SARA C. PALMER 
 
‘From the H6rary of O.E. and 
 Mary Maple Jones 
 
 JA gift from Esther <Doughtie French, 
 
 Jane F)oughtie Fay Cor e£ ‘Richard F (Doughtic III 
 
VERA DICKSON’S 
 TRIUMPH 
 
 BY 
 
 SARA C. PALMER 
 
 Author of “The Story of My Life,” etc. 
 
 Chicago 
 
 THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASS’N 
 826 North La Salle Street 
 
Copyright , 1917 
 By 
 
 The Bible Institute Colportage 
 Association of Chicago 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is a pleasure to commend the story written 
 by Miss Sara C. Palmer, and in thus commend- 
 ing it I hope that it may have a very generous 
 reception on the part of the reading public. 
 
 Miss Palmer has been preeminently success- 
 ful in her chosen lifework. She is so true to 
 God’s Word and to the Son of God, that what- 
 ever she writes is worthy of careful reading. 
 
 This book must be interesting and helpful, 
 because it has grown out of her work as an 
 evangelist, and the things about which she 
 writes are the things which she has experienced 
 in her own life, and seen in the lives of others. 
 
 I pray for God’s best blessing to be upon 
 all that she is seeking to do for her Master in 
 “Vera Dickson’s Triumph.” 
 
 J. Wilbur Chapman. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/veradicksonstriu00palm_0 
 
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD 
 
 In evangelistic work it has been my experi- 
 ence, that, after a sermon which the Lord used 
 in bringing blessing to many, requests have 
 come to have those discourses published; or, 
 after a lecture on some special subject, similar 
 requests were made. Then again, I have been 
 asked to put in print some of the illustrations 
 out of my experience, which have been wonder- 
 fully blessed because they are “true stories.” 
 For years I have thought of complying with 
 the request of my friends and more than once 
 have decided to take up special subjects and 
 write them in fictional form, hut, fearing I 
 might be misunderstood or unduly criticized, 
 I refrained from doing so. Doubts, too, as to 
 the advisability of using the fictional as a 
 vehicle to convey the truth along many lines, 
 kept me from giving people the benefit of my 
 experience through my pen. 
 
8 
 
 Author's Foreword 
 
 The germ for this volume has been in my 
 mind for years and took shape when I read the 
 novels written by Sydney Watson, who is one 
 of England’s best known writers; all doubts 
 were banished from my mind when I found the 
 Lord had used them so wondrously in leading 
 many into the truths contained in the stories. 
 
 I use the fictional style, therefore, to clothe 
 the truth in this little book. Every story told 
 and every illustration used really happened 
 directly or indirectly in connection with my 
 work, except the story of the tramp, and I am 
 grateful to Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., 
 for giving me permission to use it. 
 
 My prayer is, that this story may be used in 
 leading many, whom I could not reach with my 
 platform messages, to see the error of their 
 way and turn to the Lord. If one soul, pre- 
 cious in the sight of God, is blessed I will feel 
 repaid. 
 
 Sara C. Palmer. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Reception at “The Elms” - - - - 11 
 
 II. The New Minister - -- -- -- 19 
 
 III. The “Elmhurst” Family ------ 25 
 
 IV. An Important Matter ------ 32 
 
 V. The Itinerant Preacher ------ 40 
 
 VI. Hurt Feelings - -- -- -- - 45 
 
 VII. The Card Party - -- -- -- -50 
 
 VIII. Gambling 57 
 
 IX. Deepening Interest - -- -- --61 
 
 X. Popular Amusements ------ - 72 
 
 XI. A Momentous Hour - -- -- --82 
 
 XII. On the Bounding Ocea:n ------ 91 
 
 XIII. A Good Confession --------97 
 
 XIV. Answered Prayer ------- 101 
 
 XV. Miss Beatrice Dickson ------- 108 
 
 XVI. The Prodigal’s Return - - - - - - 117 
 
 XVII. Saved to Serve -------- - 119 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 “The Elms,” the Dickson residence ------ 13 
 
 “Elmhurst,” the home of the Gordons - 27 
 
 “I will never go forward in that tabernacle to make a 
 confession of my faith in God ------ 63 
 
 “The tabernacle was crowded with a most auspicious 
 gathering - -- -- -- -- -- 73 
 
 The church home of the Dicksons and the Gordons - - 123 
 
Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 CHAPTER i 
 
 The Reception at “The Elms” 
 
 V ERA DICKSON had just graduated 
 at one of the best colleges in the land. 
 Her father and mother were present at 
 the commencement exercises and felt very 
 proud of their only daughter, who could not in 
 any sense be termed “a spoiled child.” She was 
 a girl of medium height, with deep blue eyes, 
 and a mass of golden-brown hair, and features 
 that were almost perfect. Although amiable, 
 vivacious, kind and thoughtful to all around, 
 Vera was free from conceit either of her per- 
 sonal charms or her wealth, though she could 
 boast of affluence had she so desired. 
 
 Her mother had remained long enough after 
 commencement to accompany her daughter to 
 the city and to select goods and styles for the 
 replenishment of Vera’s wardrobe. Then she 
 
 in] 
 
12 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 had hastened home to make preparations for 
 an appropriate welcome, while, for a fortnight, 
 Vera was measured, fitted and draped until 
 she never wanted to see a dressmaker again. 
 
 At last the work was done to the satisfaction 
 of the girl, whom her mother thought eligible 
 to become one of the society leaders of the 
 future. Vera was really on her way home on 
 board an express train and, as she listened to 
 the sound of the wheels, while the train sped 
 over the rails, she was glad that every revolu- 
 tion was bringing her nearer her destination. 
 
 With a cordial welcome Mr. and Mrs. Dick- 
 son kissed their daughter aff ectionately as they 
 received her into their home once more. They 
 had planned very carefully for her education, 
 and V era had not disappointed them. She now 
 stood in the spacious hall of her palatial home 
 with refinement, culture and grace marking 
 everything she did, to the great delight of the 
 indulgent parents, who had looked forward to 
 this moment with great expectancy through 
 the years. 
 
 H er father, Lewis W. Dickson, was the sole 
 proprietor of the largest and finest department 
 
The Elms,” the Dickson Residence 
 

The Reception at “ The Elms” 
 
 15 
 
 store in the city. The business was growing by 
 leaps and bounds, promising great wealth to 
 its owner, if the saying were true that “coming 
 events cast their shadows before.” 
 
 He was a keen business man, a liberal phil- 
 anthropist, a clean politician, a favorite in 
 society and a diplomat in the church. He was 
 envied by business men, as he held the respect 
 of all who knew him because of his sterling 
 qualities. His word was as good as his bond. 
 He was admired by the masses, who never 
 knew him to turn a deaf ear to a tale of woe, or 
 refuse a helping hand to the needy. Business 
 was never too pressing for Mr. Dickson to be 
 gracious to the most menial stranger who came 
 on a legitimate errand, or to offer advice to the 
 dullest clerk, or a word of encouragement to 
 the struggling youth. He took his employes 
 on their merit, and paid better salaries than 
 any other employer in the city. When asked 
 why he did so, he answered, “I do not want to 
 become a despised millionaire who makes his 
 money by the sweat-system and hoards it 
 for its own sake. I want the entire working 
 force to enjoy it with me.” 
 
16 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 It was natural for Vera’s young friends to 
 decide she had been born with a silver spoon 
 in her mouth, while the more venerable said, 
 “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; 
 yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Psalm 16: 6) . 
 
 “Come right up to your room, Vera,” said 
 her mother, as she led the way up the wide stair- 
 case, “you will require a good rest as we are 
 having a grand reception tonight in your honor, 
 and the most delightful people of the city are 
 to be present to welcome you.” 
 
 Care-free Vera, who was always bright and 
 happy, was soon fast asleep. When she awoke 
 she found preparations for the reception in full 
 swing, so the only work assigned to her was 
 to look after her girl friends, Madge Wendall 
 and Louise Roper, who were to receive with 
 her. 
 
 The girls arrived early and were busy dis- 
 cussing their beautiful bouquets when Mrs. 
 Dickson announced that the guests were begin- 
 ning to arrive, and she directed them to take 
 their places beside her in the drawing room. 
 
 Vera looked and acted like a very queen 
 among women, as she greeted the guests of the 
 
The Reception at “The Elms” 
 
 17 
 
 evening, and introduced one after another to 
 her fair companions, and not until they had 
 partaken of some refreshment, did she accept 
 Alick Gordon’s arm to go to the dining room. 
 
 Alick Gordon, like Vera, had not long re- 
 turned from college, and had started his prac- 
 tice of law with one of the best firms in the city. 
 They had been school friends for some years, 
 and had kept up a correspondence through 
 their college days. With happy expectations 
 Alick welcomed his erstwhile companion back 
 to her home. 
 
 “What do you intend doing with yourself 
 now that you are home, Vera?” 
 
 “Oh! make the best of what pleasure there 
 is in this quiet city,” answered the girl, in a 
 most unassuming manner. “I will play tennis, 
 golf and hockey when I can, — go fishing and 
 riding occasionally, — then I will have cards, 
 dances and plays when I want indoor sport ; I 
 can think of a hundred and one ways of enter- 
 taining and being entertained. What were you 
 thinking of, Alick?” 
 
 “ J ust this, that you can always count on me 
 and any help I can give you, no matter how 
 
18 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 busy I am,” answered Alick, in his big-hearted 
 and generous way. 
 
 “Capital, Alick! I thought I could depend 
 on your assistance in our plans, and I assure 
 you, I will keep you busy,” she said laughingly; 
 “you will never be among the unemployed so 
 long as I am around,” and they were soon lost 
 in an animated talk over some reminiscences of 
 the past. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 The New Minister 
 
 M RS. DICKSON was a woman of the 
 world, much loved and much sought 
 after, and the company assembled at 
 “The Elms” that night was made up of the 
 elite of society. They praised Mrs. Dickson 
 for her wisdom in ushering her daughter into 
 society in this way, and commented on Vera’s 
 love for entertaining which she inherited from 
 her mother. 
 
 Vera played and sang in such a charming 
 manner that everyone present felt like staying 
 in the background and allowing her to carry 
 the programme through herself. One man, 
 who sat with tears streaming down his cheeks 
 while she sang a simple little song, said, “She 
 has the most bewitching voice I ever heard!” 
 So the time went and all felt sorry when one 
 after another took their departure, though each 
 one went home feeling that some fine entertain- 
 ments were in store for them in the months that 
 
 [ 19 ] 
 
20 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 were to follow, while Vera w r as just herself, 
 happy, full of life and spirits, and desirous that 
 others should be happy also. 
 
 Her mother followed her into her room that 
 night and looked for some words of apprecia- 
 tion from her daughter and she was not disap- 
 pointed, for no sooner did Vera see her enter 
 than she threw her arms around her mother’s 
 neck and kissed her again and again, saying, 
 “You are the kindest, dearest mother I ever 
 heard of, and it is so nice to be here that I wish 
 my school days had been over long ago, so that 
 I could have enjoyed all these good things 
 before this.” 
 
 “Well, dear, I am glad you are enjoying 
 them now, but this is only a foretaste of what 
 is to come. Now you must go to sleep and we 
 will talk about these things tomorrow.” 
 
 It was time for lunch before anyone made 
 an appearance next day; after a light repast 
 Mrs. Dickson and her daughter entered into a 
 conversation of such absorbing interest to both, 
 that neither of them realized how many hours 
 had passed while they were planning a regu- 
 lar programme and mapping out a round of 
 
The New Minister 
 
 21 
 
 entertainments of various kinds, that would 
 keep both women busy for many months to 
 come. 
 
 “There is just one thing, Vera, that I want 
 to mention while we are making our plans,” 
 said Mrs. Dickson, — “you know your father and 
 I are staunch members of the church, but we 
 have a new minister, Dr. Archibald Douglass, 
 w r ho is the most fanatical person I ever heard, 
 and we are very unsettled at present about our 
 church home. We may take our letters to 
 another church, but, in the meantime, we are 
 undecided, as our church has all the best fam- 
 ilies whom we know and there are few people 
 of any consequence in the churches near us, so 
 probably we have to remain and make the best 
 of a bad bargain ; those who voted for this man 
 are the plebean of our congregation who are 
 usually the trouble-makers in any denomi- 
 nation.” 
 
 “But mother, he is an educated man and I 
 cannot understand why he caters to that class 
 of people,” said Vera, in a puzzled manner. 
 
 “Yes, he is educated, there is no question 
 about that, but his doctrines are troubling the 
 
22 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 educated people in the congregation, — he has 
 such peculiar views.” 
 
 “What does he teach?” 
 
 “He is most imperious about amusements in 
 the church, and you know, Vera, we have held 
 our young people because we believe in enter- 
 taining them.” 
 
 “I cannot see why he should deprecate 
 amusements since the burden of them is not 
 left on his shoulders,” said Yera, knowing the 
 amount of time and expense her mother had 
 prided herself in putting into the entertain- 
 ments at their church. 
 
 “That is just what we have told him, hut he 
 insists that his programme consists of preaching 
 the old-fashioned gospel without compromise 
 and that he will never entertain people on the 
 road to destruction, even if he should lose every 
 member of the church.” 
 
 “What is the gospel then, if he leaves amuse- 
 ments out of the question?” 
 
