In His Steps

Rachel Winslow and Virginia Page meet the day after the Sunday of the pledge for lunch to continue the discussion they began the previous day. Rachel informs Virginia that she is going to refuse an offer for a place in a traveling opera because she cannot reconcile it with the pledge as an action that Jesus himself would take or condone. Virginia commiserates and expresses her dissatisfaction with the life she is leading and the lives that her peers are leading, growing angry at the great class divide that she sees. As a woman of considerable wealth, Virginia is caught in trying to determine how to handle her own affluence in a way that is honorable.

Virginia’s brother, Rollin, invites himself to lunch, along with Virginia’s mother, Madame Florence Page. He proceeds to embarrass Rachel by revealing, to the table, Rachel’s offer of a place in the opera (an offer that had been a private affair). When the conversation veers off to the events at Church on Sunday, however, Rollin excuses himself and appears only afterwards when Rachel is on her way home. Expressing his long-held love for her, an infatuation since childhood, Rollin makes a proposal of marriage to Rachel, which she promptly refuses on the grounds that she does not love him: “Well, I do not and cannot love you because you have no purpose in life. What do you ever do to make the world better?” (68). Returning home Rachel enters into a conversation with her mother, who scolds her for throwing away a promising career in the performing arts and joining the fanatics at the Raymond church in their notion of joining the evangelization efforts downtown in the Rectangle, a place notorious for vice and immodest living.

The Rectangle itself is simply a dirt field surrounded by “rows of saloons, gambling halls and cheap boardinghouses,” and the “slum and tenement districts of Raymond formed a wider congested area all about the Rectangle” (72). At a revival meeting hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Gray, traveling evangelists, Rachel lends her vocal talents to the effort, and it is her singing that directly leads to the moral rectification of Alexander Powers and the rejection of the movement by Jasper Chase. It is the ministry at the Rectangle, in fact, that contributes to Rev. Maxwell’s efforts in transforming his ministry; Mr. Gray invites Rev. Maxwell down to preach, and when Maxwell experiences the crowds’ response, he sees his fellow men and women in a new light.

The moral fortification that Alexander Powers received during the night at the Rectangle empowers him to inform the public about the fraud within the railroad company, and he promptly resigns. While Powers claims that he will be able to find work elsewhere, others in the community are not so fortunate; some continue to lose jobs and social standing as a result of the pledge. Even more, like Milton Wright the businessman for instance, find themselves forced to change their previous business practices. However, they expect these changes to eventually prove successful on the grounds of building stronger and more ethical institutions. Just a few nights later another meeting at the Rectangle sees even more people discover the power of grace and love, as Virginia Page encounters a young woman who will soon change her life, and Rollin Page takes the first step on his journey towards a new life of purpose and passion.

Chapter 9 leads with a window into the mind of Jasper Chase, who was recently rejected by Rachel Winslow. He had been sure that she reciprocated his affection, but he apparently misjudged the timing of his admission. For her part, Rachel is horrified by the confession due to its impious nature:

Had he no respect for the supernatural events they had just witnessed? The thought that all the time she was singing with the complete passion of her soul to touch the conscience of that tent, Jasper Chase had been unmoved by it except to love her for herself, made his feeling for her seem irreverent (101).

For Rachel, her voice is a tool meant to glorify God, and the fact that Jasper was spiritually unmoved is offensive in the highest degree. The memory of Rollin Page, however, breaks the surface of her mind; he had been quiet and withdrawn, clearly moved by the events at the Rectangle tent. And it was not Rollin alone; the whole population of Raymond is, it seems, teeming with new life in the wake of the promise that so many made that fateful Sunday. Even Rev. Maxwell seems to have new life breathed into him as he uses a great portion of his Sunday sermon to speak out against the liquor businesses that reap great profits over the misery of those with alcoholism.

Chapter 10 continues the narrative from where the previous chapter left off with the question of the upcoming elections and the particular platforms that the representatives will be running. Donald Marsh, the president of the local college, speaks with Rev. Maxwell about the election. He admits that up until now he had been focused almost solely on the affairs of the college and with matters of the mind at the expense of helping the community in a practical way: “I confess with shame that I have purposely avoided the responsibility that I owe to this city personally” (107). Rev. Maxwell seconds his feelings and admits he has similar notions, and together they agree to throw their combined weight against the officials who would be elected to office and once again legalize the sale of alcohol at the local saloons. Many of the Raymond church are coming to conclusions that have been a long time coming: Ed Norman with the direction of the newspaper, Virginia in regard to what she is going to do with her wealth, and even Rollin Page with the direction that he is going to take his new life. The Rectangle is soon going to be fighting for its life with the impending election set to push it one way or another.