The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-20
(Continued.)

No" said Evelyn, looking deeply
at her. "one can't mistake it, After
a silence, she added, "Of course, that
is what Father Conroy is trying for
to wake up their spirits I find that
II is a common idea among clergy ana
church workers to think that because
people are stupid intellectually-or
backward-they are therefore spirit
uaily stupid also. That is not so.
believe the love of God can come, and
does come, into the hearts of the
stupid, even more easily than where
the false idea of cleverness helps to
keep II out
The poor little mother is stupid
enough" sighed Vernon.
Yes; but she does not think So
She thinks of herself as a clever and
charming young girl. 1 do not be-
lieve that ever, even for moment,
she has had any sense of Gods con-
demnation of what she has DONE
You are sure" said Vernon, very
timidly. You are sure that God does
condemn it,"
Evelyn lifted her large luminous
blue eyes. facing her gently anu
steadily across the table. Personal
~. / have no doubt of it, she said.
Have you?"
Vernon colored. You are not
shocked, / hope. You know I was
brought up all alone. I never knew
q woman of my own class until I
came here. 1 lived upon a ranch
with my father, but he died when 1
was still young. I have read a good
many books-and think 1 have come
to consider that the mere ceremony
OF marriage does not count for so
much as respectable people think"
Evelyn pushed back her chair.
This is too big a question to he
tackled in a half-hour's chat" she
said. Broad principles are one
thing, individual cases must be an
swered singly. / do not deny that
there are marriages which are a mere
Iegalizing of what we call by an ugly
name. But let us take the case in
point-the case of Olive. What do
you suppose led her into what she
has done? Sheer vanity; perhaps a
little curiosity as well. Some man
told her that she was very pretty
too pretty for him to be able to re-
sist her. She was intensely flattered:
she liked being thought irresistible.
She yielded to the pleasure of graft
ned vanity. There was no question
OF what we call love in the matter,
on either side. There was such ma
tural instinct as may go to the pro-
duction of healthy animals, but not
of pure-minded men and women. God
expects from humanity something
higher than the qualification Of in
stinct, though many. modern authors
want to make you think otherwise"
That was what I wanted to say
that 1t was nature-what Olive did"
Yes But we have two natures,
have we not? We are the meeting
point Of matter and spirit. That
makes us, so far as we know at pres
ent, unique in creation. But when
these conflict, We feel that the law
we ought to obey is the law of the
higher, not the lower. Olives sin is
thought of by other people chiefly as
a sin against the social code. But TO
US. she sinned against herself, against
the dignity of her womanhood, against
the unborn children, to whom she
never gave q thought
she did one noble thing said
Vernon. almost pleadingly. She has
shielded the one who was probably
the more to blame"
Evelyn looked very grave. A shad-
ow fell upon her face. There may
low God forgive me if 1 think
worse of her than she deserves; but
i am afraid that the reason may be
F, that he IS married, and that she knew
i. all the time
Vernon turned pale. She had at
, that moment in her pocket a letter
from Lionel which had made her
very anxious and uncomfortable. He
was feeling her absence more terribly
than he had supposed could be pos
s.ble. He was fiercely jealous that
she should have found a warm well
come and a niche in which to settle
down. In language of much intensity
he impIored her to have pity and
come back to him, since she had as
sured him, in her last letter, that she
had not met any one, so far, who
was at all likely to supplant him in
her esteem
She rose from table, went to the
fire, stopped over it, warming her
hands.
ct hope she said, in low voice,
''that you do not mind my having
spoken with you on--on such sub
5ects. feel it a great privilege to
nave met you. One cannot but think
one cannot but let ones mind dwell
on these problems of existence, es-
pecially when they are thrust before
one AZ in this case. And one dare
not speak of them, to any one. II
suppose that. were to say word Of