Van Berg, does your philosophy teach you to believe, as you
sung, on Sabbath evening, that
'There is no power to sever
The strong and true in mind?'"
Before answering he turned to look at her. Her face seemed to
stand out from the gloom of the night with a light of its own, and
was so white and eager as to be almost spirit-like. His tones were
sad as he replied:
"I wish I could answer you otherwise than as I must, for the impulse to
say some words of comfort, which I feel you need, is very strong.
I only sang of what I wished on Sunday evening. I have little
philosophy, and still less of definite belief in regard to the
future life. While I am not a theoretic skeptic, all questions of
faith are to me so vague and incomprehensible that I am a practical
materialist, and live only in the present hour."
"But, Mr. Van Berg," she said, in a low tremulous tone, "can you
not understand that some people cannot live in the present hour,
try as they may? Oh, how desperately hard I try to do so! Can
you not imagine that something in one's past may make a future
necessary to save from despair? If I lost my hold on that future
I should go mad," she added in a whisper.
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