St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-10-11

/ understand that our city officials are
a corrupt unprincipled set Of men,
controlled in large part by the whisky
element, and thoroughly selfish, 80 far
as the affairs Of city government are
concerned Yet all these years l, with
nearly every teacher in the college, have
been satisfied to let other men run the
municipality and have lived in little
world Of my own, out Of touch and
sympathy with the real world of the
people. What would Jesus dor | have
tried even to avoid an honest answer.
/ can no longer do so. My plain duty is
to take personal part in this coming
election, 60 to the primaries, throw the
weight Of my influence, whatever it is,
toward the nomination and election Of
good men and plunge into the very
depths Of this entire horrible whirlpool
of deceit, bribery, political trickery and
saloonism as it exists in Raymond to-
day. | would sooner walk up to the
mouth Of cannon any time than do
this dread it because l hate the touch
of the whole matter.
81 would give almost anything to be
able to say, 4 do not believe Jesus
would do anything Of the sort, but l
am more and more persuaded that he
would. This is where the suffering
comes to me. 1t would not hurt me
half so much to lose my position or my
home. loathe the contact with this
municipal problem. would much pre-
fer to remain quietly in my scholastic
life with my classes in ethics and phi
losophy, but the call has come SO plain
ly that cannot escape: Donald Marsh,
follow me. Do your duty as a citizen of
Raymond at the point where your citi-
zenship will cost you something. Help
to cleanse this great municipal stable,
even if you do have to soil your aris-
tocratic feelings little. Maxwell, this
is my cross l must take it up or deny
my Lord.
"You have spoken for me Also" re-
piled Maxwell, with sad smile. "Why
should I, simply because am clergy
man. shelter myself behind my refined,
sensitive feelings and, like a coward,
refuse to touch, except in sermon pos
sibly, the duty of citizenship am I'M
used to the ways Of the political life Of
the city. have never taken an active
part in any nomination Of good men.
There are hundreds of ministers like
me. AS class we do not practice in
the municipal life the duties and privi-
leges we preach from the pulpit. What
would Jesus do? l am now at point
where, like you. am driven to answer
the question one way. My duty is plain
must suffer. All my parish work, all
my little trials or self sacrifices, are as
nothing to me compared with the break
ing into my scholarly, intellectual, self
contained habits of this open, coarse
public fight for clean city life. |
could go and live at the Rectangle the
rest of my days and work in the slums
for bare living, and l could enjoy it
more than the thought of plunging into
q fight for the reform of this whisky
ridden city. 1t would cost me less But,
like you, have been unable to shake
off my responsibility. The answer to
the question, What would Jesus do ?
in this case leaves me no peace, except
when | say, Jesus would have me act
the part of Christian citizen. Marsh,
as you say, we professional men, min
listers, professors, artists literary men,
scholars, have almost invariably been
political towards. We have avoided the
sacred duties of citizenship either ig-
norantly or selfshly. Certainly Jesus
in our age would not do that. We car
do no less than take up this cross and
follow him.
These two men walked on in silence
for awhile Finally President Marsl
said:
1--WE do not need to act alone in thi,
matter With all the men who have
made the promise, we certainly car
have companionship and strength ever
of numbers. Let US organize the Chris
tian forces of Raymond for the battl,
against rum and corruption. We Ger
tainly ought to enter the primarie
with force that will be able to d.
more than utter a protest. 1t is fac
that the saloon element is cowardly an(
easily frightened, in spite of its law
lessness and corruption. Let us plan ;
campaign that will mean something be
cause it is organized righteousness
Jesus would use great wisdom in thi
matter. He would employ means HI
would make large plans Let us do so
If we bear this cross, let us do it brave
ly, like men. "
They talked over the matter lon!
time and met again the next day il
Henry Maxwell's study to develop
plans. The city primaries were calleC
for Friday. Rumors of strange and un
heard of events to the average citizel
were current in political circles through
out Raymond. The Crawford system o
balloting for nominations was not il
use in the state, and the primary wa
called for a public meeting at the court
house.
The citizens of Raymond will neve
forget that meeting. 1t was SO unlik
any political meeting ever held in Ray
mond before that there was no attemp
at comparison. The special officers t.
be nominated were mayor, city council
chief Of police, city clerk and cit,
treasurer.
The Evening News in its Saturda,