Part 12 (1/2)

”Oh, yes,” Joe said understandingly, ”I see now. You mean the t.i.the.”

Marcia knew, no matter how, that Joe had begun to think about t.i.thing, and this seemed the opportune time to stress it a little more. It could help the Every Day Doctrines, and both Joe and J.W. were keen for that.

So Marcia admitted that she did mean the t.i.the. ”I don't pretend to know how it began, any more than I know how real homes were established after the Fall, or how keeping Sunday began; I do know these began long before there was any fourth or fifth commandment, or any Children of Israel.

And I've gone over all the whole subject with Mr. Drury--he has a lot of practical pamphlets on the t.i.the. I believe that it is the easiest, surest, fairest and cheerfulest way of doing two Christian things at once--acknowledging G.o.d's owners.h.i.+p of all we have, and going into partners.h.i.+p with G.o.d in his work for the world, what the books sometimes call Christian Stewards.h.i.+p.”

”I'd like to see those pamphlets,” said J.W.

”It's queer you haven't seen them before this,” said Marcia. ”Mr. Drury has distributed hundreds of them. But maybe that was when you were away at Cartwright. Anyway, I'll get some for you.”

Joe was holding his thought to the main matter. ”Marcia,” said he, ”if you can make good on what you said just now, pamphlets or no pamphlets, I'll agree to become a t.i.ther. First, to start where you did, how is t.i.thing easier than giving whenever you feel like giving?”

Now, though Marcia expected no such challenge, she was game. ”I'm not the one to prove all that, but I believe what I said, and I'll try to make good, as you put it. But please don't say 'give' when you talk about t.i.thing, or even about any sort of financial plan for Christians.

The first word is 'pay,' Giving comes afterward. Well, then; t.i.thing is the easiest way, because when you are a t.i.ther you always have t.i.thing money. You begin by setting the tenth apart for these uses, and it is no more hards.h.i.+p to pay it out than to pay out any other money that you have been given with instructions for its use.”

”Not bad, at all,” said Joe. ”Now tell us why it is the surest way of using a Christian's money.”

By this time Marcia was beginning to enjoy herself. ”It is the surest because it almost collects itself. No begging; no schemes. You have t.i.thing money on hand--and you have, almost always--therefore you don't need to be coaxed into thinking you can spare it. If the cause is a real claim, that's all you need to find out. And when you begin to put money into any cause you're going to get interested in that cause. Besides, when all Christians t.i.the there will be more than enough money for every good work.”

J.W. had not thought much of the t.i.the except as being one of those religious fads, and he knew that every church had a few religious faddists. But he had long cherished a vast respect for Marcia's good sense, and what she was saying seemed reasonable enough. He wondered if it could be backed up by evidence.

Joe smilingly took up the next excellence of the t.i.the which Marcia had named. ”Let me see; did you say that the t.i.the is the fairest of all Christian financial schemes?”

”Not that, exactly,” Marcia corrected. ”I said it was the fairest way of acknowledging G.o.d's owners.h.i.+p and of working with him in partners.h.i.+p.

And it is. It puts definiteness in the place of whim. It is proportional to our circ.u.mstances. It is not difficult. Mr. Drury says that forty years' search has failed to find a t.i.ther who has suffered hards.h.i.+p because of paying the t.i.the.”

”Well, Joe,” J.W. put in, ”if Marcia can produce the evidence on these three points, you may as well take the fourth for granted. If t.i.thing is the easiest, surest and fairest plan of Christian Stewards.h.i.+p, seems to me it's just got to be cheerful. I'm going to look into it, and if she's right, as I shouldn't wonder, it's up to you and me to get our finances onto the ten per cent basis.”

Joe was never a reluctant convert to anything. When he saw the new way, his instinct was for immediate action. ”Let's go over to Mr. Drury's,”

he proposed, ”and see if we can't settle this thing to-day. I hope Marcia's right,” and he looked into her eyes with a glance of something more than friendly, ”and if she is I'm ready to begin t.i.thing to-day.”

Pastor Drury, always a busy man, reckoned interviews like this as urgent business always. Not once nor twice, but many times in the course of a year, his quiet, indirect work resulted in similar expeditions to his study, and as a rule he knew about when to expect them. He produced the pamphlets, added a few suggestions of his own, and let the three young people do most of the talking. They stayed a long time, no one caring about that.

As they were thanking the pastor, before leaving, Joe said with his usual directness, ”Marcia _was_ right, and here's where I begin to be a systematic Christian as far as my dealings with money are concerned.”

J.W., not in the least ashamed to follow Joe's lead, said, ”Same here.

Wish I'd known it sooner. Now we've got to preach it.”

And Joe said to Mr. Drury, in the last moment at the door, ”Mr. Drury, if we could all get a conscience about the t.i.the, and pay attention to that conscience, half the Everyday Doctrines would not even need to be stated. They would be self-evident. And the other half could be put into practice with a bang!”

The Delafield _Dispatch_ got hold of a copy of the ”Everyday Doctrines”

and printed the whole of it with a not unfavorable editorial comment, under the caption ”When Will All This Come True?”

But Walter Drury, when he saw it, said to himself, ”It has already come true in a very real sense, for John Wesley, Jr., and these others believe in it.” And he knew it marked one more stage of the Experiment, so that he could thank G.o.d and take courage.

CHAPTER V