The Calling of Dan Matthews   By: Harold Bell Wright (1872-1944)

BY

HAROLD BELL WRIGHT

1909

AUTHOR OF

"THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS"

"THAT PRINTER OF UDELL'S"

With Illustrations by

ARTHUR I. KELLER

TO

WILLIAM WILLIAMS, M.D.

CONTENTS

I. THE HOME OF THE ALLY

II. A REVELATION

III. A GREAT DAY IN CORINTH

IV. WHO ARE THEY?

V. HOPE FARWELL'S MINISTRY

VI. THE CALLING OF DAN MATTHEWS

VII. FROM DEBORAH'S PORCH

VIII. THE WORK OF THE ALLY

IX. THE EDGE OF THE BATTLEFIELD

X. A MATTER OF OPINION

XI. REFLECTIONS

XII. THE NURSE FORGETS

XIII. DR. HARRY'S CASE

XIV. THAT GIRL OF CONNER'S

XV. THE MINISTER'S OPPORTUNITY

XVI. DAN SEES THE OTHER SIDE

XVII. THE TRAGEDY

XVIII. TO SAVE A LIFE

XIX. ON FISHING

XX. COMMON GROUND

XXI. THE WARNING

XXII. AS DR. HARRY SEES IT

XXIII. A PARABLE

XXIV. THE WAY OUT

XXV. A LABORER AND HIS HIRE

XXVI. THE WINTER PASSES

XXVII. DEBORAH'S TROUBLE

XXVIII. A FISHERMAN

XXIX. A MATTER OF BUSINESS

XXX. THE DAUGHTER OF THE CHURCH

XXXI. THE REALITY

XXXII. THE BARRIER

XXXIII. HEART'S TRAGEDIES

XXXIV. SACRIFICED

XXXV. THE TIE THAT BINDS

XXXVI. GOOD BYE

XXXVII. RESULTS

XXXVIII. A HANDFUL OF GOLD

XXXIX. THE VICTORY OF THE ALLY

XL. THE DOCTOR'S GLASSES

XLI. THE FINAL WORD

XLII. JUSTICE

XLIII. THE HOME COMING

XLIV. THE OLD TRAIL

ILLUSTRATIONS

Drawn by ARTHUR I. KELLER

WITH THE DOCTOR THE TWO STRANGERS IN CORINTH TOOK DENNY TO HIS HOME

" YOU MUST BE IN LIFE A FISHERMAN"

A GOOD BYE CARESS

DAN PLEADED WITH HIM

The Calling of Dan Matthews

CHAPTER I.

THE HOME OF THE ALLY

"And because the town of this story is what it is, there came to dwell in it a Spirit a strange, mysterious power playful, vicious, deadly; a Something to be at once feared and courted; to be denied yet confessed in the denial; a deadly enemy, a welcome friend, an all powerful Ally."

This story began in the Ozark Mountains. It follows the trail that is nobody knows how old. But mostly this story happened in Corinth, a town of the middle class in a Middle Western state.

There is nothing peculiar about Corinth. The story might have happened just as well in any other place, for the only distinguishing feature about this town is its utter lack of any distinguishing feature whatever. In all the essential elements of its life, so far as this story goes, Corinth is exactly like every other village, town or city in the land. This, indeed, is why the story happened in this particular place.

Years ago, when the railroad first climbed the backbone of the Ozarks, it found Corinth already located on the summit. Even before the war, this county seat town was a place of no little importance, and many a good tale might be told of those exciting days when the woods were full of guerrillas and bushwhackers, and the village was raided first by one side, then by the other. Many a good tale is told, indeed; for the fathers and mothers of Corinth love to talk of the war times, and to point out in Old Town the bullet marked buildings and the scenes of many thrilling events.

But the sons and daughters of the passing generation, with their sons and daughters, like better to talk of the great things that are going to be when the proposed shoe factory comes, the talked of mills are established, the dreamed of electric line is built out from the city, or the Capitalist from Somewhere else arrives to invest in vacant lots, thereon to build new hotels and business blocks.

The Doctor says that in the whole history of Corinth there are only two events. The first was the coming of the railroad; the second was the death of the Doctor's good friend, the Statesman.