The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-25

touched Stuart's in passing. To save his life the lawyer could not repress shudder. Tn that moment he could have committed murder with joy The agony of defeat was on him. He felt in that moment his kinship with all the rebels and disinhcrited of the earth
 As last the bride came and the sur pliced choir moved slowly and solemn ly down the aisies through sea of forth the first bars of the wedding march from ''Lcheng grim
 Nan was leaning on the arm of stranger he had never seen before an uncle from the west She was pale, deathly pale. and walked with hesi- tating movement as though weak from illness. Suddenly his heart went out to her in food of pity and tenderness. He tried to make her feel this, but she passed without a glance. She had not seen him.
 Stuart listened to the ceremony with a vague inpersonaI interest as if it were something going on in another world. A single question was burning itself into his brain-the price of woman! Have we all our price?'' he asked. searching deep into his own soul. Something pathetic in the white face of the bride had touched the deep est sources of his being.
 Have l. too. my price. oh. boastful soul?" he cried. Would 1 sell my honor for q million? No. For ten, fifty, a hundred millions? No-not in the market place, no-but would sell by co1hpromise of principle in the secret conclave of my party-iit a sale the world could never know-would
 
 Or would sell now to win this won,- an? Would I? If so. I should hold her blameless. Have aIlS men and all women q price if we but name it? Answer! Answerr And then from the depths of his being came the burn ing words:
 NO. I swear it. Nor'
 He looked up with start, wonder ing vaguely if the crowd had heard this cry. No: they were intent on the drama at the altar The minister was say ing:
 What God hath joined together let not man put asunder.'
 '.Godr Surely he didn't say God, Stuart brooded Does God. the au- gust, mysterious. awful creator of the universe. work like this? Did not the  man to him beneath the sunny skies of the south while their souls sang for joy?''
 They were moving again down the aisle. the organ throbbing the reces- sionai from Mendelssohn- A wave of emotion swept the crowd inside. and they became a mob of vulgar. chatter ing. gossiping fools. swarming over the church as if it were the grand stand of 9 racecourse. without hesita ton tearing down and stealing it's dec orations for souvenirs
 By a curious law of reaction all re- sentiment and anger were gone. and only a great pity for Nan began to fill Stuart,s heart
 That night Stuart entered one of the more dignified and serious theaters just off Broadway. The play was q serious effort by q brilliant young dramatsf of the modern school of realism. In two minutes from the rising of the cur tain the play had gripped him with re lentIess power Slowly. remorseless as fate. he saw the purpose. of the author unfold itself in a series of tense and terrible scenes. The comedy over which the crowd laughed with such cohta- gious merriment was even more sinis-, ter than the serious parts. No matter what the situation-whether set to laughter to terror or to tears-beneath it all throbbed one insistent question:
 Has the woman who sells herself for money q soul?''
 With breathless interest he watched the cruel carving of her body into tiny pieces. Without shifting. whining or apology. with arms barred and gleam- ing scalpel firmly gripped in hand that never quix once. the author dissected her. Always he could hear this white invisible figure bending over each scene talking to the audience in his quiet terrible way:
 Well. if be she has soul we shall find it. Perhaps it's here
 With firm. strong hand the last secret of muscle and nerve and bone was laid bare and the white face look ed into the eyes of the audience through a mist of tears, Pm sorry. my friends But we must face the truth It's better to know the truth. however bitter. than to believe lie"
 With a soft rushathe big curtain came down in a silence that could be felt The dazed crowd walked. from the spell and poured into the aisles. while Stu art still sat gripping the arms of his seat with strangiing emotion.
 At last he said to himself with chok- ing emphasis:
 He was cruel. inhuman. unjust l refuse to believe it. She has soul She has SouI,''
 Next day Stuart went to his office with his mind keyed to higher pitch of power He felt that he was on his mettIe- The fight was not vet won
  plunged into his work with tireless zeal. Everything he touched seemed ilIunlined with d new light
 A clc.Ic,