scopic, or micro-audic, so to say. As in the present
case, he was always marvellously quick to hear any
offer of money ; and he ceased, for a moment, to ply
his fans, and asked slowly, "Yes, Brother Marshall,
and how soon do you think we could raise the amount,
one thousand, required ? "
Mr. Marshall again became red, and stirred uneasily
in his seat. All were awaiting his reply; he must speak
he must actually break that oppressive, expectant silence.
Words always came from him, at such formal times, with
far greater difficulty than dollars ; he could not find his
first syllable ; and he nudged his next neighbor, and
whispered violently, so violently that all present
could hear perfectly well, "Tell him I ll give a hun
dred ! " Then he sank back and pulled desperately at
his-beard.
"Brother Marshall says he will give a hundred;"
called out the man thus addressed; and he sat up
quite straight, as he made this announcement, being
himself a man of meagre possessions, unable to make
so large a subscription, yet with a sudden feeling that
in naming this large sum for his neighbor he became
somehow involved creditably in the generosity of the act.
THE ANNUAL MEETING 13
Then " Brother Blaney," being " inside " the methods
of church management, arose and made another little
speech, in which he eloquently referred to the invari
able generosity of Brother Marshall, and then passed into
a series of etymological and grammatical and rhetorical
convolutions which stranded Mr. Marshall, but was
understood by the chairman and a few others ; so that
when he finished, Dr. Mixer quickly took up the thread.
"Yes, I agree with the brother, that we would need at
least a week to canvass the society ; and, at his sugges
tion, I name Brother Marshall and Brother Nelson as
a committee for this important work. The next ques
tion which we need to consider is " At this point
the door opened slightly and a slender young fellow
came in, glanced comprehensively around the room,
and dropped into the nearest seat.
This was the dreaded reporter from the Morning
Courier, and Dr. Mixer was uneasy. The meeting had
not quite reached the stage where the reporter s visit
could safely be received ; but, at an almost imperceptible
nod of the presiding officer s head, Mr. Blaney briskly
arose and went to the young man, greeted him warmly,
and led him out into the hall, where they remained talk
ing together for several minutes. The reporters always
liked to get their accounts of fairs and picnics and con
ferences and other church doings from Mr. Blaney,
because he gave them verbatim ; no need afterward
to retouch phrases and reconstruct sentences; from
Mr. Blaney s lips words and clauses fell into their
places as perfectly as did the previously planned and
carefully squared stones and timbers of Solomon s
noiselessly built temple.
Therefore it mattered not very greatly what was done
during the remainder of the meeting of the trustees.
Dr. Mixer presided tranquilly ; for he and Mr. Blaney,
i 4 RONALD CARNAQUAY
and one or two others of the board, knew that the
Morning Courier would contain as indeed it did
the next day, a glowing account of the "zeal and
earnestness of Emmanuel Church," with this casual
statement at the end, that the treasurer s report showed
a balance on hand, for year now closed, of $61.17.
Thus the pride of all the church members was pre
served, the voice of criticism and calumny was nipped
in the bud, and one other quiet fact Mr. Pidge,
treasurer, filed away a check for $1061.17, signed by
G. Washington Mixer, and knew that the note on
demand, which he had given in exchange, would be
presented by the " Doctor " as soon as the subscrip
tion committee had accomplished their distasteful work.
Thus were the annoying exactions of financial loans met,
thus was the " Zion " of Emmanuel Church vindicated in
the face of her enemies, thus was the cause of " Reli
gion " made to triumph over the opposition and ill will
of an unregenerate world.
CHAPTER II
THE SEAMY SIDE
" Religious ideas have the fate of melodies, which one sets
afloat in the world, are taken up by all sorts of instruments, coarse,
feeble, and out of tune, until people are in danger of crying out that
the melody itself is distasteful." GEORGE ELIOT.
EMMANUEL CHURCH had never kept a minister longer
than seven years. During its eventful existence of forty-
three years, this Vineyard of the Lord had been culti
vated, with varying success, by nine husbandmen, now
toiling elsewhere, or resting in heaven. It was the gen
eral impression that the best and ablest and most " con
secrated " of these men were the earliest ones in the list.
