, 1922-10-22

many n HonN Aetp1 IN hl0Io ureAu
fui evils than II keeps out But he
could not say these things. He had
a home OF his own and a family o. his
own, and he rever~d the dream and
tho IDEAL
And so the continuity began to
move. At first II followed the doc
tors manuscript with remarkable
smoothness. Then Life. the ruthless
PhiIistine manager. took a hand IN It
ard twisted and turned II until its
althor would never have recognized
It.
1t carried the frightened waIf OF
village disaster to coamic heights un-
Imaginable. to unheard-of experiences
wherein this FAMILIAR experience Of
hers served as a schooling and nm
inspiration. Her degradation became
her salvation; her practice Of lies
taught her eternal truthA
Her father. when he learned OF this,
wished that she had died In her
cradle. But millions of people blessed
her where she walked and smiled.
And by n mhacle unequaled in the
chronicle OF any previous generation
she walked and smiled and carried
balm and spIkenRrd all about the
world without wings. yet Nth un.
wearying feet. She appeared in a
hundred places at once by a diabolic
telepathy in a multiplication tina:
made OF one sh-, frightened girl a
shining multitude. And at times each
Of her was Of an elfti ~tininess. mt
times Of titanic size. But all OF her
was always OF more than human
sympathy. and spoke a language tina,
men OF every nation understood.
CHAPTER VI
THAT clergyman's homo was really
Il a theater. II there had been a
camera man to follow the various
members about, It would have been
what the moving,picture people call
a location"
The Reverend Doctor steddon alb.
horred theaters or moving pictures
and all forms OF dramatic fiction
Except his own sermonsl. yet every
body In the house was playing a par
with benevolent purposes. of course
But then. benevoience is one OF tn,
nsc.!Tes Of nearly ali acting-to diver
some one from his own distresses BY
exploiting imaginary joys or sorrows
vlcarious atonement and all form,
of vicarious activity are the actual
Ing spirit Of the vast industry OF hon
orabie artistic Prstense hat ha.
the worlds a stage. as somebody has
flourished since the world was. Al
said. and everybody is always acting
If certain people charge money fol
acting. hat means no more than the
fact that most preachers charge
money for preaching. and doctors for
d~oc.oring.
The acting In the Steddon hom,
was of the most anateurish quality
But then. the audience was as anna
flourish as the playing. and coilGbor
ated, as audiences must If plays ar,
to prosper.
The girls role was the most diff
cult Imaginable. She had to repres:
a hideous secret. conceal a frantic re
morse. rein in a wild grief. and con
, duct 1t as a gentle regret.
She hated herself and her enforced
hypocrisy. Romance had sickeneL in
her like a syrup that bribes the pal
ate and fills the stomach with nau
sea. Her secret was a vomit. and nc
easier or pleasanter to control. Her
soul was SO III of 1t that her very
throat retched.
Nausea was part Of her condition
too. and would have tormented her II
she had been the formal widow of
Elwood, instead of what Brander
Matthews once phrased as ''the un
welded mother OF his unborn child.
She had been trained from child.
hood to believe herself a sinner iosi
in Adams fall. and to search her
heart for things to repent. she be
lieved in an actual hell, and her ter.
rors or the Internal Kriddies were as