to Mr. Blaney, and he soon possessed himself of their
contents. Many of the letters came directly from min
isters, asking permission to preach for a Sunday in the
vacant pulpit. Some of these applicants were already
occupying pulpits, but the majority were not. Certain
of the letters were from persons asking an opportunity
for clerical friends to be heard. A part of the letters
were brief and dignified, a few of them were servile and
boastful. Taking them all in one bundle, Mr. Blaney
thoughtfully crowded them into a pigeonhole of his
desk, and wrote, inviting a country minister whom he
had listened to the summer before, said minister being
rough in manner and crude in ideas, and not in the
least likely to prove acceptable to the congregation.
This diversion would give the " Committee on Supplies "
time to frame not his attack, but rather his de
fence ; for somebody was destined to get through his
fortifications sooner or later, and Mr. Blaney simply
aimed at postponing surrender as long as possible.
He wrote and mailed his letter as soon as possible.
Then on his way home he happened to meet Mr.
Marshall. Of course the all-important subject of can
didates was broached. Mr. Marshall let fall the remark
HUNTING MINISTERS 95
that Mr. Freeman had mentioned a friend of his, named
Meade, as an excellent minister, and one likely to fill
the pulpit creditably. In all matters of business Mr.
Marshall had an unerring instinct, and could lead men
and forestall events with great accuracy ; but in reli
gious affairs, or rather in affairs ecclesiastical, he was
liable to err, through the very sincerity and earnestness
of his own devout and humble spiritual nature, which
was much stronger and deeper "free thinker" as he
was often called than most of those who thus unfairly
judged him. .So, in such matters as the conduct of pub
lic worship, and even in matters correlated with it, he
moved sometimes a little blindly as in this case, when
one day he suggested to Mr. Blaney the advisability of
inviting this friend of Mr. Freeman s to preach, add
ing that Mr. Freeman thought him a very promising
candidate.
Mr. Blaney took alarm instantly, and Mr. Marshall
at once noted it in the excitable, wilful, vain man, but
did not understand its cause. Mr. Blaney replied, with
an excessive blandness and volubility which betrayed his
uneasiness, that he would give the matter his immediate
consideration. The two men parted, and Mr. Blaney
faced his little problem alone ; the problem being how
to comply with this suggestion of Mr. Marshall s and
Mr. Freeman s, yet not to bring his own dictatorship to
a close. The upshot of his deliberations was that he in
vited Mr. Meade for the second Sunday, rather shrewdly
soliloquizing that the parish, the congregation, was little
likely to choose one of the earlier candidates, but would
wish to wait and see what might be in store for them.
Therefore, Mr. Blaney decided that if this rather attrac
tive Mr. Meade must be allowed in front of the con
gregation at all, it were best that he come as soon as
possible.
96 RONALD CARNAQUAY
This plan was followed ; and after the first raw rustic
candidate had pounded the pulpit cushions to his satis
faction, for the first Sunday, Mr. Meade appeared, on
the second Sunday, and received an attentive hearing.
"He came, he saw," and was seen but he did not
conquer. He was a man of good ability, and possessed
of high standards ; but Emmanuel Church as Mr.
Blaney astutely had foreseen was so expectant of
marvellous eloquence, had its hopes pitched at so
high a key, that only a Chrysostom or a Whitefield
could have satisfied it at that early stage of the can-
didating period. Later, this Mr. Meade might have
been welcomed, after the hard facts of human imper
fection had been exemplified from the pulpit a dozen
or more Sundays. But at present there was not the
slightest chance that any preacher would suit. The
congregation sat in sphinx-like silence, with the cool
indifference and the haughty sense of power which
characterized the old-time assemblage in the Colosseum
as gladiators fought to make a Roman holiday. Un
consciously they showed the same love of power which
animated Mr. Blaney, and, like him, they were in no
way eager to terminate the candidating, for this would
end their own brief judicial career.
There were many intricacies and professional sub
tleties connected with the delicate matter of candidat
ing, some of which were creditable and some were not.
Mr. Blaney, as " Committee on Supplies," learned more
or less of them, in the course of his reign. One of
these niceties was that a minister should not be invited
to come and " candidate " at a church. No. Mr.
