St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-08-23

All(AI L En- l.
For hereunto were ye called because Christ
also suffered for you, leaving you an example,
that We should follow his steps,
1t was Friday morning, and the Rev.
Henry Maxwell was trying to finish his
Sunday morning sermon. He had been
interrupted several times and was
growing nervous as the morning wore
away and the sermon grew very slowly
toward a satisfactory finish.
MARY, he called to his wife as he
went up stairs after the last Interrupt
ton, "if any one comes after this l
wish you would say that l am very
busy and cannot come down unless it
is something very important.
Eyes, Henry But am going over
to visit the kindergarten. and you will
have the house all to yourself.
The minister went up into his study
and shut the door In a few minutes
he heard bis wife 90 out.
He settled himself at his desk with
sigh of relief and began to write. His
text was from | Peter H. 2l.
For hereunto were We called; be-
cause Christ also suffered for you, leav-
ing you an example, that We should fol-
low his steps.
He had emphasized in the first part
of his sermon the atonement as per
sonal sacrifice, calling attention to the
fact of Jesus suffering in various ways
in his life as well as in his death He
had gone on to emphasize the atone
ment from the side of example, giving
illustrations from the life and teaching
of Jesus to show how faith in the Christ
helped to save men because of the pat
tern or character he displayed for their
imitation. He was now on the third
and last point the necessity Of follow
ing Jesus in his sacrifice and example
He had just put down, "(3) Steps
what are they?" and was about to
enumerate them in logical order when
the bell rang sharply. 1t was one of
those clockwork bells and always went
off as clock might go if it tried to
strike 10 all at once.
Henry Maxwell sat at his desk and
frowned little He made no move
ment to answer the bell, Very soon it
rang again. Then he rose and walked
over to one of his windows, which com
manded a view of the front door.
A man was standing on the steps. He
was young man very shabbily dressed
Looks like tramp" said the min
lister II suppose III have to go down
and
He did not finish the sentence, but
went down stairs and opened the front
door
There was moments pause as the
two men stood facing each other. Then
the shabby looking young man said:
I'm out of job, sir, and thought
maybe you might put me in the way of
getting something.
81 don't know of anything. Jobs are
scarce. replied the minister, begin
ming to shut the door slowly.
II didn't know but you might per-
haps be able to give me line to the
city railway or superintendent of the
shops or something" continued the
young man, shifting his faded hat from
one hand to the other nervously.
at would be of no use You will
have to excuse me. am very busy this
morning. hope you will find some
thing. Sorry can't give you some
thing to do here. But keep only a
horse and COW and do the work my
self "
The Rev. Henry Maxwell closed the
door and heard the man walk down the
steps. AS he went up into his study he
saw from his hall window that the man
was going slowly down the street, still
holding his hat between his hands.
There was something in the figure SO
detected. homeless and forsaken that
the minister hesitated moment as he
stood looking at it, Then he turned tc
his desk and with a sigh began the
writing where he had left off.
He had no more interruptions, ant
when his wife came in two hours Later
the sermon was finished, and the loost
leaves were gathered up and neatly tie(
together and laid on his Bible, all ready
for the Sunday morning service.
"a queer thing happened at the kin
dergarten this morning, Henry" sale
his wife while they We're eating dinner
"You know, | went over with Mrs
Brown to visit the school, and just aft
er the games, while the children wer
at the tables, the door opened, and
young man came in, holding a dirt,
hat in both hands. He sat down nea
the door and never said a word, onl,
looked at the children He was evident
ly tramp, and Miss Wren and her as
Eistant, Miss Kyle, were little fright
ened at first, but he sat there yer
quietly, and after a few minutes h
went out.
Perhaps he was tired and wante
to rest somewhere. The same ma
called here, | think. Did you say h
looked like tramp2"
Eyes, very dusty, shabby and genel
ally tramplike--not more than 80 or 8
years old, | should say.
1.-THE same man." said the Rev
Henry Maxwell thoughtfully
did you finish your sermon, Hell
ryf' his wife asked after pause
eyes, all done. 1t has been ve1
busy week with me. The two sermon
cost me good deal of labor.
They will be appreciated by lars
audience tomorrow, hope, replit
his wife smiling uWhat are vnn o.