New-York tribune., 1919-06-09

"low." There is nothing Of the grand
eur Of extreme ritualism, which one
might expect in the beauty of the sur
roundings. Yet the note of grandeur is
not missed. Everything about the
manner Of worship seems in keeping,
for the church is like retreat. It
seems to breathe an atmosphere of de-
votion.
MIR. Grant came to New York from
st. Marks chapel, Fall River. There
his work had been among mill opera
tives. He had lived among them, been
with them at their occupations and in
their hours of freedom. He learned
their philosophy, and with it the phil
osophy of the workers of the world.
1t was great wrench to pull away
from their lives-and yet he had been
trained at Harvard. From the elm
lined streets of Cambridge to the dingy
homes of the Fall River toilers was a
marked change; and Mr.. Grant had
adapted himself SO we'll that he had
become as one of the toilers.
Demanded Free Church
His work attracted much attention.
Finally the vestry of the Church of the
Ascension sent a representative to
study his methods at first hand. Then
the call was extended. Mr.. Grant
thought he would be able to decline
the call gracefully by naming what he
believed would be impossible condi-
tions, among them that the historic
church must become absolutely free.
His conditions were accepted without
question and he came from st. Marks,
the mill operatives church, to the
Church of the Ascension, with it's back
ground of wealth and fashion,
HIS impress in this city was soon
felt. One of the stanchest adherents
was BISHOP Potter. who, too, had a
social vision. On one of his extended
tours Bishop Potter named Mr.. Grant
as his secretary and chaplain, and much
OF the material that was the basis for
the Bishops later addresses and reform
movements was furnished by the rec
tor of the Church of the Ascension.
Perhaps the best portrayal of Mr.
Grant is one sketched by his own Ut
terances. Here are some of the most
striking:.
THE church must face modern prob
lens or go backward It will not he
the peoples church until it does. What
II we had no creed. 1 think the church
would be better off. Our fields of in
fiuence would be greater. We must
become democratic, throw away our
aristocratic dogma. Until we do this
our church will be an armchair in
stltution, fit to be laid away in box.
His Message to Women
"This is message to women. They
must:
Guard new life and disencumber
humanity of injurious life already in
existence.
"'Clean up defective and destruc-
tive ideas.
I" Make the top of humanity less
wasteful and the bottom less waste
less.
Prevent sickness and disease by
forcing employers to pay higher
wages.
Remain just as radical as they
are now-much more so than men.'"'
DR.. Grant has a tremendous influ-
ence with workingmen and women be-
cause of his profound sympathy for
them. But he does not seek to win
them by 1attery OR by ignoring their
shortcomings.
This is one of his most widely
quoted utterances on the subject up
permost in mems minds to-day: "We
cannot put the people behind the law
merely by taking power away from the
capitalist class and giving it to the
working class. Our problem would not
be solved. A working class control
would be as unjust as capitalistic con-
troll, for it, too, would be one-sided.
The working class on the whole, it un-
fortunately has to be noted, is not
broad and some of the decisions ad-
verse to labor we are obliged to ac-
count for (and this is admitted by
labor men themselves, as the result of
immature legislation undertaken at the
hasty and querulous call of labor"
AS a poet DR.. Grant is known to a
smaller audience. This is not a re-
f1ection upon his poetry, but compli-
ment to his military activities. He
has published three volumes of verse,
including a poetic drama, "The Return
of Ulysses" and narrative poem,
"The Search of Belisarius," and VOL
ume of sonnets and lyrics entitled "Ad
dCISuI, DuC Ills ALMA ludtcT mas re-
Gently recognized his gift by an invi-
tation to deliver the Phi Beta Kappa
poem at the coming Harvard com
mencement.
His political and economic creed is
concisely put in the following sonnet
entitled Democracy:
| Democracy law and virtue stands,
That paint thee Haunting. with a brutal
face.
Not to Rome's proletarian popuace.
| Nor Paris mobs that round red flag throng
Nor London slums of saturate sin belong
Such names-deluded. pitable race
Though in their husky mutterings we can
trace
God urging brotherhood upon the strong
Democracy on lay and virtue stands.
The home it loves and children at the knee
Its bread it earns. its lips can speak in
prayer.
Though greed and pride would bind its giant
| hands,
trust the conscience of humanity,
See freedom widen in the peoples care
The subject of neat Mondays article
will be Bishop Luther B. Wilson, Resi-
dent Bishop IN Ne1u York of the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church.