THE QUICKENING S
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FRANCIS LYNDE
CopyrlrX 1906. W FiucU Lynda
CHAPTER VIII. (Continued.)
The limestone pike was the same,
and the creek wag still rushing noisily
over the stones In Its bed, as Tom re
marked, gratefully. But the heavlesi
of the buffets came when the barrier
"hills were passed and the surrey horses
made no motion to turn In at the gat
Of the old oak-shingled house beyond
the Iron-works.
"Hold on!" said Tom. "Doesn't the
driver know where we live?"
"That's the sup'rintendent's office and
lab'ratory now, son. It was getting to
be tolerably noisy down here fer your
mammy, so nigh to the slant And we
allowed to s'prlse you. We've been
bulldln' us a new house up em the
knoll Just this side & Major Dabney's."
It was the crudest of the changes
the one hardest to bear; and It drove
the boy back Into the dumb reticence
which was a part of his birthright. Had
they left him nothing by which to re
member the old days ujr 'ulc tt"
already beginning to take on the
glamour of unutterable happiness past?
Tom saw well-kept lawns, park-like
groves and pretentious country villas
where he had once trailed Nance Jane
through the "dark woods," and his
father told him the names and circum
stance of the owners as they drove up
the pike. There was Rockwood, the
summer home of the Stanleys, nd The
Dell, owned, and inhabited at Intervals,
by Mr. Young-Dickson, of the South
Tredegar potteries. Farther along
there was Falrmount, whose owner was
a wealthy cotton-seed buyer; Rook
Hill, which Tom remembered as the
ancient roosting ground of the migra
tory winter crows; and Farns worth
Park, ruralizing the name of Its build
er. On the most commanding of the
hillsides was a pile of rough-cut Ten
nessee marble with turrets and many
gables, rejoicing in the classic name of
Warwick Lodge. This, Tom was told,
was the country' home of Mr. Farley
himself, and the house alone had cost
a fortune.
At the turn in the pike where you
lost sight finally of the Iron-works,
there was a new church, a miniature In
native stone of good old Stephen
Hawker's church of Morwenstow. Tom
gasped at the sight of it, and scowied
when he saw the gilded cross on the
tower.
"Catholic!" he said. "And right here
In our valley!"
"No," said the father; "it's 'Piscopal
lan. Colonel Farley is one o' the ves
tries, or whatever you call 'em, of St
Michael's yonder In town. I reckon he
wanted to get his own kind o' people
round him out here, so he built this
church, and they run it as a sort of a
side-show to the big church. Tour
mammy always looks the other way
when we come by."
Tom looked the other way, too,
watching anxiously for the first sight
of the new home. They reached it In
good time, by a graveled driveway
leading up from the white pike between
rows of forest trees; and there was a
second negro waiting to take the team
when they alighted at the veranda
steps.
The new house was a two-storied
brick, .ornate and palpably assertive
with no suggestion of the homely com
fort of the old. Yet, when his mother
had wept over him In the wide hall
and there was time to go about, taking
It all in like a cat exploring a strange
garret, it was not so bad
But there were compensations, and
Tom discovered one of them on the
first Wednesday evening after his ar
rival. The new home was within easy
walking distance of Little Zoar, and he
went with his mother to the prayer-
meeting.
The upper end of the pike was un
changed, and the little, weather-beaten
church stood In Its groving of piles
the same yesterday, to-day and for
ever. Better still, the congregation, the
small Wednesday-night gathering at
least, held the familiar faces of the
country folk. The minister was
voung missionary, zealously earnest
and lacking as yet the quality of hard
ness and doctrinal precision which had
been the boy's daily bread and meat nt
the sectarian school. What wonder,
then, that when when the call for testl
mony was made, the old pounding and
heart-hammering set in, and duty
duty, duty, wrote itself In flaming let
ters on the dingy walls?
Tom set his teeth and swallowed
hard, and let a dozen of the others rise
and speak and sit again. He could fenl
the beating of his mother's heart, and
he knew she was praying silently for
him, praying that he would not deny
his Master. For her sake, then
but not yet; there was still time enough
after the next hymn after the next
testimony when the minister should
give another Invitation. He was chain
ed to the bench and could not rise; hi
tongue clave to the roof of his mouth
and his Hps were like dry leaves. T
silences grew longer; all, or nearly all
had spoken. He was stilling.
"Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, him will I confess also
before my Father which is In heaven
But whosoever shall deny me before
men. him will I also deny before my
Father which Is in heaven." It was tfco
solemn voice of the young minister, and
'amps whirling in giddy circles.
