THE DEBT
KATHLEEN CARMAN (Mrs. L. N. Dodge), a writer of interesting short stories, lives in Evanston, Illinois. The Debt is her first contribution to The Atlantic.
Certain of the old Flemish painters present a canvas which seems to suggest that a peaceful meadow-land, a winding river, or a distant mountain-slope, exists only as a background for the figure in which they are interested. The relative importance is indicated by the proportions that make the figure loom large and masterful within the scene. Miss Carman, too, has cleared her canvas for the presentation of her figure; but her heroine is very small, very insignificant, in the presence of greater realities of expansive sea, cloud-fancies, or the rising moon. The interest of the story centres in the relation between Nature—more exactly God in Nature—and patient, plodding Sister Anne.
Nothing else matters. The problem itself is clear to Sister Anne; only the solution is difficult. To one whose life has seen all the unloveliness of heavy manual labor, there exists a pressing necessity to pay for the joy of living that is in her: a strange, absorbing joy in the beauty that God has created. Praise and prayer are not her instruments. A loving attendance at chapel and early matins cannot translate her feelings. Love and worship must be transmuted into the thing she knows—service.
The time comes. Simply, consciously, unquestioning, she risks her life to return another’s to God—a small payment for what He has given her. The problem is between them. Her devout companions may admire, the wealthy landowner wonder; nothing can be given to this 'poor, lonely, ignorant, toil-worn being, who in her starved existence had found more joy than she could make return for.'
Suggested Points for Study and Comment
1. The reader will find it interesting to contrast the ways in which Sister Anne and The Princess, in Miss Donnell’s story of The Princess of Make-Believe, reconcile themselves to the drudgery of dish-washing and similar tasks of kitchen routine.
2. What various manifestations of nature especially impressed Sister Anne? What appeal did these make to her companions?
3. Do you regard the author’s prolonged analytical method of characterization—as employed in the first part of the story—as the most effective means of bringing the reader into an understanding of the deeper personality of Sister Anne?
4. What special detail in this analysis most strongly impresses you?