The Washington herald., 1913-10-26

More than year had gone oy
since The acknowledgements
riful had kept her word of obedience unto
he voice of her twilight hour. She loved
rhe man whom she had been hidden to
marry, but their translation of Gods
lurpose of the gift of human life was
not always the same. The woman OBJ
iected to motherhood on the ground that
4 makes a woman grow old too fast;
hat il takes too much of-time, and OF
sacrifce-this thing of giving souls hu-
nan form. The man was quite willing
20 bear his share of the work and the
sacrifice, for more than all else he want
sd a family And so. on a morning, they
had quarreled bitterly, ana the man had
gone to his work leaving the woman in
tears Between sobs there came to her
z voice from somewhere in the room, and
when she lifted her head she was con-
.scious of The Presence although her spir-
tual eyes were filmed over by her physi-
al transcendency SO that she saw no
me.
Thou must go on doing the things 1
tell thee if thou wouldst have incom-
parable beauty" said The Presence.
But l have, I have done your bid
ding" cried The man-Who-Would-Be-
Beautiful.
Thus far" the voice told her. Thus
of Incompatible beauty is but just be-
gun. There are souls waiting for thee
to give them expression. And when thou
hast brought them into being there will
follow other years of work Thou must
do it with good cheer
"And I shall be beautiful?" questioned
the woman. doubtfully.
IF thou dost grudge nothing OF thy
self in the giving, and grumble no whit
through the years. came the promise
back to her in a tone that sounded like
a velvet fiute-note on the air. so sweet
and soft and tender was it.
Fifteen years had gone by since the
coming of the first of the four. The
Woman Who-W ould- -Be-Beautiful knelt
by the bedside of the most brilliant lad
of them all; her splendid, beautiful boy;
the Oldest of the four; the one who gave
the most wonderful promise, and prayed
God for his life. And even as she prayed
the lad went out into the deep mysteries
of the silent night with the Angel of
Death
Il have kept faith with you cried The
Woman-Who- o-Would-Be-Beautiful w to The
Presence which stood in a circle of light
when she lifted her eyes from the bed
where lay the inanimate human shell she
had given to house the soul of her boy.
We'll DONE came the voice so like
a
prayed for the lads life. He is alive
and all is we'll with him. See thou to
those who are yet with thee"
And because her cup was as full as II
could hold of the most unutterable sor-
row which touches human life The
Woman Who Would -Be-Beautiful forgot
that she had ever wanted TO be beautiful
In the years that sped by she saw to
Hs-Inn vet
them faithfully and we'll. Through the
years she remembered that her compact
with The Presence called also for good
cheer in her work and she kept the faith. |
But the time came when the three who
were left no longer needed her care be-
cause they were full grown and making
homes for themselves. Time car1e when
the man who had wanted them went out
in the night. even as had the little lad. |
and The e-Wurlan-Who-W -Beauti- |
fuI was desolate, indeed.
"Dost thou still want to be beautiful"
called the fute-like voice Of The Pres |
ence TO her rs she lay awake at
the break of a lonely day; awake with |
her thoughts of the years that had gone
and the promise under which she had |
begun her life work.
She looked at her hands in the dim |
light of the morning and saw that they |
were marked with drudgery and age.
She sprang from her bed and switched |
on the light. From the mirror in her |
room she saw her face with its setting |
of iron gray hair.
There are friends of thine who are
Ionelier than thou same the voice |
again. Cheer them. And thou shalt /
be beautiful beyond compare"
And again he-Woman- Who Wanted |
to-Be. Beautiful obeyed.
When several years more had brought |
a few more wrinkles to her face, and a /
few more white hairs to her head, The |
Presence found her on a night in in
prospective mood.
Now" said The he-Woman-Who-Wan
To-Be-B Beautiful. "for years and years I /
have done your bidding. Where is the
fulillment of your promise? 1 grow
old, and wrinkled, and ugly, and it was
because I was promised beauty beyond
compare that I placed myself in your
hands in the long ago."
Thy family hath no longer need of
Washing Flannel.
TO keen fianneis from shrinking wosb