Mr World and Miss Church-Member | Page 9

open her Bible.
"Can you see, in that book, that all people shall be saved, and none

perish?"
"I am surely blind to that and always have been," she readily admitted
with a little more boldness.
"Perhaps you can see the justice of God in punishing the sinner?" he
continued with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"Plainly visible."
"So I expected."
He then proceeded to a more minute examination, after which he wrote
a brief diagnosis and commended her to a specialist in the next
building.
She hesitated somewhat, but Mr. World, handing her, confidentially, a
handsome sum of yellow coin from his bag of gold, brought words of
deep thankfulness from her lips, and gave decision to her steps in the
direction he desired.
From the great dome they were taken in a closed car over the high
suspension bridge to the adjoining building which was of still greater
magnitude.
The room into which they entered, at such a dizzy height, surpassed, in
its unique arrangement, anything of the kind that they had thus far seen.
In long and high glass cases lay all the modern appliances used by the
most skillful hands. The furnishings blended harmoniously with the
general environments. All this won the utter confidence of the new and
unsuspecting visitor. "With pleasure," politely began Mr. World, "I
present my friend, Miss Church-Member, who comes hither with
defective eyes and a duly subscribed diagnosis from the chief of the
oculists."
The specialist whom he thus addressed made an additional examination,
plying his craft with all the ingenuity he had learned from his master.
At the conclusion he delivered himself in this wise:

"I find, Miss Church-Member, that your eyes are very much out of
order. A complex case, indeed. I have discovered ametropia in the
particular form of irregular astigmatism. The pupil, covered by the
unabsorbed remains of the pupillary membrane, is occluded by a
deposition of inflammatory substance, occasioned by inflammation of
the ciliary body.
"I have also noticed a severe type of hemianopsia, which, I presume,
had its origin in congeniture. Minor defects are also apparent, but it is
unnecessary for me to give further details,"
Miss Church-Member could not refrain from weeping bitterly at this
sad announcement. "Is it possible to effect a cure?" she sobbed.
"Ah! you need not thus lament," said the specialist in a tone of
sympathy. "Millions have been altogether cured whose eyes were more
diseased than are yours. Forget your tears and be at perfect peace.
Calmly confide in our skill."
She consented to their method, and was first subjected to a course of
preliminary treatment. Many an hour she lay while her eyes were
covered with cloths saturated with strange liquids. And when her eyes
were uncovered she was compelled to sit in darkness, for the physician
told her that her eyes had already suffered much on account of light. At
times the pain was well nigh intolerable, but she endured it all
heroically, hoping to gain thereby the boon of a complete cure.
After this preparatory work one who was skilled in the best methods of
the age performed the operation, and Miss Church-Member was
comforted by the assurance that her eyes would be fitted with special
lenses, and soon she could again behold the natural light of day.
Mr. World was busily engaged during the treatment of Miss Church-
Member, but he came repeatedly to her side and spoke words of cheer
and urged her strict obedience to all directions.
Finally her new lenses were pub to service, and Mr. World proffered
his compliments profusely until the first impulses of vanity moved

within her. _To be admired, on account of her appearance, seemed
never so attractive as now!_
What a new world opened to her view! She looked down upon the
Broad Highway with a degree of pleasure hitherto unsuspected, and
also upon the King's Highway, but only to see that the path was indeed
a rough one and beset with trials and difficulties which, to her mind,
now seemed unnecessary to a Christian life.
In the same manner I looked into all the apartments of each building,
and was astonished at the presence of so large a number from the
King's Highway, and a still greater throng from the way of the world.
"O Blackana!" I cried, "how long will this continue? Is there no end to
deception? With such a changed view of things, how can Miss
Church-Member crave for the King's Highway or urge Mr. World
thither?"
"Miss Church-Member will be happier where she is," answered my
uncanny companion as he grinned horribly. "By the aid of her glasses
she can both see and enjoy the wonderful scenes along the way." I
knew that Blackana was covering the truth, but hesitated to insinuate as