 “That is what I cannot understand. He 
 believes, he says, in ‘Ruin by the Fall, Redemp- 
 tion by the Blood and Regeneration by the 
 Holy Ghost’ and although an educated man he 
 
The New Minister 
 
 23 
 
 holds that education has nothing to do with 
 salvation. He also says that in our unsaved 
 state we are ‘amiable children of wrath, edu- 
 cated heirs of hell, accomplished servants of the 
 devil.’ That education is a great boon and 
 blessing to humanity he admits, but the power 
 of God alone can change the heart. He em- 
 phasizes the fact that educated and uneducated 
 alike must experience the saving change, and 
 accept by faith the Son of God as their personal 
 Saviour.” 
 
 “I fear I could not believe such theology, 
 mother,” said Vera, her fertile brain recalling 
 the teaching of her college days. “A man who 
 is considered one of the very best theologians 
 in the country visited our school not long ago 
 and lectured on theology, and he said, ‘Justifi- 
 cation by faith is an antiquated theory; it was 
 good enough for an ignorant, illiterate man like 
 Abraham, but we could not expect educated, re- 
 fined, cultured people of the twentieth century 
 to believe that ; what we need today,’ said this 
 worthy theologian, ‘is education, culture, refine- 
 ment, occupation, and that is what the world 
 is coming to!’ So, mother-mine, I prefer to 
 
24 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 believe my theological professor’s views, who 
 thinks the church is the custodian of our morals, 
 and if that be the case, I will seek the highest 
 standard possible for myself and my set of 
 friends, and also the help of the church to live 
 up to that standard.” 
 
 “Those are just my sentiments, Vera, and 
 we have our hands full as we seek to make 
 changes in our church as well as entertaining 
 our friends in the future.” 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The “Elmhurst” Family 
 
 T HE Gordon property adjoined the Dick- 
 son estate and the two families were on 
 very friendly terms, though Mrs. Gordon 
 was a very diff erent woman from Mrs. Dickson. 
 Mrs. Gordon was a very quiet, retiring char- 
 acter who was seeking to please God in every 
 detail of her life. Those who wanted her por- 
 trait could open their Bibles at the book of 
 Proverbs and in the thirty-first chapter was the 
 type of woman to be found at “Elmhurst.” 
 
 Her husband, Judge Gordon, was an exem- 
 plary Christian man, a clear-cut character who 
 stood for righteousness and had no compromise 
 in his make-up. Business men trusted him; 
 politicians knew they could not buy him ; trans- 
 gressors of the country’s laws knew justice 
 would be meted out to them irrespective of 
 influence or social standing. 
 
 They had lived a comparatively quiet life 
 until recently when their son Alick had re- 
 
 125 ] 
 
26 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 turned from college and demanded that their 
 house should be open to his particular set of 
 friends, some of whom neither the Judge nor 
 Mrs. Gordon approved. 
 
 A distant relative whose parents had died, 
 leaving her alone in the world, had come to live 
 with them. Jessie Arnold, like her friend Mrs. 
 Gordon, was a Christian, who not only pro- 
 fessed to be a follower of Christ, but was an 
 ardent worker for her Master. 
 
 Each morning after breakfast the two ladies 
 met in the library to read a portion of Scrip- 
 ture and unite in prayer to the One whose ear 
 was ever open to their cry. The duties of the 
 day seemed as nothing after this time of sweet 
 communion and both took up their respective 
 duties realizing the truth of the words, “my 
 yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 
 11 : 30 ). 
 
 During the reading one lovely morning, 
 Mrs. Gordon looked rather sorrowful, and be- 
 fore prayer she confided her sorrow to Miss 
 Arnold. 
 
 “Jessie, I am very much concerned about 
 Alick; I fear he is drifting, and my greatest 
 
Elmhurst,” the Home of the Gordons 
 

The “ Elmhurst ” Family 
 
 29 
 
 fear is, that he is becoming fond of alcohol; 
 have you thought of this?” 
 
 Thus interrogated, Miss Arnold, always 
 open and frank, confirmed Mrs. Gordon’s 
 fears. 
 
 “He rs going out tonight with his friends,” 
 said the anxious mother, “and I want you to 
 pray for him. Pledge-signing is no use to 
 Alick ; what he needs is a change of heart, and 
 he will never be a success in the professional 
 world until he has experienced the saving 
 power of God in his life; let us make him a 
 special subject of prayer.” 
 
 That evening the two ladies were together 
 once more; the Judge, who was tired after a 
 hard dav in court and who had another strenu- 
 ous day ahead, had retired early. Mrs. Gordon 
 watched the clock anxiously; soon she heard a 
 step on the driveway and, rising hurriedly, said, 
 “There is Alick; I shall go upstairs and I wish 
 you would remain and talk to him about his 
 soul’s salvation.” 
 
 With a prayer for wisdom Miss Arnold com- 
 plied with her friend’s request and waited ; the 
 door opened and Alick walked in. 
 
30 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 “Hullo, Jessie; I am surprised to find you 
 here.” 
 
 “I waited for you.” 
 
 “That was unnecessary.” 
 
 “Yes, except that I wanted to talk to you.” 
 
 “Going to preach a sermon, are you?” 
 
 “Not exactly, Alick, but I am anxious to 
 know when you are going to surrender to the 
 claims of Christ.” 
 
 “Oh, bother! I never think about such 
 things.” 
 
 “You ought to, Alick; you are grieving the 
 Spirit of God, who has been following you in 
 convicting power through the years.” 
 
 “Now look here, Jessie, I know that mother 
 left you to preach to me; I suppose she thinks 
 you can convert me, but I want you to know 
 you are wasting your breath ; I never could be 
 a Christian.” 
 
 “Why not, Alick ? You must know that you 
 are breaking your mother’s heart.” 
 
 “That may be, Jessie, but I cannot be a 
 Christian.” 
 
 “Do you think that the Christ who has saved 
 and satisfied your father and mother cannot do 
 the same for you?” 
 
The “Elmhurst” Family 
 
 31 
 
 “To tell the truth, Jessie, — I have tried, but 
 all in vain. I never told anyone before, but I 
 am tired of the life I am living, and I wish 
 again and again I could live differently, but it 
 is impossible.” 
 
 “Yes, in your own strength, but not if you 
 take Christ as your Saviour and have the power 
 of God in your life.” 
 
 “You may be surprised to know that I have 
 even gone down on my knees at my bedside and 
 have done just what you say I ought to do, and 
 thought I was saved, for I know God’s way of 
 salvation, but the next day I could not pass the 
 saloon no matter how I tried ; can you explain 
 that?” 
 
 “Yes, according to the Bible you were ‘led 
 captive by the devil at his will’ and you had to 
 go just where he led you, which goes to prove 
 you need to change masters. Why not take 
 Jesus Christ for your master and by God’s 
 grace serve Him, and bring the peace and com- 
 fort to this grand old home that nothing else 
 can bring?” 
 
 An awful struggle ensued, but once more 
 God’s Holy Spirit was driven away grieved, 
 and Satan got the victory. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 An Important Matter 
 
 I T was Sunday morning and the first Lord’s 
 Day Vera had been at home for several 
 years, as her vacations had been spent with 
 her father and mother, travelling or at their 
 summer home, so that she w r as a comparative 
 stranger at “The Elms.” 
 
 “Church is at 11 o’clock, dear, and William 
 will take us in the car.” 
 
 “All right, mother,” and Vera hurried off to 
 dress for church as she had done many times 
 before when a much smaller girl than she was 
 in the day in question. 
 
 The ride to church was uneventful but pleas- 
 ant. All nature seemed to recognize this day 
 of rest and gladness. The air was laden with 
 the perfume of flowers, the sun shone in all 
 his splendor, the birds sang their sweetest songs. 
 
 To be sure the pews were no longer rented, 
 but there was a particular one that was always 
 occupied by the Dicksons and it seemed as 
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
An Important Matter 
 
 33 
 
 though no one else dare enter that pew, nor sit 
 in that particular place to worship, so to this 
 pew Mr. Dickson led the way. 
 
 Vera was full of curiosity; she had heard so 
 much about this strange preacher who had some 
 way or other been called to preach in their 
 church, that she expected to see some kind of 
 monstrosity in the place of their former pastor 
 who would not have off ended Mrs. Dickson for 
 worlds. Instead, she saw a young man, tall, 
 well-built and fine-looking, with a mass of black 
 hair, and blue eyes that seemed to see right into 
 the souls of his hearers. His square chin indi- 
 cated great determination and his firmly-set 
 jaw looked as though he defied men or devils 
 when God revealed to him some truth from His 
 word. 
 
 “His preaching is better in the mornings,” 
 whispered Mrs. Dickson, “I have almost de- 
 cided to stop coming at night, as he makes one 
 feel so uncomfortable.” 
 
 Vera enjoyed the preliminary part of the 
 service, as she was fond of music, and that 
 church was famed for having the best talent 
 that money could procure. Then came the ser- 
 
34 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 mon, when the minister took for his theme, 
 “Service,” basing his remarks on the words 
 “Go w r ork today in my vineyard” (Matt. 
 21:28). 
 
 He showed the need of working “today,” 
 for the night cometh when no man can work, 
 and urged all the real children of God to get 
 into harness for their Master, and obey His 
 command. The speaker was eloquent ; his audi- 
 ence hung on his words, and the power that 
 accompanied them seemed to grip his hearers, 
 sending them forth to be, no longer idlers, but 
 “laborers together with God” (1 Cor. 3:9). 
 
 Vera listened very attentively, but for some 
 reason a great deal of what was said was incom- 
 prehensible to her. Being enamored, however, 
 with the preaching, she determined to take a 
 class in Sunday-school and so do something to 
 obey the command that had been so clearly her- 
 alded forth that morning. 
 
 The service was not mentioned until the 
 Dickson family was seated at the lunch table, 
 when Vera announced her intention and in- 
 quired how she should go about the work. Her 
 mother, who was not only a leader in society. 
 
An Important Matter 
 
 35 
 
 but, who, since she came as a bride to “The 
 Elms,” had been a leader in the church also, 
 had no difficulty in directing her to the right 
 person, feeling rather proud of her daughter 
 for following her mother’s example in combin- 
 ing pleasure in the world with service in the 
 church. 
 
 Vera, according to her mother’s suggestion, 
 went to see the officials of the church. She 
 made her request and the following Sunday 
 was installed in a class of ten fine boys, ranging 
 from fifteen to nineteen years of age. 
 
 The boys were delighted, and all the more so 
 when they found their young teacher so charm- 
 ingly natural and unassuming, and so appar- 
 ently free from fanaticism. They immediately 
 decided they were going to have a good time in 
 their class in the coming days, and they were 
 not disappointed, for their teacher had her 
 mother’s ability to entertain, and no class in all 
 that large school was so fortunate — so the boys 
 thought — as class No. 3. Never a week passed 
 but Vera had some new entertainment planned 
 for her boys, and she herself joined them in all 
 their pleasures. With the help of Alick Gor- 
 
36 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 don and some of her friends in the city, her 
 programmes were considered by entertainers a 
 
 very unusual and extraordinary type. 
 
 * * * * * * * 
 
 Two long rings had failed to bring anyone 
 to the telephone at the Dickson residence, and 
 Vera, who was disturbed in her reading, went 
 herself, and sitting down on the chair at her 
 mother’s desk, raised the receiver. 
 
 “Hullo.” 
 
 “Vera?” 
 
 “Yes, Alick.” 
 
 “I’m coming over to see you.” 
 
 “All right.” 
 
 “I have a very important matter to ask you 
 about and must get it off my mind.” 
 
 “Come right over then.” 
 
 “Goodbye.” 
 
 “Goodbye,” and she hung up the receiver. 
 That was nothing unusual since there was 
 a perfect understanding between the young 
 people that some day they would be united in 
 holy matrimony, and the parents in both homes 
 were well satisfied with the arrangement. 
 
An Important Matter 
 
 37 
 
 V era was just wondering what the important 
 matter was when Alick walked in unannounced 
 and greeted her. They laughed gaily and chat- 
 ted for a time and then remembering the “im- 
 portant matter,” she said, “Now, young man, 
 what is it that gives you trouble?” 
 
 “It is a matter that is not pleasant to handle.” 
 
 “For you or for me?” said Vera in a banter- 
 ing way. 
 
 “For both,” replied Alick, with so much ear- 
 nestness that Vera thought there was trouble 
 brewing somewhere. 
 
 “Proceed.” 
 
 “What is your idea about card-playing, 
 Vera?” 
 
 “Why do you ask that question?” asked Vera, 
 surprised at the introduction to the unpleasant 
 discussion. 
 
 “Well, it is just like this, Vera, — our people 
 are strong against cards and I was more than 
 surprised that you used them here as part of 
 the entertainment for your Sunday-school 
 class.” 
 
 She had turned very pale, but as her lips 
 took a resolute curve she faced the issue and 
 
38 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 answered decisively, “I see no harm in playing 
 cards at any time; my boys enjoy it and I see 
 no reason why I should not give them all the 
 pleasure possible so as to hold them for the 
 Sunday-school and also for the church.” 
 
 “Supposing they should become gamblers, 
 which is an argument used today against 
 cards.” 
 
 “That could never be,” she said with great 
 excitement. “My boys are splendid; none of 
 them have a desire to go farther than I tell 
 them in regard to cards ; besides I have no faith 
 in men who cannot play a game of cards occa- 
 sionally without becoming gamblers.” 
 
