-----Original Message----- From: Gary North gnorth@bigfoot.com mailto:gnorth@bigfoot.com Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 5:38 PM

Subject: August 2000 ICE Newsletter

August, 2000

Dear ICE Subscriber:

Higher education is subversive. It is subversive of family values, church values, moral values, and civil values. It has been the most systematically corrosive force in Western society -- always eroding the foundations that have supported it. Whenever you hear the phrase, "bites the hand that feeds it," think of the university. This is not a new insight. Aristophanes' comedy, THE CLOUDS, is about a rich father who sends his son off to Socrates' academy. The son comes back lazy, rebellious, and an ill-mannered jerk. The Athenians executed Socrates because they perceived, correctly, that his rationalism was subversive of faith in the gods of the city. The Greek polis was based on the worship of local gods. Without faith in local gods, Greece could not continue as a regional civilization. When the cities fell to Alexander the Great, a student of Aristotle, Stoic philosophers invented a new political philosophy, which we call natural law theory, in order to justify and explain the new empire.

Why is higher education universally subversive? Because it is universally humanistic: from Socrates until today. In any college, there may be bits and pieces of the curriculum that are biblical, but higher education always seeks to become universalistic, which means that it must make an alliance with humanism. Professors seek acceptance by other scholars based on common-ground presuppositions. These presuppositions are always humanistic, for they assert the existence of authoritative standards apart from a confession of supernatural faith. This is a declaration of the existence of an independent truth higher than the Bible's or any ecclesiastical confession.

A RIVAL COVENANT

For over two millennia, fathers proudly have sent their sons off to be instructed by some certified academic expert or group of experts. He looks forward to the day when he can declare, "my son, the doctor" or "my son, the lawyer." The father places his son under a new authority: a distant faculty. The faculty does not share his view of the world. It sells its services to all comers. It claims universality for its truths. To do this, it breaks with the restrictive confession of any church. The father transfers authority to his spiritual enemies. He hopes for the best.

Now fathers send their daughters there, too.

The Bible says, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). Not higher education but rather a new covenant and a new family is the judicial basis of the separation. This is good for the parents: the family line is extended. It is good for the church. Dominion is by covenant.

Higher education breaks this pattern of authority. Dominion is still by covenant, but a college rests a new covenant based on different beliefs and a different confession. Marriage is supposed to retain the families' original confessions but extend the division of labor. The new covenant imparted by a humanistic college begins with a rejection of the Bible as the word of God. It surely involves a rejection of the literal truth of Genesis 1-11. It then continues with the rejection of the resurrection of Jesus, accompanied with legends of other god-men who were slain and rose from the dead.

Parents ask: "But what about a Christian college? Isn't that different?" Only marginally. How many Christian colleges teach the six-day creation? There is Christian Heritage College in southern California, which is physically a made-over high school. There may be one or two others. I have never met a graduate. I know this: the assigned textbooks in the social sciences and the humanities do not begin with the six-day creation.

The Creation Science movement has yet to begin to reconstruct a single academic discipline outside of the natural sciences along creationist lines. Yet within 40 years of the publication of Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES, law, social sciences, and the humanities, worldwide, had been reconstructed twice by Darwinism: first by Herbert Spencer's free market version, and then by the Lester Frank Ward's statist planning version. It has been 39 years since the publication of THE GENESIS FLOOD, yet the instructors in the social scientists in fundamentalist colleges -- there is only one university, unaccredited: Bob Jones University -- do not even suspect that their fields must be reconstructed. They still assign textbooks written by humanists -- conservatives, maybe, but still humanists.

I went to the college's Web site.

http://www.christianheritage.edu

There, on the home page, is the college's mission statement. This is where every college's mission statement belongs.

The mission of Christian Heritage College is to equip Christians to contribute to society and thereby influence the world through knowledge, skills, and godly character within the framework of Biblical and scientific creationism and the authority and inerrancy of the scripture.

They put creationism up front, where it belongs. This is the college's unique selling proposition (USP). But because of the nature of higher education, they must rely on humanistic and non-Christian teaching materials. At least they put the reading lists on-line. Very few Christian colleges have the courage to allow the parents to see what is being assigned to their children.

I went to another college's Web site. It has the reputation, falsely deserved, for being six-day creationist. I clicked through to "Catalogue," where I read the following:

Our Purpose:

To educate students to become servants of Christ to make a difference in today's world

This statement could be inserted into the brochure of any Christian college on earth. Put all of these mission statements into a paper bag, shake well, and dump them out. They all sound alike. They all avoid the two epistemological questions that separate the biblical worldview from its rivals: (1) When did God create the earth? (2) How do we know this?

