The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-08-16

OuL ITOu the mass! OF. tina
thronged the city trains. The gray
derby: was a part .sQfspld: Hillary. Elk
cept. on those raIe occasionsvwhen. he
attended service at Saint .Iude's he
was never seen without it.
He lived on the hill above:dhe VII
lage, with his daughter-,had lived
there for ten years. The hall was
beautiful, but old Hilary RECEIVED no +;
visitors, returned no advances. Visit
ors thought this curious. The Villagers,
prosperous business men with asmart
Wives, shrugged their shoulders. The
mans house was his own. If ,he1ound'
that he,, could do withaAt the rtown,
the town could get along without him.
There was no mystery about the
hall, and little curiosity. Gears going
to the country club passed under the
brick wall OF, It's Italian garden: ~ cir
occupants sometimes, caught. a glimpse
Of Elinor Kingston there, reading th a
rose arbor, wandering among her
peonies and iris in the spring, Dr. cut
ting sprays of phlox in midsummer.
The men, thought her rather lovely;
the women. odd, with her blond hats
and dark eyes. The assistant rector
Of Saint Jude's, newly come to the VIII
lage, met her: face to face on one Of
his long country walks, a month or sol
before old Hilary's death, and could mott
forget her. !
He led the. conversation to her that
night at a dinner.
IAN exquisite face" he described!
her, "but sad, almost tragically sad;
Blond" The lady on his right was
a Mrs. Bryant. In honor of the new
assistant rector, who came of fine fam
lily and was a: distinct acquisition to
the village, sheswore the Bryant pear
shaped pearl. she spoke rather curt
". II should not call her exquisite
but you probably met Elinor Kingston.
Her sadness is, o. pose, I beheve; she
has everything she wants."
The assistant rector was young, but
very wise. So he spoke no more Of
Elinor until the women had left the
table. Then he ventured again.
Don't join the army of those Of us
who worship from safar," advised the
youth who had moved up beside him.
= "She's the loveliest thing in this part
$ of the country. But, except our sainted
rector, no one ever gets to put a foot
- on the place. It's e~xelusiveness to the
nth power, and thens some. There's
> q lot of talk, of course. OF used to be.
Old Kingston brings his servants FROM
New York, and except an elderly
housekeeper, none Of them speak Eng
fish. They used to say around here
that he: was a refugee, hbut that's all
rot. He's: a stingy old Motard, afraid
some handsome youth Nike myself will
scaptiyate, the girl. That's all there is
to- it."
The ASSISTANT rector. whose name
was Ward, smiled perfuneterily. In
stead of the cleaning table, spread
with flowers. and candles. with the gay
colors Of cordials and liqueuxs., he was
seeing a girl standing at the turn Of q
country road and gazing down into the
valley and the distant village with
SOmber eyes. :.
Faith, hope and charity. and the
greatest Of theseiis faith. Faith in, our
selves, faith in those around, ~, land
that sublimest, faith Of all which
trusts in something beyond. TO aall
men is given such faith at the begin
ming OF life, and same. keep it to the
end. But here and there. is one who
has lost it, who cannot turn his eyes
up and say 'Lord, Lord" Old Hillary
had not kept the faith.
Years ago he had not been evil. He
had gone from philosophy into unbs-
lief, that route which gil must travel
But, unlike the many, he had not como
back.
He had started with socialism, but
socialism must be founded on the
Christ, and him he scorned. So from
socialism he had drifted to anarchy.
To rob the rich and give to the poor,
at first. Later on, to rob the rich, to
incite seditions, to arm the rebellious-
oh, It was comprehensive enough, vast
~ wicked with that most terrible law
lessness of all, that believes itself law.
To pit his wits against the world
and win-that had been old Hilary's
creed. "For the oppressed" had been
at first the slogan Of the band he gath
cred around him. against the op-
pressor' it became later on. Vastly
different the two. Most of human
charity and kindness lay crushed
down and trampled underfcot during
old Hilary's progress from Christ to
Antichrist.
The band had been gathered with
much care. Responsibility, order, de-
corum-these spelled safety to old
Hilary's astute mind. Most Of them
were younger sons Of English landed
families, with a sprinkling Of other ma
tionaAties. Young HUFF was an Aus
tralian, for instance. the son of q
wealthy sheep-owner. Boroday the
Russian-implicated in the bomb
throwing that destroyed the minister
OF wat-was q nobleman. Old Hilary
had got him out # Siberia during