Blaney had perceived the need of euphemism, by the
time he had read through a half dozen of the earliest
applications and replies to his own invitations. No
minister replied that he would come and " preach as
HUNTING MINISTERS 97
a candidate." Not he. He would, however, be most
happy to " occupy the pulpit," or to " act as supply,"
or to " preach," but was " not to be considered as a can
didate " and so on. Yet every one of them (or nearly
so) was eager to be called to the vacant pulpit, and
knew, from the beginning to the end of his appearance
at the church, that he was on trial. Occasionally some
self-respecting minister, on receiving one of Mr. Blaney s
mandatory epistles, replied briefly that his work and his
character were open to examination, on week days and
Sundays, in his own parish and pulpit ; and if a com
mittee from Emmanuel Church desired to visit him in
his church, or consult his parish committee, he would
give them a cordial welcome or aid them to make
thorough inquiries.
This was on the highest level of ministerial dignity
and delicacy, and it was the soundest level on which
the search for a minister could have been conducted,
and, indeed, is conducted, by the most cultivated and
most intelligent parishes ; but such a method would
have defeated Mr. Blaney s plans and undermined his
power and pleasure. Besides, it was " too much
trouble," he argued with Dr. Mixer ; so they voted the
writers of such letters "prigs and upstarts," and Mr.
Blaney at once found evidence, or manufactured it, to
prove that those ministers were of an inferior quality.
Thus the Sundays passed, and each brought some
novelty before the eyes and ears of the congregation.
It was nothing less than ecclesiastical vaudeville ; and,
in that case, the demand and taste for it in Emmanuel
Church coincided with that of the theatre public at
large ; which, as everybody knows, has found serious,
thoughtful, artistic plays somewhat a burden, and has
declared, by the clink of its silver and gold, for the
" continuous performance."
98 RONALD CARNAQUAY
The congregation, for a time, greatly enjoyed or
seemed to enjoy that kind of entertainment which
Wilbur Blaney, Esq., agent, was furnishing. In proof
of this, Mr Blaney noted and was not backward in
calling attention to the same that the congregations
had appreciably enlarged. There was another change,
however, which he did not notice, and that was in the
quality of the attention which the congregation gave.
Before the candidating began, most people came in
quietly, reverently, some of them bowing their heads
for a moment in prayer; and throughout the service
showed a sense of participation in the same by voice
or attentive manner. Now it had become different ;
there was an aloofness, a critical flavor about the
assemblage, which manifested itself in many unpleas
ant ways. The gainers by the change seemed to be
the organist and choir ; for they, in the past, had been
continuously found fault with ; but their shortcomings
were quite overlooked, in the general zeal to find some
flaw in the occupant of the pulpit.
There was a comedy side and a tragedy side, also, to
it all. " Life is a comedy to him who thinks ; to him who
feels, it is a tragedy." Therefore, from the congrega
tion s point of view, this was comedy, for the congre
gation s heart, with its love and worship, had been
temporarily laid aside ; and its head, its thinking, criti
cal part, had the leadership.
Be it said, however, for truth s sake, that this lament
able lowering of ideals was not characteristic of the entire
congregation, perhaps not numerically of a majority;
there were many people, of a quiet, unobtrusive sort,
who really came to church to be helped over hard
places, to gain strength in their troubles and trials, to
be lifted out of sordid levels, and to catch anew the
vision of the " unseen realities." Such people were
HUNTING MINISTERS 99
disappointed and depressed ; but although they formed
a considerable part of the church, they made but slight
demonstration of their feelings, and waited in silence
for the dawn of a brighter day.
So the more demonstrative, more commercial, elements
in the church seemed to be more numerous than they
really were ; they asserted themselves at every turn,
and practically controlled the situation. These persons
enjoyed their Sundays as never before, and did greatly
increase the size of the congregations. There were
smiles, at times, as funny things happened in the pul
pit. One preacher, who ventured to deliver a sermon
which evidently was not of recent preparation, and had
not been looked over, spoke warmly of a presidential
election as just occurring, which had really taken place
three years before ; and, a little later in the sermon, he
lost his place among the disordered leaves of his manu
script, and was obliged ignominiously to stop and take
several minutes to rearrange the confused mass. Such
pleasant episodes sent ripples of laughter over the con
gregation, and made the time pass very pleasantly.
