Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-02-08
CHATTER VI

CHAPTER VI.
In spite of his determination to get
ont and occupy his pulpit the first
Sunday Of the next month Philip was
'eluctgntly obliged to lct five Sundays
90 10y before he was able to preach
During those six weeks his attention
was called to Il subject which he felt
pught To be made the theme of ono of
his talks on "ChriSt and Modern Socic-
.y." The leisure which he had for read
Ing opened his eyes to the fact that
Sunday III Milton was terribly dcsecIat-
ed Shops of all kinds stood wide open.
Excursion trains ran into the large
city 10 miles away, two thrHtrrs were
always running with some variety
show. and the saloons. in violation of
Rn ordinance forbiddnG it, unblushng
~ flung their doors open and did more
business on that day than any other.
As Philip read the papers he noticed
that every Monday morning the police
court was more crowded with "drunkS"
and "diSordcries" than ON any other
day in the week. and the plain cause of
1t was the abuse of the day before.
In the summer time baseball games
were played in Milton on Sunday. In
the fail and winter very many people
spent their evenings in card playing
or aimlcssly stroling up and down the
main street. These facts came to Phil
bps knowledge gradually and he was
not long in making up his mind that
ell 40 -
Facts. SO he carefully prepared
plain statement of his belief in Chrst'S
standing on tho modern use Of sun
aay. and as on the other occasions
when be- had spoken the first Sunday
In the month he cast ont of his reckon
Ing all thought of the consequences.
His one purpose was to do Just AS in
his thought of Christ, he would do
with that subject.
The people in Milton thought that
the first Sunday Philip appeared in his
pulpit he would naturally dcuouncc the
saloon again. Eut when he finally re-
covered sufficiently to preach he de-
termincd that Tor awhile he would say
nothing in the way of sermons against
The whisky evil. He had Il great hor-
ror of seeming 10 ride Il hobby. of be
Ing IA man Of one idea and making pco-
pie tired of him because he harprd on
sne string. lIe had uttered his de
annexation, and he would wait a little
before he spoke again. The whisky
power was not the only bad thing in
Milton that needed to be attacked.
There were other things which must
20 said. And so Philip limprd into his
pulpit the third Sunday of the month
aud preached on Il general theme, to
he disappointment of great crowd
almost as large as the last one he had
faced. And yet his very appearance
was a sermon III itself against the in
stituton he had held up to public con
domination on that occasion. Ills knee
wound proved very stubborn, and he
iupcd badly. That in itself spoke
poquently of the dastarlly attempt on
his liip. His face was pale, and ht
had grown thin. His shoulder wa,
stiff, and the enforced quictness Of his
delivery contrastcd strangely with hi,
customary fiery appearance on tn,
platform. Altogether that first sun
Hay of his temperance in his pul-i
was n stronger sermon against the "a
loon than anything he could have spo
ken or written,
When the first Sunday in the neAI
month came on, Philip was more Lkt
his old self He had gathered strength
enough to 20 around Two sunday after
Moons and note for himself the desc
craton of the day as ii Went Oh reck
lcSSly As he saw it all it seemed t.
MIN that the church in Milton was
practically doing nothing TO stop tie
Evil. All the ministers complained OF
the difficulty of getting AN evening con
gregation. Yet hundreds of youna
people walked past all the churclc,
every Sunday night bent on pleasure
going to the theaters or concerts OF
parties, which seemed to have lro trGu
ole in attracting the crowd. Espe
cially was this true of the foreigI
population. the working element con
nected with the mills. 1t was com
mon occurrence for .dog fights, cCcl
lights and shooting matches Of Variou.
kinds TO be going on in the tenemen
district on Sunday, and the police
seemed poWcress or careless in tn,
matter.
All this burned into Philip ik,
molten metal, and when he faced iii
people on the Sunday which was be
roming noted Sunday for them Ii,
quivered with the carneStneSs an,
thrill which always come TO II sensitil,
man when he feels sure he has a ser
mon which must be preached and
message which the people musG hea
for their lives.