Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / June 19, 1914, edition 1 / Page 2
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JM3MTI0NAL HALLE EKMNIE PJVC3 ILLUSTRATIONS 4 LAUREN STOUT (By O. E. SELLERS, Director of Even ing Department The Moody Bible Insti tute of Chicago.) LESSON FOR JUNE 21 SIKTSQIOOL Lesson SYNOPSIS. John Valiant, a rich society favorite, suddenly discovers that the Valiant cor poration, which his father founded and which was the principal source of his wealth, has failed. He voluntarily turns ever his private fortune to the receiver for the corporation. His entire remaining possessions consist . of an old motor car, a White bull dogr and Damory court, a neg lected estate in Virginia. On the way to Damory court he meets Shirley Dand rldge, an auburn-haired beauty, and de cides that he Is going to like Virginia Im mensely. Shirley's mother, Mrs. Dand ridge, and Major Bristow exchange rem iniscences during which It is revealed that, the major. Valiant's father, and a man named Sanson were rivals for the hand of Mrs. Dandridge In her youth. Saeson and Valiant fought a duel on her account in which the former was killed. Valiant finds Damory court overgrown with weeds and creepers and the build ings In a very much neglected condition. He decides to rehabilitate the place and make the land produce a living for him. Valiant saves Shirley from the bite of a cnake, which bites htm. Knowing the Oeadliness ef the bite, Shirley sucks the poison from the wound and saves his life. Shirley tells her mother of the Incident and the latter Ja strangely moved at hearing that a Valiant Is again living at Damory court. CHAPTER XVI Continued. The major nodded, "Ah, yes," he Bald. "The Contlnentalprlson-camp." "And Just over this rise there I can eee an old court-house, and the Vir ginia Assembly boiling under the golden tongue-lashing of lean raw boned Patrick Henry. I see a messen ger gallop up and see the members scramble to their saddles and then, Tarleton and his vd-coats streaming op, too late.' "Well." commented the doctor delib erately, "all I have to say Is, don't materialize too much to Mrs. Poly Glfford when you .meet her. She'll have you lecturing to the Ladies' Church Guild before you know it." "I hope you ride, Mr. Valiant?" the latter asked genially. Tm fond of it." said Valiant, "but 1 have no horse as yet." 'I was thinking," pursued the ma jor, "of the coming tournament." "Tournament?" The doctor cut in. "A ridiculous cock-a-doodle-do which gives the young bucks a chance to rig out in silly tog gery and prance their colts before a lot of petticoats!" "It's an annual affair," explained the major; "a kind of spectacle. For many years, by the way, it has been held on a part of this estate perhaps y,u will have no objection to its use this season? and at night there is a dance at the Country Club. By the ay, you must let me introduce you there tomorrow. I've taken the liberty already of putting your name up." "Good lord!" growled the doctor, aside. "He counts himself young! If I'd reached your age, Bristow ' "You have," said the major, nettled. "Four years ago! As I was saying, Mr. Valiant, they ride for a prize. It's a "very ancient thing I've seen refer ences to it in a colonial manuscript In the Byrd Library at Westover. No doubt it's come down directly from the old jousts." "You don't mean to say," cried his hearer in genuine astonishment, "that Virginia has a lineal descendant of the totirney?" The major nodded. "Yes. Certain sections of Kentucky used to have it, too, but it has died out there. It exists now only in this state. It's a curious thing that the old knightly meetings of' the middle ages should survive today only on American soil and in a corner of Virginia." Doctor Southall, meanwhile, had set his gaze on the litter of pamphlets. He turned with an appreciative eye. "You're beginning , in earnest. The The Other Got Up and Stood Before the Mantel-Piece In a Napoleonic , Attitude. Agricultural Department And the Congressional frank." "I'm afraid I'm a sad sketch as a BCientist," laughed Valiant. "My point of view has to be a somewhat practical one. I must be self-supporting. Damory Court is a big estate. It has grain lands and forest as well. If my ancestors lived from it, I can. It's not only that," he went on more slowly, I want to make the most of the place for its own sake, too. Not only of its possibilities for earning, fcut of Itg natural