“There’s another side,” said the minister’s wife softly.
“How do you know?” asked the visitor who had told the
discreditable little tale strictly in confidence, as she herself
had learned it in the bosom of the Wednesday afternoon sewing
circle. The minister’s wife had not been present, and it was
only right that she should be put right about this family of
newcomers in the parish. “Some things had come to the ears of
the sewing circle that were not--well, not exactly--”
“There’s another side!” repeated the minister’s wife, not so
softly this time. In fact, there was a noticeable little ring of
indignation in her tone, which died out in a sort of wondering
pity as she noticed the challenging look of her caller. “You’re
glad there is another side, aren’t you? Why, of course you are.
And, you see, I know all about it.”
“You weren’t at the meeting,” said the other stiffly. “If you
had been, you--”
“No, I was there--at the house. And I saw--I saw--oh, Mrs.
Babbitt, if you could have seen what I saw.”
“I saw, too--with my own eyes! That daughter of theirs is an
opium--”
“She isn’t their daughter--not any relation; not even a friend
or a friend’s daughter, just a poor girl who had been sick so
long and suffered so terribly that the doctors themselves had
made her a victim of the opium habit. And they have undertaken
to try to cure her. They have given up their home--their very
lives--to it. They don’t say a word about it. I just found it
out--with the help of the doctor.”
The visitor rose suddenly, almost unceremoniously. For a moment
the hostess looked troubled and aghast. Had she spoken too
sharply, discourteously, even? Her mind fled back over the
interview as she faltered: “You are not going yet? You--oh, you
aren’t offended at anything I’ve said?”
“Yes, I’m going. Offended--I? I’m going round to see all our
ladies, every single one of them!”
“And tell them?--”
The minister’s wife held her breath for the answer. One may be
very bold, but it sometimes means a great deal to offend “the
ladies.”
“And tell them,” said the caller, gathering her wraps about her,
“that beautiful ‘other side!’”
“Oh!” breathed the minister’s wife gratefully. “And tell them,
won’t you, that there always is another side, always, always!
And it is our Christian business to try and find it.”--ANNA
BURNHAM BRYANT, _Zion’s Herald_.
(2280)