The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-01-12

A' winch anu CulluIeu. Guauk
God, if there is God, which l very
much doubt, that I, for one, have never
dared to marry and try to have home.
lionel Talk of hell Is there any big
ger than the one this man with his
three children has on his hands right
this mlnute2 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
thelr hymns about giving all to Jesus
and bearing the cross and following him
all the way and being savedl I 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, mol That's not the remedy. That
can't ever amount to anything. We've
got to have 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 class
are their slaves. What we need is a
system that shall start, from the COM
mon basis of socialism founded on the
rights of the common people
Carlson had evidently forgotten all
about the three minute rule and was
launching himself into a 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. Carlson was angry at first and
threatened a little disturbance. but the
bishop reminded him of the rule, and
he subsidized, with several mutterings
in his beard, while the next speaker be-
gan with a 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
feet torrent Of abuse against the corpor-
ations, especially the railroads The
minute his time was up big, brawny
fellow who said he was 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-
| ployment 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 8
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
Masters, to be used for him.
Certainly her prayer was being an
swered as she sang. She had chosen the
words:
| Hark, the voice Of Jesus calling,
| Follow me, follow me!
Again Henry Maxwell, sitting there,
was 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
good voice consecrated to the Masters
service always isl Rachels 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 a voice which ''back
in the world" never could be heard by
the common people because the owner
Of it would charge So or So for the
privilege. The song poured out through
the hall as free and glad as if it were g
foretaste of salvation itself.
Carlson, with his great black bearded
face. absorbed the music with the deer
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 it's aspect
4 The man out of work who had wanted
to know what Jesus would do in his
place sat with grimy hand on the bach
of the bench in front of him, with his
mouth partly open, his great tragedy
for the moment forgotten. The song
while it lasted was food and work anc
warmth and union with his wife an6
babies once more. The man who haG
spoken so fercely against the churches