 “Supposing you were engaged to one of 
 those boys and he actually became a gambler, 
 would you marry him?” 
 
 “Certainly not ! I would have nothing to do 
 with a man who could not be as temperate in 
 this as in everything else.” 
 
 Alick hung his head and was lost in thought 
 for a few minutes, while Vera watched him 
 closelv. 
 
 “That is all I wanted to know, Vera. Our 
 folks have such strong convictions about these 
 
An Important Matter 
 
 39 
 
 things that I was anxious to know your mind, 
 and determined to find out before it would 
 trouble me further.” 
 
 “Were you really troubled, Alick?” 
 
 “Yes, I was, but since I know your opinion 
 I feel wonderfully relieved as I have such con- 
 fidence in you and value your judgment in this 
 as in many other things. You are such an ad- 
 mirable character, Vera; so anxious to help 
 others ; doing everything in your power for hu- 
 manity and yet not a bit narrow-minded. You 
 know, Vera, my mother is one of the best 
 women in the world, but she is so narrow along 
 these lines that a fellow has no liberty in enter- 
 ing into modern amusements whatever.” 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 The Itinerant Preacher 
 
 S< T W ONDER why we should he bored with 
 special services in our church,” said Mrs. 
 
 JL Dickson, when she was seated at the lunch 
 table one Sunday after the morning service. 
 
 Dr. Archibald Douglass, a fearless evan- 
 gelistic preacher who dared to do things for 
 God in the face of opposition from the unspir- 
 itual members of his congregation, had an- 
 nounced that morning that a friend of his, who 
 had returned from an evangelistic tour of the 
 world, was to spend a week or two with him, 
 and the officials had consented to let him preach 
 in a short series of meetings. This svas what 
 drew forth the criticism of Mrs. Dickson, who 
 continuing, said, “I feel it is an imposition to 
 heap up expenses when we are paying a large 
 salary already to our pastor and expect him to 
 do the work. We do not need an evangelist in 
 our church; let him go to the rescue missions 
 and talk to the ribald habitues there; to bring 
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
The Itinerant Preacher 
 
 41 
 
 him to our church to convert us is an insult to 
 the staunch members of our congregation who 
 built the church and have supported it so loy- 
 ally and nobly through the years. I have no 
 sympathy with such a move ; I fear we have the 
 wrong man for our pastor this time, and any- 
 thing I can do to have him removed you may 
 rest assured I will do it, and will not fail to 
 greet his departure with acclamation.” 
 
 Vera, who never was regarded as capricious, 
 was very thoughtful and her mother turned to 
 her with the query, “Are you going tonight?” 
 
 “Yes, mother, I shall go; you see my opin- 
 ions are not fixed like yours. My knowledge 
 of church work is very fragmentary and I pre- 
 fer to hear for myself in order to be better able 
 to discuss the matter intelligently.” 
 
 Mrs. Dickson demurred somewhat at first, 
 but reassured by her daughter’s reference to 
 her intelligence, she said, “You have always 
 been a very sensible, level-headed girl whom no 
 fanatical preaching could lead astray, there- 
 fore it will be perfectly safe for you to attend 
 and study the thing through, and I venture to 
 say you will agree with me as to the type of 
 
42 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 people this kind of preaching is intended for.” 
 
 So Vera went that night, and the message 
 seemed so straight from the Word of God that 
 it went right home to her susceptible heart. 
 There was no sign of fanaticism about the 
 preacher but an earnestness that made Vera 
 feel he knew what he was talking about. 
 
 The text was Genesis 3 : 9, “Where art thou ?” 
 and the preacher put the question to Christians, 
 backsliders, and sinners. His points were well 
 illustrated and applied to his hearers; he did 
 not talk to people who were not there, but 
 right to the heart of each person present, re- 
 minding Vera of Daniel Webster, who said, 
 “When I listen to a speaker I like to feel that 
 he is making it to me a personal matter.” 
 
 She went home impressed and very thought- 
 ful and as she knelt at her bedside that night 
 she could hear again and again the clear, rich, 
 bell-like voice of the preacher, asking the ques- 
 tion, “Where art thou?” 
 
 She attended very regularly for several 
 nights, becoming more and more impressed. 
 It seemed as though the preacher knew her 
 thoughts and that some one must have told 
 
The Itinerant Preacher 43 
 
 him her life story; more than once she felt 
 inclined to ask him why he singled her out in 
 all that vast audience and preached to her alone. 
 
 It was all new to Vera and she wished the 
 application could be expunged from his ser- 
 mons, as that troubled her more than his argu- 
 ments and caused her to toss about on her 
 pillow for hours at a time, resulting in a decision 
 more than once, never to return to the meet- 
 ings, only to find herself there the next night 
 as one of his most interested listeners. 
 
 One night he made special reference to card- 
 playing and urged the people to drop the use 
 of cards and “Yield themselves unto God,” sav- 
 ing, with facile ease and certainty, as he re- 
 ferred them to the Word of God, that when 
 they belonged to the Lord they would not need 
 to go down to Egypt for help (Isa. 31 : 1) , not 
 even to amuse their friends nor entertain their 
 visitors ; they would, rather, employ their pre- 
 cious time in the service of Jesus Christ, and go 
 out seeking to bring others from the bondage 
 of sin to the glorious liberty of the children of 
 God. 
 
44 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 Vera, who was an adept card player, know- 
 ing that her mother had all arrangements made 
 for a great whist party the following week, 
 and that many of the people present were in- 
 vited, thought this was a reflection upon her 
 mother, so, Naaman-like, she went away in a 
 rage and did not study the movement to its 
 finale as she had previously intended to do. 
 
CHAPTER YI 
 Hurt Feelings 
 
 M RS. DICKSON, who looked askance 
 at all evangelistic work, had very qui- 
 etly planned a trip to a distant city to 
 visit friends, but especially to get away from 
 the meetings. She was too much of a lady to 
 openly protest, so she decided that to ignore 
 the effort would hurt the minister more than 
 to argue the point about the advisability of 
 having such services. 
 
 Vera, therefore, was practically alone, and 
 feeling she wanted to unburden her heart to 
 someone, she made her way through the 
 grounds to a little gate that led into the Gordon 
 demesne and soon she was looking into a sum- 
 mer house where she thought she would find 
 Miss Arnold ; she had discovered that that fine 
 Christian woman betook herself daily to a quiet 
 spot where she could spend some time undis- 
 turbed with the most congenial society she 
 knew, namely, her Lord and His Word. 
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
46 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 The summer house looked like a miniature 
 library and Miss Arnold was seated at the table 
 enjoying herself as she pored over her open 
 Bible. 
 
 “Good morning. Miss Arnold,” said Vera, as 
 she bounded in. 
 
 “Good morning, Miss Vera, you gave me 
 quite a start ; I did not realize my hiding-place 
 had been discovered and I did not even hear 
 you coming.” 
 
 “Too much engrossed in your reading, per- 
 haps.” 
 
 “I was enjoying my portion very much,” 
 said Miss Arnold, as she laid her hand caress- 
 ingly on the open Bible. 
 
 “I thought so; you seemed oblivious to every- 
 thing else,” said Vera. 
 
 “You look as though something is troubling 
 you this morning. May I ask what it is?” 
 
 “You guessed aright; there is something 
 troubling me and that is why I came here for a 
 little ‘confabulation’ with you.” 
 
 “Nothing wrong at home, I hope, Miss 
 Vera.” 
 
Hurt Feelings 
 
 47 
 
 “Oh no!” she said laughingly, “I have no 
 home troubles. You may think it strange but 
 I am troubled about the meetings.” 
 
 “I thought you were enjoying them; you 
 seemed so much interested.” 
 
 “That is so; I was very much interested until 
 last night.” 
 
 “And what happened then?” 
 
 “The preacher came out so strongly against 
 card-playing.” 
 
 “Was he wrong in so doing?” 
 
 “Perhaps not; but everyone does not agree 
 with him on that question.” 
 
 “You would not expect him to compromise 
 even though he knew that, would you?” 
 
 “He could at least have left the question 
 open,” said Vera, warming up to her subject. 
 “I do not see what that has to do with the 
 gospel anyway.” 
 
 “Would not that in itself be compromising?” 
 
 “I knew you would not agree with me, hut I 
 want you to know that I am completely dis- 
 gusted with the whole thing, and I have made 
 up my mind never to go back while he is in 
 this city.” 
 
48 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 “But, dear, he did not say anything that is 
 not true.” 
 
 “That may be,” said Vera, “but our min- 
 ister knows that part of the entertainment at 
 our house is cards, that I bring my Sunday- 
 school boys there occasionally for a game of 
 cards, and our people are among the best con- 
 tributors to the church funds, and to bring a 
 stranger here to criticise us to our faces is going 
 too far. I feel justified in the stand I take. 
 It is just as mother said, ‘These special meet- 
 ings are all right for rescue missions, but not 
 for a church like ours.’ ” 
 
 “You are not going to leave the church over 
 it, are you?” said Miss Arnold, fearing the 
 family would drift from the gospel that was 
 being given in all its simplicity. 
 
 “No,” said Vera thoughtfully. “I shall keep 
 my class and continue my church work just the 
 same as before, but will be conspicuous by my 
 absence at special services in future.” 
 
 Tears were in Miss Arnold’s eyes and Vera 
 thought she had said too much, so when she had 
 finished her little speech she arose to go, and, 
 slipping her arm around Miss Arnold’s shoul- 
 
Hurt Feelings 
 
 49 
 
 ders, she kissed her affectionately and said, 
 “There! I did not mean to trouble you with 
 all my worries, and I shall leave you before I 
 do any more harm.” 
 
 Miss Arnold smiled through her tears and 
 could only answer, “I will pray for you. Miss 
 Vera; the Lord has something greater for you 
 to do.” But not realizing the meaning of that 
 sentence, Vera went off feeling better since 
 she had confided her troubles to someone else. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Card Party 
 
 M RS. DICKSON was very much inter- 
 ested in what happened during her 
 absence. She was not long home until 
 she discovered Vera’s decision about the cards 
 and her joy knew no bounds when she learned 
 that once more she and her daughter saw eye 
 to eye with each other. 
 
 “You were perfectly right, my dear,” she 
 said, as she patted Vera on the arm. “I am 
 more than proud of a daughter who cannot he 
 led astray by such fanatics as are brought to 
 our church these days.” 
 
 Then as the days went by and the loquacious 
 ladies told of the happenings in the church dur- 
 ing the visit of this strange evangelist, Mrs. 
 Dickson’s placid anger gave way to a more 
 furious kind and she scolded, talked, planned, 
 and even threatened until she almost made 
 Vera sorry she had taken the step she did. 
 
The Card Party 
 
 51 
 
 “The idea,” said Mrs. Dickson to a caller one 
 day, as the conversation turned quickly to the 
 only topic that seemed to tickle the ears of her 
 set, “of our circle of friends being dubbed as 
 gamblers because we give prizes at our clubs 
 and card parties, and to think that our church 
 which we helped to organize and for which we 
 have worked so hard, should at this time in its 
 history have a minister who would dare to bring 
 a man to insult our members by talking about 
 our innocent amusements, and do everything 
 but call out our names. I wonder what religion 
 is coming to? I presume the time will soon 
 come when we will not be permitted by the 
 church to do anything but eat, work and sleep. 
 Presently the discipline will be so fixed that we 
 will not be able to worship there unless we see 
 eye to eye with every Tom, Dick, and Harry 
 of an evangelist who happens to come our way. 
 I do not believe in such tommy-rot. I believe 
 in attending church and supporting it as an 
 institution, but I also believe in personal liberty 
 and feel perfectly free to do as I please outside 
 the doors of the sanctuary.” 
 
52 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 “Now daughter,” she said to Vera, who was 
 just returning from a ride, “just to show your 
 good sense I want you to come and help me 
 select the prizes for our party. We will have 
 the very best and many of them, just to get 
 even with that sanctimonious Dr. Douglass 
 who thought he did such a good thing in hitting 
 us indirectly for our card-playing.” 
 
 So it came to pass that never had there been 
 such a party in the city and never such prizes 
 off ered as were carried away by the fortunate 
 ladies who did not agree with the pastor of 
 that aristocratic congregation. 
 
 But in the well-furnished pastor’s study sat 
 Dr. Douglass brooding over his many troubles, 
 not the least of which was the opposition he had 
 to face from the most prominent members of 
 his church, and on bended knees he pleaded with 
 God to awaken and save these same women 
 who could be a power for God in leading others 
 into the paths of righteousness, if they them- 
 selves were fully surrendered to the claims of 
 Jesus Christ. As he again surrendered his 
 own life, he asked for grace to be kept true and 
 loyal to his convictions and to his God as one 
 
The Card Party 
 
 53 
 
 of His appointed shepherds, who was laboring 
 not to please men, but with a single eye to the 
 glory of God. 
 
 That evening he was going to teach a com- 
 pany of young men and young women whom 
 the Lord had helped to bring together in an 
 organized Bible class and who had learned the 
 power of a separated life. They loved their 
 teacher as children love a father, for many of 
 them had definitely surrendered to the claims 
 of Christ under his ministry, while all of them 
 had been led into the deeper truths of the Word 
 of God and were now actively engaged in the 
 work of soul-winning. When he reached the 
 meeting-place he found them talking in groups, 
 and there was a little more difficulty than usual 
 in bringing the meeting to order. The grand 
 old song written by Dr. A. J. Gordon was sung 
 in a very prayerful spirit : 
 
 “Help me to be holy, 
 
 0 Father of light; 
 
 Guilt-burdened and lowly, 
 
 1 bow in Thy sight; 
 
 How shall a stained conscience, 
 
 Dare gaze on Thy face? 
 
