The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-07-21

me But there are spots on eartn
! fairer than this-fairer. yes a thou
/ sand times. Flowers, foliage, COM
pared with which all that you see
/ is but a suggestion The sun. Great
Allah. Have you seen an Eastern.
sun. have you seen the prodigality
with which nature scatters her beau
| ty? But goodness. When did ever
moral goodness? In those places
where nature has been most lbounti-
full in her gifts, there you find the
blackest and foulest lives What is
everything, if there is canker at
the heart? What matters if hell
goes on burning in our lives? For
give me, signorina; if there is one
thing in which | have agreed with
your Christian preachers. it is that
natural beauty is powerless to
cleanse the heart of what you call
sin"
But surely man is affected by
his circumstances, interposed Bri-
arfield
rs not nature always laughing at
u.s." said Ricordo. We dream our
little dreams, make our little plans
and live in a fools paradise. Let
people be surrounded by beautiful
things. we say; let them have works
/ of art, fine pictures, music: let
them live in the sunshine, and be-
hold the beauties of nature, then
they will live beautiful lives |
have heard your moral reformers
preach ths-this nonsense. Well,
what happens? Is the morality of
/ your west of London any better
/ than the east? All, but | tell you |
have lived in the most beautiful
places on earth, Ibut they have been
hell all the same Can you cure a
cancer by placing bunch of flow
ers in the room of your patients?"
Then what is yolr antidote-your
| gospel?" asked Olive.
rs there the one or the other"
asked Ricordo
The party went on quietly for a
| few minutes. Ricordo seemed to be
thinking deeply; now and then he
lifted his eyes for passing glance
at his companions.
Again Olive Castlemaine thought
of Leicester. Memories of those
days which he spent at The Beeches
came rushing back to her. She
thought of the happiness which was
hers, when she hoped and prayed
| that she should he the means where
! by the man she loved should be
brought to faith--to God. In some
subtle way which she could not
understand, the stranger made him
real ay, and more, he made her
feel that she had been harsh and
unfair to the man whose wife she
had promised to be. After all, was
it not her pride he had wounied? :?
Moreover Ricordo had interested her
| in himself. in way that she had
been interested in no other man for
a long time. 1t was not so much
because of what he said Rather, it
lay in the fascination of the man
himself He made such as Herbert
IBriarfied seem small and common
place. She felt that he had lived
in realm of thought and being
to which the young squire was a
stranger.
The essence of interest is mysterg.
It is rather in the things not seen,
than in the things seen, that fas-
cination lies. We are forever long
ing to explore new regions, to tread
ground hitherto untrodden. The So
cret chamber of a house is of in
finitely more interest than those
chambers which are open to in
spection; that is why we care little
about those people in whose life
there is no secret chamber Of
thought and experience.
Il wonder you don't write bool,
Signor Ricordo.'' said Briarfield
presently.
And why, Mr.. Briarfield?"
You must have a wonderful story
to tell"
yes, a wonderful story, perhaps;
but would you have me lay open
my soul to the gaze of the vulgar
crowd?"
"Other men have"
Why"
Perhaps to make money, perhaps
to obtain renown or to do good
Dante gave the world his vision %
hell. and of heaven; why not your