The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-03-20

T-ssNS uS<o 5ecA1 yO' W. oycfeS 'Sog wv VIII
foorY
may be of no real account as sociolo-
gist, but you are fair to your own log
Is, fair as a mathematical problem"
Ia .;tas =: Il sax, Penrose rose
ya1fa isE If { li4 II weight with
hfz.
''Bp ! say this is a dangerous WON
In { ( makes the people discomfort
ed with their surroundings and creates
bitterness between classes"
81 don't agree with you" the pro
fessor's smooth, easy voice answered
again. ''She is doing great good in her
way. Mr. Gordon"-the professor was
sitting three chairs below Gordon on
the opposite side of the table-''you
are surely in n position to verify my
statements about this estimable WON
an. Set this misguided young man
right in the matter. He has been mis-
informed by some one"
Every face at the table was turned
toward John Gordon except Luella's.
She looked down at the table 1t was
very still. Penrose was red and nerv>
OuN Just how he had precipitated the
discussion Gordon did not know until
lssl sxeHasaxz: l. 1t was enough
that the entire subject of his personal
life work was now at once the object
of interest to all these people. 1t was
the last situation in the world be
would have chosen for himself, but
1t had been thrust upon him through
no seeking of his own. In the hush
that waited his answer to the profess
or Gordon saw blue eyed woman dig
ging with bleeding hands at ruin out
of which CHASTITY faces peered, and II
was the vision of a whole life that for
Fifteen years had flung itself down into
the tragedy Of humanity to save II re
.gardless of suffering to itself
Miss Andrews" he said quietly, but
his soul was shaken with the passion
of his long repressed feelings, lis to
my mind the most gifted most useful
most Christian woman in this whole
city She is today suffering more, Civ
Ing more and doing more 10 right the
wrongs of our boosted civilization than
any other woman of my acquaintance
The man who says she is dangerous to
society does not know what be is say
ing. Miss Andrews is the superior of
every person here at this table In all
the gifts and graces of the highest de
veloped womanhood."
He need not have said that last sen
tence. 1t was not at all necessary. But
"a Of ;oh Tho
contrast between the selfish, heartless,
luxurious, even vicious social life rep
resented by some Of the persons at that
table in addition to Archie Penrose
and the patient. loving sacrificing life
of the head Of Hope House voiced his
indignant assertion. Lucia did not
look up. She sat as cold and still as
statue
Mrs. Penrose, with a tact that did
her great credit, broke the silence by
asking just the right question. Just
what It was Gordon himself did not re-
member when he went all over the
scene afterward; but, whatever it was.
It led the way naturally. to descrip
ton of Hope House settlement, and
John Gordon found himself doing what
he had declared to Mrs. Penrose he
would not do-he was soon pouring out
the story Of Bowen street and Tommy
Randall and Mrs. Caylor and Louie
and all the heartbreaking conditions
Of the pale dwellers In the tenements.
Had ever man such an audience? 1t
Is not often the reformer can reach the
men and women of society. He talks
to the crowd, vaguely conscious all the
time that the rich. cultured. leisure
classes either do not care or do not
know or do not understand and never
60 to hear him.
But for over half an hour Gordon
said his say. He spared not one sylla-
BILE Of horrors. The guests paled at his
description Of the fire and shuddered
at the picture of the child's arm thrust
up out of the ruins and circling Bar
TONS neck in a convulsive death agony.
Luella looked up once. Her eyes
glowed with feeling that John Cor