Before the stanzas, with their melodramatic appeals,
were all sung, the clergyman was in full swing, singing,
as he always did, with vigor and no self -consciousness
and a genuine love of rhythm and melody. After that
262
Adeline tried to teach him Schubert s " Who is Syl
via ? " But he was evidently not so fond of this severer
and musically purer school. After a while he recol
lected a song which they had tried once before. " That
song of Kennedy s," he explained. " I think it was
something about gems."
"Oh, yes! I remember," responded his hostess, turn
ing over a pile of music Deck not with Gems, by
Walter Kennedy." She was reading from the title-
page ; and opening the music glanced over the words.
" By Tom Moore. Dear Tom Moore. He knew how
to write love poems that had real poetry in them.
There now ! " And she seated herself and began the
accompaniment. At the proper place she nodded, and
Carnaquay began. He did not know the song well,
but he was apt, and the music fitted the words so per
fectly that after the first stanza he was quite at ease
and rolled out the phrases not so delicately as his
attentive instructress wished, but with a strength and
fervor which partly annoyed and partly frightened her.
" Deck not with gems thy lovely form for me ;
They, in my eyes, can add no charm to thee."
Adeline Guthrie felt the power and passion of this
strong man flinging itself against her, as the rushing
storm-wind flings itself against a slender but pliant sap
ling ; and she bent over the piano as if trying to make
out the music on the page more clearly, but in her
heart there was a great unrest. Fear and anger and
and something that was not either of these, something
that was almost joy, yet she would not trust it; and
she hurried on toward the end :
" Time, on thy cheek, his withering hand may press,
He may do all but make me love thee less ;
The mind defies him, and the charm lies there ;
I must have loved thee hadst thou not been fair."
COEDUCATION 263
The words leaped from Carnaquay s very soul. He
never had sung words which seemed to him to express
so perfectly his attitude toward this divine creature.
Her form, her face, were dear indeed to him. When
he had touched her hand, in turning a page of the
music, he had seemed to feel an electric shock, and her
fingers if only he could be sure seemed tipped with
fire. But it was her mind, so rich and full and alert
and sympathetic her very self, throbbing, yet restrained,
behind body and mere intellect it was her own dear,
divine self that he loved ; and he stood and sang those
thrilling words of avowal and consecration, as if he were
standing, for the first time, before the altar of heaven,
with an angel smiling upon him.
But Adeline Guthrie did not smile. The song ended,
and she sprang impetuously from the seat, as if released
from some restraint. Indeed, she was much nearer
collapse of some sort, than she cared to acknowledge.
She knew well to whom Carnaquay was singing, and
she was flushed with excitement, and defiant in spirit,
yet she was glad to see to the very bottom of this emo
tional nature of his. There was usually so much that
was artificial in him, that this consuming passion, sweep
ing away as it did all pretences and cautions, was a
relief, intellectually, to her ; and, even in her heart, the
echoes which it set up were not wholly unpleasant.
Carnaquay could not quiet down to the reading of an
essay of Emerson s, as Adeline now suggested. His
somewhat curt refusal to do this was easy for her to
explain ; and she, for her own part, was not sorry to
have him decline, and almost glad to have him take
leave, which he very soon did.
She was much more self-possessed than was he, as
they shook hands, but she resented the vice-like grasp
of possession which she thought he gave her hand.
264 RONALD CARNAQUAY
And she went back into her room, after the door had
closed behind him, and was alternately glad and re
gretful, by turns joyously free and pathetically lonely,
and considerably chagrined over her failure to keep to
intellectual levels of instruction.
Thus matters stood between them, and had so stood
for months.
CHAPTER XVII
MORE SPOTS, AND LARGER
" How save the Ark, or Holy of Holies, unprofaned a day,
From his unscrupulous curiosity, that handles everything as if to
buy ? "
J. R. LOWELL.
WHEN Freeman returned from the chapel, an hour
later, he found Mr. Marshall there. He had run in to
see Freeman about some better kind of heating appa
ratus at the chapel, but first Lawrence asked permis
sion to tell them both about the scene at Uncle Ben s.
" So you may expect a call from him at any time," con
cluded Lawrence, after detailing the interview, includ
ing the old man s desire to make a will, "and I beg
that you won t forget about the cats." Whereupon
they all laughed, and Mr. Marshall promised to fulfil his
duties as well as he could.
