The Damnation of Theron Ware

This is the funniest t

irlish form, clad in a simple, fresh-starched calico gown, and shone in golden patches upon her light-brown hair. She had a s

nd her. A long loose, open dressing-gown dangled to his knees, and his sallow, clean-shaven, thoughtful face wore a morning undress expression of yo

elms over there are full of robins. We must get

with the milk-pail on his

r getting no milk yesterday or the Sunday before. It seems that tha

ing his words a little, and putting a sense of placid iro

ou milk fast enough on Sundays, if you give me the wor

't last long'?", aske

hnuts fried with her own hands, which she gave him o

saying we can deliver to this house on Sundays, an' then gives us no

on to the stoop beside his wife. "What's that you sa

answered

her in the face for a puzzled m

aid the preacher. "You can go o

y. "All right!" and he was off on the instant, the di

another mutual laugh seemed imminent. Then the wife's face clouded over, and she thrust

lared. "'The Puritan's idea of hell is a place

and cinders, soaked into grimy hardness by the recent spring rains, and nearer still an ancient chopping-block, round which were scattered old weather-beaten hardwood knots which had defied the axe, parts of broken barrels and packing-boxes, and a nameless debris of tin cans, clam-shells, and general rubbish. It was pleasanter to lift the eyes, and look across the neighb

, and passed it in a slow arch of movement

look at, and listen to, and fill our lungs with? It seems to me that we never FEEL quite so

ment, with pleased interest, upon the trees and the sky. Then the

dn't look quite the thing, and, second, you'd never get at it in all your born days. Or if a man would cost too much, we might get a boy. I daresay Harvey would come around, after he'd finished with his milk-route in the forenoon. We could give him his dinn

ss, and we'll take a long walk, way out into the country. You've never seen the basin, where they float the log-rafts in, or the big sawmills. The hills beyond give you almost mounta

s. Ware,-"those trustee

ng like a sigh. He cast another reluctant, lingering gla

hired girl to do such work. Then he wandered off into the room beyond, which served them alike as living-room and study, and let his eye run along the two rows of books that constituted his library. He saw nothing which he wanted to read. Final

ctavius which they both knew the

k, well-fed herds of "milkers" coming lowing down the road under the maples; the prosperous and hospitable farmhouses, with their orchards in blossom and their spacious red barns; the bountiful boiled dinners which cheery housewives served up with their own skilled hands. Of course, he admitted to himself, it would not be the same if he were to go back there again. He was conscious of having moved along-was it, after all, an advance?-to a

me to him. There he had first seen Alice Hastings,-the bright-eyed, frank-faced, serenely self-reliant gir

he was fresh from the refinements of a town seminary: she read books; it was known that she could play upon the piano. Her clothes, her manners, her way of speaking, the readiness of her thoughts and sprightly tongue-not least, perhaps, the imposing current understanding as to her father's wealth-placed her on a glo

kindly credit to themselves that he had met his bride while she was "visiting round" their countryside. In part by jocose inquiries addressed to the expectant groom, in part by the confidences of the postmaster at the corners concerning the bulk and frequency of the correspondence passing between Theron and the now remote Alice-they had followed the progress o

before him, feeling infinitely strengthened and upborne by the hearty fervor of their God-speed, and taking with him nearly two wagon-loads

Tyre, it was pleasantest t

h their new congregation rented as a parsonage. The impulse of reaction from the rather grim cheerlessness of their wedding lent fresh gayety to their lighthearted, whimsical start at housekeeping. They had never laughed so much in all their lives as they did now in these first months-over their weird ig

le to get away from the farm and achieve such education as should serve to open to him the gates of professional life, nor the later wave of religious enthusiasm which caught him up as he stood on the border-land of manhood, and swept him off into a veritable new world of vie

From this it seemed only a step to the development of a humor of his own, doubling, as it were, their sportive resources. He found himself discovering a new droll aspect in men and things; his phraseology took on a dryly playful form, fittingly to present conceits which danced up, unabashed, quite into the presence of lofty and majestic truths. He got from this nothing but satisfaction; it obviously involved increased claims to popularity among his parishioners, and consequently magnified powers

Free Methodists and then to the incumbency of a pastor who scandalized the community by marrying a black man to a white woman. But the Wares changed all this. Within a month the report of Theron's charm and force in the pulpit was crowding the church building to

-scarum domicile; and the drab, two-storied, tin-roofed little parsonage might well have rattled its clapboards to see if it was not in dreamland-so gay was the company, so light were the hearts, which it sheltered in these new days. As for Theron, the period was one of incredible fructification and output. He scarcely recognized for his own the mind which now wa

ares suddenly discovered that they

nd with a cruel wealth of pathetic detail, at a realiza

ugh the streets with his staff in the proud wake of his division's massed walls of bayonets, cannot be imagined as quailing at the glance thrown at him by his tailor on the sidewalk. Similarly, a man invested with sacerdotal authority, who baptizes, marries, and buries, who deli

the first intimation of discontent, the Wares made what seemed to them a sweeping reduction in expenditure. When they heard that Brother Potter had spoken of them as "poor pay," they dismissed their hired girl. A little later, Theron brought himself to drop a laboriously casual suggestion as to a possible increase of salary, and saw with sinking spirits the faces of the stewards freeze with dumb disapprobation. Then Alice paid a visit to her

nce, the attendance became once more confined to the insufficient membership of the church, and the trustees complained of grievously diminished receipts. When

Presiding Elder knew something of the circumstances, and felt it his duty to send Theron bac

ts inhabitants by expressing a desire to wipe off all their old scores for them, and give them a fresh start in life. As he put the suggestion, they could find no excuse for rejecting it. He had watched them, and heard a good deal about them, and took a fatherly sort of interest in them. He did not deprecate their regarding the aid he proffered them in the natur

l the principles which underlie this art, and all the tricks that adorn its superstructure. He studied it, fastened his thoughts upon it, talked daily with Alice about it. In the pulpit, addressing those people who had so darkened his life and crushed the first happiness out of his home, he withheld himself from any oratorical display which cou

few weeks ago. The opportunity had been given him, there at the Tecumseh Conference, to reveal his quality. He had risen to its full limit of possibilities, and preached a great serm

him had been so stirred into motion. He felt, as he lay back in the chair, and folded his hands over the book on his knee, that he had indeed come forth from the fire purified and strengthened. The ministry to souls diseased beckoned him with a new and urgent significance. He smiled to remember that Mr. Beekman, speaking in his shre

ears, and there was no impulse of his heart, no fibre of his being, which did not stir in dev

arply upon his meditations, and on the instant

he warned him, in a loud, swift whisper. "

e slowly from sprawling recum

rod and fish-basket twice in eight days, and that's a good sign. He's got a soft side somewhere. And just

again, and moved relucta