您的位置 : 首页 > 英文著作
The Message
Part 2. The Awakening   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 10. Small Figures On A Great Stage
Alec John Dawson
下载:The Message.txt
本书全文检索:
       _ PART II. THE AWAKENING CHAPTER X. SMALL FIGURES ON A GREAT STAGE
       

       I, loving freedom and untried,
       No sport of every random gust,
       Yet being to myself a guide,
       Too blindly have reposed my trust;
       And oft, when in my heart was heard
       Thy timely mandate, I deferred
       The task, in smoother walks to stray,
       But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.
       -- Ode to Duty.

       It has often been said of the Canadian preachers that they conferred the gift of eloquence upon all their converts. It is certainly a fact that long before Stairs and Reynolds had traversed half the length of England, disciples of theirs were winning converts to "British Christianity"--as the religion of Duty and simple living came to be called--in every county in the kingdom.
       In the same way, the progress of The Citizens' recruiting campaign was made marvellously rapid and triumphant in character by reason of the enthusiastic activity of all new adherents. During the second of John Crondall's great meetings in Birmingham, for example, we received telegraphic greeting from the chairmen presiding over one hundred and ninety-eight other meetings then being held for the furtherance of our cause in different parts of the country. And, in many cases, those who addressed these meetings were among the most famous public speakers in England.
       In most towns we spent no more than twenty-four hours, in others no more than twelve hours, and in some we stayed only a third of that time. In one memorable day we addressed immense gatherings in four different towns, and travelled one hundred and thirty miles to boot. But in each one of those towns, as in every centre visited, we left a properly organized committee at work, with arrangements for frequent meetings, and the swearing in of new members.
       The Canadian preachers spent only one day in many of the places they visited. But in large centres they stayed longer, because, after the first week of the pilgrimage, the attendances at their meetings became unmanageably large, owing to the arrangements made by railway companies, who ran special trains to tap the outlying parts of every district visited. Advance agents--a hard-working band, many of whom were well-to-do volunteers--prepared the way in every detail for the progress of both the Canadians and ourselves, and local residents placed every possible facility at our disposal.
       Never in the history of religious revivals in England has anything been known to equal the whole-souled enthusiasm with which the new evangel of Duty was welcomed as the basis of our twentieth-century national life. The facts that the Canadian preachers were rarely seen apart, and that the teaching of each was identical with that of the other, combined with the general knowledge that one represented the Church of England and the other a great Nonconformist body; these things divested the pilgrimage of any suggestion of denominationalism, and lent it the same urgent strength of appeal for members of all sects, and members of none. This seems natural enough to us now, ours being a Christian country. But it was regarded then as a wonderful testimony to the virtue of the new teaching, because at that time sectarian differences, animosities even, were very clearly marked, and led far more naturally to opposition and hostility between the representatives of different denominations than to anything approaching united effort in a common cause.
       It was during the day we spent in York that chance led to my witnessing an incident which greatly affected me. My relations with my chief, John Crondall, were not such as to call for the observance of much ceremony between us. Accordingly, it was with no thought of interference with his privacy that I blundered into my chief's sitting-room to announce the number of new members we had enrolled after the meeting. John Crondall was standing on the hearth-rug, his right hand was resting on Constance Grey's shoulder, his lips were touching her forehead.
       For an instant I thought of retreat. But the thing seemed too clumsy. Accordingly, having turned to close the door, with deliberation, I advanced into the room with some awkward remark about having thought my chief was alone, and produced my figures of the enrolment of new members. After a few moments Constance left us, referring to some errand she had in view. I did not look at her, and John Crondall plunged at once into working talk. As for me, I was acutely conscious that I had seen Crondall kiss Constance; but my chief made no sign to show me whether or not he was aware that I had seen this.
       Although I thought I had accustomed myself to the idea of these two being predestined mates, I realized now that no amount of reasoning would ever really reconcile me to the practical outworking of the idea. Of course, my feeling about it would be described as jealousy pure and simple. Perhaps it was; but I cherish the idea that it was some more kindly shade of feeling. I know it brought no hint of resentment or weakening in my affection for John Crondall; and most assuredly I harboured no unkind thought of Constance. But I loved her; every pulse in me throbbed love and longing at her approach. Again and again I had demonstrated to myself my own unworthiness of such a woman; the natural affinity between Constance and Crondall. Yet now, the sight of that kiss was as the sound of a knell in my heart; it filled me with an aching lament for the death of----of something which had still lived in me, whether admitted or not, till then.
       For days after that episode of the kiss I lived in hourly expectation of a communication from John Crondall. Our relations were so intimate that I felt certain he would not withhold his confidence for long. But day succeeded day in our strenuous, hurried life, and no word came to me from my chief regarding any other thing than our own work. Indeed, I thought I detected a certain new sternness in John Crondall's demeanour, an extra rigid concentration upon work, which carried with it, for me, a suggestion of his being unwilling to meet one upon any other than the working footing. I was surprised and a little hurt about this, because of late there had been no reservations in the confidence with which my chief treated me. Also, I could not see any possible reason for secrecy in such a matter; it might as well be told first as last, I thought. And I watched Constance with a brooding eye for signs she never made, for a confidence which did not come from either of my friends.
       The thing possessed my mind, and must, I fear, have interfered materially with my work. But after a time the idea came to me that these two had decided to allow our joint work to take precedence of their private happiness, and to put aside their own affairs until the aims of The Citizens had been attained. I recalled certain little indications I myself had received from Constance before John Crondall's return from South Africa, to the effect that personal feeling could have no great weight with her, while our national fate hung in the balance. And, by dulling the edge of my expectancy, this conclusion somehow eased the ache which had possessed me since the day of the kiss to which chance had made me a witness. But it did not altogether explain to me the new reserve, the hint of stiffness in John Crondall's manner; and, rightly or wrongly, I knew when I took Constance's hand in mine, or met the gaze of her shining eyes, that I did so as a devout lover, and not merely as a friend. _
用户中心

本站图书检索

本书目录

Part 1. The Descent
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 1. In The Making
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 2. At The Water's Edge
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 3. An Interlude
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 4. The Launching
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 5. A Journalist's Equipment
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 6. A Journalist's Surroundings
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 7. A Girl And Her Faith
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 8. A Stirring Week
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 9. A Step Down
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 10. Facilis Descensus Averni
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 11. Morning Callers
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 12. Saturday Night In London
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 13. The Demonstration In Hyde Park
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 14. The News
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 15. Sunday Night In London
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 16. A Personal Revelation
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 17. One Step Forward
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 18. The Dear Loaf
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 19. The Tragic Week
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 20. Black Saturday
   Part 1. The Descent - Chapter 21. England Asleep
Part 2. The Awakening
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 1. The First Days
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 2. Ancient Lights
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 3. The Return To London
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 4. The Conference
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 5. My Own Part
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 6. Preparations
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 7. The Sword Of The Lord
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 8. The Preachers
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 9. The Citizens
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 10. Small Figures On A Great Stage
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 11. The Spirit Of The Age
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 12. Blood Is Thicker Than Water
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 13. One Summer Morning
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 14. "For God, Our Race, And Duty"
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 15. "Single Heart And Single Sword"
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 16. Hands Across The Sea
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 17. The Penalty
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 18. The Peace
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 19. The Great Alliance
   Part 2. The Awakening - Chapter 20. Peace Hath Her Victories