--OREGON CITY COURIER-HERALD, FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1901
1 HIS STEPS.
"What Would Jesus Do?"
By OTHRLES M. SHELDON.
ICopyriK' ed mid published In book form by
the A anoo PubliBhiug Co. ol Uiicago.J
"This is a grand idea, Caxton, bnt
right hrro is where I find myself hesi
tating. I do not deny that the Christian
disciple ought to follow Christy Bteps
as closely as these here in Raymond
hav tried to do, bnt I cannot avoid
asking what the result will be if I ask
my church in Chicago to do it. I am
writing this after feeling the solemn,
profound touch of the Spirit's presence,
and I confess to you, old friend, that I
cannot call up in my church a dozen
prominent business or professional men
who vould make this trial at the risk
of nil that they hold dear. Can you do
any bettor in your church ? What are
wo to my that the church would not
respond to the call, 'Come and suffer?"
The mtual results of the pledge as
obeyed here in Raymond are enough to
make any pastor tremble and at the
same time long with yearning tliatthoy
might occur in his own parish. Certain
ly, never have I seen a church so signal
ly blessed by the Spirit as this ono.
But am I myself reifdy to take this
pVd;;e ? I ask the question honestly, and
I tlrend to face an honest answer. 1
know well enough that I would havo to
change very much in my life if I under
took to follow his stops so closely I
biivo cjilcd mysulf a Christian for iminy
years. For the past ten years 1 have
tnjoyed a life that has had compara
tively little Bnfferinjr in it. I am hon
ktliy I hay it living at a long distance
from municipal problems and the life
of tho ijoor, the degraded and the aban
doned. What would the obedience to
this pledge demand of me ? I hesitate to
answer. My church is wealthy, full of
well to do, satisfied people. The stand
ard of their discipleship is, I am aware,
not of a nature to respond to the call
to suffering or personal loss. I gay, '1
m aware. I may be mistaken. I may
havo erred in not stirring their deeper
life. Caxton, my friend, I have spoken
my inmost thought to you. Shall I go
back to my people next Sunday .and
stand np before them In my large city
church and say, 'Let ns follow Jesus
closer ; let ns walk in his stops, where
it will cost us something more than it
is costing us now ; let na pledge not to
do anything without first asking,
What would Jesus do?'. If I should go
before them with that message, it would
be a strange and startling one to them.
But why t Are we not really to follow
hiin all the way ? What is it to be a
follower of Jesus? What does it mean
to imitate him ? What does it mean to
walk in his stops?"
The Rev. Calvin Bruce, D. D., of tho
Nazareth Avenue chnrch, Chicago, let
Lis pen fall on the paper. He had come
to tho parting of the ways, and his
question, he felt snre, was the question
of many and many a man in the min
istry and in the church. lie went to his
window and openod it He was op
pressed with the weight of his convic
tions, and he felt almost suffocated with
the air of the room. He wanted to see
tho stars and feel the breath of the
world.
The night was very still. The dock
in the First church was striking mid
night. As it finished a clear, strong
voice down in the direction of the Roc
tangle came floating np to him as if
borne on radiant pinions:
"Murt Jpuj bear the cross slons
And ill world go (root
Kol There's a cross (or every one.
And there's cros for me."
It was the voice of one of Gray's old
converts, a uight watchman at tho
packing houses, who sometimes solaced
tils lonesome hours by a verse or two
from soma familiar hymn
Tho Rev. Calvin Druco turned away
from the window, and after a little
hesitation ho kneeled down. "What
would Jesus do? What would Jesus
do?'" Never hud ho yielded himself so
fcijupletoly to tho Spirit's searching re
fenling of Jesus, ilo was on his knees a
long time Ilo retired and slept fitfully,
with many awakenings. He rose before
it was clear dnwn and threw open his
window again As tho light in tho east
grew stronger ho repeated to himself
"What would Jesns do? What would
fce do? Shall I follow his stops?" .
The sun roso and flooded the city
With its power. When shall tho dawn
of a new discipleship nshor in the con
quering triumph of a closer walk with
Jesus? When shall Christendom tread
move closely the path he made?
It U the way the Master trod.
