"Do?" said I. "Nothing. There is nothing to be done, except to read Mr. Mapleson"s letter to the committee, to-morrow night at our first meeting. And I am curious to see what they"ll say to it."
CHAPTER XIV.
The Supply Committee hold their first formal Meeting.
PLACE: James Wheaton"s library.--Hour: seven and a half o"clock in the evening.--Present: James Wheaton, Thomas Gear, James Goodsole, Solomon Hardcap, and John Laicus.--John Laicus in the chair.
Laicus.:
--Gentlemen the first business in order is to appoint a secretary.
Deacon Goodsole.:
--Oh, you can keep the minutes. We don"t want much of a record.
Laicus.:
--Very good, if that is agreed to. My minutes will be very simple.
James Wheaton.:
--That"s all right. What do you hear from Mr. Mapleson? Anything?
Laicus.:
--Yes I have his letter in my pocket.
James Wheaton.:
--When will he come?
Laicus.:
--He declines to come.
James Wheaton,: [(astonished).]
--Declines to come. Why a church mouse would starve on the pittance they pay him at Koniwa.s.set Corners. What"s his reason?
Laicus.:
--His letter is a rather singular and striking one, gentlemen.
Perhaps I had better read it.
Which he thereupon proceeds to do, slowly and distinctly, till he reaches the closing paragraphs, which he omits as being of a purely personal character.
James Wheaton.:
--That fellow"s got stuff in him and no mistake. By Jove I believe if I was running this church I would take him on trust.
Solomon Hardcap.:
--I think it a very presumptuous letter. The idea. What does he expect? Does he think we"re goin" to take a preacher without ever havin" heard him preach?
Deacon Goodsole.:
--We have heard him preach, Mr. Hardcap. He preached here two Sundays last summer. Don"t you recollect?
Solomon Hardcap.:
--Yes. I remember. But I didn"t take no notice of his sermons; he wan"t preachin" as a candidate.
Mr. Gear.:
--Gentlemen I am not very much acquainted with church affairs and I don"t think I understand this business very well. What do you mean by preaching as a candidate? I thought a candidate was a man who applied for an office. Am I to understand that whenever a pulpit is vacant the church expects different ministers to apply for it, and puts them on trial, and picks out the one it likes the best?
Mr. Hardcap.:
--That"s it exactly.
Mr. Gear.:
--You don"t really mean to say that any decent ministers apply for the place on those terms.
Deacon Goodsole,: [(warmly).]
--Indeed they do Mr. Gear. There is never any lack of candidates for a favorable parish. I have got half a dozen letters in my pocket now. One man writes and sends me copies of two or three letters of recommendation. Another gives me a glowing account of the revival that has followed his labors in other fields. Then there"s a letter from a daughter that really moved me a good deal. She pleads hard for her father who is poor and is getting old, and needs the salary sadly-poor man.
Mr. Gear.:
--Well, all I have got to say, is that when any of those candidates come to preach I hope you"ll notify me, and I"ll stay away.
Mr. Hardcap.:
--I have no patience with these new fangled notions of these young up-start preachers. I reckon the ways our fathers got their preachers are good enough for us.
Mr. Gear.:
--And what do you say as to that point he makes about Paul"s preaching as a candidate, Mr. Hardcap?