Among the later ones there seemed to have been several
with glaring faults and fatal defects ; but the farther
back you went in your investigations, the more efficient
and admirable you found these Shepherds of the flock
to have been ; until, coming to the man first on the
list, the founder of the society (the leader of the exo
dus from the old North Church), you would gain the
impression from the three garrulous old women who
had formed a part of that turbulent secession that
those days were a Golden Age, and that the Rev.
Thaddeus Meredith had walked always with a saint s
halo about his head.
However, explain the many changes of pastors as
best you could, the significant fact remained that
Emmanuel Church had never kept any minister long.
One incumbent had stayed seven years, and another
six ; but the others had stayed only two, and three,
15
1 6 RONALD CARNAQUAY
and four years each. Nevertheless there were not
wanting applicants, whenever the news went out
through the denomination that Emmanuel pulpit was
vacant. Probably each newcomer felt that his prede
cessors need not have failed as they did ; and then,
too, there is in every heart, even in the heart clerical,
a certain eagerness for the unknown and uncertain,
and a fascination about pitting one s prowess against
Chance. The only minister, in the ominously long
list, who had gone away of his own free will and
choice, left behind him the largest number of regret
ful admirers. He was a clever young man, who was
born with twice the worldly wisdom ever attained by
most clergymen, even after forty years of experience;
and that young man preached well, never said the
wrong word, never reorganized anything, distributed
compliments freely, made each of the ten leading
families feel that it was the one group nearest and
dearest to his heart out of all the parish, praised the
beauty of the church edifice, extolled the character of
the membership, and frequently declared that nothing
could ever induce him to leave such admirable people-
Then, after two bright years of clear-headed and cool-
hearted work, he suddenly accepted a " call " to another
church ; and, leaving a shower of graceful, complimen
tary, eloquent phrases of regret behind him, he took his
flight. And Emmanuel Church put on sackcloth and
bought a large photograph of him for the chapel; and
only a few penetrating minds ever discovered that the
talented young man had never cared an atom for any
body in the church, and had viewed his professional
life precisely as a shrewd lawyer views his, and had
conducted it with unvarying skill and eminent success.
Still, these people of independent judgment were
very few in number. The large majority mourned their
THE SEAMY SIDE 17
brilliant leader s departure, each feeling as he or she
recalled that last handshake and that touching farewell
on the street, or at the front door, or just after the
Thursday meeting that he or she was the one per
son whom the young clergyman most regretted leaving.
This brief pastorate was the only one, in the long list,
where Emmanuel Church had failed to gain a firm,
restraining, compulsory grasp on its minister. During
the installation services, which had become so fre
quent as almost to be a bore, Emmanuel Church
always sat smug and silent and patient, under the
phrases unctuously pronounced on such occasions, about
" this shepherd of his flock," and " this leader in the
fields of truth," and all the rest They let such phrases
pass, as fitting for the occasion, but meaningless in fact ;
and within a month the shepherd found that his sheep
had developed claws and incisors, and that his leader
ship was about as genuine as that of the driven cart
horse, who precedes his master, but wincingly obeys
whip and rein.
Into some such knowledge of Emmanuel Church as
this, its present minister, the Rev. Lawrence Freeman,
had slowly come, at the age of thirty-two, after an
experience of three years as assistant in a large metro
politan church.
Freeman was about the last man that his college class
mates would have selected as likely to become a clergy
man, and was, indeed, one of those who were early
chosen to play on the college eleven. He had taken
fair rank in his studies, but had none of those character
istics delicacy of frame, sedentary tendencies, a gift
of fluent speech, gentleness of manners, and the like
which are supposed to early indicate the possession of
spiritual qualities. And let it here be said that the
clergyman who boasts, with ill-concealed pride, that
1 8 RONALD CARNAQUAY
from his earliest childhood he desired to be a minis
ter, probably has not developed into the strong, earnest,
self-reliant type which this materialistic age most needs ;
for no child of five or ten can really perceive the essen
tial requisites of the clerical life, and if drawn toward it,
is so drawn because of an innate love of declamation
and a desire for the fancied superiority of the man who
is allowed to hold forth in sermons and addresses.
