Lesson
(By B. O. SELLERS. Director of Eve. ,
nlrs Dprtmii The Moody Blbla la.
stltute o( Chicago)
t Z HSPni n Mr.DATHJll il
CHAPTER I.
What's In a Nsmsf
To possess two distinctly alien red
corpuscles in om'i blood, metaphor
ically ir not In (act, two cbaractora or
Individuality tinder om epldermla,
la, In moat cases, a peculiar disadvan
tage. On heart of acoundrela and
saints atrlvlng to consume one an
other la one body, angels and har
plea; bat ofttlmes. quite the contrary
to being a curse, thee two waning
temperaments become a man's ulti
mata bleaalng: aa In the caae of
George P. A. Jones, of Mortimer
Jones, the great metropolitan Oriental
rag and carpet company, all of which
has a dignified, sonorous sound.
George was divided within bimaelf.
This he would not have confessed
Tea Into tba trusted If battered ear
of the Egyptian Sphynx. There was,
however, no demon-angel sparring for
points In George's soul. The difficulty
might be set forth In thla manner:
On one side stood Inherent common
sense; on the other, a boundless, ro
seate Imagination which was like
wise Inherent- a kind of qulxote Imag
ination of aultablo modern pattern.
This alter ego terrified him whenever
It raised its strangely beautiful bead
and shouldered - aside hie guardian
angel (for thafs what common aenae
la, argue to what end you will) and
pleaded In that luminous rhetoric un
der the spell of which our old friend
Sancho often fell asleep.
P. A as they called him behind the
counters, was but twenty-eight, and If
be was vice-president In bis late fa
ther's shoes he dldnt wabble round
la them -to any great extent. In a
crowd he was not noticeable; be
didn't stand bead and shoulders above
bis fellow-men, nor would he have
been mistaken by near-alghted per
sons, the myopes, for the Vatican's
Apollo In the flesh. He waa of me
dium height, beardless, alender, but
tough and wiry and enduring. Ton
may see bis prototype on the streets
a dosen times a day, and you may
also pass him without turning round
for a second view. Toung men like
P. A. muat be Intimately known to
be admired; yon did not throw your
arm across bis neck, first-off. Hla
hair was brown and closely clipped
about a bead that would have gained
the attention of the phrenologist If
not that of the casual paaaer-by. His
bumps, la the phraseology of that
sdenoe, were good ones. For the rest.
He Haunted the Romantlo Quarters
I observed the world through a pair
f 1 'ndly, shy, blue eyes. ..;
V.'urg girls, myopic through lgno-
or silliness, seeing nothing be
! n !:t the eyes see, .seldom gave
i a t md 1j rertlon; for he did
it" bow to make himself at
i, en J ws rortt.:'. afraid of
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a mother; proud of having had so
honest a sire; ana it eitner or mem
had andued him with false weights he
did his best to even ud the balance.
The mother had been as romantlo
ia anv hroln out of Mrs. RadcllB
novels, while the father had owned
to as much romance as one generally
flnda in a thorough business msn,
whih la nractlcallv none at all. The
very name Itself Is a bulwark against
the Intrusions of romance, una can
not lift the Imagination to the pros
pect of picturing a Jones In ruffles
and hlghboota, pinaing a vanei u we
midriff. It amells of sugar-barrels and
cotton-bales, of ateamahlps and rail-
roads, of stolid routine In tba office
and of placid concern over tne oauy
nawa under the evening lamp.
Mrs. Jonea, lovely, lettered yet not
worldly,' had dreamed or ner coy,
bayed and decorated, marrying the
moat dlatlnaulehed woman in au
rope, whoever ahe might be. Mr.