Concerning every minister who occupied the pulpit,
there were a half dozen differing opinions. One liked
this kind of sermon, and others liked that kind ; some
demanded manuscript preaching, others believed in
emancipation from the same. One preacher shouted
so loudly as to deafen the five front pews, but de
lighted the hearts of some aged and deaf persons who
sat in the rear of the church, and would persist in
sitting there, because of old associations. These indi
viduals had not heard the whole of the sermon, but
were greatly gratified with the sturdy preacher s sten
torian voice, which had kept them from slumber, really
arousing their aural tympana into pleasurable vibration.
Bad as the whole affair was, this prolonged can-
ioo RONALD CARNAQUAY
didating, it was no worse, per se, than was the old
nomination of Roman candidates for office, or the modern
campaigning of would-be governors and senators. The
great harm of it was in the lowered morale of the con
gregation ; inasmuch as the bid for votes, on the part
of these clerical candidates, was not made in a market
place, or forum, or public hall, as in affairs political, but
in a place and on a day commonly set apart for higher
and more spiritual ends ; thus the sanctities of public
worship were set aside, disregarded, even permanently
uprooted.
Still, looking at this weekly exhibition from its
comedy or congregational side, it may be said that there
were many interesting situations. One preacher was
much liked by a large number of people, because he
had a beautiful baritone voice, and took magnificent
lead of the congregational hymns. Another had his
sermon as full of quotations from famous authors as a
Christmas pudding is full of plums, and his profound
learning was deeply impressed upon many minds, they
had never seen " Allibone s Prose Quotations." Also,
one gentleman of commanding presence made use of a
few and very long quotations from Burke, Fox, Cicero,
and other classic orators ; and he gave these long
declamations with grand effect, each being admirable
in itself, but in no very evident way being related to
the others. This man bade fair to gain a large fol
lowing, until Mrs. Guthrie s comment gained currency,
to the effect that nobody needed to come to church to
hear Cicero, and Burke, and others declaimed, for these
could be read at home.
Another of the more promising candidates was a
rough, awkward young fellow, who had a natural apti
tude for public speaking, and had something worth
saying ; but, unfortunately, he occasionally departed,
HUNTING MINISTERS 101
in his earnest exhortations, from the very well written
manuscript before him, and interpolated some purely
extempore sentences ; and in these his language fell
short of the smoothness and precision of his written
discourse. Therefore, although these interpolations
were evidently burning utterances, from a sincere
heart, the critical jury before him saw or thought
they saw or thought their neighbors saw a misuse
of the English language. Accordingly, their feelings
of propriety were ruffled, and a considerable number of
people pursed their lips with protestation, and did not
unlock them until after the benediction, when they
could freely express their dislike for the raw young
orator. However, this horror of the preacher s Eng
lish was not shared by all. " Language ? Language ?
Trouble with his language ? " exclaimed old Cy Colburn.
"Why, that s it, is it? Now I didn t notice nothin
wrong. But there ! I hain t never had no trouble with
my language."
One of the candidates was a person who might have
made a good showing in the political field,- and pos
sessed the instincts of a born diplomat. On accepting
Mr. Blaney s now proper and conventional invitation to
"supply the pulpit," he inquired for a "year-book," or
church manual, if there were such an annual publica
tion. This being forwarded to him, he happily found
in it a subscription-list to some charity. This list, with
amounts opposite names, gave the clever young man a
fairly correct key to the sources of financial revenue in
the parish. He preached very acceptably on Sunday ;
and then on Monday, equipped with this list, he made
a great many "social calls." It was a well-laid plan,
and might have resulted more satisfactorily to the
misplaced young plenipotentiary, but for one counter
influence. He had carefully sounded as he thought
102
Mr. Blaney, regarding the theological temper of the
church ; and he had been warmly assured by the
Machiavellian "Committee on Supplies " (who had sus
pected his scheme) that a large proportion of the peo
ple were very conservative, very conservative indeed
(which statement happened to be the exact opposite of
the fact).
