In His Steps

A tramp dies in a comfortable church, and the minister asks his congregation to pledge that for one year they will do nothing without first asking what Jesus would do — the newspaper editor, the heiress, the railway man all say yes, and then discover the price. Sheldon read the book aloud to his Topeka congregation a chapter each Sunday; a copyright slip put it in the public domain, it sold in the millions, and the question became four letters on a wristband. Fifty-eight plates of American painting from 1890 to 1923, among them Eakins and Henri, picture churches, cafés and city faces — the same ordinary lives asked what Jesus would do.