“It so happened that the wife of Edward Gordon had to make a long voyage across the sea, where she suffered shipwreck and was cast upon the waters.  When she found herself in the most extreme peril, the Voice of God spoke to her.  And the Voice of God commanded her to teach mankind to live in unity.

“And the woman was saved from the sea and the peril of death, and she returned to her husband and told him about the message from God.  ’This is a great command our Lord hath given unto us—­that we should live in unity—­and we must follow it.  So great is this message that in all the world there is but one spot worthy of receiving it.  Let us, therefore, gather our friends together and go with them to Jerusalem, that we may proclaim God’s holy commandment from the Mount of Zion.’

“Then Edward Gordon and his wife, together with thirty others who wanted to obey the Lord’s last holy commandment, set out for Jerusalem, where all of them are now living in concord under one roof.  They share with one another all their worldly goods, and serve one another, each protecting the other’s welfare.

“And they have taken into their home the children of the poor, and they nurse the sick, they care for the aged, and succour all who appeal to them for aid, without expecting either money or gifts in return.

“But they do not preach in the churches or on street corners, for they say, ‘It is our works that shall speak for us.’

“But the people who heard of their way of living said of them:  ‘They must be fools and fanatics.’  And those who decried them the loudest were the Christians who had come to Palestine to convert Jews and Mohammedans, by preaching and teaching.  And they said:  ’What sort of persons are these who do not preach?  No doubt they have come hither to lead an evil life and to indulge their sinful lusts among the heathen.’

“And they raised a cry against these good people that travelled across the seas all the way to their own country.  But amongst those who had settled in Jerusalem there was a rich widow, with her two half-grown children.  She had left a brother in her native land, to whom every one was saying, ’How can you allow your sister to live among those dreadful people, who are so loose lived?  They are nothing but idlers who live upon her bounty.’  So the brother began legal proceedings against the sister, in order to compel her to send her children back to America to be reared there.

“And on account of these proceedings, the widow, with her children, returned to Chicago, accompanied by Edward Gordon and his wife.  At that time they had been living in Jerusalem fourteen years.

“When they came back from that far country, the newspapers had much to say of them; and some called them lunatics and some said they were impostors.”

When Halvor had read thus far, he paused a moment, and presently repeated the substance of what he had read in his own words, so that everybody would understand it.  After which, he went on reading: