ige Four
THE YOUNG AMERICAN
December
■ Ml. Tell me, cladlim it, are you
..MTied?”
■‘Ed,” confessed Ilerbut a bit plead-
jly, as he looked hi.s chum st'.aight
the eyes, ‘I am not married, but I
. 1 going to be on Christmas day. I
( .jldii’t live up to the pledge we
: . -de. I went on all right until I met
„ -3 right girl, then it seemed like
•. 3i'e was something in the atmos-
, lere that told me to get out of this
. 1 rut of life, and I had to obey,
hen I went to New York just be-
ire Thanksgiving, f got in with a
, 1 and was engaged before I left,
e been writing to her ever since.
■ le is a good girl too, Edwin—”
Edwin could stand it no longer. He
-ought Herbut had made the biggest
. i stake of his life, and he meant to
t orrect him. He broke Herbut’s ac-
- ,-ant off with a vehement shake of
’ 1 head. “You lie,” he stormed,
'here ain’t no S-.ch thing as a good
:*1. Herbut Angeles, you have gone
, > ruin—there ain’t no use talking
' out it, you done gone to ruin—
, ;u’re on the road to destniction. And
, )u are trying to drag me after you.
ou’ve got me to fight!” In a fit of
. ger Edwin started at his more fra-
e companion with clenched fists.
But he stopped short before he
could lay a. hand on Herbut. There
, ;s something commanding in the
,le face of the boy. Herbut was
. acid as he continued hiS story. “I
y, Edwin, she is a good girl—she
. a good girl if there is not another
.1 the world. She made me stop
. rsing and persuaded me to join the
urch. And believe me, Ed, I thank
. .3 High Powers that I ever met
, r.”
Edwin was quiet now. He looked
tently at his chum. There was
I'.nething about Herbut’s face that
i Iwin half-admired. There was
: jmething deep in his eyes now that
ought the half-hearted question,
‘ -lut, say, Herbut, whatever in the
)rld caused you to think of marry-
t9”
•> •
Two little tears appeared in the
orners of Herbut’s eyes when he
oked at his chum. He thought at
st Edwin was willing to sympathize
th him. He even smiled, saying, “I
■' )n’t know what it was Edwin. It
is something in the atmosphere, as
said before. It mu.st have been
Just the spirit of Christmas”—the
)irit of Christmas causes man to find
imeone to love.”
But, to Herbut’s s .rprise, Edwin
.’.t on his coat, and, without saying a
■ rrdj.left the room.
It was late that afternoon when
Iwin returned to the apartment and
acco.sted Herbut, who was writing a
letter to Maria Furgeson, the girl
With whom he was in love. Edwin
had bscn, out for a number of hours
and thought the matter over. Th-ough
it all he had been perplexed, and he
wac yet. He hardly knew what
course to pursue. Yet, thinking that
Herbut had been infatuated with
some woman and that he was not
really his normal self (for who could
believe that a boy was normal when
he had turned .so q.dckly from sin to
life?), Edwin had finally decided
that a hard knock might bring him
to himself again. If he could only
hear Herbut emit one of his favorite
cu:se words, he felt that Herbut
would be himself, and that he would
then decided not a marry. Now there
was only one way Edwin thought
that Hei’but could be forced to say
“damn” once more, and he resaolved
to try this method.
“Ilerbut, I’ve stood your nonsense
long enough. By drabs, I’m going to
give you a flogging. Anybody that’d
break their pledge like you have
ought to have his hide tanned black.
Como on out here and take your
medicine!”
Herbut looked ’. p at his chum be-
•wildered, as the hand holding the
pen quivered like a hanging leaf in
the autumn breeze. “Edwin,” he
said between trembling lips, “this is
needless. We’ve always been friends
and I don’t see any use of breaking
those ties that bind here at the last
minute.”
“Brace up. You’ve got to fight
me.”
Herbut shut his eyes a minute in
prayer to God, then opening them
suddenly, he lunged at Edwin with
‘all the strength of his fragile body.
Edwin met him squarely, at the same
time breathing to himself, “By Jove,
his fighting blood is coming back to
him. He’ll soon be over with that
spell of goodness if he keeps this
up.”
For ten long minutes Edwin gave
Herbut the best there was in him,
for he thought the more tho'rough
the flogging the more confident he
CO Id be that Herbut's spell was
broken. Both boys were out of
breath, but it seemed as though Ed
win had had a harder tussle than he
thought that his chum was able to
put up. Herbut's clothes were in
rags and his face was smeared with
blood.
Herbut saw that Edwin was
about to get the better of the fight.
He stepped backwards once thinking
it best to give up the fight. But
suddenly an inspiration fluttered in
his heart: would he let might over
come right, was not it his duty now
to fight for God even as he had once
fo-.’.ght for the devil? Herbut grab
bed a chair and brO ght it down
with all his remaining strength upon
the head of his pal, stretching him.
straight upon the floor.
The victor stood for a moment over
the limp body of his victim. As he
looked at Edwin laying at his own
feet, his heart began to grow mellow
and two large tears rolled down his
cheeks. He left the head of Edwin
and dashed cold water into his pale,
but healthy-loowing face, and placed
his arms about the defeated one’s
nock a.s he rcga'ned con.3cld..s.iess.
Then he lifted him to the bed.
Already the inmates of the board
ing house were clamoring at the door,
which was locked. 'When Herbert
had Edwin laying on the bed, he
opened the door and allowed tliem to
entei’. After innumerable inquiries
they departed, one by one, each nod
ding and whispering “bad boys, bad
boys.”
Through all this Herbut had not ut
tered one word for which Edwdn had
hoped. Even now he was as placid
as he had been before the scrimmage,
and he bore no feeling of hatred to
ward his challenger. Moreover, he
was sorrowful for the thing he had
done. He felt now that he was un
der obligations to minister even more
to his comrade,- in order that he
might show him that he bore no ma
lice, but instead the spirit of Jesus
Christ, who died to save all mankind
from etei’iial d„m:i tAn.
Accordingly when ;.li the visitors
had gone, Herl ut advanced to where
Edwin w'as sitti.ig on the corner of
the bed and told h s chum that he
was “awfully reg et" for what he
had gone. If EI»vln o.ily had been,
a lover of simple bea ty he could
have appreciated Herbut, with that
face of Christian sublimity—so
changed from what it had once been.
Regardless of Herbut’s effort to do
good to his victim of the afternoon
before, the next morning Edwin in
formed Ilerbut th t 't was his inten
tion to depart immediately for New
York, where he would look up the pa
rents of Maria Fir.-goson and see
that they called off the wedding that
was planned so beautifully for Christ
mas. He wou'd .eport the whole life
hi.story of Herbut to them. He would '
reveal to them the black stains of
■sin that rnarred the past life of Her
but. He would prove to them that
Herbut was not worthy of the hand
of their daughter. He would wreck
the plans that Herbut had been lay-;|j,