"I feel to say that the Lord Is pre
vious to my soul to-night Pray for
me, that I may ever be found faithful."
He struggling through the words of
the familiar form gaspingly and sat
down. A burst of triumphant song
arose l
i
"O happy day, that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Saviour and my God!"
nd the ecstatic aftermath came. Tru
ly, It was better to be a doorkeeper In
the house of God than to dwell In the
tents of wickedness. What bliss was
there to be compared with this heart
melting, soul-llftlng blessing for duty
done?
It went with him a good part of the
way home, and Martha Gordon respect
ed his silence, knowing well what
heights and depths were engulfing the
But afterward alas and alas; that
there should always be an "after
ward"! When Tom had kissed his
mother good-nlirht and was alone In
his upper room, the reaction set In.
What had he done? Were the words
the outpouring of a full heart? Did
they really mean anything to him, or
to those who heard them? He grasped
despairingly at the fast-fading glories
of the vision, dropping on his knees at
the bedside. "O God, let me see Thee
and touch Th.ee, and be sure, sure!"
he prayed, over and over again; and
so finally sleep found him still on his
knees with his face buried In the bedclothes.
CHAPTER IX.
For the first few vacation days Tom
rose with the sun and lived with the
Industries, marking all the later expan-
Ive strides and sorrowing keenly that
he had not been present to see them
taken in detail.
One morning he ran plump Into
the Major, stalking grandly along the
tile-paved walk and smoking a war
time cheroot of preposterous length.
The despot of Paradise, despot now
only by the courtesy of the triumphant
genius of modernity, put on his eye
glasses and stared Thomas Into re-
pectful rigidity.
Why, bless my soul! If it isn't Cap
tain Gordon's boy! Well, well, you
young limb! If you didn't faveh youh
good fatheh In eve'y line and lineament
of youh face, I should neveh have
known you you've grown so. Shake
hands, suh!"
Tom did It awkwardly. It Is a gift
to be able to shake hands easily; a
gift withheld from most girls and all
boys up to the soulful age. But there
was worse to follow. Ardea was some
where on the peopled verandas, and tho
Major, more terrible In his hospitality
than he had ever appeared In the old
time rage-fits, dragged his hapless vic
tim up and down and around and about
In search of her. "Not say 'Howdy' to
Ardea? Why, you young cub, where
are youh mannehs, suh?" Thus the
Major, when the victim would have
broken away.
It was a fiery trial for Tom a way-
picking among red-hot plowshares of
embarrassment. How the well-bred
folk smiled, and the grand ladles drew
their Immaculate skirts aside to make
passing-room for his dusty feet! How
one of them wondered, quite audibly,
where In the world Major Dabney had
unearthed that young native! Tom
was conscious of every fleck of dust on
his clothes and shoes; of the skilless
knot in his necktie; of the school-desk
droop In his shoulders; of the utter
superfluousness of his big hands.
And when, at the long last, Ardea
was discovered sitting beside a gor
geously attired Queen of Sheba, who
also smiled and examined him minute
ly through a pair of eye-glasses fas
tened on the end of a gold-mounted
stick, the place of torment, wherever
and whatever It might be, held no
deeper pit for him. What he had
climbed the mountain to find was a
little girl In a school frock, who had
sat on the yellowing grass with one
arm around the neck of a great dog,
looking fearlessly up at him and tell
ing him she was sorry he was going
away. What ne naa iouna was a very
staturesque little lady, clad In fluffy
summer white, with the other Ardea'H
slate-blue eyes and soft voice, to be
sure, but with no other reminder of the
lost avatar.
From first to last, from the moment
she made room for him, dusty clothes
and all, on the settee between herself
and the Queen of Sheba, Tom was con
scious of but one clearly-defined
thought an overmastering desire to
get away to be free at any cost. Jut
the way of escape would not disclose
Itself, so he sat In stammering misery,
answering Ardca's questlous about the
sectarian school In bluntest monosyl
lables, and hearing with his other ear
a terrible Major tell the Queen of She
ba all about the railroad Invasion, and
how he Tom Gordon had run to find
a punk match to flre a cannon in the
Dabney cause.
He escaped Anally from the entan
glements of Major Dabney's hospltal-
On the way down the cure patn
itv
the flre burned and the revival zeal was
SOienin voice Ol mo Juu iww. ! mu i i
Tom staggered to his feet with Ike I klndlsd TherB had bMn Uma-
in tne last year, especially, wnen as
had thought coldly of the disciple's
calling and was minded to break away
and be a skilled craftsman, like his
father. Now he was aghast to think
that he had ever been so near the brink
of apostasy. With the river of the
Water of Life springing crystal clear
at his feet should he turn away and
drink from the bitter pools In the wil
derness of this world? With prophet
ic eye he saw himself as another Boan
erges, lifting, with all the Inspiring
eloquence of the son of thunder, the
Baptist's soul-shaking cry. Repent ye:
for the kingdom of heaven Is at hand!
