El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-20

been tormented over my failure to keep
it in this instance. That saloon prop
erty has been the temptation of the
devil to me. 1t is the best paying in
vestment at present that I have, and
yet it was only minute before you
came in here that was in an agony of
remorse to think how 1 was letting a
little earthly gain tempt me into denial
of the very Christ l had promised to
follow / know well enough that he
would never rent property for such a
purpose There is no need, dear doctor.
for you to say word more. Clayton
held out his hand, and DR.. Bruce grasped
it and shook it hard After a little he
went away, but it was long time aft
erward that he learned all the truth
about the struggle that Clayton had
known 1t was only a part of the his
tory that belonged to Nazareth Avenue
church since that memorable morning
when the Holy Spirit sanctioned the
Christlike pledge Not even the bishop
and DR.. Bruce, moving as they now did
in the very presence itself of divine i'm
pulses. knew yet that over the whole
sinful city the Spirit was brooding with
mighty eagerness, waiting for the dis
ciples to arise to the call of sacrifice and
suffering, touching hearts long dull and
cold, making business men and money
makers uneasy in their absorption by
the one great struggle for more wealth
and stirring through the church as
never in all the city's history the church
had been moved. The bishop and DR..
Bruce had already seen some wonderful
things in their brief life at the settle
ment. They were to see far greater
nj
the Divine power than they had sup
posed possible in this age of the world.
Within a month the saloon next the
settlement was closed. The saloon keep
er's lease had expired, and Clayton not
only closed the property to the whisky
men, but offered the use of the building
to the bishop and DIR. Bruce for the set
Element work, which had now grown SO
large that the building was not suffi-
Gent for the different industries that
were planned One of the most impor
tant of these was the pure food depart
ment suggested by Felicia 1t was not
month after Clayton turned the saloon
property over to the settlement that
Felicia found herself installed in the
very room where souls had been lost as
head of department not only of cook
ing, but of course of housekeeping for
girls who wished to go out to service
She was now resident of the settle
ment and found home with Mrs.
Bruce and the other young women from
the city who were residents. Martha,
the violinist, remained at the place
where the bishop had first discovered
the two girls and came over to the set
Element certain evenings to give lessons
in music.
Felicia, tell US your plan in full
now" said the bishop one evening
when, in a rare interval of rest from
the great pressure of work, he, with DR..
Bruce and Felicia, had come in from
the other building
"Well, l have long thought Of the
hired girl problem, said Felicia, with
an air of wisdom that made Mrs. Bruce
smile as she looked at the enthusiastic,
vital beauty of this young girl, trans
formed into a new creature by the
promise she had made to live the Christ
like life, land 1 have reached certain
conclusions in regard to it that you
men are not yet able to fathom, but
Mrs. Bruce here will understand me-"
1--WE acknowledge our infancy, Fe-
icia. Go on, 4" said the bishop humbly.
''Then this is what propose to do:
The old saloon building is large enough
to arrange into a suit Of rooms that
will represent an ordinary house. My
plan is to have it SO arranged and then
teach housekeeping and cooking to girls
who will afterward go out to service
The course will be six months long. In
that time will teach plain cooking,
neatness, quickness and a love of good
work. -
''Hold on, FeliciaI'' the bishop inter-
rupted ''This is not an age of mira
cles-''
''Then I will make it one. ;" replied
Felicia. 81 know this seems like an i'm
possibility, but want to try it. 1 know
a score of girls already who will take
the course and if we can once establish
something like an esprit de corps among
the girls themselves 1 am sure it will
be of great value to them. I know al
ready that tbs pure food is working a
revolution in many families. 4"
Felicia, if you can accomplish half
of what you propose to do, it will bless
this whole community, said Mrs.
Bruce. Il don't see how you can do it,
but say God bless your as you try"
$50 say we alll' cried DIR. Bruce and
the bishop and Felicia plunged into the
working out of her plan with the en-
thusiasm of her discipleship, which ev-
cry day grew more and more practical
and serviceable.
1t must be said here that Felicia's
plan succeeded beyond all expectations
She developed wonderful powers of per-
suasion and taught her girls with aston |
ishing rapidity to do all sorts of house |
work. In time the graduates of Felicia
cooking school came to be priced by |