After the discussion of the heating apparatus, Mr.
Marshall still lingered, and presently sat down again,
even though he had taken up his hat and cane to go.
" I have thought for some time," he said, " of talking
with you and Mr. Freeman about our minister, Dr.
Carnaquay. You know me well enough to be sure that
I am not a man to encourage idle gossip, and I can
therefore speak plainly in fact we all can without
reserve."
Instantly Mr. and Mrs. Freeman were on the alert,
and feared that they were to hear something unpleasant
about Olive and Carnaquay; but their anxiety was soon
265
266 RONALD CARNAQUAY
allayed, as Mr. Marshall said : " The point which I
wished most to confer with you about is this. My son,
Ned, was reading a book the other day, a book of
essays by an English writer, and he came upon several
sentences, which seemed to him familiar ; after thinking
a while, he remembered them as given by Dr. Carnaquay,
in one of his recent sermons. Not fully trusting his
memory, he went down to the newspaper office, looked
over the files, and found a report of the sermon which
he had partly recalled. A comparison of that printed
report, with the pages of the book by the English
author, revealed the fact that paragraph after para
graph, to the extent of a full page, had been literally and
bodily incorporated into the sermon."
"When was the book published?" asked Freeman.
" More than ten years ago," replied Mr. Marshall.
" But what has that to do with the question, if I may
ask?"
" Only this," said Lawrence ; " I know that preachers
often use old sermons, and I wished to see which of the
two, the sermon or the book of essays, was earlier in
print. If the book was printed so long as twenty years
ago, or even fifteen, that must have been considerably
before Carnaquay began to write sermons or prepare
them in any way."
Lawrence then waited for Mr. Marshall to proceed.
He did not like to take the lead, in any comment on his
fellow-minister s acts ; but he could not refuse to con
sider the subject and even to express an opinion if it
were asked. He wished to be just, although he was
startled at the suggestion of plagiarism ; it was a clerical
sin which never had any attraction whatever for him
self ; but he knew in a general way that here and there
preachers yielded to it.
"The matter has troubled me considerablv," con-
MORE SPOTS, AND LARGER 267
tinued Mr. Marshall, leaning forward and pushing up
his thick, black beard, as was his habit when engrossed
in a problem. " There can be no reasonable doubt that
Dr. Carnaquay has used that book. In fact, Mr. Free
man, if I may express the situation, exactly as it appears
to a plain business man, he has been stealing from it.
Is that so ? "
Lawrence had always felt doubtful of the keenness of
Ronald Carnaquay s moral sense, and in his own heart
was inclined to agree with the stern mill-owner s inex
orable conclusion ; but he knew well the evils of hasty
judgments, and he cast about for some possible expla
nation of the coincidence between sermon and essays.
"There is a great difference among preachers," he said,
"in respect to memory. Now I have a poor memory for
words and phrases, and rarely attempt to quote a stanza
of poetry ; but Dr. Carnaquay, as I can testify, has an
excellent verbal memory, and can recite easily whole
paragraphs which he has merely glanced through.
Now it occurs to me that his tenacious memory may
explain this striking resemblance. He undoubtedly
must have read the essays, but it is quite possible I
don t say probable or improbable, but certainly possible
that he quoted the passages, without knowing that he
was quoting ; they may have come into his head, and he
may have thought they were his own."
" Yes, that is possible," slowly assented Mr. Marshall,
in his bass voice, and still looking fixedly at the floor.
Mrs. Freeman here spoke : " There is another pos
sible explanation. He may have used those passages
in his sermon as quotations, putting quotation-marks
around them, and the printer may have carelessly
omitted the quotation-marks."
Lawrence and his wife looked inquiringly at Mr.
Marshall, who, after a moment s silence, said, " Have
268 RONALD CARNAQUAY
either of you any further suggestions about the mat
ter?"
Lawrence thought his visitor s reserve of manner in
dicated some hidden plan or idea which he was waiting
to unfold later. He knew that there would be no use
in urging his visitor to speak his mind, until Mr. Marshall
chose to do so. " I myself hold such copying of words
and phrases, by a public speaker," said he, " to be noth
ing less than stealing ; only, a person who is under
suspicion should be allowed considerable latitude for
unconscious repetition. In England such use of other
people s words and phrases, and even entire sermons, is
not looked at as it is here ; in fact, English papers
openly print advertisements of sermons offered for sale ;
and I suppose that busy clergymen, or indolent ones, or
stupid ones, really buy them and use them, over there,
without a word of explanation."
