Eleven in the morning--people were at church-- Prayers were in the making--God was near at hand-- It was Sunday! BY ISAIAH Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord.... Bring no more vain oblations.... When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. To the Preacher (_From "In This Our World"_) BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (See pages 200, 209) Preach about yesterday, Preacher! The time so far away: When the hand of Deity smote and slew, And the heathen plagued the stiff-necked Jew; Or when the Man of Sorrow came, And blessed the people who cursed his name-- Preach about yesterday, Preacher, Not about today! Preach about tomorrow, Preacher! Beyond this world's decay: Of the sheepfold Paradise we priced When we pinned our faith to Jesus Christ; Of those hot depths that shall receive The goats who would not so believe-- Preach about tomorrow, Preacher, Not about today! Preach about the old sins, Preacher! And the old virtues, too: You must not steal nor take man's life, You must not covet your neighbor's wife, And woman must cling at every cost To her one virtue, or she is lost-- Preach about the old sins, Preacher! Not about the new! Preach about the other man, Preacher! The man we all can see! The man of oaths, the man of strife, The man who drinks and beats his wife, Who helps his mates to fret and shirk When all they need is to keep at work-- Preach about the other man, Preacher! Not about me! The Reluctant Briber BY LINCOLN STEFFENS (The president of a powerful public service corporation has become disturbed in conscience, and calls in a student of social conditions) "You're unhappy because you are bribing and corrupting, and you ask my advice. Why? I'm no ethical teacher. You're a churchman. Why don't you go to your pastor?" "Pastor!" he exclaimed, and he laughed. The scorn of that laugh! "Pastor!" He turned and walked away, to get control, no doubt. I kept after him. "Yes," I insisted, "you should go to the head of your church for moral counsel, and--for economic advice you should go to the professor of economics in----" He stopped me, facing about. "Professor!" he echoed, and he didn't reflect my tone. I was serious. I wanted to get something from him. I wanted to know why our practical men do not go to these professions for help, as they go to lawyers and engineers. And this man had given time and money to the university in his town and to his church, as I reminded him. "You support colleges and churches, you and your kind do," I said. "What for?" "For women and children," he snapped from his distance. BY SAVONAROLA