I went the Catalogue's section on the division of natural sciences. Surely, here is where the war with evolution must be fought. Here is where Darwin overturned the vaguely Christian intellectual world. What do we read?

Division Purpose Statement

The Division of Natural Science introduces students to the history, methodology, and discoveries of science through classroom, laboratory, and field experience, so that they can more fully understand God's creation and thereby know the Creator better, minister to others more effectively, and execute responsible dominion over the creation.

So far, so good. It mentions God's creation. It even mentions dominion. All we need now is a clear-cut statement: pro-six-day creationism and anti-Darwin. Keep reading. (The actual screen has ugly brown letters on a black background, making the catalogue unusable for men with dark red-green color blindness -- women don't have this genetic problem; they are merely the carriers -- and will reduce reading speed by 50% or more for normally sighted people. But nobody tells Webmasters this. Hey, all you ever-so artsy Webmasters, consider using black print on a white background. It worked for Gutenberg. It worked for Luther. It worked for Darwin, Marx, and Freud. It built the modern world.)

Educational Objectives

. . . To introduce student to the sciences as a means of better knowing the Creator, and to foster in them a desire to continue pursuing this knowledge.

. . . To introduce students to the sciences a means of better knowing themselves and others, and to encourage them to continue utilizing such knowledge to care for themselves and minister to others.

. . . To introduce students to the sciences as a means of more responsibly executing dominion over the creation and to encourage them to adopt attitudes, habits, and responsibilities based upon knowledge of the Bible and the sciences.

. . . To offer students knowledge of the sciences which is foundational for future vocations and education.

There is a word for advertising copy like this: fluff. Next, I clicked through to the statement on the humanities.

The Division of Humanities prepares students for professional careers and graduate education by strengthening their understanding of the fundamental issues involved with being human: humanity's relationship with the Creator, humanity's relationship with the world, and humanity's relationship with others in the past, present, and future.

Educational Objectives

. . . To develop in students a competent knowledge of their chosen academic discipline and the ability to apply this knowledge to the needs of a changing world.

. . . To stimulate in students an integrative awareness and understanding of their academic discipline and their Christian faith, and to develop in them skills in critical thinking and problem solving.

Is this worth $15,000 a year, after taxes? Not to me.

After reading this, a Christian parent is supposed to get out his checkbook, shake hands with Billy Bob or kiss Jenny Sue goodbye, and ship both the student and a check off to the college. This is why small Christian liberal arts colleges remain small. They are not worth $15,000 a year, after taxes. They do not provide first-rate educations by anybody's standards -- not that most parents care or could tell the difference. They do not provide consistently biblical educations. They provide, at best, confessionally safer marriage opportunities.

Understand, this college is one of about a dozen "hard core" fundamentalist liberal arts colleges. But as Jack Nicholson's character said to a room full of seriously dysfunctional psychiatric patients, "Have you ever people considered that this may be as good as it gets?"

Well, have you, parent?

ACCREDITATION

What went wrong? The college's Web site tells us in the section on "Educational Standing."

[Nameless] College is . . .

. . . Accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the associate and baccalaureate degrees.

. . . Approved by the State Board of Education for teacher education and licensure. . . .

. . . Listed in the Education Directory: Higher Education, a publication of the DHEW, OE, and NCES.

. . . Listed in the Accredited Higher Institutions Bulletin published by the United States Department of Education.

. . . Listed in American Universities and College, a publication of the American Council on Education.

. . . Listed in Report of Credit Given published by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

. . . Approved under the various public laws which have been passed by Congress for the education of veterans and the children of veterans including PL 16, PL 634, and PL 361.

. . . Approved by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for the education of international students. In short, "God-hating humanists say we're great -- well, at least we're passable as accreditation goes -- so send your child and your money here!"

Humanists have systematically gutted Christian higher education in the United States through academic accreditation. This began in 1902 with John D. Rockefeller, Sr. He set up the General Education Board to pressure America's Christian colleges into humanism. The GEB put tens of millions of dollars into Christian colleges, but only if they agreed to add Ph.D.-holders to their faculties. All Ph.D. programs were humanistic. Rockefeller knew this. So did his advisors.

