Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1900-03-29

Philip went on as he drew his wife's
head down and kissed her tenderly.
while tears Of disappointment fell from
her-''little woman, you know you
are the dearest of all earthly beings to
me. And my soul tells me the reason
you loved me enough to share earth's
troubles with me was that you knew l
could not be a coward in the face Of
my duty. my conscience and my God.
Is 1t not SOP"
The answer came in a sob of mingled
anguish and happiness:
"Yes, Philip, but it was only for your
sake / wanted you to leave this work.
1t is killing you. Yet"-and she lifted
her head, with a smile through all the
tears-"yet, Philip. whittier thou goest
l will 60. and where thou lodgest ]
will lodge; thy people shall be my peo-
pie and thy God my God. Where thou
diest will | die, and there will l be
buried; the Lord do so to me and more
also if aught but death part thee and
me-"
There were people in Milton who
could not understand how a person Of
such refined and even naturally expen-
sive and luxurious habits as the minis
ters wife possessed could endure the
life he had planned for himself and his
idea of Christian living in general.
Philip could have told them If he had
been so minded. And this scene could
have revealed it to any one who knew
the minister and his wife as they really
were. That was a sacred scene to hus-
band and wife something that belong
ed to them, one of those things which
! the world did not know and had no
business to know.
When the first Sunday of another
month had come, Mr. Strong felt quite
well again. \ rumor of his call to
| Fairview had gone out and to the few
intimate friends who asked him about
| it he did not deny, but he said little.
! The time was precious to him. He
plunged into the work with an enthu-
siasm and~a purpose which sprang
! from his knowledge that he was at last
really gaining some influence in the
tenement district.
The condition of affairs in that neigh
better. The amount of vice, drunken
ness. crime and brutality made his SEN
sitive heart Quiver a hundred times a
! day as he went his way through it all.
His study of the whole question led
! him to the conviction that one Of the
| great needs of the place was new
home life for the people. The tene-
| v
! of wealth and influence. Many of
these men were in the church. Dis
couraged as he had so often been in
! his endeavOr to get the moneyed men
Of the congregation to cOnsecrate their
property to Christian uses, Philip came
up to that first Sunday with a new
phase of the same great subject which
pressed so hard for utterance that he
could not keep it back.
AS he faced the church this morning
| he faced an audience composed Of very
conflicting elements. Representatives
of labor were conspicuous in the gal
leries. People whom he had assisted
at one time and another were scattered
through the house. mostly in the back
seats under the choir gallery. His own
membership was represented by men
who. while opposed to his idea Of the
Christian life and his Interpretation Of
! Christ. nevertheless continued to 60
and hear him preach. The incident of
| the sections application for member
ship and his rejection by vote had also
| told somewhat in favor of the minister.
| Many preachers would have resigned
! after such a scene. He had said his
say about it and then refused to speak
or be interviewed by the papers on the
! subject. What it cost him in suffering
was his own secret But this morning,
as he rose to give his message in the
person Of Christ. the thought of the
continued suffering and shame and
degradation in the tenement district,
the thought Of the great wealth in the
possession of the church which might
be used almost to transform the lives
of thousands of people II the men Of
riches in Calvary church would only
see the kingdom Of God in its demands
on them-this voiced his cry to the
people and gave his sermon the signif-
canoe and solemnity of prophets in
spiration.
Seer he exclaimed as he went on
after drawing a vivid picture Of the
miserable condition of life in the
buildings which could not be called
homes, "see what a change could be
wrought by the use of a few thousand
dollars down there. And here this
morning in this house men are sitting
who own very many Of those tene-
ments. who are getting the rent from
them every month, who could, without
suffering one single sorrow, without
depriving themselves Of one necessity