heartbroken father?"

"There is balm for every wound, Brother Forbes, if we seek it. Others
have suffered your loss and been able to find it."

Duncan Forbes sat back in his chair and stared straight before him. The
words had brought to his mind unpleasant visions.

In an instant he was back in his store again, where scores of
pale-faced, hollow-eyed youths and maidens were moving about. They all
had mothers and fathers or some one who loved them, yet, unlike his
Jack, they were weighed down by poverty, the millstone of disease was
about their necks, and he, Duncan Forbes, was relentlessly grinding the
very spirit out of their frail bodies.

He shuddered involuntarily and that brought him back to his senses.

"Religion! what is it?" he asked unpleasantly. "Has it any practical
value in the lives of mortals? I have been a church member for forty
years, paying my dues in accordance with the terms of that institution
and shirking none of its responsibilities. Now, at the hour of sorrow, I
find myself facing my grief alone; there is no power in the church that
can help me to bear it. What is religion, I say? Is it a mere mummery of
speech? I have been religious all my life; now I find nothing in it!"

"The fault is in you," said his caller, gravely.

Both men had risen and stood facing each other.

"You have been too occupied with other things, brother--too busy, you
might say, with worldly matters to search for the spirit that pervades
what you call 'mummery.' Surely in your love for Jack you appreciate
something of the love of Christ for man; in your dealings with men and
women you can realize His interest in humanity, and through your wealth
you have the power to reap a harvest of good, yet how have you improved
these opportunities?"

Mr. Forbes looked surprised, as well he might. They were the first words
of a personal application of belief that his ears had listened to since
he could remember.

"But religion has no part in worldly affairs," he said sullenly. "To be
born for heaven is to be lost for earth; surely we should take each
condition in the order that it comes--wealth, position first; prayer and
praise hereafter; earth for the body and heaven for the soul; goods and
chattels now, faith our stock in trade for the future. This is
practical, is it not? This is good, sound reasoning. You are a minister
of the Gospel, yet you can't deny it!"

"I can and do!" cried the minister bravely. "A belief that doe