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I'OVtB iIhIS '"THE HOntflr'RirnAIlD h... t'HlS ;™H;«|iRniHll!5J*f'*;HA[inr^-BRUC[ WtKIi ,:|SH[LD0NSH[lD0NSH£LDnN5HrLlfflN,s'«EiniJ Printed „n ^ood white paper, unifonn in size and thickness, especially suitable for Gift, or Sabbath School Library. SEVEN VOLUMES IN BOX, PRICE $3.00. PUBLISHED BY THE POOLE PRINTING CO., Limited, TORONTO, ONT. Overcoming the World THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK BY CHARLES M. SHELDON Author of «< T„ TT. c. S.™n^r ..His B™ ."■ . """"•""'" "' "-'"'"P ,. ° Keeper," -.Robert H Bnice," ..TheTiven(ielh aeven Davs " '' '•™^' nou„ee:L*;r:ad:',t"riXf,: ^""-' - commencement Fnr c^ *"^ exercises of was ehan.n„d?h ZL'^Z^^rZ' ""' °''" terest to the president's remrks" """ "•"""" '"" New Ves'ttrt 's'^aTSps' anTtT^ '" ?,'«" "^ the general work of the en S course hT °l """" '" 'he end of the list, and then readme l" naTe r""" " down at the graduating class as he did s^ ' " "" o< 'hitdrnrcw'^"'" '^ ^"^'^''' 'o "^-» K'-*. 4trres'?er:r;unh?ntrr'== ^= - - :™. =ni= ir -~ - r-'-e.^^^^^ When his turn came ,o ^^ """"t '"" """ "">""•*■ ■ he felt as if his natuL , V" "" "'"■"'•"' «° ^Peak doubled by t^e a, ten Ln^S"" ";" "" '"'""'' "'<">«" o'.hebestsch„ia:sTnr:^:-rse'L-r"'"^ TiiK STOKY OF MALCOM KIRK. „ peaked' "]!""'' '' ''f" ^° '^''''' ^" ^^is shyness disap- peared. It was true. K.rk loved to face an audience He inght was passed, he eagerly entered the true speaker's rr j„v:r '' "'" "- -''-- -" "^ -» ^«- wJS h"'";;,?"' "^''= ^-^'"''^ o' Preaching." What was It? How d,d it dilter from oratory? What was .l,r„h Hr.po^rwi?,;r i^"^' ""= "- --^'-< pr«*hi„t?" o^ more ,hT„ „nL "" ■»"'■« he .aid. It was the though, who had «„ Z r ' ;\*' ""'"'"" ">^' 'W' n>an Tood voicrMor! ,.'™"" Scholarship had a remarkably cuhar toroffh . vok'e" Thad'"^ '="''"= '""^'"^ "^ '- manded attentLrd he -'AnTHrr^''' ''"""■- .he seminary facnlty J L^t^'Z ZTZ hTd" rT Thl a\i,r T LT htn •'^'" "'' °° -*" - auuiiy. j^e had both brains and heart his face and figure were not in his favor h/ * '• '^ of the orthodox ministerial cut His doth., "" verv o-nnri fif Tj . clothes were not a Dark eyes wAvmc ^ i \ ^ ^^" °^ ^ dreamer. K eyes, wavmg dark hair, handsome feature, th;« delicate, curved lin<5 tu^ i,. j r leatures, thm, ' 7"'^*= ^' tag abroad." "'"'"^'''■■'- ' '-1 ,he need of ,he ,rai„. All riiyhf r"„ that will be readv f °" """' '^'^'- ^ut there's a oh , ifc • . '^cady for you at- fii-r. , "'cre s a church lor hard work Tl,» ^ . ^"^'"^ad. and a ^ren^ ,^.^„ • Of the year... ' ^'^ '"^-^^ now wilMeafeTt re^ -Kirk said nothing. He In t, ^ R;^ht across the campus stoodt, ^^ °' ^'^ -^n-Jow /^o'-othy Gilbert's father I ° '''' '"^""^'^^^ '"esidence Tf looked in tha/- ^- * ^^s not the fircf f . " r>r d'rection. ^ ""* ^'^e he had \Ji coursp " :--nders.a„d .rrrb t --■"-den, ,,sM. Kirk was silent Ha * btteTb'"^ ^'""- a:ornd"1is'"' '"' ="'^ '"" '". oacked books, the Qim^j • '^o°'"- The ci,oi.u thp t«o r simple piece^- He was goinL li.htT 7' "''^ ""'P'^' "^^««ar- Jruga,. economfc:r^„re-t ^b.'lf^ '" ^^^ ^^ day eveninE. His vc«,l ..i T^ ' " "■"» now Tucs- «s all read, "iZyllVJI^""'' """"""'■ »= -d .int; :s;"Het:ewt™"°" ;'""' =^«^' °'''-^. I^s^d in ll,e most careM """ '' "" '" "'""^-h' A» he wen. „p ,he stepVhe l'ea,d ,1 „ ""'n "as playing. When he was in ih.T 1, i '^"'"°' °°'''"''>' parlor and saw Francistoleivi !/ i '" ^'""'' '■'«° "" Then a fit „( tim!/ '''"^ """■ RaIei.hWacean^™t?™rt''T '"""""^ '" possible ,o see D„ro,",y cTlh - ,. ' *'■" " "' '"- He asked the serva u » m'^p „ "f "' 8^'"" artist. ProachTd^ *,?„:::;: - :„';f « Male„„ Kirk ever ap- -tp'=„s-r---™'--r.ot:i- gi--,v every moment m^-^ • ^ ' ' coJumcnt. He "- an ,f„„r. X "clerSeV-o^ *"' '°^ "•°- insisted on presenting him •1^. '■• i8 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. with two or three copies of Baedeker, and followed him out into the hall when he finally rose to go, wishing him a successful year of study. The piano had stopped and the door into the parlour was closed, but Kirk could hear voices, and it seemed to him that they were unusually earnest. He imagined he could detect a tone of pleading in one of them. He went out into the night and walked the seminary campus under the grave elms for two or three hours. He felt disappointed. He went over his prospects. He view- ed from all sides his position as a man with a career, and before he let himself int., his dingy room he had gone down into a depth of self-depreciation that measured a valley of humiliation for him. But when he awoke the next day he determined, with a dull obstinacy that was a part of his character, that he would see Dorothy Gilbert before he went away. And when evening came he walked over to the house again. She was playing the piano again, but this time alone. She turned around as Kirk entered and smiled as if she were glad to see him, and before he had time to think of any possible shyness, he was talking about his prospects, the places he expected to visit, the methods he was plan- ning to use. As the talk went on, Dorothy Gilbert grew more inter- ested. Kirk's voice had something to do with it. But aside from that he was at his best while talking about his life work. Dorothy forgot that he was a theologue. Sev- eral times she was startled at her response to his enthu- siasm. He had planned an original trip abroad, and the details of what he intended to do roused her native in- tensity to see results. But right in the midst of his explanation of what he expected to do in London, Kirk paused. " I heard you playing the Traumeret when I came in. Miss Gilbert. Will you please play it again ? " g o THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. jg When she finished she tarned abou, and said " You fhl I °"™"^' =sP«iany, famish the people with f.a,rSce? ""'= '" '^' -'^= -" -">-' - a vC She suddenly coloured deeply, as she thought he inability to hear expensive musie in expensive places If he thought of it, he made no sign that he noticed' Bui to-n'ight*'" """ '''" "" ''""■■ """'' """ ' '>"' h"rd hi J!!? ."'""" ■" '"''' " '" W ">= same timidity seize him that came over him the evening before Bui in,?!! away quickly, and to his relief h. ( u "^ '"'' *.ngth and indomitabV ^rn ge ^r W^ "i'^'" ■"»"'' ::s h^r^Kir '™'"""'' •"» - ""<■-; had Reverie' hU secTeT " !:7^'-"!.<' - > child. He words. It was thelas, V u """' """"'" »' '''' pocted to do :he*\iir v„" t'j::jji''' ": wiser men than Malcom Kirk have done af heX Plac7 Sr.r °"" r" "'"'"' '"■^'«'« <»-^ 'o the'fire- e1 y a Ne *Yo™"ln ' ™"'^'"'' °' °°™«--' ^-"'- for such work ' "^"""^ "°"=" "'"' «s famous "M^ft:akTtrif::d-f;;srt=airsa' r-. She was so surpnsed that her self-possession failed her. 20 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Kirk's hand was on the miniature with a mastery that Dorothy noticed even at that moment. " You are not unwilling ? I make no claim. I have none. I simply shall keep it for a year. Perhaps the constant sight of it will prove to me how hopeless—" The man paused and looked straight at Dorothy. There was something so hungry and at the same time un- affected in his look that again Dorothy was speechless. He took the picture and it lay in his great palm a mo- ment, and then his fingers closed slowly over it. He look- ed up at her again. She had turned away, and was ner- vously tracing lines with her fingers ou o-e table. " I have no excus? to offer for what I have done," he said, and there was that in his voice that made Dorothy look up. " I realize all the distance between us. It will do you no harm to let me have the picture, and may do me good." Dorothy at last found her voice. " I have not let you have it. It seems to me you have taken it, anyway." " You did not say no," replied Malcom firmly. Then he paused as if waiting an answer. And again she was silent. He moved towards the hall. " I love you Dor othy Gilbert," and he looked almost handsome as he said It. He stood there an instant, and then he was gone, and Dorothy remained like one who has felt some great emo- tion, not yet measured. She had refused to let Francis Raleigh have the miniature. He had begged for it He also, was going abroad to finish his studies in art Bui when he asked for the picture, she had told him no, and he had gone away without a definite answer to his petition that she give h.m the original of the picture. For he had AH u'u. '°'' ^'^'''' ^' ^^"*- A"d now this otherl And he had gone with the miniature, after all ! He had actually taken it ! Dorothy said, " He had no right but THE STORV or MALCOM KISK. „ wafa'i-tJri '"" "™ ''"■■ '°"'*°»'. Malcom Kirk =he grew erious tI ?"° "°"'"' *' '^•■«''«'. "■» mere! a^r Then 1" .' 'r'^"/"" '"^^^■' *= ^rau- -» with a shonTaut ^xh "^^ ?"* '°'' "'" '" '- laughed at him t " n , " . ^^y* ^ ^ave actually possibility oTauUinf; 7?"'^'"^' ^'^ ^^'* ^^e im- true woman e "la "I/Ll^'T """' ^"^ '"^^ ^^ matter how poor or un... .' T'' ^°"^ °^ ^ «^^"' "« oti. ciibertr :;ruT:r:\rLr ^^- ^-^ ^- thetxfaftttooT Jtf; '^:r'r '°"^ ^^^ ^^--r It is true he feh a iTtt e "^ '^"* ^"' ^^'"^^^ ^^"^^"t- ot.y Gilbert so^:i:;rth^h:eedtr' i^h't "°^- wit.c;ut a wo': r M,-,S^ -- the piiture it always ? ^ ^^ "°^ ^^^'"^ the right to keep He scarcely pretended to answer fh; found his way to his room in T question. He came out on tlJde k a^l" ^^e intermediate cabin, and ;he l^arbour, he th^tgS ly feWedT^ ^^" '°^" :wr::r:rT "^ "^-^ ^^^ '- -"s^-;e^ n^ent called a cabin one n Ah f '" ^'^^ ^^ttle apart, were two or three lermen X "'''^ ''""' '^^^ There ^"e: and lounging room"''" "^ '^ ^^^ ^^^^« '" the din- Nor an^:eU^r^^^^^^ the steward, t and said. "I'm a clergyman WhA'"°'"'"*' ^^^^^^^ The steward looked a UfT7 . '' ^'"*^^ ? " attractive figure. " '"^' '°"^*^"lly at the long, un- out 22 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. "There's a woman down aft, here, in a poor way She wants someone to pray with her." ^rrf'T^.f '" '"'"^ ^"^' '^"'"*^y' ^"^ he followed the stew- a d not knowmg as he went that this, his first minttry ana solemn before her and ,1,5 ,, '"^ ""'' deck was saying iSse,f ■■ !,■ '° ' °" ""^ '°™'"<' night." ' "' soing to be a beautiful <.o„°„" "' """""^'^ """ '»° ■»- were pacing up and a.;;':'.:: cuiiari' ."i^r i r -t ''" -- --• -- •o fo ^ the Anchor iine from' tfyoT:. ""' ''"-'"* c.ange;lri:rntr°irn he'V/l *'""^-- again, and I'm thankful f. T i ^ "^ *° ^^* *° ^ork We can talk ovef rX^at?,™ ■» »"" -"• Ed. ;en o;y:r4t« tf r^: -1-"^ *' "^^' p"rTh?Ltr-r;retr*"--^^^^^^^^^^ have a quick voyage." ""'' ''^'"^' " ^e shall t THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 33 and CHAPTER III. A DEATH IN MID-OCEAN. whrtTe!Lta°d,'';r^"r' ''' ''''' -^- -- to of the st^eTen t'^Ter :h'";"' ''' "^'^'^" ^"^^-" A wnn. ^^"'^ ''^ ^''^ berth there. ^ A woman was sitting near by. The surgeon rose and beckoned K-.Vi, ♦ . moment. i^ecKoned Kirk to step outside a " You are a clergyman ? " Kirk nodded. ■■ Well ^ ""'"' '""'"«"' "' '«t. I can tel] how that is," said the steward. " I noticed deck untif w left't e dock^T.^'""." '"' "^ °"^ "" «nd went to pieces Ive^ '^' '"'"^ ^°^" ^ere before." "^^ ''"°^" ''' ^ o*" two such cases h."Juf' *'"''" '"''' the surgeon, gravely "I'M u back before midnight Tf ,.,;ii ^ , ^ '*^^'>^' ^ '' be her." He spoke I0 V, ."^^ "° ^'""^ ^^'^ ^^^ to see yes, replied Kirk, simply. " Can I h^ r.t Toti ? Do vnn - * "^ °f Service fo J^o von want me to pray with you ? " ^ OVKRCOMING THE WORLD. I The woman nodded. Kirk kneeled, and the other wo- man who had been acting as nurse bowed her head. It was the fust time Malcom Kirk had been called on to pray by the side of a dying person. The first service he had ever paid to suffering and sorrowing humanity when he was asKed to take upon himself the burden and the joy of comfort. His own life had been free from physical weakness. His own family had moved away and scat- tered when he was a lad, and the death of both his father and mother when he was a child had left no impression on his early memory. The situation, therefore, now impressed him strongly. But the impression was redeemed from painful egotism by his intense longing to be of help to this stranger. When he had told his seminary classmate that he loved people, he had spoken one of the largest truths of his great heaiccd character. So his prayer went out to the God of all comfort, and it is very certain that he touched the heart of that human hunger for Divine compassion. For when he finished, she thanked him, with a sob, while the other woman made no attempt to conceal the tears that ran over her face. She looked at Kirk as he rose with in- creased respect. He said a few words simply, but cheer- fully, and then went out. The woman who had been nursmg followed him and closed the door a moment. " Ihank you for coming in. It did her good. It's a sad case." " Yes. Has she any friends or relatives on board ? " " No; as near as I have learnf,d she has a sister in Lon- don. This sister has been writing her for some time to come there. This woman's husband died a few weeks ago Smce then she has been supporting herself in Boston by sewmg. Her baby is six months old. She sold a few things, and with the help of her sister, who sent her a little money, she bought a ticket, and with a great effort reached the dock this morning. The ship's cornnanv did i If, THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 2$ not know of her condition, or they certainly would never have let her come on board. That is all I know of the babv no "Tu"' """ ^'" ^° '" ^^ "" ^^'^ her and the baby now. The sea air may be a help to her. after all » call a ' r'"'" "^''^ '^°^' ^'^ °"^^ ^'^^^ '^"^^ People call a common " person. Kirk could see that. Yet she was one of the great army of quiet, unselfish women, who give the world true definitions of the term "motherhood." close h """".u '? '''' '^^°'' °^ ^'' °^" '•°°"^. which was close by, and beckoned Kirk to look in and see the baby. He was sleeping in the upper berth, and Kirk looked 1. V. ^71''' ^°"^^""S what sort of future awaited that bit of humanity. The woman shut the door gently and went back to the mother, while Kirk retired to hil TnTthe"": '"f ?"' '"' ^" ''''' °^ ^he strange noises and the sights of the ocean through the little round port he was soon fast asleep after a prayer for blessing oi^ all' . who suflfer and all who are in trouble The next day the woman sank rapidly. Everyone in was TTfT "'" "^"^^^ *° ^° something. ' The e to heb tt .""/°^ *'^ '^^'^- ^^'^y --- wanted allied a, t"^ ''t "^°'''^ ^^"'^ ^^^ ^^'^ ^-^^^^V' but S er'ed o^al ttt ''' .'''^\ .^"' ^^en the passengers K mered tor a little service which Kirk was asked to lead This was a novel experience for Kirk. The interme- voyage. The passengers were mostly from what the Ene hsh peo , ,n the "middle classes." We, in aLS, he pLin ran'krf .T^"" ^''^ "^^"^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^ut o well reTd wkh , ^i;'' "°' "^^'^^^"'^ ^'^'"^^ P^^^' ^^^n iTg ous itlat I' H "' r'' ^" "°^* "^^'^'^ -^h a re- ligious lite that flows deep through narrow chsnpelci hut IS always true in its application to duty. ' "' Kirk preached a simple sermon about Christ in his i 1 26 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. relation to the sea and those who live upon it. He touch- ed on Christ's love of human kind, and his compassion for all sorts of trouble. The sermon was easily understood. It helped. Kirk saw tears in many eyes. Many of the passengers thanked him after he was through. He went in and prayed briefly with the sufferer. And the day passed on slowly, with an unwonted calmness, as Sunday on board ship at sea is so often. The ocean was quiet. The sun went down without a cloud about it. And the sick woman seemed to rest easier as the lights were turned on. and the great steamer with its freight of human tra- gedy and its uncounted vafue of souls sailed untiringly on towards the old world. Is ear morning, the woman who was watching the suf- ferer, sent for the surgeon. He came down, and Kirk who was wakened by an unusual noise, heard him going by and rose and dressed, going out into the large cabin Ihe wind was roaring over the water and the vessel was begnimng to rock for the first time since they left home. We are in for a storm," he heard one of the passen- gers say. He steadied himself and walked down to the sick woman's door and sat near, waiting expectantly as If he knew he would be summoned. In a moment the door opened and the surgeon looked out. He beckoned to Kirk, who instantly rose and went in The great change was coming. Kirk had never seen any- one die, but he knew at once what the look on the face meant. He kneeled, and the woman feebly opened her T\ . *°f ^^' ''^"^ ^"^ P'^^"^ ^S^'"' a"d knew that she heard and understood. ..l^^'u ^^, ^^^^ ^""^ ^^^y '' ''^'^'^ ^o'-'" said Kirk very gently. He s a fine boy, and we are going to pray that he may grow into a noble, Christian man. You don't have any fear to go, do you ? We have talked about that You can trust the love of Jesus. You know he has pre: pared a place for vnn ?" ^ r'OU ^t THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 37 She could not speak, but they knew she understood As the storm rose and the vessel began to pitch and toss under the resistless grasp of the heaving hand of the tem- pest under it, the woman neared her harbour of peace And she entered it gently, just as the grey dawn was creepmg over the water, now lashed into great sheets of spray that went over the decks and fell in torrents on the hatchways. A death on board ship in mid-ocean is soon known by all the passengers. Before noon everyone knew that there was an orphan baby in the intermediate cabin The storm mcreased as the day wore on. Nearly everyone was s:ck One after another of the women in the cabins gave up the struggle and retired. This was what led to an unexpected experience for Malcom K:rk. The baby woke up, and for the first time there was no one to cake care of him. The three women stewards were busy with th. ir duties, and one of them, who had prepared the baby's milk, suddenly came up to Kirk who was standing by the long dining table, and asked h,m if he couldn't take the baby a whife olexi v^'Th^"""' "^'' ^''" ^°'" '^' ^^'^' ^" S^^^t P^^- fnlT^T; ?' T""'" "'' "" '''^' ""^ ^^ ^^^^ «"'• hands full caring for them. You can hold him all right can't you ? He's the best baby you ever saw " crv^tLf ' ''T/^^" ^'?^ ^'^ ^'"^'°P^^ ^ «°°d. healthy storm K^f, I T'J' ''^'■^ ^''•^"^'^ '""^ -" oi the storm. Kirk looked doubtfully at the stewardess. ^ I m afraid I'll drop him," he said. won,fn'°\''''"J- f" ^'■''*' '*'°"^ •""" "^« y°" ' " said the woman, who Kirk was sure was laughing a little at his hesitation. "He'll be all right as soon as he has some dinner, poor fellow." ^ An^T'"' ^"""^ ''™ ^'''' *^'" '" '^'^ Kirk, desperately. a8 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. it; II If the few passengers still in the dining room had not been so miserable from approaching seasickness, they certainly would have laughed at the sight of Malcom Kirk holding that baby. He really tried to be as gentle with it as its own mother ever was, but it seemed to him that he sprawled all over the cabin in his efforts to keep the baby whcrp the woman said he ought to be. But the tremendous storm wa-^ partly to blame for that. Kirk braced his feet against the legs of the table and held onto the baby as if it was a life-preserver. The milk in the bottle was first in one end of it and then in the other. Every time the baby missed getting it he cried with a vigour that made Kirk afraid he would burst a blood ves- sel or rupture his lungs. Finally, however, matters were adjusted so that th". baby's hunger was satisfied. Kirk was so afraid to carry him over to the cabin where he had been kept that he held him for nearly an hour. The storm howled over the vessel, and there was a remarkable confusion of all sorts of noises in every part of the steamer. Kirk noticed, however, that the stewards and one or two officers who happened to pass through the cabin were unconcerned. "It will blow itself out before morning," was the statement of the surgeon, who came down in a lull of the tempest. He laughed at the sight of Kirk and the baby. But, being a man with a baby of his own at home in Liver- pool, there was also a little moisture about his eyes that was not caused by th*; ocean spray. " You'll do, man," he said. " And the boy will make a fine sailor, looks like. He sleeps through the storm as if he were used to being ' rocked in the cradle of the deep.' But we must be after looking up the other woman when we get across." "Yes, yes," said Kirk, eagerly. He had a long talk with the surgeon, and next tnorning, after the storm had '■iWilS^MlWij TUB STORY OF MALCOM KIKK. ^ K" « to >h. ,i«er in London ' """■ "> ^e'lo'ta' B« .h?"^' " '"."""■ ^"^ """>-" "i" »« ,o > hat 1 """ °' "" '"'■ "•»"• <:"■' you rev:ald1„f:fL"r.'t" °','V ^"'^ '''*■ "- •"= '- ■•n. «o „p o^n'tt ':z''tt:7:::TnTv- passengers about it" ^'"^^ "^'" He^'aVXllcHuH'tr o '"^'"""' "'•" ' '^"^ ""«• '1-at gentleman to 1« u,e „"""' '"" "'"'' ■"""»<'«' *nlng and music r-oL .^.'l'^"^"' '<>8«h" in the ««.ed that Kit hta^Ttal 'fhe'tr' '"f '"'" ="^- .h.™;*Xef itr, tt ^'r; ",d r^"« '» -- it into the presence of ^n ,t ''' '"'"= K°»= "i* and their fam iTes even l.h "uT'" '""'' "' ="™P« .hat he looW and ( 1 ta ' t"^' "' )'"' "'" """^h =™ed, aw.„atd .a^'eJlTo'L? rnrrS"^""' '°"^- Ki*s' hTnrcSd" Hi;"""^ ""• -' '' '^-"'^ -^-" anyw"'.t:rKi;r:o''hi:se'rf " ^"^""'' ' -• He climbed np the Mth '"? " ' ^"'^ ™ "'^ ""-oa.- Of* The stL^Jfal' rsptr "if °"'° ^'^ '"" o'cloelt in the afternoon, and Xn he ""t fT '"" ■nenade deck h. met th. „ T. reached the pro- into the dining s"So„ " """""• *"■' '=" «« ^^ portly, dignified old gentleman ^' ""resistible. A the dining room rose and "n T'? '" ^'^^ '"'^^'^ o^ t'-ayed his feeling/sLd <<", K^^'^^^^'^^'-hichbe- gentlemen to give ten dollars " °"' °^ twenty-five Instantly more than a dozen n.. « moment by a dozen or more T" "■°''' ^^"°^^^ i" •■oom began to pass a hat Mnn. ""' °"' '" *^^ '""^'^ until it was half full. Under ti!^ """' ''''°^" '"to it one of the young ladies sugg ;e7a'To°" °' ''' "°'"^"* entertainment, to be given Zl: f""."'"^ 'f ''terary g-"on was taken up at once." "one 1"^ '"^ ''' ^"^- ^ne of the men oflfered 32 OVERCOMING THE WOALD. to take charge of the funds, and help Kirk or some one to set 'hat they were properly placed, and Kirk started to go out. The ladies had crowded around the baby, caressing him as he never had been ■ caressed before m all his meager, pitiful life. „ , • . It was at this moment that Kirk saw Francis Raleigh. He had come out of the music room, and the minute he saw Kirk he came to him and held out his hand. •' Mr Kirk, isn't it ? I heard you at Hermon a few weeks ago. At commencement. You remember me ? We have met once or twice. Raleigh is my name. " Yes I remember," said Kirk. He had met Raleigh at some 'receptions. " Excuse me for not shaking hands. Mine are full just now." "Excuse me, I see they are," said Raleigh, laughing. "You did that very well." He spoke very kindly, but in a tone that he did not mean to be patronizing. It was only the Raleigh manner. It belonged to the family. He might have spoken differently if he had known that in the upper vest pocket of the homely figure before him was the lovely lace of Dorothy Gilbert. But there was this fact about the situation. Kirk knew that Raleigh was in love with Dorothy. Raleigh did not know that Kirk I0-- her, or that he had ever thought of such a pos- sibility. " I am glad for the baby's sake," replied Kirk soberly. He ignored the compliment, and finally succeeded in getting down to the lower deck again. The interjnediate cabin was excited over the result. Nearly five hundred dollars had been contributed, and the concert would bring a hundred more. In fact, when the concert was over and all of the first cabin had been solicited, nearly eight hundred dollars was given for the baby's start in life. When the vessel reached Liverpool, Kirk, with the help of the surgeon and one of the cabin passengers, THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 33 meeting .1 e „er a„H vf , *'" "' ^^^ '"=^=«' »' lodging near by and ntf.„ T '' *■= ='''="'■'»' grew wonde*,'; ".ach ,.0 T tu" '"/ ""'"'■ "•= obliged to leave and „?, u ''' ""'^ »'''" I'' ""S he parted t om the bab" ,. ^' '"'""'^ °" ">= ™«'«« posed a. the W that 1" tefrT"' '°"''"' «= '"■>■ closed and completed I. w ! ' Tm "". "" "'' ""= that no man can foresee ,1,^ ! "'" '"""' "'""' a continnation of ZTZ:!!'.: :,ZlV%'':r^'''''"'' able to return to Lonrlor, . /"^^"on. ±.or he was un- -ye he had no'drea^t, er^i^g t? " '"' '^'"- return. ®^^'"S ^^at part of his life and is: TruZf::oZ:'vT"r''^' ^""■=-' «.a. Doroth. clerT re'Jve," a'">c'..' ^r' "="' ""'"' RaUigh, dated from LondrCo^d " S,„ 7 ne'^t Br,t,sh Museum. She had not encouraged Mm T u pleaded the privilege of an ocoasionalle ter but^orth other hand she had no. refused him, and' he „" o„ eareful o h.s future to risk the mistake of Jrittag oo of en or .n a tone of sentiment. He wrote a very toter- itit:\t°''' '"'°^«' ™^'"« "■ -^-"^ '" "• want to encourage h,m too much. At the same time his undoubted love for her and his great talents as alarti ppea ed to her strongly. The only reason she had "o a cepted h,s affection was a lack of feeling on her own part. She was fearful of herself. She wanted to be abso- ..tely sure of her own heart. She had known him since they were both children. I. was not as if they werTin ■«».S.V*tS»fMW*«« OVERCOMING THE WORLD. 34 any way comparative strangers. She aUo knew well ro„:H^hat her father •-^^'^^-Vh -:.,„3e,y in- ^'"/r Tm^rn t have Pltsed Francis Raleigh lerested her. It might not ua r i„terest It was i, he had known all the reasons '<" ^'" ""f '^„^i„g w, a passage describing a s-.ene on the vessel recent voyage across. ^„„ , •■ you may remember, the le ter w j. ,, ^i description of some famous pamtrng - f^,^^ Gallery, "a theologW stud=n. b^ he -»- ^^^^ ^t : 7u— ,tdCeived *eOern.n scholar --rraccor oTht := rrirLk Sii ^t;.r j: ::;ta^':^^i=^ -1 :il\!m' Dorothy 'looked up from her r.dmg and .He color ^*;;P-tu:d''hL'r:e:; itlrelCttlll, and, men together. J *°""''^'''7, ,.. /.he typical theologue. ?He're *: rsomerhar'trt^iclfarr in^'the intermedia. ':; S ^^r oLe or twice he sat ins. below *' ii^':rtrgV:;^dTer:f tit: teLose a good ciiance lo gci * b , • „ i^fi^ touch of the sketch to him in order to ^^ -y;^f^j7^",,\, ^ ^ that I had possibly done an unfa.r thmg to a^e h^^ unawares and he laughed very gouu nat.r?^!., „. "emed very much amused, without a part.cle of resent- THE STORV OF MALCOM KIRK. 35 ment. He asked me to let him have the sketch, and I drew him another, which he took with evident pleasure He was a gentleman and will do some good work in his Ime, but I should think his general appearance would always stand in the way of his advancement in the ministry." Dorothy spread the sketch out on the table and looked at It. Raleigh had not said too much when he wrote that he had caught Kirk's attitude very well. It was, indeed, a splendid likeness. There was just a littlo exaggeration to the stubborn brown hair, a little touch of unnecessary grotesqueness to the fr.ce, but it was " Malcom Kirk plam enough," as he used to say of himself. The baby lay in h.s arms, satisfied and smiling. There were tears m Dorothy's eyes after she had looked a little while. Malcom K,rk s great-hearted love of humanity as it was represented by that helpless bit of it in his long arms somehow appealed to her. She seemed to feel as if there was a world there into which she had never entered, but which she could enjoy with all her eager enthusiasm if once she were introduced to it. She folded up the sketch and carefully laid it away by itself. She did not put it w.th a collection of drawings which Raleigh had given her when he finished his course of art. Malcom Kirk went over on the continent, and spent he year in France, Italy. Germany, and even two weeks m Russia. How he lived all that time would make a story in Itself. He walked a great deal. Always lodged in the most inexpensive places. Six months after he had been away from home he sent to the president of the seminary a rtrritten report of what he had been doing. It was so remarkable in many ways that the president showed it to Mr. Gilbert. The Boston publisher urged its publication The president wrote that the seminary would assume the ^' expense of publication, and Mr. Gilbert's house printed - . V i mr-ttir . -n . SS3SSE5S25SK: m-is: 36 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. the report in a neat pamphlet form that at once attracted attention. 