochran had
refused to proselytize her. and she would
rather like to hear what he had to say
about it.
A fch linn oil NJ nf tba
ter in the pool at her feet, a noble, silver
sided salmon, which for the moment made
her f1sherman's heart leap in her throat.
Well 1t was no use trying for him-a fish
that leaped like that never took the fly.
Then she smiled at herself, for she knew
that though that reason was sound enough,
1t was not for that that she still sat in her
sheltered place. She was interested in
something else; she wanted to think about
that.
Mr.. Cochran did not seem silly: in fact,
she felt sure he was not silly What If she
asked him when he came to dine tomorrow
night a few questions which Alice Yardy
had failed to answer? There would be no
derision now, for in this half hour of COM
muning with herself she had convinced her
self that she wanted to know. There was
no such thing as illness-he had said that,
he had told Duncan that. What then If
she appealed to him, told him how many
of these poor folk had died, and were dying
Of typhoid, and asked him to stop it all?
Yet that was too much to ask; it seemed
profane as If she asked him to invest him
self in the insignia of divinity. But might
he not, she asked, as she could now ask
him, without dersion, without, far as
she could manage it, unbeief in the huge
power which he distinctly professed to
WELD, might he not relieve one sufferer,
make well one Of those forty who would be
lying sick in the house tomorrow? But then
there occurred to her the parrot-like answer
of Alice Yardly, when she had asked her
the same question. 1t was parrot-like glib
and without conviction or sense of true
meaning, when she had told her that it was
wrong to make cure" for q sign How
hopelessly she misunderstood! Maud did not
want a sign, she wanted that suffering
should be relieved. How was it possible or
human to withhold that power simply be-
cause she would be interested to see 1t man.
ifested? It was inhuman to withhold 1t, II
its possessor really believed that it was his.
But there was Thurso. 1t was better that
he should not know that she intended to
ask Mr. Cochran to do this, or indeed that
he should know that she had asked 1t.
There Alice Yardly's contention seemed to
her to be possibly true. The presence of
unbelief might indeed hamper the power of
faith But If Thurso did not know. there
would be no unbelief which could hamper
it. She herself did not disbelieve. and,
honestly, she wanted to believe. She de-
rided no longer; she was conscious of an
open mind on the subject. She believed in
the miraculous cures Of ancient days; she
saw no reason why modern days should not
In