Opening a Chestnut Burr | Page 5

promptly and
characteristically.
But perhaps it can be safely said that in no den of iniquity in the city
could Walter Gregory have received such moral injury as poisoned his
very soul when, in Mr. Bently's elegant and respectable parlor, the
"angel" he worshipped "explained how she was situated," and from a
"sense of duty" stated her purpose to yield to the wishes of her friends.
Gregory had often seen Mr. Grobb, but had given him no thought,
supposing him some elderly relative of the family. That this was the
accepted suitor of the girl who had, with tender, meaning glances, sung
for him sentimental ballads, who had sweetly talked to him of religion
and mission work, seemed a monstrous perversion. Call it unjust,
unreasonable, if you will, yet it was the most natural thing in the world
for one possessing his sensitive, intense nature to pass into harsh, bitter
cynicism, and to regard Miss Bently as a typical girl of the period.
A young man is far on the road to evil when he loses faith in woman.
During the formative period of character she is, of earthly influences,
the most potent in making or marring him. A kind refusal, where no
false encouragement has been given, often does a man good, and leaves
his faith intact; but an experience similar to that of young Gregory is
like putting into a fountain that which may stain and embitter the
waters of the stream in all its length.
At the early age of twenty-two he became what is usually understood
by the phrase "a man of the world." Still his moral nature could not sink
into the depths without many a bitter outcry against its wrongs. It was
with no slight effort that he drowned the memory of his early home and
its good influences. During the first two or three years he occasionally
had periods of passionate remorse, and made spasmodic efforts toward
better things. But they were made in human strength, and in view of the
penalties of evil, rather than because he was enamored of the right.
Some special temptation would soon sweep him away into the old life,

and thus, because of his broken promises and repeated failures, he at
last lost faith in himself also, and lacked that self-respect without which
no man can cope successfully with his evil nature and an evil world.
Living in a boarding-house, with none of the restraints and purifying
influences of a good home, he formed intimacies with brilliant but
unscrupulous young men. The theatre became his church, and at last the
code of his fast, fashionable set was that which governed his life. He
avoided gross, vulgar dissipation, both because his nature revolted at it,
and also on account of his purpose to permit nothing to interfere with
his prospects of advancement in business. He meant to show Miss
Bently that she had made a bad business speculation after all. Thus
ambition became the controlling element in his character; and he might
have had a worse one. Moreover, in all his moral debasement he never
lost a decided tendency toward truthfulness and honesty. He would
have starved rather than touch anything that did not belong to him, nor
would he allow himself to deceive in matters of business, and it was
upon these points that he specially prided himself.
Gregory's unusual business ability, coupled with his knowledge of
French and German, led to his being sent abroad as agent of his firm.
Five years of life in the materialistic and sceptical atmosphere of
continental cities confirmed the evil tendencies which were only too
well developed before he left his own land. He became what so many
appear to be in our day, a practical materialist and atheist. Present life
and surroundings, present profit and pleasure, were all in all. He ceased
to recognize the existence of a soul within himself having distinct
needs and interests. His thoughts centred wholly in the comfort and
pleasures of the day and in that which would advance his ambitious
schemes. His scepticism was not intellectual and in reference to the
Bible and its teachings, but practical and in reference to humanity itself.
He believed that with few exceptions men and women lived for their
own profit and pleasure, and that religion and creeds were matters of
custom and fashion, or an accident of birth. Only the reverence in
which religion had been held in his early home kept him from sharing
fully in the contempt which the gentlemen he met abroad seemed to
have for it. He could not altogether despise his mother's faith, but he

regarded her as a gentle enthusiast haunted by sacred traditions. The
companionships which he had formed led him to believe that unless
influenced by some interested motive a