Shall not Hie servant trriul It ittllf
With this question throbbing through
liis whole lieing the Rev Calvin Bruce
went back to Chicago, and the great
l-risis of bis CJiristinu life in the min
istry suddenly broke irresistibly npon
CHAPTER IX.
SUitor, I will follow tlie whithersoever thou
(font.
The Saturday matinee at tho Audi
torium in Chicago was just over, and
tho nsual crowd was struggling to get
to its carriage before any ono else. The
Auditorium attendant was shouting out
tho number of different carriages, and
the carriage doors were slamming as
f he horses were driven rapidly to the
enrb, held there impatient by the
drivers, who hud shivered long in the
raw f!st wind, and thtn let go to
plunge for a few mlnntes into the river
of vehicles that tossed under the ele
vated railway and finally went whirling
off up the nveune.
"Now, then, 0'.'4I" shouted the Au
ditorium alteiuhiut. "Six hundred and
twenty-four I" ho repeated as there
dashed np to tho curb a splendid span
Zlzlz attach "erria-)
having tho monogram "(J. K. s. ' n
fjilt letters (in Uiq panel of the door.
Two girls stepped out of the crowi"
toward the cirringe. Tlie older one ha:
entered and taken her scat, and the sit
tendant wr.a still holding the drr opti
for the younger, who stood besitatin;
on tho curb.
"Come, F!icia! What are you wait
ing for? I shall freeze to death I" callec
the voice from the carriage.
The girl outside of the carriage hast
ily-nnpinned a bunch of English violets
from her dress and handed them to a
small boy who was standing shivering
on the edge of the sidewalk, almost
under the horses' feet. He took them
with a look of astonishment and a
"Thank ye, lady I" and instantly buried
a very grimy face in the bunch of per
fume. The girl stepped into the car
riage, the dooi Bhnt with the incisive
bang peculiar to well made carriages of
this sort, and in a, few moments the
coachman was speeding the horses rap
idly np one of the boulevards.
"Yon are always doing some queer
thing or other. Felicia," eaid the older
girl as the carriage whirled on past the
great residences already brilliantly
lighted.
"Am I? What have I done that is
qr.eer now, Rose?" asked tho other,
looking up suddenly and turning her
bead toward her sister.
"Oh, giving those violets to that boy I
He looked as if ho needed a good hot
supper mora than a bunch of violets
It's a wonder yon didn't invite him
home with its. I thouldn't have been
8nrj-i-: d if you had You r.ro always
dointf such queer things, Felicia."
"Would it be queer' to invite a boy
lika Hint to come to tho house and pet
a hot supper?" Felicia asked the ques
tion Foftly and almost as if she were
alone.
"Queer Isn't just the word, of
course, " replied Rose indifferently. "It
would be what Mine. Limit calls outre
decidedly Therefore you will please
not invite him or others like him to hot
suppers because I enpgetcl it Oh.
dear I I'm awfully tired. "
She yawned, and Felicia" silently
looked out of the window in the door.
"The concert was stupid, and the
violinist was simply a bore. I don't see
how you could sit so still through it
ail," Rose exclaimed, a little impa
tiently t "I liked the music, " answored Felicia
quietly
"Yon like anything. I never saw a
girl with so little critical taste."
Felicia colored slightly, but would
not answer. Rose yawned again and
then hummed a fragment of a popular
hong. Then she exclaimed aLruptly
"I'm sick of r.lmost everything. I
hopo tho 'Shadow's of London' will be
esoitinr; tonight. "
" 'The r'hudowH of Chicago I' " mur
mured Felicia.
" 'Tho Shadows of Chicago I 'The
Shadownof London. ' the play, the gr:at
drama with its wonderful scenery, the
sensation of New York for two months
You know we Lave a box with the De
lanos tonight "
Felicia turned her fnce toward her
sister Her f.reat brown eves were very
pxpreEEive and not r.ltogether freo from
a sparkle of luminous boat.
"Anil yet we never weep over the
real thing en the actual stage of life
What are fun shadows of London on the
stage to the shadows of London or Chi
cago as they really exist ? Why don't
we get excited over tho facts as they
aie?"
