The advocate., 1894-01-24

HIS lllOUllCl WIllC OlIC AACtO NV yON Quo
pected. Coming down in the morning
earlier than the rest, he CHANGED to spy
in the pantry a trap in which three
mice were imprisoned, and he not only
turned the culprits loose, but so ar
ranged the trap door that, while it
would lift easily enough, no amount Of
tugging at the tempting bait by a
hungry mouse could close the trap and
make him a prisoner. The trap con-
tinued to be baited and set, but, as no
mice were ever found in it, though the
bait regularly disappeared, Mrs. Cot
terrell came to the conclusion that all
the Vermin had been eXterminated and
that the cat had acquired taste for
cheese and had been eating the bait. So
the mouse trap had been obsolete for
months.
Such opportunity as the district
school afforded for acquiring an edu-
cation, he had while boy, diligently
improved; and when a youth, he had
been the fast friend of young school
master who had boarded at the house
one winter. This young schoOlmaster
was a socialist in private, though to
have said so in public would have lost
him his school. He meant to be a
preacher, and was teaching while wait
ing for ''a call" He revealed his secret
views to John COtterell, in whose SYM
pathetic and heroic heart they found
ready welcome; and in the young teach
er's room at night, they read many
book together, held many an eloquent
discussion. Reared to hard work and
poverty, John had seen everywhere
these two things in conjunction. The
phenomenon had puzzled him, but he
had found no one able to explain it to
him till he met and became intimate
with this young clerical friend, and
socialism had opened to his astOniShed
reason the cause of human Wretched-
ness.
Little wonder he became an enthu-
siast do not say whether socialism
is true philosophy. The means some
times proposed for attaining its object
L cannot approve, but as clergyman,
/ see not how to deny the deSirability
nor the practicability of the end which
socialism seeks to attain. | fear that
at the great judgment l should shrink
from my Masters gaze should have to
confess that while on earth | had de-
nounced the only people who seem to
actually believe in the coming of the
kingdom of heaven; for as hope for
mercy, cannot see any subStantisl diff
ference between the new state of So
ciety for which the latter-day socialists
work and suffer, and the millennium
which the apostles sought in their
day to bring about. The similarity does
not stop here, either. The same lack
of faith in the ideal which made the
men of ChriSt's time reject his doctrine
as visionary and "SeditiOus," induces
the practical business men and men
of affairs-aye, even Christ'S own pro-
fessed ministers-tO persecute socialism
to-day. 1t is the same old sin so often
denounced by our Master. They will
not believe.
While l was yet young man and
new to the ministry. back in the SOS,
when among the educated these ideas
were as much discussed as they now are
by all classes, a venerable bishop, the
friend of Emerson, Lowell, and the
"BrOok Farm" group Of enthusiasts,
was one of company of preachers,
several of whom, like myself, were
young men. The orthodox clergy OF
those stricter days did not look with ia
worm public, at least-upon Emerson
and Carlyle, and as l was depraved
enough to like to read them, / timidly
asked the bishop whether he thought it
improper for minister to read those
two hereto authors. WhereupOn he
gave us brief but heartfelt discourse
which have never forgotten.
Improper to read Emerson and Car
lyle?" said he. "Why, my son, were
our blessed Master to visit the earth