Then the U.S. government got into the act. It has worked with humanists in secular universities to set up academic standards, and has worked with states to make it illegal to use the words "college," "university," "Ph.D.," "M.A.," and "B.A." if an institution had not been certified by a government-sanctioned regional accrediting association. Ever since the end of World War II, Christian parents have demanded that Christian colleges conform. "Is your school accredited?" they ask. This really means, "Have you compromised the clear teaching of the Bible by crawling on your belly to the State and the humanist educational Establishment? Have you made your peace with Darwin? If not, I'm sending my Billy Bob or Jenny Sue elsewhere."

(Why theological seminaries have sought accreditation is beyond me. The graduates get no benefits, since churches are not licensed by the state, unlike the professions. I call this Christian dust-eating. Seminary officials implicitly say to the God-hating theological liberals who run the seminary-accrediting agencies: "You people are all going to hell, as our theology teaches, but please, please tell us that we meet your academic standards!")

A SOLUTION I have offered a solution. My essay ran this week on Lew Rockwell's site: "The Coming Breakdown of the Academic Cartel."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north8.html

After describing what a cartel is and why higher education in the United States is a cartel, I offered this solution.

* * * * * * * * * * *

THE REST? SAME SHIT.

-- Genghis Khan (GreatOne@GenghisKhan.org), August 03, 2000

Answers

Did anyone actually read this? If so, why?

-- (cpr by any@other.name), August 04, 2000.

yo great-one=cpr, WHEN did GOD die, & leave you in charge??? if you get puffed up enough-your gonna explode!! do you have alot of mirror,s in your house???

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), August 04, 2000.

Amazingly good post. Thanks, CPR.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 04, 2000.

Lousy post. Thanks for nothing, dumbass,

-- (you@bore.me), August 04, 2000.

Even a Frontal Lobotomy would not BORE into your dense head. If you want to be entertained,,,,,,,,try ABC's "One Saturday Morning". You may struggle with it for awhile but sooner or later you might catch up with your age group.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), August 04, 2000.

The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg #13 in our series by Mark Twain

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The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg

by Mark Twain

February, 1998 [Etext #1213]

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Prepared by by David Price ccx074@coventry.ac.uk

The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg

It was many years ago. Hadleyburg was the most honest and upright town in all the region round about. It had kept that reputation unsmirched during three generations, and was prouder of it than of any other of its possessions. It was so proud of it, and so anxious to insure its perpetuation, that it began to teach the principles of honest dealing to its babies in the cradle, and made the like teachings the staple of their culture thenceforward through all the years devoted to their education. Also, throughout the formative years temptations were kept out of the way of the young people, so that their honesty could have every chance to harden and solidify, and become a part of their very bone. The neighbouring towns were jealous of this honourable supremacy, and affected to sneer at Hadleyburg's pride in it and call it vanity; but all the same they were obliged to acknowledge that Hadleyburg was in reality an incorruptible town; and if pressed they would also acknowledge that the mere fact that a young man hailed from Hadleyburg was all the recommendation he needed when he went forth from his natal town to seek for responsible employment.

But at last, in the drift of time, Hadleyburg had the ill luck to offend a passing stranger--possibly without knowing it, certainly without caring, for Hadleyburg was sufficient unto itself, and cared not a rap for strangers or their opinions. Still, it would have been well to make an exception in this one's case, for he was a bitter man, and revengeful. All through his wanderings during a whole year he kept his injury in mind, and gave all his leisure moments to trying to invent a compensating satisfaction for it. He contrived many plans, and all of them were good, but none of them was quite sweeping enough: the poorest of them would hurt a great many individuals, but what he wanted was a plan which would comprehend the entire town, and not let so much as one person escape unhurt. At last he had a fortunate idea, and when it fell into his brain it lit up his whole head with an evil joy. He began to form a plan at once, saying to himself "That is the thing to do--I will corrupt the town."

Six months later he went to Hadleyburg, and arrived in a buggy at the house of the old cashier of the bank about ten at night. He got a sack out of the buggy, shouldered it, and staggered with it through the cottage yard, and knocked at the door. A woman's voice said "Come in," and he entered, and set his sack behind the stove in the parlour, saying politely to the old lady who sat reading the "Missionary Herald" by the lamp:

"Pray keep your seat, madam, I will not disturb you. There--now it is pretty well concealed; one would hardly know it was there. Can I see your husband a moment, madam?"

No, he was gone to Brixton, and might not return before morning.