beauties. I lack the resource I once had, but I can give ft thought and work, and if they can bring Damory Court back to anything even remotely resembling what it once was, I'll not spare either." The major emote bis knee and even the do ".tor's fac e eb.oved a grim, it trsa?.Vit ; proval. "I believe youll do it!" exclaimed the former. "And let me Eay, sah, that the neighbor hood is not unaware of the splendid generosity which is responsible for the present lack of which you speak." Valiant put out his hand with a little gesture of deprecation, but the other disregarded it. "Confound it, sah. it was to be expected of a Va liant Your ancestors wrote their names in capital letters over this country. They were an up and down lot, but good or bad (and, as Southall Bays, I reckon" he nodded toward the great portrait above the couch "they weren't all little woolly lambs) they did big things in a big way." Valiant leaned forward eagerly, a question on his lips. But at the mo ment a diversion occurred In the shape of Uncle Jefferson, who re-en tered, bearing a tray on which set sun dry jugs and clinking glasses, glow ing with white and green and gold. "You old humbug," said the doctor. "don't you know the major's that poi soned with mint-juleps already that he can't get up before eight in the morn ing?" "Well, suh," tittered Uncle Jeffer son, "Ahdone foun' er mint-bald down below de kitchens dis mawnin. Yo' all gemmun' 'bout de bigges expuhts In dis yeah county, en Ah reck'n Mara Valiant sho' 'sist on yo' sam plln' et." "Sah," said the major feelingly, turning to his host, "I'm proud to drink your health in the typical bev erage of Virginia!" He touched glasses with Valiant and glared at the doctor, who. was sipping his own thoughtfully. "Poems have been writ ten on the julep, sah." "They make good epitaphs, too," ob served the doctor. "I noticed your glass isn't going begging," the major retorted. "Unc' Jefferson, that's as good mint as grew In the gyarden of Eden. See that those lazy niggers .of yours don't grub the patch out by mistake." "Yas, sah," said Uncle Jefferson, as he retired with the tray. "Ah gwlne ter put er fence eroun dat ar bald 'fo' sundown." The question that had sprung to Valiant's lips now found utterance. "I saw you look at the portrait there," he said to the major. "Which of my ancestors is it?" The other got up and stood before the mantel-piece in a Napoleonic atti tude. "That," he said, fixing his eye glasses, "is your great-grandfather, Devil-John Valiant." "Devil-John!" echoed his host. "Yes, I've heard the name." The doctor guffawed. "He earn.;d it, I reckon. I never realized what a sinister expression that missing optic gives the old ruffian. There was a skirmish during the war on the hill side yonder and a bullet cut it out. When we were boys we used to call him 'Old One-Eye.' " , "It interests me enormously," John Valiant spoke explosively. "The stories of Devil-John would fill a mighty big book," said the major. "By all accounts he ought to have lived in the middle ages." Crossing the library, he looked into the dining room. "I thought I remembered. The portrait over the console there is his wife, your great-grandmother. They say he bet that when he brought his bride home, she should walk into Da mory Court between rows of candle sticks worth twenty-thousand dollars. He made the wager good, too, for when she came up those steps out there, there was a row of ten candles burning on either side of the doorway, each held by a young slave worth a thousand dollars in the market. "Some say he grew jealous of his wife's beauty. There were any num ber of stories told of his cruelties to her that aren't worth repeating. She died early poor lady and your grandfather was the only iseue. Devil John himself lived to be past seventy, and at that age, when most men were stacking their sins and groaning with the gout, be was dicing and fox-hunt- j ing with the youngest of them. He always swore he would die with his boots on, and they say when the doc tor told him he had only a few hours leeway, he made his slaves dress him completely and prop him on his horse. They galloped out so, a negro on either Bide of him. It was a stormy night, black as the Earl of Hell's riding-boots, with wind and lightning, and he rode cursing at both. There's an old black-gum tree a mile from here that they still call Devil-John'-! tree. They were Just passing under it when the lightning struck it Light ning has no effect on the black-gum, you know. The bolt glanced from the tree ard struck him between the two slaves without harming either of them. It killed his horse, too. That's the story. To be sure at this date nobody can separate fact from fic tion. Possibly he wasn't so much worse than the rest o' his neighbors not excepting the parsons. 