Middletown transcript., 1909-05-22
THE CALL OF MEMORY
ByJ- sACKyILLE MARTIN

own lips gave her q shock. It
seemed to her that be must have
spoken in much the same way
four years ago, when he first
went out
You are interested in the work?
she asked. after a pause.
Very much, he answered. It
has been my life's aim.
That was all that passed be-
tween them. There seemed no
more to say, and she moved
away. He stood looking after
her.
She is very beautiful, he mus
ed: strangely beautiful. She is
like some one. / wonder He
broke of and passed his hand
across his forehead with gesture
Of pain.
Edith, too, was thoughtful.
This is the man who is to be
my husband, she kept saying to
herself. That is the man who is
to be my husband.
There was only vague wonder
within her at the knowledge; no
doubt at all.
When at length the marriage
was arranged it was not without
considerable opposition on the
part of the Vicar. Greatly as he
admired the missionary's charac-
ter, he looked upon his loss of
memory as a mental weakness,
and could not consider him a de-
sirable husband for his daughter.
Moreover, Mr.. Lyall was fully
determined to go to China, and
Edith not only accepted his de-
termination, but even sustained
him in it. In the end her quiet
persistence won it's way, and her
father gave in at last and resign
ed himself to the loss of her. On
the day of the wedding he him.
self performed the ceremony,
saw the newly married pair drive
away, and then shut himself in
his study to pore over books he
could hardly see for the. tears
that gathered in his eyes.
Edith was quietly happy. She
had learned from her husband
something of his missionary zeal,
and looked beyond the happiness
of the early months of marriage
to the work they were to accom-
plish together. Not until they
had started on their voyage to
the East did she begin to realize
the mere pleasures of living.
Then the world in its mystery
and beauty took hold of her. She
saw it unroll before her as a
map. The hot sands of Port
Said, the long blue levels of the
Indian Ocean, the the vivid vivid green green eeff eeff
Singapore, became all constituent
parts of one glorious whole. The
evenings spent under awnings in
calm seas, listening to the throb-
bing of the screw, were so many
hours of placid happiness, hours
to be stored in the mind as pre-
cious memories. It was with a
half sigh of regret thatshe reach.
ed Shanghai at last and putting
aside those memories, faced the
future that lay before her.
Here she learned to give up
her European dress and to wear
the straight ungracefnl garb OF
the Chinese woman. She worked
hard at the language, and spoke
long with men and women who
knew the interior. A month was
lspent in preparation; then her
husband received his orders. He
accepted them without comment.
They left together on one of the
big, shallow draft river steamers
with white sides and high decks,
and stand of muskets in the
wheelhouse. AT Hankow, six
hundred miles up the muddy
Iriver, they changed to a smaller
steamer, which took them an.
other three hundred miles to
Ichang. From this onward they
travelled in ,junks, passing up.
ward through the gorges Of the
Yangtse, where the river, pent
within mountain walls, rushes
swiftly down in a series of mighty
rapids; where their boat was
dragged by main strength OF
coolie labor against the current,
through reaches each more say.
age and desolate than the last.
1t was here that Edith began
to notice something of change
in her husband "a suppressed
excitement, a curious mental ex.
altation that showed itself at
times in words and gestures that
almost frightened her. One
evening, as they sat in the stern
| of their iunLx anchorod for the