Jones had bad no dreams at all, and
hd nut the nor to work In the ship
ping department a little while after
the college threshold baa Been croaaea,
nntwird bound. The mother, while
vnt and auntie, bad a will. Iron un
der velvet, and when she neia oui ior
p.rMv.l Alcernon and a decent knowl-
n nt mndarn laneuaaes. the old
man agreed if. on tne omer nana,
th. hov'a first name should be George
and that be should learn the buslnesa
from the cellar up. There were sev
eral tilts over the matter, but at
lanvtH.i truce was declared. It was
agreed that the boy bimaelf ought to
have a word to say upon a su eject
which concerned him more vitally
than any one else. So, at the age of
fifteen, when be was starting off for
preparatory school, he was advised
to choose for himself. He was an obe
dient son, adoring bla mother and Idol
izing bis father. He wrote himself
down aa. George Perclval Algernon
Jones, promised to become a linguist
and to learn the rug bualneas from
the cellar up. On the face of It, it
looked like a big Job; It all depended
upon the boy.
The first day at school his misery
began. He bad signed himself as
George P. A. Jones, no small diplo
macy for a lad; but the two Initials,
standing up . like dismantled pines la
the midst of uninteresting landscape,
roused tne curiosity of his school
mates. Boys are boys the world over,
and possess a finesse In cruelty that
only Indians can match; and It did
not take them long to unearth the fa
of the Globe; Ha Was Romantic
tal secret For three years he was
Percy Algy, and not only the boys
laughed, but tne pretty girls snig
gered. Many a time he bad returned
to his dormitory decorated (not In
accord with the fond hopes of bis
mother) with a swollen ear, or a
ruddy proboscis, or a green-brown
eye. There was a limit, and when
they stepped over that, why, he pro
ceeded to the best of bis ability to
solve the diOIculty with his f .
C a was no milksop; but Perclval
' -riion mould have bwn t'e CM
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AvitW of HEARTS AND 71ASKS.
D AUN Ol THE BOX ctcs.
IlKisfralioris by M.G.KrrrNBR- . e
COPYRIGHT 1911 JBOBBd - MERRILL COMPANY
pure strain of golden romance, side
by side with the leaser metal of prac
ticality. When he began to read the
masters he preferred their romances
to their novels. He even wrote poetry
In secret, and when his mother discov
ered the fact she cried over the senti
mental verses. Tba father had to be
told. Ha laughed and declared that
the boy would some day develop Into
a good writer of advertisements. This
quiet laughter, unburdened as It was
with ridicule, was enough to set
George's muse a-wlnging, and ahe
never came back.
After leaving college he waa given
a modest letter of credit and told to
go where he pleased for a whole year.
George started out at one In quest
of the Holy Grail, and there are more
roads to that than there are to Roma.
One may be reasonably sure of get
ting Into Rome, whereas the Holy
Grail (diversified, variable, innumer
able), Is always the exact sum of a
bunch of bay hanging before old Dob
bin's nose. Nevertheless, George gal
loped bis fancies with loose rein. He
haunted romance, burrowed and
plowed for it; and never his spade
clanged musically against the hidden
treasure, never a forlorn beauty In
distress, not so auch aa chapter one
of the Golden Book offered Its das
sling first pegs. George loat some con
fidence. Two or three times a woman looked
Into the young man's mind, and In bis
guilelessness they effected sundry
boles In bis letter of credit, but left
his soul singularly untouched. The
red corpuscle, his father's gift, though
It lay dormant,, subconsciously erected
barriers. He was Innocent, but he was
no fool. That one year taught him
the lesson, rather cheaply, too. If
there was any romance In life. It came
uninvited, and If courted and nought
was as quick on the wing as that erst
while poesy must,
The year passed, and while be bad
not wholly given up the quest, the
practical George agreed with the ro
mantic Perclval to shelve It Indefi
nitely. He returned to New 1 York
with thirty-two. pounds sterling out of
the original thouaand, a fact that reju
venated his paternal parent by soma
ten years.' '
'Jane, that boy la all right Percl
val Algernon could not kill a boy like
that"; -
"Do you mean to Infer that .It ever
could?" Sometimes a qualm wrinkled
her conscience. Her mother's heart
told her that ber son ought not to be
shy and bashful, that It was not In
the nature of hla blood to suspect
ridicule where there was none. Per
bapa she bad handicapped him with
those names; but It was too late now
to admit of this, and useless, since
It would not have remedied the evil.
