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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont film^es ^ partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le ncmbre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE PREPARATION OF RYERSON EMBURY THE Preparation of Ryerson Embury B lpurpo0e BY ALBERT R. CARMA N "... But, looking deep, he saw The thorns which grow upon this rose of life • How the swart peasant sweated for his wage,' Toiling for leave to live."-7y.^ Light of Asia TORONTO THE PUBLISHERS' SYNDICATE, LTD. 51 YONGE STREET 1900 f '^^^^^vflsissiiSQIOBBiii^^H ■ C^i'mfihj /^-•^:, ■ 0/7o ■ lA/t Rights reserved] The Preparation of Ryerson Embury The January moonlight lay white upon the Canadian college town of Ithica. In fields and vacau. jts, where the crust of the snow \^as unbroken, th' ye was conscious of vast stretches of ethereal purity which stirred in a sensuous way the moral faculty and flooded the emotions like a strain of lofty music. Only the hard glitter, when the moon's rays fell upon a bit of icy coating here and there, brought a reminder of the edged cold that v;as cutting the face. The scattered houses, as they sat at a respect- ful distance from each other in their comfortable V gardens, were made up of sharp patches of milky whiteness and dark shadow ; and often the moon upon a window made a brighter light than the lamp that lit its shaded neighbour.'^ Close-muffled groups were coming with crunch- ing footsteps up various streets, and converging on a small church in the suburbs which seemed A The Preparation of Rycrson Embury bursting with li<^"hfc. Presently along the middle of the road from the College " residence " briskly marched a column of young men, generally silent, though some broke into snatches of Sankey airs occasionally, and their singing and bits of chat sounded crisp and sharp across the nipping air. llyerson Embury approached the church alone alonii" another street from his boardiuoj-house. He had debated much with himself about attend ini:: the " revival " that night. Study claimed him, especially when he remembered that his chief rival for class honours would cynically lock his door on all invitations to " come out to meetinf; to-niijht " and sit at home plugging away until midnight without so much as getting drowsy. But Ryeison's people were religious, and they liked him to write home that he was attendino; the " meetinujs." And there were other reasons. The emotional surge of the " revival " rolled pleasurably through his blood ; and the neat-fitting, fur- trimmed jacket, as it embraced Wxayciiic form of Grace Brownell, when she stood for a moment warming her toes at the roarino; box stove at the rear of the church, was pleasant to see. Then there was always the chance that he would walk home with her after the meeting. As he swunor alono; under the brio-ht stars, with the sheeted lights of the "aurora" gliding and leaping in shivery silence all across the northern sky, he liked to feel the tingling air on his house- I I 1^.. The Preparation of Rycrson Etnbitry fevered cheek, though it compelled him to rub his ears at times. Tlie board walk suapped beneath his feet with the intense frost; his breath blew out like smoke before him. Turning in through the open church gateway, he stamped the loosa snow from his rubbers in the porch, and then pushed open the swinging doors that gave directly upon the church itself — a plain room, a little longer than wide, with a platform at one end carrying a simple pulpit. " Hello, Ryerson ! Glad to see you out." This greeting, which met him just within the church door, was from an open-faced young man with brisk manners, a classmate of Ryerson and one of the " workers " at this revival, liyerson slirank from it, though responding. He felt that he was being patronised by one who believed himself to be in a superior position. His manner said to Ryerson's sensitive ears, '* I am ' saved,' and I am nobly labouring to put you in the way of obtaining the same advantage." Ryerson passed on to a seat not far up, and presently saw the fur- trimmed jacket come, coquettishly warm itself a few moments at the fire, become conscious of his presence and then of that of two or three of the " workers " near the door, exchange a little whisper- ing with a couple of girls for whom he felt non- sympathetic, and then go demurely in the wake of the family up to a pew much nearer the front than his. ^^. ^^y.......„:--,.-,^o.^.| 4 77/6' Preparation of Ryerson Embury Miss Willmott, orf^anist to the little church urul maiden aunt to all the boys in the neighbourhood, was playing Sunday School airs on a diminutive and short-breathed church organ which occupied the extreme right of the generous platform at the upper end of the room. The people, as they gathered in the front pews, joined in singing the familiar ''gospel songs" which Miss Willmott was playing. The church filled up slowly with an unusually assorted congregation. The battalion of College boys, of greater age and more studious appearance than that term means to the general ear, sat, a solid mass, up one side of the room. The " godly women " of the neighbourhood, clothed « j with that plain severity which evangelicalism still \j requires of its votaries in the rural sections, made the large body of worshippers in the rest of the church. Their daughters accompanied them in many cases, and sometimes an earnest-faced if husband, whose rapt attitude and nervous lips ^ proclaimed him a man of marked religious fervour. The boys, when they came, showed a love for the back seats and a wistful enmity toward the "College chaps." The scholarly faces of a few College Professors, and the brighter dresses of their wives, were sprinkled throughout the gathering. The meeting began ; and hymns, laden with emotional reminiscence, and an impassioned praj'-er swollen by cries of " Amen, Lord ! " " Do it, Lord ! " )f The Prcparatio7i of Ryerson Iimlmry 5 " Come in miglity power ! " from among the kneel- ing congregation, prepared them for the sermon and exhortation to follow. As they rose from their knees, tears shone in some eyes, others openly wiped them away, and here and there were faces bright with ecstasy whose lips moved in eager prayer. Even to the unmoved, the air seemed laden with a subtle something that had not been there before. The preacher was an old man with a crown of grey hair, clean-shaven face and firm, mobile lips. His eye had a penetrating power, and when he spoke of the impossibilty of liiding sin under a cloak of morality, it fell upon each hearer like an accuser. His sermon began with tlie love of ) Christ, but was soon an exhortation to all those (^ " out of Christ " to seize upon the present offer of i salvation, driven home with terrifying incidents J illustrating the dangers of delay. It all fell upon the naked soul of Kyerson Embury with undiminished force. The lad had not so much as a fig-leaf of doubt upon him to lessen its impetus. When the preacher quoted Scripture, Ryerson heard the voice of God, and knew himself for an outcast. For he had little hope of salvation. He had " heeded the call " before at more than one " revival," but had never obtained the *' blessed assurance " that his sacrifice was accepted on high. To this school of theology, a man could become certain of lieaven by repent- y mA fi 6 T/ic Preparation of Ryerson Embtiry ing his sins and " crying to God for nxcrcy," when tlie Holy Spirit would communicate to his spirit — if his repentance was accepted — an unmistakable assurance that he was forgiven. When the preacher talked of some being hindered because keeping back from the sacrifice "some darling sin," llyerson's heart laughed with angry scorn witliin liim ; for eternity was to him a reality, and in moments of revival exaltation he would liave literally cut off his right hand to be sure of salvation. He had prostrated himself before this awful Clod again and again, imploring Him to cut deep into his heart, if there He saw a sin that " His servant knew not of," But He had neither cut nor yet "spolien peace" to this throb- bing, boyish soul. When the "seekers" were invited to tlie front at the close of the sermon, Ryerson looked toward Grace Browuell, anil, as he expected, saw her leave her seat and ^q quietly up to the rail about the platform, in iront of whicii she knelt, resting her brow upon it. This wns her fourth niccht of " seekini^," and she now went to the front without any hesitation or visible emotion. Ryersoji luxd not gone " forward " this revival. The memory of past failures kept him back. Quite a number were presently kneeling " ahout the altar," which was the manner in which the participants in the " reviv^al " signified that they I ■■tv -y ';;u il i i »1 •r'Tli i '' i "Taii' III 1" "ii itiiiSiimiiiiiSii The Preparation of Ryerson Evilmry 7 were seeking the forgiveness of the Almiglity, and awaiting His assurance of acceptance into the Kingdom. Singing and praying alternated irregu- larly, and the tenseness of the emotional strain increased. Fervent ejaculations fell on the super- heated air from the kneeling figures in all parts of the church. The " workers " moved from seat to seat, speak- ing: to those who had not ijone "forward" about their soul's salvation. Of these movimj; fiirures, the preacher of the evening was the most con- spicuous, with his noble, snow-crowned head and his lighted countenance, proclaiming exaltation of spirit. Several young men were quietly question- ing and talking, chiefly among the boys at the rear of the room, while a number of earnest-faced women moved with doubtful success al)out the pews where sat the phalanx of unsaved students. " Come to Jesus, come to Jesup, Come to Jesus just now," it e Is i ; : - ; an aged, quavering -^oice began singing among tlie front seats, and here and there, throughout the cimrch, other voices joined in. " That's it ! " whispered a young man to ^ lad he was pleading with just across the aisle from Ryerson. " Come now ; come to Jesus. He is wait- ing. He is willing and eager to save you. You cannot be sure of to-morrow. God may call you 8 The Preparation of Rycrson Embury ; It to-night. He may call you before you arc out of this church. This may be your last chance. ' Now is the accepted time.' " The lad looked stolidly into the back of the pew in front of him, and said nothing. " What are you waiting for ? " asked the " worker." " I don't know," in spiritless tones from the lad. "It will never be any easier," persisted the young man. " Almost persuaded, now to believe ; Almost persuaded, Christ to receive," came in the high, pure notes of a woman's voice across the fervid air. Very few joined in this hymn, and these only in a low murmur ; for the sinorer was a Professor's wife, who sanor with i-are sweetness and penetrating power. " God help him ! Christ save him ! Forgive, Lord, forgive ! " broke in strong, vibrant, im- passioned tones from a bearded man who was kneeling beside a weeping youth across the church. The maker of the prayer had thrown himself back on his heels, so that his body was upright, and had raised his arms high in supplication. " Look down upon Thy contrite son ! " he shouted, and went vehemently on pleading for forgiveness for the sobbing boy. " Your mother is praying for you, my son," said a low voice at Ryerson's side, and a hand fell V 4 I'lii'Tl I'flW The Preparation of Ryerson Embury )>■ 4""v iM( elusion that he would devote himself to God's , 0>>4 service in the world without any promise from the i|v)i 'jX V ?-''v^'-^*^''ty <^f salvation. I'lainly he could not get that •^£^l^v -« 4 ^ \i promise. Very well. He would find God's work and do it, and God could damn him then if lie wanted to. It appeared at the moment, as his generous impulses rose, that personal salv^ation was a piti- able thing to be begging for anyway. He would be a man ; and if he. went to hell, he would go as a man. A loathing of himself as he had been for the past week or so, swept over him. He had read something more than pity in Grace's eyes. Was it contempt? Yet she believed that he was doing rigiit in " seeking salvation." But was there not a woman in her that lay deeper than this religious mmm Hk The Preparation of Ryerson Embjiry 1 1 life which, he had to confcvss, slie carried more light!} than he had expected ; and did not this woman judge him and condemn ? Would it not be nobler to save others than to cry perpetually to be aved himself? But then, again, did not the Bible say that he must be saved himself before he could save others ? Doubt thickened before him again. It was easy to talk, but every Christian worker in the world had got saved himself first. How could he hope to break a new path'^ Well, at any rate, he would take his damnation standincf. He would ficfht as hard for rioht as he could — he would Lave his life up to it. The innate sense of justice in the lad forbade him to say that a God of Justice would permit such a life — could he achieve it — to end in failure and punishment ; but he saw no farther ahead than that he would take the straight path and plod on, whether recognised by tlie Great Captain or not. His courage may have been stimulated by a budding doubt as to the absolute truth of the teaching of his " pastors and masters," that this path of agony and humiliation and the "witnessing of spirit with spirit" was the only path to Heaven ; but, if so, he was hardlj'' conscious and undoubtedly not certain of it himself. He did not jjo to the "meetincfs" aj^ain. II Ryerson liad been pleased from the first to note tliat Grace's "conversion " did not materially affect her personal attitude toward himself. But it had done another thincr that he liked much less. Be- cause of it and of her consequent attendance upon certain religious services, an intimacy had jrrown up between her and a youn<]j divinity student, a year ahead of him at college but several years the better in assurance and aqiloinh. ' Worse than that, ^ the divinity student, whose n.ame was Walters — \j Arthur Drake Walters — was welcomed at the home of the Brownells as he, Ryerson, never had been. This wrought him into a spirit of antag- onism to " religion," as represented by Walters and the too frequent meetings, that otherwise it is not likely he would have developed. ; Spring helped him, however, by turning the world out of doors, making a standing welcome to the Brownell home of less strategic importance, and diminishing the regularity of attendance at the dangerous " services." One day, when the sun lay bright on the glossy new leaves of the trees, and spring flowers were to be found by the knowing in 12 The Preparation of Ryerson Embury 1 3 secluded nooks and on the dry knolls that slope up to the trunks of uncrowded trees, llyerson sat studying at the window of his room. His eye, when he raised it, carried two or three streets to the west if he manoeuvred it so as to avoid intervening trees and houses. His notes on the constitutional history of England lay in his lap, and he was trying to rivet his attention upon them ; though sadly disturbed by the circumstance chat when he lifted his eyes to test his memory, the shimmer of the spring day fell upon them, and a sense of its beauty flowed in through them and filled h.m with a languorous longing to be at large and idle in the scented wood. The sight of the cramped writing of his " notes " revolted him. They suggested the hot, close air of his room of a winter night when they had been written out, the paper of his lamp- shade browning with a dull odour and the frosted windows hiding from him even the snow-blanketed garden. Presently his truant eye caught sight of a wide hat he was not unacquainted