Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-05-15

bad, for truth or falSehoOd, there 1t
is. Dare 1 solve it? Will solve it?
And what shall do when it is solved ?
For trust or certainty of guilt, for
safety or danger, for
That is it, Mr.. Jasper Jahnway; that
is just it. Why do you not go on?
What is there in that, since you have
honor or infamy-(Do not vince, you
know it is true)-for loyalty or trea-
son-(That is the way the down hill
category Of horrors reads)-for para
disc or perdition-for salvation or
damnation.
That Is the end, Jasper Jahnway, and
you know 1t. Dare you solve the prob
lem? VIII you" And what will you
do when it is solved?
Look. listen. reason WE'LL" he
quoted, gravely; "'you cannot know
my soul!' Yes, Lurline Bannottie. l
can know your soul, and, even If it
costs me my own, I will know it,"
He suddenly opened the folded pa
per, as though he feared his resolution
would fail him If he delayed or hes
itated.
He opened the paper-and it needed
truth. He had known that the writer
Of the confession and the writer Of the
lines on the back Of Lurline Bannot-
ties photograph were one and the
same person. And now-he knew
that the same hand had written the
lines he had just looked at, on the pa
per he had unfolded, as had written the
same words on the photograph! And
he had seen Lurlne Bannottie write
the words on the sheet Of paper, with
her own hand!
"She-she is guilty" he gasped;
land she has the face Of an angel.
She is the most beautiful woman
ever saw; more beautiful than any
face I ever saw represented on canvas;
more beautiful than the imagination Of
artist ever conceived and guilty
guilty! Guilty, and in my power. l
wonder-I wonder whether she would
give-give-give herself-for my ST.
lence?"
Do you, Jasper Jahnway do you?
God hele you! There is no voice to
warn yhL if Conscience and Reason
fail TM darkness of the London night
will give no sign. Your battle must be
fought out alone. and in silence. But
1t is q terrible battle, none the less,
and q most important one-impOrtant
hereafter, when you are done with
tancies for fair faces and all the rest
Of the follies of earth-important here
and now.
Do you value peace and honor? Or
are those terms too abstract and in
tangible? Very well. So be 1t.
Do you value long life. Jasper Jahn-
way, and hope for old age to set it's
seal upon you ere you go out from it?
Do you? Oh, Jasper Jahnway, Jas
per Jahnway, If you do, pause and
think-catch at something's hope-a
memory-a fancy-to save you. You
wonder whether Lurline Bannottie
would give herself-,fo your silence;
you wonder that? Alas man, though
you cannot know it, Samuel Lyman
wondered the same thing, and put his
wish and his will to the test She told
him she would pay the price he asked,
and then
Then-God only knows the unimag-
ined horror Of the road she sent him
on alone: God help you. Jasper Jahn-
way.
The man sat in silence. Minutes
hours-went slowly by. He was fight
ing out his battle with temptation, as
every man must fight it at some time,
and the struggle was long and hard
one. The only question was how it
would end.
Do not blame Jasper Jahnway's
weakness; it may be no greater than
your own. 1t is not the strongest who
always turn temptation away at once
and conquer from the beginning.
the yielding. To wish wickedly is the
first step toward happiness, if the
wish be slain and its dead self be made
such a step by the contrite heart.
Did Jasper Jahnway win?-or did
he lose?
I am more than glad to have it to
write that he won.
What saved him? A little thing.
Little things have saved-and lost
souls and empires. since this world
was. Could we look outside our own
tiny planet. and see the races which
people the countless worlds Of the uni
verse, We might find that the little
things of life have saved and lost
worlds, since chaos shone with the first
light of creation and nebulae began to
cOndense into systems and suns.
What little thing? A memory. The
memory Of the farewell between him.
self and Gilbert Sem. Unseen. through
the thick darkness, that act Of heroism
was. nevertheless, destined to bring
forth fruit after it's own kind.
"He-he saved my life" said Jasper
Jahnway the tears in his eyes; "and
undoubtedly gave his own for it. A
life bought at such a price should be
one of honor will be a man."
The struggle was ended. Jahnway
was saved.
And then
He faced the other task. a task you
might have found harder than the first.
For, much as you may love justice-in
the abstract-and much as you may re-
joice, over your pleasant and comfor-
table breakfast, with your fresh morn
ing newspaper in your hand, at the
tales you there read of the condAmna-
ton Of men to long lives of confine-
ment at hard labor, or to the scarcely
greater horror of sudden and disgrace
full death, you may not know how seri-
Gus and solemn thing it is to do that
which will send even the guiltiest Of
human beings down the road which
has but one ending-Death, and scarce
ly more than two gates at its end
Legal Execution and Suicide.