Chapter XVIII: Letters Received by Penloe

While Penloe was delivering his address there was a man in the audience who sat near the platform, following the remarks of the speaker very closely. Looking in his face you could see the marks of dissipation; the color and lines which drink and carnality leave on the countenance. To judge his age by his face you might take him to be a man of fifty, but he was only about thirty years old; for he had lived twenty years in five. His form was large and well proportioned; naturally he was a strong man. His clothing consisted of a shirt, a pair of overalls, both dirty, a pair of suspenders and a pair of shoes.

When Penloe finished his address, and the audience was about to leave, this man made a rush for the platform, and going up to Penloe under great emotion, he said in broken utterances with tears in his eyes: "God bless you for showing me that my real nature is Divine. I have been living the life of a beast, but now I will live the Divine life." That man afterwards said: "The look that Penloe gave me and the way he pressed my hand will be with me as long as I live."

Penloe saw that if he stayed on the platform or did not leave the building, he would have a crowd round him. Not wishing to give a reception and thinking it best to keep the people's minds on what he said, instead of having them diverted from the subject to him personally, he hastily left the building. But he received a number of letters from persons who heard his address. We will copy three as samples.

The first letter we have copied was from the wife of the leading lawyer in Roseland and read as follows:

"ROSELAND.
"DEAR MR. PENLOE:

"I would very much have liked to have had an
opportunity of meeting you, that I might tell you what
I am about to write and very much more. Since I heard
your address I so wanted to have a talk with you, as I
have so many questions to ask you, and above all to
tell you what your message has done for me.

"I am the wife of a lawyer, and at the age of
twenty-two I graduated from college. A year afterwards
I married Mr. Horton and have been married seven years.
My tastes have always been intellectual with a strong
desire to lead and to be above those around me. I had
little sympathy for the poor and ignorant, and those I
had little in common with I kept aloof from. My friends
looked to me as an authority on most subjects, as I
travelled in Europe two years after I was married. It
will do me good now to confess to you and tell you, I
was cold, vain, self-conceited and my purpose in
reading and travelling was not to help those around me,
but to add glory and fame to myself, and to be thought
a very superior minded person. I carried my head very
high and associated with but few. After seeing you and
listening to your address, I can hardly describe the
state of mind it left me in. But it was something like
a lady might feel when she is dressed in her best and
is very proud of her attire. While she is in that frame
of mind she meets some one who has garments much
superior to hers, and she sees that the clothes she is
wearing are unbecoming and do not fit her, and that she
has been under an illusion in thinking they were so
rich and fine. For when the other garments are shown
her, she feels she had been the most mistaken person in
the world and longs to cast off the garments she is
wearing, that she may put on these superior ones.

"Now that was my case exactly. I was the woman attached
to what I thought were my fine clothes. You were the
one with the elegant new gowns, and when you showed me
so clearly that my own costume was nothing but filthy
rags, I was ready to take the superior garments with
which you presented me.

"When I think what a foolish, proud, vain woman I have
been, I feel like covering my face with shame; like
hiding my head somewhere. I intend that these feelings
of remorse shall stimulate me towards manifesting the
Divine, in love, in patience, in humility, and in
meekness.

"I will go among the poor and ignorant and become one
with them, in order to raise them to the realization of
their Divine nature.

"May they see in me that love for them which I saw in
you for all, and it will give me pleasure to tell those
of my own circle how sweet the Divine life has become
to me, and may I be a spiritual help to them.

"My husband was touched by your words, I am glad to
say, and we are both trying to live the Divine life.

"When you come to Roseland, be sure and come to our
home. We shall be very pleased to see you and have you
stay with us as long as you can.

"Your friend,
"CARRIE HORTON."

Another letter we will copy was from the leading banker of Roseland:

"First National Bank.
"G. Holmes, President. R. Wells, Cashier.
"ROSELAND, Cal.
"DEAR BROTHER PENLOE:

"It gives me great pleasure to address you as such,
though I am a perfect stranger to you; but after
hearing your address I feel at liberty to call you
brother. I felt your great heart of love throbbing
through all you said in your lecture. Now I must tell
you that a man entered the building to hear you speak
just out of curiosity. He would have laughed if any
one had told him that he might hear something that he
had not heard before or might be impressed by the
lecture, for he felt settled, sure and certain in his
own mind concerning all subjects of interest to him.
But when he heard your clear and forcible remarks, it
knocked him off his feet, taking the last prop away he
leaned on, and there was nothing left for him to do but
to get on the same foundation that you are on. Bless
God, I have done so, and now I am beginning to live as
a new man, the Divine man.

"I used to walk the streets thinking I was a great man,
the leading financier in Roseland, and the grand
thought I had of myself was that I was a banker, being
looked up to by those around me because of my financial
standing. But those thoughts are now to me hay and
stubble, and I have burned them.

"From this time forth my money and myself will be
consecrated to the service of manifesting the Divine,
and in helping others to do the same. As a proof of my
sincerity I enclose a check for five thousand dollars
for you to use as you think best in spreading the grand
truth which you presented so clearly in your address.
May you, my dear brother, always realize in the highest
degree the presence of your Divine nature.

"Your brother,
"GEORGE HOLMES."

