CALLERS AT MR. DOUGLASS'S.
"Have you heard the strange news?" asked Isabel Vernon of her sister
Winifred several days after that night when Inez Carlton had fainted in
her mother's arms.
"No. Don't make me guess; tell me," replied Winifred languidly. She was
engaged in untying some knots in a skein of embroidery-silk. Isabel had
just come into the room. She looked strangely excited.
"Did you know that Claude was engaged to Inez while she was abroad?"
Winifred dropped her work on the floor. Her face trembled, and her
whole manner showed excitement.
"I knew he cared a good deal for her. But not that way."
"He did. I have been to see Inez. But that is not the strange news I
have to tell."
Isabel showed the marks of the recent death of Claude. She trembled
while she spoke, and her face was pale and drawn.
"Inez and her mother are going to help Mr. Douglass in his work in
Freetown!"
"What?"
"Inez told me so this morning. She--she wants us to help her."
There was a silence in the room. Winifred clasped her hands together,
and her lips trembled with inward passion.
[Illustration: WINIFRED AND ISABEL.]
"Does she know that Claude was probably killed by that--that awful
wretch in Freetown?"
"I don't know. I suppose she has heard. I could not talk with her. Mrs.
Carlton is not the same woman. It is all so horribly queer. I do not
understand it."
"What do they intend to do?" asked Winifred vaguely.
"O, I don't know. They are going to help Mr. Douglass build that
social-settlement hall he talks so much about. I don't like to think of
it."
"How did Inez look?" asked Winifred, after a little.
"O, I don't know. Don't ask me. The whole thing is dreadful."
"Do you think she cared very much for Claude?"
"What do _you_ think, when she is ready to work for the people that
caused his death?"
Winifred shuddered and Isabel was silent. Neither of them could think
or talk of Claude's death without a feeling of repulsion toward
everything connected with the work in Freetown.
That same evening Howard Douglass was going over the details of his
plan with his wife.
"Now that Mrs. Carlton has offered to help, we can begin at once on the
social-settlement hall."
"It is like a story. Who would have thought that Mrs. Carlton would
ever offer to do such a thing?"
Mr. Douglass thoughtfully spread some papers out over the table, and
then wrote something before he spoke.
"Yes, it is simply a miracle of changes in her case and that of Miss
Inez. Mrs. Carlton has offered to give two thousand dollars toward the
building. I have suggested that she use her influence to get other
society people in Merton to have a share in the work. In fact, the
redemption of Freetown ought to be a part of the whole city's life.
The work to be done is so large that no one church or person or
organization can do it. If we can only get the help of all the people
who have means, we can do wonders in Freetown."
There was silence again as the minister wrote. Presently he looked up
and said, "Do you want to hear the plan as I have it on paper?"
Before his wife could answer, the bell rung. The minister started to
say something about so many interruptions just when he was busiest. The
minister was a man, and therefore not quite perfect yet. His wife gave
him a look that seemed to remind him of something, and a smile broke
out over his face.
"Maybe it's angels unawares," she said, as he walked toward the door.
"Maybe it is, Mary. Don't you think their visits are very few and far
between?" said the minister. But he was good-natured as he opened the
door.
The sight of the people who stood outside startled him.
"We don't wonder that you are surprised," said Judge Vernon. "The fact
is, that we are a little surprised at ourselves. But we all seemed to
reach your door at the same time without knowing that the others were
coming; and, if I'm not mistaken, we have all come on the same errand."
"Come in," said the minister somewhat bewildered. And there came into
the house Judge Vernon, the Hon. William Brooks, Deacon Culver, and Mr.
Carlton.
When they had greeted Mrs. Douglass and were seated, Judge Vernon said
gravely, "I came to see Mr. Douglass about the work in Freetown."
"That is what I came for," said the other men in turn.