"Very well, madam, it is no matter. I merely wanted to leave that sack in his care, to be delivered to the rightful owner when he shall be found. I am a stranger; he does not know me; I am merely passing through the town to-night to discharge a matter which has been long in my mind. My errand is now completed, and I go pleased and a little proud, and you will never see me again. There is a paper attached to the sack which will explain everything. Good- night, madam."

The old lady was afraid of the mysterious big stranger, and was glad to see him go. But her curiosity was roused, and she went straight to the sack and brought away the paper. It began as follows:

"TO BE PUBLISHED, or, the right man sought out by private inquiry-- either will answer. This sack contains gold coin weighing a hundred and sixty pounds four ounces--"

"Mercy on us, and the door not locked!"

Mrs. Richards flew to it all in a tremble and locked it, then pulled down the window-shades and stood frightened, worried, and wondering if there was anything else she could do toward making herself and the money more safe. She listened awhile for burglars, then surrendered to curiosity, and went back to the lamp and finished reading the paper:

"I am a foreigner, and am presently going back to my own country, to remain there permanently. I am grateful to America for what I have received at her hands during my long stay under her flag; and to one of her citizens--a citizen of Hadleyburg--I am especially grateful for a great kindness done me a year or two ago. Two great kindnesses in fact. I will explain. I was a gambler. I say I WAS. I was a ruined gambler. I arrived in this village at night, hungry and without a penny. I asked for help--in the dark; I was ashamed to beg in the light. I begged of the right man. He gave me twenty dollars--that is to say, he gave me life, as I considered it. He also gave me fortune; for out of that money I have made myself rich at the gaming-table. And finally, a remark which he made to me has remained with me to this day, and has at last conquered me; and in conquering has saved the remnant of my morals: I shall gamble no more. Now I have no idea who that man was, but I want him found, and I want him to have this money, to give away, throw away, or keep, as he pleases. It is merely my way of testifying my gratitude to him. If I could stay, I would find him myself; but no matter, he will be found. This is an honest town, an incorruptible town, and I know I can trust it without fear. This man can be identified by the remark which he made to me; I feel persuaded that he will remember it.

"And now my plan is this: If you prefer to conduct the inquiry privately, do so. Tell the contents of this present writing to any one who is likely to be the right man. If he shall answer, 'I am the man; the remark I made was so-and-so,' apply the test--to wit: open the sack, and in it you will find a sealed envelope containing that remark. If the remark mentioned by the candidate tallies with it, give him the money, and ask no further questions, for he is certainly the right man.

"But if you shall prefer a public inquiry, then publish this present writing in the local paper--with these instructions added, to wit: Thirty days from now, let the candidate appear at the town-hall at eight in the evening (Friday), and hand his remark, in a sealed envelope, to the Rev. Mr. Burgess (if he will be kind enough to act); and let Mr. Burgess there and then destroy the seals of the sack, open it, and see if the remark is correct: if correct, let the money be delivered, with my sincere gratitude, to my benefactor thus identified."

Mrs. Richards sat down, gently quivering with excitement, and was soon lost in thinkings--after this pattern: "What a strange thing it is! . . . And what a fortune for that kind man who set his bread afloat upon the waters! . . . If it had only been my husband that did it!--for we are so poor, so old and poor! . . ." Then, with a sigh--"But it was not my Edward; no, it was not he that gave a stranger twenty dollars. It is a pity too; I see it now. . . " Then, with a shudder--"But it is GAMBLERS' money! the wages of sin; we couldn't take it; we couldn't touch it. I don't like to be near it; it seems a defilement." She moved to a farther chair. . . "I wish Edward would come, and take it to the bank; a burglar might come at any moment; it is dreadful to be here all alone with it."

At eleven Mr. Richards arrived, and while his wife was saying "I am SO glad you've come!" he was saying, "I am so tired--tired clear out; it is dreadful to be poor, and have to make these dismal journeys at my time of life. Always at the grind, grind, grind, on a salary--another man's slave, and he sitting at home in his slippers, rich and comfortable."

"I am so sorry for you, Edward, you know that; but be comforted; we have our livelihood; we have our good name--"

"Yes, Mary, and that is everything. Don't mind my talk--it's just a moment's irritation and doesn't mean anything. Kiss me--there, it's all gone now, and I am not complaining any more. What have you been getting? What's in the sack?"

Then his wife told him the great secret. It dazed him for a moment; then he said:

"It weighs a hundred and sixty pounds? Why, Mary, it's for-ty thou- sand dollars--think of it--a whole fortune! Not ten men in this village are worth that much. Give me the paper."

