John Wesley, Jr.: The Story of an ExperimentBrummitt, Dan B. (Dan Brearley)
Religion
John Wesley, Jr.: The Story of an Experiment
Brummitt, Dan B. (Dan Brearley)
Christian fiction; Methodists -- Fiction
"And foreign missions, Mr. Drury. You won't be offended, I hope, but
somehow as far back as I can remember I have always connected foreign
missions with collections and 'Greenland's Icy Mountains' and little
naked Hottentots, and something--I don't know just what--about the River
Ganges. But here--why, that China class just makes me want to see China
for myself and find out how much of the advantages of American life over
Chinese has come on account of religion."
"Well, why not, J.W.? Maybe you will go to China some day, and have a
hand in it all," suggested the pastor, to try him out.
The boy shook his head.
"No, I don't think so. I am certainly getting a new line on foreign
missions, but I don't think there's missionary stuff in me. I'll have
to go at the proposition some other way."
Then Pastor Drury set him going on another subject.
"What do you think of the young folks who are here?" he asked.
"Well, at first I thought they were all away ahead of our bunch at home,
and some of them are; but you soon find out that the majority is pretty
much of the same sort as ours. I think I've spotted a few slackers, but
mighty few. Most of the crowd seems to be all right, and I've already
made some real friends. But do you know which one of them all is the
most interesting fellow I've met?"
The pastor thought he did, but he merely asked, "Who?"
"Why, that Greek boy, Phil Khamis. He is from Salonika, you know. He
knows the old country like a book, and he's going back some day, maybe
to be some kind of missionary to his people, in the very places where
the apostle Paul preached. Honest, I never knew until he told me that
his Salonika is the town of those Christians to whom Paul wrote two of
his letters; those to the Thessalonians--'Thessalonika,' you know. Well,
you ought to hear Phil talk. He came over here seven years ago, and
learned the English language from the preacher at Westvale."
"Yes, I have heard about him," said Mr. Drury. "They say he lived in the
parsonage and paid the preacher for his English lessons by giving him a
new understanding of the Greek New Testament. Not many of us have found
out yet how to get such pay for being decent to our friends from the
other side."
"Well, he is a thoroughbred, anyway; and do you notice how he is right
up in front when there is anything doing? The only way you can tell he
isn't American born is that he is so anxious to help out on all the
unpleasant work. When I look at Phil it makes me boil to think of
fellows like him being called 'Wop.'"
By this time the two had swung back into the campus, and J.W. found
himself drafted to hold down second base in the Faculty-Student ball
game. But that is a story for others to tell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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