with, moving along toward the river two streets away. It was un- mistakable. The little head that it engulfed was as plain to him as if he saw it. The lithe, easy and girlishly buoyant carriage he did see ; and also caught the flash of a small, brown covered basket which hung lightly upon her arm. " Going for May flowers," he said under his breath. "I wonder — yes, I've time enough. I'll % :!i?i4?W'^- H The Preparation of Rye r son Iinidnry i work to-ni;^lit." And in a moment liis book of "notes" was damped on the table, wliicli v/as its proper place on such a day, and he had fitted on a Tam-o'-Shanter, and was hurrying down the street to intercept the Hower gatherer a few blocks farther on. Turning up a side street, he found himself still behind the light figure with the swaying skirt and the wide hat. She was not moving rapidly, for the day was deliciously warm after the long winter and the uncertain spring, across whose sunshine a keen wind had commonly blown ; and then the little head within the spreading hat may have known that it is not good for a girl to pass too quickly away from the streets of the town where sympathetic companionship is more easily to be picked up than out in the empty wood. He had not followed far, however, before a little lift of the head betrayed that she was conscious of someone's approach. " Going for May flowers ? " he asked, stepping alongside and lifting his "Tam." " Why, Mr Embury ! " she said, with a quite wasteful quantity of surprise in her voice and " start," for it did not deceive Ryerson in the slightest. " I thought you would be studying very hard just now," she added as if explaining some- thing, though just what did not appear. " Oh, I am usually," said Ryerson ; " but this afternoon vv^as too much for me." The Preparation of Rycrson ]i))ibury D "Isn't it splendid !" she agreed with enthusiasm, lookin<,^ at him from under the lon<^ sweep of her hat with a pair of blue eyes that danced witli the pure pleasure of life on such a day. His eyes f^ave a wordless answer that said more than any comment on the weather called for. It is the privileire of j^oung eyes to be thus lavish. Experience has not yet taught them the necessity of keeping superlatives in reserve for great occasions. Then he withdrew his eyes with a toss of the head, as one who would repudiate a too ardent messenger and said in a tone of over-con- scious carelessness, — " It is a great pity for any of us to stay mewed up in the house these days ; especially for you, who have nothing to keep you there. Why don't you go out more ? " " ' Nothing to keep me there ? ' I suppose you think I have nothing to do," she said with a pout ; and she tilted her face up that he might see the pout and be repentant. "Oh, you do enough in some ways," he replied a little distantly. She divined at once that he referred to her attendance on religious services, and became quiet ; her face meantime wearing the look of one who feels that she ought to say something very im- pressive, but knows neither what to say nor how it would be received. Presently she went on, however. "I do a great deal at home — more than you 1 6 The Preparation of Ryerson E7nbury i would tliiiik. Then I havu to practise two hours every day ; and papa is leading nie through a course of reading. I like that, however." " What are you reading ? " asked Ryerson. '* Oh, we are always reading two books," she explained, "one heavy and one fiction." It was worth something to see ihe sweet gravity oi* her face when she said " one heavy," and the lofty toleration, a little conscious of its insincerity, with which she added " and one fiction." *' Just now," she went on, " we are reading Livingstone's Travels in Africa together, and I am reading Barrie's Little Minider by myself. I suppose you've read them both ? " — regretfully. " No," Ryerson answered, though he was think- ing more of the exquisite droop of her mouth, that showed when she was serious, than of any book. " I read lite Little Minister last summer vacation, but I have never had a chance to read Livingstone." "I'll lend it to you when we are through." " I'm afraid that I sha'n't have time for it this year." " No, I suppose not. How did you like The Little Minister ? " "Oh, I don't know. Well enough, I guess. But I think it is not true to nature. I don't think that a bright girl like Babbie would fall in love with a stiff and starched minister like Gavin — eh — what's his name ? " " Did you really think that Babbie was nice ? ' n The Preparation of Ryerson Embtiry 17 she asked in petulant protest. " I think it's — it's — ^ / stran^^e the way she runs around and puts herself ' forward." " But there was lots of fun in her." " Would you like your sister to be that kind of a fjirl ? " — severely. "It would be better" — and he laughed — "to liave her somebody else's sister." " Well " — stiffly — " that may be your idea of a nice young lady, but I think it was very unnatural to make a clever and — a — a good young minister fall in love with her. He was far too good for her." This last defiantly. Then there was silence for a time. The " stiff and starched minister" and the "good young minister " had both spelled Walters to Ryerson ; and a touch of sullenness lay upon him. They had reached the " Common " now that stretched between the town and the wood, and their feet fell soft on the fresh sod. " Won't you let me carry your basket ? " he asked presently. " Oh, it's not in the way there," she said, lifting her arm a little to show how lightly it swung. She had put on a pair of old gloves for plucking the flowers — kid gloves that, grown too small, fitted her slim, soft hands snugly, but let you see the rosy flesh of her flnger-tips through some unmended rips. Ryerson looked at them with greedy eyes as he kept step with her over the B w i8 T/ic Preparation of Ryerson Enibttry I c <^ra.ss. He know the hands would ])c very wliite if he could pull ofl* the gloves — white and aol't and ki.sHable, and the palms would be rosy. The thought of it hurried his blood in its pulsin^^^s antl peeped shyly from his eyes. Grace looked up and cauo^ht it '"here. Her hands moved out in a quick i^esture, a flush came into lier cheeks, and then she dropped her eyes. The rhythmic pacing over the grass went on until they came to the edge of the wood, when he said, as it' speaking in the presence oi something sacred, yet Homethincf askiniic jjreat tenderness, — ** Whicli way do you want to go, Grace ? " It was all in the " Grace." It was not often that he had called her that, and she thrilled under it now. Neither of them could have accounted for the mood into which they had fallen. A question about it would have dispelled it. But it was real '-l.K fl^.