"Because the actual people are dirty
mid disagreeable and it's too mrib 1
bother. 1 suppose, " replied Rose care
lessly "Felicia, you never can reform
tho world. What's the use? We're not
to blamo for the poverty and misery
There t.svo always been rich and poor,
vnd th"VO alwavs will lm Wh onilit to
bo thankful we're rich."
"Suppose Christ bad gone on that
principle," replied Felicia, with nn
usual persistence. "Do you remember
Dr Drnce's sermon on that verse a few
Sundays ago, 'For ye know the. grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though
he was rich, yet for our sakes he be
camo poor, that ye through his poverty
might become rich ?' "
"I remember it well enough." said
Rose, with some petulance, "And
didn't Pr. Bruce go on to say that there
was no blame attached to people who
had wealth if they are kind and give to
tho needs of the poor? And I am sure
the doctor himself is pretty comfortably
settled. Ilo never gives up his luxuries
just because some people in the city go
hungry. What good would it do if he
did? I tell yon, Felicia, there will al
ways bo poor and rich in spite of all we
can do. Ever since Rachel has written
about the queer doings in Raymond
you have upset the whole family. Feo
plo can't live at that concert pitch all
the time. Yon see if Rachel doesn't
give it up soon. It's a great pity she
doesn't come to Chicago and sing in
the Auditorium concerts, I heard today
she had received an offer. I'm going to
write and urge her to como. I'm just
dying to kw er sing. "
cellcia looked out of tho window and
was silent The carriage rolled on past
two blocks of magnificent private resi
dences and turned into a wido drive
way nnder a covered passage, and the
sisters hurried into the honsa It was
an elegant mansion of graystcme, fur
nished like a palace every corner of it
warm with the luxury of paintings,
sculpture, art and refinement.
The owuer of it all. Mr. Charles R.
Sterling, stood before an open grate fire
smoking a cigar. Ho had made his
money in grain speculation and rail
road ventures and was reputed to be
worth something over two millions.
His wife was a sister of Mrs. Winslow
of Raymond. She had boon an Invalid
for several years. Tho two girls, Rose
and Felicia, were the only children.
Roso was SI years old. fair, vivacious,
educated in a fashionable college, just
entering society and already somewhat
cynical aud indifferent, a very hard
young lady to please, her father eaid
(ometluios playfully, sometimes sternly.
Felicia was 19, with a tropical beauty'
somewhat like her cousin, Rachel Wins
low, with warm, generous impulses
just waking into Christian feeling, ca
pable of all sorts of expression, a puzzle
to her father, a source of irritation to
her mother and with a great, nnsur
veyed territory of thought and action
in herself of which she was more than
dimly conscious. There was that in
Felicia that would easily endure anyJ
condition in life if only the liberty to
act fully on her conscientious convic
tions were granted her.
"Here's a letter for you, Felicia," j
said Mr. Sterling, taking it out of his
pocket.
Felicia sat down and instantly opened
the letter, saying as she did so, "It's
from RacheL"
"Well, what's the latest news from
Raymond?" asked Mr. Sterling, taking
his cigar out of his mouth and looking
at Felicia, as he often did, with half
shut eyes, as if he were studying her.
"Rachel says Dr. Bruce has been
studying in Raymond for two Sundays
and has seemed very much interested
in Mr. Maxwell's pledge in the First
church. "
"What does Rachel say about her
self?" asked Rose, who was lying on a
conch almost-buried under half a dozen
elegant cushions.
; "She is still singing at the Rectangle.
Since the tent meetings closed she sings
in an old hall until the new buildings
her friend Virginia Page is putting np
are completed. "
"I must write Rachel to come to Chi
cago and visit ua She ought not to
throw away her voice in that railroad
town npon all those people who don't
appreciate her. "
Mr. Sterling lighted a new cigar, and
Rose exclaimed
"Rachel is awfully queer, I think.
She might set Chicago wild with her
voice if she sang in the Auditorium,
and there she goes on, throwing her
voice away on people who don't know
what they are hearing. "
"Rachel won't come here unless she
can do it and keep her pledge at the
same time, " said Felicia after a pause.
