he sometimes plays very
badly. I am not at all sure she has the temperament which will succeed
on the music-stage."

"I made a somewhat similar remark to the mother myself."

"Moreover, her interests are not the only factors in the problem. Mrs.
Lambert's life is bound up in her daughter, and without her she would
suffer. The well-being of the family as a whole is against her going."

"You have your own interests, too, I dare say."

Clarke's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"It would be difficult to replace her here in your church-work, would
it not?"

The clergyman returned to his candid manner. "It would, indeed. She is
the only organist in the village, and is invaluable to me, especially
in the Sunday-school."

"I am disposed to consider her interests, and not those of the mother
and father, or even the church," pursued Serviss. "I am of those who
recognize the rights of the young as of chief importance to the race."

Clarke seized upon this as a gage of battle. "The race! Oh, you
inexorable men of science! What do we care for the race? We would save
individuals. The race can take care of itself. The race is only an
abstraction--it cannot suffer. Of what avail to the individual to know
that the race is to be perfected a thousand years hence?"

"We wander," interposed Serviss, with decision. "The question is
really quite simple. Shall we advise the Lamberts to send their
daughter to New York to study music, or shall we counsel her to remain
here, and in marriage to some good, honest young miner resign herself
to the common lot of women. Her talent should determine."

A dull flush rose to the cheek of the preacher, his eyes fell and his
voice unconsciously softened. "Marriage is still a long way off for
Viola Lambert; she is but a child, and, besides--" He paused.

Serviss smiled. "They marry young in the West, I believe. Besides, she
must be twenty, and quite robust."

"She seems but a child to me," repeated Clarke, returning to his
clerical manner, and something in the hypocritical tone of his speech
angered and disgusted Serviss, and to himself he said: "He is a fraud.
He does not intend to let the girl pass out of his control." Then
aloud he reopened the discussion: "It all comes back to a question of
the girl's talent. If it is sufficient to enable her to earn a living
in some larger community, she has a right to go; if not, she should
certainly stay here. I believe in the largest possible life fo