 E’en though in Thy presence 
 Thou grant me a place. 
 
54 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 “Help me to be holy, 
 
 O Saviour divine; 
 
 Why conquer so slowly 
 This nature of mine? 
 
 Stamp deeply Thy likeness 
 Where Satan’s hath been; 
 
 Expel with Thy brightness 
 My darkness and sin! 
 
 “Help me to be holy, 
 
 O Spirit divine; 
 
 Come, sanctify wholly 
 This temple of Thine; 
 
 Now cast out each idol, 
 
 Here set up Thy throne. 
 
 Reign, reign without rival, 
 Supreme and alone!” 
 
 Then the president of the class said: “I feel 
 led to ask Dr. Douglass to change the course 
 of this meeting tonight. My heart is grieved 
 when I think of the people belonging to this 
 church who are ‘lovers of pleasure more than 
 lovers of God.’ We, who have been attending 
 these Bible classes have learned to know a little 
 of ‘the depths of the riches of His grace’ as we 
 have been privileged to study under the faith- 
 ful teaching of our pastor and we can under- 
 stand, in a little measure, the burden he is 
 carrying as he seeks to lead us on for God in the 
 
55 
 
 The Card Party 
 
 face of opposition from the influential, but un- 
 spiritual members of this church. I feel that 
 we, too, have a responsibility in this matter, and 
 must shoulder the burden, helping our pastor 
 by our prayers, sympathy and hearty co-opera- 
 tion. While his heart is sad tonight — judging 
 from our own feelings — I propose that we have 
 a prayer meeting instead of our regular Bible 
 study class, and that we ask God definitely to 
 save the society leaders in this church and also 
 in the community. All who are in favor of 
 turning this meeting into an old-fashioned 
 prayer meeting for the purpose of waiting 
 upon God, raise your hand.” Every hand went 
 up and, turning to the pastor, he said: “Dr. 
 Douglass, we turn the meeting over to you to 
 conduct it as you are led by the Holy Spirit, 
 but please remember that we are with you in 
 the stand you take against sin, and we are de- 
 termined to be loyal to Jesus at all costs.” 
 
 Glad to know he could at least count on this 
 company of young people to “pray through” 
 until the devil was defeated, he dispensed with 
 the lesson, and together they knelt to fight a 
 battle with “principalities and powers in heav- 
 
56 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 enly places” (Eph. 6: 12), that was going to 
 give victory to the hosts of the Lord in the near 
 future, for little did they realize how soon their 
 prayers would be answered in God’s way which 
 is always far more “abundantly than we can 
 ask or think.” 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Gambling 
 
 M RS. GORDON was becoming more 
 and more worried about Alick. She 
 had recently learned that one of his 
 friends had lost all his money in gambling and 
 had gone away from the city. Although Alick 
 did not tell his mother so, she was convinced in 
 talking the matter over with him, that only one 
 of the young men had drifted to the gambling 
 dens. 
 
 As the days went by, however, it became 
 more and more apparent that Alick could not 
 get enough money, and naturally he always 
 came to his mother. It seemed as though he 
 was spending his own income and that of his 
 father as well, and then he was not satisfied. 
 This condition of affairs alarmed Mrs. Gordon 
 and when her husband told her something had 
 gone wrong with his books, and money was 
 missing that had been entrusted to him for in- 
 vestment, she concluded, with her womanly 
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
53 Vera Dicksons Triumph 
 
 intuition, that more than one young man had 
 left the so-called innocent amusement in the 
 homes of church members, to join the ranks of 
 those who frequent the gambling dens of the 
 world. Therefore she paid a secret visit to the 
 office of her husband and together they went 
 over the books to try to unravel the mystery. 
 Y es, it was- only too true, the m'oney had been 
 taken, and strange to say just the amount that 
 they had learned the other young man had lost. 
 This startling revelation confirmed what they 
 had feared for some time, proving that their 
 boy had been a partner in sin with his com- 
 panion who had left the country several months 
 ago. 
 
 Next morning Miss Arnold was preparing 
 to come down for the morning worship, which, 
 for a reason unknown to her, had been post- 
 poned until eleven o’clock. It was now ten 
 forty- five and a knock at her door made her 
 think she was wanted down stairs, when Mrs. 
 Gordon appeared with a strained, anxious look 
 in her face. 
 
Gambling 
 
 59 
 
 “Don’t come down stairs until Alick leaves,” 
 said the sad-faced mother and walked out again 
 without waiting for an answer. 
 
 Miss Arnold waited half an hour and then, 
 hearing the door close and someone walk down 
 the driveway, she decided Alick had gone, so 
 she slipped down and quietly opened the library 
 door and to her surprise there he stood, his 
 elbow on the mantel-piece, his head on his hand, 
 and tears falling on the rug at his feet. His 
 mother stood beside him waiting, and the an- 
 swer she was asking for came, — “Yes, mother, 
 I did it.” 
 
 Jessie Arnold closed the door as quietly as 
 she had opened it, feeling that this was no place 
 for intruders. She was not surprised when 
 later Mrs. Gordon told her she had accused 
 Alick of theft, and that he had confessed, so 
 like his friend he, too, had gone away without 
 saying goodbye to anyone, not even to Yera, 
 for had she not told him she would never marry 
 a man who was not strong enough to play cards 
 without gambling? 
 
 Everything was hushed up and kept very 
 quiet, but it reached the Dickson family never- 
 
60 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 theless, and somehow Vera had a guilty con- 
 science, as over and over again would rise 
 before her a vision of Alick when he came to 
 discuss that “important matter.” Her own 
 voice seemed to mock her as it echoed from the 
 past telling him there was no harm in card- 
 playing, and with what anguish of heart she 
 now recalled, — what she thought at the time a 
 compliment, — his remark that she was not so 
 narrow minded as his mother. 
 
 It did not seem judicial to visit the Gordon 
 home or mention Alick even to Miss Arnold 
 since they seemed so reticent that no one could 
 approach them on the subject, so poor discon- 
 solate Vera carried the burden alone, and fear- 
 ful were her conjectures as to the fate of Alick, 
 while ever and anon she wished she could undo 
 the past and bring him back exonerated. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Deepening Interest 
 
 “ A CITY-WIDE evangelistic campaign! 
 
 /% What will we have next?” said Mrs. 
 iTXDickson, when she learned that the lead- 
 ing men of the city had been called to meet the 
 ministers to discuss the advisability of having a 
 united effort to reach the entire city for Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 “I think it is a fine thing,” said her husband, 
 who had been appointed treasurer of the move- 
 ment. “Single church efforts are no longer 
 reaching the non-church going people, so that 
 the only hope now is the large tabernacle meet- 
 ings which break down denominational preju- 
 dice and bring together all classes of people in 
 the hope that many may be won for God.” 
 
 Disconcerted in her effort to frustrate the 
 plans if possible, she said in her most sarcastic 
 way, “You speak as though you might be the 
 first to ‘hit the trail.’ ” 
 
 “Well there is no knowing what may hap- 
 pen before this thing has come to an end,” said 
 
 [61 ] 
 
02 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 Mr. Dickson, as he smiled at his wife’s disap- 
 proval of the whole thing. 
 
 So the weeks that followed were taken up 
 with detail work in preparation for the forth- 
 coming campaign. Committees were formed, 
 preliminary work started, and the city began 
 to hum with work and workers to make the 
 campaign, so far as organization was con- 
 cerned, the greatest event in the history of the 
 city. 
 
 Vera was appointed chairman of the young 
 women’s department of the campaign, and she 
 threw her whole heart and soul into the work, 
 enlisting the sympathy and interest of high 
 school, college, business, and society girls. She 
 was also appointed by the music chairman 
 as special mezzo-soprano soloist in the large 
 chorus choir practicing for the meetings. 
 
 She enjoyed the work immensely and even 
 her mother seemed pleased as she told day after 
 day of her success in creating interest and 
 arousing enthusiasm in the young womanhood 
 of the city. 
 
 Like her mother she had an abundance of 
 surplus energy and this work afforded ample 
 
I will never go forward in that tabernacle to make a confession of my faith in God' 
 
Deepening Interest 
 
 65 
 
 opportunity to use it to great advantage for 
 the betterment of humanity. She had made a 
 special study of the social and civic condi- 
 tions in the city and had helped in reform 
 movements to reach the great mass of poverty- 
 stricken, drink-besotted, sin-soaked human 
 beings around her, and now this great sweep- 
 ing movement to bring them, as she expected, 
 into the church, appealed to her. F arther than 
 that Vera never went, in things pertaining to 
 God. 
 
 The time arrived for the opening of the cam- 
 paign and all who had planned and worked so 
 hard awaited the crucial moment with great 
 expectancy. 
 
 Vera was in her place in the huge choir loft, 
 and her father, as a prominent member of the 
 executive committee, was seated behind the 
 ministers, with Mrs. Dickson, inexorable as 
 ever, by his side. J udge Gordon also sat near 
 the ministers; he was chairman of the enter- 
 tainment committee and had thrown his home 
 open for the evangelistic party. Since there 
 were only three in their family now, they found 
 they could very comfortably use one wing of 
 
66 
 
 Vera Dicksons Triumph 
 
 the grand old home, while the rest of the house 
 was vacated for the exclusive use of the 
 evangelists. 
 
 Certainly they were criticized, but both the 
 Judge and Mrs. Gordon had prayed about the 
 matter, deciding that Philemon-like they could 
 provide a home for these servants of God. 
 Besides, they had learned from the Word of 
 God that His true servants were “given to hos- 
 pitality” (Rom. 12 : 13 ), so they were com- 
 pelled and impelled by love for God to take 
 care of His children. 
 
 The music, which was an exceptionally 
 strong feature, specially interested Vera. The 
 sermon, couched in the finest language, was a 
 strong appeal to all the real Christians present. 
 The text was “I beseech you therefore, breth- 
 ren, by the mercies of God, that ye present 
 your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, accept- 
 able unto God, which is your reasonable 
 service” (Rom. 12:1). 
 
 The most fastidious person present could 
 not but be pleased as the evangelist, a master 
 of his subject, carried them off into the starry 
 realms and pointed out God’s power in keep- 
 
Deepening Interest 
 
 67 
 
 ing in their place, planets, constellations, and 
 millions of stars, which are all subject to Him, 
 and that that same God, speaking through His 
 servant, was beseeching them, as poor w T orms 
 of the dust, to “present their bodies,” etc, that 
 He might use them for His own glory. It was 
 a heart-searching message, and God’s Holy 
 Spirit continued to speak to those who heard 
 it long after that first service had closed. 
 
 Vera and her father felt rather glad that 
 they had entered so heartily into everything, 
 while the Gordons felt no sacrifice was too 
 great for the Lord whom they were seeking 
 to serve faithfully day by day, but Mrs. Dick- 
 son felt rather uneasy, as she was not naturally 
 a self-sacrificing character and especially had 
 she made few sacrifices for God. 
 
 In the evening the tabernacle was crowded 
 again with a most auspicious gathering, and 
 the message was accompanied by the power of 
 the Holy Spirit, and all who were interested 
 felt that the opening meetings promised great 
 things for the coming days and weeks. 
 
 Vera had reasons for being in the work of 
 this campaign. First, it would lift her mind 
 
68 V era Dickson s Triumph 
 
 for the time being off the great trouble that 
 had come into her life; second, she wanted to 
 set a good example to others as she was a 
 recognized leader in the city, and third, her 
 musical talents could be used to great advan- 
 tage in a special way. So for about six weeks, 
 every minute of every day was filled and each 
 day seemed to bring fresh revelations. 
 
 There had been interest at the beginning, but 
 the interest had grown until people were talk- 
 ing of nothing else; no other movement had 
 been comparable in magnitude to this. With 
 superiority of inumbers in faith and conse- 
 cration the campaign against sin was launched 
 with such a concentration of energy as the 
 city had never seen. Telephones were going 
 continually and the conversation was all — cam- 
 paign. People by the scores and hundreds were 
 meeting in groups for prayer daily; meetings 
 were being held in shop and factory, and, 
 everywhere, people were singing campaign 
 songs. Men on the cars and trains were talking 
 campaign, and the conductors were whistling 
 some grand old gospel songs as they went about 
 their work. Business women and girls by the 
 
69 
 
 Deepening Interest 
 
 hundreds were having their own special meet- 
 ings, while seats were reserved for them at 
 the tabernacle ; business men, too, were meeting 
 at the noon-hour for prayer. Profanity had 
 ceased in some workshops, and large corpora- 
 tions were demanding sober men in their firms. 
 All this appealed as something new to Vera 
 who had never before seen practical Christian- 
 ity brought into every-day life. 
 
 She was not present on a particular night 
 when the invitation was extended to the Chris- 
 tians to reconsecrate their lives to the service of 
 Jesus Christ; but as splendid types of the best 
 men, socially and financially, came out for 
 Christ, Vera’s conscience began to trouble her, 
 but she decided it would be too humiliating, 
 after all the church work she had done, to come 
 out now and confess that she had never before 
 experienced the saving change in her heart 
 and life. 
 