'Other times, other manners." "They weren't any worse than the present generation," said the doctor malevolently. "Your four bottle men then knew only claret: now they pun ish whiskey-straight." The major buried his nose in his Julep for a long moment before he looked at the doctor blandly. "I agree with you, Brifitow," he said: "but lt'a the first time I ever heard you admit that much good of your ancestors." "Good!" said the doctor belligerent ly. "Me? I don't! I said people now were no better. As for the men of that time,they were a cheap swagger ing lot of bullies and swash-bucklers. When I read history I'm ashamed to be descended from them." "I desire to inform you, sah," said the major, stung, "that I too am a de scendant of those bullies and Bwasa- bucklers, as you call them. And I wish from my heart I thought we, now adays, could hold a tallow-dip t them." "You refer, no doubt," said the aba tor with sarcasm, "to our friend Devil- John and his ideal treatment of his wife!" "No, Bah." replied the major warm ly. "I'm not referring to Devil-John. There were exceptions, no doubt, but for the most part they treated their women folk as I believe their Maker made them to be treated! The man What He Had Drawn From the Shelf Was the Morocco Case That Held the Rusted Dueling-Plstoll. who failed in his courtesy there, sah. was called to account for it. He was mighty apt to find himself standing in the cool dawn at the butt-end of a " He broke off . and coughed. There was an awkward pause in which he set down his glass noisily and rose and stood before the open bookcase. "I envy you this, sah," he said with somewhat of haste. "A fine old col lection. Bless my soul, what a curious volume!" As he spoke, his hand Jerked out a heavy-looking leather-back. Valiant, who had risen and stood beside him, saw Instantly that what he had drawn from the shelf was the morocco case that held the rusted dueling-pistol! In the major's hands the broken box opened. A sudden startled look darted across his leonine face. With smoth ered exclamation he thrust it back between the books and closed the glass door. Valiant had paled. His previous finding of the weapon had escaped his mind. Now he read, as clearly as if it had been printed in black-letter across the sunny wall, the significance of the major's confusion. That weap on had been in his father's hand when he faced his opponent in that fata! duel! It flashed across his mind as the doctor lunged for his hat and stick and got to his feet. "Come, Bristow," said the latter Irri tably. "Your feet will grow fast to the floor presently. We mustn't talk a new neighbor to death. I've got to se-i a patient at six." CHAPTER XVII. John Valiant Asks a Question. Valiant went with them to the outer door. A painful thought was flooding his mind. It hampered his speech and it was only by a violent effort that he found voice: "One moment! There is a question I would like to ask." Both gentlemen had turned upon the steps and as they faced him he thought a swift glance passed between them. They waited courteously, the doctor with his habitual frown, the major's hand fumbling for the black ribbon on his waistcoat "Since I came1 here, I have heard" his tone was uneven "of a duel In vhich my father was a principal. There was such a meeting?" "There was," said the doctor after the slightest paue 01 surprise. "Had you known nothing of it?" "Absolutely nothing." The major cleared his throat "It was something he might naturally not have made a record of," he said. "The two had been friends, and it it was a fatal encounter for the other. The doctor and I were your father's sec ends." There was a moment's silence be fore Valiant spoke again. When he did his voice was steady, though drops had sprung to his forehead. "Was there any circumstance in that meet ing that might be construed as re flecting on his honor?" "Good God. no!" BRid the major ex plosively. "On his bearing as a gentleman?" There was a hiatus this time in which be could hear his heart beat. In that single exclamation the major seemed to have exhausted his vocabu lary. He was looking at