Enough said. The hopeful young candidate put his
radical and progressive sermon deep down into his
travelling-bag, and used his discourse on " The Nature
and Tendency of Sin," wherein he quoted Moses and
Calvin, agreed with Augustine and Edwards, declared
boldly for a personal devil, had several sulphurous sug
gestions of not "Sheol" nor "Hades" but "Hell";
and ended, red faced and wet eyed, with a violent
appeal to all to " make their calling and election sure,"
and to " flee from the wrath to come."
That was where he failed in his own calling and
election, at least in Emmanuel Church, which prided
itself on its advanced views, and liked a pinch of
science in most sermons, and a friendly reference to
some famous picture or sonata. So the reverend gen
tleman wended his fruitless way around among the
homes and business offices, but was received with a
coolness and apathy which perplexed and disheartened
him ; and he left town, two trains earlier than he had
intended.
Thus the continuous performance went on, Sunday
after Sunday. There were objections to every candi
date. One man was " awfully tall," and another was
" dreadfully short." One wore a necktie with a red
tint in it, and another did not have his hair smoothed
properly. A certain young fellow, blessed with an
abundance of brown hair, wore it brushed so smoothly
and compactly, that "Sister" Jennings and "Sister"
HUNTING MINISTERS 103
Moulton, as they walked home together, discussed the
question, all the way, as to whether or not the young
candidate wore a wig. " Sister " Moulton had good
reason to know the arts of arrangement and conceal
ment in that form of head decoration ; and she there
fore spoke with authority. But she spoke guardedly,
not too freely, lest her companion should suspect her
of wearing one ; thus she preserved, as she thought
with great cleverness, a secret which had been a patent
fact to the congregation so long that it had ceased to
be interesting.
Among the candidates it was inevitable that there
should be at least one of those wearisome occupants
of pulpits, who are commonly known as " scholarly
preachers." Given that brief description, any person
of experience could add certain other characteristics.
This particular man wore glasses, because his sight
was poor. At once the congregation assumed that his
impaired vision had been caused by excessive devotion
to profound studies. He was slow and painstaking also
in movements and in speech. This arose from a natural
stupidity of mind ; but to the congregation it meant an
absorption in recondite and spiritual fields of thought.
He preached a sermon which was never above the
commonplace, and delivered it in a tone that never
rose out of a soporific monotone. Occasionally he
paused, after some profound observation, like " We
must all die," or " Every man has his cares," and gazed
intently down over the assembly, to make sure that
they were grasping the full meaning of his ideas. At
such awful moments the sudden cessation of his dron
ing voice waked up many of those who were quietly
and unostentatiously slumbering, and they hastily tried
to get into touch with the spectacled oracle beaming
patiently upon them.
io 4 RONALD CARNAQUAY
This candidate, the "scholarly man," had no observ
able faults and no noticeable merits. Everybody mur
mured, on going out, " How scholarly ! " and nobody,
for his life, could have told what he meant by the ex
pression ; but one thing was evident, however, and that
was that Emmanuel Church approved the man, but did
not desire to settle him had not the slightest notion of
it.
All this was the " comedy " side of the situation. This
was the aspect of the candidating period, from the
merely intellectual and critical point of view ; but to
those who could feel, as well as perceive, there was a
serious and even tragic element in much of it. There,
for instance, was the young man, pale, thin, high-keyed
in voice, impassioned in spirit, who preached a sermon
that had no meaning whatever to men like Dr. Mixer
and Blaney ; but Mr. Marshall divined and Mrs. Guthrie
quickly understood that he was singing a death-song to
them that day. The truth was that he had economized
so closely in the theological seminary, had lived on so
small an amount of food, and worn such thin clothing,
and worked so excessively, that he had undermined his
vitality ; and the fervor with which he spoke was that
of the hectic invalid, and his point of view was heaven,
rather than earth. There was no possibility that such
a person could be selected, and he came and went like
a spirit, arid his pure and holy message was long re
membered as was our Lord s by " those who could
hear it."
Again, there was the candidate, a former college mate
of Freeman s, who came to his house on the north
side on Monday morning, after his Sunday duty, and
was of course warmly welcomed. Each called the other
by the last name, and both enjoyed the renewal of old
school ties ; but the gayety in the visitor s manner was
HUNTING MINISTERS 105
a forced gayety, and the cause of this presently tran
spired. He was a steady-going, right-minded man, but
had never advanced, in the path of promotion, beyond
the little seaside hamlet and wooden chapel in which he
had first settled, on graduating. There he was respected
and loved, but the salary was small and his family was
large. Several times Lawrence had heard of his candi-
dating in various larger parishes, but always he had re
turned to his little round of duty among the fishermen.
