WHEN the
bell rang for tea she went down and her grandmother did not
appear. She sent a servant to her room who brought back word
that Madam Page was not there. A few minutes later Rollin
came in. He brought word that his grandmother had taken the
evening train for the South. He had been at the station to
see some friends off, and had by chance met his grandmother
as he was coming out. She had told him her reason for going.
Virginia and
Rollin comforted each other at the tea table, looking at
each other with earnest, sad faces.
"Rollin,"
said Virginia, and for the first time, almost, since his
conversion she realized what a wonderful thing her brother's
changed life meant to her, "do you blame me? Am I
wrong?"
"No,
dear, I cannot believe you are. This is very painful for us.
But if you think this poor creature owes her safety and
salvation to your personal care, it was the only thing for
you to do. O Virginia, to think that we have all these years
enjoyed our beautiful home and all these luxuries selfishly,
forgetful of the multitudes like this woman! Surely Jesus in
our places would do what you have done."
And so
Rollin comforted Virginia and counseled with her that
evening. And of all the wonderful changes that she
henceforth was to know on account of her great pledge,
nothing affected her so powerfully as the thought of
Rollin's change of life. Truly, this man in Christ was a new
creature. Old things were passed away. Behold, all things in
him had become new.
Dr. West
came that evening at Virginia's summons and did everything
necessary for the outcast. She had drunk herself almost into
delirium. The best that could be done for her now was quiet
nursing and careful watching and personal love. So, in a
beautiful room, with a picture of Christ walking by the sea
hanging on the wall, where her bewildered eyes caught daily
something more of its hidden meaning, Loreen lay, tossed she
hardly knew how into this haven, and Virginia crept nearer
the Master than she had ever been, as her heart went out
towards this wreck which had thus been flung torn and beaten
at her feet.
Meanwhile
the Rectangle awaited the issue of the election with more
than usual interest; and Mr. Gray and his wife wept over the
poor, pitiful creatures who, after a struggle with
surroundings that daily tempted them, too often wearied of
the struggle and, like Loreen, threw up their arms and went
whirling over the cataract into the boiling abyss of their
previous condition.
The
after-meeting at the First Church was now eagerly
established. Henry Maxwell went into the lecture-room on the
Sunday succeeding the week of the primary, and was greeted
with an enthusiasm that made him tremble at first for its
reality. He noted again the absence of Jasper Chase, but all
the others were present, and they seemed drawn very close
together by a bond of common fellowship that demanded and
enjoyed mutual confidences. It was the general feeling that
the spirit of Jesus was the spirit of very open, frank
confession of experience. It seemed the most natural thing
in the world, therefore, for Edward Norman to be telling all
the rest of the company about the details of his newspaper.
"The
fact is, I have lost a great deal of money during the last
three weeks. I cannot tell just how much. I am losing a
great many subscribers every day."
"What
do the subscribers give as their reason for dropping the
paper?" asked Mr. Maxwell. All the rest were listening
eagerly.
"There
are a good many different reasons. Some say they want a
paper that prints all the news; meaning, by that, the crime
details, sensations like prize fights, scandals and horrors
of various kinds. Others object to the discontinuance of the
Sunday edition. I have lost hundreds of subscribers by that
action, although I have made satisfactory arrangements with
many of the old subscribers by giving them even more in the
extra Saturday edition than they formerly had in the Sunday
issue. My greatest loss has come from a falling off in
advertisements, and from the attitude I have felt obliged to
take on political questions. The last action has really cost
me more than any other. The bulk of my subscribers are
intensely partisan. I may as well tell you all frankly that
if I continue to pursue the plan which I honestly believe
Jesus would pursue in the matter of political issues and
their treatment from a non-partisan and moral standpoint,
the NEWS will not be able to pay its operating expenses
unless one factor in Raymond can be depended on."
He paused a
moment and the room was very quiet. Virginia seemed
specially interested. Her face glowed with interest. It was
like the interest of a person who had been thinking hard of
the same thing which Norman went on to mention.
"That
one factor is the Christian element in Raymond. Say the NEWS
has lost heavily from the dropping off of people who do not
care for a Christian daily, and from others who simply look
upon a newspaper as a purveyor of all sorts of material to
amuse or interest them, are there enough genuine Christian
people in Raymond who will rally to the support of a paper
such as Jesus would probably edit? or are the habits of the
church people so firmly established in their demand for the
regular type of journalism that they will not take a paper
unless it is stripped largely of the Christian and moral
purpose? I may say in this fellowship gathering that owing
to recent complications in my business affairs outside of my
paper I have been obliged to lose a large part of my
fortune. I had to apply the same rule of Jesus' probable
conduct to certain transactions with other men who did not
apply it to their conduct, and the result has been the loss
of a great deal of money. As I understand the promise we
made, we were not to ask any question about 'Will it pay?'
but all our action was to be based on the one question,
'What would Jesus do?' Acting on that rule of conduct, I
have been obliged to lose nearly all the money I have
accumulated in my paper. It is not necessary for me to go
into details. There is no question with me now, after the
three weeks' experience I have had, that a great many men
would lose vast sums of money under the present system of
business if this rule of Jesus was honestly applied. I
mention my loss here because I have the fullest faith in the
final success of a daily paper conducted on the lines I have
recently laid down, and I had planned to put into it my
entire fortune in order to win final success. As it is now,
unless, as I said, the Christian people of Raymond, the
church members and professing disciples, will support the
paper with subscriptions and advertisements, I cannot
continue its publication on the present basis."