 There was one fact, however, she could not 
 close her eyes to, — namely, that society ladies 
 who were singing in the choir and workers in 
 the audience had neither surrendered as sin- 
 ners, nor had they consecrated their lives as 
 
70 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 God’s children, and many times over Vera 
 asked herself the question, “Are they waiting 
 for mother or me?” 
 
 There had been a great deal said against 
 card-playing lately and she and her mother had 
 decided that while they would not give up this 
 form of entertainment entirely, they would 
 cease to give prizes. It was a salve for a guilty 
 conscience and only went to prove that a battle 
 was being waged in each breast, but so far no 
 decisive victory had been won. 
 
 The dissatisfied feelings Vera attributed to 
 the days and nights she had spent wondering 
 about Alick, and as she saw some splendid girls 
 and young women happy in the love of Jesus 
 and rejoicing in a new-found Savior, she 
 thought if they had the burden of sorrow she 
 was carrying, even salvation could not make 
 them seem happy; so while she sang, worked 
 and planned for the very best, so far as organ- 
 ization was concerned, she was the most miser- 
 able person in all that large campaign. She 
 had learned from experience that service was 
 not salvation, that no amount of work could 
 bring peace to a troubled soul and she was long- 
 
Deepening Interest 
 
 71 
 
 ing for a peace the world could not give. She 
 had spent sleepless nights and unhappy days ; 
 her mother, becoming alarmed when she noticed 
 that her daughter had lost her appetite, con- 
 cluded Vera was working too hard and the 
 strain was too great for her nervous system; 
 but Vera knew better. Her trouble was not 
 over-work, nor was she drawing on her reserve 
 nervous energy, but there was a load at her 
 heart that could only be removed by the 
 entrance of Jesus Christ. She had learned that 
 redemption alone could lift the burden, cleanse 
 her soul, bring peace to her troubled breast and 
 secure her for the heavenly home ; but that was 
 the point, she was unwilling to yield, — she 
 could not, would not take the place of a 
 sinner, and, as such, accept Christ as her Sav- 
 ior, therefore, she was among the many who 
 were saying, “Not now, some more convenient 
 day on Thee I’ll call.” The Holy Spirit was 
 grieved as He left her once more, a Christ- 
 rejecter, while she barred her proud heart 
 against the best Friend who had ever sought a 
 place in her affections and in her life. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Popular Amusements 
 
 A SPECIAL night had come in the cam- 
 paign when the evangelist spoke on 
 the subject of “Popular Amusements.” 
 People had crowded into the tabernacle to hear 
 the arguments of this well-informed lecturer on 
 a subject that touched the very heart of the 
 community. 
 
 Yera was in her place on the choir loft, feel- 
 ing very nervous and excited, wondering if 
 the evangelist would bring forth any real 
 strong arguments against card-playing, and if 
 the force of such arguments would humiliate 
 her in the presence of her set of friends, who, 
 actuated by motives of curiosity, were all 
 present. 
 
 Her mother had purposely absented herself 
 from that service to show her disapproval of 
 the lecture, but Yera, always fair-minded, had 
 bravely faced the question, and as Alick’s 
 downfall was continually in her mind, won- 
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
The tabernacle was crowded with a most auspicious gathering’ 
 
Popular Amusements 
 
 75 
 
 dered if she could possibly be convinced that 
 card-playing was wrong. 
 
 At the close of the lecture many crowded 
 down to the front to take a stand against all 
 amusements that were hurting others and 
 leading so many young people to a lost eternhy, 
 but Vera stood her ground, unwilling to yield 
 on any point. Her class of boys was present 
 and watching their teacher they decided to fol- 
 low her example, and let these fanatics go with 
 their narrow-minded views on the amusement 
 question, so smiling broadly at Vera they 
 nodded their willingness to stand by her in not 
 being influenced by any arguments against the 
 things they had been practising every week 
 since she became their much-admired teacher. 
 
 At last the meeting was to be closed; the 
 evangelist had raised his hands for all heads 
 to be bowed while he pronounced the benedic- 
 tion, when, suddenly, a man, in appearance 
 like a tramp, walked up the aisle, crushed 
 through the crowd, and took the evangelist by 
 the hand. All eyes were turned toward the 
 strange-looking person, all talking ceased as 
 every ear was strained to hear the testimony 
 
76 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 of this unexpected penitent, when his voice 
 rang out clear and distinct : 
 
 “I used to attend a church in this city when 
 I was a little boy. My father was an officer in 
 that church. There were seven of us boys in 
 our Sunday-school teacher’s class, and we were 
 much loved and respected by her. She used to 
 take us home on Saturday afternoon, and we 
 used to have music and refreshments, and then 
 we would look over our lesson for the following 
 day. After a bit, in order to keep hold of us, 
 she introduced us to cards. She showed us a 
 number of tricks, etc. We soon asked her to 
 give us a little less of the lesson and more of the 
 cards, and to show us more tricks. Shortly 
 after that we ceased to go to her home at all, 
 and took our cards and cigarettes to other 
 places. Then we soon took to gambling and, 
 of course, left the Sunday-school and her even- 
 ing class altogether. 
 
 “I want to tell you what became of those 
 boys. Two of those seven have been hanged; 
 three others are in the state prison for life; the 
 sixth one, if the police knew where he is, would 
 be there, too, and if they knew I were here, I 
 
Popular Amusements 
 
 77 
 
 should be behind the prison bars in double quick 
 time. All I have to say is, I wish that my Sun- 
 day-school teacher had not led us as she did, — 
 had never taught us boys to play cards.” 
 
 The man, with his wild, wayward look had 
 no sooner finished his story, than a woman, 
 dressed in black, staggered forward and fell at 
 his feet, and loudly exclaimed, in a woeful tone, 
 “My God! I am that Sunday-school teacher!” 
 
 A physician and nurse were summoned from 
 the audience and succeeded in resuscitating the 
 prostrated teacher, who was carried to the rest 
 room. Dr. Douglass was then called as it was 
 discovered she needed spiritual help more than 
 medical attention. 
 
 The man of God found her suffering agony 
 because of her sin. He explained that “if any 
 man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 
 Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1), and 
 told her if she would accept God’s terms, she 
 could have forgiveness according to His prom- 
 ise, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and 
 just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
 from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). 
 
78 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 “Can God forgive such sins as I have com- 
 mitted?” she asked, as she buried her head in 
 her hands and wept aloud. 
 
 “Most assuredly yes, provided you meet His 
 condition and confess.” 
 
 “Tell me how to confess and I will do it.” 
 
 “Tell Him frankly that you sinned when 
 you tried the world’s methods instead of God’s ; 
 when you dragged cards into your work for 
 the Master; when you became a tool of the 
 devil in leading your boys astray, rather than 
 using the only weapon God gives His servants 
 — ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word 
 of God’ (Eph. 6:17). Make an open con- 
 fession of it all, and then claim His promise.” 
 
 At last the light began to break through the 
 darkness of despair that had settled down on 
 the remnant of a wasted life, and she wept her 
 way back to God. The grief-stricken woman 
 confessed the sin that had long ago cut the 
 thread of communion between her soul and the 
 God whom she had professed to love and serve. 
 Then followed the prayer of a contrite heart, 
 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to 
 Thy loving kindness : according unto the multi- 
 
Popular Amusements 
 
 79 
 
 tude of Thy tender mercies blot out my trans- 
 gressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine 
 iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I 
 acknowledge my transgressions : and my sin is 
 ever before me. Purge me with hyssop, and I 
 shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be whiter 
 than snow. Hide Thy face from my sins, and 
 blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a 
 clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit 
 within me. Cast me not away from Thy pres- 
 ence ; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. 
 Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and 
 uphold me with Thy free spirit. Then will I 
 teach transgressors Thy ways ; and sinners 
 shall be converted unto Thee” (Psalm 51: 1- 
 3, 7, 9-13). 
 
 ^ nV. ^ 
 
 7PT v|v VfT vf* yfc ^ 
 
 As soon as the humiliated woman was taken 
 away from the gazing crowd the evangelist 
 proceeded with deep emotion — “Here is a case 
 in point — a Sunday-school teacher who has 
 been a stumbling-block to the boys of her class, 
 proving that you cannot do evil and expect 
 good will follows ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, 
 that shall he also reap’ (Gal. 6 : 7) , is the Word 
 
80 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 of the living God, and what He has said is true. 
 The same thing you sow you will reap, but in 
 larger measure. This woman sowed cards and 
 she has reaped gamblers. Sow a lifetime of sin 
 and you will reap an eternity of woe.” 
 
 “But now, my friend,” he continued, as he 
 addressed the strange penitent, “while we know 
 your story is true, we also know that you are 
 responsible to God for your never-dying soul. 
 Your soul, stained with sin, is precious in the 
 sight of God, and His promise is ‘Him that 
 cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out’ ( J ohn 
 6:37). Are you willing to come tonight, just 
 as you are, with all your sin, and put God to 
 the test?” 
 
 “If it is possible for God to save such as I, 
 I will trust Him now,” said the man, as he 
 grasped at the hope held out in the text. 
 
 “Praise God,” said the evangelist, “with 
 Him ‘there is nothing impossible’ ” (Luke 
 1:37). 
 
 Then like the publican of old the anxious in- 
 quirer smote himself on the breast and cried 
 with deep earnestness “God he merciful to me 
 
Popular Amusements 
 
 81 
 
 a sinner” (Luke 18: 13), and God heard and 
 answered prayer. 
 
 The meeting was broken up. It was a fitting 
 climax to a number of powerful arguments 
 against the use of cards. Many left the build- 
 ing thankful they had decided to give up that 
 particular form of amusement that was ruin- 
 ing men and women, as they had seen illustrated 
 when they listened to the story of the tramp. 
 Others, Vera among the number, went home 
 to fight the battle on their knees in the quiet- 
 ness of their own rooms, where decisions were 
 made that were going to change the life of 
 the community in the days and years to come. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 A Momentous Hour 
 
 V ERA seemed very quiet the next day 
 and talked little about the service of 
 the night before. Her mother was en- 
 tertaining and they saw little of each other, 
 but as the time drew near for the service in the 
 tabernacle it was evident from the preparations 
 that Vera was going again to hear the evangel- 
 ist preach, and from the sorrowful look in her 
 eyes and the resolute curve of her lips, it was 
 also evident that some important matter had 
 been, or was about to be, settled. 
 
 Again she was in her place in the choir. She 
 imagined she received special attention from 
 the evangelist, and that other members of the 
 party were looking at her from time to time, 
 not in a critical way, but as though they were 
 looking for an answer to the many prayers 
 that had been offered in the home of Judge 
 Gordon. 
 
 During the sermon, which was a strong 
 appeal to the heart and conscience of the un- 
 
 [ 82 ] 
 
A Momentous Hour 
 
 83 
 
 saved, she sat with pale face and set lips. It 
 is true that “God’s word is quick and powerful, 
 sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4: 
 12), for every word did its work as the Great 
 Physician probed to the core of sin in her heart 
 and made her more miserable than ever if that 
 were possible. She did not pass the message 
 on to others but applied it as a plumb-line to 
 her own heart, saying ever and anon, “That is 
 true, that message is meant for me,” as if there 
 were not another person in the tabernacle. “O 
 God, can I be saved?” At last the invitation 
 was given ; the choir sang very softly, 
 
 “Just as I am, without one plea, 
 
 But that Thy blood was shed for me. 
 
 And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” 
 
 The convicted girl joined in the singing, 
 every moment making her feel the force of the 
 lie upon her lips. No one moved as the evan- 
 gelist pleaded for sinners to surrender them- 
 selves unto God. The struggle in Vera’s heart 
 was indescribable. The choir was singing 
 again; she looked at her book and read the 
 
84 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 words as the softened voices interpreted them 
 to the anxious souls in the meeting. 
 
 “Just as I am. Thy love unknown. 
 
 Hath broken every barrier down; 
 
 Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” 
 
 There was a move in the choir and in that 
 momentous hour, Vera Dickson, who never lost 
 her poise, made her way off the platform to 
 the front and reaching her hand to the evangel- 
 ist said, “I have settled the great question.” 
 
 Just at that moment a very officious woman 
 walked up and, addressing Vera, said, “I am 
 so glad you are going to reconsecrate your life, 
 Miss Dickson.” 
 
 “No,” said Vera, still addressing the evan- 
 gelist, “I have come as a sinner, who never 
 experienced the saving change in my life to 
 accept Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and 
 confess Him before the world as my Lord. 
 With God’s help I intend putting everything 
 out of my life that is unlike Christ. The con- 
 fession of the tramp opened my eyes to my 
 influence and teaching on the boys of my Sun- 
 day-school class, and from henceforth I shall 
 
A Momentous Hour 
 
 85 
 
 give them the plain, simple, old-fashioned gos- 
 pel, instead of wasting my time entertaining 
 them as I have done in the past.” 
 
 Oh, the effect was electrical and tremen- 
 dous ! The audience was moved and from every 
 part of the choir and audience Vera’s friends 
 made their way down to take a similar stand 
 for Jesus Christ. Her class of boys all came 
 except one, and he was afraid of the opposi- 
 tion in his home if he followed the example of 
 his teacher. The society ladies who had so 
 often laughed at evangelism were now weep- 
 ing over the years of sinning wasted. Never 
 had there been such a sight as one after an- 
 other yielded themselves without reserve unto 
 God. The tabernacle rang with the praises 
 of the Lord, while there was “joy in the pres- 
 ence of the angels of God” over still other 
 souls repenting and turning to Him. 
 