1 ne night of the first issue of the pamphlet Mr. Gilbert brought a copy of it home, " By the way, Dorothy, you remember that theologue who took the German scholarship. Kirk ?" " Yes," murmured Dorothy, demurely. If Dorothy's mother had been living it is possible she might have told her about Kirk's declaration. Her father was another person. Besides, he had not asked her to be his wife. He had only told her very bluntly that he loved her. That was in one sense hisi secret, to be kept for him from others. " Well, here's a bit of work he's been doing abroad. We brought it out to-day. Knowing you have always been interested in this work, I though you rfiight like to look this over." Her father spoke with his usual precise calmness, and left the pamphlet on the table. The moment supper was ended, Dorothy seized the report and went to her own room. She read it through as if it had been a fascinating novel. It was written in a simple style that possessed no merit except its simplicity, but it was a record of how humanity lived, and the pathos, the reality, the fact of how it lived, stirred Dorothy Gilbert as her mind and heart had never been stirred. And all through the read- ing she seemed to see Malcom Kirk with that baby in his arms. She knew that if that sketch had been put in as a frontispiece it would have exactly expressed the con- tents of the pamphlet. She rose and walked her room, strangely excited. Who was this man to stir her feelings so deeply ? Francis Raleigh had never been able to do it. No man. for that matter. All the other men she knew were busy trying to have a good time or win fame or make money. This .nan was interested in people. He THE STORY OP MALCOM KIRK. =':.' x-sr..";:;?; i-ri?. .«; ;■■ sketch of Kirk in 1 n Z" """''■ "'^''^^^^^ P^^^^^ the desk ^' P'"^P^'^* ^"d P"t them away in her with French peasanT m '' "°''-"' '^'"^^ 'l^^^ters .rants. HoweveT Tt ^^s litT ^' ""^""^^'^^ -'- people, regardll! ' n I '^ """" ^^^^^ he loved '"an, who somehow was s rlnlTv .. r'"''" ^'^''^y- <^e nine days' voyage a frienH 1 "' ^'""^'' ^"""» they parted with rea' relreT . ^^^-"'on from whom He started at oLe o Z ""' ^°^'"^ '"^'"-^• nearly two weekl t^e to wrl^TuThis^ ^^^"'^ '^'^ seminary. Then for hU u ^ ""^P"""* ^o^" the And Dorothy ^GitrP '2' ^^rTori ''\' ''" ^^"^^^• directly anything of her On.. T. '"''' "'^"P* '"- to meet one of the He^n.? '? ''^'" ^' ^'^ ^^^""^ h.-s vacation. Frot him h AT "'''■'■ ""^^ "^^ ^^^'"^ had been spendinrth "^ ''"''""^ *^^* *'^« Gilberts atmt in Bevert anS' """" '* ''^ '^"^ °^ ^-^^hy's fa". He won Ld ,7 TJ^'^'T'' '^"^ ^^^^^^ '" ^he obliged to go t Th, " "! '^^'' '^f°^^ h« -«s that the ch^ch 1„M ;rd';tf h- '^' 7"^" '^"^ He took out the miniature H. . t!"" '" ^^P^^-'^^^r. •■t back. Would hT R. r ul '^°" "^ ^' °^"^^^ *o »'ve he ? But what possible alternative could 38 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. there be ? He still loved Dorothy Gilbert. Somehow he felt as if she would be a part of his future as she had been of his past. . He reached Boston in the morning, and took the first train for Hermon. He bought a paper as he entered the train, and as it was moving out of the station he began to read. Among the first items that caught his eye was this : 1^ "The publishing firm of Sydney, Gilbert & Co. as- signed yesterday. The company was involved in the recent syndicate failui-e in the book business. Mr. Gil- bert's loss is heavy. It is thought he saved little, if any- thing, from the failure." It was simply one item out of a score of others stated in a cold, newspaper style without comment. But it made Malcom Kirk trembled all over. What effect would this have on Dorothy Gilbert ? If he, Malcom Kirk, was poor, and Dorothy Gilbert was now somewhat nearer him in condition, what of his love for her now ? he reached Hermon and went at cce to the presi- dent s house. The president had not come home from his vacation, but was expected the next day. Dorothy and her father were still out of town. He learned that they might return that week. He looked up the steward of the building aiA secured the key to his old room, where he had been allowed to keep his few books and pieces of furniture until he returned. The room was not very desirable, and had not been occupied by any of the new students. He went in and opened his curtains and sat down. There across the familiar campus was Dorothy Gilbert's house. He sat there thinking deeply about his future. Then he took out the miniature and laid it lovingly in his great brown palm. % THE STORY OP MALCOM KIRK, 39 h 'i CHAPTER V. MALCOM ATTEMPTS TO RETURN THE MINIATURE. nis report. In the evening he went over to see the presi- the"n'f::'t."""'^'/'' '''"" '' '^ -^^-" d^''^s'a 'd hen for the next three days he gave himself up to his task of getting together the great mass of material he had accumulated while abroad. maienai Jie had light's Tn'tfe'^r". 7"'"^ °' '"' '•^^"^"' ^h^* he saw the ef n The U uTu '"°^^ '''' ""^P"^' ^« evening set in The house had been shut up and dark. bhe IS home again," was his first thought. He was unable to work well that evening. The next day he con restless to see her. Once she came out on the porch and he r adily recognized her. even at that distance. couM 'd '''"7 ^" ^'^ "°* P""'*^"^ *° himself that he could do anything worth doing on his report, and re- solved to go and return the miniature without waiting any longer. He had kept it more than a year nor h! was^ under promise to give it back. As well now as any bound.r"^*^'. '''" ""''^ " *'"''"°'- ^* heart that instantly bounded into fever when Dorothy herself opened thl n.-n!!' '*^°f *^"'' '" ^^^ "^ht of the porch and his tre- V ; pTle an^' '^'"^".h'\°^---^ ^^at Dorothy looked very pale and even as ,f she had been crying. .ee .r" *'•%"" 1 "' ^'- ^"'^ • ^ ^"^ -y glad to see you, .a,a Do.olhy. She spoke so easily, so kindly that he recovered his self-possession at once and went' 40 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. f I into the parlor and sat down, wondering at the common- place details of his meeting with the one woman in all the world to him. " You will excuse me for coming so soon after your return ? " he said simply. "Certainly," replied Dorothy, smiling. "Would you like to see father ? " " No," said Malcom Kirk. " I came to see you," It was so evidently true, that Dorothy could say nothing for a moment. There was an awkward silence. She broke it by saying : " I have read yoiir pamphlet describing the life of the people on the continent in the cities. I thank you, not for the pleasure, but for the pain it gave me." He looked at her gratefully. He understood exactly what she meant. The opening had been made for talk along the lines of i.is deepest life, and before he knew just how it had been brought about, he was telling her some of the experiences of his year abroad, things he had told to no one else, and had not even beei able to put into his report. All the time he felt the miniature in his pocket. But he seemed to fight against the knowledge that he must give it up. As for Dorothy, she experienced a feeling of exhil- aration in her talk with this man. She was sick of the empty nothings she had been hearing all summer. The recent experience of her father's failure also had excited her. There was much in everything that pervaded Mal- com Kirk's life work to attract her at the present moment. It must have been nearly an hour that they had been talking, she asking questions and he replying, and every minute grew increasingly full of interest to her, when he suddenly stopped as he had done that evening a year be- fore and asked : " Would you-do you feel as if you could play something ? " He was simply battling for time, and he was in a con- THE STORY ui< MALCOM KIRK. 4, knew his he!rt lonted ' 7!^" u' '''''^' '^' ^^'^^^ he while she was p aX ,r ""r^"'" '^''^'•^- «« ^^'^ ^hat inch-nation better ^ ' "'^'^ '"^^^"^^ ^'^ ^uty and his sHe':^.lhe"\Xan.r ^ oM G^ ^'^ ''' ^^^^ ^ weiss nicht was soil el bed uten H tT" '^'''''''' " ^^^ "I know not how it is thlf T ' ^"^ '° ''^"""^ b'"'" she could contro" ler fin "" '°. '"''" '"^ '""'^ ^^^^--e passed on to the TraumeT" Z .'" ^'°"^'^*' ^^e had to play before. ^''''"'''''' ^^•h^<=h Kirk had asked her WhriLtrnetaronfh?^^''^ 'T '^ -" ^-""- miniature in his hand "' '' '"' '^^ '^^^ ^h<= wit:^r::^xr::;^:f7.^7-hack,.hespoke looked straight fnhr face, ike. t°" ^^-«>^^ ^^s- or afraid. "No one but 1 k.""'" ^^"^ '' "°* ^^^amed of it has not- " ''''^ ^'' ^^^" ^'- The keeping his^ilLrt^'in t::^ he'l"^ '^"T." ^° ^^^ ^^^* ^^^-^"in be a far difl^^e^n forTe T^ oT^'l ^^^'T ^°"^^ only have this wo.an for h s w fe b: TtuL ""'' i^ir' ''''' ' -^^^^^^^^-as'torre^rfoTr: the^nTi^urrdown •: t T^' ^ ^'^ ^^^^ ^ ''- a sound in the Hbrary^ta.tl ^ el'^oth" 'u '''"' ^'^" as of some one falling heavily """' ^ '°""^ before her. Ev' n as h 1 .' /''' ''^''=°'" ^irk was ;bat he held fh^Lla r TiJf X? '\^'^^ ^^"---' hbrary he had mecha-.; J! """^ ^^ 'bached the Place in his" pocket! '' '"' '* '"*° '^^ ^^'^ resting. 43 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. They found Mr. Gilbert lying on the floor uncon- sc.ous^ Dorothy kneeled on one side of the body, Mai- com Kirk on the other, and for a moment there was a wild fear in Dorothy's heart that her father had in some way killed himself. His business failure had been tl great humiliation of his life. Kirk put her mind at rest. yJ'^^l ^T ^^^ ^ ^^"""^ ^'^ "^"""^"e °f some kind." He lifted the body up. placed it on the lounge and instantly ran out oi the house for the doctor, who lived only a few doors away. When he came,; he pronounced the case serious but gavfe Dorothy hope. Malcom Kirk came back, but in the excitement he could do nothing but express his sym- pathy and finally go back to his room, after the presi- dent s v/Jfe and some others had come in to stay with Dorothy for the night. Mr. Gilbert had been a typical New England business man of .he old school. When hts failure came, and he had begun to recover from the fir^t effect of the blow he had no thought of any other course but to pay dollar' for dollar of his honest indebtedness. To do it meant the loss of his beautiful home in Hermon. Dorothy felt as he' did about it. He had no fears on her score. The integrity and firmness of such a moral course were never m question with either of them. So he had come back from where he had been staying with his sister, and the night Kirk called he was busy in his library arranging the business of the Hermon property, going over all the details of his recent loss, and making what provision he could for the future. He was nearly fifty-uve, and he manfuHy determined to begin all over again. He could leave Dorothy with her aunt, who was alone much of the time, and needed her at present, and himself struggle into P ace again with honour untarnished and the good name ot the firm free from commercial stain. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. ^ iust a little after Do'oS h!d'" "l' '"""' ^"^^^"'>'' new and awful J^tl h ' 'r^'' ? "'^^' '" ^^'^ ^ vainly tried to call 1. . , ' ' '""''^ '" ^is chair, the floor. "' ^°'' ^'^^' ^"d «^"k unconscious to coI^K^nr^tT, sTeVT °^ ^^^^^ ^"^^^^^ *° Mai- Gilbert house every morning O^"' '""''' '^'^'^ *'- doctor go up the sten^ I' "'"'"'"^ ^^ «^^ the with him. T^.e doc to 's r '"°''" "^"' "'- ^"'-ed house that day untLonT'. """'"'' " ^''""^ °^ ^^^ to inquire, and th servant '" " '''""°°" ^'^^ ""^^ and told him Mr. Gi bert h.dH °"' •'' *'' '^^^'^ P°^^h celebrated physician rom BostorVr^""" "^'''^- ^ tation .„d he said there\'°tle tpe'^^" ^" -"-'- Kirk passed an almost sleepless ni^hf ^ '"« as he looked across the am " f u' '"'^ "'"* '"°'-"- woman he loved best was alon. Tu ''"'^' ''^^^ ^^e see the wreath of doZ onZT " ^'■"' "^ ^^'^ once that John Gilbert had pas ed'n "' '' '°^' ''"^ ^^ vexed with the struggle of Zvf 1 "'''' '"°'"^ *° ^^ earth. ^^^ °* ^^^ ^'^e that now is on the The week following wa<* «„- * .1. Malcom Kirk ever knew Th . ^" "'°'* *^^'"^ ^^at was held in the Sem^nT u ^""''"^ ^^ J°hn Gilbert professors anftownTo;' e^ ^ ' T "^^"^^^ '^^ ^^^ was with her. Kirk had „n "^ '"''• D^'-othy's aunt and be to her the comfort II ^''''T''' '° ''' D^'-othy to him, after the fre^al was "^'' *° '" '' "^^ ^^-^ across the campus "n the ZelT' '" *''"'^ *^^* th^''^ 'oved passing thro gh Zl^' ^^^ ^'^^ -oman he "ght to go to her and !hare thaT °^' '"' '' '^'^ "° felt as if he could not breakfn J°"°^ ^''^ ^''- He of h'-s love. So the Hav:;t;x" )r ^"^^ *° ^^^^^ -- ---orkonhis^epof:^;------;;^^^^^ .'jf^>3msshiismummmm 44 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. |4: grcss. He laid the miniature on his table, and tried to write with the face looking up at him, but he made no progress at all then, and the close of the week found him walking his room in great uncertainty of heart and mind. On Monday, the week following, he was obliged to go down to Boston to consult some authorities in Settle- ment work, and when he came back the next day the Gilbert house was closed, and Dorothy and her aunt had gone to Beverly. It was the very next day that Kirk saw in a Boston paper the name of Francis Raleigh, arrived a few days before from Liverpool on the Cephalonia. Looking over the columns a little farther down he saw in th .ocal news from Beverly this statement : " Mr. Francis Raleigh, the Hermon artist, recently arrived from a year's study abroad, is the guest of Mrs. Arthur Penrose, sister of the late John Gilbert." That was all, but it roused Malcom Kirk to instant action. He knew with all the vigor and intensity of his deep, honest nature that his love for Dorothy Gilbert was now the largest part of his life. He had consecrated his time and strength to the ministry. He did not deceive himself. He knew what such a consecration meant. He faced, open-eyed, the entire meaning of a minister's career in a home missionary church " out west." But, looking at it all through dispassionate eyes, he said as he walked his study: "She must choose between him and me. I cannot go to my work without speaking to her. My love for her is honest and true, and if God grant that she can love me and share my life with me—" He left the rest unspoken, and going back to his desk he sat down, trembling a little, as he put his face in his hands and prayed that the hunger of his heart might be Ke had rnadc up his mind to act, and act quickly, THE STORV OF MALCOM KIUK. ^ handsome ...^^X^^^/ZZ " tL'" f"? °V"° smote Kirk as wifh 5. m ■ . "'^ ^^''°'^ P'ace he walked up tl,e st ep tha^ th ' ^" '''^ *" '^''"^^'^ ^« life which money and all is a^". ^^^=*°'"'^'hing in his buy. and he believed thl n u'"' '''^'"^^' ^^^'^ "°t she ever loved^l^ onetUr^ul^ ' towards all the outwan: displa/of wealth ""^ "^^ MisfGi^erLr^r:: rdTd'° ^'^ -■- -^^'^^^^ He at once asked for M° Cte Wh" ''u "'"^"^'• where Kirk was standing i„ t " '^' ''""' '" surprised him by gre "iL hi '■'"'"°" '°°'"' ^^^ He had merely met her .1 ''"'^ ^^^'^ ''^ "^•"e. tut not mor'tlTan once V'"' "' ^'■^ ^"'"^^^''^ '"--- ^ She was : ::L:"of z::zrLt: ''V'-'^- feel at ease. She had no. h! '^' "'"^^ ^irk in love with Dorothv or I '■""°'''' '^^" ^^^^^ ^e was and in a few ruths', irng .r h^m"^""' '['''' ""' what to do. ' ^ "'^'^^ "P his mind Th;'lrbl\Lt7tea^ ;^;. ^-^'^ ^\^ ^^^- ^^>-h. I wo„Id be pleased?. . ' *"'* ''''"• ^r. Kirk ? " Thank yo V h rbe'°.^ T T ^^'^ ''' ^'^^ -'' com promptly A , t! ^f \ '° ^° ^°'" ''^P'-^d Mal- determination to fe Mrs P^o T 'r^ ^^"^""^ ^* ^ "I believe you m " m7 Ta, k' ^','' ^°"^ ^°^- abroad ? He was teZl '^^ "^^'^^ ^^^ w^'-e morning ?" ''"'"^ "^ something about you this . " Was he ?" said Malcom Kirk quietiv " v t him on the CeohalnnJo „^- qmetly. Yes, I met "c v^epnaionia gomg over. W- had ==-- 1 ,- 1 visits together. I enjoyed them." "' ^'"^^ >■ ;i^ fi ^ T"(n^-TfTn^°"*^'^^^-^ngs . % m ^jiin »r ^jit yp *ii «g y ':;^^i^f^^i ^K "iiii i V ) '""j iM P^ 46 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Mrs. Penrose was sitting where she could see, from the reception-room window, the stretch of beach. She looked out and said: " I don't see them coming yet. They will be here soon, I think. You were saying, Mr. Kirk, that you enjoyed meeting Raleigh. Excuse me if I say that he spoke in warmest terms of you. He told us about your care of that poor baby. He wondered what became of it afterwards." " It's quite a long story," said Kirk, " but panfl* me, Mrs. Penrose, if I don't try to tell it now. I wpt * tell you why I am herfe. I love your niece, and L am ioing to ask her to be my wife." ■f «f. --^^^-^-^»*««l* jm the looked sy will k, that ly that about jecame THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 4 47 CHAPTER VI. " WHOM GOD HATW i,^.t»,„^ HATH JOINED TOGETHER, let NO MAN PUT ASUNDER." He had come directiv tn hi. u- was best so. Mrs. PenrLionl/'t"'' ^^'""^ ^^at it acitonishment. ' ^^^'^"^ ^' ^im in the greatest " You— love— Dorotliv ?" .u "Yes," replied Mai oj Kit.' ^.^'^ ^'°^^^- her for four years. Ever^in^ / '''"^'^- "' ^^^« ^^^ed fact." '''''' «'"" I entered the seminary, in awWd,"roryXr i:t;°°^^^ -- ^-^^ at the a woman of great qutknL of ""P^'°"— • She was ^"^tice, she had pre eminemlv ^^^P^'^"- To do her -d a sense of Justice wich^ "IT \"' °^ ^^'^-^ •ne of Pilgnn, ancestors Sh. • ^'' '^'"^^^h a long i"«t declared his love tr her ni^" '" J'^ "^" ^^o had -ore tha . a common, aver^e^Lt "/.'"^"^ '^"''^'^ J^'s eye that spoke of Hm.vf ^ ^^'^ ^^« ^ look 1H -- of an unu^uafc^i^'^^"--^' -d his vot »o a rare gift of music or art '"^ '^ "°' ^"'*« ^^^al She rose and walked over to th. ■ j far down the beach ThZ u "^ ^"^ looked K'>f and said with " some'emtast" '^ "^^^^^ ^^'-- '^Ni^ife^thL'x^^ ^" ^ ^-- of DUh::.r- - "I.„pTo" yo'llr "'' ^^'-- Kirk'nuickly, -^ that ^r. G^be:;"r ::; - :i/;r^ °^ ^^^ ^-ill. 1 '.i jE^Eg •rTWKT^BW^W 48 OVERCOMIMG THE WORLD. "That has nothing to do with my love for her," said Malcom Kirk, softly. Mrs. Penrose smiled slightly. Then she frowned and looked somewhat anxiously at him. " What do you expect to do ?" she asked somewhat vaguely. " I am going to ask Dorothy Gilbert to be my wi'e." " If she loves you ?" said Mrs. Penrose a little grimly. " Of course, if she loves me," replied Malcom Kirk, simply. j There was silence in the room. A servant came in quietly and lighted two long candles on the mantel. The dusk and the candle light blended together softly, and Malcom Kirk looked out of his side of the room at Dorothy's aunt with a somwhat pale face, calm, however, and fully self-possessed. Even Francis Raleigh, with all his inherited instincts towards gentlemanly habits, was not equal to Malcom Kirk during a supreme crisis. Mrs. Penrose went over to the window again. Then she returned and took a seat nearei Yalcom Kirk. "Of course, after what you have told me, Mr. Kirk, it will be — you see the awkwardness of th? situation— it will be embarrassing for you and Mr. Raleigh to meet." " Why ?" asked Malcom Kirk. " Well, it will, won't it ?" she asked in some slight irritation. "I don't think so. I have nothing to be embar issed about." Mrs. Penrose was silent again. After the lapse of a few moments she said : " I have not asked you what your prospects are, Mr. Kirk ? Pardon me if I seem abrupt, but you have ^et me the example. I am the.^nearest relative Dorothy has now, since my brother's death. She has been accustomed all her life to the comforts of wealth. To such comforts as these." Her glance swept the room carelessly, but THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 49 ■ with studied meaning. " May I ask what you can oflfer Dorothy in case—" " In case she becomes my wife ?" said Malcom Kirk, completing the sentence. " Yes, in case she becomes your wife." His face had grown a little paler, and the muscles arouMd his mouth had stiffened while Mrs. Penrose was speaking. But he observed her calmly enough. " I can offer a home and comforts. I have a definite position. I do not need to say that I am poor. My life in the home missionary field to which I am going will be full of hardships. My wife would share them with me. I ought, perhaps, to say "—he spoke with the first hesita- tion he had yet shown—" that I have a possible source of income in my pen. I expect to earn as much as my salary by that means. I have once or twice done that during my college and seminary course." " So that the most you can offer my niece would be twelve or fifteen hundred a year ?" asked Mrs. Penrose, with the nearest approach to sharpness. "By no means, madam!" said Malcom Kirk, and his face glowed with the eloquence of his answer. "That is not the most I can offer her. The most I Can offer is the love I bear her, and all the money in the world without that would be very little to offer." " He's right about that," Mrs. Penrose spoke to her- self, softly. Malcom Kirk did not hear what she said, but then, at that time he did not know her history nor the inner emptiness of her unloved married life. There was silence again in the room. The two candles on the mantel were distinct and clear now as the dusk had slowly deepened. A step came up the path ^nd the door opened. Mrs. Penrose and Malcom Kirk both rose as Dorothy entered the reception-room alone. She came in with her head erect,, and there was lijjht 50 OVERCOMING THK WORLD. enough for her aunt and Malcom Kirk to see in her face the tokens of some recent excitement. " Where is Francis ?" Mrs. Penrose asked. " He is not coming back to-night," replied Dorothy, softly, and then for the first time she saw Malcom Kirk standing there by the fireplace. She took an eager step towards him, and then suddenly stopped, while her face glowed rosy red in the candle light. As for Malcom Kirk, he stood very erect and still, but out of his eyes shone the lover's look as he faced the woman of his heart's* longing. He did not try to conceal it, and Dorothy knew as well as if he had spoken it aloud that he said : " I love you, Dorothy Gilbert, and I can- not do my life's work best without you." Mrs. Penrose saw that look, also, and respected it. The servant entered and announced that tea was ready, and Malcom Kirk found himself shaking hands with Dor- othy and saying some very common thing about being glad to meet her. A few minutes later he found himself at the table with Dorothy and her aunt. He ate and talked at first with a repressed excitement that gradually became a source of eloquent conversation. No one asked any more questions about Francis Raleigh. It is certain that Mrs. Penrose and Malcom Kirk understood that be had pleaded his suit with Dorothy, and had again been unsuccessful. " She has given him his answer," said Malcom Kirk to himself, and there was the first positive hope in his heart that he had dared to feel. He had never appeared to such good advantage. Mrs. Penrose, experienced as she was in the ways of society and familiar with some of the most brilliant men and women, felt a positive charm in Kirk's voice and manner. His awkwardness for a while was sub- ordinate to his higher gifts. Mr. Penrose was in New York on business, Malcom Kirk learned afterwards some things in his history, and V t.> i I. face THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 51 InLiT ^''^"'u ^'^ •'"" ^"°^^^ *° "-''' ^^' «^e>t fin- ancml losses without help from his own sister, who. to a arge extent, had been powerless to persuade her husband ntl7^ .f u ^'''''^'''' "'^- 2"^ ^« ^^« absorbed to- .^t rhafZe! °^ ^°^"^^- ^^ ^-- ''^^ ^ "-^'^^ After tea they went into the reception-room again. weni TZ T''^ '°'' ^''^ ^" h^"*-' -d then suddenly went out. and Dorothy and Malcom Kirk were left alone He was fully aware that the whole future of his life utes but he had never felt more a Christian than now. mere was a positive religious excitement of the highest chelp or sTiI '" Tl ''' ^""- "^ ^^'^ *h^^ 't was no thinl nf^ ""' T ''''"°^ '^"'™^"^ *hat moved him to thmk of her as of no other being in the world. There had not been a night of his life since he begin to love her when he had failed to speak her name in a prayer He "rr:?r"" ^"^ - ---^^ -"--- ture^fn'hU T^/'Zr' "'''" ^''- ^e had the minia- ture .„ his hand. When he spoke it was in great sim- plicity, but in great directness. " You know what I have come for. You know that I love you wholly. You know what my life will bl You know that I am poor. Dorothy, can you share such a Hf e with^me ? Must I give this back, or mty I keep it 7 She was sitting with her face partly in shadow, and she slowly rose and turned and faced him. Like all girls who dream of lovers, she had her dreams, her ideals her Tm! aginings She looked up at him now. and the bi;od rush- ed impetuously through him as he saw th. u.rr;^^:^!lZ her answer. She had learned to love him' during "hi" ab sence abroad, during her recent sorrow, during the days 52 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. that followed her bereavement. It was not so sudden as it might seem, for Dorothy had learned when Raleigh spoke to her that afternoon that the greatest reason why she could not love him was because she already loVed Malcom Kirk. So she gave him then and ther° what he asked. Ah, Malcom Kirk, not this side of heaven will you know the power of that flood that lifted your heart and all it contained when you first heard the woman you loved say, as she lifted her face to yours, " Yes, I will share your life with you. Yes, I love you." Two hours later Malcom Kirk went out into the starry night and down on the sea beach, and with the freshness of the sea breeze blowing about his uncovered head, he Ihanke God for the precious, priceless gift of this wo- man's heart. They had had much to say, as true lovers always have. Always they had come back to the undying theme of their love for er.ch other. " She loves me ! " he kept saying to himself. And the waves, and the night wind, and the stars, and the harbor lights, and the pines near the beach all joined in the same song. He walked up and down the sands until the early morning. He found his face wet once with tears. He ran across a long strip of beach exultant, and waked from one of his reveries to find himself knf.e deep in water, for the tide was coming in, and he knew nothing of tides, only of the one that had risen in his own spirit. But he drew back out of the wattr laughing; and finally found his way to the inn down by the pier, where he had breakfasted. But what he ate, or whether he ate any- thing, was probably unknown to him, at least he was not able to give Dorothy satisfactory ans>/ers when he came back to the house. His dream was a reality. She met him with the look on her face that was never to die out of it as long as he lived, and together they went in to see Mrs. Penrose. Dorothy's aunt was somewhat perplexed, and, to tell ' I; THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 33 the truth, a good deal astonished at the events of the last twenty-four hours. Dorothy had told her all. and there was no question in Mrs. Penrose's n,ind that the daugh alk^ard r'^' "^'^ '^^ ^^«"'^^ ^'^^ choice of t husbTnd ' She"'' m"'' 'T ^°""^ '"'"^^^^ - her futu When Ti::z:^z^T^ r„r ^^- . such ai: ; p : r" ^rr"- °' ■"-• --"u-d peep,' Mrs. Pen ose (era/ r^ n T""" """ °" "■' P™^'^. Bo:x''aS* t,e'„rK!:rei?;: t^"" '° '-r" - them glorified hv th. . ^* morning, both of siunnea by the greatest thinir in all th^ u Dorothy had never looked so beautiful K^k ,/ felt so like a giant i„ possibility ^"^ ^"^ "^"^•• froi^r tnf Shtr^' --onstrances and opposition how calmly Mrs PenT "'"'""' '"' ^^^^'^^^ *« ^n^ when Malcom K irk e:pre\',;;r'''' u'^ "^""- ^^^ firmness, that they ^^ hf •"l''^' ^'''''^' ^"* ^'^^ aether t; the new prifh to I '""":'• '* °"" ^"^ ^° *- Penr.e offered r^:.^:; o^c^tir^ ''' ^^^^^^^ ^"• Doroi;\^:^.f :ad^:,^nr..rur' -'- ^^^"^ -^^ - by this time I want vT, ; ^ ^°" '^'""^ y^""" own minds ' o..,.e. :.3er-rs:r"r.t■.nrM^ So .. eame about .ha. a n,„„.h ,„„ .he president of .he 54 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. seminary faculty came down to Beverly one morning, and Dorothy and Malcom Kirk were married in the presence of a very few of Dorothy's Hermon friends and two of Kirk's classmates, who had been settled over parishes near Boston. Kirk had made all his preparations for leaving. A few days before hi vk^as married, the president of the faculty had surprised him with the announcement that the sales of his pamphlet had been set aside by the publishers for the benefit of the seminary, but by unanimous consent the entire amount, something over two hundred dollars, was now at Kirk's dispcisal. Malcom Kirk was not going to be ^ penniless bridegroom in any case. He had already received since his return from abroad several checks for writing he had done during his last yeai in the seminary and while in London. So he was able to start towards the new home with much courage and the knowledge that Dorothy would not miss too many of the old luxuries. But Dorothy, once she had given her heart to Malcom Kirk, and said to him that she would share his life, en- tered upon a new and contented experience, such as in all her luxurious life she had never before felt. It is per- fectly true that she loved him without condition. She put her hand in his with the trustful confidence of a child, and it is no exaggeration to say that she would have been happy with him anywhere, rich or poor, famous or ob- scure, successful or defeated. The train whirled them on into the west. Into the land of the prairies. Into the land of new things, of those vague possibilities that always go with an untried com- munity. And Dorothy every moment felt more and more content. Malcom Kirk satisfied her ideals. His noble nature was continually revealing to her new phases of his Christian purpose. He had enthusiasm, and he was the only man who had ever been able to kindle hers. The thought that they were to work together filled her with a ^'.