Show ike g goo illy ENT able to 0 GEORGE MUNSON gy tes fa bet jed williams sat in hla his tau abo tiny ein y living room ol of age his bif wife e by his side neither I 1 spoke for a long time at rf the old nian lan raised his bead will lind find thee out he illy it ans of aured ure d well ellza eliza this moans means t we shall have bavo to move out ot of el glit na williams pressed his hand but ll 11 not answer him what was there nut lier hush husband and had once killed nan now ow everybody know it act tile the end of hla his ministry and he too old to begin life alfo anew they had bad been three years in el ar r and bad come to love the place fat 4 with the curiosity of small tow towns no parishioners had never ceased to fars gs williams with questions and wase chasa she bhe apparently wished to keep a clairs to herself they had become aar core inquisitive still it 11 theres one thing thine people w would ilk more than another jed she had old ald only the preceding week it is to 0 pry into the secrets of peoples airm irei 1 1 I dont know my dear her hus bus nail bud had answered folks are more or less the same everywhere a little inquisitive no doubt but good at kart heart I 1 am sure they ore are good I 1 must believe that as a minister lize cle he added led jed williams was fifty five five and b thirty ilroy years before be had accidentally ema aled ed a man it was a fight jed was waa le lot hot blooded and struck at the taunt I 1 tah ills Us enemy fell and fractured his skull a a the curb jed was two mon months is a prison then he was found guilty y mit of a minor degree of manslaughter md and imprisoned for one month longer y when he came out he began to study wag tor for the ministry because he had bad ream killed ed a man be resolved to devote hla his sot we life to saving men ile he went to a dis ea pj lad jil 01 41 it may be he answered taut tant state where he was unknown and obtained a there it was waa there he met and wooed his bis first and only sweetheart before he be asked her to be ba his wife he told her the story and silo she clinging to him vowed to let her love and trust accompany them all their days together two years later a man who had bad known knon williams in his own state came to the town tho the story became public property A majority of the congregation gre gation of the first church stood by hla him but he resigned rather than causo cause a split again he started life anew and in ten years was minister of one of the largest churches in chicago and again the story came to light again williams Vt lliams began in a country parsonage 1 ile he himself accepted his chastisement humbly as his punishment but his nife afe never ceased to rebel against the fatality that pursued him however his seven years at kingston had passed uneventfully and then followed the three at E imer elmer they were ere growing old now earnestly they prayed that the miserable secret might be allowed to remain in its grave then the day before a man of tho old chicago congregation who was visiting elmer had met williams on the street in the mans embarrassed looks and hesitating words the parson read not only tho the remembrance of his secret but the fact that tha t he had bad already made it public property jed suggested afia wife dont you suppose that it if it if you resigned from all those posts so precipitously the people would have stood by you ile ho shook ills his head mournfully it may ay be ho he answered but I 1 be the cause of differences among my people no my dear we must leave elmer only there Is sm seething ethIng to be dono done first yes jed dear the old man rose and stood before her a fire burned beneath the patient humility of his hearing bearing hitherto my dear I 1 have well run away he be said but this time I 1 am going to make my confession before god and to my people ajl und I 1 not ater after all these years I 1 would that I 1 had bad doise ro po mani MAA years ago he be answered fortunately for his resolution ehni day was saturday on the next morn mom ing the church was packed as it had novel never beon been since tho the beginning of will lama farms ministry ills wife seated ie fin her pew could see tile the staring eager interest upon the faces of all there was frances minturn the gossip of the town the deacons wife she had bad plagued her constantly with her ques tio dioning ning and there was delta delia james the spinster sister of peter james jamea the trustee both of them sat wide awake in their pews and apparently scenting something in the air dut but prayers begun began and the pastors wife resolutely turned her mind from these considerations reverently ehe bho prayed that it might bo be well with them whatever it might please their master to lay upon them the sermon began it was said after ostop ward by those who recalled it that it was the best sermon hermoa jed williams had bad ever preached but little remembrance of that remained when the aspea speaker pr changing his bla tone to one of 0 intense conviction added and now friends I 1 have to make clear to you some personal history years ago when I 1 was a boy I 1 killed a man it was a single blow struck in hasty passion but it killed I 1 served a term of imprisonment for it when I 1 came out I 1 resolved ved to devote my life to the service of men and thus to make atonement it if that were possible everyone was waa breathing hard all eyes were fixed upon the speakers face 1 I went from pulpit to pulpit he be continued each time thinking that I 1 could live down the past but there la Is only one way of living down the past and that Is by humbly confessing ones faults not only to god but to ones onea fellow man I 1 should never have found the strength to do this today had I 1 not bad reason to believe that once more my old sin had come COMB to light dut but now before I 1 go before I 1 leave elmer forever I 1 want to make this explanation to you ray my friends trusting that you will pardon me la in your hearts and be merciful to one who sorely needs mercy so saying he stepped down from his pulpit and prepared to leave ille his wife was waiting for him at the church door as aa they passed out alone behind the silent congregation she slipped her arm through ills his then both became aware that a throng of people was awaiting them and at tile the head stood frances minturn and peter james the latter adva advanced nedd and took the pastor by tile the hand mr air williams we want you to stay he sald eald wo we all want you the request is unanimous we lve have never had a pastor of whom we have been prouder williams looked at him L s amazement dut but but how can you speak for the congregation he be inquired you have not had time to ask to learn how they feel indeed yes answered the other the matter was threshed out three years ago before you came you see mr williams ho he added elmer has known this all the time copyright 1914 by W 0 chapmann Chapman 1 |