 Early next morning, long before her people 
 made their appearance, Vera was out, and with 
 her favorite dog gamboling by her side she 
 made her way to “Elmhurst.” The air was 
 crisp and fresh and everything was so peace- 
 ful; the sky never looked more beautiful as 
 
86 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 she gazed at the blue canopy of heaven and 
 realized she had the smile of her heavenly 
 Father. It seemed the trees, too, were clap- 
 ping their hands, to the music in her soul. 
 What music? Nothing more or less than the 
 sweet melody set to the words which were the 
 language of the new born soul, 
 
 “Heaven above is brighter blue, 
 
 Earth around is sweeter green, 
 
 Something lives in every hue, 
 
 Christless eye hath never seen; 
 
 Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, 
 
 Flowers with deeper beauty shine. 
 
 Since I know, as now I know, 
 
 I am Christ’s and Christ is mine.” 
 
 Miss Arnold who had witnessed the scene 
 the night before was ready to welcome Vera, 
 and throwing her arms around her neck, she 
 showered her with kisses. 
 
 ‘Am I too early to see Mrs. Gordon?” said 
 Vera, just remembering the unearthly hour 
 she had come to call. “I do want to talk with 
 her and would like to see her alone.” 
 
 “Take a seat, and I shall arrange it for you; 
 don’t worry about time; you can have all the 
 time you want.” So saying, Miss Arnold dis- 
 
A Momentous Hour 
 
 87 
 
 appeared, returning in a few minutes with Mrs. 
 Gordon, who, in her motherly fashion, took the 
 girl in her arms, and looking into her eyes 
 which were filled with tears, said again and 
 again, “Thank God!” 
 
 “Mrs. Gordon,” said Vera, w r hen she had 
 regained her self-possession, “Sit down, while 
 I tell you what is on my heart, and will kill me 
 unless I can unburden it to you.” 
 
 Placing the dear girl in an easy chair, she 
 drew another up to her side and Mrs. Gordon 
 said, “Tell it all, Vera, dear. Don’t keep any- 
 thing back.” 
 
 “I do not know how you will ever forgive 
 me,” Vera began, “but I have had an awful 
 fight ever since Alick went away. I know all 
 about what he did, — and oh dear. I feel so 
 guilty for I encouraged him to play cards! 
 When he argued against the use of them with 
 my Sunday-school boys I told him there was 
 no harm in the game ; when he asked if I would 
 marry a man who had become a gambler, I 
 boastingly said, ‘No,’ and now, — Alick is gone. 
 I did my part in making him a gambler, yet I 
 was a church member and a Sunday-school 
 
88 Vera Dickson's Triumph, 
 
 teacher. The fight has been going on through- 
 out this entire campaign, and my decision last 
 night was only the outcome of the climax 
 brought to my misery when that tramp came 
 forward. Had I not done exactly the same 
 thing that teacher had done ? I had helped to 
 send Alick, a gambler, away from home and 
 mother. I kept my class of boys from deciding 
 for Jesus Christ. God has forgiven me, and 
 I am saved today, ‘redeemed not with cor- 
 ruptible things, as silver and gold, but with 
 the precious blood of Christ.’ N ow, dear Mrs. 
 Gordon,” and Vera was very wistful as she 
 spoke, “can you forgive me?” 
 
 Mrs. Gordon’s great mother-heart had been 
 going out to the girl as she realized what it 
 meant for her to make such a confession, and 
 with a ring of assurance in her voice, she said : 
 
 “Yes, my dear, I frankly forgive you. I 
 knew you could not have lived differently, as 
 you had not experienced a change of heart, 
 and all Alick needs, too, is the same change. 
 You and I shall pray him into the kingdom, 
 shall we not, Vera?” Together they knelt, 
 thanking God for one soul redeemed; asking 
 
A Momentous Hour 
 
 89 
 
 Him for the one who was still far from God 
 and grace, and believing that He could reach 
 him and bring the conviction necessary to make 
 Alick take the same stand Vera had taken for 
 her Lord and Master, and claim the promise, 
 “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching 
 anything that they shall ask, it shall be done 
 for them” (Matt. 18: 19). 
 
 “Now, dear,” said Mrs. Gordon as she kissed 
 her goodbye, “the next thing to do is to believe 
 the promises and cling to God for an answer to 
 our prayers. We must pray through and God 
 will honor our faith ; He has done it in the past 
 and, “He is the same yesterday, today and for- 
 ever” (Heb. 13:8). 
 
 “You have so much faith, Mrs. Gordon. I 
 wonder if I will ever grow to be such a strong 
 Christian as you.” 
 
 “Yes, you will and perhaps a great deal 
 stronger, for God’s Word makes it clear that 
 He can do great things for those who put their 
 trust in Him. You remember the portion, ‘He 
 found him in a desert land, and in the waste 
 howling wilderness ; He led him about, He in- 
 structed him, He kept him as the apple of His 
 
90 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 eye’ (Deut. 32: 10). What a wonderful God 
 we have! Trust Him every 
 you cannot trace Him, and all will be well.” 
 
 day even when 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 On the Bounding Ocean 
 
 T HE ship’s doctor sat at the same table 
 with Alick Gordon and as he took his 
 place at breakfast one morning, he an- 
 nounced the death of a young man who had 
 passed away the night before. 
 
 “What was the cause of death?” inquired 
 Alick. 
 
 “Pneumonia,” said the doctor. “He has had 
 a sad history, poor fellow, and being somewhat 
 of a humanitarian I encouraged him to tell me 
 the truth about his past. It seems he came 
 from a struggling though respectable family, 
 learned to play cards like many boys when he 
 was quite young, and soon acquired the art of 
 gambling. This caused him to drift from 
 home. The rest of his story is but a repetition 
 of many who have gone the same way. He 
 went from bad to worse until he found him- 
 self without friends in a strange land and ill 
 in body. His mother, a good woman I under- 
 
 [ 91 ] 
 
92 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 stand, sent enough money to take him home 
 where she might nurse him back to health. He 
 caught cold, developed pneumonia, and being 
 in a run-down condition was quite unable to 
 battle with the disease. We did everything in 
 our power to save him, but all in vain. We 
 will bury him tomorrow morning. Would you 
 like to see the funeral? It will take place at 
 seven o’clock from the lower deck aft.” 
 
 “I shall be there. I have never seen a fun- 
 eral at sea and I am anxious to know just how 
 it is conducted,” said Alick in an interested 
 manner. 
 
 At an early hour Alick was on deck and had 
 tried to get accustomed to the rolling of the 
 ship before the time fixed for the funeral. He 
 was a good sailor and was not afraid to appear 
 on deck in a storm, and if ever a storm raged it 
 seemed to outdo itself in ferocity that morning. 
 The wind howled, the sea roared and threw its 
 spray up in torrents, sweeping the deck every 
 time as though it were clamoring for the body 
 that was soon to be lowered into its depths. 
 When its purpose was not gained, it staggered 
 like a drunken man, throwing the great ship 
 
On the Bounding Ocean 93 
 
 about like a straw, first to one side until it 
 seemed she would never recover her poise. 
 Then foiled in its effort it would throw her to 
 the other side, and again anxious to get the 
 mastery, it would send her dipping forward 
 and reeling backward with creaks and groans 
 enough to make passengers decide to remain in 
 their staterooms, if not compelled to do so, and 
 the person who ventured up, found it difficult 
 to keep his feet unless he had his sea legs. 
 
 Promptly at seven o’clock the procession 
 came. First, came the captain accompanied by 
 a minister who was a passenger and who had 
 been asked to conduct the service. Then fol- 
 lowed the sailors carrying the stretcher on 
 which was placed the canvas casket containing 
 the remains of the poor fellow who had passed 
 away with not a friend to smooth his pillow as 
 death came to claim its victim. The nation’s 
 flag was draped around the stretcher and 
 casket. A number of officers and men fol- 
 lowed. They came to a certain place on the 
 deck that apparently had been cleared for the 
 occasion and Alick watched closely. The early 
 hour, the absence of curiosity-seekers, the re- 
 
94 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 spect for the dead, the reverence with which 
 these men doffed their hats as the stretcher 
 rested on the bulwark, all seemed to speak to 
 Alick of a great beyond to which every human 
 being must go; for a moment he was lost in 
 thought. Where is the poor fellow now? These 
 people were kind, no doubt, while he lived and 
 they are respectful now that he is dead. I 
 wonder if anyone ever thought of pointing him 
 to Christ? The minister was reading — Alick 
 knew by the movement of his lips, though no 
 one heard a sound. No human voice could be 
 heard above the voice of the storm as it poured 
 forth its sad wail, set in a minor key. It was 
 a wail that drove many a mariner to pray as he 
 had never prayed before, and gave many anx- 
 ious thoughts to the wife who lay awake think- 
 ing of her husband w 7 ho might never drop 
 anchor again and say triumphantly, as he 
 sprang on the pier, “Home.” The closed eyes 
 and folded hands of the minister told the on- 
 lookers he was praying. Then at a given signal 
 the sailors tilted the stretcher and the body in 
 its canvas casket dropped from under the flag 
 into the raging torrent beneath. No friend 
 
On the Bounding Ocean 
 
 95 
 
 was near to heave a sigh, no loved one to shed 
 a tear. There was something sad about it all, 
 and Alick turned away from the scene with 
 home and mother occupying his thoughts as 
 they had not done for some time. As he re- 
 viewed the past which might have been parallel 
 with that of the young man whose funeral serv- 
 ice he had just attended, and who had now 
 entered upon eternity, the language of his heart 
 was, “There goes Alick Gordon but for a merci- 
 ful God.” 
 
 Alick had turned over a new leaf, but was 
 very much troubled over the past, which in- 
 sisted on coming up before his vision, remind- 
 ing him that — 
 
 “Resolutions will not suffice, 
 
 Tis life poor sinners need.” 
 
 No one knew his need better than he did him- 
 self, for he had learned the necessity of the new 
 birth from childhood from the best teacher a 
 boy can have — a godly mother. 
 
 Judge Gordon had found a position for his 
 son with an old-time friend, who was going 
 abroad with a party of well-to-do business men 
 
96 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 in the interests of a new enterprise. Alick was 
 their legal adviser on the trip, and had done 
 his work so satisfactorily that they had offered 
 him, subsequent on his return, if he cared to 
 consider it, a permanent position, a good sal- 
 ary, and the chance of being introduced in a 
 new and growing city with the prospect of 
 building up a good practice for himself. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A Good Confession 
 
 O N Vera’s return home she found her 
 father alone in the library and, slipping 
 over to his side, Said, “Father, I want 
 to talk to you.” 
 
 “What troubles my little daughter?” said 
 the kind-hearted man who loved Vera dearly. 
 
 “Nothing troubles me,” said Vera, her face 
 illumined with such light and gladness that her 
 father watched it, entranced. “I am the hap- 
 piest girl in all the world today. Last night 
 I accepted Christ as my Savior and confessed 
 Him as my Lord.” 
 
 “You don’t mean to say you came out in the 
 meeting?” 
 
 “Yes, father, I did.” 
 
 “But you have always been a good girl, Vera, 
 and I cannot see why you needed a change; 
 you never did anything wrong.” 
 
 “No, I never did anything that I knew was 
 wrong, but I did something that was wrong 
 
 [ 97 ] 
 
98 
 
 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 in the sight of God. Mother and you did not 
 seem to think there was any harm in it and 
 that made the tight all the more bitter for me, 
 but I settled it all with God, last night, and I 
 feel so happy today.” 
 
 “Will you tell me just what you mean by 
 that statement?” and Vera with incisive tones 
 gave a full explanation. 
 
 “I have always played cards and we have 
 given prizes at our parties and I have won 
 prizes at other card parties. I have enter- 
 tained my Sunday-school boys here once a week 
 ever since I came from college and when Alick 
 Gordon came for my advice I upheld card- 
 playing as a perfectly legitimate way of enter- 
 taining. He was pleased that I went against, 
 what he called, the narrow-minded views of his 
 mother. You remember poor Alick became a 
 gambler, and used up the money entrusted to 
 his father for investment, and left home, while 
 his father and mother have been working so 
 hard ever since to pay his debts. W ell, father, 
 I could have nipped that sin in the bud if I had 
 only known that a form of amusement that 
 would end in disaster for one person, was 
 
A Good Confession 
 
 99 
 
 not right for a Sunday-school teacher. The 
 trouble, however, was, I was a church member 
 and a Sunday-school teacher professionally, 
 without ever having experienced a change of 
 heart. The Lord opened my eyes during this 
 campaign to see myself as a sinner in the sight 
 of God, needing nothing more or less than the 
 new birth, and only last night did that saving 
 change take place in my heart.” 
 
 Her father paid splendid attention to all 
 the beautiful girl had said, and seeing the kind- 
 ly interest in his face Vera ventured to say, 
 
 “May I ask a question, father?” 
 
 “Certainly, dear.” 
 
 “Are you saved ?” 
 
 “I think not, Vera.” 
 
 “You would make such a fine Christian, 
 father.” 
 
 “I have been thinking very seriously about 
 this matter since these meetings started, and I 
 assure you if mother would take the step you 
 have taken I would go with her and publicly 
 confess Jesus Christ before the world.” 
 
