Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-14

men should hear all the truth at last.
All those matters were very near hei
heart.
But nearer than all others was that
stalwart young man who had jus,
gone away from her, trying to loon
confident and carefree, and failing.
In her distraction, her fears, her
boding sense of evil, that knowledge
thrilled her soul as she sat there in
the little flock OF peaceful children
and hardened for those grim sounds
from the crowded streets of Attegat.
One chorus of hoarse shouts snapped
short the half.attention she had been
giving to the stubby fingers the child
ish treble.
She was OH her knees among the
pupils; the poor little school under
the trees had not the luxury of chairs.
Still kneeling, she looked up at the
sky, her face white, her lips apart,
straining her attention, listening, fear.
ing more acutely.
II AnaXagoras Billedeau had been
there to gaze into those upraised eyes
he would have remembered what he
had said--for Biledeau remembered
always when he saw the soul of old
Acadia appear in the newer times.
If Vetal Beaulieu had been there he
would have seen once more that
wondr5us, compelling light from the
deep spirit of womanhood which had
swayed and had frightened him and
had made him rage and ponder and
weep the whole night long.
my God, Dave Roi, when look at
her standing there she Is not my girl
any more. She isl can't tell you
what it is she is--but l am frightened
when she look on me-" So had spoken
Netal Beaulieu.
"It is there-it is underneath-it is
in the Acadian blood Anaxagoras
Billedeau had said when he saw that
look in her eyes on the long road &c
the north. 1T is most Of all in the
women.
And her lover, who understood heI
best Of any, he had said: 'The Maid
Of Orleans must have had that looi
in her eyes when the call came in the
old days"
out of the depths OF her nature, a:
she knelt there among the children
came a power which dominated her
Out Of troubled, anguished thought:
arose that impelling influence. Sh'
! knew that men were met that day t
! settle a dispute which meant mucl
to all the hopes Of her people. Th'
hateful Blais opposed the good and th
right. He had shown joy instead o
remorse. when the big school wa
burned and the children We're turned
out Of doors. She had seen his fac
that night. 1t was this man who hal
ruined Father Leclair, that saint il
good works. All, where would TIL
poor people be led if this false guild
put himself before them?
So her swift thoughts ran.
Devotion called her spirit to arms
The agony Of loves fears wrenche
hel" heart.
The mystery deep i'll her soul gay
her will and strength.
SheSarose from among the wonder
ing children and walked down the hi
toward the village. Her head wa
uncovered. Her dark hair vas boun
loosely, and the wind waved it upo
her shoulders. She was erect, Wild
| eyed, and went swiftly.
She heard oaths when she came nea
, the square. There were loud erie
which signaled the preliminaries {
conflict. She heard words of true,
lent invitations and shouts of d
3 fiance.s
, The mass of men i'll front of I'll
, town.house had lined in rough ordt
of battle. They had produced stol
cudgels, and those i'll the outer row
clashed these weapons, each again'
< his neighbours, in menacing fashion
: (CONTINUEp TOMORROW