h of the Ascension, the Rev. Percy Stickney Grant.

Naturally, we talked of the church and its work. I was so impressed
with Mr. Grant's bigness that I volunteered to devote some of my spare
time to the work of his parish. A few weeks later I got a letter from
him inviting me to become a member of his staff. This was a surprise
to me, but I made no immediate decision. I was earning a comfortable
living and devoting my spare time to the Socialist propaganda. I was
_free_--very free--and I saw danger ahead in church work.

I had several interviews with Mr. Grant and went over the situation. I
wasn't a man with Socialistic tendencies; I was a Socialist--a member
of the party.

The danger ahead looked smaller to Mr. Grant than it did to me. He had
absolute confidence in the broad-minded men of affairs around him. My
Socialism was explained and understood. Just how to fit in was the
next problem.

The mission of the church is at No. 10 Horatio Street. It was without
a minister in charge. For a few Sunday evenings I conducted the
service. The audience was composed of half a dozen parishoners and a
dozen of my personal friends. Mr. Grant knew nothing of my ability in
public address. I took his place one night in the church and that
ended my career at the chapel. I had discarded an ecclesiastical title
I possessed but never used; I became a lay reader in the Episcopal
Church--the church of my youth--the church in which I was baptized and
confirmed.

The conference and discussion following the service was an
afterthought. The audiences steadily grew. It was and is the most
cosmopolitan audience I ever saw. I wanted to get acquainted with the
people and suggested a sort of reception in the chapel. The ladies of
the church provided refreshments.

"Who is that man?" one of the ladies at the tea table asked one night.

"He is a Socialist agitator," I answered.

"Why don't you ask him to talk?"

The man was Sol Fieldman and I asked him to speak for five minutes. He
did so and from that time the character of the after-meeting changed.
The first few evenings after the change the speaking was very
informal: any one of note who happened to be in the meeting was asked
to speak. Later, the invitation was enlarged and any one who desired
to speak could do so. Then came a time limit. A workingman asked that
the refreshments be cut out. The table took up valuable space and the
time consumed in "serving" was "a pure waste," so he sa