However, this was far from the thought and purpose
of Lawrence Freeman. Up to the age of twenty, he
had never seriously considered the ministry as a possible
vocation ; but an accidental interest, which was aroused
in him by work in a " Boys Club," and several conver
sations with an older cousin, a clergyman, whom he
much respected these had deeply influenced him.
By nature he had but little fluency, and, at that age, no
especial literary faculty. But deep in his heart was a
rich well of pity and sympathy, and he possessed a nat
urally devout spirit; so that the few college men who
knew him intimately easily understood his choice of
profession. But those outside this circle laughed when
they learned about it ; and some jested over the fierce
and protracted fight he had, in the sophomore year,
with a policeman ; and one recalled the cause of the
"beauty mark" which Freeman carried in a long scar
on his right temple, where he and a brutal teamster had
gone down in a heap over a stairway together, the team
ster having held a screaming dog up by one ear too long
for Freeman s sympathies and nerves.
Thus it will be understood that the sturdy young man,
of medium height, determined face, fearless gray eyes,
and scarred forehead, was not of the conventional clerical
type ; but he had set himself, with dogged earnestness,
to meet both the inner and outer requirements of his
calling, and his work as an assistant minister had been
THE SEAMY SIDE 19
a true, though not a brilliant, success. With his three
years experience behind him, he presented himself to
Emmanuel Church. There was little of a showy charac
ter in him to impress one, but he was as a friend had
said of him emphatically "a man s minister," rather
than " a woman s minister." Yet it had frequently hap
pened that some woman in distress and under trial had
found in him a quick, delicate sympathy, which, in her
lighter modes and easier conditions, she had not sus
pected.
Freeman had never found it easy to express in words
his really abundant emotions, except to his wife. This
natural lack was a real regret to him. He was a sincere,
earnest man, with high ideals of his chosen profession,
with thorough training behind him, in college and semi
nary and at Leipsic, yet without any striking originality
of thought or especial grace of manner.
Little as he realized it, the leaders in the church soon
began to feel that they had been deceived in calling him.
Unimportant as the matter seemed to a genuine, manly
young fellow like him, it nevertheless had been an im
portant factor in the " call " of the society that his father
was a well-known college president and his mother was
the daughter of a famous historian. So that, when Dr.
Mixer and Mr. Blaney and Mr. Pidge and others of that
ilk voted to " extend a call," they had a dimly defined feel
ing in their muddy hearts that they were somehow get
ting into "good society," and that they would presently
be on intimate terms with people whose very names,
heretofore, had glittered like stars in a clear but cold
and distant sky.
Therefore, Mr. Freeman had been called ; he had
taken, in good earnest, the smooth, flattering phrases
from Mr. Blaney s pen, but signed by G. Washington
Mixer, Chairman, and with good will toward his new
20 RONALD CARNAQUAY
flock, and a prayer to Heaven for strength and wisdom,
he had entered on his work. That had happened fifteen
months before ; and not once had Dr. G. Washington
Mixer been invited to the parsonage to meet the college
president or the famous historian ; and, in some vague
way, the society felt that it had been grossly deceived,
and it nourished its growing grievance.
Into the true "inwardness" of this malicious snobbery
Lawrence Freeman never fully penetrated. It was so
foreign to the simple instincts of his truth-loving nature
that he could not be made to credit it, even after re
peated observations by his clear-headed and self-reliant
wife, the eldest of six sons and daughters, in a success
ful manufacturer s family.
In college he had lived simply, perforce, and had
chosen for a chum, in the sophomore year, an ath
letic, whole-souled, enthusiastic son of a prosperous
dry-goods merchant. That a young fellow should have
a college president for a father seemed to Lawrence
the easiest thing in the world ; and that his mother
should be the daughter of the famous historian had no
especial value for him, because it had cost him nothing.