" There ! That is the point," said Mr. Marshall. " I
will now tell you that I have talked with Dr. Carnaquay
about the matter, showing him the evidence and giving
him a chance to explain. I thought it only just to him,
to bring the matter to his attention."
Lawrence and his wife both knew how reluctant the
genial but just mill-owner must have been, to thus seek
an interview with his minister, on such an errand. But
they respected him more than ever, as he sat in the
chair before them, and stated the simple truth, in a calm
and regretful manner. " What in the world did he offer
as an excuse ? " exclaimed Mrs. Freeman, impulsively ;
for the charge was a serious one.
" He said, substantially, the two things which you
have just mentioned, Mr. Freeman. He did not seem
greatly disturbed, but declared that his very tenacious
memory must have played him this bad turn ; and then
he went on coolly to say that there were no peculiar
MORE SPOTS, AND LARGER 269
rights of property in ideas, and that there were no new
ideas under the sun, and that the English custom is as
you have just stated. I must confess that I was glad I
had not started the interview with a direct accusation ;
but, instead, as if merely inquiring about a matter which
he could probably explain. He was so calm and self-
possessed that I, who know little about ministers ways,
was obliged to acquiesce and thank him and withdraw.
But I am not at all satisfied, and I am glad to have this
talk with you. I myself can t see that such use of an
other man s phraseology, word for word, is any better
than taking and using his hoe or his horse or his roll of
bank-notes."
" I am compelled to agree with you," said Lawrence.
" I have heard the assertion made, by some of my
brother-preachers, that ideas are common property and
can be appropriated, wherever found ; but while that
is in a measure true, I have always felt that the copy
ing of expressions and well-turned phrases and, of
course, of whole paragraphs, as in this case all such
appropriation was theft ; at least, it would be for me, if
I indulged in it."
" I have not spoken of this matter with anybody ex
cept my son," remarked Mr. Marshall. " I think that
he and I and you two are all that know of it. Let us
keep the matter to ourselves. Perhaps this exposure
will be wisely used by Dr. Carnaquay. I wouldn t like
to have Olive hear about the matter. I hope she hasn t
got wind of it. She has a very high opinion of her
minister, but she has, also, an unusually intense and
even rigid sense of right and wrong. I fear she would
refuse to ever hear him preach again, if she learned that
he coolly appropriated other people s essays or sermons."
Lawrence did not glance at his wife, nor she at him,
as these words were uttered ; but one and the same
2 yo RONALD CARNAQUAY
thought was in both their minds. Both resisted the
impulse to broach the subject of Olive s decidedly
romantic and passionate interest in Carnaquay ; for
both were uncertain as to the extent of Mr. Marshall s
knowledge of the affair.
Therefore husband and wife sat in silence, but their
minds seemed to touch each other, as if by telepathy.
In a moment Mr. Marshall continued : " I find Dr. Car
naquay a strange sort of man. I like him, but I never
feel quite sure of him. There, for example, is his inim
itable way of telling stories, in his sermons. You have
heard him, at least once, I believe, Mrs. Freeman ? "
"Yes, I have; and I was greatly interested," re
joined Mrs. Freeman.
What looked like a smile crept over Mr. Marshall s
face ; his extensive beard rendered difficult any absolute
identification of his facial movements. " You speak
with discretion," he said. " But I must admit that his
stories are extremely well told, only they often don t
bear any relation to the text or to the subject which he
announces at the beginning. And quite often, I hear
him tell some story, as if it had happened to him, the
week before, and I can recall having heard the story
twenty-five years ago, at least. I haven t quite liked
that way of doing. It makes the story more effective,
of course, but it does so at the cost of well, of entire,
exact truthfulness."
" I noticed the same thing," said Mrs. Freeman,
" when I heard him preach." And she added, with a
dignified bending of her erect form, yet with a faint
suggestion of satire : " The plain truth is often so un
attractive, Mr. Marshall. You know how becomingly a
little fringe of falsehood can set it off."