-Ja. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 55 1 li he .venly delight. She rejoiced in his strength, his man- hood, his inward life. As for Malcom Kirk, he was transformed by all that he now possessed. His poor Home Missionary church be- came to his thought a gigantic engine of power, with this glorious woman now his wife, who was to be by his side henceforth. He trembled at the extent of such a love and consecrated it every moment to the infinite eternal life that belongs both to this world and to that which is to come. They reached their journey's end at the close of a day, and entered the town by night. There was quite a little gathering at the station, curious to see the new mmister, and the superintendent himself, who happened that week to be in that part of the state, was present to welcome them and introduce them to a little handful of their par- ishioners. There was a parsonage, a furnished house of five rooms close by the church. A supper was ready for them. A lit- tle company came in afterwards to greet them, and the people seemed to be truly glad to see them. The sight of Dorothy's beauty astonished them all. She was a little amused at the evident look of disappointment with which everyone first saw her husband. "When they know him they will love him," she said to herself with unfaltering trust in his victory over them. She came out on the porch with him after all the mem- bers had gone away, and together they tried to get some idea of the place which was to be their home. The night was starry and the prairie vastness impressive to them. They had never either of them lived outside of a hill country. " How large did you say the town was, Malcom ? " "About fifteen hundred people, so the superintendent says." ■■ How many church members are there ? " "Fifty-seven on the roll. About forty living here." 56 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. */ " Can't we go over and look into the church ? I am cunous to see it." said Dorothy. She spoke in such " g ad, happy voice that Malcom Kirk, as he stood there with h,s arm about her, said. " You are happy, little wo- man, aren t you ? " "Can you ask?" she replied, and he was satisfied One of the trustees had left a church key with him. They walked across the parsonage yard, taking a lamp from the house w.th them, and together they went in and fifTv' V'"'"„T"' ^''^ ''''' ^°^ ^•^^^^ °"« hundred and fifty. A small class-room in the rear and a choir rail mg m front of the or^an. which was in a littl re s a one side of the platform. * his'^LToo*'d'''f V" '•'""" '°"" °" '"^^ P"'P'^ -d -th nis wte stood lookmg over the room. Do you thmk we two can help to 'bring in the king-' dom, as you say. into this town ? " Malcom Kirk looked at the room, at his pulpit where "Do yctu mean that we will see how much two people peop?e°/» ^''''" °" '"''^ ^°' ^^'''" ^""^'■^d °th«r "Yes, and whether in our life-time we can redeem whatever is evil here and give it back to God." "We will do it by His grace." said Malcom Kirk gravely. It seemed to him almost as if they two, there in their little church, had made a solemn promise to redeem the souls of all the lost in Conrad. They passed out of the church with the same feeling deep in their souls. Their hearts kindlea at their opportunity. And in the infinite places of the heavenly hosts, good and evil, God and the devil noted the entrance of these two children of light in- to that lawless, unchristian town of twenty-five years ago and from what at once besran ■• - to be there it seeme a wuiiin THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 57 the reach of a tremendous reality that heaven and hell be- gan to struggle for a supremacy marked by events which will leave tin ir record in the Book of Life with startling clearness. For these two Christians had entered the arena of the great human battle for victory over the world and the two greatest forces in the universe now began to test their powers as they had never yet been tested in that place. ' ^E PROPER /OF SCARBORO PUBLIC LIBRARY. 5S OVERCOMING THE WORLD. CHAPTER VII. THE ANGEL OF DEATH. Nearly three years after Malcom Kirk and his wife had njade the,r promise in this little Home Missionary" huh of Conrad, one evening in September a stranger stepped at Coll'; :r;-^-"^Jf ^«o express upon the pSm com Kirk.' "'""'' '°' ''' ^'"'^"^^ '' ^^e Rev. Mal- the'auel"''' "'^ ^"^ '^' '^''''^'" ^^'^ *he man to whom he question was put. " Come out to the end of the nlT form and I'll show you." ^ '" The stranger followed, and the man pointed up the Y:u.n fin V°"" u ''' ""^^ church'could bl'se en of thl church." " " ''' '^^^^""^^^ ^^°- ^^- «* the right tho:^i;';:j^sr'i4h^it;;^^^^ a very sick baby there." ^ "" ^^^^ '^^^^ ^ Jhe stranger paused and looked uncertainly at the Mn Kirk s old semmary classmates. I stopped off on my TdTdn^t ^ fu. ^ ^'^ ^^"^^ "°* ^^" there to-night Lby is ?"°" °' '" ^""'^^- ^° ^- '^"^ how sickVe all Z°" '"' ""°"^' ""'^ ^°^*- ^- been there nearly I 11 c^i THE STOay OF UALCOli KIRJt jp The 8tranger hesitated, and finally moved on towards tne parsonage. Ro to thi\^Ti\"°^!"'^ '"^"''■^ ^' *'^« ^°""' «"d then go to the hotel," he said to himself. When he knocked at the little parsonage, Dorothy her- i 'f opened the door. "This is Mrs. Kirk ? I am Mr. Wilson, one of Mr. w^l on "'V '' "''■'"°"- Y°" -'"^'"ber me ? I I «st hZ Tf ;;^"!„^^^°-^° -d stopped off to see him i just heaul of the illness of your baby I— " see'yon "'he' ''^' "^HT' ' '"°" ^^'^^"^ ^^'" ^^^ *« intrude./ T' '"^ '^^ '"'^^'^ ^''^ ^^'"^ "'"'Stance to m rude at such a t„ne. but iier manner assured him that his presence was grateful to them. Three years had made some changes in Dorothy. She was very beaut.ful still, and there was something more in e face wh.ch God's children always have after trialanS suffenng have purged the life within. Wilson noted in a aDie sign of economy. the^fit r' '"■"'^' '''°' ^'*^' '^' P'-"^^""^ atmosphere of homf 'if r' '""'^^ .''^* '^' '^^'"^ -*° ^'^•^ woman^ tir. on ? ''°"'''' '^^' ^' ^'^' ""^ble to say any- thing commonplace by way of sympathy In the next room Malcom Kirk was walking „n .nH dow i.H H, baby i„ bis a™s. T'.e darhaTb^Tv: ' S„g "" "■""■• '^''™'"" "' «■' "«'= house we« The Rev. George Wilson will never forget that steht h,s s,de the deathless paradise that all of Ihe redeemed shall somel,me enjoy. When Malcom Kirk tarred Tnd ZllllT':"' """ "-"• "■' ™" -« W. - -e"r which the ZnTT" T °" "'= '"" ' """' "< "■«-■"« w.\.j '' '*='>= had bardly closed his eyes. He had prayed. b,s wite beside him, every night, on his t; I :i 60 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. i knees by the little crib, that their first-born son might be spared to them But to-night, as the baby lay in his arms, he knew that the loving Father had some great reason un- known to them for taking to Himself this bit of humanity that for a few months had made the little parsonage on the praine the very garden spot of all the world to them band °In!l .' ^''^T ' ^°''^' '°°^ *^^ ^'^y ^^°"> her bus-' hZ^' A if' '''*^°"* ' ^°'"^' '^'"^P^d his old classmate's hand and the men stood there a moment praying Its you. George ?" said Kirk. "It seems good to see your face. We—", Malcom Kirk sat down and buried his face in his great hands and sobbed. It was the first time he had broken down m the presence of Dorothy. The sight of his o d agTttold """'-''^ ''"'"°" '"^'"^'^^ He saw again the old campus, its great avenues of elms tiTe noble itrV^' '"\'"' "°°'^' ^°^°*^^'^ home 'across th campus his own dingy little room, his love for the wo! And r "7 ^'' '^'""^ ^'^'^ ^'•^^^ ^••^"ble with hTm And he cried, without attempt at concealment. For hTs heart was sore at the coming loss of the baby out of a home where God Himself had blessed the love o man and wife as rarely in human lives it has been blessed. Finally he lifted up his face and spoke calmly. We ve hoped all along, of course, but the long con- ' tmued heat has been against his recovery. It's hard to t'o"kThebV'"^'-"T '-'-" ^^'-- Kirk ro::'and took the baby again from his wife, while Dorothy sat buTstiZb' *'''' "i ^"' '" '^^"^'^"^ ^^^^ - her arms, but still she. was without a tear. "See. the little fellow smiles at me still." Kirl^'.^^'f opened his eyes, looked up into Malcom fver hs'^Jac" ^^ <=o""tenance and a faint light went endZtP' °'' '''''°"^'" "'^^ ^"--^^hy. "I can't ».ft* ■ 9) THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 6i * It was the first protest that had escaped her. Like him the presence of this friend from the old loved place m the east, had rirred her heart, and even as she cried aloud m her anguish, the pent-up tears came, and she cried m sobs that rent her husband's heart even more than the baby s sad smile. Wilson choked as he rose to go, and said, " Kirk, may God bless and help you at this time. I would stay and watch with you, or help in any way— " chu'ro^*"' '* 7''l "°u ^' "'"''''■^- '^^^ "^'Shbors and any more "^ """^ ^'""^ *° "'' ^"^ °"' '^" ^° He went away to the hotel, promising to come in the morning to enquire, and the night grew on for Malcom and Dorothy The doctor came in, a few of the most Z ZT '^':,";^;\'"^'"bers, also, but no one could do any t"at Inf ."'^^^^'^^ held the baby with a tenderness place Its body in a restful positon on a bed, and it had grown used to its cradle of long, strong arms. It was towards morning, when no one was in the room except Malcom and Dorothy, that the baby died U seemed to these two as they watched it go that the hearts b,,,, ,,,,, ,„,„^, ,,^^^ ^^^ Jhayh fore them, when the last breath was drawn by that frai^ ^rembling body For a little while Malcom 'heM h^' the e Iht ^'^ """"'l ^°-" - - -uch. and kneel ng rroml? / "'"' f''""' ^'' ^•^^' h^ J°'"^d with her in firsT-born ""'"''''' ^"^"'^^ ''' '"^^ <^-th of their began to pour into the little room, and it seemed to the bereaved parents as if the earth was a great, dry. burn d! z ::!^:rj'^^^-\ ""^^- wiison ir., ^d ™ J W^ , sympathy were a blessing lo Mal- com and Dorothy. Bn. when, later in the day. the baby vyvro l^ | .^||^■ ll» »-lM^^ ' ^ ■l '^ll" || ^|^ '' 'l''u l ^ | ^;^j ; " ' >^ ~■^»''^'*'*^' 62 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. had been laid in the little coffin and placed in the center of the room with a bunch of white geraniums on its breast, brought in by the members of Dorothy's primary Sunday School class, Dorothy laid her head down on the table beside the casket, and her grief was very, very great. Malcom stood beside. her, looking hungrily at his baby's face, and the people in the little room quietly went out and left them alone for a while. Next day Wilson read the funeral service and prayed at the house, and after the simple service a little com- pany went with Malco^ and Dorothy to the cemetery just on the edge of the town, and the baby was buried there, and these children of the All Father went back to the little parsonage. It was a great blessing to them at this time that Wil- son was with them. He, seeing how they clung to his presence, stayed over Sunday and preached for Malcom. It was during this stay that he learned something of what Malcom and Dorothy had been doing. A short extract from a letter written by him to his wife in the east will show us something of the first three years of Malcom Kirk and his wife's attempt to make good their pledge to help redeem the lives of the people of Conrad. " I cannot tell you what a • ofound sense of sympathy I have felt for my old classmate and his wife during their great trouble, but I am simply astonished to find how great a work they have done in the three years they have been here. This is a place of about two thousand people. It is having a boom at the present time. " The agitation over the saloon is increasing, and I am told by Kirk and others that things are nearing a crisis, and in all likelihood the next legislature will pass a pro- hibitory amendment. The liquor men laugh at this pro- bability, and scout the idea that such a law can ever be passed. There are ten saloons here in Conrad, and all apparently flourishing. Among other things that the ■ THE STORY OF MxlLCOU KIRK. 63 : 1: i,: \ whisky has attempted during Kirk's stay here has been to antagonize the business men in his church against Kirk, with some success. Kirk's wife has been a great help to him. I think I never knew a more happy union of workers in all my Hfe. She has been the organist and the leader in Sunday School work, and her social influence in the town is very strong. The church membership has grown from forty odd to over one hundred, and Kirk has managed to gain a hold on a large group of young men, I think largely on account of their admiration for his unusual muscular development. 1 think it is probably true, from what I feel and hear, that already the influence of Kirk and his wife and their littie church in this wild western town is the strongest influence that ever entered the place. They are very much broken up by the loss of their baby. It has been a tremendous disappointment to them. I am very anxious for them, as I think of what the result may be on their future work. The pay of a home missionary out here is very small, and for some rea- son Kirk has not been able to make much with his writ- ing. I cannot help asking myst'f how the loss of their baby will affect their whole work here. Mrs. Kirk seems to be stunned by the blow. I shall leave here Monday, and my greatest regret is that I cannot be of more help to my old classmate. He is at a crisis in his career, and everything depends on the way he accepts this death of his baby." 1 Ills is only a fragment of Wilson's letter, but the num- ber of times he referred to the death of the baby as mark- ing a crisis in the lives of Malcom and Dorothy revealed the depth oi the impression made upon his mind by the manner in which they were affected by their loss. He went away on the morning train, and Malcom, who had gone to the station to see him off, came slowly back to the par.snnnge and went into the little room next the kitchen which he had fitted up for a study. :.'*'. f ^^^' CTWjSW t 64 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. ■*■■■■ Dorothy was at work in the kitchen, and Malcom sat down at his study tabic and looked out of the window across the prairie. It was unfortunate that he could see in the distance the little cemetery from that window. He finally rose and drew the curtain close down, and went back to his desk. He took up his pen and dipped it in the ink. and then sat there, thinking, thinking, of his baby. He recalled every little look, its smile, its new habits, added day by day. His heart swelled at the thought of all that he had dreamed for his boy's future. Was God good? Was it true, this gospel of comfort he had been preaching these three years ? WhV, then, was he not comforted ? The baby had died Thursday night. Three days nov/, and yet the v/orld expected him to go on with his work, vrite sermons, make calls, attend to the thousand little details that must be remembered or someone would notice and begin to complain. How could he take up the burden of :ife and carry it ? How could he regain his old enthusiasm or help Dorothy ? Were they not both smitten to the dust by this heart loss ? He found himself saying all this, and even half fearfully asking him- self if Dorothy had not made a mistake to share her life with him. What could he offer her ? What career was possible for them now in this little place ? _ The ink had dried on his pen, and he sat there holding It, unable to write a word. Dorothy had gone out to the well, and when he missed her step in the kitchen and glanced out of the other window to see her, she was sit- ting on a bench he had built under the cottonwood in the yard, the only tree in the place. She had feft her pail at the well and sat there look' ,^. .; towards the little knoll which he had shut out <.f ..^ h', when he drew down his curtain. He sat down with a g.c ,, and for a moment the world seemed utterly empty and useless to him. He had sat there for a long time, feding all the while that his nlace THE STORY OP MALCOM KIRK. <"> or say, when atlraTZ h' '" '"= "^'" """« » b«» someone must halt knocLd°" """''' '""'• «= wen- through the si«i„„ """'•''''i »«erai times. He farm wagon and horse wer. o. 1 r^ *^^ ''°°'"' ^"^ a " You don't reme"bri° m" K^l^.^f ^'^ ^^"^^• woman, i, a voice so thin anri f^^.^f ? ^^id the little «tantly reminded of a a t. '."''' ^^'^^"^ ^^« '"- J-'iy living on wha was called "Th V" f'^ ^^""^ ^ ^ from Conrad, in a very desoll. ^°''^''" ^'^^t miles of 'and that formed 7JoTZ2Zn^'^'''' '^' "^^^ around. ^"^ o"'/ hill country for miles " Yes Id"!, The woman's fa'cl ^htd'''' t^'"' ^"'■*°"' '^^'t it?" "Yesr and j/ '. '^^'^^^ "P famtly. and I want you to h^r^^^'"' ^'''' ''^^^^-' Mr. Kirk, Malcom stared at tJiP u ul ^nd instantly it flashed Into ht^'/;?' ^°'-"-°"t figure, Whi:rsrtr;;/rtrr-^-^.Mr. the double team and a loJ/I ^ ^^'■'" Saturday with -«■ I know he isins me^aton'^d \'^^^"'* --^'•- the money for the : v all T ' ^'"'"king or drunk and -^e '^elp me to nn/^ Z^^^, Mr. Kirk. fo. 'cot the love of your own baby that ^"'"^ ^««'" ' For '"to a good Christian man to . T" '^^^^^ *« ^row up "'e to get my boy ou of tMs H "' '"' '"-^ 3^ou. hel heart is broken when I th Lk L h T ^^^^ ^''"' ^oV my -"* -d happy as your tn b L;- '^ "" °"- =^ ^o' %^, 66 OVERCOMTNG TUK WORI.TJ CHAPTER VIII. THE BEST SOL/iCE "CR OUK. OWN GRIEF IS TO LIGHTEN THE SOitROVVS OF OTHERS. For a few moments Malcom Kirk experienced a feel- ing of anguish on his own account that shut out entirely this other forlorn ank bleeding heart. Then there sprang up in his soul a mos* tremendous and overpowering revo- lution of feeling. H« said to a very dear friend several years afterwards, that as he stood there on the threshold of his parsonage, with the hot, dusty glare of that wither- ing day smiting him and the figure of that old woman on the doorstep, he knew that perhaps the most important event in his own inner experience was taking place. For this appeal for help, this cry to him to share a burden while his own seemed greater than he could bear, revealed to him the Christ life in our human lives, and the glory of overcoming the world for His sake. Certain it is that as Malcom Kirk stood there that morning his soul felt the touch of a healing and beneficent love, and he looked at his life again as worth while and then began already to know that the fire of this own sorrow was destined to make him more serviceable to others. What he actually did the next m ute after all this was to ask Mrs. Barton to come into the house. He took her mto his study, and ther, after a single moment of hesita- tion, he went out intf ' - back yard to Dorothy. She was still sittir the bench, dry-eyed and oblivi- ous of everyth.-ng a :id her, living over the last three days. Malcom coaie . , and put his hand on her shoulder. "Dear," he ■■.:-' very gently, "will you come with me iHTEN THE :ed a feel- ut entirely ;re sprang ring revo- id several threshold at wither- voman on important lace. For a burden , revealed the glory it is that ul felt the looked at Iready to stined to this was took her Df hesita- id oblivi- ast three shoulder. with me f I THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. ^^ into the house ? There is someone there who has come to see me, to see us both." ^ said^'lfnfl,""' ^"°^ ''^'^' ^^ '"^^"t- ^'^ hardly what he ivars. iJarton, this is Mrs W.-rU t I." what you ha;e ,„Id „e ■■ """' """ '" '=" However, w.. „e .J^^ ^.^^'^L^7l^. often exe,d . ^ „^ ^^„ _^^^.__^ y face 'Jn, ma am, she rnVH " t'„« won't help me to ^et 1 k t '°"'' *° '"' " ^'■- ^'^^ drinking. iTive in rlr "^ ?°'"' '^''"- «^'« ^^^^ I don't very often" . ' ^''"' '* "^^^ ^^^^s,' and Imsband andtey Loe Tn '"' ' '^^^ ^^^^^ °^ ^°- for help and know hf "^^ ''^""^ ^^"^ ^°"« *° ^im boy wi^' be'twetrone\: "iT^l ^ ^^ T' ^^ that some day your h.hv ,/' "'"^ ^°"'' ^"^''^"d Christian r.zl^L^r.:tt^::z:''iT.^ - n hoped and oraveH n,„ k . ^ " ^'^^^^ what I .He sa,„o„ aZ Zi'Z W." '"'• ^"^ "^ ■"^«'«. " wHe^r LS' ™ Z'Z,'7 ^"' -- '■■" of Her ,ro„b,e, " n u ? ^^'^othy s face stopped her baby-or-bXird t;:^;^'' -^ -• -^^ our asto^nt\rt.'?H?etTnr^" ^^^^ ^* ^--'^^ ^" her, but God gave herThe Tt"^ 'f "'^ °'' ^"^^* ^''O"* cular time. She rose an. ".1^* J""-^ *« «-:» at that parti- over near Dorothy Mai " ^'"^ '^"'^ ''''^''^' ^^'^ed "Oh, Mrs. Kirk Lv ctTT,"'''" '''''''' ''''' -«ht. ^^;ve not been to Zl t^e^talTeL'?'?, '"V ^ the paper last week at all Tt, i . °'^ "ot see o' your ,ab. he li'l'^:; JVlV'Tll'^ '"'T' OVERCOMING THE WORLD. for a moment, while two tears ran down over her thin cheeks. Dorothy began to sob. She had not cried before since that day when the baby was laid in its coffin. Not even at the grave. " Oh, ma'am," Mrs. Barton went on, " your baby will never be a drunkard. My husband was. We lost a good farm back in Ohio on account of the drink, and then my husband died, and I took the boy and came out here. I went purposely to a lonesome place to keep my boy from the town. I may have made a mistake, but I did the best I knew, and I feared for him on account of his father. Oh, ma'am, your hea^t is sore, I know it, but it's not as sore as mine, for your baby never broke your heart. I would sooner see my boy in his coffin than see him as I have many a time during the past two years. There's trouble and trouble. May God help us to bear our own. But your baby's safe now. How can I tell if mine ever will be ? " She spoke the last words in such a tone of hopeless sadness that Dorothy lifted up her head and looked at her. " Don't say that ! " she said, and the tears flowed down her face faster. They wero merciful tears. Her heart, which had been fast bound within her, as if it would burst! felt the first relief she had known. God was leading htfr. She still did not know that what Malcom had experienced had come to her also. But the lonely, stricken woman in the little study, representing so much human sorrow of a kind that neither Dorothy nor Malcom knew, had touched her. She, also, was able to say to her husband years after- wards that she felt as if the coming of that other burden into their own heavy-hearted lives was a part of the loving Father's plan for their victory in overcoming the world, the world of what might have grown to be a very selfish sorrow. What happened, all that was said in that little study room after that, is not easy to tell. But when Mrs. Bar- ii)H*lliliH>iMi«ii I iiiiB'ilB.in THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 69 ton went out, Malcom Kirk went with her. Dorothy went into her own little room and prayed, and there was * that m her prayer that revealed to her the loving Father For the first time she saw her baby surrounded by the In- finite love, and when she came back to her work in the kitchen there was hope, immortal hope, and a large mea- sure of the peace of Christ in her heart. Malcom Kirk got into the farm wagon with Mrs. Bar- ton and they G.ove to the main business street of Conrad Now, Mrs. Barton," Malcom had said, " if you will wait outside, I'll go into the saloons and see if I can find your boy. While I'm looking, you might question passers-by, and ask them is they have seen the hay wagon and horses anywhere." She thanked him gratefully, anJ he noted that even in hLr;'"^, T ^"" *^'"' '°'''°^^"' «S"^« ^'•^'"bled and shivered nnd her lips quivered as if sV , re cold His compassion for her motherhood increased every moment. hTn I f"" '' °"' °^ '^' '°^t ones in this town ti::r;;omtTo"ocf^^ "^^ ^^^^-^^^ ^-^ -^^^- ^° -^^ He had never been inside of a saloon in his life He w'of /r.; "''■''' '^'°^^ '^'"^' "'^h all the shudder! Z,? ;i "^ ''"''''"' 'P^"^ ^" '^' P--^^^"" of an ugly repulsive, hideous evil. But he w ■ t ^„<, • . .l ^ salnnn «t, ft, • " "^ ^"*^^ '"^O the first saloon on the main street and stopp.a inside near the door and looked around him. It was not yet ten o'clock in the morning but there I'^e'sear; T ^"' '''' ^" ^^^ '^^^' -^ich Z qu large, seated with stools, and furnished with small, round thel^.!"* his entrance attracted no attention. A few of tlie men were loung ntj at the h-.r Tt, . at the tables R • , ^^ '■^'* ^^""^ seated at the tables. Bu. as he remained by the door, two or 70 ovebcomino the world V three of those nearest him turned and looked at him One of the men was a laborer who had several times been cmnloy..^ r,v Malcom in odd jobs about the house. instantly Kirk walked over to him and held out his hand. " Carver, do you know Mrs. Barton's boy ? Philip IS his name. She is looking for him. He leit home Sat- urday and she is sure he is in one of the saloons some- where. The man looked very much embarrassed. He shuffled his feet nervously in the dirty sawdust under th- table the niHio'ck":""":'^^- "^ ^^^ ^" ^^^'""'^ ^''-^ - "Thank you." said Malcom, slowly. " Can any of you hlmto2yf'' ""' '"^'^'"^ '^°"' ^'"^ ^ ^'' '"^°"' '''" No one answered, and there was a painful sil- ^e The barkeeper, who had been eyeing Kirk, suddenly . ke the silence by saying with a short laugli hJi ^°u T"'* ^""^ ^'"^ ^'''- ^ ^°"'t '^y he hasr- been here. He knows a good thing when he sees It Won't you step up and take a .lass of .ced beer this morning 7 A^e keep the best m the town on tap for preachers." thr n'T'V^ ''\"^'' ^'■°'" °"^ ""^ *^° °^ the men nearest th peaker. but Malcom simply looked him in the face rz irsoftifr "^" '-'' "^ '-' - ^-- --- The r.,n writhed in his ..at, but did not say a word Kirk iooked at him sorrowfully. Crime. Carver, co"ip out of ffiie tmi „: .no- rl« r» Li ^ " ^'^^ y°" some- .ng do. Don t lose your soul in this place." ^av said the barkeeper, who had been leaning with Ins elbows on the bar u.tening, as ha-l also every oTher man m the saloon, "you leave my customers a oL w , you, and mind your own business." ii f 1 t i. % •'v^ f^i *^ 1 THE STOKY OF MALtOM XXRK. 7, " That's just what I am doing," replied Kirk, earnestly. ulr ^U'"" f ^"'' ^'"' '''' ^"^'^ ^^'"^ ^ high, white i feiU. It s my business to destroy your business. Man do you know that just outside that door is a mother's broken heart that you have helped to break ? And hers is only one out of thousands all over the world. Mind my own busmess I It is exactly what I intend to do. until every hell l.ke this is wiped out of this town " He spoke very quietly, almost softly, his voice did not tlet^H;; ^^^"""^"^'/^-''^^ oi it thrill d everybody here. He looked mto their faces a noment and. with a last appealing ,00k at Carver, he turned and went out Whe-v! said the barkeeper. "First sermon ever delivered here. Score one for Parson Kirk - " Carver hfd'r"'"/'' "t' ''''°"' "'^^^ '""^'^ enthusiasm. »-arver had risen from the table keepe!'""" ^""" °"' ^'^^'^ ^°" ^°'" ^^'^ the saloon- "I won't drink again to-day," Carver retorted with an o t ii fth" ', "'"" "^ '''''-''' '« *he door andtnt strLr. ,!'"■' °^ '^'' ^'''' ^^^•'^•••"S «»"• Down the street he could see Kirk just entering Vahner's pla^e 1 -1 half a mind to help Mr. Kirk hunt for the hn^r " Carver muttered. He hesitit.rl f^. ^' went on down the 're.r f n \"^oment. and then n Qown the strc.t. following the minister, inat forenoon i\Lalcom '< rl- «,«„* • .. in Conrad, but he fane.r . '"*° '^'"'"^ ^^'°°" The sights that greeted Malcom in the sa o„„ never (or; atten hv 1,.