John Wesley, Jr. | Page 9

many of his ideas as
we can remember, when we get home again."

Joe Carbrook, with a new seriousness which sat awkwardly on him,
confessed that he could not understand just what was happening. It was
evident that he was ill at ease; Marcia had noticed it every time she had
seen him since that encounter with Alma Wetherell.
"I guess you folks know I am not easily caught; but I'm ready to admit
that man has hold of something. Yes, and I'm half convinced that this
Institute has hold of something. I wish I knew what it is. If I could
really believe that all I hear and see at this place is part of being young
and part of being a Christian, I might be thinking before long about
getting into the game myself. The trouble is you three and the other
Leaguers I've watched at home are just you three and the others, and
that's all. I know, and you know, what you can do. You'll take all these
ideas of League work and use them, maybe; but what I can't see is how
you will pick up the Big Idea of this place and get back home without
losing it."
"We can't," said Marcia, "not without all sorts of help, visible and
invisible. You, for instance; if you would really get into the game, as
you say, nobody could guess how much it would mean to our League.
And it might mean more to you."
"Marcia's right about that," said J.W. "The Big Idea of this place, that
you speak of, is a lot too big for us to take home alone. Maybe you'll
think I'm preaching, but I don't care, if I say that for God to handle
alone, it is not big enough. He makes the stars, and gives us his Son,
without any help from us. Nobody else can do that. But he won't make
our League at home a success without us; and all of us together can't do
it without Him. I'm not saying I know how to do it, even then, but that's
the way it looks to me. Why, Joe," he said with sudden intensity as he
faced Joe Carbrook, "if you ever get hold of the Big Idea, and the Big
Idea gets hold of you, something is sure to happen, something bigger
than any of us can figure out now. I know you have it in you."
All four showed a surprised self-consciousness over J.W.'s unexpected
venture into these rather deeper conversational waters than usual, and
there was more surprise when Joe Carbrook began to talk about
himself.

He laughed to hide a touch of embarrassment, but with little mirth; and
then he said, "Well, J.W., that's not all foolishness, though I don't see
why you should pick on me. Why not Marty? Of course, I came here
for fun, and I have had some, though not just the sort I expected. And
I've had several jolts too. I might as well admit that if I could just only
see how you hitch all of this League and church business to real life, I
would be for it with all I've got. The trouble is, while I've never been
especially proud of my own record, neither have I seen much excuse
yet for what you 'active members' have been busy with. I have been
playing my way, and you have been playing yours; but it all seems
mostly play to me. All the same, I guess I am getting tired of my kind."
If Joe could ever have spoken wistfully, you might have suspected him
of it just then.
Clearly, thought Marcia Dayne, in the silence that followed, something
big was already happening. But how to help it on she could not tell; so,
with a desperate effort to do the right thing, she contrived to turn the
subject It seemed to her it had become too difficult to go further just
now without peril to Joe's strange new interest, as well as to a very new
and tremulous little hope that had begun to sing in her own heart.
The shift of the talk was a true Institute change, and would have been
most disconcerting to anyone unfamiliar with the ways of young
Christians; but Marcia was sure that what had been said would not be
forgotten, and she knew there would be another time.
It was this that made her say, "I wish you boys would suggest what sort
of stunt our district should give on stunt night; you know the time is
getting short."
"That's a fact," exclaimed Marty, sitting up. "Stunt night is to-morrow,
and our delegation has to fix up the stunt for the Fort Adams District.
Let's get to work on something. We've