The Washington herald., 1914-05-30
ny JOHN d. BAkRY.

man offered his life to wofaan. Joyously the
woman offered her life in return. 4.
They agreed to share everything. their happiness
and their sorrow their fears and their hopes to min
gle their destiny
They were wonderfully happy. The woman lifted
lher heart in thankfuness to God. The man knet at
her feet and worshiped her.
After the first year the man grew tired of keel
ing at the woman's feet. He rose and stood beside
her.
She missed the worship. But ii made her happy
to have him stand beside her. : 1t made her think he
was strong.
Presently he lowered above her. She stood under
his arm. There were moments when he did not seem
to know she was there.
Those moments gave her concern. But she said
nothing. She was afraid of disturbing him.
The time came when she that he had for
gotten her. He had gone back to the world. The
world was giving him power and glory.
; She had become simply part of his complicated
life, small part She was like cog in the wheel.
expected to do her work without credit without notice
In her soul she rebeed She cried out to God that
she was enduring an infamy.
1t was not for such return that she had dedi-
Gated herself to the man.
But God did not seem to hear. The woman began
to think that God too had forgotten her. Her heart
grew bitter,
Outwardly she remained the same. The man no.
ticed no change His failure to notice embittered
her the more
The day came when the woman decided she could
no longer endure the bitterness of her heart She
thought of death.
But she could not be sure that death would enable
her to escape from herself. 1t might bind her to
herself for all eternity.
| What then could she do? She. might become an
other woman 1t was only in life that she could be
sure of becoming another: woman
She had learned that in undergraduates lay the
road to peace and happiness So she resolved to for
get self
For herself she would ask nothing, she would ex-
pect nothing She would think only of others. Most
of all she would think of him whom she had come
to believe the least worthy
For second time she dedicated her life to him.
On that day the real life of the woman began Every
thing changed in her sight.
| Where once there had been resentment, there was
pity. She saw the man as he really was the man Of
success, of achievement in the world small, narrow
selfish, weak.
| She saw that he had demanded from her 50 much
because he had needed her so much
She gave more and more. And theSnore she gave
And the more she pitied him the she loved him
The old passion was gone and the selfish longing
for return. In its place was greater and purer
passion like the love of mother for helpless child
| Meanwhile she remained under his elbow. He did
not seem to think she was there.
The day came when the world tired of the man
Seornfully pitiessly, it rejected him He became the
laughter of men, the mockery. She was the only one
he had to to. He found her there at his elbow
He looked surprised, bewfldered.
He realized that she had been there all the time
holding him up. He al that he had been before
| And in his anguish he saw how much she hat
given him and how much more she still had to give
And he saw that he could offer her in return the su
preme moment of her life, the moment when h.
should accept her pardon and place at her feet all hi
! shame and despair
But when he tried to bend his knee she held hin
with her strong arms She could not accept suet
abasement
/ And in her refusal he saw all the beauty that sh.
| had achieved through her unselhshness.
4 1t enveloped her like halo. It made her facs
shine with happiness.