„ u saloons were a d..t,„c. embarrassnten, through the'c-o^pan^'^The"™" i- 72 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. jonty of customers, however, seemed, from their dress and talk to be composed of farmers, young men from the ranches outlying Conrad. Malcom was simply appalled when he thought of what such a fact meant. He said to himself every time he came out and faced the dumbly-appealing face in the farm wagon, " And yet we. Christian people, license these enemies of the race and allow them to continue their devilish work, although we know well enough how devilish it is. May God help us as a state to declare against it by statute as well as by prayers and sermons." He lived, as did every temperance man m Kansas at that, time, in the great hope that the day was not far off when the saloon would be declared outlaw but how near that day was not even he was able to predict. It was nearly noon when he finished his tour of the saloons, and as he came out near the lower end of the mam street there was a large group of men standing there lookmg off across the prairie and talking eagerly together. The wmd had nsen and was blowing almost a gale, carry, ing great clouds of dust through the town, and off as far as men could see there was a column of smoke spreading out with great rapidity. "The prairie fires have started early," Kirk thought, but It was only when one of the ranchmen in the stree spoke that he realized what the fires might mean. If this wind keeps up, this town will have its hands lull m about an hour." The speaker ran to his horse, jumped on it and was soon galloping out of the town towards one of the new lanches in the direction of "The Forks" " Mrs. Barton, it is possible that your boy has gone home since you left." ^ "Yes, yes" cried the woman, snatching at any hope. I will go back. If the fire should come into 'The Forks I ought to be there to see that my other boy has '"^ '"'^MSSWPWBW "i l lW imUt, Wf» M.>l| H i.M l W tm <>ri gone THE STORV OF MALCOM KIRK. 73 help in getting the stock behind the fire guards We Ploughed ours early this year on account of t'he dry vv^a ther.^ We lost all our hay-stacks one Septen^ber' fZ A little farther down the str^Pf tu^ u and stopped. * *^^ ^""^^ ^ere caught Kirk ran up with a crowd of other men. No sign of Phil Rartr>« » -J ''ad helped catch the team ' °"' °' '''' *"«" ^'^^ ;; He's probably been thrown out somewhere" .. Drunken men never get killed." ti^e /«ir;i;:ror ther"tid ' ir^ ' '- ^^" °^ '•- the district from which tht '" '^l'' '°'"*'"^ ^^^^^^s town. "^ ^'^^ '^^"^s had come into the Malcom's mind was in a whirl, without loTkin'/foThim'" ^^ ''''''' "°^ *° ^^e him saved." ^' ^y boy may never be «t- an „« „, ,i„„; '- , "'',;-; Jo; '- ™„„.h,, wmmg down on us fortv m.T. V ' """^ """ "^ bnsiness men. ' ''" "" ''°""-' 'aW one of the 74 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Kirk looked around him. The citizens were coming out of the stores and houses, and the whole town was roused to face and fight the coming danger. For it was true, unless the wind changed or died down, Conrad was threatened with the fate which that year befell more than one ranch and settlement. "I believe Dorothy would tell me to go," he said to himself. Then he spoke aloud. " I don't feel like giving young Barton up if he is anywhere near. We can per- haps reach him before the fire reaches us. Who will go with me ? " "I will," said Carver, who was at Malcom's elbow. "Come on, then," Malcom cried. And together the two men started on a run in the direction from which the horses nad come in. " Was Barton a friend of yours ? " asked Carver, as he panted by the side of the minister. " No, i only knew him slightly." " What are you trying to find him for ? " " For his mother." The men ran on. Over on the near horizon a line of flame and smoke over twenty-five miles long:- marched down towards them and the town of Conrad, with a prairie gale behind it, and human love and courage in its path. W^ >. w i wjmii iiw l*llllllWlfi>ilB THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 75 CHAPTER IX. KIRK PREVENTS A LYNCHING. As Malcom Kirk and Carver ran on, directly in the face of that wild line of fire and smoke, there was only one supreme thought in the mind of Malcom. He saw he boys mother, and while he ran he heard her voice as she had appealed to him in his study Instinctively, the two men bore off from the road over where the grass and rosm weeds grew deep, and it was but a few feet from the beaten track of the praine road waTd u "7 '': '°r^ :' ^''"P ^^^^°"' lying face down wards, tuc hands clinched, and holding tightly to a broken piece of the lines of the harness JSo tune then to stop and ask whether he were living al the T '"" "^r""" '""'• ^"^ '^-^ t° ^he town Zi all the power of the.r pulsing manhood. Carver was entirely sober now. He was naturallv . -an of great muscular endurance. Malco^ had k p 'up ;;;s Physical trammg in his work with the young Ten in' Not a word was said. Thev reahV^H tt,of ^u .- prain la. by C" "'*" *""• """"'' °"' "" *^ wo»M 1,= • T" ""''""^ circumstances this fact would have tnsured sately from any „,„», a,e. Bm the 1(^ OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Whole prairie was aflame, everything was as dry as two months of drought and hot winds could make it and water, for a long time, had been very scarce in wells and cisterns. Back of all that advancing line of fire was a prairie gale that shot the flames straight forward, and old settlers, some of whom had seen the great fires in Dakota in the early sixties, looked at the sight now before them with grave faces. Dorothy came to the door of the parsonage, stood there a moment, and then ran, with other women, her neighbors, down to tlie main street. Bucket lines were being formed from all the wells and cisterns that were available. She instantly joined with the others in handing the water. A large company of men, armed with wet cloths to whip out the fire, began to form as far from the houses as they dared. It was too late now to plow fire-breaks, and too windy to make a back fire. The only hope that any one had was that the shortness of the grass near the town would check the fury of the advancing whirlwind of flame "Have you seen Mr. Kirk.?" Dorothy asked as she first joined the others. Ana they told her. Her face Z^ 'Z^ Y' ^^' ^'■'"'^'^ ^ ^'^^'' ^' ^he worked on Mlently. She knew that he whom she never loved as she loved him at that moment was in the line of duty, and she would not have called him back from it. But her heart sTrdll ;ivet ^"' ''-' '''''-' '- ''- -^- '- Down came the great wall of fire and smoke. The hot air scorched the faces of the fire-fighters. Dim figures out on the advance line were seen desperately strugg ing with the element. The town was enveloped in smoke and burned-out ashes of prairie grass that sifted ov tl ' ZJ^sTo '7 ''''' ^"^ ^^"^^ °^ ^» -- black and grimy. Scores of men rushed unon the fire- 'J^- - .. - on. checked some by the short grass, and stamped out THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. •71 out the flame with their feet, with rags, with old brooms, with pieces of carpeting and bedding torn from their own houses. The outstanding line of fighters was forced back, burned and exhausted, but the fire had been checked, and as it broke out in new places, fresh groups threw them- selves upon it and fought for the life of the town. Dorothy could not remember how she came to be with the fighters on the prairie, instead of with the water- carriers, but it was undoubtedly her anxiety for Malcom's safety that urged her out towards the fire. Her dress had caught on fire and been put out several times. Some one had thrown water over her, but she had hardly known it She worked with all the others in a silent frenzy. Sud- denly she was conscious of a tall, awkward figure near her, loommg up through the smoke, threshing at the fire with powerful energy, a very incarnation of resistance and stubborn refusal to surrender. "Malcom!" she cried, and, faint as she was, she felt new life at the sight of him. "Dorothy! Thank God! We got back with him just in time." There was no time to say more. The danger was still great. Near t ogether now, husband and wife fought on. The citizens of Conrad afterwards bore witness to the way in which they fought. " Say, did you see Mr. Kirk ?" A group of men at the postoffice, several days after the great fire, were talking It over. * "These New England folks beat every other kind when It coffu. to never giving up." "Yes, or fighting the devil. Our minister beats all the rest at that," said Carver, who spoke of Kirk as "Our Minister, although he had never been a member of any rcn, an.. ra-Cxj- -.vent lo near even Malcom preach But .t was a tribute to the hold Malcom had secured on i '""" i IlliiliiiiibiiiliWI— 78 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. such men that they appropriated him somehow to them- selves, or to the best that was struggling in them. It was nearly the middle of the afternoon of that eventful day that the people of Conrad, exhausted, burned, blackened, saw the great danger pass around them, and the galloping whirlwind thunden 1 off beyond the town, leaving a mighty and desolate expanse of black and smoldering prairie behind it. Then it was that the severest trial of all came to Mal- com and Dorothy. They had gone into the house of one of their parish- ioners, where the body of Philip Barton had been carried. He was living, but had received some injuries from falling out of the waggon, probably, when the team ran away. They had come out of the house, and were on their way home, when some one in the street suddenly clutched Malcom's arm, and, pointing through the smoke, cried: " Look there! The church is on fire!" The church and parsonage stood at the opposite end of the town from the prairie fire, and the danger had been the least in that quarter. That part of the town had been entirely deserted while the fight had been going on at the other end. " If the church goes, the parsonage will go, too," thought Malcom, as he and Dorothy ran through the street. When they reached the parsonage the roof had already caught from a flying timber blown off the church tower. The water of the town was exhausted. The well in the parsonage yard was already nearly em.pty. Malcom rushed into the house, and by desperate work, helped by several other men, succeeded in carrying out f me furni- ture and a few of his books. One of the boxes in Dorothy's room was blazinf? as he carried it out and threw it over, and a nile of np.ner?. in a portfolio was scattered. Dorothy, as she worked THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 79 ime to Mal- helping carry some pieces of furniture to a place of safety, felt something blow against her face, and, putting up her hand, she caught a piece of paper. Even in the excitement she saw what it was. It was the sketch that Francis Raleigh had drawn on board the Cephalonia three years before, the sketch of Malcom holdmg the baby. Dorothy sobbed as she saw what it was. Her own baby! And now their home and nearly all the things they counted dear! It was over soon, and in a little while the church and parsonage, the work of many i weary struggle for their httle company of disciples, were dreary heaps of ruin A hard fight on the part of the worn-out citizens had kept the other houses from being burned. The church and parsonage had stood in a large lot by themselves. After all," said Malcom, when it was all ov-r, as he sat down by Dorothy on a trunk, while a little group of neighbors stood by discussing the incidents of the fire After all, dear, we have . good deal to be thankful for"' Y'' , '^'^ Dorothy, with a smile. It was a little hard for her, as she sat there, to imagine that Dorothy Gilbert, who, once back in the old New England home. had been noted for the elegance and refinement of all he^ ways and surroundings. Nothing but the great love she bore the man who had asked her to share his life now married "'""^'' '' *''* '°^"^^ '''' "^''^'^ ^^e was hn^'^"7u^'"^. '^' '^''' ^^^'"^ ^' the ruins of his home and his church, and deep down in his heart there was a m.ghty conflict going on. He had lost his books near y a„ that were of value, and the other losses were ,n i A ^^" ^^^<^^^ned and burned, his clothes hung .n ragged rents about him. his great fists were bleedinp rj 'r: ^z'' f'"^' ^^^f '''■ — who had left an; - ,,. ,.iarc -,ucn privations, dangers, losses ? For a moment he hardly heard what some of his par- 8o OVERCOMING THE WORLD. ishioners were saying. They had been talking excitedly together. "Mr. Kirk, we are of the opinion that this fire was incendiary." " How is that ?" asked Malcom, rousing up a little. "The first seen of it was in the tower. Now, the fire from the prairie could not possibly have caught up there. Some one must have set it." Then different ones began to whisper their suspicions. The next day, while Malcom and Dorothy were stay- ing with one of the jchurch members, who took them into his home, the rumor grew that the fire was the work of the whisky men. Down on the street excited groups of men gathered that evening discussing the matter. Everyone knew that Malcom Kirk had fought the saloons from the first day of his entrance into Conrad. He was feared and hated by them more than any one else. He had succeeded, to a large degree, in getting the other churches to act together in the agitation now going on all over the state. He was already noted for his leadership throughout the county, and had written and spoken on every possible occasion for the roposed prohibitory amendment. So there was reason in the suspicion held by the citi- zens. As the evening wore on proof of a certain saloon man's guilt seemed almost sure. Two or three persons had seen him coming out of the parsonage yard that after- noon of the fire. A child had seen the same man on the steps of the church a few minutes after Dorothy had left the parsonage. It was now lo o'clock. The crowd at the corner by the postoffice grew every minute brger and more threatening. Groups of men stood s^urrpundiug some speaker, who urged lynching as the only satisfactory punishment for such a crime. The citizens were exasperated and nervous from the great strain of the last two days. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 8l ig excitedly [lis fire was up a little, ow, the fire ht up there. suspicions. were stay- k them into he work of :n gathered : knew that first day of d hated by jeded, to a ict together e. He was :he county, le occasion by the citi- tain saloon ■ee persons 1 that after- aan on the [ly had left rner by the hreatening. :aker, who ihment for id nervous Malcom Kirk came down town late that night to get the mail from the east-bound express, and walked mto the mob just as cries of " Lynch the fire-bug!" rose from many voices. As soon as the crowd saw him, it sur- rounded him, excitedly. " Mr. Kirk, we've proof that ' Big Jake ' set fire to your church." Malcom looked over the crowd a moment in silence. He had not been thinking so much about the loss of his church and parsonage as he came down town as about Dorothy and his future prospects. But the sight and sound of that mob of citizens brought his mind back to the situation, not only in the town of Conrad, but throughout the entire state. For the time, therefore, he let his own personal plans go, as he faced the fact of a grave crisis in the temperance movement. He had, more than one Sunday evening, held out-door services at the very corner where the crowd now gathered. Dorothy had often helped him at such services by playing and singing. Every man in Conrad was familiar with the tall, homely, awkward figure that now towered over almost every other head, and every man in Conrad respected him. There was an empty dry goods box near one of the stores, and Malcom Kirk asked some of the men to drag it out to the corner of the sidewalk. The minute he had mounted it the crowd became silent. It is a rare gift to be able to speak to a great crowd of men out of doors, and hold them. Kirk possessed that gift. His voice was a sple«did instrument, and he knew how to use it. It is said of Gladstone that in the days of his greatest power as a speaker people would linger in the corridors of the House of Commons when he was talking, sinnply to enjoy the sound of the tone of his voice, c' '■"•'J '-•jUiu iiui dibunguisn a wora that was said. Something of this same quality made Kirk's voice a fasci- 82 OVERCOMING THE WORLD, nation for an audience. Whatever it was, it could truly be called a great gift of God. And he used it now in a God-like manner. He began by calling attention to the fact that the people of the state were trying to abolish the saloon by legislative amend- ment to the Constitution. At such a time as that, for the temperance people to act in a lawless manner, towards even the enemies of the home and the church, would be an act of folly so great that it might endanger the entire movement for prohibition. " I am, perhaps," continued Malcom, " the most inter- ested person in this whole matter. It is my church that has been burned, and my home that has been destroyed And yet I say to you men, that if you attempt to use vio- lence towards ' Big Jake.' or any other saloon-keeper on the ground of this circumstantial evidence, and take the law mto your own hands, I will defend him from such violence at the risk of my own life. Let us act like men m this matter; like men who see farther than personal vengeance, and are determined that our fight shall be directed, not against the saloon-keeper so much as against he business he represents. That is what we want to fight for m behalf of all our homes and churches, and our state and country." He got down off the box, after he had spoken, and appealed m a quiet but powerful manner, to some of the most influential men in the crowd not to let the men act lawlessly. His speech and appeal had their effect A small group of men on the edge of the crowd gathered farther up the street, and after Kirk had gone home they marched up to ' Big Jake's ' saloon, only to find it closed and the proprietor fled. THE STORY OP MALCOM KIRK. 83 CHAPTER X. DOROTHY PROVES HERSELF A HELPMEET. Next day Malcom Kirk had the melancholy pleasure of taking Philip Barton out to "The Forks." He had recovered sufficiently to be moved, and Malcom borrowed a spring waggon and placed him in it comfortably. He complained of feeling queer in his back, and could not stand on his feet, and the doctor told Kirk before he started that it would not be at all unexpected if Barton should be paralyzed. " In fact, Mr. Kirk, my examina- tion makes it almost certain that the boy will probably never recover so as to use the lower part of his body. It seems probable that the wheels of the hay waggon passed over him after he fell out." The prairie was one vast, burned stretch of plain, with the road grey and distinct through it. Philip Barton lay back on the cot that had been arranged in the waggon box, and looked up at Malcom with a white, strained face as he drove slowly along over the smooth, elastic prairie road. At first Malcom drove on silently. The buy seemed to be quite comfortable, but unwilling to talk, and during the first two miles hardly a word was spoken. Then Malcom stopped the horses, and bent down to arrange some part of the cot. When he had finished and gathered up the lines to go on again, young Barton spoke. " You were one of the men that found ne and brought me into the town. Mr KirL- ?" TVi* K«,r u^a ,.l..-^ :* twice bffor'^. 84 OVERCOMING THE WOHLB. Yes, replied Malcom, smiling. " You can't imagine what a great joy it was to me when we found you." "And Carver was the other man ?" " Yes." " That seems queer to me. How did he happen to go with you ?" "Well, I don't know exactly. He seemed eager to go " "Was he-had he been drinking?" The question came with evident painful effort. ^ 'Yes, I think he had," replied Malcom, frankly. But he was sober enough when we found you." There was silence, and Malcom gathered up the lines again and started on. The day was very still, and there was a great cloud coming up in the south-west which promised rain before night. "It was a great thing for you to do," said Philip, slowly. "I'll never forget it, Mr. Kirk." "It was a very little vhing, my boy, compared with what was done for me once," said Malcom, gravely "What was that?" " I was lost once in a great wilderness and surrounded with wild beasts. I was sick and starving, and unable to - save myself. Night was coming on, and every minute added to my danger. Just when I had given myself up as lost, and the wild beasts had gathered around me in the growing darkness, a friend suddenly appeared He saved me, but in doing it he lost his own life. That is a- good deal more than I did for you." Philip had listened intently. But something in Mal- com s manner kept him silent. "That wilderness where I was lost," continued Mal- com, softly, as his early life before he entered the sem- inary came back to him, "was the wilderness of sin. and he wild beasts were my passions, and the friend who ::;:'^L7 ^^^"^ ^^^^f' *^^ Saviour of the lost, who gave Himself i ransom lor nianv." THE STORY OF MALCOM KIKK. 85 There was not a particle of cant or attempt at preach- ing in what Malcom had said. It was so simple, so na- tural, that the bov on the cot hardly realized at first what the minister h d. When it duv. .cd upon him that Malcom had spoken of his own conversion, he closed his eyes, and his face twitched under his emotion. When he looked up a ain, Malcom had turned, and was looking down at him. " Do you mind if we pray here ?" said Malcom. Philip moved his head, and in his eyes a look of ex- pectant wonder grew. Malcom stopped the horses. The prairie was wide and desolate, and black. Not a sign of life anywhere. The atmosphere was still. The sun shone over it all. The town lay distinct in the near distance. And, somehow, it seemed as if Kirk spoke to God close by. He cat with his hands on his knee, and looked out into the line of the horizon. " Father in heaven/' he said, " we do not know what it all meant when the Lord came to this earth and lived, ;uid suffered, and died. But we know enough to feel sure that love for us was what made Him do it. Love for sin- ners. We are always asking something. Father, but what we want now is what Thou dost want. Save another life, this one here that is in so much need. His body has been saved for a little while from physical death. Save his life kn- all time from eternal loss. His mother is praying for him. All heaven is anxious for his salvation. If Thou wilt . ^ow us what more we can do, dear Lord, we will do it. But lead him to Thyself, for we cannot forgive his sins nor keep him. from them. Thou canst do it if he will let Thee. For the great love of Jesus to us we give Thee a!l we have. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, an., the glory. Amen." He gathered up the lines and went slowly on, and for the next tnle not a word was said. Then, Malcom, hear- '^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // {./ ^ .^. /. i/.A fA 1.0 Sisfi laa 1.25 1^ Ui2 lit 2.2 2.0 im JA III 1.6 ^V^^^"^" '> /i^^fe. _x Ui Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)873-4503 i\ fN> •1>^ >^ [V* ^\ WriS %>:it.^ ^■'0^' "^ --i;^ 86 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. El:: ing the boy move to change his position a little, turned and looked down at him. "Do you believe that, Mr. Kirk ?" he asked, while his lips quivered. " What ?" "That 'all heaven is anxious for my salvation'?'" "Why not? The Book says 'there is joy in heaven over one smner that repenteth.' Why shouldn't heaven be anxiouj to have us repent ?" "I don't know, but—" "'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.' He cares as much for you as for anv soul on earth," said Malcom, gently. Philip was silent after that during the rest of the drive. He lay with his eyes closed, and Malcom did no* think it wise to talk any more to him, but a continual prayer went out of his heart for another sheep gone astray. When they drove up to the house at " The Forks," Mrs. Barton came running out. She helped Malcom to lift Philip into the house, and, as the boy was being low- ered upon a bed, he reached up his arms and put them about his mother's neck. The poor woman sank on her knees, and, with her face buried on the breast of her boy. sobbed out her heart's joy at his home-coming. When Kirk was ready to return to Conrad, she held his hand reluctant to have him go. ' " Heaven bless you, Mr. Kirk. I owe you more than I can tell. The fire carried off our grain stacks in the field out there, and we lost several of our sheds, but I would gladly go out into the world a beggar if Phil would only turn to God and give up the drink. And you and Mrs. Kirk have your great burden. I am selfish to add mine to it." "'Bear ye one another's burdens,'" quoted Malcom, and added, mstanily. « '- Cast thy burden upon the Lord, THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 87 and He shall sustain thee.'" So he left her standing there, looking after him, comforted. He v/ent back to Conrad and faced the situation there with a courageous heart and an outward cheerfulness for Dorothy's sake more than anything else. There was no attempt on the part of either of them to disguise the fact that the prospect before them was one that v/ould try all their Christian courage and faith. The winter was com- ing on, the crops had been almost a total failure owing to the hot winds, and the little boom of which Wilson had spoken in his letter had collapsed, leaving the town in a wrecked condition financially. The fields that had been planted to corn stood dry and hard, unfit for fall plowing, and even the storm that broke over the town that night was only local, and had no far-reaching result on the general situation. It was also a new, and in some respects, a terrible con- dition that faced Dorothy. For the first time in her life she l.new that she was poor. Malcom Kiik had never known anything else. Poverty was a heritage to him, and, while it was full of discomfort and privation, it had no terror. But Dorothy had, for the first time, on com- ing to that home missionary field, felt the touch of grim and stern economy. Her little dowry, saved from the wreck of her father's failure, had been added to Malcom's small salary, but the illness of the baby and the constant calls on their help from various sources had eaten into this little fund, and it was gone. Dorothy's aunt would gladly have helped, but her own resources were shortened by business failures within the three years that Dorothy had been west. Now,, the loss of the parsonage with nearly everything it contained was added to all the rest. "Little woman," said Malcom that evening, after he had been to " The Forks," " we have very little left ex- cept our good looks, and the balance is in your favor. They were sitting in the little room kindly offered \ :> , 88 OVEHCOMING THE WORLD, fe "'W them by one of their church members, and had been talk brown palm °„ok,„g „p';\"' f^ "^ "'"'^ '" "'' «'«' com, Jce (or all ^f I ? "' """'""^ '=':^' " Mal- thai I vowed to give you all I hj I ' ^ "'°"'- us part ?■■ ' ""'' ™ ""'» ' loving unconditional statement „( it '"'" ''"'°""' "" and';roit"d„' -ng'rwtrSir d -".^^--^ found WmseltlonlT, ' I' °°"'°*'''' ^"'=- ^ut he where they now wert ' " ""^»i<'"«J' Sdd . It was at this time ivith thl- , • ^^"" *^^= experience, nersonal and THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 89 peculiar to h,s married life, that Malcom Kirk, fighting aga .St great odds, began a work in Conrad that had the farthest possible results on its after life. This work was an attempt to unite the various churches in a combined and constant crusade against the saloon. Matters were neanng a crisis for the temperance cause. All over the state meetings were being held. The agitation for a pro- thai mer'T^rV""' ^^""'"^ '"^° «"^h proportions that men who felt the pulse of the common people pre- dicted victory. And still the whisky forces sneered at the possibility of an amendment his own m a series of union meetings during the week as we 1 as on Sundays. His own church secured for the use of worship, a little store room on the front street while waiting to hear from the Church Building So ety to which they had made application for a gran! of $S to help rebuild church and parsonage rnn\°^!f^'' ""''^ ^" '^'' ^^""^ '" ^^e town, Malcom was hTs r'lr"' '°'" '° ^'"' '" ^'^^ ^'^-^ -hool houses ■ Hs reputation as a temperance talker was growing. Ke • o^ n went out during the week and spoke to crowded houses, returning late at night crowaea schLTout':Ltitr :: 'r ^^^-^^^ °" °"^ °^ *^"^ ca.no f^ campaigns, that one evening four letters came to mm, and Dorothy opened them, as Malcom had a ways asked her to do, in order that answers might be sent^m case he was detained from home several days at HoI'I'm"* ^'"^^^^^ ^'•°'" the superintendent of the Home Missionary Society, and read as follows : "Rev. Malccn Kirk, Conrad, Kas. cietv^r' ^'^f f'"^* '' ^''^ ^''^' '•^^'•^t thpt the So- «-iety IS comppllfd ;« ^„^r-ii~,-- ■ - v. o« who are rnJ,n," j'""^""^^ ^o many of the brethren wno are commissioned on the frontier that, owing to a '■4- 90 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. bt tl f . u" ""'^ ''^'■'^ '''''^'y' '■* ^'» be impos- sible to forward the quarter's salary when due. It is with he greatest possible regret that I am obliged to make th.s statement, but it is unavoidable. It is probable Ther may be a delay of three or four months before the money can be sent. Meanwhile, your church must be urged to re°Dond t'o".J°'' ^°"^^"PP°'■^ ""*" ^^^ wealthier churches respond to the special appeal now being sent out by the Society m behalf of the missionaries at the front " I am, Your Brother, etc." Church '"wu- ''"f '^^'' ^°'°^'^^ °P^"^d ^^« ^rom the Church Biulding Society, expressing great regret that owing to excessive calls from other lelds. Zs^ did not have funds to spare at present to assist the un- ortunate church at Conrad, but hoped to be able to do so at some future time, etc., etc. Dorothy hesitated before she opened the next letter wh at a rt, r *'^ ^"^^^°P«- ^he knew only too well oncn.H '^'"' ^'f PP°'"tnient the letters she had already opened would be to Malcom irnl\'^''.