The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-09-14


Or. Miles Medical Company, EIkhays, Ind.
the discussion.
He went down the next day and
found Alexander Powers in his office
1t lacked few minutes of 10. and the
superintendent said, Come up stairs,
and I'll show you what I've been try
ing to do"
They went through the machine
shops. climbed q long flight of stairs
and entered q very large empty room
1t had once been used by the company
for II storeroom-
"Sinco making that promise week
ago ! have had good many things TO
think Of, snid the superintendent.
land among them Is this Our COM
pany gives me the use Of this room. and
am going to fit It up with tables and
coffee plant in tho corner there where
those steam pipes are. My plan is to
provide a good place where the men
can como up and eat their noon lunch
and give them. two or three times a
week. the privilege Of 10 minutes
talk on some subject that will be a real
help to them In their lives
Maxwell looked surprised and asked
II tho men would come for any such
purpose.
"Yes. they'll come After all. I know
the men pretty well They are among
the most intelligent workingmen in the
country today, but they are, as a whole,
entirely removed from all church infu-
ence. asked. What would Jesus dor
and among other things. 1t seemed to
me he would begin to act In some way
to add to tho lives Of these men moro
physical and spiritual comfort. 1t is q
very little thing. this room and what it
represents, but ! acted on the first i'm
pulse to do the first thing that appealed
to my good sense, and I want to work
out this idea want you to speak to
the men when they come up at noon. I
have asked them TO come up and see
the place and I'll tell them something
about it.
Henry Maxwell was ashamed to say
how uneasy he felt at being asked to
speak few words to company Of
workingmen. How could he speak with
out notes or to such a crowd? He was
honestly in n condition Of genuine
fright over the prospect. He actually
felt afraid Of facing these men. He
shrank from the ordeal OF confronting
such crowd. 20 different from the
Sunday audiences he was familiar with.
There were half dozen long rude
tables and benches in the great room,
and when the noon whistle sounded the
men poured up stairs from the machine
shop below and. seating themselves at
the tables. began to eat their lunch.
There were perhaps 800 Of them. They
had read the superintendent notice,
which he had posted up in various
places, and came largely out Of curl
osity.
They were favorably impressed The
room was large and airy. free from
smoke and dust and we'll warmed from
the steam pipes
About go minutes Of I Alexander
Powers told the men what he had In
mind He spoke very simply, like one
who understands thoroughly the char
acter Of his audience. and then intro
duced the Rev. Henry Maxwell Of the
First church, his pastor, who had con-
sented to speak few minutes
Henry Maxwell will never forget the
feelings with which for the first time
he confronted that grimy faced audi
ence Of workingmen Like hundreds Of
other minister's he had never spoken to
any gathering except those made up Of
people of his own class in the sense that
they were familiar in their dress and
education and habits to him. This was
a new world to him, and nothing but
his new rule Of conduct could have
made possible his message and Its effect
He spoke ON the subject Of satisfaction
with life. what caused it. what Its real
1ources were. he had the great good
pense on this first appearance not to rec
,gnize the men as . class distinct from
himself. He did not use the term
"workingmen" and did not say word
to suggest any difference between their
lives and his own
The men were pleased. A good many
Of them shook hands with him before
going down to their work. and Henry
Maxwell. telling II all to his wife when
he reached home. said that never In all