Mr. World and Miss Church-Member: A Twentieth Century AllegoryHarris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Religion
Mr. World and Miss Church-Member: A Twentieth Century Allegory
Harris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Christian fiction
She had been told repeatedly to sweep before her own door, but she did
not heed this wise counsel, for she often said that there was no dirt
visible about her own home.
One day she went forth as usually, broom in hand, and swept the dirt
from other doors than her own, much to the annoyance and provocation
of her neighbors, for she always raised the dust incontinently.
Now by her continual neglect at home the filth had accumulated to such
an extent that when she returned home and attempted to enter the door,
her foot slipped on the greasy step, and she fell, breaking her collar
bone, two of her ribs, and otherwise injuring herself.
The manager told Mr. World that many such cases came to them for help
every day--some from the King’s Highway and still more from the Broad
Highway.
They soon came to the bedside of one named Mr. Jealousy who occupied
a private room. He was somewhat convalescent when Mr. World saw him.
Mr. Jealousy at one time was an active member of the church, but he
undertook to stab Mr. Stability in the back. But Mr. Stability had a
good back-bone so strong that no knife that Mr. Jealousy could handle
was able to penetrate it.
One time in desperation Mr. Jealousy flung himself violently upon his
imaginary foe. But his blade broke, and he himself fell upon it, cutting
a terrible gash in his side. He was taken to this hospital for help.
Thus did Mr. Jealousy bring upon himself the disfavor of his church
and he was forthwith expelled, for he refused to give the required
promise of reformation.
Mr. World and the manager now came to a large door.
“In this room,” said the manager, “we keep all our cancer patients.
We have a large number of them and, since they require special
treatment, we keep them separate to facilitate the work of the
physicians and nurses.”
I saw them enter the room, and heard the words of surprise that fell
from the lips of Mr. World as he saw the magnitude of this department.
“These are they,” explained the chief of the division, “who came here
through ‘profane and vain babblings.’”
Mr. World then passed through the leprosy ward where he saw quite a
few who were once cleansed by the Divine Healer, but who, failing to
give thanks for their recovery, suffered fatal relapse and were now
in the last stages of this dread disease.
This place was so loathsome to him that he was hastened into the General
Department where he saw all manner of patients, each in his particular
dilemma.
A great number of this section were suffering from disordered livers,
and of these not a few came from the church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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