Such are the standards and points of view of a healthful,
properly trained, young American manhood. Still, there
were many traits that Lawrence liked, in men and women,
and many that he did not like. His dignified silence, in
the presence of coarseness of speech or boorishness of
manner, by no means "gave consent." At first this
simplicity of personal bearing puzzled the pretentious
leaders of Emmanuel Church ; they were extremely con
scious of the young man s family relationships, and were
pleased that he had received a Ph.D. and had studied at
Leipsic. All this screwed them up to a high notch of ex
pectancy ; but, as they met him, day after day, none of
these high distinctions showed itself ; there was nothing
THE SEAMY SIDE 21
of that stilted style of speech, or reference to distinguished
relatives, which they had expected, and which, among
men of the Mixer-Blaney type, is secretly believed to be
the outward and visible sign of patrician birth or intel
lectual eminence. Therefore, after approaching him on
various sides, expectant of a certain loftiness of manner
and speech which they were resolved, individually, to
attain unto, and finding themselves always met with the
simple directness which flowed naturally from a sincere,
earnest soul, they were disappointed. They never once
perceived those fine but inexorable inner ideals of deed
and word and thought which distinguish the true patri
cian from the hopeless plebeian. There was always the
attempt, on the part of certain Philistine leaders of the
church, to penetrate and lay waste that inner citadel of
silent personality, which the man of gentle blood and
gentle breeding always instinctively reserves to himself,
except as some appeal from distress and grief calls him
forth, with soul laid bare, to put his heart close against
another wounded human heart, well-born or ill-born, who
calls to him for sympathy.
All these delicacies of temperament were lost on the
larger part of the parish. Especially were they meaning
less to the so-called " leaders " in the church ; and while
here and there among the humbler people there were
many who saw and felt the high quality of their pastor s
counsel and sympathy, to the majority he was unknown ;
and some suspected that he was really and secretly
"stuck up," while others thought him somewhat "or
dinary," and lost all interest in him. In the company
of a man like Mr. Marshall, even though he was em
phatic, loud voiced, and possessed of no general " book-
learning," the minister always felt great freedom ; for
little as the bluff mill-owner knew about the drawing-
room code or the conventionalities of visiting cards,
22
there was a true instinct in him and a quickness of per
ception, backed by a warm heart, which prevented him
from being vulgar and made him a congenial compan
ion ; whereas, the members of the Blaney family, who
always kept a "don t book," for ready reference, and
had a cousin who had married a French count
they always threw Mr. Freeman into a posture of de
fence, as they approached him ; and all his strength of
Christian grace was needed, to keep him just and sympa
thetic toward them.
Thus the relations between Mr. Freeman and Emman
uel Church had never been as harmonious and intimate
as had been those between him and the little mission
church to which he had formerly ministered ; and these
inharmonious relations were daily growing more strained.
Mrs. Freeman was more clearly conscious of the widen
ing breach than was her husband. There was in him
so much love for his flock, such an outpouring of good
will toward them, that he could not see, impartially, the
veiled ill-will or the covert antagonism which manifested
itself more and more openly. But Mrs. Freeman caught
a whisper, now and then, which was not intended for
her ears, or translated a glance from some ingenuous
child s face, which she knew was reflected from the
fault-finding, imbittered family life in which that child
dwelt ; and, putting one thing with another, Mrs. Free
man felt her heart growing heavier, and wondered what
would be the outcome.
Matters were in this condition, at the time of the an
nual meeting. The conclusions and decisions of the
trustees needed, theoretically, to be laid before the open
parish, and this was done ; but it was an entirely formal
procedure ; not a soul in that promiscuous assemblage
would have dared to amend or suggest anything. No,
the main interest, at that meeting, centred in the vari-
2 3
ous " activities " of the parish ; the various societies and
clubs and leagues gathered to hear their doings for the
year extolled and glorified. If sifted down, most of the
work done was only a part of the general struggle to
raise money to keep the church from falling behind in
its finances ; there were sales and suppers, concerts and
lectures, sociables and teas, dramatic entertainments and
charade parties all aiming to beguile money from
guarded and reluctant pockets ; but this unpleasant com
mercial side showed but slightly, at the annual parish
meeting, in the very brief report of its treasurer. It was
the secretary of each of these minor societies and leagues
who shone most illuminatingly ; and when such a one,
equipped with a few facts and a resplendent power of
verbiage, read her glorified version of the "good work"
done in her department, you would hardly have recog
nized the hard lines of poverty beneath those graceful
curves of conventional phraseology ; you would hardly
have made out the meagre, shrunken carcass of un
pleasant fact, under that flowing drapery of pleasing
rhetoric.
One Monday morning, a few weeks after the annual
meeting, when the society, like a leaky ship, had
been patched up for the doubtful voyage of another
year, the door-bell of the parsonage rang vigorously.
