The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-06-26

Here she learned to give Up her
European dress and to wear the
straight, ungraceful garb of the Chi
rese woman. She worked hard az
the language, and spoke long with
men and women who knew the in
terror. A month was spent in prep
aration: then her husband received
his orders. He accepted them with
out comment. They left together on
one of the big, shallow draft river
steamers with white sides and high
decks, and a stand of muskets in the
wheelhouse. At HankOw, six hundred
miles up the muddy river, they
changed to a smaller steamer, which
took them another three hundred
miles to Ichang. From this onwsrd
they travelled in junks, passing up
ward through the gorges Of the Yang
tse, 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
savage and desolate than the last.
1t was here that Edith began to
notice something of change in her
husband-a suppressed excitement.
curious mental exaltation that
showed itself at times in words and
gestures that almost frightened her.
One evening, as they sat in the stern
of their junk, anchored for the night,
| he swept his arm toward the noun
tains.
these are the gates of strange
land" he said, solemnly-"a land
peopled by devils. All the false gods
of the world who have fled before
our faith have come here to dwell
together. And power is here given
/ unto them over the souls OF men. To
them the whole land is utterly given
over. And we, too" he added, with
sombre deliberation, 1--WE too are de-
livered into their hands"
john" she cried, startled and
distressed
He started, and when she ques-
toned further, did not seem to know
that he had spoken.
| At length they passed the sorSes,
and two days later came to the vii
lage that was to be their home. They
parted from their European compan-
| ions, who were going higher, tc
| Chungking, and took up their quar-
tiers in the house provided for them
1t stood in a compound on the ex'
| IRENE edge Of the village, cluster
of red-roofed houses separated by
narrow, insanitary streets, crowded
upon the black mud of the shore
Here they began their work. The
missionary who had preceded them
had left some weeks before, his
health having broken down. and
there was much to be done. The
dispensary was thrown open, anC
iLyall busted himself in reaching the
souls of his charges through theil
bodies. Edith did what she could
with the women and children. But
the work was slow.
The sense of isolation weighed hel
down. She felt that she could moi
have supported it save for new hope
that she began to whisper to herself
Ia hope delicious, but as yet toe
uncertain to be spoken aloud ever
to her husband. About him sht
now began to be greatly troubled
While at work he was quietly happy
But at other times he would starr
| about the rooms with panied ex
preston, as though the lost memor!
were struggling against the bars OF 1T
prison, striving to return and to taxi
up its proper abode. One even1n,
she found him tapping at the wall
When questioned, he muttered some
thing about setting the barometer
But there was no barometer there
and from that moment she forme'
the incredible suspicion that he wa
not living with her, but in a pas
wherein she had no part-in whicl
she but served to remind him OF on
who had been his wife, but who wa
now with the dead.
| The thought pierced her keenly
but she fought against it, hoping TO
better times with the birth of he
child. Surely that would reknit tn
bond of affection that had boun
them together. Yet every day hi
fits of abstraction became longer, hi
manner more strange. He spent hour
cleaning and polishing his revolver
He merely shook his head when sh