Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-03-01

I tlOn ana nave always trleu TO be
Christian under all conditions. l don't
know that l have always asked this
question What would Jesus dor when
| have been out of work, but | do know
l have tried to be his disciple at all
times. Yes, the man went on, with n
sad smile that was more pathetic to the
bishop and Mr.. Maxwell than the young
mans grim despair-''yes | have beg
ged, and | have been to the charity or
ganizations, and l have done every
thing when out of a job, except steal
and lie in order to get food and fuel 1
den know that Jesus would have done
some of the things l have been obliged
to do for a living but l know l have
never knowingly done wrong when out
of work. Sometimes l think maybe he
would have starved sooner than beg. /
don know. -
The old mans voice trembled, and he
looked around the room timidly. A 81
lence followed, broken by fierce voice
from a large, black haired, heavily
bearded man who sat three seats from
the bishop. The minute he spoke nearly
every man in the hall leaned forward
eagerly The man who had asked the
question, "What would Jesus do in my
case?" slowly sat down and asked the
man next to him, "Who's that2''
That's Carlsen, the socialistic lead
er. Now you II hear something
''This is all bosh, to my mind 4" be-
gan Carlsen, while his great, bristling
beard shook with the deep, inward
anger of the man. ''The whole of our
system is at fault. What we call civil
lization is rotten to the core. There is
no use trying to hide it or cover it up.
We live in an age of trusts and COM
bines and capitalistic greed that means
simply death to thousands of innocent
men, women and children. | thank
| God if there is a God, which l very
much doubt that l, for one, have never
dared to marry and try to have a home.
Home Talk of hell Is there any big
ger than the one this man with his
three children has on his hands right
this minute? And he's only one out of
thousands, and yet this city and every
other big city in this country has its
thousands of professed Christians who
have all the luxuries and comforts and
who go to church Sundays and sing
their hymns about giving all to Jesus
and bearing the cross and following him
all the way and being saved l don't
say that there aren't some good men
and women among them, but let the
minister who has spoken to us here to-
night go into any one of dozen aris-
| tocratic churches / could name and pro-
! pose to the members to take any such
pledge as the one he's proposed here and
see how quick the people would laugh
at him for a fool or crank or fanatic.
Oh, no! That's not the remedy. That
can't ever amount to anything. We've
| got to have a new start in the way of
government. The whole thing needs re-
constructing. | don't look for any re-
form worth anything to come out of
| the churches. They are not with the
people. They are with the aristocrats,
with the men of money. The trusts and
monopolies have their greatest men in
the churches. The ministers as a class
are their slaves. What we need is a
rights OF the common people
Carlsen had evidently forgotten all
about the three minute rule and was
launching himself into % regular ora
ton that meant, in his usual surround
ings, before his usual audience, an hour
at least, when the man just behind him
pulled him down unceremoniously and
rose Carlsen was angry at first and
threatened little disturbance, but the
bishop reminded him of the rule, and
he subsided. with several mutterings
| in his beard, while the next speaker be-
gan with very strong eulogy on the
value of the single tax as genuine
remedy for all the social ills. He was
| followed by man who made bitter
attack ON the churches and ministers
and declared that the two great obsta-
| cles in the way of all true reform were
| the courts and the ecclesiastical ma
| chimes
When he sat down, a man who bore
every mark of being street laborer
sprang to his feet and poured out per-
I feet torrent of abuse against the corpor-
ntions, especially the railroads. The
| minute his time was up big, brawny
| fellow who said he was a metal worker
| by trade claimed the floor and declared
that the remedy for the social wrongs
| was trades unionism. This, he said
| would bring on the millennium for la
Dor more than anything else. The next
| man endeavored to give some reasons
| why so many persons were out of en-
plovment and condemned inventions as
| the works of the devil. He was loudly
| applauded by the rest of the company.
Finally the bishop called time on the
free for all and asked Rachel to sing.
Rachel Winslow had grown into
very strong. healthful, humble Chris
| tan during that wonderful year IN
RAYMOND dating from the Sunday
when she first took the pledge to do as
Jesus would do, and her great talent OF
song had been fully consecrated to the
service of her Master. When she began
to sing tonight at this settlement meet
ing, she had never prayed more deeply
for results to come from her voice-the
voice which she now regarded as the
Master $, to be used for him.
Certainly her prayer was being an
swered as she sang. She had chosen the
words:
uark the voice Of Jesus calling,
Follow me, follow mel
Again Henry Maxwell, sitting there,
,yas reminded of his first night at the
Rectangle in the tent when Rachel sang
the people into quiet. The effect was
the same here What wonderful power
n good voice consecrated to the Master 8
service always isl Rachel's great nat
ural ability would have made her one
of the foremost opera singers OF the age.
Surely this audience had never before
heard such melody. How could it? The
men who had drifted in from the street
sat entranced by voice which "back
in the world" never could be heard by
the common people because the owner
of it would charge 81 or $3 for the
privilege. The song poured out through
the hall as free and glad rs if it were
!, foretaste of salvation itself
, Carlson, with his great black bearded
face. absorbed the music with the deep
love of it peculiar TO his nationality,
and a tear ran over his cheek and glis-
tened in his beard as his face softened
and became almost noble in its aspect.
The man out of work who had wanted
to know what Jesus would do in his
place sat with grimy hand on the back
of the bench in front of him, with his
mouth partly open, his great tragedy
r,r IA. moment f,rOotteu The song