Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1910-10-13

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He did things slowly, not because
that was his nature, but from an in
vincible determination to do things
right. He made his plans deliberately
and had formulated an enterprise SO
comprehensive in its scope, so vast in
its outlay and with such infinite posi-.
I bilities of help to the poor, tho
wretehed, the down-trodden classes of
society, that when the foreshadowings
Of it were announced, people stood
amazed. An undertaking so great was
not within the power even of Char
mock. His resources were utterly un.
! equal to II, but he had enough to make
magnificent beginning and by devo-
ting to It the whole revenue of his es-
tate, and the estate itself after he
died, gradually the enterprise would
be achieved.
There was no necessity for secrecy
about 1t. Indeed with that simplicity
and candor so unusual and SO uncon.
ventional, which touch with the world
had never been able to alter, he had
spoken Of his plans without reserve
and he had declared with equal frank
ness that what he was doing was in
memory of the noblest and the truest
Of women, to whom he owed 1t that
he was a human being and not an AMI
NAL.
Whitaker, Of whose judgment he
thought highly and with desert, was
, called from the naval service to be
the executive head of the great I'M
dertaking. The spiritual work was to
be placed in the hands of the chaplain
who had so endeared himself to the
promoter and deviser of 1t all. Char.
mock realized that these men who had
known Katharine Brenton would enter
more alphabetically into his views
and could be depended upon to carry
them out In case anything happened
to him. He and his uncle and one or
two others of excellent judgment
whom he had met, were associated
with the two mentioned to carry out
all the founders plans.
Now, this thing was not done in a
corner. The news of 1t was carried
over the United States and spread
even to foreign lands. The world read
1t and marveled again. A newspaper
carrying an account of it fell under
the eye of a lonely man in San Fran
cisco, who had just returned from
long voyage in northern seas. The
name "Charnock" caught his eye first;
and then Langford saw the name Of
the woman he loved. He read with
avidity, approaching as none could
better do than he from his trained
business acumen the scope and yet
the feasibility of the undertaking. He
had wondered cynically what would
be the career of the man in the Uni
ted States. He knew the value, as
did every business man, especially ev-
cry man with large transportation in
terests like his, of the Charnock es.
tate. He would have wagered that
Charnock would lose his head as
ninety-nine men out of a hundred
would have done, and that intoxi.
Gated by the sudden touch of the
material world which was at his feet,
he would have gone the usual pace;
and he would have won his wager
had it not been for the immortal
memory of the woman they
both loved, he felt bitterly enough
He sat alone in his Office in the
great building and pondered over the
account in the paper. He had been
mistaken in the man. He was really
worth while. He was worthy of the
woman. If he had not sworn an oath,
given his word He hesitated, smil-
ing bitterly. The woman alone could
release him. Should he sail down to
the island with that paper and tell
| that story. He had waited too long.
The army surgeons of Alaska had
told him the brutal truth; that he had
but a few months to live and that il
| he had anything to do before he went
out into the beyond, he had better do
It quickly. No, he could not go down
there and tell her and get released
from his promise.
Yet how Charnock would revel in
, such news as he, and he alone, could
give him. He loved the woman and
he hated the man. He could not bear
to think that the man should have
what was denied him. He could not
bear to think of the woman he loved
in anothers arms. And yet he loved
the woman. AS he pictured Charnock
HAPPY, so he pictured Kate sad, fret
ting out her life on that island as he
had fretted out his on the ship. And
he could make her happy by word
J II he broke his oath and was false to
/ the plighted word he had given her.
Should he do it for her sake? Would
she forgive him? He would be past
forgiveness when she knew.
(To BE coNTINUED)