Middletown transcript., 1900-02-24

fHThis affair of the eshooting-you un-
derstand You have read it. The family
lived in one of my houses. 1t is terri
Bile event But that is not the primary
cause Of my visit He stammered and
looked anxiously into the faces of the
other two men. The bishop still looked
stern He could not help feeling that
this elegant man of leisure could have
done great deal to alleviate the hor-
rors in his tenements, possibly have pre-
vented this tragedy, if he had sacrificed
some of his personal ease and luxury to
better the condition of the people in his
district.
Penrose turned to DR.. Bruce.
doctor, he exclaimed, ard there
was almost child S terror in his voice,
81 came to say that have had an ex-
perience SO unusual that nothing but
the supernatural can explain it. You
remember was one of those who took
the pledge to do as Jesus would do. /
thought at the time, poor fool that l
was, that 1 had all along been doing the
Christian thing. l ga~e literally out of
my abundance to the church and char
ity. I never gave myself to cost me any
suffering. have been living in 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-
tions last night touched my sore. Did ]
own any houses where those people
livedi Were they nice and warm like
oursf You know how child will ask
questions like these. went to bed tor
mented with what l now know to be
the divine arrows of conscience. could
not sleep. I seemed to see the Judgment
day. was placed before the Judge. I
was asked to give account Of my deeds
done in the body. How many sinful
souls had I visited in prison2 What had
I done with my stewardship? How
about those tenemcnts where people
froze in winter and stihed in SUMMER
Did I give any thought to them, except
to receive the rentals from them?
Where did my suffering come in?
Would Jesus have done as I had done
and was doing? Had broken my
pledge2 How had l used the money and
the culture and the social influence I
possessed7 Had l used them to bless
humanity, to relieve the suffering, to
bring Joy to the distressed and hope to
the desponding3 I had received much.
How much had given3
"All this came to me in waking
vision as distinctly as I see you two
men and myself now. 1 was unable to
see the end of the vision. had con-
fused picture in my mind of the suffer
ing Christ pointing condemning finger
at me, and the rest was shut out by
mist and darkness. I have not had sleep
for "a hours The first thing I 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 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
the social life that was accustomed to
go its way, placidly unmindful of the
great sorrows of a great city and prac-
tically ignorant Of what it means to
suffer for Jesus sake2
Into that room came breath such as
before swept over Henry Maxwell's
church and through Nazareth Avenue,
and the bishop laid his hand on the
shoulder of Penrose and said: "My
brother, God has been very near to you.
Let us thank him."
"Yes, yes," sobbed Penrose. He sat
down on a chair and covered his face.
The bishop prayed Then Penrose quiet
ly said, "Will you go with me to that
house?"
For answer both DR.. Bruce and the
bishop put on their overcoats and went
out with him to the home of the dead
mans family. This was the beginning
of a new and strange life for Clarence
Penrose. From the moment he stepped
into that wretched hovel of home and
faced for the first time in his life a de-
spair and suffering such as he had read
of, but did not know by personal con-
tact, he dated new life 1t would be
another long story to tell how, in obedi-
ence TO his pledge, he began to do with
his tenement property as he knew Jesus
would do. What would Jesus do with
tenement property if he owned it in
Chicago or sny other great city of the
worldf Any man who can imagine any
true answer to this question can easily
tell what Clarence Penrose began to do.
Now, before that winter reached itG
bitter climax many things occurred in
the city that concerned the lives Of all
the characters in this history of the dis
ciples who promised to walk in his steps
1t CHANGED, by one of those remark
able condolences that seem to occur
preternaturally, that one afternoon, just
as Felicia came out of the settlement
with a basket which she was going to
leave 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
door in time to meet Felicia as she
reached the sidewalk
"Let me carry your basket. please. "
he said
''Why do you say please F" asked
Felicia, handing over the basket.
81 would like to cay something else" I"
replied Stephen, glaneing at her shyly
and yet with boldness that frightened
him, for he had been loving Felicia
more every day since he first saw her,
and especially since she stepped into the
shop that day with the bishop, and for
weeks now they had been in many ways
thrown into each others company.
"What else 7" asked Felicia innocent
ly, falling into the trap
why" said Stephen, turning his
fair, noble face full toward her and
eying her with the look Of one who
would have the best of all things in the
universe, 81 would like to say. Let me
carry your basket, dear Felicia :"
Felicia never looked SO beautiful in
her life. She walked on a little way
without even turning her face toward
him. It was no secret with her own
heart that she had given it to Stephen
. Gnrna tiYna aro Finally 4ha tT1ruod and