"What pledge ?" Mr. Sterling asked
the question and then added hastily :
"Oh, I know I Yes; a very peculiar
thing that. Powers used to be a friend
of mine. We learned telegraphy in the
same office; made a great sensation
when he resigned and handed over that !
evidence to the interstate commerce :
commission, and he's back at his te- i
legraphy again There have been queer ,
doings in Raymond during the past
year. I wonder what Dr Bruce thinks
of it, on the whole. I must have a talk
with him about it "
"He preaches tomorrow, " said Feli-
cia. "Perhaps he will tell us something
about it. " '
There was silence for a minute. Then
Felicia eaid abruptly, as if she had
gone on with a spoken thought to some
invisible hearer. "And - what if he
should propose the same pledge to the
Nazareth Avenue church ?" ;
"Who? What are you talking about?"
asked her father, a little sharply.
"About Dr Bruce. I say what if he
should propose to our chnrch what Mr.
Maxwell proposed to his and ask for
volunteers who would pledge themselves
to do everything after asking the qnes-
tion, 'What would Jesus do?" "'
"There's no danger of it. " said Rose,
rising suddenly from the couch as the
tea bell rang
. "It's a very impracticable movement
to my mind. " said Mr. Sterling sharply,
I understand from Rachel's letter
that the church in Raymond is going
to make an attempt to extend the idea
of the pledge to the other churches. If
they succeed, they will certainly make
great changes in the churches and in
people's lives," said Felicia.
"Oh, well, lrt'a have some tea first, "
eaid Rose, walking into the dining
room. Her father and Felicia followed,
and the meal proeeoaea in silence. Mrs.
Sterling had her meals served in her
room. Mr Sterling was preoccupied.
He ate very little and excused himself
early, and, although it was Saturday
night, he remarked as he went out that
he would be down town late on some
special business.
"Don't yon think father looks very
much disturbed lately?" asked Felicia
a little while after ho had gone out.
"Oh, I don't know I I hadn't noticed
anything unusual, " replied Rose. After
a silence she said "Are you going to
tho play tonight, Felicia? Mrs. Delano
will be here at half past 7 I think yon
ought to go She will feel hurt if yon
refuse. "
"I'll go. 1 don 'i care about it. lean
see shadows enough without going to
the play. "
"That's a doleful remark for a girl
10 years old to make," replied Rose,
"but then you're queer in your ideas
anyhow, Felicia If yon 're-going up to
see mother, tell her I'll run in after the
play if she is still awake "
Felicia went np to see her mother
and remain with her until the Delano
carriage came. Mrs. Sterling was wor
ried about her husband. She talked in
cessantly and was irritated by every re
mark Felicia made. She would not list
en to Felicia's attempts to read even a
part of Rachel's letter, and when Fe
licia offered to stay with her for the
evening she refused the offer with a
good deal of positive sharpness.
So Felicia started off to the play not
very happy, but she was familiar with
that feeling, only sometimes she was
more unhappy than at other times. Her
feeling expressed itself tonight by a
withdrawal into herself. When the
company was seated in the box and the asked Felicia after awhile. She had re
enrtain was up, Felicia was back of mained in front of the drawing room
the others and remained for the even-1 fire.
ing by herself. Mrs. Delano as chaperon "No, " rerAied Rose from the other
for a half dozen young ladies under -
... . .1 t,.i:..I. 1. X. A
sioou r euvia weu rnougu w kuow wai
she was "queer. " as Rose so often said.
an 1 she made no attempt to draw her
out of the corner, and so Felicia really
experienced that uight by herself one
of the feelings that .added to the mo
mentum that was increasing the coining
on of her great crisis.
The play was an English melodrama j
full of -startling situations, realistic ,
scenery and unexpected climaxes. There
was one scene in the third act that im- j
pressed even Rose Sterling.