the ground. It was the doctor who spoke at last, in a silence that to the man in the doorway weighed like a hundred at mospheres. "No!" he said bluntly. "Certainly not. What put that into your head?" When he was alone in the library Valiant ' opened the glass door and took from the shelf the morocco case. The old shiver of repugnance ran over him at the very touch of the leather. In the farthest corner was a low com mode. He set the case on this and moved the big tapestry screen across the angle, hiding It from view. . . In the great hall at Damory Court the candles in their brass wall-sconces blinked back from the polishes par quetry and the shining fire-dogs, fill ing the rather solemn gloom with an air of warmth and creature-comfort Leaning against the newel-post. Va liant gazed about him. How different It all looked from the night of his coming! ' He began to walk up and down the floor, teasing pricks of restlessness urging him. He opened the door and passed Into the unlighted dining-room. On the sideboard set a silver loving cup that had anived the day before In a huge box with his books and knick-knacks. He had won it at polo. He lifted it, fingering Its carved han dles. He remembered that when that particular score had been made, Kath arine Fargo had sat in one of the drags X the side-line. But the memory evoked no thrill. Instead, the thought of her palely-cold, passionless beauty called up another mobile thoroughbred face Instinct with quick flashings of mirth and hauteur. Again he felt the fierce clutch of small fingers, as they fought with his In that struggle for his life. Each Mne of that face stood before him the arch ing brows, the cameo-delicacy of pro file, the magnolia skin and hair like a brown-gold cloud across the sun. - He stepped down to the graveled. drive and followed it to the gate, then, bareheaded, took the Red Road. Along this highway he had rattled In Uncle Jefferson's crazy hack with her red rose in his hand. The musky scent of the pressed leaves In the book in his pocket seemed to be all about him. The odor of living roses, In fact, was In the air. It came on the scarce felt breeze, a heavy calling perfume. He walked on, keeping the road by the misty infiltrating shimmer of the stars, with a sensation rather of glid ing than of walking. It occurred to him that if, as scientists say, colors emit sound-tones, scents also should possess a music of their own: the honeysuckle fragrance, maybe soft mellow fluting as' of diminutive wind instruments; the far-faint sickly odor of lilies the upper register of faery violins; this spicy breath of roses blending, throbbing chords like elfin echoes of an Italian harp. The fancy pleased him; he could imagine the perfume no r in the air carried with it an under-music, like a ghostly harp ing. It came to him at the 6ame instant tltat this was no mere fancy. Some where in the languorous night a harp was being played. He paused and lis tened intently, then went on toward the sound. The rose scent had grown stronger; it was almost in that heavy air, as if he were breasting an etherial eea of attar. 'He felt as if he were DROVE THE CAT TO SUICIDE Representative Probably Did a Little Thinking After He Had Heard Policeman's Story. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, representa tive from Oklahoma, made a tour of Washington a short time ago with.a party of friends. In due time they reached the Washington monument and the Oklahoma statesman told at length of the beauties of the shaft. At the close of his peroration, Alfal fa Bill mopped his brow and turned genially to a minion of the law nearby. "How about It." asked he; "isn't that some little talk on this ancient pile of masonry?". "You forgot about the cat" replied that official, imperturbably. "What cat?" "The brindled cat of 1896." "Well, what about him?" queried Representative Murray. "Oh, nothing," replied the guard, evasively. t . "See here. said Mr. Murray, stern-1 ly, T demand to know about this cat.' "It ain't much of a story," replied the guard. "Your talking there rw minded me of it Ysee this here cat lived in the monument Well,' sir, mi and another chap that used to be bare treading on a path of rose-leaves down which the Increasing melody flowed crimsonly to him, calling, call ing. He stopped stock-still. He uad been skirting a close-cropped hedge of box This had ended abruptly and he was looking straight up a bar of green yellow radiance from a