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About The advocate. (Portland, Or.) 19??-19?? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 1931)
L- j f = j f = i r = j p = i f = j f = : ¡1 H The A dvocate Clean Fiction jl Human Interest jl jj Features j| 1 I rue stories Achievement j Stories ■ = lr = ir = J r = ir = if= ip = i C.rt l « . . M l 4 4 v t«lla lu g | )»irlw a HI.* t fct< * 4 « THK lULUSTUATKI) FKATUKK SKCTION— August 8, 1931 »11 ». «iiiHON u n t o s TMt ih » » 4 M »01 Ut mi i sue» vs i » at in 1M TIO S He Thought Himself God Slorv of a Modern Job, Who Unlike the Bible Character, Denied God and Was Rewarded l l r cried aloud, " T h e r e is no C o d ” • . . . “ I am G o d .” H r w a i exalted. Strength filled the veins o f the crip p le H r flung hack the bed co v e r » and stood erect . , . . for the first time. By DOROTHY WEST T h e story of a God-fearing man upon whom the elmreli rotti fell as lie prayed . * and |iaraly/.ed him. the doelors said, for lift', I G od saves the su fferer by su ffe rin g and by a d versity gets them to lis ten.— Job 36:15. lit* |»ra>cd anti his rliiltl wan htirn and loving the Ood he likened to a dead, his daughter Has raped, his son staunch against thr wind, a steady hiiehetl. ami (inally his nife deserted J * him. Frost, tlrttiighl, flood killed his ‘rons. Then he rehelled against liisGod. He lay quite still In the clink room, his blark sullen tare turned to the wall pane. The rain bcul hind against the Thunder rolled In Lightning played wildly. the sky. There was no human sound snva hln hrrsthlug, lie UMNight on tils wile. Ho could hear again her choked utleranre: "Don't keep a-looklng at me, III r Huy, dar's hell n burntug In dem black eyes. I'm going down de road pa's. It my own dear mammy wur. to a hr'pless cripple, I wouldn’t come no where., near tier, and her blnsphem* and hi, tied had not answered him, but liraprd pain np»n p.i‘ n Ihrnagli his paralyst». thr raping « I hi, daughter, thr lynching of hi, avenging son and now this desertion by tils wltr when hr auctioned the nivslrrlou, ways at her Maker. Hr had gone <m to tensón that a Clod was n Pence, a l ight, a Haven, an Answerer of Prayer. In no way was the Ood of his fathers similar. Therefore, »lure he fould ndl change himself, he must change Ills Ood If he had an Immortal soul to save, It was In danger of destruction through his devotion to a graven Image, It was then his wife had fled Ingl Dr heavenly Father Is a-s|ieak- in' In dr funder, and you Is a answer Tears errpt over the lids of his ing you don’t believe In Clod I" eyes. He saw himself as a boy sit* ting on a front pew with tils bosomy Ills clenched hands bsttrrrd mother and his brothers and sisters, against the wall. He had askrd listening to Ills father's trrmawkms hi, timt with InlelMgenee. "W hat have I dene to d"*ervr this fate'?" flood pf beautiful Illiterate metaphors. lion In the wilderness, a stark tree shining star. He had risen to give his treble testi mony. avowing his faith, heart swelling In pi Idc. not uetual. his little Ilut he could tabulate any betirlUs. He was healthy because a minister has sis long days to tend a farm He was happy In his Ignorant belief that a good Negro lived to piously die. lie was 1(1 before he happened on any knowledge of self-tmprovemenl Why da wicked men live on, live to be old and strong? Thr.r hour, are safe from fear; God's rod never strikes them. Thetr hulls breed without fall, their rows calve safely. They see their families flour ishing . . . their children flock out to the llelds, boys and girls dan- ring merrily. They live a pros perous life and dir In peace. Why should we serve thr A l mighty? What is the good of praying to Him? Hors God drew any difference In men? —Job *1:7-Et, He had been contentedly plodding a f son. Now he had lost his wife. And ter young Master, carrying his heavy In this moment of his final loss, he books to and trow the state college. In thr Interim helping a little on the felt slip from him the lost shred of farm, but mostly lying flat In the long his faith. grass, a torn hat shading his expres He cried aloud: “There Is no O od !" sionless face from the sun The lightning did not strike him But at 16. sitting up with young am master while he labored late over his dead. He shouted wildly; " I O o d '" lessons, with awakening absorption he llr was exalted. A tremor tore would attend to the recitation of wis thr length of his body. Strength dom’ Thus, Inevitably, unrest at filled his veins. With a fierce ges tacked him. He. who had been an ture hr flung bark the sheet, and animal, beraine a thinking man. suung his legs over the sidr of the He began a poignant praying for bed. and stood erect on his feet. some avenue to knowledge and tramp ed right miles each day to a little His brain cooled. He took one sure Inadequate Negro school, where he step, then another, and stood quite sat between a boy of ten and a man | still, aghast and penitent. of fifty. He went a fortnight, a n d ; "O od," he prayed, "forgive my un then Lucinda told him she was going belief.” to bear a child. So he married her. ■ Ironically the baby was born dead. He set his face toward the North, The and prayed Clod for guidance, but the delicate dying babies were an endless chain that bound hint. Only an Illustrated Feature amorous daughter survived a son. Section He grayed Ood that his tiny Held would yield and Increase that he might start to save for the schooling Prints O n ly of his son. Frost killed the first crop, drought the second, the third year of Blue Ribbon Fiction his praying brought a flood. He went alone to his father's old rhnrrh to gently question hla God, and the rotting roof fell in on him. The ronnlry surgeon told him he would never walk again. . . The weary years piled up with the added weight of ceaseless, poverty and pain He lost his daughteV and h is 1 Its Contributors Come From All Over The Country. Readers of this newspaper may rest assured that they are get ting the best in achievement stories. I fiction and