The minister looked bewildered yet. It was so seldom that anybody ever
came voluntarily to see him about doing anything of that sort that he
hardly knew what to say. The last men in the city that he expected to
see, with the exception of his deacon, were the three men who were now
in his house. Judge Vernon had never called on him. The Hon. William
Brooks was a shrewd politician and an able lawyer, but his connection
with the Emmanuel Church had never gone any further than attendance on
services and financial support. Mr. Carlton was almost a stranger, and
belonged to another denomination. So the Rev. Howard Douglass might be
excused if he looked and felt somewhat surprised.
But he was able to enjoy the unexpected co-operation of these men, and
in a few minutes they were all in the midst of a great discussion over
the minister's plan.
"In brief," the minister was saying at the close of an hour's talk,
"the plan includes:--
"1. A building constructed on purpose for the work we need to do. This
will cost anywhere from two thousand to three thousand dollars.
"2. This building must be equipped for kindergarten work. It must
contain a day-nursery for the babies of mothers who are obliged to go
away from home all day to labor, a kitchen where cooking can be taught,
bath-rooms, a reading-room, smaller rooms for classes in sewing or
music, a dispensary, an office, and a basement fitted for teaching
trades.
"3. The plan also includes a list of premiums or prizes given to the
people of Freetown to encourage neatness, thrift, and industry. These
prizes are to be offered for the best gardens, the finest individual
collection of vegetables, the neatest-looking front and back yard and
alley, the neatest interior of a house, the best flower-beds, the
largest and best fruit-garden, and the most improvements on any place
in a year.
"4. The plan also includes the establishment of regular Sunday work, a
Sunday school, preaching services, good music, and distribution of good
reading-matter at the houses during the afternoon.
"5. To make the plan succeed, we must have money enough to endow the
institution. It must be permanent in its character in order to produce
results. As much money must be put into it as is put into a business
of any sort where we expect to get large results. Over $50,000,000 are
invested in the bicycle industry in the United States. The redemption
of Freetown is of much more importance to the human race than all the
bicycles in the world. It is useless to expect to lift up the people
over there unless we can get and use large sums of money. I have
estimated that it will take from $2,000 to $3,000 a year to maintain
the work in Freetown on a successful basis.
"6. The last point in the plan is the most important."
The minister paused in his reading, and looked around at the three men.
They were all very much interested, and Judge Vernon and Mr. Carlton
seemed to be specially excited. Mr. Douglass went on.
"What is absolutely necessary to the success of this plan is the
voluntary residence in the heart of Freetown of some of the best men
and women in Merton. That is, the house must contain, all the year
around, Christian men and women who are willing to live for certain
weeks or months with the work, direct it from the centre, and give
their talents, their strength, their wisdom, personally to a solution
of the terrible problems over there. We can get money to build the
house; we can get premiums to carry out our plans for encouraging
industry; we can get enough money, probably, to endow the work.
"The question now is, Can we get _people_, the best and best-known,
and most able to go over there and live with the people? That, to my
mind, is the heart of the problem. When the Christian world is willing
to give itself to the redemption of the unchristian world, it will
be redeemed. When Christian Merton is willing to give itself for
unchristian Freetown, it will be redeemed. The question really is, How
many of the best men and women are ready to go and live for a while in
that house?
"Here in Merton are hundreds of men and women who spend night after
night in parties, amusing themselves; how many of them will take that
time to help redeem a part of the city? Here in Merton are scores
of able, capable men who spend hours in political discussions or in
attendance on political gatherings; how many of them will do anything
personally to help restore lost souls? Here in Merton are hundreds
of young people who have health and ambition and high aims; how many
of them will suffer personally to relieve suffering? What is needed
in this work is not a few weak, uneducated, unequipped good people,
but the best we have in the social and literary and political life of
Merton.
"There is no question in my mind that the success of the whole plan
will depend on the kind of people who are willing to go and live in the
social settlement and, by their living, personal presence, touch at
close quarters the sin and misery and crime of that lost part of our
city. The question is, Who will go?"
Mr. Carlton had not said a word since the first greeting. He now spoke
in a voice that showed great emotion. The rest leaned forward and
listened eagerly. Over them all the Spirit of God brooded in eager
expectation.