double door way. The latter opened on a porch and the light, flung across this drenched an arbor of climbing roses, making it stand out a mass of woven rubies set in emerald. He drew a long sigh of more than delight, for framed in the doorway he saw a figure in misty white, leaning to the gilded upright of a harp. He knew at once that It was Shirley Holding his breath, he came eJcser, his feet muffled in the thick grass. K stood t? the dense obscurity, one hand gripp'-ig the gnarled limb of a catalpa, his eyes following the shapely arms from wrist to shoulder, the fingers straying across the strings, the bending chetfk caressing the carved wood. She was playing the melody of Shelley's "Indian Serenade touching the choi ds softly and ten derly and his lipi. moved, molding themselves soundlessly to the words The serenade diel in a single long note. As If in ansvier to it there rose a flood of bird-musto from beyond the arbor jets of song that swelled and rippled to a soaring melody. She heard i.t, teo, for the gracile fingers fell from the strings. She listened a moment, with head held to one side, then sprang up and came through the door and down the iteps. He hesitated a moment, then a sin gle stride took him from the shadow chapteU xvnr. Beyond the Box-Hedge. As he greeted her, his gaze plunged deep into hers. She had recoiled a step, 6tartled, to trecognize him al most Instantly. He noted the shrink ing and thought it due to a stabbing memory of that fort st-horror. His first words were prosaic enough: "I'm an unconscionable trespasser," he said. "It must seem awfully prow ly, but I didn't realize I was on pri vate property till I passed the hedge there." As her hand lay In his, a strange fancy stirred In him: in that wood meeting she had lieemed something witch-like, the wilful apirit of the pas sionate spring herielf, mixed of her aerial essences aid jungle wilder nesses; in this scented Jim-lit close she was grave-eyed, subdued, a paler pen sive woman of under -alf-guessed sad nesses and haunting moods. With her answer, however, tl.is gravity seemed to slip from her like a garment She laughed lightly. "I love to prowl myself. I think sometimes I like thu night better than the day. I believe in one of my in carnations I must have been a pan ther." They both laughnd. "I'm growing superstitious about flowers," he salfl. "You know a rose figured in our flrt meeting. And in dax last " She shrank momentarily. "The cay Jessamines! I shall always think W that when I see thet!" "Ah, forgive me!" he begged. "?nt when I remember what you didr-fur me! Oh, I know! But for you, I must have died." "But for me ycu wouldn't have been bitten. But don't let's talk of if She shivered suddenly. (TO BE CONTINUED.) noticed that cat ading queerly every time a party came along and was told about the beauties at 'this vast pile of masonry as you wis saying. "Then one day along came a gent with ..some friends and talked for three-quarters of an hour along this line, when blamed If that there cat didn't run all the way up 500 odd feet of steps and commit suicide by Jump ing off the top of the monument Washington Post Some Mushroom. Epicures in the United , States, wh love mushrooms will long for a timt in the Austrian Tyrcl. where real mushrooms grow. A traveler writing of the region says: Bordering th road that led up the mountain wer4 Italian chestnut trees, so large that It took from three to five of us to span the trunks of most of them. Un der one of these one evening I savr crouching what I took to be a small dark gray kitten. Stooping, I found that it was not a kitten, but a mush- room. Our good peasant neighbor, hurrying toward me, begged that I would not disturb it saying that sh4 ' depended on this every year. Aftw a few days of rain, what had seemed a kitten now looked a statel cat, &z? when it reached the weight of gf pound It vl gathared an4 mim THE GREAT REFUSAL. LESSON T-EXT Mark 10:17-3L' GOLDEN TEXT "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 16:13. (Read also entire verse.) The story of this rich young ruler is one out of the ministry of our Lord that has made an indelible impression throughout every succeeding genera tion. This is so because It is so vital, vibrant and vivid a revelation of our every-day experience. The lesson nat urally divides itself into two sections. Read carefully the parallel accounts; Matt. 19:16-30 and Luke 18:18-30. Man of Courage. I. An. Eager Young Man, w. 