#jr^ Mu: j«]t • -i,-» f^f 26 T/ic Prepai'ation of Rycrson Evibury i i was weulthy, but giving Iiis time to u society of scientific research in tlic town in tlic capacity of secretary. T'ley were discussing with earnestness, but a great sliow of toleration for each otlier's V views, tlic probable effect of protection on Great \ Britain. Later they considered the authenticity * of the miracles ; then touched on Darwinism, from which they vaulted lightly to the standing of the legal profession and then back again to Biblical inspiration. Next walked Ryerson, flanked by his chum Gault and a graduate of the college re- joicing in tlie thirst-suggesting name of Pitcher ; and all three talked with great freedom of ex- pression about the personal characteristics and relative merits of the various College Professors. Behind them came a singing quartette who were often a word or two slower than the three leaders, a circumstance that gave rise to mutual recrimina- tion from time to time. It was only when they kept to the country road that wound throufjh the wood, foUowino; rou^'hlv the winding of the river, that this formation could be observed. If they dropped into the narrow footpath which sometimes cut off curves in the road or oftener kept to the river bank when the carriage way deserted it, they fell into single file ; and at other times they spread out in skirmishing order, and swept irregularly through pathless sections of the wood, plucking flowers or chasing each other with stocks of dead "burrs." But IS .f The /^reparation of Rye r son Enibury 7 always on rcacliinc^ the road a<;ain, they loll into iinich the same <^roupin^, thoui^di at times all were (alkinjr and none were Kinf;injj, and a^^ain all would sin*; and none would talk. Rycrson drev/ many a deep, pleased breath as he looked about him, caucrht the fragments of frank and unshackled talk that came from the '*men" with whom his light feet were kee{)in<^ step ; and, best of all, found that some opinions of his own, whose unlikeness to those he usually heard had made him fear tliat his mind was abnormal if not malignly mastered, were in this company accepted as coin of the realm. At one point the path led to a high and dry resting place on the edge of a pigmy blufi' over- looking a modest gorge through which the river had worn a way. " Let's take recess," suggested M'Neill. " This is an elegant place to camp." "Ah," observed Pitcher, dropping down on Ids side and elbow, " one must come to such a spot to see that spring has really arrived." "Isn't it great?" gurgled Madden, rocking to and fro with his hands locked over his knees. " Why do we ever have anything except spring ? " "Give it up. Ask the parson ! " suggested iJatters. " Well, parson, what have you to say for your- self?" queried Madden, turning cheerfully to Paterson. li! ' 41 28 The Prepay atio7i of Ry arson Embttry Oh, many thinc^s if 1 felt like it," responded Piiterson, airily. " Why, for instance, should we have Maddens when we miorht all be like myself, and — Embury here, eh ? " — smiling gaily at llyerson. " Simply for the sake of variety. You would not appreciate us if there were not a few of the other kind to show us off well." " Say ! " broke in Batters, " Did you fellows hear about Hughson and ^Granipy' Wilson?" Hughson was more properly known as Professor Hughson and filled the rhair of chemistry at Ithica College ; while " Grampy ''' Wilson was a worthy student of unpolished manners and more age than was usual among the " boys " of his class. A general negative being forthcoming. Batters went on. " Well, Hughson is so blamed slick, you know, that it occurred to him that he might score off poor ' Grampy ' yesterday in chemistry class. The lecture was on ammonia, and he brought a bottle of it with him — one of those elegant, cut- glass bottles of his. The idea was to pass the bottle about for the boys to smell and then enjoy the situation when ' Grampy ' got a good whiff. Great idea, but in a moment of weakness he let Webster into the plot, getting Web to stand next to * Grampy * and show him how to take a fine deep smell. What did Web do but pass the word on to ' Grampy ' himself, with a hint to pretend to be gagged by the stuft' and then drop the fine new bottle. 'Grampy ' caught on at once, i: \- =501" at a ore ss. prs ou )re a t- ic y let t e e o P '* The Preparation of Ryerson Endniry 29 and wliBn Iliif^hson f^ravely handed the bottle to Wel)ster, and said ' Now, Mr Webster, the best test of ammonia is, perhaps, the odour. See if you can manauje to distinguish any characteristic scent,' the boys said that it was worth a meal at the liussell to see ' Grampy ' hold on to himself so he would not snort ri<;ht out. When Webster, after pre- tending to smell deep and long, passed the bottle tc him with, ' I think, professor, I can detect a faint odour,' * Grampy ' shook and gulped and, lifting the bottle to his nose, really got quite a stinger, then shouted on?-, ' Goodness ! Gracious ! ' at the top of his voice and smashed the professor's cut-glass bottle on the floor. Oh ! it was great. Hughson didn't even smile, and dismissed the class two minutes after." That reminded Pitcher of a similar thinof that happened while he was at college ; which left Madden no .alternative but to tell of a law office escapade, and so it went. Then they got into politics, ])ut soon tired of it, watching rather the leaping river and the fair blue sky. Presently Chalmers observed, adjusting his spectacles and smiling drily about the corners of his mouth, — *' You'd better attend to ^ladden's theology, Paterson." " Yes ? " from Paterson. " He ' don't know ' more things about the P)ible than any person I ever met." Madden straightened up from a sprawling atti- 30 The Preparation of Ryerson Evilmry J tilde, grinned aggressively at Paterson and awaited his comment. Paterson looked lazily into the deeps of the wood and then said, as if reluctant to speak at all, " He will have to call on me during office hours." " That's the modern preacher for you ! " shouted Madden, derisively. '* He never works overtime. You'll do, my hoy, when you graduate." " Bosh ! " replied Paterson, with the directness of college discussions. " You don't know what you're talking about, and I don't want to waste my powder on you this afternoon." '* P'r'aps I don't," said Madden, with a know- more-than-you-think grin, " and p'r'aps you'll tell us, as a light half-holiday starter, how two contra- dictory accounts of the same thing can both be true." " Ingersoll and water ! " retorted Paterson. " All right ! " said Madden, shaking his head, and then continued, " How about Joshua's raid ? Did the Lord command him to do all that wholesale killing of innocent people ? " " But," interjected Ryerson, venturing in, " they were opposing the will of God." " Yes, by resisting an unprovoked assault on their homes and lives, just as you or I would have done," returned Madden, vehemently. " Is patriotism a bad thing ? Then, moreover, the Bible says that the Lord hardened their hearts so that tlicy would fight Joshua so that he might have a chance to kill them." . V The Preparation of Ryerson Eiulmry 31 sale on lid Is the so rht ,\ •' Don't you believe all you hoar," Paterson advised Kyerson. •' You take your Bible wlien you get home and look alontj in the first of the book ol* Joshua, and you will find what I said is true," Madden assured him with conviction. llyerson smiled doubtiri^^dy, but felt timid, ms if in a stran^^e land. " Perhaps that passage ought not to be in the Bible," suggested Pitcher. " I heard a preacher the other day who told how the Bible was made up. They voted on the books and sometimes the voting was pretty close." " You're thinking of the Old Testament, Pitcher," said Paterson, " and these men were supposed to have acted under divine Gfuidance." " Like the ' stationing committee,' '' commented Batters, sarcastically. The *' stationing committee " is the body which in Canadian Methodism annually " locates " the ministers. With that tlie discussion drifted off on the rearrangement of the ministers likely to take place at the coming Methodist Conference, and presently they were all up and away again across country to another road which led back to Ithica through the little country village of Glen Ewart. '' What d'ye say, Madden, to taking the parson to Josie's and getting him a pint of something — or a ginger ale ? " Batters inquired from the rear of 32 The Prcpa7'ation of Rycrson Embury the coluTTin of the merry, elastic-moutlicd law student who was marchinf^ in front. Madden looked at Paterson, with whom he was walkint^, with apolo^ijy in his eyes, and tossed back, " Oh, shut up ! " to the jovial Batters. He liked to bait the parson on theolo. often that one requires Christian patience to meet / them afresh every day. Often they are unimpor- tant ; others are exploded from time to time by new discoveries ; true science is everywhere found 42 The Prepai'ation of Ryerson E7}?httry \\ [ fighting on the side of the Bible, and yet there always are people who will reject the glorious truths of revelation because they never saw a whale they would care to take rooms in." And he laughed heartily at his daring witticism. " Well, what about Jonah anyway ? " asked Ryerson, covering his (juestion with an answering laugh. " Oh," said the doctor, becoming grave ; " my own opinion is that the story of Jonah is a parable, teaching the folly of striving to escape the com- mands of God. There are other parables in the Scriptures. Christ himself preferred that vehicle for teaching the people. Then there is poetry in the Bible, too, which these half-baked infidels insist upon taking seriously and literally. But there is truth there, too, my son — the truth that maketh unto salvation." To the sophisticated churchgoer and newspaper reader of this day, there would be nothing startling in Dr Holden's words. They might think him a little in danger of a church trial for heresy if he were too outspoken about his opinions ; but they would have felt no such shock as fell upon this ex- ceedingly inexperienced young man who knew no resting place between perfect faith and infidelity, to w^hom the whole Bible was " the Word of God," and who had thought that he must accept it all literally or none of it. His position was no doubt very absurd, and learned divines will smile at it; A The Preparation of Ryerson Embury 43 1 but wliat percentage of evangelical Cliristians at this moment think ditiercntly ? In liow many sermons, outside of the great cities, is the Bible treated on the poetry and parable theory ? Dr Holden's placid face, suggestive of nothing but the commonplace, steadied him, however, and lie felt that it would be something like a display of rusticity to be surprised at the doctor's way of look- ing at the matter. Then did he not know that there were both parables and poetry in the Bible ? What was he staring at ? But there fell across his mind the memory of his mother explaining to him at length that the Bible said that the Lord had especially prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah ; and that if He could do this, He could certainly make this particular fish so that Jonah could live in it. It seemed keenly pathetic to him now that his mother should have so striven to read reality into a parable ; but he dismissed the scene and pulled himself up to the doctor's superior position. " Yes, yes," he said, making a pretence of thinking about it; "that could easily be so. Jonah would make a good parable. And Joshua's raid ^ " he asked, remembering one of Madden's fiercest assaults, and f eelino; that he was frettinfj on. " What about that ? " "That's historic," replied the doctor, promptly. " There's no excuse for disbelieving that." " No, I meant about the Lord telling him to put everybody to the sword," explained Ryerson. 44 The Preparation of Ryerson Emhvry \ J i " Oh," said tlio doctor with a trace of impatience, "we cannot judi^e the morals of one aj^e by the standards of another. You must contrast the Jews of tliat day with tlie peoples about them to see the efi'ect of divine <^uidance." "But," Ilyerson persisted, "God's standard of morals ouc^ht not to vary." "God must work through human agents," retorted the doctor, sharply. " i5ut I shouldn't bother about these (juibbles if I were 3"ou," he went on more genially. " ^Phey lead to nothing. i\latters we are troubled about now will all be revealed in God's good time. The great Christian doctrines are plain enough to you, aren't they ? " " Yes," said Kyerson. "Well, lean upon then and go ahead. If we knew the whole of truth, we should be gods. I fear that you are in need of more spiritual guidance. Do you pray ? " " Yes, sir." " All right " — heartily. " Now," getting up and going to the bookcase, " here is an admirable little volume dealino; with some of the difficulties of a Christian life. Take it for vacation reading, and don't fritter away your time arguing with these pin-hole infidels. They are soiling their hands with the chatf that the Germans swept out of their work- shops long ago. If they want to talk, compare lives with them ; compare results with them. Put the church beside their miserable little clubs. They * *••, The Preparation of Rycrson Rnibitry 45 0- ^ have clone nothing but cavil all their lives. The church lifts tlie race, and they carp because — be- cause " — lookincr for a simile — " because it stands on tlie earth to do it." And with that he shook hands with Ryerson and led him out throu^jh the wide hall to the vine-hidden verandah. As Ryerson walked up the street, he felt that he had attained to a broader outlook on thini^s. He believed himself better able to meet Madden, now that he was not tied down to the literal and speci- fic defence of every passage in the Scripture. There was more room to play about in dialectically. It was the difference between rooting a pugilist to the cjround and lettino; him dance about the rins:. Then suddenly the thought pushed up into his mind that while he danced about, his mother must stand still and take all the blows. She believed the Bible to be absolutely true and entirely the work of God from Genesis to Revelation. From the impetus of not one statement in all its pages did she escape under.cover of the notion that it was poetic or an unlabelled parable. " Don't you believe the Bible ? " she would say as a clincher after having quoted a passage in support of some contention. As he walked, these two conceptions of the Scriptures battled in his brain ; and he presently found himself turning down to his own boarding house instead of going on to look up Madden as he had originally intended. \ On an at'turnoon in the iullowin*^ weok, if Uycrson had been on callin<^ terms with the Brownells, he mifijht have found the Rev. Arthur Drake Walters — as he was known on the country circuits- ited at ease on the Brownell verandah, resting ... jli", after tlie tug of examinations, in tlie grateful society of Mrs Browjell and Grace. He had brought a volume of Cowper with him and had been read- ing them some poetry, and now he was telling of some college escapades in which he apologetically confessed to have }»layed a prominent part. They were mostly practical jokes perpetrated at the ex- pense of new or stupid students, in which the immense cleverness of the. perpetr'ators was always apparent, though one sometimes wished they had chosen more difficult game. Mrs Brownell ejacu- lated at the adroitness of the plan, which was always laid to begin with; said "No, really!" at the miraculous stupidity of the victim ; exclaimed in consternation at the climax, when the said victim seemed in danger of life, or, at least, cuticle ; and cried, " My, what awful boys you college boys ai-e ! " when the tale was safely 46 i The Preparation of Rycrson lunlmry 47 • » over. Grace, who was doin^ Komothinfij with a crochet needle and thread, hiui^h(! The Preparation of Rye r son F.nibury 57 watchful mother for much student flirtation to come near her wliere the public eye could take note of it. The boys who went to Sunday scliool were the only ones who would have been certain to turn to him at the mention of her name, and most of them were in the junior classes. A third-year man was a survival at the Sunday school, and llyerson had felt an indefinite shame at being there all through the last year. But it was his one safe chance to see Grace; for happily "mamma" pre- ferred an hour's shaded meditation in her own room on a Sabbath afternoon. "That's what's the matter with Paterson," went on Madden in answer to Van Loom's remark. " He's jealous — not of the girl, but of Walter's perspiring piety." "You're a fool, Madden," Paterson observed calmly. " Possibly," Madden admitted ; " but you're not a Simon-pure, coine-to-glory Christian if you don't