The maid admitted Mr. Blaney, and notified her mis
tress. The hour was an early one, and Mr. Freeman,
exhausted by his Sunday s work, having slept but little
up to midnight, had prolonged his morning s sleep
and was now eating a rather late breakfast. Accord
ingly, his wife always loving and loyal, but not easily
concealing her personal social preferences, or caring to
came into the parlor, to act, if possible, in place of
her husband. She found her suave visitor examining
critically a threadbare place in the old carpet (bought
24 RONALD CARNAQUAY
by the Dorcas Society, at a second-hand sale). She
stood, in frigid silence, a few moments, allowing him to
continue his investigations, unconscious of her pres
ence. When he turned and saw her, he was in no
wise disconcerted, holding himself to be a fractional
part of the landlordship of the parsonage, and a par
tial owner of all its belongings.
" Good morning ! " said he, briskly, forcing a face-
tiousness of manner, which rendered him even more
unattractive than before. " How is madam this morn
ing ? " And he put out his hand, which was coolly
taken. " And the pastor, how is he ? Resting, I trust,
after his Sunday s labor ? "
There was always a familiarity about the man which
was offensive to Mrs. Freeman, and it was doubly so
this morning. Speaking as calmly as she could, she
explained that her husband was at breakfast ; then she
pointedly awaited her visitor s errand.
" Ah, he is already up ? " exclaimed Mr. Blaney,
with feigned surprise. " And Monday morning ?
Why, he ought to rest all he can on Monday ; that
is the minister s day of rest, you know." And it
seemed to please him to emit this time-honored axiom
about the clerical life, notwithstanding he had himself
come as would a dozen other callers, before noon to
claim a part of this "day of rest" for his own purposes.
" I will call him," said the wife, rather mechanically,
" if you will excuse me." And she added, not without
a touch of irony, " You can doubtless find something
to occupy yourself with, for a few moments more."
This little thrust was lost on Mr. Blaney, whose mind
was always so full of its own budding fancies, and his
glib tongue so eager to express them, that he rarely
gave close attention to the ideas or feelings of other
people.
THE SEAMY SIDE 25
When Mr. Freeman came in, his visitor greeted him
with a voluble effusiveness which betokened ill ; and
the tired minister took a renewed grasp of his jaded
nerves, in anticipation of any hard strain which might
come to them. After a few moments of random con
versation, Mr. Blaney gave a preliminary ahem and
said, "I called to see you this morning to to not
in any official capacity, but as a friend simply as a
friend to talk over with you the somewhat er
somewhat involved and er burdensome condition
of the finances of the parish."
"Yes," responded Mr. Freeman, with brevity.
" Of course you cannot be wholly unaware," said Mr.
Blaney, looking out of the window, " even absorbed as
you are in the in the er spiritual interests of
your flock, that that the temporal affairs of the
parish are are becoming somewhat a matter of anx
iety of anxiety to " He was about to say "to
the parish committee," but that would be showing
his hand too openly ; so he said, " to the parish in
general."
"I am not in ignorance of the matter," responded
the minister, calmly, and looking directly at Mr.
Blaney.
"Yes, of course," continued the visitor; and his
voice now took on an oily tone of flattery. " We all
know how earnestly you labor in the vineyard, my
dear pastor. We have never had a minister who was
more consecrated."
" You have had a great many," interrupted Mr.
Freeman, dryly ; and Mr. Blaney was surprised and
puzzled at the remark. He fidgeted for a moment,
but Mr. Freeman did not help him out.
"Well, this is a hard world," he presently volun
teered. " And facts are difficult things to deal with ;
26 RONALD CARNAQUAY
this fact of our shortage in our receipts, for example.
I merely thought that that I would come and :alk it
over with you, in a friendly way, and together we
might er think of some er remedy."
Mr. Freeman looked continuously at his visitor s face,
but rarely caught his direct gaze. Despite Mr. Elaney s
frequent boast that he was not "thin skinned," he really
was. He was naturally a sensitive person ; but he had
scarified his sensibilities by repeated meannesses, had
been guilty often of despicable deeds ; and the results
showed in his face and manner, as they do not show in
a man equally mean but more stolid. So he pushed