Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1911-05-12
you might never have known what love

is.
1T is high gift" she said, soberly;
THE highest of all for a woman. Once
l thought l should live and die with
out knowing it, as many women do.
wish l might give you something as
great"
Il am already overpaid." he asserted
For man there is nothing SO great
no influence SO nearly omnipotent, as
the love of a good woman. 1t is the
lever that moves the world-what littlo
it does move-Alp the hill to the high
planes"
Silence while she gathered the sweet
smelling tangle in her lap into some
more portable arrangement And at
terward, when they were drifting slow
ly homeward in the lengthenlng shad-
ows, a small asking.
Mr.. Morelock is coming out to-mor-
row to hold service in st. Johns, and l
shall go to play for him. VIII you so
with me, Tom?"
He smiled out of the gold and sap
phire depths of a lovers reverie.
One week from the day after the day
after -morroW-and it will be the
longest week-and- two days of my life,
dearest-your grandfather will take
you to church, and l shall bring you
away. Won't that be enough?"
She took him quite seriously.
Il shall never be a Felicia Young
Dickson, and drag YOU" she promised.
But, o Tom! l wish"
Il know" he said, gently. You are
thinking of the days to come; when the
paths may diverge-yours and mine
ever so little; when there may be chill
dren to choose between their mothers
faith and their fathers Indifference
But 1 am not Indifferent. So far from
1t, I am only anxious now to prove
what l was once so bent on disprov-
ing"
You yourself are the strongest
proof" she interposed. You will see
it, some day"
Shall l? l hope so; and that is an
earnest hope And really and truly,
think I have come up a bit--out of the
Wilderness you know. l am willing to
admit that this is the best of all pos
sible worlds; and 1 want to do my part
in making it a little better because
have lived in it. Also I'd like to be-
lteve in something bigger and better
than protoplasm."
Her smile was of the kind which
stands halfway in the path to tears,
but she spoke bravely to the doubt in
his reply.
You do believe, Tom, dear; you have
never seen the moment when you did
not. 1t was the doubt that was unreal
When the supreme test came, it was
Gods hand that restrained you; you
know it noW--you knew it at the time.
And afterWard it was His grace that
enabled you to do what was just and
right. Haven't you admitted all this
to yourself?
They had crossed the white pike TO
the manor-hou gates and were turn
ing aside from the driveway into the
winding lawn path when he said:
ITO myself, and to one other" Then,
very softly: Il sat at my mothers knee
last night, Ardea, and told her all there
was to tell"
Ardea's eyes were shining. What
did she say, Tom dear-or Is it more
than l should ask"
There is nothing you may not ask.
She sald-it wasn't altogether true, I'm
afraid-but she put her arms around
my neck and cried and said: For this
my son was dead, and is alive again;
he was LOST, ana Is found"
She slipped her arm in his, and there
was a little sob of pure joy at tho
catching of her breath. The moon was
just rising above the Lebanon cliff
line, and the beauty of the gIorious
night dawn possessed her utterly. All
1t was a good world and a generous
bringing rich gifts to the steadfast,
Instinctively she felt that Toms LITTLE
confession did not require an answe..
that he was battling his way to the
heights which must be taken alone.
So them came in the sacred hush of
the young night to a great tulfp-trea
on the lawn. and where curionslv
water-worn limestone boulder servsd
as a rustic seat wide enough for two
whose hearts are one they sat down to-
gether. still in the COMPREHENSIVE tina
needs no speech. 1t was Tom who hrst
broke the silence.
Il have been trying ever since that
night last winter to feel my way ont "
he said, slowly. But what Is to come
of it? l can't go back to the bovhool
yesterdays in a way 1 have hopeless,v
outgroWn them. Let us admit that re-
ligion has become real again; but. Ar
dea, girl, is isn't Uncle Silas' religion
Or--Or my mOlner s, or even yours. Md |
l don't know any other"
1T is all right dear; there Is onlv
the one religion in all Christendom-
perhaps in all the world. or In Gods
part OF it. The difference is in peo-
pie"
But this thing that has been slowly |
happening to me-this thing ~. try
Ing to call confinement: shall I wake
up some day and find it gone, with all |
the old doubts in the saddle again."
he asked it almost wistfully.
Who can tell?" she said, gently.
But it will make no difference; the i'm
mutable fact will be there just the
same. whether you are asleep or wax
Ing. We can't always stand on the
Mount Of Certainty, any of us: and to
some, perhaps. it is never given. But
when one saves his enemys life and
torgives and forgets-O Tom. dear!
[ ont you understand"
But now his eyes are love- blinded,
and the white gowned figure beside
him fills all horizons.
Il can't see past you, Ardea. Never
theless, I'm going to believe that feel
the good old pike solid underfoot
and they say that the House Beautiful
8 somewhere at the mountain end Of
t. If you win hold my hand, I believe
can make out to walk in it; blind
.olded, II have to-and without think
Dg too nuCh nf the ypStar1aVS"