Just how he had been included in the list of candidates
for Emmanuel Church, Mr. Freeman did not know ; but
here he was, looking forlorn, in his rusty coat, and with
a wistful, patient expression on his thin, careworn face.
After the usual inquiries had been made, he broke a
somewhat prolonged silence by saying timidly, " I am
awfully sorry to ask it, Freeman, but I am really obliged
to ; you see er I I haven t the money to pay my
car-fare back home. It costs about four dollars and a
half; and I thought, I thought that the committee
would pay me the usual fee this morning ; but Mr.
Blaney has gone "
"Well, that s all right, all right," interrupted Free
man, in a friendly and careless way, as if such a trifle
need not be delayed over. And taking out his purse
he handed his old friend a five-dollar bill. This
was received with a burst of grateful expression, and
the candidate was led to open his heart to his host,
and tell him some of his discouragements and trials.
Lawrence always unconsciously drew forth, from people
in trouble, such confidences ; his nature was so strong
and sincere, yet tender, that a person quickly felt, in his
presence, the certainty of a sympathetic response. The
narrative was a touching one : the young man had gone
forth from his theological studies, with idealistic views,
with high purposes for helping the world, and had been
io6 RONALD CARNAQUAY
wounded by rebuffs, cast down by misunderstandings,
plunged into debt by sickness, and by poor manage
ment, as he confessed frankly. He had given up hope
for his own professional preferment ; and his one
aim now was to advance his children, by education, so
that they might make more of a success than he had
made. Hardly forty years old as he was, he seemed
like a broken old man ; and Freeman pitied him, from
the bottom of his heart.
Well, he went his way. Emmanuel Church had no
idea of calling him.
They had tacitly agreed, as they left church, that " he
had no spirit," and Dr. Mixer expressed it even more
tersely and forcibly. Thus they decided ; and knew
not that the man was weak in body from lack of good
food, and cast down in soul because of baffled hopes
and overwhelming anxieties concerning his little family.
One other candidate may properly here be singled
out, among the more pathetic cases. It was that of a
man, aged about fifty-five years, who was prematurely
gray haired, but was still in full possession of his
faculties and of a rich store of experience which would
have made him a trusted pastor and counsellor fifty
years before, but now his whitish-gray locks condemned
him. Mr. Blaney had not been forewarned about his
age, else he would not have invited him ; still, the man
came among the first half of the applicants, and when,
as yet, the " Committee on Supplies " was not eager to
obtain " first-rate talent." Gray as Mr. Blaney himself
was, he had no mercy for a gray-haired candidate. His
theory, as expressed to Dr. Mixer, was that they must
have a "bright, smart, lively young man, one that would
make things jump." In which standard of apostolic
excellence he coincided with the grocer down the street,
who made it a rule " never to hire a man over thirty
HUNTING MINISTERS 107
years of age, because after that age men couldn t move
fast enough to keep up with his trade." "Movement"
being the desideratum, and speed taking precedence
over thoroughness and honesty, there was little chance
for a noble, disciplined manhood, either in the grocery
trade or in the pulpit of Emmanuel Church. This was
substantially what Mr. Blaney said to the dignified man,
as he " paid him off," Sunday night. Usually the supply
fee was sent by mail, early in the week, after the service
was rendered. Mr. Marshall coached by Mr. Free
man, who distrusted Blaney s methods had insisted
on this plan ; but Blaney had a mean, cruel, streak
in him, like that which makes a bully browbeat and
insult a weaker man. And in revenge for the can
didate s having signs of age upon him, he " paid him
off " personally, that Sunday evening, and used the
occasion to drop sundry spiteful remarks all of which
the man took in silence, in patience ; for he had suffered
much because of this whitening of his hair, in a pro
fession which too often demands wisdom and zeal,
enthusiasm and ripened experience, and, in short, all
the virtues of youth and age combined, mutually con
tradictory as such qualities usually are.
However, Mr. Blaney s reign was fast drawing toward
a close. He saw signs of insubordination, at times, and