"Yes, I suppose so," assented the visitor, senten-
tiously, but evidently catching her meaning. " If only he
MORE SPOTS, AND LARGER 271
weren t a minister of the gospel ! I rather expect such
fringes, as you call them, in an after-dinner speaker s
talk. But in a Christian preacher, and in church
Mr. Marshall raised his hand deprecatingly.
" Carnaquay is one of the most interesting types for
study that I know," said Lawrence, rousing himself as
if from a revery. " He seems to me peculiarly a prod
uct of our time. He is created and others like him
in large measure, by certain kinds of churches : they
demand a certain type of minister or preacher, and he
is the supply which rises to meet that demand.
I have often thought, in reflecting upon this phenome
non of our modern pulpits, of that text in the Bible in
the prophet Jeremiah, I think which says, " The proph
ets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their
means ; and my people love to have it so." That is the
explanation of the existence of false prophets and evil
priests, to-day as of old. It is the people, who really
hold the power ; what they demand, they receive. If
they demand, in ministers, the Christian virtues, then
men of those virtues will enter the ministry ; and if they
demand preachers who are brilliant story-tellers and
clever entertainers, then such men will find their way
into the profession, and help to fix the low standard of
the pulpit more firmly in the hearts of the people."
"Would you mind telling me," asked Mr. Marshall,
as his host paused, " what you really think of Dr. Carna
quay ? That is, what you think of him as a minister ? "
" I have no objection to expressing my thought
frankly," said Lawrence, "especially to a man like
you, Mr. Marshall. I personally like Carnaquay, more
and more, as I get at him ; of course I must say plainly
that I do not think his standards of his profession,
either intellectually or morally, are what they ought to
be. As I have often said to Mrs. Freeman, he is not
272 RONALD CARNAQUAY
immoral so much as unmoral ; he does not quite trans
gress the many minor moralities, consciously, but he
simply is blind and deaf to the finer shades of ministe
rial ethics. He is, primarily, a shrewd business man,
with a sort of ^olian attachment of clever talk ; he is,
from what I can gather, a raconteur ; he is amusing,
as some favorite end-man, in a negro minstrel-show,
is amusing. He has ability in two directions, each of
which would be remunerative : one is his business abil
ity, and the other is his picturesque story-telling faculty.
Now his business ability does not avail very much in the
ministry, because there are good business men on the
church committees ; but, as a clever story-teller and a re
citer of memorized poems and famous eloquent passages,
he is without sharp competition, and partly so because
the majority of preachers have consciences and will not
prostitute their talents and degrade their sacred office,
by unblushingly yielding to the demand of the public
for amusement. If Carnaquay went into theatre life, or
the vaudeville world, he would be successful, but not as
strikingly successful Heaven forgive the word as
now he is in a pulpit ; because there are many variety
performers, either with or without burnt cork, who can
equal him in his vivid powers of narration and his facil
ity for provoking laughter. Whereas, among clergymen,
there are as yet only a few who descend to this level
of comedy and farce ; although, if the demand contin
ues, I dare not say how great the supply may be."
Lawrence, in his own heart, felt regret and even a
strong antagonism, for such a degradation of the pulpit ;
but he had meditated upon it so much, and had himself
slipped so utterly out of the arena of pulpit competition,
as it exists in most communities, that he had lost all
bitterness of feeling, and now spoke quietly and even
philosophically.
MORE SPOTS, AND LARGER 273
" Of course we mustn t deny people proper amuse
ments," interpolated Mr. Marshall; "only you would
say, I suppose, that the church is not for that purpose
at least not solely for that."
" Precisely ! " assented Lawrence. " I believe in
laughter and in the good it can do to human bodies and
minds. But the church, historically and essentially,
stands for the religious and moral instruction and stimu
lation of human minds and hearts ; it should stand for
that, more than it has in the past. What I object to is
that too often, men and women, who need moral ree n-
forcement and spiritual quickening, go to church, to the
place which is supposed to meet those needs, and are
simply amused; and they are thus injuriously led to be
lieve that they have been benefited, morally and spirit
ually. Perhaps they have been, in a gentle stimulating
way, but their conduct or their faith will not be substan
tially affected by the exercise of their risibilities."