Virginia
asked a question. She had followed Mr. Norman's confession
with the most intense eagerness.
"Do
you mean that a Christian daily ought to be endowed with a
large sum like a Christian college in order to make it
pay?"
"That
is exactly what I mean. I had laid out plans for putting
into the NEWS such a variety of material in such a strong
and truly interesting way that it would more than make up
for whatever was absent from its columns in the way of
un-Christian matter. But my plans called for a very large
output of money. I am very confident that a Christian daily
such as Jesus would approve, containing only what He would
print, can be made to succeed financially if it is planned
on the right lines. But it will take a large sum of money to
work out the plans."
"How
much, do you think?" asked Virginia quietly.
Edward
Norman looked at her keenly, and his face flushed a moment
as an idea of her purpose crossed his mind. He had known her
when she was a little girl in the Sunday-school, and he had
been on intimate business relations with her father.
"I
should say half a million dollars in a town like Raymond
could be well spent in the establishment of a paper such as
we have in mind," he answered. His voice trembled a
little. The keen look on his grizzled face flashed out with
a stern but thoroughly Christian anticipation of great
achievements in the world of newspaper life, as it had
opened up to him within the last few seconds.
"Then,"
said Virginia, speaking as if the thought was fully
considered, "I am ready to put that amount of money
into the paper on the one condition, of course, that it be
carried on as it has been begun."
"Thank
God!" exclaimed Mr. Maxwell softly. Norman was pale.
The rest were looking at Virginia. She had more to say.
"Dear
friends," she went on, and there was a sadness in her
voice that made an impression on the rest that deepened when
they thought it over afterwards, "I do not want any of
you to credit me with an act of great generosity. I have
come to know lately that the money which I have called my
own is not mine, but God's. If I, as steward of His, see
some wise way to invest His money, it is not an occasion for
vainglory or thanks from any one simply because I have
proved in my administration of the funds He has asked me to
use for His glory. I have been thinking of this very plan
for some time. The fact is, dear friends, that in our coming
fight with the whiskey power in Raymond--and it has only
just begun--we shall need the NEWS to champion the Christian
side. You all know that all the other papers are for the
saloon. As long as the saloon exists, the work of rescuing
dying souls at the Rectangle is carried on at a terrible
disadvantage. What can Mr. Gray do with his gospel meetings
when half his converts are drinking people, daily tempted
and enticed by the saloon on every corner? It would be
giving up to the enemy to allow the NEWS to fail. I have
great confidence in Mr. Norman's ability. I have not seen
his plans, but I have the same confidence that he has in
making the paper succeed if it is carried forward on a large
enough scale. I cannot believe that Christian intelligence
in journalism will be inferior to un-Christian intelligence,
even when it comes to making the paper pay financially. So
that is my reason for putting this money--God's, not
mine--into this powerful agent for doing as Jesus would do.
If we can keep such a paper going for one year, I shall be
willing to see that amount of money used in that experiment.
Do not thank me. Do not consider my doing it a wonderful
thing. What have I done with God's money all these years but
gratify my own selfish personal desires? What can I do with
the rest of it but try to make some reparation for what I
have stolen from God? That is the way I look at it now. I
believe it is what Jesus would do."
Over the
lecture-room swept that unseen yet distinctly felt wave of
Divine Presence. No one spoke for a while. Mr. Maxwell
standing there, where the faces lifted their intense gaze
into his, felt what he had already felt--a strange setting
back out of the nineteenth century into the first, when the
disciples had all things in common, and a spirit of
fellowship must have flowed freely between them such as the
First Church of Raymond had never before known. How much had
his church membership known of this fellowship in daily
interests before this little company had begun to do as they
believed Jesus would do? It was with difficulty that he
thought of his present age and surroundings. The same
thought was present with all the rest, also. There was an
unspoken comradeship such as they had never known. It was
present with them while Virginia was speaking, and during
the silence that followed. If it had been defined by any of
them it would perhaps have taken some such shape as this:
"If I shall, in the course of my obedience to my
promise, meet with loss or trouble in the world, I can
depend upon the genuine, practical sympathy and fellowship
of any other Christian in this room who has, with me, made
the pledge to do all things by the rule, 'What would Jesus
do?'"
All this,
the distinct wave of spiritual power emphasized. It had the
effect that a physical miracle may have had on the early
disciples in giving them a feeling of confidence in the Lord
that helped them to face loss and martyrdom with courage and
even joy.
Before they
went away this time there were several confidences like
those of Edward Norman's. Some of the young men told of loss
of places owing to their honest obedience to their promise.
Alexander Powers spoke briefly of the fact that the
Commission had promised to take action on his evidence at
the earliest date possible.
