The One Woman: A Story of Modern UtopiaDixon, Thomas, Jr.
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The One Woman: A Story of Modern Utopia
Dixon, Thomas, Jr.
Utopian fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
"I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden it came over
me--where I was, and what I was, and what I once had been--a boy
with a face like that, with a Christian father and mother who loved
me as their own life, and then how I had gone down, down in drink
from ditch to ditch and gutter to gutter to the bottomless pit.
"I jumped down off that whisky barrel and washed my face. That
night I found this church, and the Spirit of God, here in one of
these after-meetings, led my soul to the foot of the cross of Jesus
Christ. I looked up into His beautiful face--the fairest among ten
thousand--the one altogether lovable, and I heard Him say, as to
the thief of old, 'This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.'
"From that day, hour and minute I've been a living man, a miracle
of grace and love. I have not touched a drop of liquor since, and
these hands, which had not earned an honest cent for years, have
handled thousands of dollars of other people's money and not one
penny has ever stuck to them. I am the living witness that God's
spirit can raise man from the dead, and Jesus Christ keep him unto
life!"
He sat down, crying.
Gordon lifted his hand and said, "Let us bow our heads a moment in
silent prayer while every heart opens the door to the Spirit."
At the close of the service he passed the man who had spoken and
pressed his hand.
"Ah, Edwards, old boy, you knew I needed that to-night. God bless
you!"
Jerry Edwards smiled and nodded.
"A lady wishes to speak to you in the study, sir," the sexton said
to him.
He looked around for his wife to tell her to wait, but she had
gone.
His study opened immediately into the auditorium at the foot of
the pulpit stairs. As he entered, a young woman of extraordinary
beauty, elegantly and quietly dressed, advanced to meet him and
shook his hand in a friendly, earnest way.
"Doctor, I've waited patiently to-night to see you," she said. "I've
been coming to hear you for six months, and yet I have never told
you how much good you have done me; and I specially wish to tell
you how sorry I am that my stupid weakness to-night interrupted
you. I think I came near fainting. It was so close and hot--and,
pardon me if I say it--I suddenly got the insane idea that you were
about to faint in the pulpit."
"Well, that is strange," interrupted Gordon, looking at her with
deepening interest. "You have the gift of the sympathetic listener.
I noticed no disturbance, but I did come near fainting. I have had
a hard day--one of fierce nerve-strain."
She looked at him curiously.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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