THK 1RRIGA Tl ON A GL. 



A few days ago a Kansas City 

 Sensible man who had proclaimed him- 

 infidei. gel{ an i nfide i f or twenty-five 



vears died and left a curious will. In it 

 his fortune of $150.000, with the exception 

 -of $4000. was given to religious and charit- 

 able organizations. No explanation was 

 made, but the fact itself was eloquent. 



One of the most brilliant infidels in this 

 country a man who did not boast his in- 

 fidelity or use it for money-making once 

 wrote a series of anonymous articles as- 

 serting his views. "One morning." he 

 said to the writer of this, i; I had a caller, 

 a stranger. He came to my house, intro- 

 duced himself, and with touching fervor 

 thanked me again and again for making 

 him see the light He had found out that 

 I had written the articles. I was greatly 

 nonplused, but replied as best 1 could that 

 I was glad to have been of service to him. 

 He had been a worker in his church, and 

 was. as I found afterward, a man of influ- 

 ence and usefulness in the comnaunity. 

 His excessive gratitude was really em- 

 barrassing, and it reached a climate when 

 he said, with increased intensity, 'Sir, you 

 have converted me. ' 



Note lhave been iconderiny ever since what 

 /converted him to." 



To nothing, of course. When the infidel 

 with his fortune looked around he found 

 that infidelity did not have a single organ- 

 ization by which money could be used for 

 the alleviation of suffering, for the physi- 

 cal salvation of the weak, or for the ma- 

 terial improvement of mankind. Leaving 

 out all questions of faith, dogma and spir- 

 ituality, the plain situation was that re- 

 ligion had provided the means, was doing 

 the work, and was the only agency that 

 could be trusted with the carrying out of 

 his better purposes. The churches had 

 done about all that was of any benefit to 

 the world: had begun, increased and de- 

 veloped the vast machinery of practical aid 

 and philanthropy. Infidelity had done 

 nothing: had nothing to do anything with. 

 The infidel's dollars were practically 

 worthless without religious help. 



All this is very simple and familiar, but 

 it does us good sometimes to look at the 

 tremendous and overwhelming material 

 .achievements of our churches. Even the 



infidel who has not the faith to follow the 

 direction of their spires cannot dispute the 

 testimony of his eyes as to what they are 

 doing closer to the earth. Lynn Roby 

 Meekins, in the Saturday Evening Post. 



On March 13th the Rev. C. M. 

 Sheldon's Sheldon, who has gained a 

 great deal of notoriety 

 through his original sermons, will take 

 charge of the Topeka (Kan.) Capital for a 

 week, during which time he will show a 

 wondering world how Christ would have 

 conducted a daily newspaper. No doubt 

 Mr. Sheldon is a good man and a sincere 

 man but he is stepping outsids his sphere 

 in what he has undertaken and will bring 

 only ridicule upon the faith he upholds. 

 Let him turn his attention to fields in 

 which he has had experience. Let him 

 aim to preach sermons such as Christ 

 would have preached and he will have 

 enough to occupy himself, without con- 

 cerning himself, about the daily press. 

 E. W. Howe. Editor of the Atchison Globe, 

 says of the Rev. Sheldon's plan: 



; A smart business man got after him 

 and he was induced to edit the Capital for 

 a week. The price of the Capital a week 

 is now a little more than seven cents. As 

 soon as Mr. Sheldon takes hold the price 

 will be advanced to 25 cents a week. When 

 the Capital ceases to be a Christian paper 

 the price will be lowered to the present 

 figures. It is clearly a scheme on the part 

 of the Capital's business manager to 

 secure free advertising, and it is a good 

 scheme, for it is receiving much attention: 

 it is the best newspaper scheme announced 

 in this country in years. 



It is absurd to suppose that if Mr. Shel- 

 don had any ideas worth exploiting he 

 could accomplish anything in a week. Mr. 

 Sheldon has been worked. He has called 

 upon his religious friends to assist him in 

 making religion ridiculous. 



The growth of newspapers is the modern 

 wonder. They don't need any advice or 

 assistance from mn who devote their lives 

 to theology. The men who have made the 

 wonderful newspapers of the present day 

 are not asked by the people to step aside 

 for a theologian who has had no newspaper 

 experience. There is no demand for such 

 a paper as Mr. Sheldon would edit. It is 



