CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 13
When the bell rang for tea, Virginia went down, but her grandmother did not appear. 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.
“Rollin,” said Virginia, “am I wrong?”
“No, dear, I cannot believe you are. If you think this poor creature owes her safety and salvation to your personal care, it was the only thing for you to do. Surely Jesus in our places would do what you have done.”
Of all the wonderful changes that Virginia 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.
Dr. West came that evening at Virginia’s summons and did everything necessary for the outcast. The best that could be done for her now was quiet nursing and careful watching and personal love.
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 noted again the absence of Jasper Chase. All the others were present, and they were drawn together by a bond of common fellowship that demanded and enjoyed mutual confidences.
In the spirit of very open, frank confession of experience, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Edward Norman to tell all the rest of the company about the details of his newspaper.
“I have lost a great deal of money during the last three weeks. 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 listened eagerly.
“There are a good many different reasons. Some say they want a paper that prints all the crime details, sensations like prizefights, scandals, and horrors of various kinds. Others object to the discontinuance of the Sunday edition. My greatest loss has come from a falling off in advertisements and from the attitude I have taken on political questions. 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 nonpartisan and moral standpoint, the News will not be able to pay its operating expenses.”
He paused a moment, and the room was very quiet.
He went on. “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 lost a large part of my fortune. It is not necessary for me to go into details. I mention it 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 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 followed Mr. Norman’s confession with the most intense eagerness. She now asked, “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’ve laid out plans for putting into the News a variety of material in a strong and truly interesting way that it would more than make up for whatever was absent from its columns in the way of unchristian matter. I’m very confident that a Christian daily such as Jesus would approve can be made to succeed financially. 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. “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.
“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.
Virginia went on, “I have come to know that the money, which I have called my own, is not mine but God’s. If I, as a steward of His, see some wise way to invest His money, it is not an occasion for vainglory or thanks from anyone simply because I have proved honest in my administration of the funds He has asked me to use for His glory. I’ve been thinking of this very plan for some time. The fact is, we need the News to champion the Christian side. It would be giving up to the enemy to allow the News to fail. I have great confidence in Mr. Norman’s ability. If we can keep such a paper going for one year, I shall be willing to see that amount of money used in the experiment. I believe it is what Jesus would do.”
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 movement 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. 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.