Jones hemmed and hawed for a
space. , no, ne answered; -out 1
waa afraid be might try to live up
to it; and no Perclval Algernon who
lived up to it could put his nose down
to a Shah Abbas and tell how many
knots It had to the square Inch. Ill
start him in on the Job tomorrow.'' .
Whereupon the mother sat back
dreamily. Now, where was the girl
worthy of her boyf Monumental ques
tion, besetting every mother, from Eve
down. Eve, whose trials In this direc
tion must have been heartrending 1 ,,;
ftaora left the cellar in dua time.
and after that he went up" the ladder
In bounds, on his own merit, mind
you, for his father never stirred a
band to boost him. He took the in
terest In rugs that turns a buyer Into
collector; It became a fascinating
pleasure rather than a business. He
became Invaluable to the bouse,- and
acquired some fame as a Judge and
appraiser. When the chief-buyer
retired George was given the position,
with an itinerary that carried him half
way round the planet once a year, to
Greece, Turkey, Persia, Arabia, and
India, the lands of the genii and the
bottles, of arabesques, of temples and
tombs, of many-colored turbans and
flowing robes and distracting tongues.
He walked and always la a kind of
mental enchantment
The suave and elusive Oriental.
with his sharp practices, found his
match In this pleasant young man,
who knew the history of the very
wools and cottons and silks woven
in a rug or carpet So George pros
pered, became known In strange
places, by strange peoples; and saw
romance, light of foot and eager of
eye, pass and repass: learnea tnat
romance did not essentially mean fall
ing In love or rescuing maidens from
burning bouses and wrecks; that on
the contrary, true romance was kalei
doscopic, having more brilliant facets
than a dmmond; and that the man
who be Tins with nothing and ends
with something Is more Wonderful
than any excursion recoiiiiffid by Ein
rsd or ary tale ty f !,fKiJi But
be s,.'.l hoped that tv.e !:!.
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OLDMACGRAIH
embroideries, and perhaps more com
forting than all these, good books.
The proper tale of how the afore
said Iridescent goddess Jostled (for it
scarce may be said that she led) him
Into a romanoa lacking neither com
edy nor tragedy, now begins with a
trifling bit of retrospection. On of
those women who were not good and
who looked Into the clear pool of the
boy's mind saw the harmless longing
there, and jnade note, hoping to, And
profit by her knowledge when the per
tinent day arrived. She was a woman
so pleasing, so handsome, so adroit
that many a man. older and wiser
than George, found ber mesh too
strong for him. Her plan matured,
suddenly and brilliantly, as projects
of men and women of her clasa and
caliber without variation do.
. Late one December afternoon (to
be precise, 1909), George sat on the
tea-veranda of tbe Hotel Semiramls
In Cairo. A book lay Idly upon bis
knees. It was one of those yarns
In which something was happening
every other minute. As adventures
go, George had never bad a real one
In all bis twenty-eight years, and he
believed that fate bad treated him
rather shabbily. He dldnt quit ap
preciate ber reserve. No matter how
late be wandered through the mysteri
ous baxaars, either here In Egypt or
over yonder la India, nothing ever be
fell more exciting than an argument
with a carriage-driver. He never car
ried small-arms, for he would not
have known how to use them. Tbe
only deadly things fn bis bands were
bass-rods and tennts-rscquets. No,
nothing ever happened to him;' yet
he never met a man in a ship's smoke
room who hadn't run the gamut of
thrilling experiences. As George
wasn't a liar himself, he believed all
be saw and . most of what he heard.
Well, here ha was, elgbt-and-twenty,
a pocket full of money, a heart full
of Ufa, and aa hopeless an outlook, so
far as romance and adventure were
concerned, aa an old maid la a New
England village.
