Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-10-12

be found of very great Importance.
The depth of winter found Chicago
presenting, rs every great city of the
world presents, to the eyes of Christen
dom that marked contrast between
riches and poverty, between culture,
refinement, luxury, ease and ignorance,
depravity, restitution and the bitter
struggle for bread. 1t was hard win
ter, but gay winter. Never had there
been such n succession of parties, recep-
tions, balls, dinners, banquets, fetes,
gayeties; never had the opera and the
theater been so crowded with fashion
able audiences never had there been
such n lavish display Of jewels and fine
dresses and cqHipages, and, on the 9th
er hand never had the deep want and
suffering been so cruel so sharp, so
murdcrous; never had the winds blown
so chilling over the lake and through
the thin shells of tenements in the
neighborhood of the settlement never
had the pressure for food and fuel and
clothes been so urgently thrust mp
against the people of the city in their
most importunate and CHASTITY form,
Night after night the bishop and DR..
Bruce, with their helpers, went out and
helped to save men and women and
children from the torture of physical
privatiOn. Vast quantities of food and
clothing and large sums of money were
donated by the churches, the charitable
societies, the civic authorities and the
benevolent associations but the personal
touch of the Christian disciple was very
hard to secure for personal work.
Where was the discipleship that was
obeying the Master 5 command to go it.
self to the suffering and give itself with
its gift, in order to make the gift Of
value in time to come? The bishop
found his heart sink within him as he
faced this fact more than any other.
Men would give money who would not
think of giving themselves, and the
money they gave did not represent any
real sacrifice because they did not miss
it. They gave what was the easiest to
give, what hurt them the least. Where
did the sacrifice come in? Was this fol
lowing Jesus? Was this going with
him all the way? He had been to many
members of his own wealthy and arts
toCratiC congregation and was appalled,
to find how few men and women of that
luxurious class in the churches would
really suffer any genuine Inconvenience
for the sake Of suffering humanity.
Is charity the giving of wornout gar
ments? Is if ten dollar bill given to a
paid visitor or secretary of some be-
nevolent organization III the church
Shall the man never go and give his
gift himself? Shall the woman never
deny herself her reception or her party
or her musical and go and actually
touch the foul, sinful sore of diseased
humanity as it testers in the great me-
tropois? Shall charity be conveniently
and easily done through some organiza-
ton? Is it possible TO organize the af-
fections So that love shall work dis
agreeable things by proxy?
All this the bishop asked as he plunged
deeper into the sin and sorrow Of that
bitter winter. He was bearing his cross
with joy. but he burned and fought
within over the shifting of personal
love by the many upon the hearts of the
few. And still, silently, powerfully, re-
sistlessly, the Holy Spirit was moving
through the church upon even the aris-
tocratic, wealthy, ease loving members,
who Stunned the terrors of the social
problem as they would shun con
tagious disease.
This fact was impressed upon the
bishop and the settlement workers in a
startling way one morning. Perhaps no
one incident that winter shows more
! plainly how much of a momentum had
already grown ont Of the movement of
Nazareth Avenue church and the action
of DR.. Bruce and the bishop that fol
| lowed the pledge to do as Jesus would do.
The breakfast hour at the settlement
was the one hour in the day when the
whole resident family found a little
breathing space to fellowship together.
! 1t was an hour of relaxation. There
was n great deal of good natured re-
partee and much real wit and ENJOYABLE
fun at this hour The bishop told his
| best stories. Or Bruce was at his best
in anecdote. This company of disciples
was healthlly humorous i'll spite of the
! atmosphere of sorrow that constantly
surrounded them. In fact the bishop
often said that the faculty of humol
was as God given as any other, and in
his own case it was the only safety
valve he had for the tremendous press
ure put upon him.
This particular morning the bishop
was reading extracts from a morning
paper for the benefit of the Others. Sud
denly he paused, and his face instantly
grew stern and sad. The rest looked
up, and "A hush fell over the table.
"Shot and killed while taking IA lumE
of coal from a car, His family was
freezing and he had had no work foi
six months. His six children and wife
all packed into a cabin with three
rooms on the west side. One child wrap
ped in rags in closet.
These We're headlines that the bishoI
read slowly He then went on and read
| the detailed account of the shooting an6
the visit of the reporter to the tenement
where the family lived.
He finished, and there was silence
around the table. The humor of the
hour was swept ont Of existence by this
bit of human tragedy. The great city
roared about the settlement The awfu
current of human life was flowing in &
great stream past the settlement house,
| and tbnSa who had yynrx xyava hurry n q