In His Steps | Page 4

sermon grew
very slowly toward a satisfactory finish.
"Mary," he called to his wife, as he went upstairs after the last
interruption, "if any one comes after this, I wish you would say I am
very busy and cannot come down unless it is something very
important."
"Yes, Henry. But I am going over to visit the kindergarten and you will

have the house all to yourself."
The minister went up into his study and shut the door. In a few minutes
he heard his wife go out, and then everything was quiet. He settled
himself at his desk with a sigh of relief and began to write. His text was
from 1 Peter 2:21: "For hereunto were ye called; because Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example that ye should follow his
steps."
He had emphasized in the first part of the sermon the Atonement as a
personal sacrifice, calling attention to the fact of Jesus' suffering in
various ways, in His life as well as in His death. He had then gone on to
emphasize the Atonement from the side of example, giving illustrations
from the life and teachings of Jesus to show how faith in the Christ
helped to save men because of the pattern or character He displayed for
their imitation. He was now on the third and last point, the necessity of
following Jesus in His sacrifice and example.
He had put down "Three Steps. What are they?" and was about to
enumerate them in logical order when the bell rang sharply. It was one
of those clock-work bells, and always went off as a clock might go if it
tried to strike twelve all at once.
Henry Maxwell sat at his desk and frowned a little. He made no
movement to answer the bell. Very soon it rang again; then he rose and
walked over to one of his windows which commanded the view of the
front door. A man was standing on the steps. He was a young man,
very shabbily dressed.
"Looks like a tramp," said the minister. "I suppose I'll have to go down
and--"
He did not finish his sentence but he went downstairs and opened the
front door. There was a moment's pause as the two men stood facing
each other, then the shabby-looking young man said:
"I'm out of a job, sir, and thought maybe you might put me in the way
of getting something."
"I don't know of anything. Jobs are scarce--" replied the minister,
beginning to shut the door slowly.
"I didn't know but you might perhaps be able to give me a line to the
city railway or the superintendent of the shops, or something,"
continued the young man, shifting his faded hat from one hand to the
other nervously.

"It would be of no use. You will have to excuse me. I am very busy this
morning. I hope you will find something. Sorry I can't give you
something to do here. But I keep only a horse and a cow and do the
work myself."
The Rev. Henry Maxwell closed the door and heard the man walk
down the steps. As he went up into his study he saw from his hall
window that the man was going slowly down the street, still holding his
hat between his hands. There was something in the figure so dejected,
homeless and forsaken that the minister hesitated a moment as he stood
looking at it. Then he turned to his desk and with a sigh began the
writing where he had left off.
He had no more interruptions, and when his wife came in two hours
later the sermon was finished, the loose leaves gathered up and neatly
tied together, and laid on his Bible all ready for the Sunday morning
service.
"A queer thing happened at the kindergarten this morning, Henry," said
his wife while they were eating dinner. "You know I went over with
Mrs, Brown to visit the school, and just after the games, while the
children were at the tables, the door opened and a young man came in
holding a dirty hat in both hands. He sat down near the door and never
said a word; only looked at the children. He was evidently a tramp, and
Miss Wren and her assistant Miss Kyle were a little frightened at first,
but he sat there very quietly and after a few minutes he went out."
"Perhaps he was tired and wanted to rest somewhere. The same man
called here, I think. Did you say he looked like a tramp?"
"Yes, very dusty, shabby and generally tramp-like. Not more than thirty
or thirty-three years old, I should say."
"The same man," said the Rev. Henry Maxwell thoughtfully.
"Did you finish your sermon, Henry?"