"George, you 'old fool, what's the
user be thought "What's tbe use
of a desire that never goes In a
straight line, but always round and
round In a circle f
He thrust aside bis grievance and
surrendered to the never-ending won
der of the Egyptian sunset; tbe Nile
feluccas, riding bpon" perfect reflec
tions; the date-palms, black and mo
tionless against the translucent blue
of the sky; the amethystine prisms of
the Pyramids, and the deepening gold
of the desert's brim. He loved the
Orient always so new, always so
strange, yet ever so old and familiar.
A carriage stopped In front, and his
gate naturally shifted. There Is cease
less attraction in speculating about
new-comers in a hotel, what tbey are,
what they do, where they come from,
and where tbey are going. A fine
elderly man of fifty got out In the
square set of his -shoulders, tne flow
ing white mustache and imperial.
there was a suggestion of militarism.
He waa Immediately followed by a
young woman of twenty, certainly not,
over that age. George sighed wist
fully.'.' He envied those polo-players
and gentleman-riders and bridge-experts
who were stopping at the hotel
It wouldn't be an hour after dinner
before some one of them found out who
she was and spoke to her In that easy
style which b concluded must be a
gift rather than an accomplishment
Tou mustn't suppose for a minute that
George wasnt well-born and well-bred,
simply because his name waa Jonea
Many a Fits-Hugh Maurice or Hugh
Fits-Maurice- might have been But,
no matter. He knew Instinctively,
then, what elegance was when he saw"
It and this girl waa elegant In dress.
In movement He rather liked the
pallor of her skin, which hinted that
she wasnt one of (hose athletic glrla
who bounced In and out of the dining-room,
talking loudly and smoking
cigarettes and playing bridge for six
penny points. She was tall. He was
sure that her eyes were on4be level
with his own. The grey veil that
drooped from the rim of her simple
Leghorn hat to the tip of her nose ob
scured ber eyes, so be could not know
that they were large and brown and
Indefinably sad. They spoke not of
a weariness of travel, but of a weari
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ness of the world, more1 precisely, of
the people who Inhabited It
She and her companion passed on
Into tbe hotel, and If George's eyes
veered again toward the desert over
which tbe stealthy purples of night
were creeping, the Impulse was me
chanical; be aaw nothing. In truth,
be was desperately lonesome, snd be
knew, moreover, that be had no busi
ness to be. He waa young; be could
at a pinch tell a joke as well as the
next man; and If he bad never had
what he called aor adventure, be bad
seen many strange and wonderful
things and could describe them with
that mental afterglow which stUl lin
gers over tbe sunset of our first ex
pressions in poetry.- But there waa
always that hydra-headed monster, for
ever getting about his feet numbing
his voice, paralysing bis bands, and
never he lopped off a head that an
other did not Instantly grow In Its
place. Even tbe sword of Perseus
could not have aaved him, since ope
has to get away from an object la
order to cut it down.
Had he really ever tried to over
come this monsterf Had be not wait
ed for the propitious moment (which
you and I know never - comes)' to
throw off this species from Hadaa?
It is all very well, when you are old
and dried up, to turn to Ivories and
metals and precious stones; but when
a fellow's young! You1 can't shake
bands with an Ivory replica of tbe Taj
Mahal, nor exchange pleasantries with
a Mandarin's ring, nor yet confide Joys
and ills Into a casket of rare emer
alds; Indeed, tbey do but emphasise
one's loneliness. If only be bad had
a dog; but one can not carry a dog
half way round the world and back, at
leaat not with comfort What with
all these new-fangled quarantine laws,
duties, and fussy ships' officers who
wouldn't let you keep tbe animal la
your state-room, traveling with a four
footed friend was almost an impossi
bility. To be sure, women with
poodles. . . . And then, there waa
- . " . .
