St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-01-10

other two men. The bishop still look,
stern. He could not help feeling tn
this elegant man Of leisure could hay
done a great deal to alleviate the no
rors in his tenements, possibly have pr
% vented this tragedy, if he had sacrifice
q some of his personal ease and luxury
~ better the condition of the people in h
~ district
! Penrose turned to DR. Bruce
f Doctor, he exclaimed and Their
> was almost child's terror in his voice
II came to say that | have had an ex
perience so unusual that nothing bu
the supernatural can explain it, Yol
remember | was one of those who tool
the pledge to do as Jesus would do.
thought at the time, poor fool that
was, that bad all along been doing the
Christian thing | gave literally out OF
my abundance to the church and char.
lty. | never gave myself to cost me any
suffering. | have been living in q per-
feet hell of contradictions ever since |
took the pledge. My little girl, DIANA
You remember also took the pledge
with me. She has been asking me a
great many questions lately about the
| poor people and where they lived. | was
/ obliged to answer her Two Of her Ques-
tons last night touched my sore Did |
own any houses where those people
lived Were they nice and warm like
ours? You know how child will ask
questions like these. | went to bed tor
mented with what | now know to be
the divine arrows of conscience. IcOuld
not sleep. | seemed to see the Judgment
day. | was placed before the Judge !
was asked to give account of my deeds
done in the body. How many sinful
souls had | visited in prison? What had
| done with my stewardship? How
about those tenements where people
froze in winter and stifed in summer?
Did | give any thought to them, except
to receive The rentals from them?
Where did my suffering come in?
Would Jesus have done as | had done
and was doing? Had | broken my
pledge? How had used the money and
the culture and the social influence |
possessed? Had | used them to bless
10 relieve the suffering, to
bring joy to the distressed and hope to
the desponding? | had received much.
How much had | given?
'All this came to me in a waking
vision as distinctly as I see you two
men and myself now | was unable to
see the end Of the vision | had con-
fused picture in my mind of the suffer
ing Christ pointing a condemning finger
at me, and the rest was shut out by
mist and darkness have not had sleep |
for "A hours The first thing | saw this
morning was the account of the shoot |
ing at the coalyards, read the account /
with feeling Of horror have not been /
able to shake off. | am a guilty creature
before God.
Penrose paused suddenly The two
men looked at him solemnly. What
power of the Holy Spirit moved the
soul of this hitherto self satisfied, ele-
CANT, cultured man who belonged to
-he social life that was accustomed to
90 its way, placidly unmindful of the
great sorrows Of great city and prac-
5ically ignorant Of what it means to
suffer for Jesus sake?
Into that room came breath such as
before swept over Henry Maxweps
church and through Nazareth Avenue
md the bishop laid his hand ON the
houlder Of Penrose and said: "My
BROTHER, God has been very near to you.
let us thank him.
eyes, yes, sobbed Penrose. He sat
Town ON chair and covered his face.
The bishop prayed Then Penrose quiet
y said "Will yen go with me to that
louse?'
For answer both DR.. Bruce and the
bishop put ON their overcoats and went
nut with him to the home of the dead
mans family. This was the beginning
II a new and strange life for Clarence
'enrose. From the moment he stepped
nto that wretchod howell of a home and
aced for the first time in his life de-
pair and suffering such as he had read
+, but did not know by personal con-
act he dated new life 1t would be
mother long story to tell how in obedi-
nee to his pledge, he began to do with
rs tenement property as he knew Jesus
would do. What would Jesus do with
enement property if he owned it in
lineage or any other great city of the
world? Any man who can imagine any
rue answer to this question can easily
ell what Clarence PenrOse began to do.
Now, before that winter reached its
bitter climax many things occurred in
jhe city that concerned the lives of all
lhe characters i'll this history of the dis
hples who promised to walk in his steps.
1t CHANGED, by one of those remark
able condolences that seem to occur
preternaturally, that one afternoon, lust
Is Felicia came out of the settlement
with basket which she was going to
eave as a sample with baker in the
Penrose district Stephen Clyde opened
The door OF the carpenter shop in the
basement and came out of the lower
ioor in time to meet Felicia as she
reached the sidewalk.
Let me carry your basket, please"
he said
why do you say please?' asked
Felicia, handing over the basket.
Il would like to say something else,
replied Stephen, glancing at her shvlv
and yet with boldness that frightened
him. for he had been loving Felicia
more every day since he first saw her.