Lawrence paused a moment or two, as if deliberating,
and then continued : " I mustn t bore you, Mr. Marshall,
with my reflections, but I have often been struck by the
resemblance between the pulpit vaudeville, of certain
kinds of churches, and patent medicines. I have ob
served that if a person will only concoct some toothsome
liquid or paste, and then urge its merits as a medicine,
he can find a ready market for it. People like sweets,
but they do not quite wish to spend money for those
sweets, under that name ; so, if the clever person will
only invent a chewing-gum, or a cream tablet, or a
sparkling drink, and then put forth strong claims for its
medicinal efficacy, he will find a far larger market for
such a compound than he could find for sugar or cin
namon or wintergreen alone. People like to indulge
themselves, but they wish to have the excuse of seeming
to be ameliorating their aches and pains."
274 RONALD CARNAQUAY
" You have omitted one very widely sold class of so-
called medicines," suggested Mr. Marshall. " I have
an idea that the alcoholic base of most bitters and
tonics is the explanation of their wide sale. People
actually become confirmed drunkards, through continued
indulgence in such deadly stuff."
" Yes, I know from observation that you are correct,"
resumed Lawrence. " But the parallel which I started
to draw is this. People like to be amused, and they
like it most when it passes under some higher name ; as
they like sweets and the taste of whiskey, especially
when disguised as medicine, so they enjoy fun and
laughter, especially when called sermons or lec
tures. "
" And this principle, as applied to our friend Carna-
quay, becomes simply the explanation of his I will
not say success, but his popularity. His genial good
nature, however, is also a factor, I think."
" Yes, and I credit him, after observing him rather
closely," added Mr. Marshall, "I credit him with con
siderable kindness of heart and generosity. What say
you to that, Mr. Freeman ? "
" I quite agree," responded Lawrence, warmly. " The
man s heart is all right ; as a man of the world he would
get on perfectly well, and would amass wealth ; indeed,
he has taken pretty long steps in that direction already.
Furthermore, such an error as this of plagiarism, or, to
put it plainly, literary theft, a wrong-doing which arises
from his dull moral nature this would not come within
his range of experience as a business man ; and as for
the moral questions which do arise in mercantile life, I
think I have heard you yourself say, Mr. Marshall, that
custom and even policy unite to keep a man straight,
even if personally he were not inclined that way."
The three friends found themselves in close sympathy,
MORE SPOTS, AND LARGER 275
concerning the minister of Emmanuel Church, the more
closely they analyzed him. And they agreed in looking
upon him somewhat as a " misfit," in the social mechan
ism ; superficially successful as he was, but essentially
and hopelessly a failure, he was made possible, he was
created professionally, in large measure, by the wish
and will of certain classes of the public. As Lawrence
again quoted, " The people would have it so."
As Mr. Marshall went on, chatting more easily and
unrestrainedly than when he came in, several matters of
interest transpired, regarding Carnaquay. One was that
he was making very few calls in these days. His zeal in
that direction seemed largely to have evaporated. Test
ing this fact by the one standard, by which all his pro
fessional life was to be tested, it was evident that he had
decided that such a use of his time was not needed, in
order to insure his success, in order to hold his large
congregation, and to keep the church exchequer full.
Any purpose of personal ministry, in knowing intimately
his people, was not to be attributed to him. There was
even one case, which Mr. Marshall now narrated, which
led to a difference of opinion among the three friends.
It was this. A family, made up of a man, his wife,
and two children, had given up all connection with the
church ; they had ceased to rent a pew, and they would
not subscribe to any of the philanthropic causes, in which
Emmanuel Church was interested. The man was a
machinist, and received good wages ; the family lived
comfortably, and spent money freely for luxuries and
amusements. When urged by the treasurer to keep
up his pew-rent, the man became angry, said he had no
use for the church, and remarked that he wanted his
money for other things. Whether wisely or unwisely,
the treasurer mentioned this conversation to Carnaquay ;
and, by a strange coincidence, the machinist s child fell
276 RONALD CARNAQUAY
ill and died, within a month after Carnaquay had learned
about his action and his remarks. Naturally, and with
out any misgivings, they sent to the minister of Emman
uel Church, asking him to conduct the burial services.
Mr. Marshall was carefully narrating this episode,
and, at this point, he paused and asked Lawrence,
abruptly, "What would you have done, Mr. Freeman,
if you had been in Dr. Carnaquay s place ? Would you
have conducted the burial service ? "