^- ''"7 ^""'^ ' ^°^*°" P"^^'"^'-^. and was rom the editor of a religious paper. It acknowledged th receipt of an article sent by Malcom some two monfhs before, and retained it with a view to publication when the press of matter already accepted would permit etc Payment for the article would be sent when ft .as ,1 Dorothy's face flushed with pride at Malcom's success .^y thT; t'the"' n ''' ru' '""' -'- -"'^ -^ ^"p^^- iiiey needed the money he would pay for the article wh.n he ae ted it, instead of keeping'the author waUi^gun- bltoms n? '" '• '"' ^"^ ^^« "^^ ""^^-"-r with the J:ustoms, of magazines and newspapers in this resp c', THE STORY OF UALCOM KIUC 91 and she rejoiced after all that her husband had been able to write anything that such a famous paper wanted. The last letter also bore a Boston postmark, and after rcadmg the letter Dorothy laid it down and rose to walk the little room, while her cheeks burned with excitement and her eyes flashed with a light that had not been seen m them for many days. " My dear Mr. Kirk." the letter read, " For several months we have been considering your name in connec- tion with a vacancy on our editorial board, and have at last decided unanimously to ask you to assume the place of assistant under the chief editor of the magazine We have been led to this decision by our knowledge of your work on the German Scholarship three years ago, and also from a perusal of several articles recently written by you, and printed in the Boston Review. In addition to this, we know of your work in Conrad, through Mr. Wil- son, your old seminary classmate, who, last year, was on our board for a time. We make you this offer, and hope you will see your way to accept. The salary will be $2,000 a year, with opportunity of increase. The press is as powerful as the pulpit in these days, and you may be sure your usefulness will not be shortened or lessened by making this change. We await your reply, hoping it will be favorable to us." Here followed the name of a person who was at the head of one of the most influential papers published in New England. Dorothy knew well enough how much Malcom thought of the man, and how often he had ex- pressed his admiration for the character of his literary work. •' She picked the letter up and read it through again. What was there in Conrad, this wild, uninteresting west- ern town, struggling against a financial depression and a future as well as a past failure of crops ? How could Malcom ever rise to any place worthy of his powers in 9a OVERCOMINa THE WORLD. fhis little church, so feeble and so poor? "It is true " she ound herself saying, "it is true he chose the ^in str'y ::3^i^"er^::i^ '- ''- -^^ ^« ^oum noti^ Dor!h' T' '°/'' ^°°' '"^ ^*^PP^^ °"* <'" the little porch. It was after lo o'clock, and a frosty night. Down the nnam street she could see the lights from the saloons But7h J'' ' ^""^ °" '" ^^°"* °^ °"« °f them. But that was common. A group of cowboys galloped down the street, firing their pistols as they came That was not unusual. Dordthy shuddered. What of that prom,e she had made with Malcom to try to redeem the lost of Conrad. Was it worth while, after all ? It would have°thT„« ''!?'r"'" '° "'' '" ^°^*°"- ^hey could have thmgs and hve as other people lived, and after awhde her husband would become famous, and- "Well, little woman, won't you take cold out here ?" It was Malcom. and he led her into the house again bhe had not seen him come. He had unexpectedly fin- ished his engagement, and been able to return much sooner than he expected. mItTV ^' « ""^ '" *^'* ^' ^"^ ^^'•y tired, but was She he.>% rt '""^'u *° '^^''' ^^^^--f"' ^"d <=°ntented. She hesitated about showing him the letter., but he had already seen the open envelopes on the table, and his hand went out towards them. Dorothy stood between him and the table. oeiween Doro™ ^°" '"'"^ *^"" '" '^' °'"^" ^ ^"y ^" ^'^'^ "Certainly. Must I get ready for bad news ?" he asked, soberly. "It is for you to say," Dorothy answered. And she gave h.m the letters in the same order that she had hr^"id tm. '"' ^'°°' "^^^''"^ ^'^ ^^"' ^""^">^' - .# , » THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 93 CHAPTER XI. 1* A MOMENT OP DOUBT. Malcom read the four letters through, one after the Other, without a word of comment. Only, Dorothy, watching him, noted the expressions on his face. When he finished the letter from the Boston magazine, he looked up. " Well," said Dorothy, slowly, as if Malcom had asked a question. " It's a great oflfer," said Malcom. He was evidently very much moved by it. And he rose and walked up and down. Finally, he stopped near the door. " I shall have to go out doors and walk off the excite- ment," he said, looking at Dorothy with a faint smile. She was familiar with that habit. Malcom had often done that when tired of the cramped quarters of his little study m the parsonage. Pie walked to the table, took up his hat and went to the door. He opened it. and then turned back to Dorothy who sat with her elbow on the table and her chin iu her hand, thinking. "Will you go with me, dear ?" Malcom asked, quietly She rose without a word, and, putting on her hat and cloak went out with him. They walked out of the yard and then, after a moment of hesitation, they turned and wen down the narrow board sidewalk towards the main street of the town. It was almost ii o'clock. Nearly all the stores were by one of the largest on the first business corner, two or I n 94 OVERCOMING THE WOWJ). tf ', if Ihdr hTsr" *'' '°°' '■"°^"'"' ^•••^' -d touched their liats. saying very respectfully as they did so " Cr^r^A evening. Mr. Kirk!" ' ^""'^ ing'httt'^H"^' ^^"^•'"^"'" -P'-d Malcom. touch- g his hat. He passed on with Dorothy, but with all he inner conflict going on. she had time I; think o th o r;"::d"d-'f "^ ^° ^""^'^' P^-^-^- "^ven tt loal rs and drinkers respect my husband" fhof M /' ^'i.t''"^' ^''^^'^ they knew in their hearts women, the clink of glasses at the bar social lite of Ihe ,o™„. What a relief ,, .J^l *° -a. .o„ i. a„, baci< .o'ft'e-cr.e ' LT^ l™.^:! <";^^trr jar r£ :r rr "v "=™- .™..Ha../.„,jt:;:--^^ They had walked through the street, and were o« on the pra.ne road before either of then, .aid , word c Jet h- twT: '"'■ """' "' -"-- ''--^» =™ "What do you thh.k I had better do ?" She was not prepared to have him ask a question and she was not ready with an answer. ^"^stion, and " What would you do in my nlace ?" r,« ooi j , «Wng.(or her to answer his L' "e nion ""'* '"" miii)& THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. pg tea^lu'frv"' "' '"'' ''^'^°"'" "'^^ ^-othy. almost He bent his head, and in the starlight saw her face moved with unusual excitement. "It is true." he began to talk to himself, "it is true he says t e press is as powerful as the pilpit in these days. I could certamly do as much good that way as manUy'-.'"^ '' " ' ^°"'^ "^^ '"^ ^^ ^- ^^e goodTh^! "Yes I Yes!" Dorothy cried eairerlv «;»,« c i i; Malcoms „„.d had beL a ^^:t, ^'LTW:: she went on almost passionately. " What can you do here. Malcom ? You can slave yoursel to death out here with this little church and n ver accomphsh much. You cannot do the church work and he wr,t,ng. too. You will break down under it. How a V litTle ^'"''' '"' "'"'^^ ^"""'"^ °" ? And your o kTep on this "' " """" '^'^^^'^' '^ '« ^ humiliation L to ,n i . ""■'■°^' P'"'^'^^^ ^'f^' ^'*h no companion- h P to speak of. no money to buy new books, w^th a dead hfe on a poor struggling church that will v ■ your hfe out before you have reached your prime i .Inn'! ! for mv<5plf Ayfoi., . pnme. i tjon t mind myselt. Malcom, you know: it wa<; ' fnr K^f*. r worse for Hcher. ,„. p„„,„, ,„; ^^^^ ,»;,«;' .. I »cre yo^i" ""' '" ^°" "K"'" P'obaWy. If She stopped, and Malcom eagerly waited for the rest answ hirtt^r^ o^r'^r"* ""■ "'°'""- "' ^ see you s.c e "in hf" ■ll„77V ' T' ' ""' '° yur strength as I do " ° '"'^ "" ""'O """^ The"\S':„?°a^ar« '"''• ^'""' °" ' "'^" '"- "T .»-.-, " ^^^'" reasoning with himself I certatnly could do as much good that way a.™;» 90 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. He was silent again. Tlicy had readied a place wlierc the road branched off to The Forks. Tiicy turned and went back towards the town. When they reached tho first houses, they took tlie street which led past the ruins of the church and parsonage. They seerned to do this without saying to each other that they would. Their walk back had been in silence. When they reached the corner where the church and parsonage had stood, they stopped and looked at the ruins. These were mournful, tas such ruins always arc. The foundation line of the church building looked pitifully small to Malcom as he thought of the little congregations that had so often met there for worship or the prayer ser- vice. And still, he could not, even there, as he viewed what seemed like a failure in life, he could not shut out of his sight the picture of Dorothy and himself as they had gone into the church that first night of their arrival in Conrad three years before, and had there made together their solemn promise to redeem the lost of Conrad. Were they about to break that promise, because difficulties had come into the struggle ? Was it possible that they were going to declare themselves beaten in the attempt to overcome ? Were they about to choose the easy, com- fortable physical life and shun the agony of the spiritual conflict with the evil forces ? Were they about to run away from duty as cowards ? Was it duty to remain in Conrad ? How about his duty to the temperance con- flict ? If he had any real strength that way, ought he to abandon the cause at this critical time ? But how could Dorothy live this life of privation ? How could he go on with his meagre salary, humiliated by being in debt to the tradespeople, and dependent for his living on the spasmodic giving of the churc! es that "endorsed" home missions, to be sure, but left the home missionary often unpaid or the recipient of boxes which sometimes were THE STOKY OF MALCOM KIRK. yj 5.3 -;f-r^,t: :-„-:: com was on the point of taking as TlT'^^t "°\^"^^^^'- ^t fi'-^t. Then he said evasively "I will," said Malcom, in a low eone. theXoinJ .' I. T '" '"^^' °^ ^'^ht breathed over ^^"^^^'^l^::^''^^^' -^^-e of the tliat the promise thevhL . u"" ""^^^'""^ «f spirit been, if not bTXn^ least nofr h"' """ '^^°" ^^^ been. In Malcom's' hL ? u "^ °"' "' '^ '"'^ht have there was a distrn.. ''•^' ''''^ *° °°^°^hy. " I will." 'cic was a distmct uncerta ntv of fpplJncr tu Nevertheless, in the nmrn;n,r he wrn- .v , -we. .„ .He editor, accep.in^.he^ISn.'td'::^, - 98 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. him to give him time to sever his relations with the church, etc. He took the letter and went out early after breakfast to mail it. He would hand in his resignation at the v/eek- day church meeing, and write to the superintendent later in the day. He was thinking ic all over as he neared the main street, when a farm waggon drove up noisily and stopped near him. " Oh, Mr. Kirk, will ypu come right out to ' The Forkes ' with me ? Phil is in a terrible way, and has been calling for you all night!" It was Mrs. Barton, and her thin, eager face looked down at Malcom as she sat there looking at him anx- iously. Into Malcom Kirk's heart there came a distinct shock, almost as if he had been detected in doing a selfish thing. Here, again, v^^as this appeal for help coming at a time when it seemed to him as if the burden he was carrying was too great for him. He looked up at Mrs. Barton. "Why, certainly, I'll go right out with you," he said; every instinct of helpfulness in him rising and going out towards the cry for help. Just then Carver came walking by. Kirk had the let- ter he was going to post in his hand. " Say, Carver, will you mail this letter for me, as you go by the office ? " Malcom asked, and Carver eagerly took the letter, more than willing to do Mr. Kirk a favor. Malcom at once got up into the wagon with Mrs. Bar- ton, and they drove out of town rapidly. Carver stood watching them a moment, then he turned and went on down the street. At the first saloon he hesitated, but fin- ally went in. Before noon he had gone into three or four difTerent saloons that lay between him and the postolTice. and the letter remained in his pocket forgotten. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. gg " U Jc 11 r T ' '^'^^ ^""le into town for KirJ^ -vhere Phi, Ba„o„ °ly ° " '""^ ^"^ '"'° *= '"o- ^'Jt^Z:l:^ Ht ^^l^^-'^ K., seen s„eH a name. Then he bLn.n ° '"' """ '"' =»■"<= "> "er. The lower part of h'?'. '" "" ""^ ""'■■' ■"»"- ;o«h on .he hed s' L Tj.e "on":! H::;,":f wt ^"^ living creature on earth. ''^^ ^^^'"^ period he h:d'r';;:oi":';v«,;So;": 7'' "^'- sinful human beine At tL T !, suffering and duiet, and Malcorwaf w a . Tnd t'^^V """ ^^^.^°" ^^^ spiration and unnerved as f he h'T^^' T- "'^'^ P^" srent nprJi Tu J "^^ ''^^" fac ng some "'o™LV:^rdSr3r::etreoT'"- Mrs Tal" ff 5 '° ^'^^^ °^ "^^^ b^^' Mr. Kirk?" M s^ Barton asked as he was getting into the doctor's buggy to go back with him soul a profound horror and a divine indignation lOO OVERCOMING THE WORLD. against the saloon greater than he had ever known had risen. At last he said : " Mrs. Barton, I hope to live to see the day when your boy will not be near this temptation. The saloon and all it represents is an enemy of mankind. We will not cease to work, and pray, and suffer until the curse of it is removed from our life as a state." For the time he had forgotten he was going away. " Promise me, Mr. Kirk, that you will do what you can for Phil. There's no one living he thinks so much of. You saved his life. Save his soul, too. Don't give him up, will you, Mr. Kirk ? " Malcom trembled. How could he tell this wretched heart-broken woman, living in that desolate, ruined home that he had already made his plan to leave Conrad. She clung to him as the largest and only hope for her boy that she knew. What could he say to her ? The doctor, who had been listening sympathetically, but in silence, had gathered up his reins, and the horses impatiently made a movement to start, and still Malcom Kirk said nothing. " I know you won't give him up, Mr. Kirk. If you don't save him, no one else will. Don't you think he's worth saving ? " She stood by the buggy and laid her thin, worn hand on Malcom's arm. As he looked at it, he thought of some old verses he had read while in the seminary about a mother's hands : " Not all the ladies in all the lands, With riches, and titles, and fame. Could boast of such beautiful, shapely hands, As one that I could name. " Her hands were without a jewelled ring. And the fingers w:re thin and old, THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. lOI But a baby's fingers would round them cling, More precious than solid gold. "My mother has passed this earth away, To the land where death cannot be ; But I'll never forget her, as she lay, Hands clasped in prayer for me." They were old verses that someone had translated hastily from a German text, but Malcom remembered them, and they came to him vividly just now. "Of course, I believe he is worth saving," said Mal- com. " You won't give him up, will you ? " "No, I won't give him up," replied Malcom, but he hardly seemed to realize what the words meant. Was he not planning to go away from all this burden bearing ? Had he not already written the letter accepting the place where he would be free to use his pen without this con- stant struggle to help lives of others in this personal con- tact with them ? ■•^- PROPER carboko y OF UBL /C ^IBRA. ^? Y. 102 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. CHAPTER XII. THE BATTLE FOR PROHIBITION. All the way back to Conrad his mind was at war. He knew, deep down in his soul, that he had no joy in the change he had planned to make. He knew well enough that his call to the ministry d^d not mean a ministry with the pen, but with the voice, and in the personal, living, hand-to-hand touch with humanity. He knew when he said to Dorothy, there by the ruins, " I will." He knew it as he penned the letter that even now, he supposed, had started on its eastward journey He knew it as he felt the touch of the sorrowful mother's hand on his arm. And no reasoning or self-persuasion could convmce him otherwise, or satisfy him that he had made a decision that his conscience could approve. The doctor had a patient at the lower end of the town near where they drove in on the way back, and Malcom left h.m there and started to walk home. As he went up the mam street, past the saloons, Carver came staggering out of one of them. The sight of the minister seemed to sober the man a ^ tie. He muttered " How do, Mr. Kirk," and was sham- bhng on, when he suddenly stopped as if he had remem- bered something, and ran back to Kirk, who had gone sadly on, sick at heart at the sight of him "Something of yours, Mr. Kirk. Letter you gave me to keep. No trouble to keep it. Glad to do favor," Car- ver stammered, his drunken brain proud of his apparent service to the minister. PP-^ " Yes, I know it very well," Dorothy answered. She had come over to her husband and the anxious look on his face had given way to one of relief. She had the letter to the Boston editor in her hand Malcom took it from her. " If we are not going to mail this, what do you think we ought to do with it ? " he asked, looking at the stove significantly. " Save the stamp, Malcom," said Dorothy. "You may need it if we are not going to Boston." He tore off the corner of the envelope where the i THE STORY OP MALCOM KIRK. 107 stamp was, and opened the stove door and threw the let- ter into the fire. " So that settles it," said Malcom, gravely. There was a pause in the little room. " I feel better," he added, looking steadily at his wife. " Do you ? " said Dorothy, gently. She kissed him, and they both seemed to remember their promise in the little church. Dorothy knew well enough that for a man like Malcom to do anything that in the smallest degree contradicted his convictions meant, for him, continual tor- ture of mind. The minute she saw that his action in leav- ing Conrad meant that sort of moral conflict, she knew there was only one course open to them, and that was to stay in Conrad and battle out the life that duty called them to live there. In all this, nothing but the creat and trustful love they felt for each other made possible such a complete and un- questioning change of plans that aflfected their whole future. Malcom would not have been the man he was if he had not felt constrained to stay in Conrad. Dorothy would not have been the woman she was if, once seeing that her husband's moral strength depended on this de- cision, she had attempted to argue him out of it, or had failed to accept the situation cheerfully and once for all. So, then, these two children of the All Father having settled thus simply, but decidedly, this question, faced the life before them bravely and silently, and no one in Con- rad knew until years afterwards how near they had come to losing two of the greatest souls that ever came into the place. Malcom never told his church people. He sim- ply picked up the thread of his affection for them where he had seemed for a while to drop it, and went on to love them more and more, and they, in turn, never dreaming of the moral conflict he had been having, grew to love him because they were enduring h.-trd''.hip together. At the first church meeting held after that eventful V. io8 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. He read the two letters, the one from the superinten- dent and the other from the Church Building Society The ^embers hstened in silence. Malcom looked into 'oTjTnV: '■ ^'^^ ""^ ''''''^' '" '^^ '^"'« « o e that sinnl """ '''"' ^'"* ^°°'- ^^^ ^ «-l°on. and hear ^ i " °" "^^ ^^'^^^^ ^^e congregation ;ould the men at the'bar^' ''^"" ^"' ''' '-"^^" '^^^^^ °^ andTheTaltd > •"" ""''' *'^ ^^^*^'" ^^^ M^>--. sent i' ^Lm !? '' '' "■:'"•" *''^* *he Holy Spirit was pre^ sen tm that httle room in wonderful power, as He alwavs to build this church without outside help. You know what my views are about raising money by melns of falr^ -crsS:-rrggLtir;r^---J going to build a house of wnnH ;« u- u '^ o «i, 1 r -r """'•e oi wood m which to worshin hut noise in the other room • " th;« =ni ^^^ -uctive force that weTs 'a c' chtuTt V/ZT ' '" reXTs ""r '""^^ ^° ^^ value rihthfArwe If we are '^'^°'" '"'^ ^"*^°^ '^' ^^^^s of the de;il > ^row :;:;7;r;Terus Z''"" '"^'i - ''--'-' Spirit and go'on In H^ m^^ht." " " ^'^ ^°"^^ °^ *^^ During the weeks and months that followed Malcom had great encouragement in his plans for binding H^ boldly went to several of the business men n r ^ -n whcwere not church members:id"':rd Smt THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 109 help. They did so, and in many cases came to him before he went to them and volunteered assistance. The spirit of prayer pervaded the entire church. Before spring almost enough money had been raised to build a larger structure than the one that had been burned. Before that time, however, the temperance agitation had grown into a great tide of feeling in Conrad. Dorothy never forgot the evening Malcom came in and with a glow in his face that transformed it, exclaimed : " A telegram just received says the legislature to-day, by the necessary two-thirds vote, passed the resolution to submit a prohibitory amendment to the constitution I I never cheered for the legislature before, but I propose three cheers, three times three, right away ! " Out on the main street that night the temperance peo- ple built an immense bonfire. The band came out and played, and there were speeches and temperance songs. One of the best speeches was by Malcom Kirk. He called attention during it to the fact that the battle had only just begun, that there were nearly two years yet before the peo- ple would be called on to vote on the amendment. All the time he was speaking he was conscious that outside the enthusiastic circle of temperance and Christian people was the whisky element, sullen, angry, surprised at the action of the legislature, venomous, just beginning to stir itself for the two years' struggle. It seemed to Malcom that he could even that night prophesy, in some degree, the satanic character of the conflict that made Conrad one of the fiercest centers of the fight. _ But he was right in saying that the battle had only lUst begun by the act of the legislature. The weeks and months that followed witnessed some wonderful scenes in Conrad. Now the women of Conrad began to show their power, as they had already been a constant influence for years. Dorothy suddenly assumed a place she once would no OVWUCOMINO THE WORLD. never have dared to take. The women in all the other churches, recognizing her ability, came to her and insisted that she take the presidency of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union that had been organized a short time before. She did so, at first with fear and trembling, then with a brave, joyful confidence that amazed her and her husband, but the Lord was leading her. The time passed, and the election day drew near. Night after night before that . ventful day when the people of the state were to vote on the qustion of saloon or no saloon •n their commonwealth, the woman's union held street P'^yer meetings in front of the saloons. Dorothy worked •J prayed mcessantly. Her great beauty, spiritualized by btr sufTenng, had wonderful influence. Many a young r .Khman went away from those prayer meetinfT" vowing o vote for the amendment. The saloon men would come to the doors of their places and eye the groups of kneeling mothers and wives in sullen amazement. They had cause o fear for their unholy traffic when the women of the suite were thus on their knees, calling on God and heaven to help the cause of "Home and Native Land" The afternoon of that election day, Malcom was sud- denly ca led out to " The Forks " to see Philip Barton. He had been sL.adily failing during those two years, and Mrs. Barton sent for Kirk in haste and he went, suppos- ing It might be for the last time. ^ It was after dark before he came back to Conrad. Philip Barton had died that afternoon, unconscious at last of the prayer that Malcom had offered by the side of his heart- broken mother. "God of mercy" cried Malcom, as he entered the has blled the powc: c. >, . , ner ; that has killed this hoy and broken this molhcr':- Jft ; '' The election was 'iv^r. hxi'- no nnp , «t^ ^ j- ^ . re-siilt Ac Tv/r I > ■ ' • -i* • no one i uuld predict the result. As Malcom came up the street, it was crowded / '^ THE STORY OP MALCOH KIRK. Ill with men and w.