The thought thrilled him, and the
fierce glow of enthusiasm became an
Intoxicating ecstasy. The tinkling drip
of falling water broke Into the noonday
silence of the forest like the low -voiced
call of a sacred bell. For the first time
since leaving the mountain top he took
note nf his surroundings. He was
standing beside the great, cubical boul
der under the cedars the high altar In
nature's mountain tabernacle.
Thomas Jefferson had the deep peace
of the fully committed when he rose
from his knees and went to drink at
the spouting rock lip. It was decided
now, this thing he had been holding
hnir-hnartrdlv in abeyance. There
would be no more dallying with temp
tatlon, no more rebellion, no more Ir
reverent stumblings in the dark valley
of doubtful Questions. More especially
he would be vigilant to guard against
those backslldlngs that came so swiftly
on the heels of each spiritual quicken
in. His heart was fixed, so lrrevoca
bly, sp surely, that he could almost
wish that Satan would try him there
and then. But the enemy of souls was
nowhere to be seen In the leafy arches
of the wood, and Tom bent again to
take a second draft at the spouting
rock UD.
He was bending over the sunken bar
rel A shadow, not his own, blurred the
water mirror. He looked up quickly.
"Nan!" he cried.
Shs was standing on the opposite
side of the barrel basin, looking down
on him with good-natured mockery In
the dark eyes.
"I 'lowed maybe you wouldn't have
such a back load of religion after you'd
been off to the school a spell," she said,
pointedly. And then: "Does It always
make you right dry an' thirsty to say
your prayers, Tommy-Jeffy."
Tom sat back on his heels and re
garded her thoughtfully. His first Im
pulse was out of the natural heart
rageful, wounded vanity spurring It on.
It was like her heathenism Imperti
nence to look on at such a time, and
then to taunt him about It afterward.
But slowly as he looked a curious
change came over him. She was the
same Nan Bryerson, bareheaded, bare
legged, with the same tousled mat of
dark hair, and the same childish in
difference to a whole frock. And yet
she was not the same. The subtle dif
ference, whatever It was, made him get
up and offer to shake hands with her
and he thought It was the newly-mado
vows constraining him, and took cred
it therefor.
"You can revile me as much as you
like now. Nan," he said, with prldeful
humility. "You can't make me mad
any more, like you used to. I'm older
now, and and better, I hope. I shall
never forget that you have a precious
soul to save."
Her response to this was a scoffing
laugh, shrill and challenging. Yet he
could not help thinking that It made
her look prettier than before.
"You can laugh as much as you want
to; but I mean It," he Insisted. "And,
besides, Nan of all the things that
I've been wanting to come back to,
you're the only one that isn't changed."
And again he thought It was righteous
guile that was making him kind to her.
"D'ye reckon you Bhorely mean that
Tom Gordon?" she said; and the lips
which lent themselves so easily to
scorn were tremulous. She was Just
his age, and womanhood was only a
step across the threshold for her.
"Of course I do. Let me carry your
bucket for you."
She had hung the little wooden pig
gin under the drip of the spring and
It was full and running over. But
when he had lifted It out for her, she
rinsed and emptied It
"I Just set It there to cool some," She
explained. "I'm goln' up to Sunday
Rock afte" huckleberries. Come and
go 'long with me, Tom."
He assented with a willingness as
eager as it was unaccountable. If she
had asked him to do a much less rea
sonable thing, he was not sure that he
could have refused.
And as they went together through
the wood, spicy with the June fra
grances, questions like those of the
boyhood time thronged on him, and he
welcomed them as a return of at least
one of the vanished thrills and was
grateful to her.
When they were fairly under tho
overhanging cliff face of Sunday Rock
she darted away, laughing at him over
her shoulder, and daring him to follow
her afcng a dizzy shelf half-way up
the crag; a narrow ledge, perilous for
a mountain goat.
This, as he remembered later, was
the turning-point in her mood. In Im
agination he saw her try It and fall;
saw her lithe, shapely beauty lying
broken and mangled at the cliff's foot;
and in three bounds he had her fast
locked In his restraining arms. She
Btrove with him at first, like a wres
tling boy, laughing and taunting him
with belnir afraid for himself. Then-
Tom Gordon, clean-hearted as yet
did not know precisely what happened
Suddenly she stopped struggling and
lay panting in his arms, and quite as
suddenly he released ner.
