The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-11-20

her to know it2"
mo, no, l didn't mean that, Of
course. meant sorry you told her I
was clergyman.
"And why, .prayT asked Mary
blankly.
"Oh, I might have heard something
more to my advantage" he laughed.
Where is she stoppingf"
"She went home yesterday"
The acidity of this answer warned
the young minister that it was time
to change the subject. Ann Taylor
was henceforth taboo between him and
his fiancee.
One stormy evening, as he sat writ
ing his beautiful sermon" In his
beautiful study" his manservant
came In with the message that a wom-
an insisted on seeing him. He went
down to the reception room to find
wretched, bedraggled creature, who
implored him to come quickly with her
to dying woman. He hurriedly made
himself ready to go with the woman.
In poor part of the city up flights
of dark stairs In a tenement, she led
him to the dying woman. The physi-
clan he found there told him the man
who had beaten her had been taken by
the police, but there was no use of
calling an ambulance, as she would
probably die on the way, and he left
her with the minister, while the other
woman waited without. Speed, with
much tenderness and feeling, tried to
comfort the dying woman as best he
could, but the broken bits of her story
she tried to tell him haunted him af-
ter his return home. The squalid mis-
cry, the warped, stunted lives he
found In this Observation-Disclosures re-
gion to him opened up new channel
Of thought-perhaps it might lead to
the "big" thing for him to do.
One day after his morning sermon,
he spied Ann Taylor in a nearby pew.
Later she came up and spoke to him.
1T was very good sermon" she
said. "Very good-as far as 1t went"
$50 it didn't go far enough to please
you" he smiled. swell, while there is
life there Is hope-hope of getting far
Their on the way"
Something In his tone caught AIMS
attention.
Eyes, II you want to CO." she said.
That night visit to the slums had
undoubtedly started Speed on the way
to greater enlightenment. He sought
for experience among all classes.
Sometimes he found among those who
outwardly kept up some show Of pros
perity, the artists and writer's who
tried to make the creative power of
their brains bring them bread and a
roof. kind Of fine courage and endur-
ance not even guessed by the prosper
Gus. Often he tried to find q market
for their work by getting the rich or
those with pull" interested. These
things began to encroach on his duties
at st. Anthony's. The people who
poured money into the church Golfers,
and paid his salary, complained that
he neglected his clerical calls on the
families Of the parish. Rev. Royal
Speed had come to the parting of the
ways. He came to decision. He
felt that the woman who was to be his
wife must be the first one to know;
and he told her he meant to give up
st. Anthony's, to go down and work
among the poorer classes. He expect
ed her to rejoice with him at his
wider field Of work. She could help
so much with the wealth at her COM
mand.
But instead she was filled with
amazement and dismay. She expostu-
lated, then pleaded with him to give
up such a mad whim." Then Royal
Speed saw he must choose between the
woman he loved and the 'big" things
of larger life. He hoped he might
bring her to see it as he did. But it
was no use. He made his choice.
On one Of his missions he met Ann
Taylor. She grasped his hand warmly,
and said. with shining eyes: ut is
splendid-what you are doingp
ut Is splendid-what am learn
ingw he answered. "And I might new
er have known-but for you"
"Then," she said, II am glad to
have lived-and spoken-if / could
think that"
One day he said: "Won't you go on
helping me-alwaysw
Ann put her hand in his with con-
fidence that meant real Eyes"