 This added to Vera’s happiness immensely, 
 and she went out to look for her mother, feel- 
 
100 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 ing sure that all she had to do was to tell her as 
 she had told her father and she, too, would sur- 
 render to the claims of Christ ; and their home 
 would become a very Bethany on earth where 
 Jesus loved to come to dwell. 
 
 Vera was doomed to disappointment when 
 she met her mother, and the Lord seemed to 
 have been preparing her for the trial that lay 
 before her, by giving her so many things to 
 encourage her during the hours that had passed 
 since she became a child of God. 
 
 She was in the drawing-room when her 
 mother entered, looking very much excited and 
 apparently worked up about something, and 
 Vera wondered if it were an opportune time 
 to tell her about her new-found joy and hap- 
 piness. She did not need to wonder long, for 
 rage was written on every feature of Mrs. 
 Dickson’s face as she paced the floor, and the 
 twitching of her mouth was a prelude to the 
 battle that was about to be fought. 
 
 “Vera,” she said, with a voice stern and per- 
 emptory, stopping in front of the girl, “what- 
 ever has happened to you ? I have heard of the 
 scene you made in the tabernacle last night and 
 
A Good Confession 101 
 
 the stand you took against cards, and you know 
 very well where I stand on that question. It 
 was bad enough for the minister and the evan- 
 gelist to be extreme along some lines, but for 
 my own daughter to go so far against her moth- 
 er as to take a stand like that, right in our 
 city, and among my set of friends, is too much. 
 These things are for the plebean and are des- 
 picable enough in them, but what are we 
 coming to in society when the daughter of L. 
 W. Dickson joins the fanatics, and leads a 
 procession of society women down to the front 
 in a revival meeting, and then have them come 
 here to convert me to their views, as though I 
 were the greatest sinner in town! What have 
 you to say for yourself?” 
 
 Vera felt her insufficiency to answer her 
 mother’s arguments, but with a prayer for help 
 she ventured to say, “Only this, mother, — that 
 I never knew I was a sinner until these meet- 
 ings started.” 
 
 “What dreadful thing have you done that 
 you should have to take the place of a sinner 
 like that?” 
 
102 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 “It isn’t that mother; God’s Word says that 
 ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory 
 of God’ (Rom. 3: 23) , and that included me; it 
 is not the amount of my sin, but the fact that 
 I came into the world a sinner, and nothing 
 could ever take me to heaven but the new 
 birth.” 
 
 “I understand that the principal thing you 
 have given up is cards, and if others have gone 
 too far with card-playing, I fail to see how that 
 could affect you.” 
 
 “That is just what I learned mother, ‘All 
 we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned 
 everyone to his own way’ (Isa. 53 : 6) , and that 
 is the way I had chosen, — a way that was lead- 
 ing me farther and farther from God, so I just 
 came as I was, a poor lost sheep to the fold last 
 night, and oh mother, dear, I am so happy ! I 
 want to see father and you take the same step 
 soon.” 
 
 “If you made a fool of yourself you need 
 not expect that we are going to follow your 
 example. I do not believe in public demon- 
 strations of religion and will never go forward 
 in that tabernacle to make a confession of my 
 
A Good Confession 
 
 103 
 
 faith in God, so you may make up your mind 
 now that you have to stand alone.” With this 
 she swept out of the room and, as if by tacit 
 agreement, the subject was not again resumed. 
 The first blow to Vera’s new-found faith and 
 joy had come, and she went to her room to 
 quietly weep over her sorrow and talk it over 
 with the Friend “that sticketh closer than a 
 brother” (Prov. 18: 24), for does not God’s 
 Word say, “He is touched with the feeling of 
 our infirmities” (Heb. 4 :15) , and exhorts us to 
 “Cast your care upon Him; for He careth for 
 you” ( 1 Peter 5:7)? She had a blessed time as 
 she turned to John 9 and read that when the 
 man who had been blind from birth, received 
 his sight and was cast out by the Jews, he was 
 befriended by the Son of God. Dropping on 
 her knees she cried to the God whom she had 
 only learned to trust and asked Him for His 
 friendship at this time when she had incurred 
 the anger of her mother for Christ’s sake. A 
 sweet, settled peace filled her soul as she real- 
 ized for the first time the truth — “Unto them 
 who believe He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7). 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Answered Prayer 
 
 V ERA had gone out early to meet some 
 college girls and have a lunch with 
 them before going to the tabernacle. 
 She had stopped asking her mother to attend 
 the services, but was praying that she might 
 have the joy of seeing her father and mother on 
 the side of Jesus Christ. Mrs. Dickson seemed 
 to be laboring under conviction ever since she 
 had learned of her daughter’s stand for her 
 Lord and Master. It was, therefore, bevond 
 Vera’s most sanguine expectations when she 
 saw her father and mother enter the building 
 and take their seats on the platform. She 
 prayed most earnestly that the Lord would 
 open her mother’s eyes and bring her to a sav- 
 ing knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 
 The sermon was a powerful one, the evan- 
 gelist basing his remarks on the text, “Choose 
 you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24: 
 15). As the old gospel story rang out once 
 
 [ 101 ] 
 
Answered Prayer 
 
 105 
 
 more in all its fullness and simplicity, Vera 
 prayed never so fervently, that her home might 
 become like Joshua’s when he made the choice 
 “as for me and my house, we will serve the 
 Lord.” Oh, the joy that came to her when the 
 invitation was given and her father and mother, 
 the society leaders of the city, came down from 
 the rostrum and stood beside the evangelist to 
 confess that they had made Joshua’s choice, 
 and were going henceforth to serve the Lord, 
 not as professors, but as possessors of the 
 eternal life that God alone can give ! 
 
 Vera, who was doing personal work in the 
 audience, heard the good news, and made her 
 way to the front. Her mother told her in the 
 most amicable terms how great the struggle had 
 been, and how, at last, it had ended at the 
 Cross so that now she could sing: 
 
 “I’m not ashamed to own my Lord, 
 
 Or to defend His cause, 
 
 Maintain the honor of His word, 
 
 The glory of His cross. 
 
 “At the cross, at the cross, 
 
 Where I first saw the light, 
 
 And the burden of my heart rolled away, 
 
 It was there by faith I received my sight, 
 
 And now I am happy all the day.” 
 
106 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 There was joy in the presence of the angels 
 that night, and Vera wondered if their joy 
 could be greater than the rejoicing of her heart 
 as she made her way home with her father and 
 mother, all saved and anxious to live for God 
 in such a way that he would be well pleased. 
 
 “Father,” said the happy girl, as they en- 
 tered their home, “shall we have family wor- 
 ship tonight before retiring?” 
 
 “Certainly, dear,” said her father, who was 
 now on fire for the God who had been kept out 
 of his life for so many years. 
 
 Together they read a portion of Scripture 
 and knelt in prayer, pouring out the gratitude 
 of their hearts to the One “who hath done 
 great things for us; whereof we are glad” 
 (Psalm 126: 3) . 
 
 Mrs. Dickson’s tears flowed freely as she 
 sobbed out her sorrow for the way she had 
 rejected the Son of God, and in making her 
 surrender the language of her very soul was, 
 
 “Were the whole realm of nature mine. 
 That were an offering far too small, 
 Love so amazing, so divine, 
 
 Shall have my soul, my life, my all.” 
 
Answered Prayer 
 
 107 
 
 “Vera,” she said, as she followed the girl 
 to her room, “I have lived so much for self in 
 the past, and I know so little of God, that I 
 need your help now in starting to live anew. 
 ‘Old things have passed away and all things 
 have become new’ (2 Cor. 5: 17). We will 
 require a regular house-cleaning campaign and 
 my desire is, that when we are through there 
 will not be a sign of the old life left in our 
 home to remind us of the time we have wasted — 
 precious time — that could have been spent for 
 God had we only known Him, but since we 
 cannot undo the past I want to redeem the 
 time, and crowd as much service as possible 
 into the remaining days and years. You will 
 help me, Vera, dear, won’t you?” 
 
 “Yes, mother, I will do anything I can, but 
 I feel so weak, I fear I will need more help 
 than you.” 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Miss Beatrice Dixon 
 
 I T was Sunday evening, and in a very nicely 
 furnished room in an apartment house in 
 a city many miles away, was a young man 
 lying in a recumbent position, suffering with 
 an acute attack of nostalgia. He leaned over 
 to the table and drew towards him a copy of 
 the Saturday evening paper and scanned the 
 columns of church notices, wondering where he 
 could go to pass the time and help him to forget 
 the past. His eye caught a strange notice, — 
 the name of a church was given with the name 
 of the pastor who was to preach in the morn- 
 ing, and then came the words that attracted 
 Alick Gordon, for it was he who w T as so lonely 
 and homesick, — “7 :30 P. M. Miss Beatrice 
 Dixon will lecture. Everybody invited.” 
 
 That name brought back memories of other 
 days and thoughts of the companionship of one 
 whose image was ever present with him, whom 
 from childhood lie had loved, and whom neither 
 
 [ 108 ] 
 
Miss Beatrice Dixon 
 
 109 
 
 time nor distance could efface from his 
 memory. 
 
 Courteous, kindhearted, generous almost to 
 a fault, Alick had made friends wherever he 
 went, and here, many had tried to lead him 
 into their clubs and societies, but the thoughts 
 of the past kept him from the thing that to 
 him was “the very appearance of evil.” 
 
 Men, too, with fastidious wives and elegant 
 daughters were unremitting in their attention 
 to the homeless young man who had come 
 amongst them, but while he accepted their at- 
 tentions with much complacency, he seemed 
 rather restless and uneasy at times. Again 
 and again he was taken to task for his moodi- 
 ness and absence of mind, but they were quite 
 unsuccessful in eliciting from him a satisfac- 
 tory explanation, so concluded he was either 
 a confirmed bachelor or had left behind him a 
 wife and family, clouded by a mystery they 
 were unable to solve. 
 
 It was, however, all too real to Alick, so try- 
 ing to throw off the homesick feelings he de- 
 cided to visit this particular church and hear 
 the lecture, so donning his hat and coat he left 
 
110 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 his lonely room and boarded a street-car for 
 the part of the city where the lady was to 
 lecture. 
 
 The church was small but cozy and comfort- 
 able. Few were there when he arrived, but 
 several men, who had come out of curiosity, to 
 hear the lecture also, came off the same car 
 and entered with Alick. They seemed jolly 
 and were very talkative, and suggested that 
 they go near the front, for said one, “A wom- 
 an’s voice is so weak we may not hear if we 
 stay in the rear.” 
 
 When they were seated on the left side of 
 the church they discussed the service. 
 
 “Who is Miss Beatrice Dixon?” asked one 
 of the men. 
 
 “Never heard of her,” said another. 
 
 “What is she going to lecture about?” 
 
 “Expect suffrage.” 
 
 “Maybe temperance.” 
 
 Just then the vestry door opened and the 
 minister entered, followed by a young woman 
 who took her place beside the minister on the 
 platform with perfect self-composure. 
 
Miss Beatrice Dixon 
 
 111 
 
 Alick watched every move and for the time 
 forgot why he was there and what had brought 
 him to that church. The service began; the 
 hymns were old-fashioned and familiar for 
 Alick had sung them many times before in 
 Sunday-school. Then came the sermon; the 
 lady stood up with Bible in hand, and an- 
 nounced her subject. All doubt as to the 
 nature of her lecture was banished from the 
 minds of her hearers, as she told out the old, 
 old story in a way that was new to many in the 
 audience, but not to Alick Gordon, for the 
 truths in that story were only a repetition of 
 what he had listened to from babyhood from 
 his own mother’s lips, and he found himself 
 going back in thought to the time when he knelt 
 at her knee and repeated with baby lips, 
 
 “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, 
 
 Look upon a little child. 
 
 Pity my simplicity, 
 
 Help me now to come to Thee.” 
 
 Then again he could hear his mother explain 
 portions of Scripture and emphasize the need 
 in every life for a Savior who could “save them 
 to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” 
 
112 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 (Heb. 7:2 5), and again he could hear her voice 
 lifted in prayer as she knelt beside him at his 
 little bed and her words seemed to echo from 
 the past as she petitioned the throne of grace 
 for the salvation of her boy. 
 
 Miss Dixon talked as though she had experi- 
 enced the salvation she recommended to others. 
 Her text was John 3:7: “Ye must be born 
 again.” She spoke about the absolute necessity 
 of the new birth and showed that as children 
 of Adam we belonged to a fallen race and 
 never could have a place in the glory-land 
 without the new birth; then she pointed out 
 God’s wonderful love in giving a Savior to 
 redeem us from the hand of the enemy. She 
 spoke of the simplicity of God’s way of sal- 
 vation that by simply taking the place of sin- 
 ners and accepting Jesus Christ as our per- 
 sonal Savior we were born into the familv of 
 
 «/ 
 
 God, and what a great change took place when 
 we were born again, that “old things are passed 
 away; behold, all things are become new” 
 (2 Cor. 5 : 17) , that the things we loved before 
 we hate now, the things we hated before we 
 
Miss Beatrice Dixon 
 
 113 
 
 love now and that only Jesus Christ in our 
 hearts and lives could make such a change. 
 
