That Printer of Udell's: A Story of the Middle WestWright, Harold Bell
General
That Printer of Udell's: A Story of the Middle West
Wright, Harold Bell
Christian fiction; Middle West -- Fiction; Printers -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
And indeed the traveling man might well wonder at the change a few
years had brought to this city in the great coal fields of the middle
west. In place of the saloons that once lined the east side of Broadway
and the principal streets leading to it, there were substantial
buildings and respectable business firms. The gambling dens and brothels
had been forced to close their doors, and their occupants driven to
seek other fields for their degrading profession. Cheap variety and
vulgar burlesque troops had the city listed as no good, and passed it
by, while the best of musicians and lecturers were always sure of
crowded houses. The churches, of all denominations, had been forced
to increase their seating capacity; and the attendance at High School
and Business College had enlarged four-fold; the city streets and
public buildings, the lawns and fences even, by their clean and
well-kept appearance, showed an honest pride, and a purpose above mere
existence. But a stranger would notice, first of all, the absence of
loafers on the street corners, and the bright, interested expressions
and manners of the young men whom he chanced to meet.
And does this all seem strange to you, reader, as to our friend, the
traveling man? Believe me, there is no mystery about it. It is just
the change that comes to the individual who applies Christ's teaching
to his daily life. High purpose, noble activity, virtue, honesty and
cleanliness. God has but one law for the corporation and the individual,
and the teaching that will transform the life of a citizen will change
the life of a city if only it be applied.
The reading-room and institution established by the young people of
the Jerusalem Church had accomplished its mission, and was absorbed
into the larger one established by the citizens, where boys and girls,
men and women, could hear good music, uplifting talk, and helpful
entertainment; where good citizenship, good health, good morals, were
all taught in the name of Jesus. The institution was free in every
department; visitors were restricted only by wholesome rules that in
themselves were educational. Co-operating with the city officials,
it separated the vicious from the unfortunate, and removed not only
the influence of evil, but the last excuse for it, by making virtue
a pleasure, and tempting the public to live wholesomely. And as the
traveling man testified, it paid from a business standpoint; or as
Uncle Bobbie Wicks tells his customers from other towns, "Folks come
to Boyd City to live 'cause they 'aint 'fraid to have their boys 'n
girls walk down the street alone." And after all, that's about the
best recommendation a place can have. And perhaps the happiest couple
in all that happy, prosperous city, as well as the best-loved of her
citizens, is the young manager of the Association, Mr. Richard Falkner,
and his beautiful wife, Amy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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