"Nan!" he said, In a swiftly sub
merging wave of tenderness, "I dldn
go to hurt you!
She sank down on a stone at nls
feet and covered her face with her
hands. But she was up again and
turning from him with eyes downcast
before he could comfort her
(To ba continued,)
FOR NURSERY TABLE
JESSERTS THAT WILL PLEA8L
THE LITTLE ONES.
'each Batter Pudding Is One of the
Best Blackberry and Rhubarb
Delicacies Cakes of Currants
and Blueberries.
PICK UP LUNCHEON
SHOWING UflH THAT MAY
BtAOH OP LEPT -OVERS.
BE
cop table Pronto DM Many Meth
ods That May Ba Employe to
millje Tina irl
Peaoh Batter Pudding. Peel 11 ripe
peaches, but do not stone them. Set
the fruit in a buttered pudding dish.
strew sugar plentifully over them, and
then cover with a batter made of
these Ingredients: Five beaten eggs,
one tablespoon of melted butter, ten
tablespoons of prepared Hour and a
right pinch of salt Bake a nice brown
in medium hot oven.
Baked Blackberry Puddtng. One
quart of blackberries, three table
spoons of melted hotter, one sup of
milk, one and half cups of prepared
flour sifted twice with the salt, three
eggs beaten tightly, yolks and whites
separately.
Put the milk hi the beaten yoiks,
then the butter and the the pre
pared flour, alternating this with a Ba
ll of the stiffened white. Pat the
batter m a wMs pudding dish, well
greased, and pour on the blackberries,
dredged with a Bute floor, and as
sweet as ITked with suejar. Cover the
dlBh and bake an hour ta a hot oven.
TTnoover and let H brown. Serve the
podding hi the dteh with a bard aauoe.
Rhubarb Pudding. Setter a baking
dteh and cover to omtom ...
deep with fine crumb. Sprinkle this
with bits of butter and lay upon it raw
rhubarb that has been out ta thin
pieces an Inch long. Scatter over this
a doeen large raisins, seeded and
halved, and two tablespoons of sugar.
Fill the dish in this way with alternate
layers of rhubarb and buttered and su
gared crumbs, and bare the last for
the top crust, strewn with a teaspoon
of grated orange peel Bake covered
for an hour in a moderate oven, then
uncover and brown. Serve with thin
butter and sugar sauce.
Currant Shortcake. Make Hsht
biscuit dough; roll out half an Inch
thick and bake in a pie plate.
While not run a kntfe lightly around
one side, tear It open and put be
tween a pint of currants that bare
been mashed and sweetened before
hand. Wash the top of the shortcake
with white of egg. sift powdered augar
over it and serve at once.
Blueberry Tea Cake. Three cups of
blueberries, two tablespoons of butter,
one cup of sugar, one cup of milk and
two cups of flour sifted twice with two
full teaspoons of baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugar together.
add the eggs, then the milk and flour.
Dredge the berries with flour, stir In
lightly and bake in a greased biscuit
tin. Split, butter and eat while warm.
Caamed Bauaon Balsd--Trom canned
satano. or a bolted WVover Of the
free Baa a aaUcfcxu salad W available
for a warn oar taaohaoa.
a pmsnd of II tto small
a sttrer mra. Mia car.
fully lata Skat a tables peoaral each of
caeees, stores and gnerkrn BtcUe
chopped Ba. Arrange ta atketnr
on wart tsSsais Waves, garnish with
thee yoake f aara-aotssd eggs and
with
of asptajjstir if SUB is at
oover wkk bmjbbsIss. Deeeraes
Btga swteflas
Ta t a fcsilgfi aassp -flhosoeiy
roam ww Ota BMswwIbb ssswBms aseape
sf iinjara weak pa Ojjeaartof
BUi 'ZL?rZrZl a paekaee
as- gg jfsJJfiS
Ma ss mmmnfim
sisantay Bar its stag tt
Tat a ah tattlnl I i
B a toogef
swt b dl
a M hotted
at tt speed sing
ft sasat pi fas vttan creamed.
Csttm ansa koto sanaU beta, remove
all skaa and sPistla sad Bead B kt
cream BMM Pari a rounds of
toast or triad bread or k Individual
dteaeaj with bread and
Sweet Beets.