believe in Walters's kind of religion." " I may agree with his religion without admiring his methods of preaching it, mayn't I ? " Paterson queried. *' I don't know," returned Madden. " There are preachers who insist that you must believe in their emotions as a part of their religion, and Walters's methods are not far from his emotions." Later in the day, when they had all tired of fish- ing where there were no fish to speak of, and were / 58 The Preparation of Ryerson Embury sittin<; on the shady bank of tlic river amidst the rumpled papers and scattered chicken bones and the usual wreckage of a lunch, I'aterson took Madden lazily to task for bothering an old man who did some writing in liis office with " cheap and nasty " objections to Holy Writ. " You know perfectly well," he said, " that the modern Christian scholar does not believe that Moses wrote the account of his own death, or that there is any kind of inspiration which the discovery of a few contra- dictions would wreck, or any other absurd thing of that order. Yet it was that sort of talk you bothered old Mathews with." Madden defended himself on the ground that Mathews, at all events, believed these things, and that it was a duty to dispel ignorance wherever you found it. " And as you grant that these things are not true, you should praise me for setting Mathews right on the subject," he added with a grin. " Ah ! but you took advantage cf the influence gained over his mind by knockiLiT down these straw men to teach him that there was nothinij divine about the Bible at all," said Paterson. " Well, neither there is," returned Madden, ag- / gressively. " What's the use of talking nonsense ! \ i If the Bible contains bad geography, bad history, bad science, self-contradictions and, what is worse, bad morals, do you think that God would bind up a divine revelation with such a mess and impose it i^ The Preparation of Ryerson Evibury 59 xV upon his people as a Holy Book ? ^lore than that, your contention is that he has inctJe belief in these doctrines, thus wrapped up in things impossible to believe, a sine qua nan of salvation. Then you talk of ' straw men.' They are flesh and blood enough to the majority of church people." " What an old bell-mouthed blunderbuss you are. Madden," Paterson observed calmly. "You know perfectly well that all those showy shots of yours about bad liistory, contradictions and the like, do not hit the position occupied by Christian scholarship at all." " Well, if it comes to that, why not ? " Madden im^uiredargumentatively. "Don't Christian scholar- ship accept the Bible as a divine revelation ? " " I had rather say that it holds that the Bible contains a divine revelation." " Oh— ho ! " Madden chortled. " How do you profess to know the divine from the human parts then ? " " I shall answer your question by asking another," Paterson returned. " How do you know truth any- where ? " " By the reason," Madden shot out triumphantly. " lOxactly," said Paterson, leaning slightly for- \Nard, but without any change in his habitually cahn and confident manner. " Reason, led by the Holy Spirit, is our guide." Madden looked baffled for a moment, and then diverted his attack toward another point. J 'm 60 7 Vic Preparation of Ryerson Embury "Then you admit tliat some parts ol* the Bible are untrue ? " he (queried. "The purely human sections are, of course, subject to human frailties." " Now don't dodt^e ! Do you think that any of the Bible history, for instance, is untrue?" " I suspect," said Paterson with the smoothness suffcrestive of force that is seen when a current runs swiftly, but without breaking, over a stone, " that the Scribes may have tampered with Old Testament chronology a bit, but I cannot see that it matters. As long as God's dealings with the Jews are clear, the purpose of the revelation is accomplished." And so the unending debate went on. Ryerson joined in presently by attacking Madden for the . / unproductivity of " free thought " in the line of " good works." This was Dr Holden's suggested plan of campaign ; but the doctor had not told him what to say when Madden argued that civilisa- tion had advanced in spite of the church — that, for instance, " Christianity owed more to the Germanic peoples than the Germanic peoples did to Christianity." Of Paterson, Ryerson was more in awe, though he felt that his own people at home would regard his line of defence as little better than a surrender to the enemy. The debate had a sequel, however, in a militant visit from Madden the following evening, when he talked the lad into a condition of bewilderment and, in the parlance of V i . *. i 'f;i I m The Preparation of Rycrson Endnirv 6 1 . /I *- 1 such discussions, '* sliut liiin up entinjly." Ryerson felt tho unfrtii'ness of many of liis aroumcnts, felt that he (Madden) was constantly the not too scrupulous advocate and seldom the truth-seeker ; but he was verbally pounded into a state of spf^echlessness. Of course, Madden saw the book that Dr Holden had f^iven Ryerson for " vacation reading," and at once offered him antidotes by the armful. Ryerson said he would take two or three, because his pride as a " fearless truth-seeker" would not let him refuse ; but he felt no taste for writing which should handle roughly the beliefs which had been numbered among the immutable things with him until a little ago, and were yet sacred. When the books came — Tom Paine, Strauss and IngersoU — he had a physical repulsion toward them. He took care not to pack them anywhere near his Bible or his mother's picture, and then heaped exaggerated ridicule on himself for his childish scruples. Was he not a man, seekirg the truth at all costs ? Why should he be ashamed to read both sides ? Did he think that true religion had anything to fear from the fullest research ? Was not his father's favourite motto, " Be sure you are right and then go ahead ? " Was not, in short, his home teaching to search out things for himself ? Why, of course. There could be no doubt about the propriety of taking these books home. He — but so tricky a thing is the mind that, before he was aware of it, he caught himself wondering, in 62 The Preparation of Ryersoft EiJibury 1 ' 11 I the midst of all this heroic mental slapping of his thrust-out chest, where he could hide the books when he got home, so that neither father nor mother would suspect their presence. Then he blushed to the brow and went furiously on with his packing. Friday saw the lists up. Ryerson had the *' Greenleaf " and led his class. It was the first time in his course, and he felt an insane desire to jump right up and down. Then he w^rote a postal card home about it, and turned out into the streets to find himself famous. Boys gathered about him on the " campus," and asked him how he did it — how many hours he studied, whether he reviewed with notes or the text-books, if he took an egg-nog in the mornings before going into the examination hall, whether he ran over the papers and answered the questions he was sure of first or just ploughed down the list. Professors stopped him on the street to extend a congratu- latory hand. l>ut the climax came when the cautious Mrs Brownell asked him to come over for an afternoon's tennis and stay to tea. He forgot theology, and revelled in the perfumed incense of success. Walters had not led the ffraduatins" class by a long way, and Mrs Brownell liked to see promising young men talking to Grace. Convoca- tion came and he trc»d the elastic path to the dais tliree times amid the plaudits of his friends — once for his " honours," once for the " Greenleaf " and \m m The Preparation of Ryerson Embtcry 63 once for the " Proticiency." Grace sat in the gallery, in some kind of a light dress and a wide summery hat, and beamed down on him. That niorht he sat ap'ain on her verandah in the flower- scented air of a happy