The Damnation of Theron Ware

pause ensued. The young minister looked doubtingly from one face to another, the while they glanced w

ention instead, as if feeling that they were only there at all from plain necessity, and ought not to be taken into account. Mr. Pierce's face did not know how to smile-what was the use of smiles?-but its whole surface radiated secretiveness. Portrayed on canvas by a master brush, with a ruff or a red robe for masquerade, generations of imaginative amateurs would have seen in it vast reaching plots, the skeletons of a dozen dynastic cupboards, the guarded mysteries

ty manner, to which the other avocation of cheese-buyer, which he pursued at the Board of Trade meetings every Monday afternoon, had added a considerable command of persuasive yet non-committal language. To look at him, still more to hear him, one would have sworn he was a good fel

in particular. About every other day he went off after breakfast into the country roundabout, sometimes with a rod, sometimes with a gun, but always alone. He was a bachelor, and slept in a room at the back of his office, cooking some of his meals himself, getting others at a restaurant close by. Though he had little visible practice, he was understood to be well-to-do and even more, and people tacitly inferred that he "shaved notes." The Methodists of Octavius looked upon him as a queer fish, and through nearly a dozen years had never quite outgrown their hebdomadal tendency to surprise at seeing him enter their church. He had never, it is true, professed religion, but they had elected him as

. At this sound, Winch drew up his feet, and Gorringe untied a parcel of account-books and papers that he held on his knee. Theron felt that his countenance mu

er Ware's desk. Mind the Dominie's pen don't play tricks on you, an' start off writin' out sermons instid of figgers." The humorist turned to Theron as the lawyer walked over to the desk at the window. "I a

y confronted by Brother Pierce's hard and colorless old visage. Its little eyes were watching him, as through a mask, and under their influence the smile of politeness fled from his lips. The lawyer o

went on, eying the minister with a sour regard, "in a meek an' humble spirit, in the straight an' narrow way which leadeth unto life. We ain't gone traipsin' after strange gods, like some people that call themsel

tudied the pattern of the ingrain carpet. Then he lifted his head, and nodded it in assent. "Yes,

owery to suit us. What we want to hear is the plain, old-fashioned Word of God, without any palaver or 'hems and ha's. They tell me there's some parts where hell's treated as played-out-where our ministers don't like to talk much about it because people don't want to hear about it. Such preachers ought to be put out. They ain't Methodists at all. What we want h

se old-wife fables, which were so dear to the rural religious heart when he an

-foolery for us! You'll only stir up feelin' agin yourself by hintin' at such things. And then, too, our folks don't take no stock in all that pack o' nonsense about science, such as tellin' the age of the earth by crackin' up stones. I've b'en in the quarry line all my life, an' I know it's all humbug! Why, they say some folks are goin' rou

rent that the old trustee had had his say out. Even then he raised his

t. I feel it to be of especial value in this case, because I am young in years and in my ministry, and am conscious of a great weakness of the flesh. I can see how daily contact with a people so attached to the old, simple, primitive Methodism o

atever Brother Pierce says, goes!" he declared. The lawye

in't Christians at all. They're idolaters, that's what they are! I know 'em! I've had 'em in my quarries for years, an' they ain't got no idee of decency or fair dealin'. Every time the price of stone went up, every man of 'em would jine to screw more wages out o' me. Why, they used to keep account o' the amount o' business I done, an' figger up my profits, an' have the face to come an' talk to me about 'em

w. Theron pricked up his ears at the sound of his voice. There was an anti-Pierce note in it, so to speak, w

' knives into each other, but they never git up strikes, an' they don't grumble about wages. Why, look at the way they live-jest some weeds an' yarbs dug up on the roadside, an' stewed in a kettle wit

em at home," put in Mr. Winc

began turning over the leaves of his biggest book. "It's gett

and to assume an air of comprehension, he did not understand much of what he heard. In a general way he gathered that the church property was put down at $12,000, on which there was a debt of $4,800. The annual expenses were $2,250, of which the principal items were $800 for his salary, $170 for the rent of the parsonage, and $319 for interest on the debt. It seemed that

pursued the task of exciting liberality in the bosoms of the congregation by alternating prayer, anecdote, song, and cheap buffoonery in a manner truly sickenin

but nobody came, and we didn't raise more 'n three or four dollars. It ain't their line. They lack the worldly arts. As the Discipline comm

n began, and took the itemized account from Gorringe's

nse of what it signified, until his eye caught upon this little sec

EST C

73) .. $1,000 ...

76).. 1,700 ... (L.

78)... 2,100 ... (

--

800

property were held by the three trustees. But as he looked

without thinking, and then wished the words unsaid, fo

t. Since then it's b'en lowered to six. Well, when that happened, you see, Brother Gorringe, not being a professin' member, and so not bound by our rules, he could just as well as not let his interest down a cent. But Brother Pierce an' me, we talked it over, an' we made up o

an effort at polite calmness of

to be law-abiding people, an' seven per cent WAS the law

the minister, conscious of a growing stiffness in hi

got to reduce expenses. We're nigh onto $300 behind-hand this minute. Besides your house-rent, you get $800 free an' clear-that is $15.38 ev

alary is under disc

gested Winch, in a ha

rly Conference and the Estimating Committee deal with that. The

t, only-only there are certain little things connected with the parsonage here that we feel you ought to bear. F'r instance, there's the new sidewalk we had to lay in front of the house here only a month ago. Of cour

a proper charge upon me," interpos

shut off," remarked B

u must understand that I will take the whole matter to the Quarterly Conference in July. I already see a good many ot

. "Surely these are matters we ought to settle amongst ourselves. We never yet asked outsiders to med

haved decently to by those with whom I have

ld man not sure about his knees. When he had straightened himself, he

rfully as long as they're on our backs; but there ain't nothin' said agin our unloadin' 'em i

rows with a significantly hostile nod, and, turning, stum

uberant grip. "Don't mind his little ways, Brother Ware," he urged in a loud, unctuous whisper, with a grinning backward nod: "he's a trifle skittish sometimes when you don't

and stick in the other hand. He could give little but his thumb to Theron to shake. His face wore a grave expres

ed Alice, from where she knelt by

big old farm rocking-chair on the other side of th

rs," he said dejectedly, "I think I should