It was midnight on Blackfriars
bridge. The Thames flowed dark and
forbidding below St Paul's rose '
through the dim light, imposing, its
dome seeming to float above the build j
ings surrounding it. The figure of a
child came upon the bridge and stood
there for a moment, peering about as j
if looking for some one. Several persons j
were crossing the bridge, bnt in one of
the recesses about midway of the river
a woman stood, leaning out over the
parapet with a strained agony of face
and figure that told plainly of her in
tentions. Just as she was stealthily
mounting the parapet to throw herself
into the river the child caught sight of
her, ran forward, with a shrill cry more
animal than human, and. seizing the
woman's dress, dragged back upon it
with all her little strength Then there
came suddenly upon the scene two other
characters who had already figured in
the play, a tall, handsome, athletic gen
tleman dressed in the fashion, attended
by a slim figured lad, who was as re
fined in dress and appearance as the lit
tle girl clinging to her mother was
mournfully hideous in her rags and re
pulsive poverty These two, the gentle
man and the lad, prevented the at
tempted suioide, and after a tableau on
the bridge where the audience learned
that the man and woman were brother
pnd sister the scene was transferred to.
the interior of one of the. slum tene
ments in the east side of London. Here
the scene painter and carpenter had
done their utmost to produce an exact
copy of a famous court and alley well
known to the poor creatures who make
up a part of the outcast London hu
manity The rags, the crowding, the
vileness, the broken furniture, the hor
rible animal existence rorcea upon
creatures made in God's image, were so
skillfully shown in this scene that more
than one elegant woman in the theater,'
Bested, like Rose Sterling, in a sump
tuous box, surrounded with Bilk hang
ings and velvet covered railing, caught
herself shrinking back a little, as if
contamination were possible from the
nearness of this piece of painted canvas.
It was almost too realistic, and yet it
bad a horrible fascination for Felicia
M sh.e there alone buried back in a
cnsnionea seal aosorDea in tnougnts wax
went far beyond the dialogue on the
8ta8a
From the tenement scene the play
shifted to the interior of a nobleman's
palace, and almost a sigh of relief went
np all over the house at the sight of the
accustomed luxury of the upper classes
The ' contrast was startling, a was
brought about by a clever piece of stag-
Ing that allowed only a few minutes to
elapse between the slum and the palace
scenes The dialogue continued, the
actors came and went in their various
roles, bnt npon Felicia the play made
but one distinct impression. In reality
the scenes on the bridge and in the
slum were only incidents in the etory
of "e play, but Felicia found herself
living those scenes over and over. She
had never philosophized about the
causes of human misery. She was not
old enough. She had not the tempera-
ment that philosophizes. But she felt
intensely, and this was not the first
'ime 81)6 bad felt the contrast thrust
into her feeling between the upper and
be lower conditions of human life It
had been growing upon her until it had
made her what Rose called "queer" and
the other people in her circle of wealthy
acquaintances called "very unusual
It was simply the human problem in
its extremes of riches and poverty, its
refinement ana us vileness, wnicn was,
in spite of her unconscious attempts to
Btruggle against the facts, burning into
her life the impression that would in
the end transform her into either a
woman of rare love and self sacrifice
for the world or a miserable enigma to
herself and all who knew her
"Come. Felicia1 Aren't you going
home?' said Rose The play was over,
the curtain down, and people were go
ing noisily out. laughing and gossiping,
as if "The Shadows of London" was
simply good diversion, as it was put on
the stage so effectively
Felicia rose and went out with the
rest quietly and with the absorbed feel
ing that had actually left her in her
seat oblivious of the play's ending She
was never absentminded. bnt often
thought lierself into a condition that
left her alone in the midst of a crowd..
"Well, what did you think of it?'
isked Rose when the sisters had reached
home and were in the drawing room.
Rose really had considerable respect for
Felicia's judgment of a play
"I thought it was a pretty picture of
real life " .
"I mean the acting. " said Rose, an
noyed "The bridge scene was well acted,
especially the woman's part I thought
the man overdid the sentiment a little. "
"Dil yon? I enjoyed that And
wasn't the scene between the two cous
ins funny when they first learned that
they were related ? But the slum scene
was horrible I think they ought not to
show such things in a play They are
too painful
"They must be painful in real life
too, " replied Felicia.
"Yes, but we don't have to look at
the real thing Jt's bad enough at the
theater, where we pay for it "
Rose went into the drawing room
and began to eat from a plate of fruit
and cakes on tha sideboard.
"Are you going up to see mother?"
1 room; "I won't trouble her tonight If
.... -
you go in, tell her 1 am too tired to be
agreeable."
So Felicia turned into her mother's
room. As she went np the great stair
case and down the npper hall the light
Was burning there, and the servant who
always waited on Mrs. Sterling was
beckoning Felicia to come in.
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