Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-12-07

/ the N' Corul tI tle / lr~t CnuECu S'rN-c
/ and all the while he was speaking
! Henry Maxwell leaned over the pulpit.
/ his face growing more white and sal
every moment But he made no move
ment TO stop him, and the people sat
! smitten into breathlCSs silence. One
other face. that of Rachel Winslow.
/ from the choir seats. stared. white and
/ intent down at the shabby figure with
/ the faded hat. Her face was striking at
any time. Under the pressure of the
! present uuholrd Of incident il was as
! personally distinct as if it had been
framed in fire.
Il IN not an ordinary tramp. though
! l don't know of any teaching of Jesus
! that makes one kind of a tramp less
/ worth saving than another. Do your
| H put the question as naturally as if
the whole congregation had been a
! small private Bible class. He paused
J lust moment and coEghed painfully
| Then he went on.
Il lost my job ten months ago. l am
a printer by trade. The new linotype
! machines are beautiful specimens Of
| invention but l know six men who
| have killed themselves inside of the
| year inst on account of those machines
| OF course l don [ blame the newspapers
| for getting the machines Meanwhile
| what can a man do? l know | never
| learned but the one trade, and that 5
| all | can do. I've tramped all over the
country trying to find something. There
are a good many others like me I'm
not complaining, am /? Just stating
| facts But | was wondering, as | sat
there under the gallery, if what You
call following Jesus is the same thing
as what he taught.
''What did ne mean when he said,
Follow me- The minister said here
the man turned about and looked up at
the pulpit ''that it was necessary for
the disciple of Jesus to follow his steps.
and lie said the steps were obedience,
faith. love and imitation. But ! did
not hear him tell just what he meant
that to mean, especially the last step.
What do Christians mean by following
the steps Of Jesus? I've tramped
through this city for three days trying
to find job, and in all that time I've
not had a word Of sympathy or comfort
except from your minister here, who
said he was sorry for me and hoped |
would find a job somewhere. l suppose
it is because you get SO imposed on 10y
the professional tramp that you have
lost your interest in the other sort. I'm
not blaming anybody, am |? Just stat
ing facts. OF course | understand you
can I all 20 ont of your way to hunt mp
jobs for people like me I'm not asking
you to, but what | feel puzzled about is
what is meant by following Jesus Do
you mean that you are suffering and
denying yourselves and trying to save
lost suffering humanity just as | un-
derstand Jesus did? What do you mean
by it? | see the ragged edge of things
a good deal. | understand there are
mere than 500 men in this city in my
case Most Of them have families Ny
wife died four months ago. I'm glad
she is out of trouble. My little girl is
staying with a printers family unit l
find a job. Somehow | get puzzled
in luxury and singing, Jesus, l my
cross have taken, all to leave and fol
low thee. and remember how my wife
died in n tenement in New York city,
gasping for air and asking God to take
tn little girl too. OF course | don't ex-
poet you people can prevent every one
h. dying Of starvation, lack of proper
.ishment and tenement air. But
nat does following Jesus mean2 |
understand that Christian people own
q good many of the tenements. a mem
Der of a chsrch was the owner Of the
Cne where my wife died, and l have
wondered if following Jesus all the
way was true in his case. | heard some
people singing at a church prayer meet
ing the other night,
can for Jesus, all for Jesus,
All my beings rausomed powers,
All my thoughts and all my doings,
All my days and all my hours,
"and | kept wondering, as Eat on
the steps outside just what they meant
by it. 1t seems to me there's an awful
lot Of trouble in the world that some
how wouldn't exist if all the people
who sing such songs went and lived
them ont | suppose ! don't under
stand But what would Jesus dor Is
that what you mean by following his
stepa2 1t seems to me sometimes rs if
the people in the city churches had good
clothes and nice houses to live in, and
money to spend for luxuries, and could
90 away on summer vacations and all
that, while the people outside Of the
churches, thousands of them, | mean,
die in tenements, and walk the streets
for jobs, and never have piano or
picture in the house, and grow up in
misery and drunkenness and sin. The
man gave a queer lurch over in the di-
rection Of the communion table and laid
one grimy hand on it. His hat fell upon
the carpet at his feet. a stir went
through the congregation. DIR. West
half rose from his seat, but as yet the
silence was unbroken by any voice or
movement worth mentioning in the
audience. The man passed his other
hand across his eyes and then, without
any warning, fell heavily forward on
his face, full length, up the aisle
Henry Maxwell spoke, 1--WE will con
slider the service dismissed. " He was
down the pulpit stairs and kneeling by
the prostrate form before any one else
The audience instantly rose, and the
aisle was crowded DR. West pro
nounced the man alive He had tainted
away
"Some heart trouble" the doctor
also muttered rs he helped TO carry him
into the pastor study.
Henry Maxwell and a group of his
church members remained some time
in the study. The man lay on the couch
there and breathed heavily. When the
question Of what to do with him came
up, the minister insisted upon taking
him to his house He lived near by and
had an extra room. Rachel Winslow
said: Mother has no company at pres
ent / am sure we would be glad to
give him place with us" She looked
strangely agitated No one noticed it
particularly, They were all excited over
the strange event, the strangest that
First church people could remember.
But the minister insisted on taking
charge Cf the man, and when carriage
came the unconscious but living form
was carried TO his house, and with the
entrance Of that humanity into the
minister spare room a new chapter in
Henry Maxwell's S life began, and yet no
one, himself least Of all, dreamed of the
remarkable change it was destined to
make in all his after definition of Chris
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