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This Girl Wss Elegant,
the bitter of add In the knowledge
that no one ever came up to him and
slapped him on the shoulder with a
"Hel-lo, Georgle, old sport; what's the
good word!" for the simple fact that
his shoulder was always bristling with
spikes, born of the fear that some ohe
was making fun of him. ,
k aaa afc. .
edneaa, misery ard cVV'i iiw'.f. It is
a common observation t st otj'jct la
t:.a reality l,'ih 1 shot'-, eio.
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Perchance bis mother's spirit, hov
ering over him this evening, might
have been Inclined to tears. For they
do say that the ghosts of the dear
ones are thus employed when we are
near to committing some folly, or to
exploring some forgotten chamber of
Pandora's box, or worse still, when
that lady intends emptying the whole
contents down upon our unfortunate
beads. If so bsr they, were futile
tears; Perclval Algernon had accom
plished Its deadly purpose,
Pandora? Wall, then, for tbe bene
fit of the children. She was a lady
who was aa Intimate friend of the
mythological gods. They liked her ap
pearance so well that tbey one day
gave her a box, casket chest, or what
ever It was, to guard. By some mar
velous method, known only of gods,
tbey bed got together all tbe trials
and tribulations of mankind (and some
of the Joys) and locked, them up la
thla casket It was tbe Golden Age,
as you may surmise. You recall Eva
and tbe apple f Well, Pandora was a
forecast of Eve; she couldn't keep her
eyes off the latch, and at length her
bands Fatal curiosity! Whirr! And
everything has been at sixes and at
sevens since that time. Pandora Is
eternally recurring, now here, now
there; ahe is a blonde sometimes, and
again she Is a brunette; and you may
take It from George and me that there
Is always something left la the casket
George closed the book and consult
ed his sailing-list In a short time he
would leave for Port Said, thence to
Naples, Christmas there, and horn la
January. Business had .been ripping.
He would be Jolly glad to get home
again, to renew hla comradeahlp with
his treasures. And. by Jove! there
was one man who slapped blm on tbe
shoulder, and be was no less a person
than the genial president of tbe firm,
his father's partner, at present his
own. If the old chap bad bad a daugh
ter now. . . . And here one oomea
at last to the bottom of the sack.- He
bad only one , definite longing.' a
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In Dress, In Movement
healthy human longing, the only long
ing worth while in all this deep, wide,
round old top; to love a woman and
by her be loved.
At exactly half after six the gentle
man with the reversible cuffs arrived;
and George missed bla boat : , -
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
is called In these days an "encyclo
pedia' was Pliny's "Natural History."
This iVl work, a very h'h authority
throi nit t' I" e t, Is really
ir ' j p. ')' a and well d-srv-
it jl ' t' t fur so many ags
I 1 ti 1L I ;..iy, V:o died In 7
A. ; ., si tar f"! ' taphysi. 1
riii ' f 1 t 1 r t pretend to I
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LESSON FOR FEBRUARY 16
' THE CAtt OF ABRAM.
MCSBON TEXT GEN, JM-S. '''",
POLDEN TEXT "I , will Ws thee,
and malts thy nam treats and be thou
a burning-. "-0n. 11:1 "'
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The Bible does not profess to a be
a chronological history of the world.
It does profeVa to reveal the steps of
the redemptive process of God where- 1
by fallen, man shall be Justified In his
sight 80 It Is that we find but little
record of those hundreds of years, be
tween this lesson and the events re
corded la that of last week We do,
however, find all that is ssntlal la
the history of the plan of salvation.
The cleansing of tbe earth by water
was not for long, since we soon see
men relapsing Into sin.
L "Get thee out of th country." vv.
1-1. In this lesson we behold God
again selecting a single man who shall
be the head of a' race. We da not of .
course Infer that Abram received an
audible call, tbougb God could certain
ly speak as ha did on Other and numer
ous occasions. God calls today by.
those Inward impulses and desires, by '
the voice of duty and conscience, by
the force, of circumstances, and by
the word. The Bible Is God's great
est organ of speech. Man, feeling the
conscious presence of God, obeying to
the full his revelation, will "see" God
and hear him "speak" not through the
atmosphere, but with an Inward reve
lation that will direct his life now
even aa It did Abram'a. . .. ' .