-men. The Christian Temperance Union had been id work all day. It had served a free lunch to all the voters, and cow was holding a prayer meeting in front of Va'iner's place. :iae crowd filled the wride street and overflowed the broad sidewalks. Free whisky had flowed all day. The crowd was full of men who had been drinking, and they were now in a condition to quarrel. Dorothy was kneeling in the center of the women. Malcom forced his way up to the edge of the sidewalk in front of the saloon. He had never loved his wife as he loved her now. Her face was glorified by the Spirit's work within. He was conscious of an unusual disturbance tehmd him, commg from the saloon. There were shouts nnd oaths, and a pistol shot. But still he continued to gaze at Dorothy, who, as calmly as if in her own room kneeled there while the confusion in front of the saloon increased. And never again in all his life will Malcom Kirk feel the satanic venom he felt that night in t back to God ?' I know th^s much is true of the work done here. There has been no unusual excitement and no extraordinary means employed to produce the aston- ishmg results. There is no question that Kirk has cer- tam qualities that have helped him. His voice is as it always was, a fine instrument. He knows how to talk to people, and he writes uncommonly well. But, on the 'm. 11 ii8 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Other hand, he is still awkward, homely of appearance, and by no means always at his best. He loves people. He longs, as Paul did, for the salvation of the world. And there lies the secret of his work. It is nothing which other men may not also have. I don't know a minister in our churches anywhere who might not claim all that Malcom Kirk and his wife have claimed. They have overcome the world by means of their love, by following the plain path of duty at the cost of suffering, by not pleasing themselves. They are still engaged in the strug- gle. It will never cease tl^is side of death and paradise. But I wish that, every pastor and every church might come here and see what has been done and what the future seems certain to record. The most malignant forces of evil have evidently arrayed themselves against Kirk and his wife, and so far these two have overcome them all. Heaven has won the victory out here, and I do not know why it should not do so everywhere. Do we want the world to be saved ? Do we have a passion to save it ? Do we put the Kingdom first ? If we did, should we not see the results everywhere that we see here ? I shall return home from my visit to Malcom Kirk with that question sounding in my heart." There was one brief allusion in this letter which meant even more than Wilson knew. It was his allusion to what he called Malcom Kirk's "peculiar habits of generosity." Indirectly these led to events which have to do with this history of the human conflict against sin, and involved in that growing conflict all the members of Kirk's family. A few days after Wilson's departure, Faith and her mother were sitting together in the " common room," as Faith called it, the room that the family used for dining and sitting-room together. Dorothy was sewing, and Faith was helping her with some work on the boy's suits. It was about ii o'clock in the morning, and Malcom Kirk was upstairs in his study. The boys were at school, / THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 119 and Faith, who had finished the high school, had been staying at home for two years helping her mother. " Mother, how does Gilbert manage to tear his coat across the back like that ?'" asked Faith, holding up that garment and looking at it with grave astonishment. Dorothy could not help smiling, although the next instant she sighed a little. " He said one of the boys pushed him against a wire fence last Saturday while they were out fishing near the Forks." " Well, the boy that did it ought to be made to wear it after I have mended it. That would be 'making the punishment fit the crime,'" said Faith, as she stabbed the back of the coat with a big needle, and began turning over a basket to find some thread. " I'm sorry Gilbert hasn't a better suit," said Dorothy, gravely. " He must try to get along with it this fall, any way. Mend it as carefully as you can. Faith." "Yes, ma'am," replied Faith. "I am trying to find something besides white silk. At the same time, mother, don't you think white silk on a black back-ground would be a warning to Gilbert not to get his coat torn again ?" Mrs. Kirk laughed, and before she could answer the bell rang: Faith put aside the work and went to the door. " Can I see Mr. Kirk ?" asked a voice that Dorothy recognized at once. " No," said Faith, decidedly. " Father is in,, his study writing, and he ought not to be disturbed." " But he told me to c::ll to-day, and I want to see him very much." " Did he tell you to call this morning ?" "Well— no— he said to-day. But I couldn't come at any other time." There was silence a moment, while i^aith stood hold- . lao OVERCOMING THE WORLD. ing the door uncertainly, but still resolutely blocking the entrance. Malcom Kirk came out of his study at the top of the upper hall " Is that Mr. Barnes, Faith ? Tell him to come up." Faith at once stepped aside, and a shabby-looking man came in. As he passed the door of the sitting-room he bowed clumsily, and said. "Good morning. Mrs Kirk. Then he stumbled noisily up stairs and entered Malcom s study. The door closed, and Faith went back to her work. THE STORY OF MALCXIM KIRK. 121 CHAPTER XIV. FAITH LEAVES THE HOME-NEST. As she picked up the coat she was looking at her mother closely, and could see that she was troubled. " Mother," said Faith, suddenly, " I don't think people ought to impose on father the way they do. They know he would take everything he has and give it away, if we don't prevent him, and they just impose on his great- hearted generosity. And you and the boys have to suffer for it." "Hush, Faith! Your father does what seems to him the wise and Christian thing to do. It is true that every- body in the county comes to him for help. But that is what makes his work what it is. There is no one else they think of that way." Dorothy spoke with the pride of twenty-five years' companionship with the man of her choice. She loved him now with deeper, truer devotion than she had ever known in her younger days. Faith was silent a moment. " But how can father afford to give money to people ? I don't think he ought to." .« Dorothy did not answer at once, " If people need the help of money more than any- thing else, how else shall we help them ? Sympathy and prayers don't seem to be enough in such cases." " I think father might make Mr. Barnes a present of a box of soap," said Faith. " I am sure he needs that as much as the five dollars he has come to beg for." " They are very poor," sighed Dorothy. " So are we." replied Faith. " Or we shall be if we always give to everybody." 122 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Dorothy did not answer this, and Faith picked up the coat and worked on in silence. She was evidently plan- ning something serious in her mind. It was not the first time she had ventured to remonstrate about the habit her father had of helping all sorts of people. Until a few years past. Dorothy had not allowed a thought of the matter to disturb her. Malcom's salary was very small still. The most rigid economy was necsesary to keep the family expenses within the income. The annual income from his writings now amounted to about five hundred dollars, but a large part of it was given away, and Dorothy faced increasing difficulty each year 'in managing the household finances. The study door opened, and Malcom and his visitor came down stairs. "I'm going out for a little while, Dorothy. Mrs. Barnes is very sick, and I am going over there. Don't wait dinner for me, if I'm not back before half-past twelve." He kissed his wife and went out. Faith and her mother watched the tall heavy figure go out of the yard with the unattractive Barnes shambling after him. Malcom was growing gray, but he was erect and vigorous in his prime and to these two women watching him out of the window he was the best man in the world. " I'd like to see any one say anything against father ! " said Faith decidedly, while an unusual tear came into her eyes. At the same time her mother and herself were won- dering how Malcom ever found time to write his sermons or anything else. Faith stole up to the study and looked at the loose leaves of the sermon on the father's desk. The last words he had written were a quotation : " Whoso giveth to the poor, lendeth unto the Lord." " Dear old father," said Faith softly. " I'd better let the Lord rebuke him. At the same time we've got to live. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 133 Here I am a woman grown anJ earning no bread, and the boys want to go to college, and mother saving every cent—" She went off to her own room that afternoon and brooded. When Faith brooded, something happened. And it was not altogether a surprise to Dorothy when a few days afterwards Faith announced her decision : " Mother, I have made up my mind to go away and earn something for the family. I've tried every possible place here, and you know how it is." Dorothy looked at the girl gravely, but did not say anything. " I have been writing to Grace Holley, who went to Chicago a year ago to learn re-touching in Keffen's studio. She is earning as high as seventeen and eighteen dollars a week. She says there will be a vacancy there soon, and if I apply at once I may get the place. You know I have learned re-touching here, all they can teach me, and I like it. Mother, I can't stand it any longer to remain here at home doing nothing. The boys will soon want to go to college. I never cared about it. I want to be a photographer, or an architect, or a paper-hanger, or something useful. If father can spare enough money to get me started, I can be in a position before the year is out to help the family. We never can break father of his habits of helping everybody, and I want to be self-sup- porting and help the rest, too." This was a long speech for Faith to make, but it was the beginning of several family conferences, and the end of it all was that one day in winter of that year, Faith artd her father went down to the station, and Faith took the express for Chicago. The arrangements had all been completed for her to enter the studio, where she was to receive eight dolars a week to begin with, and promise of rapid increase if the work was satisfactory. " Good bye, father. Don't give away your overcoat 134 OVEKCOMINO THB WOKU). before you get home, will you ? " Faith called out of the window, as the train started. Malcom Kirk smiled and waved his hand. Then he ran along the platform and handed up an envelope to Faith. Sne managed to kiss his hand as she took the en- velope and then leaned back in her seat and cried When she opened the env. !ope. a check for $25 dropped out. *^ finJ' ?'' '!, ^ ' ^°"^'''' ^^'"Pa^ion/ '"y dear. You will find ,t good company on the road. Your father." This was written hastily in a note with the check. Faith under- stood ,t was the price of a story Malcom had written for the Companion that fall. She tucked the check into her purse and cried harder than ever. sh.^T. ?'" u" ^T'^ ^'"^'^ '" ^'^'^^8° "«t '"Owning, new life. "'' "' "'*' '°"^^«^ ^^^^^ h" The work in the studio was extremely interesting to ta ninf Jnf "^ 1 ^'^ ^^°^^^ '' ^°-« -- very enter- taining and even funny. But afcnr she had been in the c. y a few months she was obliged to face a seriou con! d.tion. one that she had not anticipated. In the first place, it cost her nearly every cent of the eight dollars a week to live. But, economize as she woJld cirthe?anr' T ""'' '"' '"^'' ^"^ ''^'^^' ^^^ what he; clothes and car fare cost, with everything that must enter into the account of daily existence, she had very little lef when Sunday came. One day she realized with a shock that she had been obliged to draw on the $25 check. She had used all he money her father had been able to spare. The work in the stud o had for several weeks been piece work and t happened that business was dull, and several welks the had been able to earn less than live dollars Then came a crisis that she had not counted on The .tudio changed hands, and the new proprietor began t^ THE STORY OF UALCOM KIRK. 135 cut down expenses and dismiss some of the retouchers. Faith was one of the latest arrivals, and one evening as she came down to the office from the little workshop under the roof, she was notified that her services would not be wanted after the next week. She went out of the studio, and, instead of taking the car as she usually was obliged to do on account of the distance to her room, she walked on until she was at the corner of Madison and State streets. She plunged through that boiling crowd of humanity, and started to walk up State street the four miles that yet lay between her and her room. And as she walked on, she was deeply thinking of what she would do. The idea of writing home for money was so distasteful that she could not bear to entertain it. Her lips closed firmly, and she said to herself, " I never will do it while I can live. I have made a failure out of it so far here, but I can't burden father and mother right now. I know how mat- ters are going at home with all the expense there, and Hermon's illness last month. No, no. I started out to be a bread-winner. I must earn my own living." She was suddenly brought to a stop by a crowd that filled up the sidewalk in front of a large window. There was a picture on exhibition there, and Faith, after running into one or two people, seeing what was the object of • attraction, stopped herself, and gradually was pushed up to the window as the crowd went and came. It was an oil painting, with life-size figures, repre- senting the deck of an ocean steamer. A man was hold- ing a baby in his arms, and the baby was looking up into the man's face and smiling. The title of the picture in gilt letters on the frame was simply, " Motherless." It was one of those pictures that appeal to a common humanity, and the crowd on the sirlpwnlt- wac ^rrodctiKKr drawn to it. But the effect on Faith was electrical. As : 'i|iU,j„_,. .,i_. 1115151 126 f-.; *r fl OVERCOMING THE WORLD. soon as she had seen the face of the man on the canvas she exclaimed aloud. "Why. that's father!" Those nearest her looked at her in surprise She checked herself and was silent. But there before her wa the hkeness of Malcom Kirk as she had seen him in Th sketch her mother had often shown her. And the story of the baby whose mother had died in mid-ocean wis famihar to all the children at home She looked at the corner of the canvas and saw the artists name Francis Raleigh. A card in the window artist s studio was in one of the new blocks on Randolph Faith pushed out of the crowd and went on her way. But the picture affected her deeply. The sight of the dea father protecting that motherless baby made her cry And ^t also strengthened her purpose not to appeal for finan a help from home. She could not have told why that feehng accompanied her sight of the picture But ft d d and she determined that she would make every effort to support herself without help from home Place and"t°l,''' '°"°""^ "^^'^ ^°""^ ""'^ ^^'^hout a place, and as she came away from the studio that Saturday evening she realized, as never before in her life whit U meant to a girl without any friends or a home io ft a great city without work or means. She knew diat !h! cou d ,0 home at any time, or get help from tia sourc f she asked for it. But how about the great Lmv of as"r tTned'd" ''' "°* ^^^" '''' ^^^^ ' ^^^ ^^vLel human traffic T ^ ''' ''''' '''''^ °^ ^^e city's human traffic, and was swept along with it She went up by the window where the picture was still on exhibition, and there was the usual cr.wd in fron o She s opped again and looked hungrily at it It was I'ke getting a glimpse into the dear hoL r'JcU L Z parsonage at Conrad. ' " "^^ % 1^ f THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 127 It was, perhaps, a linle strange that she had not enter- tained the idea of caHing at Raleigh's studio and telling him that she was the daughter of his subject in the picture. But Faith was very shy in some ways, and she simply never thought of trying to meet the artist. As she stood there this Saturday night, two men in the crowd were talking about the picture. They stood so near her that she could not help hearing what they said. " It seems too bad to take the picture out of the window." " We can leave it there another week." " When do you start west ?" "The last of next month." "Better leave it till then." " I think so, too. But what a force it has, Malcom." Faith started at the familiar name, and looked up. The man who spoke was a middle-aged, gray-bearded gentleman, and the man whom he called " Malcom " was, perhaps, twenty-five years old, a stalwart, fine-looking fellow, with something in his face that made Faith puzzle over something foreign there. For an instant their eyes met. Then Faith blushed and moved back out of the crowd, and went on. She did not look back, but she semed to feel that the two gentlemen were looking after her. "They are the persons who have bought the picture and will take it away," she said as she walked along. She was sad at the thought, for she had come to cherish the look at the father's face, which she had enjoyed every day since she first saw it there. During the next few weeks Faith had an experience that tried her as she had never been tried. She visited scores of photographers' studios to get piece work. In some of them she would find waiting a dozen girls all on the same errand. She proved the value 128 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. fi ■ of her work on several occasions, for she had learned to do the retouching in a superior manner, and still, work as hard as she would, the orders she could get did not equal her expenses, which she had reduced to the lowest possible figures. She came back to her room one day after an unsuc- cessful application for orders in twenty places, thoroughly tired, for she had walked a good many miles, and the •streets were running over with mud and snow. She counted over her money, and, for the first time, realized that she had, reached the end. She was deter- mined not to run in iiebt, although her landlady in the flat had been very kind. She went down to a little news stand on the corner and bought an evening paper, and looked over the wilder- ness of "wants," and wondered how, in a city like that any one ever found anything to do. She envied the butcher's boy, who was just coming out of a market near by, and thought of asking him how he managed to get his position, while so many boys were probably without any. She took the paper to her room, and finally settled on one advertisement as offering a possible chance for her She had made up her mind for several weeks that she could not make a living by retouching. " rn do it," she said, with a faint flush of color in her tace. I wonder what mother would say!" The advertisement was as follows : " Wanted-An American girl to do cooking and gen- eral housework. Wages satisfactory. Apply, with r.ler- ences, to No. — , Ellis Avenue." " If I can get four dollars a week with my board, I can save nearly every cent of it," said Faith, resolutely. "And mother taught me how to cook. I am sure it is as hon- orable a way to earn a livim as Vr'orkin a in a store." 1HE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 129 There was a bit of adventure in it also that attracted her. The thought of Dorothy Gilbert's daughter working out as a " hired girl " gave Faith something of a surprise at herself, but it was a part of her love of experiments that made possible the strange experience she was now about to know. She went to the studio early Monday morning and secured good references. For the rest she said she would frankly ask the people to try her for a week, at least, and then employ her for what she could do. She took a Cottage Avenue car, and went directly to the number on Ellis avenue. It was a large house with a verandah on three sides. She went around to the side entrance, and, mounting the steps, rang the bell, her heart trembling a little as she did so. ' mm^mfmmim!^^mmm,mm 130 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. CHAPTER XV. FAITH BECOMES A ' HIRED GIRL. When the door opened, there stood, facing Faith, a good-looking, well-dressed woman, who was, evidently, the mistress of the house. "I have come in answer to your advertisement, ma'am," said Faith, slowly. She was unexpectedly em- barrassed by the woman's silent look. * Will you come in ?" The woman pointed to a chair, and Faith sat down. It was the dining room, a fine large room, evidently well kept " My name is Faith Kirk. I have been at work as a re-toucher in KefTen's studio, and here are some refer- ences from that place." Faith handed uiem out, and the woman took them and carefully read them. While she was reading, Faith look- ed about, shyly but observantly. She liked the appear- ance of the house. " Have you ever worked out in the city ?" asked the woman suddenly, as she finished the references. " No, ma'am. I came here to work in the studio, and lost my position there owing to a reduction of hands." " Can you cook ?" " Yes, mi am," replied Faith, modestly. " And do the housework for a family of four ? There are my husband, and my son and daughter." " I think I can do it. I am sure I can. I am strong and well." Faith spoke with some pride, for whether she had her mother's beauty or not, she had inherited her parent's splendid physique. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 131 The woman of the house looked at her in s6me hesi- tation. " I don't know you at all," she finally said. " No, ma'am. I don't know you, either." Faith said it without the least appearance of being impertinent, and after the fashion of Malcolm Kirk she looked straight in the other's eyes as she spoke. The woman coloured at first, and then smiled a little. " It does seem to be about an even thing, doesn't it ? Well, the references are good as far as they go. Would you come for a week on trial ? I have generally hired my help in that way." "Yes, ma'am." " I am willing to pay three and a half a week if you can do the cooking. Or even four dollars, if you can do all the work satisfactorily." " I will come on trial, and if I don't please you, you can dismiss me," said Faith a little eagerly. There was something about the woman's manner that seemed to her cold and unnecessarily business-like, but, on the whole, it seemed like a desirable place to work. " My name is Fulton. Yours is ?" " Kirk, Faith Kirk." "Ah, yes. Well, Faith, I'll show you your room. Have you a trunk ?" "Yes, ma'am. At my room." Faith gave her the number. "I'll send an expressman after it." She went to a telephone in the next room and gave the necessary order. Faith had packed up her trunk so as to have it in readi- ness. Mrs. Fulton led Faith upstairs to her room, which was a comfortable place, and as they stood there, she talked about the work expected of the "help." " I suppose you will want your Thursday afternoon and Sunday, after dinner ?" mmmomm MHi^t l M I W MWh-WBWWlBaWBIWBi 13^ OVERCOMING THE WORLD. " I suppose SO," said Faith, a little vaguely. Mrs. Fulton looked at her sharply. " I have always been in the habit of giving my girls that amount of time. Of course, you don't have to take it if you don't want to." " I should like my Sunday. I want to be able to go to church," said Faith, boldly. " Of course. We have late dinner, say two or half- past. After that, you are at liberty for the rest of the day." Faith did not say anything, and Mrs. Fulton took her down to the kitchen, which was furnished in a complete manner that pleased Faith the moment she stepped into it. " Are you ready to begin work to-day ?" asked Mrs. Fulton, after explaining the range, and showing Faith where articles were. "Yes, ma'am." "Very well. We have lunch at one. Dinner at half- past six. Mr. Fulton does not come out from the city until night. I expect my son and daughter from school always. Can you go ahead and get lunch without any help ?" "Yes, ma'am." Faith answered simply. She had de- termined to let her work speak for itself. She had her father's self-possesion in such matters. Besides, she found herself laboring under a pleasant excitement that stimu- lated her. She knew she would be able to do her best. Mrs. Fulton looked at her new help again with some sharpness. " Where did you say you were from ? I mean, before you came to the city ?" " My home is in Kansas." "That is a good ways from Chicago." Mrs. Fulton spoke in some surprise. "No farther tjj^n Chicago is from Kansas," said THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 133 Faith, again after her fashion, looking straight at Mrs. Fulton. The woman of the house seemed amused this time. She seemed also to be on the point of asking more questions. But finally went out of the kitchen, leaving Faith in pos- session there. As Mrs. Fulton sat down in the parlor, she sighed, but it was evidently a sigh of relief. " I never did such a thing before, to hire a girl on such slender knowledge. But she looked clean and in- telligent," she said to herself. "And I am so tired of the help I have been having. I expect, of course, to be dis- appointed in her. I always am. But I'll let her try it for a week, and see." Mrs. Fulton sighed again, and went upstairs to look after some of the work there, for no matter how many girls she might have had, or how capable they may nave been, she was a born housekeeper, and never was satisfied unless she was doing something herself. Meanwhile, Faith, down in the kitchen, planned and prepared a lunch that was a delightful surprise to the family when it sat down a; half-past twelve. She had rightly supposed that Mrs. Fulton was a generous pro- vider, and she found an excellent supply of everything in the larder. Dorothy had taught Faith cooking, and had even gone beyond the simple, plain cooking ordinarily common to the life in the parsonage. It was a not a diffi- cult thing, therefore, with the supply before her, for Faith to produce a dainty and app"Mzing lunch. ' When she rang the bell a few minutes before the time, the boy, who had been in the library, came in and sat down at once. Mrs. Fulton, who had not been able to keep out of the kitchen altogether, in spite of her deter- mination to let the new girl manage alone, sat down with a feeling of surprise as she viewed the table. The girl, who was about Faith's age, came in from the parlor, aiaMa MtoMiiMmMwv* 134 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Where she had been playing exercises on the piano, and the lunch proceeded with many favorable comments, especal ly from the boy, who had brought home with him a school-boy's appetite. "Say, this salad is all right," said the young gentle- wil ^t T'"^ ^'' P'^*" ^^'^ '^' ^hird time. " Hope you 11 keep this new girl for life." "She certainly has done very 'well for the first time expect u W.11 wear off soon. We never had a girl yei hat kept u up very long," said Mrs. Fulton. She rang fir t time rr^'''"?' ^"' ^^'^'^ ^^'"^ ^ '^ -- the first time the boy and girl had seen her She was somewhat embarassed, but she served some- thing on the table quietly and gracefully. Something in her manner seemed to attract the girl, who, after a monient of awkward silence said : ^ J Mother, you have forgotten to introduce Roy and \ncf^'Y""'i^''- ^"^'°"' ^'*^ ^ '^'^' -^ annoy- Rov 17 I ' I '' '"^ ^^''^^'''' Alice, and my son. "1: T 7^ .' V'^' you say your other name was ?" Kirk, Faith Kirk." "Yes Kirk. You can bring in the desert now, Faith 't you have any. Have you ?" "Yes, ma'am." replied Faith. She could not help nd d"id . " °*'" '''' "'^^ '"*^-^*- She was pale and did not seem to be very well. She was the ex rsLrsmn? °^'^%'-*^-- -'Gently. There :as a Fa' h wouM t °" . '''' '' '''' "°'^«^ '^ F-'th. and no cl7?i? , T ''" " ^"^ ^*"P'^ ^•••I if «he had not notu:ed the look and been warmed at the heart by it as Fa^^^w"^'", """"'^ '''"' '^'' ''''^ h^"-^'" «^id Roy. as Faith was about to take it off the table all "th^":] fl !"'