Cook beets until tender. Skin and
slice as tor table use. Put In a ket
tle over the flre one gallon of vinegar,
tour cups of granulated sugar, one-
half cup of whole mustard seed, two
tablespoonfuls of whole oloves, two
cents' worth of - cinnamon sticks,
broken small, one tableepoonful of
black pepper and two teaspoonfuls of
salt Bring all to a boll, put in the
sliced beets, having the vinegar cover
them. Boll tor five minutes, pack
the scalding-hot beets in Jars, fill
these with the boiling vinegar and
seal.
Eggs Baked In Tomatoes.
Select round, smooth tomatoes and
wash, but do not peel. Cut a thin
slice from the top of each and scoop
out enough of the pulp to leave a
apace large enough to hold an egg.
Season these little nests with salt and
pepper, and carefully break an egg In
each. Cover the bottom or a shallow
pan with hot water, olive oil or bacon
fat, put the tomatoes In it and bako
covered about fifteen minutes. Sea
son with butter and serve on toast.
In MttttBB pksosp where trash boo.
bona are not always abtaiaabla on
short aottoa a good oip tor a horn,
mad awwst M often tssaanas trove to
the boas mother.
Peppermint Is a swiMlaal kpsatlve
In aaxmioo to Us laetiu and in some
form ss universally Mhad.
Pepparmiot drops with srott are
sometalnf of a aovarry d are not dif
ficult to assompBsh ta the horn
kltoaeo,
in a apart m onp of tab swarm water
soak on sjsjsjs of gam tragaoanth
until M beaotnas tender. Wring dry In
a straining osoth and knead with t,h
hand, adding Ore drops oil of pepper
mint. Pontic to work K until white
and elastic- Work in IK tie by little
2Vi oaps of eoafaotlonar' sugar and
one-half cupful each of dates, raisins
and candied pois (oraag sad lemon
equal quantity), mixed aad chopped
fin,
Roll 4 oa a marbta slab, pastry
board or atrip of canvas, using the
sugar in Man of flour. Roll to the
thickness of ball dollar, stamp out
and ptao on waxed paper In a warm
room until dry.
Wild Gmpe Marmalade.
Take the wild green grapes, out
open with a small knife and remove
the seeds. Allow a pound of sugar to
each pound of fruit Cut the grapes in
the preserving kettle with a little wa
ter and boll twenty minutes. Add the
sugar and cook until n drop poured in
a cold saucer will hold Its shape. Re
move at once and pour in cups or
glasses. In putting up the winter
store of Jellies it is always a good plan
to fill some small cheese pots or egg
cups for use In the children's luncb
baskets.
PUT the Housewife,
A aaapected sample of ground cof
fee may ba tested in this way: Place
a teaspoon of the coffee in a wineglass
containing water. If a part floats and
a part sinks it is adulterated. '
If soot falls upon the carpet or rug
do not attempt to sweep until it haa
been covered thickly with dry salt It
can then be swept up properly, and
not a stain or smear will be left
When boiling milk put two table
spoonfuls of water In the pan first and
let It boil. Milk boiled In this way
will never burn the bottom of the
saucepan.
If salt is sprinkled over the rang
before trying is commenced there will
be no disagreeable odor if the fat
spatters over.
Crystallised Apples.
Put one-half cup of sugar and one
half cup of water In a stewpan and let
boll five minutes. Then put in the
pan four large or more small apples,
pared and cored. Cook gently until
tender but not broken. Lift them out
carefully and put In shallow baking
pan, sprinkle with granulated sugar,
and brown In oven. Remove to a
glass dish, boll down the sirup one
half, and pour around them. Dec
orate tops with oandled cherries or
cranberries preserved and dried la
slow oven and rolled in sugar.
Baking Powder Biscuit
Sift two cupfuls flour Into a basin,
add half a teaspoonful of salt and
three teaspoonfuls of baking powder;
then sift it again; then rub one table-
c poon ful of butter and one tablespoon
ful of lard finely Into It with the tipa
of the fingers. Add gradually enough
sweet milk to make a soft dough.
Knead a little on a floured board; do
not handle much; roll out half
an Inch in thickness, cut Into rounds
with small cutter. Lay on a greased
baking tin, and bake till ready In a
hot oven, usually about 20 minutes.
A Good Corn Recipe.
When cutting sweet corn from the
cob cut lengthwise through the center
of each row of kernels with a sharp
knife, then cut off the tips of the ker
nels without cutting into the cob and
scrape the milk from the cob. Put
into a well buttered pan with salt
pepper and butter and steam three
quarters of an hour over a qulok fir,
keeping plenty of water under the
steamer. Cooked in this way, the corn
retain all the Juices and will be found
AeHcious.