The following letter is one that is prized very much by Penloe. It came from the wife of a poor ranchman and bore the marks of its proximity to the wash-tub, the churn, a child's dirty finger marks, and the hot tears of a woman overcome with joy:

"TANGLEWOOD RANCH, ORANGEVILLE ...
"MR. PENLOE:

"DEAR SIR:--O, I have so much to say and don't know
where to begin. I don't get any time to write, have
been waiting for a spell, but don't get any, for one
thing after another keeps crowding me. I have just
wiped the suds from my hands, having left the wash-tub
for a few minutes, saying I would not put off writing
to you any longer.

"Well, we went to your meeting and never heard any one
talk like you did before.

"My husband and I have not much learning, but you made
it so simple and plain that we could not help
understanding what you meant. I want to say how glad we
both are that we went, because our lot in life has been
dark and hard. I married my husband when a girl of
seventeen. I knew so little, was so green, but was full
of hope and expectations. What a hard experience I have
had, for I have been married ten years and have six
small children; so much sickness, so much hard work. O,
dear! my life has been so hard. I cannot write any more
now, as I must finish getting my washing out.

"Well, my clothes are on the line and I am going to
take a few minutes' rest and write a little more. Yes,
life has been hard. How little a poor ignorant girl
thinks or knows what is before her when she gets
married. My husband has felt all discouraged, so many
babies, so much hard work, such hard times to get a
dollar, always in debt to doctors; it made us both grow
cross and cranky and just as soon die as live. Our love
for each other grew cold, and the attraction we had for
each other died out. I told my husband he must take me
out somewhere or else I would go crazy. Every day the
same thing over again from morning to night, tending
babies, standing over a cook-stove, then over a
wash-tub, then churning, no end of dish-washing and
washing babies' clothes. I am going to churn now, when
I take a rest again I will write more.

"Well, the butter has come, I will rest and write you
more.

"I was telling you how dark our married life has been.
We heard there was going to be a big meeting in
Roseland, and my husband said he would go and see what
it was like. So we went and heard you talk. What you
said made us look at the world and ourselves different
to what we ever did before. We both liked your talk
very much; we talked lots about what you said. When we
got home that day after supper my husband said: 'If I
am Divine, I don't need to chew tobacco, and I quit
right now and will put what tobacco I have got in the
stove.' I said, 'O, Charles, how glad I am.' 'Yes,
Maud,' said Charles, 'I am going to live the Divine
life. Will you help me?' I said, 'Yes, dear Charles,
you know I will.' 'Well, Maud,' said he, 'we thought
our life hard and bitter, but I see now it was through
our not living the Divine life. Maud, I will try and
make your life a little better than I have done,' and
he kissed me. The children looked at us both with great
surprise, for they had never seen my husband kiss me
before. It seemed as if the same feelings had come back
that we had in our courting days. He said, 'You have
the hardest time of it, let me put the children to bed
and you rest; for if I am Divine I must live a life of
love and show my love in helping you all I can.' I
cannot help it, sir, but hot tears are falling fast on
this letter, for the light and love have entered our
home, where before it was darkness and despair. How
sweet it is trying to live the Divine life. I am doing
my best to live that life. We are not going to worry
any more. My husband now is so bright and hopeful, does
all he can to cheer me up, and I am the same for it is
catching like a fever.

"Well, my object in writing this to you is to tell you
what your talk has done for us. My husband said, 'If
ever a man had a heart full of love for all, he knows
it is you, and your great heart has touched our hearts.
How can I thank you for what you have done for us? May
God bless you. I shall always pray that you may help
others as you have us. My husband said, 'Tell him I am
a changed man;' and I know he is, and I am a changed
woman.

"Excuse this letter for having dirt marks on it. While
I was tending the baby one of the children put its
dirty fingers on the letter, but I am going to send it
just as it is.

"Your friend,
"MAUD NEVE."

Mrs. Marston for several reasons went to hear Penloe deliver his address. One reason was curiosity to hear and see the man that had caused so much talk everywhere, and another one that the newspapers from the Atlantic to the Pacific had printed so much about him. Still another reason was she knew that about all her friends would be there, and they would be talking about him, and she wished to be posted on a subject that her friends would be conversing about and to be able to take her part in the conversation. If there was anything that Mrs. Marston admired and loved, it was a handsome man. She took great pride in the fine appearance of her four Roseland young gentlemen guests. A look of astonishment came over that lady's face when Penloe appeared at the front of the platform, and she turned her eyes for the first time on that fine physique, with its symmetrical form and noble countenance. She was heard to say, "That is the handsomest man I have ever seen in my life." She thought her favorites could not compare with Penloe. She remarked to a friend of hers: "I was surprised when I saw Penloe, for I thought of him as being a man past middle age, with long hair, unkempt beard and slovenly dress; but when I saw the best looking young man I have ever looked upon in my life, and finely dressed, too, I could not help thinking what a fine society man he would make. I am not surprised that Stella is taken with him. Why, if that man would only put his time into making money, he could have his pick of any of our best society young ladies. What a fine lawyer he would make."

Mrs. Marston thought Penloe a very fine, interesting speaker, but that lady was not prepared, at present, to give up her sense-plane enjoyments, in order to live the Divine life.