ub had been interested in the subject for some time, and all
they need is for some one to take the initiative. The Abbotts were
staying several days with Lloyd and Rob, so next night I had them over
here. After dinner I took them up into my 'Place of the Tryst.' Of
course, I don't call it that to anybody but Phil, and he has dubbed it
the Chamber of Horrors.

"It's just a big empty room up in one of the gables. There is nothing in
it but a desk and a table and some chairs and the typewriter that I
bought with the check which Jack sent me. But around the walls are
copies of the photographs we used as posters in Riverville to arouse the
public, and had hanging in the corridors of the State House all during
the session of the Legislature. They are the very worst tenement views
we could get, like that basement in Diamond Row, and some of the
windowless rooms taken by flashlight.

"Judge Abbott said he knew that there are places every bit as bad in
Lexington and Frankfort and Covington, and Mr. Sherman and Alex Shelby
said there were scores even worse in Louisville. Miss Allison told some
experiences a friend of hers had in exploring alleys in some of the
smaller towns, and presently the whole little company, representing
several different parts of the state, were all ablaze from that one
touch of Mrs. Blythe's torch.

"When I first fitted up the room, Phil said that it didn't seem right
that a Chamber of Horrors should have a place in such a perfect home.
But I told him that we needed it to keep us from 'joining ourselves to
idols,' as Ephraim did. That is the danger that always menaces people
when they get over into their Promised Land. We might be tempted to
think so much of our dear possessions that we'd make idols of them sure
enough, and forget all about the work we had pledged ourselves to do. No
one has a right to settle down to the full possession and full enjoyment
of any Canaan, until he has put to flight every Hittite and Gittite that
preys upon its internal peace.

"They all seemed surprised to see my typewriter, but I told them how I
had used Mrs. Blythe's, and that this one is dedicated to the same
cause. That I expected to write hundreds of letters just as soon as I
found out who were the most influential people to address. Right then
and there the movement started. Every man there promised me a list of
his personal acquaintances who had big influence, and said he'd gladly
put his signature to any letter