 She spoke of the assurance that came to us 
 from the Word of God which makes it so clear 
 that “we who sometimes were far off are made 
 nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2 : 13) , and 
 are now “children of God: and if children, then 
 heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” 
 (Romans 8: 16, 17). 
 
 Then she applied the message and told her 
 audience that the Christ whom Nicodemus had 
 visited during the midnight hours was pres- 
 ent, as willing and ready to save now as on 
 that memorable night when He said to the 
 anxious inquirer, “as Moses lifted up the ser- 
 pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son 
 of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth 
 in Him should not perish, but have eternal 
 life” (John 3: 14, 15) ; then the invitation was 
 extended to all who had not already surrend- 
 ered to the claims of Christ to do it now. 
 
 There was an awful struggle in Alick Gor- 
 don’s soul; the devil was unwilling to let him 
 go, and he piled up the barriers mountains high 
 so that Alick felt it would be an easy matter 
 
114 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 for others to surrender, but he was such a 
 sinner it would be impossible for him to be 
 saved. 
 
 His mother’s prayers and tender pleadings 
 recurred to him, as they had done frequently 
 of late, and with a heart-breaking because of 
 sin, he bravely, manfully and courageously left 
 his seat and stepped out before the entire audi- 
 ence and confessed his need of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The battle was terrific and the devil fought 
 hard to keep one who had been a faithful serv- 
 ant of his for so many years, but God, who 
 is ever Almighty, revealed His way of salva- 
 tion and made it so simple that on bended knees 
 in that far-away church building, confessing 
 his sins to God, Alick Gordon entered in by 
 the door Christ Jesus (John 10: 9), and was 
 saved from sin. 
 
 He now returned to his room to hold sweet 
 communion with the One who had so freely 
 pardoned his sins, and looking in his trunk for 
 the little Bible that had been the gift of his 
 mother many years before, he sat into the 
 morning hours searching the Scriptures to see 
 if these things were so, and only when day- 
 
Miss Beatrice Dixon 
 
 115 
 
 light began to stream through the closed shut- 
 ters did he realize he had not slept. Instead 
 of retiring to rest he decided to stroll out to 
 the woods where he could commune with the 
 God whom he had rejected through the years; 
 sitting down on a tree that had been blown down 
 by the winter’s storms he reviewed the past 
 and with thankful heart praised God for tak- 
 ing care of him and saving him, even in his 
 Christless career, from drifting into a life of 
 profligacy. As he looked back with new vision 
 he could see that it was not his will-power 
 that had kept him from drifting but an an- 
 swer to his godly mother’s prayers, and the 
 care of a Creator for His rebellious crea- 
 ture, in preserving him, — in the midst of 
 snares, — from falling deeper into sin. Alick 
 Gordon had been held up as an example of 
 clean manhood by many a mother as she tried 
 to save her boy in that distant city, not know- 
 ing that there had been a time in his life when 
 he took the cup his mother had begged him 
 never to touch, and had played the game that 
 drove him from home and nearly broke his 
 mother’s heart. Now the prodigal who so re- 
 
116 
 
 Vera Dickson s Triumph 
 
 cently had his eyes opened to see himself as he 
 was in the sight of God, decided to return to his 
 mother and give her cause for joy, “for this 
 her son was dead, and is alive again ; was lost 
 and is found” (Luke 15: 32) . 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 The Prodigal’s Return 
 
 M RS. Gordon and Miss Arnold had been 
 making Alick a special subject of 
 prayer, and many times each day 
 those hearts were lifted to God in intercessory 
 prayer for the prodigal boy in the far country. 
 
 One morning, when they had finished their 
 worship, Mrs. Gordon said, “ J essie, I feel that 
 prayer has been answered and God has found 
 my poor erring boy; I believe that the Shep- 
 herd who has been out on the mountains cold 
 and bare has at last found the sheep that was 
 lost. That promise, ‘If two of you agree on 
 earth as touching anything that they shall ask, 
 it shall be done’ (Matt. 18: 19), has been such 
 a blessing to me during the last few days that 
 I am confident our prayers have been an- 
 swered, and that those words should be written 
 in capitals in every Bible, ‘IT SHALL BE 
 DONE.’ We do not need to wait until we 
 hear from Alick; I think we ought to have a 
 praise meeting right now,” and together they 
 sang, 
 
 [ 117 ] 
 
118 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. 
 Praise Him all creatures here below. 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” 
 
 Neither of them noticed the door open and 
 some one enter, but when they had finished the 
 stanza they looked up and there stood Alick by 
 the side of his mother. 
 
 “Amen; mother, you surely have something 
 to praise God for! Here is your son returned 
 to you a new creature in Christ Jesus, — saved 
 by Sovereign grace. I thought I would not 
 write, nor wire, but just come.” 
 
 For a few moments Miss Arnold felt like 
 “taking the shoes from off her feet” for, she re- 
 alized, “the place whereon thou standest is holy 
 ground” (Exod. 8: 5), and like the morning 
 when mother and son had stood in that very 
 room when Alick’s sin had found him out, 
 again she felt it was no place for intruders, 
 and she quietly left the room and telephoned 
 Vera. 
 
 Vera answered the telephone herself with 
 a “Good morning, Miss Arnold.” 
 
 “Good morning, Miss Vera; what are you 
 going to do this evening?” 
 
The Prodigal’s Return 
 
 119 
 
 “Nothing special except study my Sunday- 
 school lesson.” 
 
 “Would you like a caller?” 
 
 “I will be delighted to have you call; come 
 early.” 
 
 “You may expect a visitor then about 7 
 o’clock.” 
 
 Vera was alone trying to study her Sunday- 
 school lesson. Strange that her mind should 
 be so much on Alick this evening, and again 
 and again her heart would go up in prayer for 
 the one whom she had helped to send away in 
 disgrace. Oh how she wished she could take 
 back those arguments and bring Alick Gordon 
 to God! 
 
 “A gentleman to see you, Miss Dickson,” 
 announced the butler. 
 
 “Who is it, Harrison?” 
 
 “He won’t give his name, Miss Dickson.” 
 
 “Show him in, Harrison.” 
 
 The door opened, and who should appear 
 but Alick Gordon! 
 
 Vera could not hide her emotions. The 
 pent-up feelings gave way and as Alick took 
 her outstretched hand she leaned against his 
 
120 V era Dickson's Triumph 
 
 breast in a paroxysm of grief mingled with 
 joy, sobbing out her thanks to God for an op- 
 portunity of seeing once more the one whom 
 she felt she had sinned against. 
 
 “Vera,” said Alick who was able to control 
 himself better than the excited girl, “mother 
 has told me all about your conversion to God, 
 and little girl, I have come to both mother and 
 you, to tell you, that I, too, have been snatched 
 as a brand from the burning, and now I am 
 rejoicing in a new-found Savior.” 
 
 When Vera regained her self-possession she 
 said, “Alick, I think I will never be able to 
 praise God enough for this another answer to 
 prayer. He was so good in showing me the 
 error of my way, and now I feel like Rhoda 
 when Peter was released from prison, I can 
 scarcely believe it is true that you are really 
 here, and better than everything else you are 
 saved.” 
 
 That night before they parted they had 
 plighted their troth on their knees before God, 
 leaving their future in His hands, with one 
 desire permeating each breast, namely, “The 
 glory of God.” 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Sated to Serve 
 
 T HERE was much to be done now that 
 such a large campaign had come to an 
 end, and the pastors found their hands 
 full. Dr. Archibald Douglass was a frequent 
 and welcome visitor at the Dickson residence 
 and no one entered into the work so heartily as 
 Vera Dickson. 
 
 “Whatever would I do without her,” was the 
 expression of Dr. Douglass many times as he 
 faced difficult problems and appealed to Vera 
 for assistance, and now that Alick Gordon had 
 returned and was proving himself such a fine 
 type of Christian manhood, he could count on 
 a splendid team of young people, whom not 
 only he, but the Lord could trust with special 
 work in that particular part of His vineyard. 
 
 “What strong characters they are,” was the 
 remark that could be heard over and over again. 
 “They were at one time out-and-out worldlings ; 
 
 [ 121 ] 
 
122 Vera Dickson’s Triumph 
 
 now they are out-and-out in the service of 
 God.” 
 
 They were growing in grace daily and in 
 the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and were both 
 becoming fine students of the Word of God, 
 eager to work, but also anxious to learn the 
 will of the One “who hath done great things 
 for us whereof we are glad” (Psalm 126: 3) . 
 
 Vera’s class had grown until she felt it was 
 almost more than she could manage alone ; and 
 what a band of splendid young men! none of 
 them twenty years of age, but nearly all saved 
 and consecrated to the service of the Lord. 
 
 Alick had become a member of the men’s 
 Bible class and was one of its finest workers in 
 the spread of the gospel and in bringing men 
 to the Savior of sinners. 
 
 Vera, however, was in trouble about her 
 class, for she loved every boy in her charge 
 dearly and had their very best interests at heart, 
 but the work among the young women of the 
 city was claiming her attention at this time. 
 She had just awakened to the great need for 
 leaders in such work, who not only had a per- 
 sonal knowledge of salvation, but who also had 
 
The Church Home of the Dicksons and the Gordons 
 
Saved to Serve 
 
 125 
 
 an intimate knowledge of human nature, and of 
 young women in particular. She took the mat- 
 ter to the Lord in prayer, asking for special 
 leading as to what she should do, anxious that 
 the time and strength she was giving to the 
 service of the Master should be spent to the 
 very best advantage for Him, and relying on 
 His promise, “Acknowledge Him in all thy 
 ways, and He shall direct thy paths” (Prov. 
 3:6). Vera waited for the direct leading of 
 the Lord in this matter with a will that was 
 fully yielded to the Lord, and the language of 
 her heart was like that of Frances Ridley 
 Havergal, who wrote, 
 
 “Take my life, and let it be 
 Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; 
 
 Take my moments and my days. 
 Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 
 
 “Take my voice, and let me sing 
 Always only for my King; 
 
 Take my lips, and let them be 
 Filled with messages from Thee. 
 
 “Take my will and make it Thine; 
 It shall be no longer mine; 
 
 Take my heart, it is Thine own; 
 It shall be Thy royal throne. 
 
126 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 “Take my love; my Lord, I pour 
 At Thy feet its treasure-store; 
 Take myself, and I will be 
 Ever, only, all for Thee.” 
 
 “Alick,” said Vera, on one occasion when he 
 had come to spend the evening at her home, “I 
 have a proposition to make.” 
 
 “What now, Vera? You are always making 
 propositions.” 
 
 “It is just this, Alick. You know my class 
 of boys. From my observation o.f the work in 
 the city, I think young men’s classes should 
 have a strong man for their teacher, — one who 
 can set up a high standard of Christian living; 
 they need ideals, and I have prayed about the 
 matter, and feel confident you are the one to 
 take over my class; the hoys all love you and 
 they will not mind the change.” 
 
 “But what will you do, Vera? You will die 
 without your boys.” 
 
 “That might have been true some time ago, 
 Alick, but since my will is no longer mine I am 
 satisfied with the substitute the Lord has given 
 me for them. Then, too, I will be free to take 
 up the much needed work among the young 
 
Saved to Serve 
 
 127 
 
 women of the city where we have not been able 
 to place a competent leader and from hence- 
 forth my time will be devoted to that service.” 
 
 “But, Vera, I am not a teacher; I am really 
 only learning the A B C of the gospel myself, 
 and I fear I could never teach those boys.” 
 
 “That is just where I am, Alick; I have not 
 even had the advantages you had in your home, 
 and neither of us have studied the Bible as a 
 text-book, but I have talked this matter over 
 with Dr. Douglass, and he recommends very 
 highly a Bible * which he says is both Bible 
 and teacher combined.” 
 
 vfc v!/ vIa nIa si/ vl/ 
 
 ■'fs vfr vjr vf? vf: 
 
 The plans were completed for the wedding 
 which was to take place at “The Elms.” It 
 had been the request of Vera that they have a 
 quiet home wedding, with no guests except the 
 nearest friends of both bride and groom, — 
 with one exception — Alick’s class of young men 
 and her classes of young women — these young 
 people were to be her special guests. She had 
 arranged for a speaker who would bring a mes- 
 
 *A descriptive circular and price-list — also the Bible itself— may be 
 obtained from the publishers of this book, or from the dealer who supplies 
 it to you. 
 
128 
 
 Vera Dickson's Triumph 
 
 sage from the Savior who had honored the 
 marriage feast at Cana with His presence. 
 
 Never did such a happy company listen to the 
 unfolding of the words of Jesus as assembled 
 at “The Elms” on this particular occasion. It 
 could not be otherwise since the Master Him- 
 self was present. 
 
 ******* 
 
 The ceremony was over and the happy cou- 
 ple were leaving for their honeymoon. The 
 young were present to congratulate them ; the 
 old to say, “God bless you”; their friends had 
 showered them with gifts of all kinds ; but the 
 gift valued more than anything else was the 
 Bible that each had presented to the other, 
 which was to be their guide while life lasted for 
 they had found it was “A lamp unto their feet, 
 and a light unto their paths” (Psalm 119 : 105 ), 
 and they trusted the Word which told them, 
 “The path of the just is as the shining light, 
 that shineth more and more unto the perfect 
 day (Prov. 4 : 18 ). 
 
 “Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, 
 
 Never foe can follow, never traitor stand. 
 
 Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care, 
 
 Not a blast of hurry, touch the spirit there.” 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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