June, and talked hopefully of his future in which they both tac^'tly assumed she was interested. The last thing at the gate he said, — " Well, I suppose I shall not see you again until autumn." " No." " I wonder — do you think you could give me that rose you are wearing, until then ? " " Will you give it back then ? " " Yes ; sure." " You'll lose it." " No, no. Here, put it in my buttonhole for the present." And she came close to him in the deep shadow of the vine that embowered the "fate and lifted her hands to fasten the flower as he had asked. Her eyes shone like stars, and her breath played on his neck and chin. " I wonder," and his voice was unsteady, " if you would do me a greater favour." " What ? " and her tone was low and she looked with a new shyness at him. " This," was the reply, and he kissed her for the first time on the mouth. " Oh," she said, but her lips neither smiled nor n rl i 64 The Preparation of Rye^'son Embury compressed in anger. In a moment she stepped back into the li^^ht and said in a voice laden with gentleness, " Good-bye ; and — and I shall look for a call when vacation is over." I VII When Ryerson stepped off the train next day at Fordville — the unprogressive little village that had been his home from childhood — both his father and mother were on the station platform to meet him. He did not know, until his mother mentioned it quite casually that evening, that they had been tliere for two hours, having come down to meet an earlier train on the chance that he might try to surprise them by taking it, although he had written that he would come by the ''express." This early " move to the front " was his father's idea. He would let no " youngster " from college get ahead of him. His mother had thought of it and then discarded it, deciding, with a finer tact, that if Ryerson wanted to surprise them it would be too bad to disappoint him. When he was not on the first train, the expectant couple, who had learned to wrap their love well round with patience during the long years through which they had " raised " this only child of their own great love, simply sat down on the whittled and knife-lettered wooden bench which stood against the shady side of the station-house and E V \} i! II ! |i 66 T/ie P^'cparation of Ryerson Embury waited thron(»;h the two hours that swam with loving anticipation. They said little to each other though their eyes met frequently, and furtive smiles played with the corners of their mouths as wantonly as sungleams light the air on an April day. Embury the elder — Ryerson's father — was a man of slight stature and spare form, with a face that was full of kindness though the indecisive eyes suggested an incapacity that damns a man — particularly with the successful. As a matter of fact, he had not been very successful. A public- school teacher all his life, he had only attained to the head-mastership of his school by dint of long service and patient waiting. In his schoolroom he had the appearance of a man wearing a character several times too large for him. He tried to be impressive, and succeeded fairly well ; but a great crisis or a determined revolt against his authority would bring his pretentious, plaster-of- Paris master- ship down with a crash. But to his "vife he was always a god with a kindly manner, and her great grievance against the world was its inexcusable failure to appreciate her husband. She, on her part, was a gentle soul, with something of awe for her husband's wide erudition — and it was undoubtedly much superior to that of many of the men who pushed themselves by him in the scramble of life. Did not the village doctor always refer to liim as "the most learned <.i The Preparation of Ryerson Embury 67 man in the countv, sir ! " and were not his letters in the chief paper of the county town on the relation of Old Testament teachinir to Greek thought, read and praised by all the preachers of the district, to say nothing of Dr Holden of Ithica who wrote Mr Embury a congratulatory note on the subject ? Mrs Embury had more worldly wisdom than her husband, however; and it was their economy that bought their charming little cottage-home for them and saved the money which was now sending Ryerson to college. And now that Ryerson was on the second half of that college course, how full of ambition they both were for him ! There was nothing he might not do. The lad had high hopes for himself, but they were limping and broken-winged when compared to theirs. The " card " that told of his medal and his " Greenleaf " had cut the last cord that bound the wings of their ambition for him ; and they revelled in the thought of what the villaae would say when he had grown great. His mother, in her heart of hearts, would have preferred that he should be a great preacher, but she was willing to confer him on the law, seeing that he desired it ; remind- ing herself that lawyers can do a vast amount of good, and that he might then the more easily become a Gladstone-like premier, ruling the nation on Christian principles. His father was less positive in his vicarious ambition. Success was the great thing. Ryerson must never know \ # i 1 P tii I i \ \ 68 T/ie Preparation of Ryerson Embury the agony of being passed on the patli by a better- equipped but really less worthy man. That long summer vacation at Fordville was to Ryerson a period of alternating mental stagnation and mental turmoil. When his father's holidays came, they all took an inexpensive two-weeks' outing at a lake resort not far away ; but for the rest of the time he seemed to live between the tremulous quiet of the village street under the ' blazing noon-day, the cool fresh quiet of a wood V near by, the yet cooler quiet of the closed parlour at home where he liked best to read, and the noisy, gossiping companionship of the idle village at night. Amid such surroundings, thought was merciless. He must face every problem until he had solved it — there was not a distraction to ride away upon. He did some studying for next year, and began the books that Madden had lent him. He would see what was in them. He would, indeed, have to be prepared with replies to them when he met Madden in the fall. Then he had Dr Holden's book, which he turned to with hope; but unhappily it appeared to take for granted, or else to teach simply on authority, the things which the Madden squadron attacksd. But still he kept up a pretty stitf defence against Paine and Ingersoll so lono" as he could maintain the attitude of his friend Paterson. What did these cheap jibes prove after all ? The Gospel was still intact. But the moment he entered the atmosphere of / The Preparation of Rycrson Embury 69 Fordville, the Paterson buckler fell to the ground. "Doesn't the Bible say so?" was there the all- sufficient proof of any statement. On Sundays the minister quoted from " the Word of God " ; and ' he made no distinction between Jonah and ,Jesus. They had the minister in to tea one night and the. conversation turned upon the "higher criticism/''^ It was a chorus of condemnation. It was as bad,\ they said, to disbelieve one part of the Bible as to disbelieve it all. What human hand could venture to divide the true from the false in Holy W^rit ? \ Ryerson protested that notice had to be taken of later discoveries, and that the arguments of the infidel had to be met. " Take care, my son," said the niinister, " you are ^ drinking at a dangerous spring. College life is full of snares and pitfalls. Stick to the good old faith of your fathers." Ilyerson reddened and denied that what he had said involved any abandonment of faith. He was going on to argue the case, but the pain in liis mother's eyes and the disapproval and astonish- ment in his father's face stopped him. Then tlie\ three agreed that the so-called " higher critics " ! were doing more harm than outspoken infidels