Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1915-09-15
CHAPTER xI-continued.

For just one second the rector's
mother felt an impulse to shake Tod
Boyd. Gail Sargent was a young lady
Of whom any young man might APP
prove-and what was the matter with
Tod? She was beginning to be humili-
ated by the fact that, at thirty-two, he
had not lost his head and made fool
Of himself, to the point of tight shoes
and poetry, over a girl.
"Why?" and the voice of Mrs. Boyd
was not cold as she had meant it to
be. She had suddenly felt some tug of
sympathy for Tod
We'll, for one thing, she MS most
disagreeable lack of reverence" he
stated.
Reverence?' and Mrs. Boyd knitted
her brows. 81 don't believe you quite
understand her. She has the most
beautifully simple religious faith that
/ have ever seen. Tod"
The Rev. Smith Boyd watched his
soup disappearing. as if it were some
curious moving object TO which his at
tention had just been called.
Miss Sargent claims to have a new
religion" he observed. she has said
most unkind things about Market
Square church. She says that it is a
strictly commercial institution, and
that its motive in desiring to build the
new cathedral is vanity"
He omitted to mention Calls further
charge that his own motive in desiring
the new cathedral was personal ambi-
ton. Candor did not compel that ad-
mission. 1t did not become him to act
from piqued personal pride.
Mrs. Boyd studied him as he gazed
somberly at his fish, and the wrinkles
once more returned to her eyes, as
she made up her mind to cure Tod's
irritability
Il am ashamed of YOU" she told her
son. This girl is scarcely twenty. If
l remember rightly, and I'm sure that
l do, you came to me, at about twenty,
and confessed to logical disbelief in
the theory of creation, which included,
of course, a disbelief in the Creator
You were an infidel, an atheist You
were going to relinquish your studies
and give up all thought of the church. :"
The deep red of the Rev. Smith
Boyd's face testified to the truth of
this cruel charge, and he pushed back
his fish permanently.
Il most humbly confess" he stated,
and indeed he had writhed in spirit
many times over that remembrance
However, mother, have since dis
covered that to be transitional stage
through which every theological stu
dent passes"
"Yet you won't allow 1t to a girl"
charged Mrs. Boyd with the severity
which she could much better have ex-
pressed with laugh. When you dis
cover that this young lady, who seems
to be in every way delightful, is so
misled as to criticize the motives of
Market Square church, you withdraw
into your dignity with the privilege of
a layman, and announce that you do
not approve of her. What she needs,
Tod, is religious instruction
She had carefully ironed out the
tiny little wrinkles around her blue
eyes by the time her son looked up
from the profound cogitation into
which this reproof had thrown HIM
Mother, l have been wrong" he
admitted. and he seemed ever so
much brighter for the confession. lie
drew his fish toward him and ate it.
Later the Rev Smith Boyd present
ad hiyuseIf at lanes Sargept'S houea
WITH a new light shining In his heart;
and he had blue eyes. He had come
to show Gail the way and the light.
If she had doubts. and lack Of faith.