Theron felt bound to exhibit a grin in acknowledgment of this pleasantry.The lawyer's change of position had involved some shifting of the others' chairs, and the young minister found himself directly 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 on his right, the cheese-buyer to the left, seemed to recede into distance as he for the moment returned the gaze of the quarryman.He waited now for him to speak, as if the others were of no importance.
"We are a plain sort o' folks up in these parts,"said Brother Pierce, after a slight further pause.
His voice was as dry and rasping as his cough, and its intonations were those of authority."We walk here,"he 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 themselves Methodists in other places.We stick by the Discipline an'
the ways of our fathers in Israel.No new-fangled notions can go down here.Your wife'd better take them flowers out of her bunnit afore next Sunday."Silence possessed the room for a few moments, the while Theron, pale-faced and with brows knit, studied the pattern of the ingrain carpet.Then he lifted his head, and nodded it in assent."Yes," he said;"we will do nothing by which our 'brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.'"Brother Pierce's parchment face showed no sign of surprise or pleasure at this easy submission."Another thing:
We don't want no book-learnin' or dictionary words in our pulpit," he went on coldly."Some folks may stomach 'em; we won't.Them two sermons o' yours, p'r'aps they'd do down in some city place; but they're like your wife's bunnit here, they're too flowery 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 here, sir, is straight-out, flat-footed hell--the burnin' lake o' fire an' brim-stone.Pour it into 'em, hot an' strong.We can't have too much of it.
Work in them awful deathbeds of Voltaire an' Tom Paine, with the Devil right there in the room, reachin' for 'em, an'
they yellin' for fright; that's what fills the anxious seat an'
brings in souls hand over fist."
Theron's tongue dallied for an instant with the temptation to comment upon these old-wife fables, which were so dear to the rural religious heart when he and I were boys.
But it seemed wiser to only nod again, and let his mentor go on.
"We ain't had no trouble with the Free Methodists here,"continued Brother Pierce, "jest because we kept to the old paths, an' seek for salvation in the good old way.
Everybody can shout "Amen!" as loud and as long as the Spirit moves him, with us.Some one was sayin'
you thought we ought to have a choir and an organ.
No, sirree! No such tom-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' round now preachin'
that our grandfathers were all monkeys.That comes from departin' from the ways of our forefathers, an puttin'
in organs an' choirs, an' deckin' our women-folks out with gewgaws, an' apin' the fashions of the worldly.
I shouldn't wonder if them kind did have some monkey blood in 'em.You'll find we're a different sort here."The young minister preserved silence for a little, until it became apparent that the old trustee had had his say out.
Even then he raised his head slowly, and at last made answer in a hesitating and irresolute way"You have been very frank," he said."I am obliged to you.
A clergyman coming to a new charge cannot be better served than by having laid before him a clear statement of the views and--and spiritual tendencies--of his new flock, quite at the outset.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 of Wesley and Asbury may be a source of much strength to me.
I may take it," he added upon second thought, with an inquiring glance at Mr.Winch, "that Brother Pierce's description of our charge, and its tastes and needs, meets with your approval?"Erastus Winch nodded his head and smiled expansively.
"Whatever Brother Pierce says, goes!" he declared.
The lawyer, sitting behind at the desk by the window, said nothing.
"The place is jest overrun with Irish," Brother Pierce began again."They've got two Catholic churches here now to our one, and they do jest as they blamed please at the Charter elections.It'd be a good idee to pitch into Catholics in general whenever you can.You could make a hit that way.I say the State ought to make 'em pay taxes on their church property.They've no right to be exempted, because they ain'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'