. , Abram'a Joumey. , J
From Acta 7:1 we learn that the tail
first came to'Ahram7 wbea he was In
Mesopotamia, -probably on the right
bank of tbe Euphrates river, and that
his obedience to that call was only
partial. , Abram got out of his own
country, but, not into tbe land prom
ised unto him. He Journeyed probably
600 miles to the northwest but got
only as far as Haran, which was not
the promised land.. It took, evidently;'
the death of bis father to move him
from that place, Acta 7:4. Abram
went not knowing tbe kind of a land,
nor was he told where It was to be.
Heb. 11:8. His eall was threefold,
(1) "for thy country." it) "thy kin
dred." (S) "thy father's house." , Thuo
we see that God demanded a complete ,
separation from the old life, associa
tions and affections. In this Abram
Is a great type, Isa. E5-.7, But In this
connection we find the record of an
other and a wonderful covenant of
God with man (w. I, 3). How mar
veloualy God has kept this promise;
Through Abram came the Messiah
who has so wondrousiy blessed the
eajth. Wo need also to remember that
the descendants of Abram are today
God's chosen, people:' Every child of .
God has his "call" to separation, S Cor.
6:17. 18. Abram left his Idolatrous
companions, so we, too, must forsake i
our idols. ; . - . '
"The dearest Idol I have known, .
What're that Idol.be
yelp me to tear It from thy throne
i And worship only . thee," .' . ; :
We are told that Haran means "a
parched place," and so today Abram.
has many like him who start for tbe
land of promise only to have their
purpose killed by the acorchlng heat
of testing and trial aa they reach tbe
Haran experiences of life, and many
like tbe father of Abram did In Haran.
II. And Abram departed," vv. 4-.
"To obey is better than sacrifice and
to hearken than 'the fat of rams," I
Samuel 16:21. Abram had Just enough
faith to obey. We do not read that he 1
asked for enlightenment; he saw not
tbe land, but he heard the call and
staggered not at tbe promise. Ha waa
fully persuaded that God was able to
perform and therefore It was reck-
oned unto him for righteousness, Acts '
7: 20-22. . But he did not go alone. Al
ready God had begun to redeem hla
promise: (v. 2). Abram'a character
was such and his name of such import
that his nephew Lot; accompanied
hint. Lot, however, did not possess -that
same faith nor a like character.
Lot went "with him" , and not, like
Abram, with God. . Abram also took
hla own family with him, and "all their
substance" v.. 6. Nothing was left be
hind to tempt him to return. "And .
tbey went forth Into the land of Ca
naan," a type of the life into which
we are called in Christ Jesus. Thus
at once another part of the, promise is .
fulfilled.
, III. "And the Canaanlte was In the
land," vv. 6-9. All was not so easily
settled for Abram, "Man that Is born
Of woman is of few days and full of
troubles," no life Is devoid of Its tt .t
ing, Eph., 6:12, R. V, and so as Abram
lourneyed ha met with .enemies.
Hla Place of Rest.
Passing on from thence he reached
a place of rest (v. 8). Tills Is a beau-
tlful Ipfflon on conf ration. l..?re is
Abram at "a r.""u" i on ti e tt.-.t cf
pt.n-.-r (hmif. of ( .J), Notice he U
on t c f it of Lot'..-1 facli'g vif 1,
te d;rctlna In which lie has I t
i .unit i. 7, haM g I" I (rt ' ") 1 1 1 I
1 -( k, and "the - re t :. ' 1 . i i r
, ,'o i'a Iud f 1 i ' 1 i '
nil" i or tl.a I.o ri" (v. 1. 1. I t i ,
i r to t i "
. i, t 1 i i ' i