The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-07
THE EVENING STORY
The Minister'S Answer.
(By Sylvia Meredith. }

fore table in his study diligently and
laboriously searching amid the leaves
| Of various volumes of reference and
occasionally scribbling a few SEN
| fences on paper, which, later. should
| serve as notes for his sermon on the
/ following Sunday.
| He wearied at last in the compound
ing Of that which he felt had been al
ready expressed many thousands of
| times. So he leaned back in his soft
chair and permitted his mind to wan
der toward subject equally as I'M
original.
The Rev. James Philander Dubois
smiled fondly and proudly and CRATE
fully while he thought. He was an
unmarried churchman who felt it
| incumbent upon himself to become
one of the two principal performers
| in ceremony in which already he
| had become quite proficient as an
agent of fate where others were con-
cerned.
So he leaned back and gazed at the
ceiling and thought of a beautiful,
brave young creature. He fingered
| mentally on her radiant face, her
graceful form, and heard in his brain
the sweet thrill of her voice.
He had never thought thus of any
| woman before. Until he first saw
Marguerite Van Demen a year ago, he
| looked on all women with an academic
eye as pensioners, and studied them
work, If any, they were best fitted for.
But the year that followed his first
| sight of the violet eyes of Miss Mar
guerite and the brown hair that
shone like sunny light drowned IN
amber, pools in a forest brook. nao
been a year of awakening for him.
It was not a quite complete awaken
| ing, however. He was very thoroughly
awake, wide, staring, stark awake 10
| the knowledge that he was so deeply
t. until, 6o
would mean dreary, sorrowful life
for him. But he was not awake
enough to suppose that he had any
qualities or attributes to please SO
wonderful and clever and bright a
creature.
However, though the Rev. James
Philander Dubois was thus humble
and devoid of any proper SELF esteem,
and though he did not believe that she
could possibly want him, he was in
love: and love sneers at logic. He ex-
pected her answer to be NO." but he
was pining just the same to ask the
question.
So, like the courageous and deter
! mined little minister that he was, ne
| had written to her asking for the
favor of an interview on matter very
| important to him. And she had re-
piled, appointing that very evening.
and adding: You should know tnat
Country club dance in order to give
you this evening. though the dance is
the last one of the season and I was
really anxious to 60"
Perhaps it was this letter, rather
than the Rev. Philander's conviction
of the stereotyped nature of all ser
MONS that made it so difficult for him
to finish the construction of his dis
course.
Determined though he was. the
question he was to ask Miss Mar
guerite in a few hours was the kind
that no man ever asks without per-
turbation. And there was the last
him that she was losing an evening of
great enjoyment, for though Mar
guerite Van Diemen was good
| parishioner, she loved dancing with an
ultra-worldly love.
No doubt she expected to hear some
immensely important news from him.
Wouldn't she be indignant and angry
when she learned that he had kept
her from her pleasure simply to pro-
| pose to her?
The clock struck the hour and the
minister became aware with sharp
! start that it was high time to keep his
appointment. He arose and put on
| his overcoat.
f, At that moment the door bell rang.
1t is only because we are so used to
| the really dramatic things of life that
we do not know and feel the dramas
| that each moment makes. The tick
| K, d
| are all dramatic instants superior to
any of the manufactured drama of
stage effects. Any one of them may
at any moment usher in a tragedy
/ The ring of the door bell was such
| dramatic instant in the life of the
! Rev. James Philander Dubois.
Passing through an adjoining room,
| he opened the door and saw before
him young woman, poorly dressed
| in a faded gown of blue. her head
| off xxyif hot Of in
| texture, under which her hair hung
| forth in all directions. Her face was
terribly wasted and sallow, and it's
piteous aspect was only increased by
| a touch of the incongruouS in a sug-
gestion of red high on the cheeks.
| The reverend gentleman shrank
back He wished that he could es-
cape what he foresaw would be long
delay; but sense of duty conquered
| the human instinct at once.
The young woman spoke as soon as
| he opened the door. won't you give
me something to eat?" she begged. IT
haven't had anything since morning"
Poor souli'' muttered the little
minister. "The housekeeper is out for
the afternoon; but 1 shall do the best
I can for you. Will you come to the
kitchen while I investigate the pam
try?"
lowed him into the kitchen. the min
lister felt such deep, angry annoyance
as only a man can feel when the wo-
man he loves is waiting for him while
circumstances keep him away. But
the moment he realized that he, a
minister, pledged to help the afflicted
and the SHINING, had what was almost
an emotion of hatred toward this poor
creature, he crushed down what were
wicked and shameful thoughts to
him. He fastened to bring out all
the food he could find and set it be-
fore her Food taken to the door
would not have come under the head
of Christian charity with the Rev.
PhiIander, though he was the head of
an ssuItra-fashionable church"
"1ave you been a victim of circum-
stances or what is termed hard luck ?''
was one of the first things the
minister asked after he had dished up
cold victua1s and a quantity of
vegetables.
sOh It's long story - insinuatineIY