People's voice., 1900-01-25

had not taken the pledge who regarded
the whole movement as Mrs Winslow
did, in the nature of a fanatical inter.
pretation Of Christian duty, and looked
for a return Of the old normal condi-
ton. Meanwhile the whole body of dis
ciples was under the influence Of the
Spirit, and Henry Maxwell went his
way that summer doing his parish work
in great JOY, keeping up his meetings
with the railroad men. as be had prom
ised Alexander Powers. and daily grow
ing into a better knowledge of the
Master
Early one evening in August, after a
day Of refreshing coolness, following
long period of heat Jasper Chase walk.
ed to the window of his room in the
apartment house on the avenue and
looked ont
On his desk lay pile of manuscript
Since that evening when he had spoken
to Rachel Winslow he had not met her
His singularly sensitive nature, sensi-
tive to the point of irritability when he
was thwarted, seemed to thrust him
into an isolation that was intensified
by his habits as an author
All through the heat Of the summer
he had been writing. His book was
nearly done now He had thrown him
self into its construction with feverish
strength that threatened at any moment
to desert him and leave him helpless.
He had not forgotten his pledge with
the other church members at the First
church 1t had forced itself upon his
notice all through his writing and ever
since Rachel had said no to him He
had asked a thousand times Would
Jesus do thisT' Would he write this
storyH" 1t was a society novel, written
in a style that had proved popular 1t
had no purpose except to amuse Its
moral teaching was not bad, but nei-
ther was it Christian in any positive
way Jasper Chase knew that such a
story would sell He was conscious of
powers in his way that the social world
petted and admired What would Jesus
dof The question obtruded ON him at
the most inopportune times He be-
came irascible over it The standard Of
Jesus as an author was too ideal OF
course Jesus would use his powers to
produce something useful or helpful or
with a purpose What was he, Jasper
Chase, writing this novel fort Why.
what nearly every writer wrote for
namely, money and fame as writer
There was no secret with him that he
was writing this new story with that
object He was not poor and so had no
temptation to write for money, but he
was urged on by his desire for fame as
much as anything. He must write this
kind of matter But what would Jesus
dof The question plagued him even
more than Rachels refusal Was he
going to break his promisef
AS he stood at the window Rolhn
Page came out Of the clubhouse just OPP
posite. Jaspe, noted his handsome face
and noble figure as he started down the
street He went back to his desk and
turned over some papers there. Then
he returned to the window Rollin was
walking down past the block. and Rs-
chel Winslow was walking beside him
Rollin must have overtaken her as she
was coming from Virginia's that after
noon
Jasper watched the two figures until
they disappeared in the crowd on the
walk Then he turned to his desk and
began to write When he had finished
the last page Of the last chapter Of his
book, it was nearly dark What would
Jesus doS He had finally answered the
question by denying his Lord 1t grew
darker in Jasper's room. He had delib-
erately chosen his course, urged on by
his disappointment and loss
"But Jesus said unto him, No man,
having put his hand to the plow and
looking back is fit for the kingdom Of
heaven.