He skimmed through it and said:

"Isn't it an adventure! Why, it's a romance; it's like the impossible things one reads about in books, and never sees in life." He was well stirred up now; cheerful, even gleeful. He tapped his old wife on the cheek, and said humorously, "Why, we're rich, Mary, rich; all we've got to do is to bury the money and burn the papers. If the gambler ever comes to inquire, we'll merely look coldly upon him and say: 'What is this nonsense you are talking? We have never heard of you and your sack of gold before;' and then he would look foolish, and--"

"And in the meantime, while you are running on with your jokes, the money is still here, and it is fast getting along toward burglar- time."

"True. Very well, what shall we do--make the inquiry private? No, not that; it would spoil the romance. The public method is better. Think what a noise it will make! And it will make all the other towns jealous; for no stranger would trust such a thing to any town but Hadleyburg, and they know it. It's a great card for us. I must get to the printing-office now, or I shall be too late."

"But stop--stop--don't leave me here alone with it, Edward!"

But he was gone. For only a little while, however. Not far from his own house he met the editor--proprietor of the paper, and gave him the document, and said "Here is a good thing for you, Cox--put it in."

"It may be too late, Mr. Richards, but I'll see."

At home again, he and his wife sat down to talk the charming mystery over; they were in no condition for sleep. The first question was, Who could the citizen have been who gave the stranger the twenty dollars? It seemed a simple one; both answered it in the same breath -

"Barclay Goodson."

"Yes," said Richards, "he could have done it, and it would have been like him, but there's not another in the town."

"Everybody will grant that, Edward--grant it privately, anyway. For six months, now, the village has been its own proper self once more- -honest, narrow, self-righteous, and stingy."

"It is what he always called it, to the day of his death--said it right out publicly, too."

"Yes, and he was hated for it."

"Oh, of course; but he didn't care. I reckon he was the best-hated man among us, except the Reverend Burgess."

"Well, Burgess deserves it--he will never get another congregation here. Mean as the town is, it knows how to estimate HIM. Edward, doesn't it seem odd that the stranger should appoint Burgess to deliver the money?"

"Well, yes--it does. That is--that is--"

"Why so much that-IS-ing? Would YOU select him?"

"Mary, maybe the stranger knows him better than this village does."

"Much THAT would help Burgess!"

The husband seemed perplexed for an answer; the wife kept a steady eye upon him, and waited. Finally Richards said, with the hesitancy of one who is making a statement which is likely to encounter doubt,

"Mary, Burgess is not a bad man."

His wife was certainly surprised.

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed.

"He is not a bad man. I know. The whole of his unpopularity had its foundation in that one thing--the thing that made so much noise."

"That 'one thing,' indeed! As if that 'one thing' wasn't enough, all by itself."

"Plenty. Plenty. Only he wasn't guilty of it."

"How you talk! Not guilty of it! Everybody knows he WAS guilty."

"Mary, I give you my word--he was innocent."

"I can't believe it and I don't. How do you know?"

"It is a confession. I am ashamed, but I will make it. I was the only man who knew he was innocent. I could have saved him, and-- and--well, you know how the town was wrought up--I hadn't the pluck to do it. It would have turned everybody against me. I felt mean, ever so mean; ut I didn't dare; I hadn't the manliness to face that."

Mary looked troubled, and for a while was silent. Then she said stammeringly:

"I--I don't think it would have done for you to--to--One mustn't-- er--public opinion--one has to be so careful --so--" It was a difficult road, and she got mired; but after a little she got started again. "It was a great pity, but-- Why, we couldn't afford it, Edward--we couldn't indeed. Oh, I wouldn't have had you do it for anything!"

"It would have lost us the good-will of so many people, Mary; and then--and then--"

"What troubles me now is, what HE thinks of us, Edward."

"He? HE doesn't suspect that I could have saved him."

"Oh," exclaimed the wife, in a tone of relief, "I am glad of that. As long as he doesn't know that you could have saved him, he--he-- well that makes it a great deal better. Why, I might have known he didn't know, because he is always trying to be friendly with us, as little encouragement as we give him. More than once people have twitted me with it. There's the Wilsons, and the Wilcoxes, and the Harknesses, they take a mean pleasure in saying 'YOUR FRIEND Burgess,' because they know it pesters me. I wish he wouldn't persist in liking us so; I can't think why he keeps it up."