17-22. This man is an arresting figure. Much may be said in his favor: (1) He was young (Matt. 19:22); (2) He was in earnest "came running" (v. 17); (3) He was educated, "a lawyer," Luke 18:1S; (4) He was rich, Mark 10:22; (5) He was loved by Jesus, Mark 10:' 21. That he had lived a clean life is revealed by the answers he made to Jesus. r Moreover he must have been a man of some courage, belonging as he did to the ruling class, the Phari sees, yet he came running into the presence of Jesus and cast himself at his feet. We need but to recall that this class was at this time definitely hostile to Christ, yet this young man dared to -speak the conviction of his heart in this public way by calling Jesus, "good." We feel that he was an honest seeker after life. His question reveals the unrest of the human heart. It matters not what men may possess of wealth or position, these things do not bring heart rest. Great moral courage, noble aspirations and benevo lence never will save nor fully satisfy the human soul. Man does not obtain life by doing, Gal. 2:16. Life is a gift, Rom. 6:23. We must not misunder stand the reply of Jesus (v. 18). Jesus did not deny being good, John 8:46; 14:30; 8:29, but he saw that this young man was filled with the idea of his own goodness. To say thajt Jesus was good was practically to say he was God. and this the young man did not mean. Jesus sought to reveal to him his careless use of words. Jesus undoubtedly here lays claim to deity and subsequently he said, (v. 21) "fol low me," i. e., for this man to yield his life actually to the control of God. Last week we were taught to "make friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when it shall fail they may receive you into the eter nal tabernacles." This is exactly what Christ told this young man to do. Sell . . . give to the poor." By thus using he would store up treasure In heaven. That he could not stand the test is evident from v. 22. Perils of Riches. II. The Master's Exhortation, vv. 23-31. As a great teacher and philos opher Jesus took this occasion to point out the perils of riches. Nearly every man is willing to run the risk. We have, however, but to look about us to eee illustration after illustration of the truth of these words. "How hard ly" increased wealth, decreased piety. 'How hardly" men seek to tone down this picture, but have no right so to do. The only safety is found in the words of verse 27, "with God all things are possible." The most severe test possible to be given to a man's relig- ious experienpe is for him to be pros pered in wealth or position. The rich young ruler is an evidence of the fact that such a godless life is a restless. one. Notwithstanding his possessions, his refinement, the privileges of his posi tion and a life so cleanly lived as to- leave no vulgar moral scar, yet he ex claims: "What shall I do that I may Inherit eternal life?" It was easier for the proverbial camel to have en tered the city gate (or a literal needle's eye as you prefer) than for this young man to yield to God the control of his life. Every life is under control. A godless life is a self-controlled life. As men came to Jesus he saw perfectly their individual needs; their peculiar malady. The disciples were amazed at the master s words and thought if a rich man cannot be saved there Is hope for none. Such is not the meaning. This is revealed in the reply to Peter's question. Men are saved Irrespective of position or of possessions for God loves them 'all. Those who turn the control of their lives over to his keep ing, those who, no matter what their condition or position In life', follow him, leaving all, or bringing all as the case may be, will have their reward here in this life and in the world to come, eternal life. The one thing people most dread is poverty, so did Jesus and he saw that the possessions of this life so occupy the time and attention of men as to Impoverish their souls. Wrealth is a. trust. God looks upon every man, as Jesus beheld this young man, endowed with great possibilities and coveta. that life for high service. Are we more anxious to be rich than to be good? Is it not an evidence of selfish ness to let those ccme after us dis tribute our wealth? To enjoy it, gloat over it and to use it for yourself. then dictate who, why, or how others mar ?nJoy it Is selfishness.
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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