art and a brave act.

Just imagine her position. She was leaving her home, around which a
woman's heart clings as the vine clings to the oak, her children, her
friends; breaking the ties that years of association and friendship
had woven about her in chains of gold, and leaving them to a terrible
fate. But stronger than all these gossamer, yet almost unbreakable
threads, was the love she bore her husband; a love so intense, so deep
that it made her obey a command of God's against which every instinct,
passion and emotion of her nature rebelled.

He was going and her daughters were going with him, and womanlike she
forsook everything to follow him--the man she loved; the man whose
frown could make her heart sore as the wounds of death and agony, and
her heaven dark with the clouds of desolation and despair; or whose
gentle smile or caressing touch could sweep the mists of doubt and
uncertainty from her mind, even as June kisses make June roses
blossom, her weary eye glow with the light that love alone can kindle,
and clothe rough labor in robes of splendor.

Softly the dawn awoke, gayly fell the sunlight on the doomed cities,
and joyously the breezes swept the plains round about Sodom and
Gomorrah.

And Lot and his wife and daughters obeyed the command: "Escape for thy
life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plains;
escape to the mountains lest thou be consumed."

And now with frantic haste Lot's wife urges them on; she even leads
the way in her mad desire for their escape, encouraging them by word,
look and action. And while her heart is a battle-ground where a
desperate conflict is raging, there is no hint of disobedience or
rebellion in her eyes, no lagging in her footstep, no tears for love,
no sighs for friendship, no backward glance of compassion toward the
wicked but dear city.

And now they have come a long way--and suddenly the sunshine grows
dark, the wind falls, flutters, dies away; then comes the ominous
hush that foretells the bursting storm.

And this woman knows that her daughters and her husband, the lover of
her youth and the lover of later years, in short the one loved lover
of her life, is safe; safe from the tempest of destruction, safe from
the wrath of God. A wave of joy floods her heart at the thought. No
harm can touch them; she revels in that assurance for a moment--and
then she forgets them.

The white-capped breakers of disobedience against the cruel command
"look no