"I can explain it. It's another confession. When the thing was new and hot, and the town made a plan to ride him on a rail, my conscience hurt me so that I couldn't stand it, and I went privately and gave him notice, and he got out of the town and stayed out till it was safe to come back."

"Edward! If the town had found it out--"

"DON'T! It scares me yet, to think of it. I repented of it the minute it was done; and I was even afraid to tell you lest your face might betray it to somebody. I didn't sleep any that night, for worrying. But after a few days I saw that no one was going to suspect me, and after that I got to feeling glad I did it. And I feel glad yet, Mary--glad through and through."

"So do I, now, for it would have been a dreadful way to treat him. Yes, I'm glad; for really you did owe him that, you know. But, Edward, suppose it should come out yet, some day!"

"It won't."

"Why?"

"Because everybody thinks it was Goodson."

"Of course they would!"

"Certainly. And of course HE didn't care. They persuaded poor old Sawlsberry to go and charge it on him, and he went blustering over there and did it. Goodson looked him over, like as if he was hunting for a place on him that he could despise the most; then he says, 'So you are the Committee of Inquiry, are you?' Sawlsberry said that was about what he was. 'H'm. Do they require particulars, or do you reckon a kind of a GENERAL answer will do?' 'If they require particulars, I will come back, Mr. Goodson; I will take the general answer first.' 'Very well, then, tell them to go to hell--I reckon that's general enough. And I'll give you some advice, Sawlsberry; when you come back for the particulars, fetch a basket to carry what is left of yourself home in.'"

"Just like Goodson; it's got all the marks. He had only one vanity; he thought he could give advice better than any other person."

"It settled the business, and saved us, Mary. The subject was dropped."

"Bless you, I'm not doubting THAT."

Then they took up the gold-sack mystery again, with strong interest. Soon the conversation began to suffer breaks--interruptions caused by absorbed thinkings. The breaks grew more and more frequent. At last Richards lost himself wholly in thought. He sat long, gazing vacantly at the floor, and by-and-by he began to punctuate his thoughts with little nervous movements of his hands that seemed to indicate vexation. Meantime his wife too had relapsed into a thoughtful silence, and her movements were beginning to show a troubled discomfort. Finally Richards got up and strode aimlessly about the room, ploughing his hands through his hair, much as a somnambulist might do who was having a bad dream. Then he seemed to arrive at a definite purpose; and without a word he put on his hat and passed quickly out of the house. His wife sat brooding, with a drawn face, and did not seem to be aware that she was alone. Now and then she murmured, "Lead us not into t . . . but--but--we are so poor, so poor! . . . Lead us not into . . . Ah, who would be hurt by it?--and no one would ever know . . . Lead us . . . " The voice died out in mumblings. After a little she glanced up and muttered in a half-frightened, half-glad way -

"He is gone! But, oh dear, he may be too late--too late . . . Maybe not--maybe there is still time." She rose and stood thinking, nervously clasping and unclasping her hands. A slight shudder shook her frame, and she said, out of a dry throat, "God forgive me--it's awful to think such things--but . . . Lord, how we are made--how strangely we are made!"

She turned the light low, and slipped stealthily over and knelt down by the sack and felt of its ridgy sides with her hands, and fondled them lovingly; and there was a gloating light in her poor old eyes. She fell into fits of absence; and came half out of them at times to mutter "If we had only waited!--oh, if we had only waited a little, and not been in such a hurry!"

Meantime Cox had gone home from his office and told his wife all about the strange thing that had happened, and they had talked it over eagerly, and guessed that the late Goodson was the only man in the town who could have helped a suffering stranger with so noble a sum as twenty dollars. Then there was a pause, and the two became thoughtful and silent. And by-and-by nervous and fidgety. At last the wife said, as if to herself,

"Nobody knows this secret but the Richardses . . . and us . . . nobody."

The husband came out of his thinkings with a slight start, and gazed wistfully at his wife, whose face was become very pale; then he hesitatingly rose, and glanced furtively at his hat, then at his wife--a sort of mute inquiry. Mrs. Cox swallowed once or twice, with her hand at her throat, then in place of speech she nodded her head. In a moment she was alone, and mumbling to herself.

And now Richards and Cox were hurrying through the deserted streets, from opposite directions. They met, panting, a

-- interesting text man (interesting@text.man), August 04, 2000.

At least Gary got the 6 day creation part right.

Too bad he is such a boob.

-- biblebeliever (believing@it.ALL), August 04, 2000.