Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1915 — GOD’S GIFT TO THEM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOD’S GIFT TO THEM

By CARL PRICE READE.

Of *ll the spirits in heaven Theodota was the most restless. Theodota «u not her name; It means simply "Godgivea," and names are useless In heaven, where the souls recognise each other by thought transmission; but that was the name by which she was subsequently to become known. She wandered to and fro, taking no more pleasure In the quiet contemplation of joys so unutterably divine that the most ptlre and ardent imagination upon earth fails to begin to comprehend them. She wandered to and fro restlessly, seeking counsel of wiser spirits, and presently one stopped her. “It is thus at some time with all of us,” she said gently. “We are not pure enough to enjoy contemplation of the divine forever, at is the taste of earthly joys that is necessary as a corrective —joys and suffering. The time has come for thee to be born on earth, Theodota.” “Was I not once on earth before?” Theodota asked. “Some say that the soul visits earth more than once, Theodota,” answered her guide, “But few of us know, and those who know will not tell. Thy time has come to say good-by to heaven for a brief space of time, incalculably brief, as we know time, but a lifetime as it is known to mortals." Theodota wept, but the impulse toward earth was too strong 4n her to be restrained. Presently she found herself far from the divine joys and entering a dark cloud which men call passions, though to Theodota it seemed only a dismal and gloomy place. Envy seemed to her like lightning, and hate like thunder, and anger like a hailstorm; but on the other hand there was love, a soft zephyr, and self-sacrifice, which seemed like balmy sunshine. So she flew on, passing from one to another, tired and

bewildered, yet driven onward without volition by the force of the earth impulse toward incarnation. Souls are not conscious of earthly things when they have come down from heaven. If they were, would not each of us choose to be bom a king or Queen, or a millionaire, or with an endowment of every talent? Soulb see only the hearts of their future mothers, not their material circumstances, or those of the men who are to win them. So presently Theodota found herself before a young girl.who was seated alone in a handsome room, looking at a diamond ring upon her finger. And it seemed to Theodota, in her love for the girl, that she would like nothing better than to become her daughter. The door opened and a young man came in. The girl rose and ran into his arms; she thought she loved him, but Theodota felt the girl’s heart contract with disappointment. The soul of the girl knew that the young ;man was not to be her mate, but the girl knew nothing of this. And Theodota, hovering by the young girl, began to feel the hail beating on her again; the lightning flashed and the thunder pealed. "I don't see why you should object to my having a good time, Frank,” the young girl said to her sweetheart. "Just because we are engaged—is that any reason why I shouldn’t go out with any man but you?” "You'll have to choose between me and the rest, ' answered the young man bitterly. The girl slammed down the diamond ring upon the table. "Take your old ring, then!" she stormed. "You’re a tyrant anyway, and I couldn't be happy with you. If, you are as Jealous as this before marriage, what will you be afterward ?” Theodota understood nothing of what was being said, but her delicate wings were drenched with the rain, and, seeing a warmer, sunnier place a little distance away, she darted instinctively toward it Amd now ensued a period of forgetfulness. Theodota had lost all memory of the joys of heaven, for the human love that enfolded her seemed sweeter than anything that had happened to her before. Dimly she seemed to be aware of her imprisonment, and, as the sculptor works upon the plastic'

clay or wax, so she was forming by her own desires the body that she was destined to inhabit. But of what was happening on earth, of the father's struggles to earn the money to pay for his wife’s illness, of his hopes and fears and those of his young wife Theodota was supremely ignorant. She basked In the bride’s love ss ?ne basks in the sunshine, and her content was absolute. Then came the day when Theodota’s happiness seemed complete. The little body that she had fitted for herself was made. The house was ready for her to inhabit it. She knew nothing of what was happening on earth, of the doctor's grave face and averted eyes as he tolled over the young wife, while the husband waited In an agony of suspense without. Suddenly, with a shiver of fear, Theodota found herself a spirit again. And, freed from the bonds of human love, she longed to flee back to her place in heaven and rest among the happy spirits there. But because it 1* given to mortals, when love Is omnipotent, to make their qrles heard to the happy souls, and to the souls to hear them, Theodota, about to fly away, paused as she heard the agonized words of the young mother's prayer: “God, give me back my child!" And, with the same clarity of vision, Theodota was enabled to see, and even dimly to understand the meaning of the tiny coffin that stood within the narrow room next to the chamber in which the young husband kneeled beside his wife. And the same prayer broke from both their lips. “We couldn’t have saved her,’’ said the doctor gravely. “No human agency could have saved her.” “I know; you did your best,” the husband answered. Theodota, watching that human grief, felt strangely drawn toward it. She did not know that what Is called grief on earth 1b called joy In heaven; but all her desires to be away vanished, and she remained with the stricken mother, nestling against hey and trying with all her power to comfort her. Perhaps she did comfort her, for Bpirit can speak with spirit, but so obscurely that the outer phantom of flesh and blood, controlled by the brain, understands nothing. Only through the instincts can one soul speak to another. But Theodota remained, until the same cloudy darkness fell upon her again, and, happy In her love, she forgot everything, to pass into a dreamy sleep. “What a dear little girl she Is!” exclaimed the happy mother, pressing her lips to the soft cheek. “Do yon know, .dear, she looks exactly like that first we lost What shall we call her?” “Call her—call her ‘the gift of God,’ ” her husband, who was a scholar, answered. “How do you like the name Theodota?” (Copyright Ml 5, by W. G. Chapman.)

“Take Your Old Ring, Then!"