whom one could always beware of ; and Kyerson's j father said that he thought that if a man had any ( doubts about the Bible or religion he ought to keep them to himself and not disturb the faith of others. V ^ 'j I was the religion that had religion of the revival. It was the 70 T/ie Preparation of Ryerson Evibury Consequently the lad fought this battle against the infidel writers with his hands tied. He must save his mother's religion, or nothing. Then hers life in it. It was the eligion of practically the whole Church — even Dr Holden himself called the Bible " the Word of God " when in th*^. pulpit without once mentioning the differences in authority between the various parts of the book. Then the battle was single-handed. He was a beardless boy fencing with giants. The very love of his parents for him forbade him to let them know tliat he was in need of aid. Then what could they do for him ? They had both accepted their faith as they had the climate into which they were born. The minister had a showy armory of arguments, but authority was constantly called in to supple- ment reason. So the lad fought alone. There was no one to look over his shoulder and point out the special pleader's trick with which this man " scored " or that man made a feint at toppling over an ancient belief. Above all, there was no one to point beyond the tragedy of Calvary to the dynamic, oppression- rending, caste-levelling teaching on the Mount and in the Temple that led up to it. For another thing, the lad was only a lad and knew nothing yet of the world's sorrow — of the misery of the many because of the inhumanity of Uie strong. How could he then see the record of the never-ending struggle of m ^J^ t -^^^^/^^^'^^^^^^ of Rycrson Embury 7 i the hero-knight against the black dragon of in- justice which a^jpears in many a Scripture from the story of Moses, the Liberator, to the thunders of John, the Pamphleteer against Nero ? So he fought his fight alone— and lost. I hi \' VIII One windy, sunshiny day in the following March — a six months after Ryerson's summer of religious controversy within himself — when minute pools of water shone and rippled on the icy road-bed of the streets and hummocks of drenched grass showed through the snow in the fields, Dr Holden plashed and pushed his way along to make an afternoon call on Mrs Brownell. The visit was of a semi-pastoral nature, for the worthy professorial doctor had been a minister in active work in his day, and looked upon several congenial homes in Ithica as con- stituting in some sense an unexacting and wholly voluntary pastoral charge for him yet. At all events, he liked to make afternoon calls at these houses, and to chat with the dcccrously-gowned ladies over the light humours and mild tragedies of the neighbourhood, and to hear occasionally, as a sort of Protestant " father confessor," the silken story of their perplexities and problems and trials. On this afternoon Mrs Brownell was at home and was sitting in an alcove of the drawing-room with Grace and Mrs Masterson, the wife of the leading manufacturer of the town. " Ah ! Good afternoon, doctor. It is very brave 72 J'v f The Preparation of Rycrson Enibnry y2) of you to venture out on 8uch a day," she said when he was ushered in. The doctor made his greetings all round, pinching Grace's cheek, when it came her turn, with a com- ment on its plumpness. Then he asked after the well-being of the masculine attachments of the ladies, and remarked that he had been told that Mr Masterson intended building another conserva- tory this year. "Yes, William thinks of doing so," said Mrs Masterson, " if the men at the ' works ' do not dis- arrange all his plans for him." " How so ? " asked Dr Holden. ^ " Oh, in these days," returned Mrs Masterson, " one cannot venture to have a plan without con- sulting one's servants. The houses are ruled from the kitchen and the * works ' from the boiler-room." " Any trouble at the ' works ' ? " asked the doctor, seeking the point. "Not yet," said Mrs Masterson, "but the men are talking * strike '." " Why % " " Because they are too well off," and Mrs IMaster- son's eyes glinted in a manner suggestive of her husband's best steel. "They are getting full of high and mighty notions. Many of their wives dress better than T do, and none of the girls are content until they get a piano. And now they have reached such a pitch that none of them will work at all unless they get certain wages." /' i4 I I I T I I w ' i i I ;h \ V / 74 T/ic Pref^aration of Ryerson Emlmry '* You wouldn't expect tlieni to work for un- certain Wi'inres, would you ? " put in Grace, who was still at that age when a chance to make a bad pun is an irresistible temptation. Mrs Masterson smiled indulgently at her and went on. '* It's worse even than that, doctor. They won't let anyone else work now who doesn't get as good wages as the best — at least, of his own grade. Now there's poor Sam Wilson. You know him, doctor ? " The doctor nodded. " Well, William wanted to give him a little work last month. His family hardly had a bite to eat and he was behind in his rent. So William wanted to let him earn what he could at the ' works.' He called in his foreman and told him about it. And do you think the foreman would let him ? Not for a minute. He ^aid that if Sam would join their Union they'd let him come in and work at Union wages for a man of his grade. Of course, poor Sam would have been willing to work for anything, but they'd rather see him starve." " I thought Sam was a Union man," said the doctor. " He is now," said Mrs Masterson. " They frightened him into it, but William soon taught him that that was not the way to get into his works, and so the Union men have had the pleasure of keeping him ever since," and she smiled as if she were a style ahead of her next pew neighbour in a church hat. I The Preparation of Ryerson Embury 75 \S "But what is the strike likely to be about?" asked Dr Hoklen. " In a word," said Mrs Masterson, emphatically, " William says he's goinf^ to find out who owns his own factory — himself or the men." " Oh ! " said the doctor, comprehendingly, settliner, .kmesy, con- tented Inmself with Susan. But tlien Jan.esy |l.d not read poHtc literature and had never visited nends in i\ew York in his life. Still, Jamesy had lus sphere of usefulness, and when he sauntered in that evening by Jmi)iE'UM«IJiW~i->4lg !^ The Prcpa7'ation of Rycrson Embury ^y " BuowNKLL Villa. "Dear Mr Emijury,— I am afraid that it is very wrong of you to ask me to meet yon in the evening. But I could not go anywhere with you very well in the day-time, and there are some things that I think I ought to say to you. You are to listen, too, and not argue back all the time, putting poor me off the track. '' So if you are at the maple at nine o'clock, Friday night, I will come for a minute. Suzette will be with me. I think it is just awful for girls to steal out at night to meet young men, but in my case it really is not stealing out, for no one has forbidden me to go. Then I shall not be alone, and I have a good object in coming. " Be sure and be in time. — Your sincere friend, " Grace Brownell. " Please burn this note." A full twenty minutes before nine Kyerson was v/alking up and down in the neighbourhood of "the maple," keeping a nervous watch down the street in the direction from which he expected to see Grace and Suzette emerge. He had grown per- ceptibly older in appearance since that spring day of a year ago when he went May-flowering with Grace and kissed her hand with the white skin and the rosy palm. A creditable moustache now covered his upper lip, and his mouth had a firmer set. He looked out on the world with two resolute eyes, Ka .j^.. '^^ .o^V^^^^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 i I.I 1.25 ui MM if m If iM m *^ I— \\\m M 1.8 1.4 ill 1.6 ^ Mi.J VI // w ^ 1^