September, 1941
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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and he that gathereth not with me scat- tereth.” “O Lord! Tin with Thee! I’m with Thee!” exclaimed Conrad. Other words came to him: “Either make the tree good, a^d his fruit good; or- else make the «fee corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree i& known by his fruit.” “ O God, make my tree good so that my fruit may be good,” prayed Conrad. “I see there is no happy medium. I accept Thy verdict. I am my brothers’ keeper, and my sisters' keeper also. Let me never be guilty of leading astray in the slightest way one of these who do not know Thee as well as I do. God have mercy on Julia and her crowd and on the young folk I saw in those parked cars and on those who were in that house. God, make their hearts pure. And O Lord, keep Becky’s heart pure! For Jesus’ sake. Amen!” There came other words to him, soothing, comforting, assuring words which brought such joy that he soon fell asleep: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEWS [Continued, from Page 332] states, “Despite the g r o w i n g anti communist sentiment in the United States, the Reds have made gains in the film industry during the last year.” Communists have become "so powerful that they have been able to sway not only the trend of motion picture pro duction at its source but also have been able to irAke their wishes felt at the box office.” The Legion of Decency finds, “There is a tendency toward indecencies in the treatment of films. There is a retrogression toward accepting immoral situations as permissible.” Apparently, all efforts to “reform” the motion picture industry have failed. There is a "reversion” to the low level which was characteristic of films from the beginning. The “cutting off of the foreign market due to the war” is the lame excuse which certain motion pic ture producers have made for the “re vival of indecency” which is now being cultivated to "enlarge the home market.” In addition to Communism and im- moralism, propaganda for war a n d hatred of other races and nations are finding an increasing medium of ex pression through the movies. A whole series of p’etures were issued during the last year, with the apparent pur pose of creating ill-will, hatred, and in citements to war. The Legion of Decency endeavored to bring about a “clean-up” in the movie industry. The ineffectiveness of this ap proach is clear from their own report. The only thing that Christians can do about the movies is to stay away from them!1
He was on the next train, going home. The nearer he approached his home town, the lighten-his heart felt, in spite of the illness of his beloved father. He was going home. Everything was right at home. His mother was there. Becky was there. Becky, what a girl! * But Julia was a lovely girl. In a way, she was more beautiful than Becky. “But just suppose I had to choose one on this very day to be my wife!” thought Conrad, and he grinned. "Julia would always make me proud of her good looks. She would always be gay in a crowd. There would likely be no dull moments in a life with her, as long as I could keep up a certain social pace. And I doubt if she is a Christian. She may have doubted-my Christianity, too! I certainly gave her no reason for thinking I was ever inside a church. Lord Jesus, I’m ashamed of myself now. Please forgive me. That ten dollars looked so big I could see nothing else. And somehow show Julia the rightjyay; .reveal to her a heed for Thee in her life.” He thought then of Julia for several miles. Finally his mind came back to Rebecca Winters, his boyhood friend, a girl who had been his girl since he was in the sixth grade. He smiled as he thought of her. Finally the train stopped at his sta tion and he was headed for home. Home! Before he could open the front door, some one had opened it for him, step ping behind the door so as to be unseen. “Becky!” exclaimed Conrad, closing the door so that he could see who had opened it. That night in his own bed Conrad Willis settled a number of questions that affected his life as long as he lived. His father was ill, but the doctor had said that he had an even chance to recover. "I hope I have an even chance to recover, too, dear Lord!” Conrad whis pered, as he lay with his arms beneath his head and looked out at the starry sky. “I wish it didn’t take such drastic measures to bring one to his senses, to bring one back to his Lord, sometimes. I’d have stayed in that town. I’d have called on Julia. I’d have gone to see her, and more than likely I’d have yielded to all her charms and allure ments. And the Lord knew it! He had to lay Dad flat on his back to arouse me. Now Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? I’m seeing the difference between Becky and Julia, the pure in heart and the * impure in heart. Not that Julia is so vile and sinful, yet in Thy sight sin is sin. O Lord, is there no happy medium?” Like a flash of beautiful, exquisite light, there came to him these words, "He that not. w»th me is agatos* me;
of this bedlam. I’ve had John slip an envelope into your own coat pocket. And thanks again, a million,” she con* eluded, smiling and holding out her hand to him. 'He accepted her graceful hand, hold ing it a long moment, and saying, ”1 really hate to take any money for this evening, -for I have enjoyed much of it myself. But, you See, I do need it— if I finish my law course this year. And I’ll be seeing you again. May I call you in a day or two ?” “Do!” she agreed, smiling her pleasure at his suggestion. Conrad slipped up to John’s room by the back stairs. In a very short time he was out on the cool street, beneath the bright stars that shone in a clear, very dark sky. There were no taxicabs in that neighborhood. Not a bus nor a street car ran at that hour. He had to walk three miles to his boarding house. "I’m as tired as a hunting pup, but it’ll be good fj'r me. The fresh air will clear my head, maybe,” he decided, starting out briskly. On the way home he was thoroughly ashamed of himself at one moment, and the next he found so many excuses that he had also excused himself. "If some of -them hadn’t taken to drinking, if some of the others hadn’t been so downright common in the way they behaved, the games would have been fun and even the dancing would hav/s been all right. I don’t see why some people have to make such a howl about dancing. It’s good fun, I thought, the little I.did. It would never lead me astray. Why need I be bothered about what sonje poor fellow or girl may do who has no better sense and no better training than to fall? They should have had a dad like mine,»and a mother like mine! They taught me what to do and what not to do. And if all these who do go astray were Christians, they wouldn’t yield to the temptations that come to them. But why can’t I have some fun when it doesn’t hurt me a bit ?” he tried to reason in the coolness of the almost-dawn. When he was nearly home, he passed a brilliantly lighted house. From it issued sounds of hilarity. There were numerous parked cars along the side walk. And some of the cars were oc cupied! He saw young occupants who made even Conrad Willis ashamed that he was a young man. “ Suppose one .of those girls had been Becky!” he muttered, walking less briskly and more thoughtfully. “ Sup pose one of those guys had been me! And but for the grace of God, Becky might do those things, and so might I. O Lord, show me if I’ve been all Wrong tonight!” he concluded earnestly. On the following day came the •urgent letter from his mother. His father was ill. Conrad wast.“ d ” ~'e.
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