• '"°*''"' ''^"'■P'^- " Yo" have had all ^the salad that is good for you to-day. Faith, take H'^- ,Mn*mae^-,-- . »., f-, ' THE STORY OF MALCOM KIKK. 135 Faith removed the dish, and Roy made a face, and said, " What have you got for dessert ? Apple pie ?" Mrs. Fuhon rebuked him again, and Faith went out with the dishes. She cleared the cloth deftly, and then brought in the desert, which to Master Roy's great satis- faction happened to be a delicious apple pie, made from one of Dorothy's own recipes. "This is what I call a pie," said Roy, as he attacked a segment which represented about a cjuarter of the circle. " It won't be a pie very long, at the rate you are eating now," said his sister. " There's another, I hope, isn't there ?" he asked Faith, anxiously. " I like ii cold for dinner." Faith nodded, and Mrs. Fulton looked sternly at her boy. But she was pleased with the new girl so far. When the lunch was over, and Faith was clearing everything away, Mrs. Fulton and the children were talking about her in the parlor. " Mother, I'm sure she's not just an ordinary hired giri. She seemed to me like a lady," said Alice. " You needn't try to spoil her," Mrs. Fulton spoke with a near approach at irritation. " She is apparently a capable girl as far as cooking goes. She may be a fail- ure in other ways." "The cooking is the main thing," said Master Roy, as he strapped his books together and started off to school. " That last girl we had didn't know how to boil eggs. I vote for the new girl every time." That afternoon Faith continued with her work, con- scious that so far she had pleased the family. When Mr. Fulton came home and sat down to the dinner, he was agreeably surprised and joined with the rest in praises of the new girl. " I think you have fond a treasure," said Mr. Fulton, "And if so, we ought to pay her four dollars a week. She is a superior cook." •1^ 136 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. Fulton. " We "By all means, my dear." said Mrs. can afford to give that to keep her " startled as she recogn.zed in Mr. Fulton the gray-haired man ho had stood in front of the picture with the young gentleman he had called " Malcom." Evidently^ Mr Fulton d,d not recognize her, or remember that he had seen her before He seemed like a man who was com warn d 7rr.' 1 ''^ '"'""^- «« ^^^ «— «. -d wanted the best of everything, especially for his able pleasure in ,T''" 'fT'' "'^'^^ '"^^"^ ^^'-^-t and pleasure in the affairs of the kitchen and the table. • ^;a u '1°'' °^ *^' "^''^ ^"- ^"Jton felt so well sat .sfied that she told Faith she would give her ourdollat a week to remain. Faith accepted the offer ani t l! room that Saturday night, she'took acco^m of te" s'r roundmgs with considerable satisfaction studio •''"/''"•^ '"''''"^ '"°''" "^°"^y than I was in the a gain %":V' "TI " ^^^^'^ ^" ' ^^^^ "- i stv:snrrge\f^rjxper' \rr ^^^j-^^^^' -d that ^^ • J „ expense, if I went mto a store at fivp ko™;:r;;„^llt *i.t;tsi '°-= ^-^^ '-- side of board .r,A . ' ^ ^^"^ expenses, out- nothing. ' '°°'"' '"' ^^'^ ^^'•^' h^*^ been almost Jhe'LT' T ''"^ *''* *'"°"'^^' ^^'' --' however. She had not written home of her present place of ^vork. She said to herself that she ought to fell her mother frankly how it all came about, and that r soWe ^Z'2^:/--ir'- ^'^ -- -- -- .ro^uth Th^^riistrher-^' ^^^^ ^~ THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 137 In the first place Mrs. Fulton informed her that they were to have company for half-past two dinner, and Faith knew that meant a hard forenoon's work. " It doesn't seem right for people to have company dinner on Sunday," she said to herself, as she cleared away the breakfast aishes and proceeded to wash them while the family went into the parlor for Sunday morning prayers. The kitchen door had been left a little ajar, and pre- sently Faith could hear the piano. Mr. Fulton never had family worship during the week. He was too busy to stop for it in the mon;'ng. But Sunday he held to the custom which his own father had strictly observed back in New England, not only in the morning of every day, tut at night as well. Alice was playing. The family had read a passage from the Bible in turn, and now, before the prayer, they were smging. " Welcome, Sweet Day of Rest," floated out through the dining-room into the kitchen, and Faith paused as shp. wiped a dish, and, to tell the truth, a very hot tear d/opped down into the dish water. She had not been asked to unite with these Christian people in worship, and for a moment an angry, hard, rebellious spirit stirred in the girl as she listened to the familiar hymn. It was one the family at home often sung at prayers on Sunday. Mr. Fulton kneeled to pray. He was a trustee in a large and fashionable church, had a class in the Sunday School, and was considered to be a strictly honorable, exemplary Christian man. It never crossed his mind that the servant in his kitchen could possibly need or want a little worship with other Christian pepole. As for Mrs. Fulton, she had never invited her help into the parlor for such services. It was her theory and practice that is was best not to encourage familiarity with the "domestic." Alice was troubled over the matter, and ■MSiii 138 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. had, in fact, once or twice timidly said something, but Mrs. Fulton silenced her objections always by saying, "The girls never want to come into prayers. So what >s the use of asking them ? " In the kitchen of the Fulton mansion that Sunday morning, while the family was all away at church, a strug- gle was going on that would possibly have startled the complacent doctor at Mr. Fulton's church as he preached beautifully from the text, "There is no respecter of per- sons with God," \ THE STORY OF MAIXOM KIRK. 139 CHAPTER XVI. FAITH FIGHTS A BATTLE AND " OVERCOMES. f- Faith Kirk was having one of her great battles as she worked over that Sunday dinner. And she had not fought it out when the family returned, bringing with them four friends of Mr. Fulton, business acquaintances from other cities, whose good will it was necessary to keep. The inner was served promptly, and Faith had no reason to feel afraid of her success. Mrs. Fulton even came out into the kitchen when it was over and compli- mented her on the dinner. The guests lighted cigars and retired to the library with Mr. Fulton. It was now nearly ir o'l lock. By the time everything was cleared away in the kitchen it was half-past four, and in the short winter day dark already. Faith went up to her room tired and rebellious. She sat down, and at first said she would not go to church. Then she thought of the dear home circle, and for al- most the first time since she came away she grew dread- fully homesick. She threw herself down on her bed in the dark and had a good, hard cry. When it was over she felt somewhat ashamed, and lay still awhile thinking. Then she rose and suddenly turned on her electric light. " Faith Kirk, you are ashamed of yourself. Is this Malcom Kirk's daughter ? " She asked the question as she put on her cloak and hat and resolutely determined to go to church and be a good Christian in spite of her troubles. "To him that overcometh," the verse happened to be 140 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. the subject of the Endeavor meeting that very night and as she took up her Bible and went out of the hous; she tTrnedt"" T' " '""^ '''''^' ^°-" ^^e avenue and then tTon as r °"\°' ''^ ^'^"^^^^ °^ ^^^ --« denomina- toiel .h ^ Z" "' ^°'"'- ^""^ ^^^ ^^^ homesick enough Tchulh ""'' '"^'^^ ^'^^ "°^^^'P ''^"- - -ch werfno^frilTJ"..'''r^° """ ^^^ '^^^ ^'-^ there Z.\ ^ '^^ *^' ^""^^y« «t home. She had at fi St tried to attend a church near her boarding place sol Sunda"' 1 '" ^^"''° ^^^^"^"" ^^e had f'o nd Sod itt e^rtf Va: '" r""'°" ^^^^ °"^ °^ *^« and she w^sTorp^elledt^ Z^Tp^ "°^ "° ^^^ ^-^- in^'^n'thf I "^" 'f 'u" ^°"'^ ^° *° the Endeavor meet- on's ShVhT """t °"'^ ' ^^" '^^^^'^^ ^r°- Mrs. Ful- ton s. She had seen the notice on the outside of the buiM .ng givmg 6 o'clock as the hour of servke The young people held their meeting in the chaoel or ZIZ r1"^u '^^^ ^'^"^'"'"^ the main room It las beautifully hghted and furnished, and as Faith w"n gave'LTa tfor' h' ''^ 'T '' ' ^^""^ --"' -h^ her to a selt ' " '"'"" '°°^' ^"^ *hen showed h. Jl' T"-'"^ ^'^'" promptly, and Faith could not It d7e: eT;rngten \f/ '°°^^^ T "^ ^^ ^^ -^ ;.em knew ^Ln.-:::^^^:^^^^^^^^^^ moment she rebuked herself for Judging others. "' won't ^to XMtm a?'' "° '°"'*'" ^^^ -•^- " ^^ the happiest cnef" ^^P— -• Rich folks are not ^ Kcpr ^ajriinj to herself THE STORY OF MALCOlf KIRK. I4X that what she had been through that day was something that might help others. In her father's church at home the young people had always been encouraged to help one another by relating their experiences, and I aith had no other thought in mind when she rose during a pause and told very frankly something of her struggle that very day. The young people all turned and looked at her in sur- prise. Faith knew how to express herself very well. Her father had helped her very much. She did not mean to exaggerate her difficulties, but she spoke more frankly than she might if she had not been overflowing from the day's experience. Besides, her heart warmed to find her- self in the society once more, and she longed for the Christian fellowship. When she sat down she had time to think if she had said anything she ought not. She had simply confessed her struggles as the Bible said Christians ought, and she had only incidentally mentioned the fact that she was working out. At home they had girls in the society who worked out at service and they did not think much about it. But before the meeting was over she grew hot and cold by turns as she thought of having told all those young people that she was a "hired girl." She was al- most tempted to get up again and tell them thai she was the daughter of a minister and a high school graduate, and that her father had more than one letter from the pas- tor of the very church where she now was, commending the work done in Conrad and asking for counsel as to similar work in the great city. Then she glowed with shame for her lack of courage. " If I did tell them what I am doing, it is no disgrace ! It is an honest thing to do. I am not ashamed of it." In spite of all that, when the meeting was over. Faith fancied that the gir! whn had been sitting next to her uLatu 143 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. tamed away very hurriedly without trying to speak to came to . °"' J ° '^'^ "^'^^'"^^ ""'' *° ^er seat, however. The g,rl shook hands rather stiffly, and then excused her- self, saymg she had some commttee work to do Faith Sh" tried ffr ^'°"^' ^"' "° °- ^^- spoL to ^er lee ButL'^K'^' ''"^ "^^ "° '"^-^'^ - the neg" out to i I ^f ^^^^^'l' ^"d she finally resolved to go out. to shake the dust of that church from her feet Jh never return to it. *' ^"*^ cam? unler''"'." ''l'°°' ^'^^" *^^ ^^" °^ ^er father father at hn ' r* .''' P^^'^"*' ^°^'"^' lons-uffering father at home, who ^ad. to Faith's own knowledge, en los ng '1 Ch" ."""'"^r P"^^^'°"^ -^ ^''^hts without losmg his Christian manhood or courage. With the face of her father also came another, the Master's, a Fai h r oTch^rir-^e^r""^^^^"-- th/7'''' '! T ^^^^^"'"'na:." she said to herself and at Sh had' ZV^TtuZ'T 'T'^' '"''""'■ ="' .1.^ music cam. U .efresW , The sa™r*hT"f 1°" ;:^ a^s :: i: sir-H -F "- - A. the close of the service she hesi.a.ed. b„, «„a,,. I THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 143 fathl' ZZ:T °' ^'^. Chicago pastors who had known her ather when he was m the seminary. They were not in 'lZa''\^ '-ci co^esponded a Httle'of laleTel;: Miss Kirk, of Conrad ! My dear." he called to his wife r?n? T "u'' ^^' "''''' '' ^^'^^"^ Kirk's -daughter You remember h:s stories in the Companion. Our boys thTnk the. are no stories Just like his. We are so glad to see ception. ^ ' '° '^"'^^"^ ^y *heir cordial re- asked"^'"' "" '°" ^^°PP'"^ '" *he city ?" the minister was^^d\t;r'w::^d:;:g %t:: "'^ ^^-^ -^^-^ ^^^ of surprise on the face of !h. """' ' '"°'"'"*'^ '"^^^ they were senu.n . rr! • """''*" ^"^ ^is wife, but n^o^ .u::tir;j;: ;ss:::r;^t::r \, f r -^ 'ng hand on Faith's arm • ' ' '^' ^"'^ ^ ^°^- even:f/atI'e^°S:n't1 •^'^r "'^'^ "^ "^^ Sunday B ii nve. uon t fail, will you ? " .e..,™" e7a,; tort" Z^ '"7 '"'" "" "^ ™"'-. ' an« of that day When she fi/f '"'"'' "" "■>"■" Messin. on ,„ L dear ot ell Id' '■" ''"^°'' '"' of soul than she had known in IT ^"^'" '="« I-erself ,„ ,he care of Z A" Pat? '""' '"' ^""""'•«=<' .'« wo„,d ho,d o„.. -Ka7.H :::ii':i ^,r;, ^;^ j^ OVERCOMING THE WORLD. endurance and her mother's New England thrift and neat- ness. Her meals were delightful surprises to every mem- ber of the family. Her good nature seemed un^-;l"^8; " We've got a real treasure," even Mrs. Fulton con- fessed Wednesday evening to her husband. The only .^ thing I dread is that she may not hold out. I have never been satisfied with any girl I ever had " Perhaps you t pected too much. Mr. Fulton sug gested, absently, as he continued to read h.s paper. ^^ " I'm sure we pay enough to get ^^^i^^^^^^^^^y ^^^P' she replied. " K the capable American girls would only work out more, we housekeepers would -t ^v^ ^ -"^ rr=als" Mrs. Fulton sighed, but it is possible i he had Changed places with Faith that Sunday she might have understood better why more American girls do not work out at service. Thursday morning Mrs. Fulton went down to the city on some shopping, and Faith was alone in the house. She started her kitchen work early, and then went into the parlor to sweep and dust. The piano was open, and one of Sousa's new marcnes was on the rack where Alice had left it. She had been practicing it that morning before she went away to school. . Faith had received a good musical education from her mother The piano at home had been one of the few ex- pensive things that Dorothy had kept and taken with her when she left her home in the east. Faith was like her , mother in having a real passion for music, and she had a more than ordinarily good ear, and her technic was al- most professional. She had' not an opportunity to touch a Pi-"° ^^^^ leaving home. The sight of the open keyboard and the new music fascinated her. Gradually she ne^-d the piano as she was dusting ort the furniture, ana nnuHy =he .at • down on the stool and began dusting the keys. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 145 The sound of the notes as her cloth pressed on the ivory seemed to make her forget her surroundings. She changed the dusting cloth to her left hand and struck a few chords with her right. The instrument was in fine tune, and before she knew what she was doing she had dropped her cloth on the floor and began the opening measures of the march before her. After a few attempts the music began to come to her The march was not difficult, and she was fairly caught by Its popular swing and rythm. She forgot where she was and what she was, a "hired girl," who was not supposed to know anything about pianos and marches. Her fin- gers seemed to regain their old nimbleness, and she was swept on into the piece with an enthusiasm and pleasure she had not known in a long time. But just as she had finished the music with a splendid close, and felt the glow of the effort, she was conscious of someone in the room. She turned around with a face that burned and saw standmg at the entrance of the hall into the parlor three persons. They were Mrs. Fulton, who stood staring at her with a cold, stern look ; Alice, who seemed astonished at the performance, and the young man whom Mr. Fulton had addressed in front of the picture on State street as " Mal- com. They had coine in unexpectedly, and all three had evidently been standing there for some little time Ihere was an expressive silence in the parlor as Mrs Ful^ ton came a few steps into the room and confronted Faith who still sat on the piano stool looking at her ' ^ 146 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. CHAPTER XVII. .KAKCXS RALEIGH AND DOROTHY GILBERT'S DAX;GHTER BECOME ACQUAINTED. Mrs. Fulton was first to speak. " When you are through playing the piano you can go on with your work," she said, coldly. Fd^h stooped and picked up the dusting cloth and then '°'" Tdidn't huri your piano." the words were on her lips and her heart was hot within her. But she ^hoked he words down, and without replying to Mrs Fulton, she started to go out. Even in her excited condition of mind she could not help noticing that the young man was gaz- ing at her with great attention. "It is not your place to touch the piano," continued Mrs. Fulton, who was angry. "You can leave it alone after this." . . , " Mother ! " Alice spoke up in a tone of timid re- monstrance. "There has been no harm done, has there ? She plays better than I do. I never knew before how that march ought to sound." "You're right about that," said the young man, in a big, hearty voice. " It was finely done, and I've heard it played by Sousa's band, too." Faith colored to her hair at the unexpected praise, while Mrs. Fulton shut the piano with a bang and looked extremely annoyed. , ,, "You can finish your work here some other time, she said to Faith, sharply. Faith went out of the parlor without having said a word. She was glad when she reached the kitchen that THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 147 she had controlled herself, but the effort not to say some- thing in defence, to excuse her action, cost her a tremend- ous struggle. As she prepared the mid-day meal she choked several times with a dry sob as she realized that she must not try to be anything but a hired girl while em- ployed in that capacity. " This isn't the work I ought to do," she said to her- self again and again. " But I am doing the best I can. I wouldn't have touched the piano if I hadn't forgotten my- self at the sight of the music. If I can get anything else to do, I won't stay here. But what :an I do, unless I give up everything and go home ? I won't do that until I have to." Then she quieted her excitement by recalling the home circle. Her father's face came up before her and she said: "I am selfish to mind such a thing. For dear father's sake ! " When she appeared at the table in answer to Mrs. Ful- ton's ring of the bell the first time she showed no signs of temper, and served quietly and cheerfully. Mrs. Fulton looked at her sharply several times, but apparently found nothing in the girl's face to annoy her. The only embar- rassing feature of the meal to Faith was the fact that the young man, Malcom, was looking at her very directly. It was not a stare, but it embarrassed Faith somewhat. His face was honest and manly, but the look he often turned towards her was very searching. She was relieved when the meal was over and she could clear things away. It was Thursday afternoon, and she very quickly put her kitchen to rights and, running up to her room, she put on hat and cloak and went out. She determined to have another look at the picture on State street if it were still there. And if it was gone, a plan had suddenly come to her mind which she had re- so.ved to try before going back to the Fulton's. She had been gone out of the house only a few min' I4S OVBRCOMING THE WORLD. utes when a conversation occurred in the parlor which would have interested her intensely if she could have heard it. , The young man. Malcom. had been ill at ease all through the lunch time. When it was over he had gone into the library, where he had asked leave to wnte a le - ter He was evidently a business acqaintance of Mr. Ful- ton's, but the conversation at the table revealed the fact that he had not been in the Fulton home before. He finished his letter and went into the parlor. Mrs. Fulton and Alice were there. The girl had not gone to school on account pf not feeling well. "I'm sorry that Mr. Fulton did not come out this noon, Mr. Stanley," said Mrs. Fulton, who seemed an- xious to please him. " I am sure he must have been un- Tc^dably detained in the city. He telephoned out m the early part of the forenoon that he would try to meet you here I know he wanted to see you before you go West. "Yes. madam." replied Malcom Stanley. He spoke respectfully, but one who knew him well would have said his tone lacked heartiness. He was evidently very much disturbed about something. He walked to the window and looked out. Alice went over to the piano and opened it. Si sat down and played a few bars of the march. Often when she was feelmg mis- erable a little music would relieve her. The sound of the piano roused Malcom Stanley. He came back to the middle of the room, and taking a seat near Mrs. Fulton, he said, with some emphasis, as if he had been making up his mind to a course : « Mrs Fulton, where does your-girl-the girl who waited on the table, who was playing the piano-where did she come from ? What is her name ? Mrs Fulton looked surprised, and also embarrassed. "She is from Kansas, I believe she told me. Her THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 149 .e It le 10 re d. er name is Faith. What is the girl's last name, Alice, I never can remember it ? " she called to Alice. Alice stopped playing and turned around on the piano stool. "Kirk, Faith Kirk." " Oh, yes ; she's a peculiar girl in some ways, Mr. Stanley, as no doubt you noticed. It is not often that we housekeepers can furnish superior musicians to entertain guests," she added with a short !augh, which showed that she still thought of the incident ol Faith at the piano with great annoyance. But Malcom Stanley had risen, his whole expression betraying great excitement. " If this girl's name is Kirk, Mrs. Fulton, and she is from Kansas, it is almost certain that she is the daughter of the man who was with my mother when she died in mid-ocean ; the man who held me in his arms. The man who has always been in my thoughts as one of the heroes of the world." Mrs. Fulton rose, looking bewildered. She was fam- iliar with Francis Raleigh's painting, but she had never thought of associating Faith with it. "I must see her," said Malcom Stanley. He spoke like one who has the right to command. " I think she has gone out," said Mrs. Fulton. " Alice will you go and see ? " Alice went out and soon came back saying that Faith- had gone. Malcom Stanley paced the parlor in unusual agitation of manner. " If this is the daughter of Malcom Kirk," he said to himself. Then he turned to Mrs. Kirk and bowed for- mally. " You will excuse me, madam, if I take my leave now. I am obliged to make some arrangements about the pic- ture at Mr. Raleigh's this afternoon." y' 150 OVERCOMINQ THB WORLD. V, *■# "When do you leave for the west?" Mrs. Fulton asked. She was annoyed at the events of the day. " I had planned to go to-morrow. I expect to visit Mr. Kirk on my way to Denver. But i fci! anxious to see tiss Kirk before I go. She certainly must be his daughter. A ' hired girl,' as you call them, would not be likely to have such a musical education, and be -ides, she has the look in her face of the portrait. It must be she." " Yes," cried Alice, her pale showing some colour un- der the excitement of such a discovery in real life. " She certainly played the piano like one who has had the best of teachers. And, besides, you can see from her manner that she is refined and lady-like." Alice spoke with a glow of unsemsh feeling, and Malcom Stanley looked gratefully at her. " I may come out with Mr. Fulton this evening," he said. He bowed and went out, leaving Mrs. Fulton and Alice to talk over the matter, while he went down to Francis Raleigh's studio, determined every moment with increas- ing resolve to return and see Faith b.elore the day was over. ^•"""""'''^ Meanwhile, Fa.ith'tiaS gone directly to the familiar win- dow on Staute" Street, where the i-. cure had been. Sh§.^new before she reached the place that thie picture wjks'^gone, because the usual crowd of people was not ^e. She stopped in front of the window, however, and reaoHhe address of the artist which was attached to a small scene ofs^ foreign seaport. She hesitated a moment, and then resolutejiy went on to Randolph street, to the block where Ra!eigh*3x studio was. His room was at the top of the building, and when she reached it she hesitated again before going in. When she finally opened the door, she drew back at the entrance, for the room appeared to be empty, except for a large canvas and a few decoration*. There was another room ^»^» THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 15T Opening from the first, and after waiting a moment, Faith went on to the door of that room. A man was sitting there with his back to the entrance, so absorbed in his work that he evidently had not heard her come in. But Faith was at once attracted by the sight of the familiar picture of the father which was on a great easel in front of the artist. She came a few steps farther into the 'oom, and still the artist did not look up ; and it was only when Faith had advanced as far as the frame of the picture of her father that he turned his face and looked at her. " I am Faith islirk and that is my father," said Faith, speaking directly, after Malcom's own manner, and point- ing at the portrait. " I've corns on a rather peculiar er- rand, Mr. Raleigh, but you won't blame me for it, I'm sure." " Blame the daughter of Dorothy Gilbert I " cried Francis Raleigh. His once heavy, black hair was streak- ed with gray, and he had grown noticeably old in many ways, but he was a handsome and well-preserved gentle- man, and the old Raleigh manner sat on him with even more grace than when he was young. He rose and bowed with an elegant politeness that brought the color to Faith's cheek, and for a moment they stood facing each other in silence. Then Raleigh brought a chair and Faith sat down, while the artist looked at her Willi great and increasing interest. " I suppose you have come to take me to task for paint- ing this picture," he said. " It was in one sense a very bold thing for me to do. I think, however, your father will forgive me. I am sure he will when he knows all about my reasons for doing it." He spoke in a tone that made Faith feel somehow that the picture had had a real influ- eeu, it nau, anc cwc ence on the life of the artist, as, ind telling of it at another time revealed the fact that Francis .1 J /> n I5fl OVERCOMINQ THK VV ORtO. Raleigh had gone through an experience of moral strug- gle that had 'eft him also victor in overcoming. " I'm sure father would be pleased," said Faith, slow- ly. Then she paused, for suddenly one of her shy spells came over her, and she did not know how to go on. For the first time she seemed to feel as if perhaps her errand would be considered unusual. " Whai can I do for you ? " said Raleigh. He spoke in a way that removed Faith's shyness at once. If it had not been for that she would have gone away without telling him what she had come for. " Of course," he continued, "I am wondering every minute how you happened to come in here. For your home is in Kansas, isn't it, and I — " " Will you let me tell how I happened to be here ? " said Faith, feeling more confident in her errand. " I shall have to tell it before you will understand why I have come." " Yes, tell me your story," said Raleigh, smiling en- couragingly. So Faith related her experience in the pho- tographer's studio and her present place of work at the Fulton's, whereat Francis Raleigh opened his eyes a lit- tle, but he continued to listen in sympathetic silence. THE STORY OP MALCOM KIRK. 153 CHAPTER XVIII. A HAPPY MEETING IN THE TiCWO. His love for Dorothy Gilbert had lo'i';: ago assed ir- to a memory. He was married now, ju-'. had •, wife and children whom he dearly loved. But ;. i aitii went on and made her errand to him clear, he ihought back in silent wonder at that time when Malcom Kirk had crossed the ocean with him and he had thoughtlessly made the sketch which meant so much now to more than one person. "And I've come here now," continued Faith, as she concluded the story of her experiences, "to see if you would give me a letter of introduction or recommenda- tion to some place where I could do the work that I feel that I ought to be doing. I'm very proud. I don't mean that I am in any way ashamed of the housework," Faith's cheeks glowed with^sudden color, " but I am sure t can do something different; something that the world needs more. Sometimes when I look at a picture like that, i feel as if I could, in time, paint something almost as good." Francis Raleigh bowed and a pleased smile came over his face. Not all the praise from the art critics of his picture had gratified him so much "If I could get a permanent position somewhere, I know I could work up into a place of usefulness. I can do the retouching, and I like to do it. And in time I might have a studio of my own. There are several suc- cessful women photographers here." That s true. anH T lrnr>«r r>»n. /^- *-..« _# ^».- ,. Raleigh, thoughtfully. He never knew how much it had I ■:"■ 1 mm 154 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. cost Faith to ask him what she did. She had no foolish pride that some girls have, and Malcom Kirk had always ; taught his own children, as well as others, that sometimes the most manly or womanly thing one can do was to re- ceive help to help oneself, but Faith would never have come to Raleigh for such assistance if she had not some- how felt certain that she must have some friendly aid in the great city before she could do what she felt she must do in order to help the dear ones at home as well as her- self. There was silence in the studio for a moment Then Raleigh said, while the stnile on his handsome face lighted up like sunshine : " How would you like to work in Miss Varney's studio at Kenwood ? " " It would be a beautiful place ! " cried Faith with en- thusiasm. , She knew the famous studio which the richest people in the city patronized, and she had even been out to u twice to solicit orders, but each time had failed to get anything. It was an ideal place, and she could not help wondering if Raleigh knew anything of her experience there. " Miss Varney is a niece of my wife," said Raleigh, smiling at Faith again. " Suppose, instead of writing you a letter of introduction, I go out there with you and intro- duce you in person ? " "That would be beautiful!" cried Faith. Then she grew suddenly shy again, and gazed at the artist half fearfully, as if she felt she might have trespassed somewhat on her knowledge of his old-time affection for her mother. Raleigh seemed to read her thought. "My dear girl," he s?M, with a smile that set Faith's mind forever at rest. " Perhaps you know that once I thought very much of your mother, but she gave her heart to a better man, fo- which I have never reproached her. How the years have gone since then!" I p Ji' 'iHB STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 155 He was silent suddenly, and his face grew thoughtful. " Let us see. We shall have time to get out there this afternoon. I am at your service. Good-bye to the kit- chen, and welcome the vocation you are fitted for. At the same time, I envy the people you are working for, if you are anything like the cook your mother used to be." He laughed so delightfully that Faith joined him, and neither of them heard a step in the other room, and did not know anyone had come in, until Malcom Stanley stood at the entrance gazing at them. Raleigh had risen and had laid his palette and brushes down. At sight of Stanley he exclaimed, " Come in, young giant, and let me introduce someone you ought to know ! " Malcom came slowly forward, looking at Faith, who had risen. Each of them was evidently excited at what what was now evident to them both. " Miss Kirk," said Raleigh with an emotion he did not try to -onceal, " this is Mr. Stanley, Malcom Stanley, whose likeness I have so faithfully reproduced on the can- vas there ! " Malcom and Faith faced each other in silence, and then Faith put out her hand. '" Will you shake hands with a hired girl, Mr. Stanley, for father's sake ? " she said, half shyly, half in the man- ner she had inherited from Malcom Kirk. " Will I ?" cried Malcom Stanley. The way he shook Faith's hand assured everybody that he had no hesitation on the score of Faith's position. They had ^all three been suddenly smitten with unusual solemnity, and Malcom's energetic handshake made Raleigh laugh. Faith followed and Malcom joined in, and the excitement of that sudden meeting passed into question and answer. "It's a long ways from the deck of that steamer to tni= studio," said Malcom Stanley. " But truth is stranger than fiction, at least any fiction I ever read." ■ J«ll««»«, and so I came aow.i here to find him, intending to go back to the Fulton's by the time you returned." " It's all simple enougn, isn't it ? " said Malcom Stan- ley, thoughtfully. "Yes," said Faith. Then she suddenly remembered that she was a " hired girl," having a Thursday afternoon OUi. " Father, I must be getting back to the Fulton's. They cannot live without me. Put that down in your socio- logical notes on the ' hired girl probK • ' that no mat- ter how low in the scale the 'hired girl may be, she is really of the first importance for the comfort and happi- ness of thousands of the best families in the land." " " That's true. Why isn't there some way, then, to ele- vate and dignify the service ?" asked Malcom Kirk, who seemed ready to discuss the problem seriously. " No, no, father ! We can't stc; to reform the world right here. It is too late. Do your want your daughter to be scolded for not getting dinner in time ? " "I am going back with you," said her father, rising. Then he turned towards Stanley, who was looking a little anxiously at father and daughter. "Come, Stanley, I'll take the liberty of asking you to come with us. Mrs. Fulton said vou mi^ht r.*.,r„ *Hi- evening, anyway. We haven't had our tllk out, and I ■I 4 hi I KSEKi aumm^^ i6o OVERCOMING THE WO .LD. m will be responsible for the consequences of taking you out with us." " I was planning to go," said Stanley, looking relieved. "I want to see Mr. Fulton again on business." .Be did not say that he wanted to see Faith. " Corae to think of it," said Raleigh, suddenly, " I I';./e an invitatkui myself to take dinner with the Fultons to- night. Mrs. Raioigh -s nut of town, and Fulton asked me to come out and talk ever s new art design he has re- ceived for the cover ot hn ■■n.wing Joiirnal." " But," cried Faith, ir- ;nTie dismay. " Do you three big men realize that I atn dc 'hired girl' at the Fulton's? Do you think I can poasibly get a dinner ready at this time of the day for such appetites as I am sure you all have ? " There was a look of embarrassment on the faces of Raleigh and Stanley, but Malcom Kirk settled the matter Dy saying, as he took Faith's arm and led her out of the studio : " Don't be alarmed, gentlemen ! I will speak for the dinner. Faith can make a palatable dinner out of bread and water in some mysterious way, and if anything else is wanted, we can feast on the remarkable events of this aft<;rnoon." So they went out, laughing and talking, and as they took a carriage for Ellis avenue, the driver engaging to get them there before five o'clock, there was no more happy, light-hearted girl in the great city than Faith Kirk. i»wr 'WK-Tf^ts^p™,-? 'i*.v^ amm*^-- THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. l6l CHAPTER XIX. FAITH FINDS A MORE CONGENIAL POSITION. That was the most remarkable company dinner that Mrs. Fulton ever knew in her house. Faith insisted on going to work as if nothing unusual had happened. By seven o'clock everything was ready, and the company sat down. Malcom Stanley rubbed his eyes several times as Faith came in and removed the several courses and served with a quiet dignity that made its impression on every one. Mrs. Fulton was visibly embarrassed by the fact that the girl who was in her kitchen, her "help," was the daughter of Malcom Kirk, who was the author of such stories in The Companion. Roy had discovered his authorship at once by asking him a leading question, and Malcom had not been able to conceal his identity. There was an unusual respect in the young gentleman's atti* tude towards the Kansas preacher, a respect which, how- ever, did not prevent him from eating the larger part of a dish of preserves, unobserved, during the general ex- citement of conversation. Malcom Kirk looked proudly at Faith every time she came into the room, and the fact that she was there serving in household work did not dis- turb him or give him any false feeling of shame. Even Mrs. Fulton had a vague dawning of the fact of nobility in service that had been an unknown thing to her, although she could not help feeling astonished whenever she looked around the table and realized who her guests were. After dinner was over, Alice insisted on going out to help Faith. Her mother did not rebuke her, and Faith srratfifullv accepted her aid. When the work was all done. Mrs. Fulton came into the kitchen. \. \ ^»i i i\ if ^ypif\^M '•*^ ' '> fm ¥ l ? 162 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. She was struggling with an unsal emotion, and it was not easy for her to say what she had prepared. " Faith, Miss Kirk-of course-you must come mto tne parlor with us this evening. You ought to have told me who you were. I-I-perhaps I have not treated you just right. I don't know-" "Don't say anything about that, ma am, said Faith. " This experience has been worth a good deal to me. 1 m afraid I've had some unchristian thoughts about you. .. You do not need to say anything about that, said Mrs. Fulton, hastily. Then she added in a tone that made Faith feel that she Aad been thinking a good deal o Faith's efficient service ; "we shall not know how to get along without you. You have quite spoiled us for the '""?m'X if you've been pleased." replied Faith, and that was all that was said then, but the atmosphere be- tween her and Mrs. Fulton cleared up wonderfully. That evening was not soon forgotten by the Fulton- The three guests had a good deal to say. AH of them had seen a good deal of the world, and each from his own Toint of view was a fascinating talker, /r^and Mrs^ Fulton sat silent and intensely interested. Mr. Fulton quite forgot his business interests for awhile. Alice and Faith sat near together and listened breathlessly to one or two stories Malcom Stanley told very modestly about some genuine adventures in the mining districts of the African Transvaal. Roy. who was just beginning to de- vour books in much the same manner as he devoured pie. leaned his chin on his hands and his elbows on his knees looking up at the three men who represented so much that was heroic to him. But perhaps the one person who impressed the whole company most deeply was Malcom Kirk. There was something so modest, yet so manly, so win- some in its genuine Christian sympathy in his whole man- I MtUfftiMfi F f.'iaii-.nrr •iiiigtawMaitrifi" ■■■'• - .- THE STORY OF MALCOM KI»K. 163 ner that even Mrs. Fulton was profoundly moved by it. " I like that Mr. Kirk," she said to her husband that evening. And that meant a good deal for her. Malcom and Stanley remained that night at the Ful- ton's, at their urgent request, and in the mornmg after breakfast, while Mr. Fulton and Stanley were talkmg business in the library, Faith and her father held a confer- ence in the parlor. " I had planned to take you back home with me, my dear," said Malcom. " But Raleigh told me last night of his niece, Miss Varney, and said there was no do"bt ^f your being able to secure a good position there. We want to do what is best in every way. Your mother is homesick for you, too." " Well, father, I feel as if I ought to stay in the city if I can really become a bread-winner. Let me try it a while at the studio, and it I fail, then I'll come home and spend the rest of my days cooking for you and the boys. " How about your work here, Faith ? Are you under promise to Mrs. Fulton to stay any length of time ?" " No father. But I think it would be no more than fair for me to stay ' ^e or four weeks until Mrs. Fulton has time to work in someone else." " I think so, too," replied Malcom, who in all his rela- tions to others was always guided by the strictest sense of fairness and honor. "Do what is right in the matter. Better talk frankly with Mrs. Fulton about your plans, and let her feel that you are willing to stay as long as it is When Mrs. Fulton came in, Malcom and Faith had a talk with her. The result of it was that Faith promised to remain with Mrs. Fulton another month. Meanwhile, she was to see Miss Varney, and if arrangements could be made, she was to oi-er the studio at the end of the time of her service a; uic ruitons. ivna. i-aiwn rma ^o erably surprised and a good deal pleased with the ar- i64 OVEKCOMINO THE WORLD. ' fl; :■ langement. It was a good deal more than she h?H 9i'"- posed Malcom Kirk or his daughter would ^..c lo ao, but she did not know either of them as well as she did afterwards. Malcom Kirk rpent a Sunday in Chicago, and Faith had the great dclio.ht of hearing him preach in the church where she ha.^ gone to the evening service that eventful Sunday before. They took tea with the pastor that even- ing, and the next day Malcom started back to Conrad. Malcom Stanley went with him. There was, if the truth must be told, a secret disappointment in the heart of the young Englishman that Faith was not going h .me, too. But the two men said good-bye cheerily to Faith, and were whirled out into the west, while Faith went back to her work wIU) a brave hvart, in spite of a little feeling of homesickness that crept over her at the sight of the two stalwart figures on the platform of the receding train. Her relations with the Fultons were decidedly dif- ferent now. She was careful not to pr.sume in the least on the change in their thought of her, and v ^len Mrs. Fulton asked her that day if ve wo.^M not s down at the table with them, she said snc preferred not to, which was entirely true, for Faith believed that if she was to serve the family as she ought at 'r .1 times, she must be ready to do so in the most effective manner. ' nd she knew she could not do so if she ate with the rest. Mrs. Fulton was much relieved at Faith's ,i.;,on in that particular. It seemed to Faith, how ', tV when Sunday morning came, and Alice asked h: j < le into the family circle o prayers, that she o«^ t to go, and she dif! ! quietly, and enjoyed it. When evening came, Alice wanted to go to church with her, and Mrs. Fulton did not say anything. The new order of things was unheard of, but a girl whose family friends included men like Francis Raleigh and 11 THE STORY OF MALCOU KIEK. I6S . i Malcom Stanley, was not an ordinary hired girl, and Mrs. Fulton reasoned with herself accordingly. But before that Sunday came, Faith and the artist had gone to see the famous lady photographer, who had taken a liking to Faith at the beginning. She readily agreed to take Faith on trial at the end of the month, and Faith went back to her kitchen quite exultnnt at the prospect. " If I could only send ten or even nve dollars a week home, I'd be the proudest girl in this city," she said, as she prepared the dinner that evening. "And then, in time, perhaps I can have a studio of my own like Miss Varney's. I know I have plenty of artistic ideas, and maybe one or two of them are original." So she sang, light-hearted as she worked, overcoming the orld of her selfishness and her trials, for it was not all heaven on earth always even in that well-appointed kitchen nd there were many things to fight without and within But when > time of her stay with the Fultons was out, she part. irom them with genuine regret. It is very certain that Mrs. Fulton dreaded exceedingly to " break in " the new girl, and it the last she even urged Faith to remain another month. " We will give you five dollars a week if you will only stay," she said, anxiously. " And you can play the piano if you want to," she added with a short laugh and a little embarrassment. "I'm sorry, really sorry, to le ive you, Mrs. Fulton. You have been very good to me. But I feel as if the Lord meant me to do something else. Perhaps'" (Faith said it a little vaguely, but she had brooded over it a good deal while at work in the kitchen), "perhaps I may be able to do something to make American girls willing to go out to service." •■ 1 wish you could. Reaiiy, you have no idea what I have suffered from my help in the last twenty years," I ■■'i m yr'-imS^STiiiiiSm S mKCS Bm iSm k 106 OVERCOIIINQ THE MTORLD. Roy was inconsolable. He wanted Faith to bake up one or two hundred apple pies and leave them in a cold storage plant near by. so he could have something to eat between meals. " Tell you what I'll do," he said, a week before Faith's time was up. " If you will bake a pie every day and send it over from the studio, I'll give you my kodak. It's new, but I'm tired of it, anyhow." Faith laughed, but declined the offer. "Then, I'll give you the kodak anyway," said Roy, and he insisted on Faith taking it, and his ofifer was so pressing that she had not the strength to refuse. At the earliest opportunity she sent him a photograph of a street urchin eating a pie, holding it in both hands, and Roy delightedly framed it and hung it up in his own room after his mother had refused to let it adorn the top of the sideboard in the dining-room. But Faith experienced the sincerest regret in parting from Alice. The two girls entered into what proved to be a really genuine friendship. There was not a particle of pride or jealousy in Alice's nature, and not the least feeling of social caste. She wanted Faith to show her how a certain finger exercise on the piano was best done, and more than once expressed the greatest admiration for Faith's accomplishments. When the girls parted, they kissed each other, and Alice afterwards cried heartily. The friendship thus begun has lasted to the present mo- ment. Then there began a new life for Faith. She seemed at last to have found her place in the world. Miss Varney was more than delighted with her. "That girl," she said to Francis Raleigh, who called at her studio a month after Faith had been there, "has brought more new ideas into my work than all my other assistants. She will make her mark in the profession." f <. THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 167 .vs*"- CHAPTER XX. THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSAKY AT CONRAD. So the Winter quickly passed, and ^Pf^S^.*^***^^ j"*° summer, and then a growing plan developed m FaUh a mind. She had not been able to crowd it out of her " heart-thoughts." as she called any ideas that kep mak- ing her think of other people. Even her rapidly develop- ing artistic power could not prevent the silent, increasing, powerful pressure of an idea that she had also a mission to perform for the good of people in a certain peculiar ''''^' I shall have to go home and talk it over with father before I can settle it right." she kept saying to herself all summer, and when fall was ushered in. and she could see the frosty mornings on the prairie, and call up in memory the sound of the prairie chickens out in the corn-fields, and see the great stretch of sky that was never possible in the smoky city, with its ugly piles of buddings, that shut out sun and air, then Faith grew really lonesome and homesick, and one day she resolutely told Miss Varney that she must go home for a little visit. "I don't blame you, my dear. Go out home and breathe some fresh prairie air and photograph some Kan- sas ideas, and come back with then-, and we will make our fortune." . t v "I don't know abotit getting photographs of Kansas •Ideas." replied Faith. " But I do know about the praine air. And I'm going to get some." i68 OVERCOMINQ THE WORLD. li So Faith ran out to the Fulton's, said good-bye to them, and Francis Raleigh at the same time, and started for home that day. She had written home, telling of her coming, and when she reached Conrad, there were father and mother and the boys at the station, and a little back of that eager group a stalwart, manly figure, Malcom Stanley, who had come in quite suddenly the day before from New Mexico. It is not exactly certain how he knew that Faith was com- ing home, or, indeed, if he knew anything about it, but it is very certain that he, was there at that time, and that Malcom and Dorothy had given him a hearty welcome. " You're just in time to help our church celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary," Malcom had said to him. His church was planning, in a quiet way, for such an anni- versary, ar.J it pleased him much to think that Faith was to be at home in time, and also that Stanley could be with them. That was a wonderful home-coming for Faith. The experiences she had were rehearsed in the family circle, and there never had been so much hearty, pure laughter in the parsonage since it was built. In the frosty evenings they sat around the one open fire in the parlor, and even Malcom shut up his study and joined the group early, talking over matters with Faith, and entering into all her new plans with the enthusiasm of a boy. Dorothy smiled often through her happy tears, as she looked at her chil- dren and saw them growing up into sturdy, useful lives, and in her heart she thanked the Great Father continually for such treasures, wort!i more to her and her husband than all the gold and silver in the world. " I want the boys to go to Phillips Academy next fall," Faith said with an air of one possessed of untold riches. " That's where father graduated, and it will be a fine thing for them to follow him there." i •} t THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. i69 "Splendid!" exclaimed Malcom. "I've always dream- ed it would be so." " ' Art is long,' " continued Faith, " but I'm sure I can win some of the prizes for best photographic ideas offered by the eastern pspers. If the boys had a hundred dollars apiece, they could enter the school and earn their own way for the most part, couldn't they, father ?" *' Of course they could," replied Malcom, and he told of some of his own experiences as a boy in academy and college life. " It seems to me, Mr. Kirk, that you have done a little ■ of everything in your lifetime," said Malcom Stanley, >yho sat in the family circle, and, somehow, seemed quite like one of them. " Everything except looking out for himself," said Faith, quietly. " The Lord has blessed us very much," said Malcom, looking at Faith, tenderly. " I'm afraid your poor old father has had to fight a good many hard battles against selfishness that he hasn't told you about. Your mother might tell you how bad I am if she wanted to." " I don't feel like it now," replied Dorothy, as her eyes rested on Malcom's plain, loving face, and her love for him was stronger than ever. " But about my plan, father," said Faith, after they had all been s'lent before the fire. " Whai do you think of it ? Can I do anything that way ?" "It will take a good deal of wisdom. Do you think you can do it and carry on your art studies, too ?" " It is worth trymg," said Malcom, very thoughfully. " I don't know," Faith said, softly. " But now just think of it. Here is the fact. Thousands of families all over the world are dependent for their physical and men- tal and moral support upon the kind of service they have in their kitchens and homes. Now, if this is the case, why isn't it possible to dignify and elevate such service 170 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. to a point where a girl who goes out to work may feel that she is doing a really noble thing in helping to keep a whole family in the comfort of body and peace of mind that will make the family more happy and more useful in the world ? That is ' the hired girl ' problem in one sen- tence. My plan is to start with Christian families and with Christian girls, and get each side to realize what household service can be made to do. I believe a circle of such people can be formed in such a way that gradu- ally the homes and the girls will be organized into a mutual helpfulness, and it will be more honorable and better, financially and morally, for a girl to go out to ser- vice than to go into a store or an office, even. At least for a time. For it really takes more brains to be an efficient cook and housekeeper than to stand behind a counter and sell notions." Faith paused, as if she suddenly felt that Malcom Stanley was looking at her with the greatest interest, as, indeed, he was. And if he rea'ly began to love Faith right then and there more truly than he yet had done, it was owing to the sudden glimpse he had caught of a young soul on fire to be and do for the good of others. But Faith's plan led to a discussion that was long, and continued through so many days, that we cannot follow it in detail here. It is enough to say that when Faith went back to Chicago, she carried with her a definite plan, which she was able sooner than she expected to put into working practice. Conrad will never forget the anniversary week held in honor of Malcom Kirk and his church. It was a week of surprises to him and Dorothy. The town waked up in sudden, heartj, western fashion, and before he knew it, Malcom was the recipient of a whole town's honor. Suiiday the church had appropriate exercises to cele- brate ilieii twenty-five years' existence, There was a great sermon in the morning by Malcom, and papers by It THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 171 h old settlers and charter members in the afternoon. In the evening, the young people crowded the church with their meeting, and when they adjourned, they went out in front of the parsonage and sang a hymn that one of their own members had composed in praise of the church. The only sad feature of the day to Malcom was the presence of Mrs. Barton at the morning service. It was a sadness relieved by one great burst of joy " Oh, Mr. Kirk," said the old woman, bowed now with years and sorrow. " If Phil had only been saved 1 Thank God, I owe my other son to you." She went on to speak of Malcom's efforts which had made the saloon outlaw in Conrad these many years, and pointed with pride to her remaining son, who was a member of the church and one of Malcom's great friends. " He'd gone the way of Phil and his father if the saloon was here," she said, and wrung Malcom's hand and went out, but Malcom knew her heart was still hungry for her first-born. Next day the citizens held a meeting in the court- house, at which the mayor presided. Malcom was present as the guest of honor. He had tried to prevent any such expression towards himself. But when he found himself powerless, he seized the occasion to glorify the cause of God's kingdom. His speech was a splendid tribute to the power of righteousness. Throughout it all his modesty and unselfishness had never been more forcibly or beau- tifully illustrated to his townspeople. The citizens of Conrad remembered that address long years after count- less political speeches had faded out of their memories. It was, perhaps, significant of the peculiar esteem in which Malcom Kirk and Dorothy were held in Conrad that no attempt was made that week to present ^h?m with a gold watch or a tea set, or any physical token. The church at a business session voted to increase Malcom's salary, and ihere were very many flowers sent to the par- sonage, Lut the people seemed to know that what would 172 OVERCOMING THE WORLD. be most acceptable to Miikom Kirk and his wife on that anniversary would be the love of the parish, and they did feel that, and never, in all their lives, had it meant so much to them. One incident of that anniversary week illustrated Mal- com's character better than any other. The picture that Stanley had brought to Kirk had been placed in the parsonage, but it was almost ridicu- lously large for the small rooms. Dorothy and Malcom both felt it was out of place, but the gift meant so much that they were in doubt what was best to do with it. The day after Malcom's address in the court-house, one of the managers of the Orphan's Home, that Malcom had been largely instrumental in organizing, was calling on Dorothy. She saw the picture, and instantly said : "If we only had that in the hali of the Home!" " Just the place for it, too," said Malcom, when Doro- thy told him of it. Without delay, and with Stanley's assistance, the pic- ture was taken to the Home and hung up in a conspicu- ous place in a large hall-way. It had a remarkable effect on visitors. One ranchman, who was never known to give anything to any cause, visited the place shortly after- wards, and the sight of the picture moved him to give twenty-five dollars to the Home. " The sight of that baby in Mr. Kirk's arms just hyp- notized the money out of my pocket," he said afterwards. "That is the sort of hypnotism we believe in," said the matron of the Home, and Conrad echoed the senti- ment When the eventful week was gone, Faith made her preparations to retirn. Malcom Stanley also announced his return tn the. Ki^w \T«v;/'.fv .-«,• .- ti-- -_?_.t.. . , , , . ' "~ - — - ^ ••■ ==:•;=. i::c i:2Sllt DCIOrC he departed, he went into Malcom's study, and with some «.sso«»js«««,7*a.s THE STORY OF MALCOM KIRK. 173 embarrassment told him what Malcom had seen already For he and Dorothy had not been able to conceal from each other the fact that the young Englishman had grown to have a great liking for Faith's company. It seems like a short time. Mr. Kirk, but I love Faith and 1 want your consent to be her suitor." "I should think her consent would be worth mere to you. said Malcom Kirk, with a flash of his old wit. which had not the slightest approach to levity. But he had grown to love Malcom Stanley, and felt sure, from indi- cations that Faith was not far from the same feeling. ^ ^ Then I may write to her ?" said Malcom Stanley. X don t want to call her away from her plans or her pro- fession. Indeed, if I win her heart, we will accomplish more together than separately." "I believe it," said Malcom. gravely. And. he added with a smile, " My dear fellow, I hope you realize what it means to have a 'hired girl problem' to take care of" I will gladly assume that," said Stanley, and he went back to his solitary work in New Mexico with great en- thusiasm. It seems entirely possible that he even found Fa^r' i^n'"^ T'''""^ *° ^^'^^ ^'^^'' he went, for and D .. T?" '"^ ' ^°"'^'^^"" '''"^ that evening, and pJ^^h ^ '"'/'"^ °" '^^ ^^" -hen it was ended and Faiths face glows when a certain letter with a quee IS maw r"" T ''^ ^^"''^ '' ^^"--^' -here she IS making her mark as an artist and brooding over her P ans for the good of the world, into which she now in dudes a tall, manly figure out west weerM-fcof ' '"' "■"'' ''' ^°"^' '' '""^ ^'°- °^ *hat ^efhl.nu? T"' r^' ''' ^' '■-h"'-^h one evening to get his Bible, whici he h.d Ut on the pulpit. The new church was lighted with .lectridty, and Malcom turned on the ,ght near .he de.. .M, after finding the Bib^ he 5toor there on the platform ' While he was there, Dorothy *¥«^\«-»^ A* c me in to get a pot of 174 bVERCOMING THE WORLD. flowers which had been taken into the church during the anniversary exercises. She came up to the platform and stood there with her husband. They were both reminded of that first night when they had gone into the little church and had made their pro- mise. " It is not like the old room, Malcom, is it ?" Dorothy said it with a feeling as if a Presence was in the church that was not human or earthly. " No, my dear. God has been very good to us all these years." , Dorothy crept up nearer to him and Malcom put his arm about her, and they looked out into the dimly-lighted church together. The battle in Conrad was still going on. There was still the rum power to meet in one form and another. There were still ugly forms of evil, self- ishness in many shapes to face, but God had gloriously used these two disciples for the building of His kingdom on the earth. Their children, also, were going out to fight the same good fight of faith, to battle for the right, to reliev" distress and overcome the world. It seemed almost certain that as thev stood there an Angel of Light noted tl*eir lives, a. d breathed over the town a b« aedic- tion of peace, and Maksm and Dorothy passed out of the church and into their home with God's blessing on their hearts. It was not by any chance that Malcom chose for his text as he took his Bible and went up into his study that night the words in the Book of Revelation: " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." THE END. r !• t ■ . . Vi i ,r> tik i Afe i v^ t f^i^i i^ ^ < ^ y t iWfc ^t i: