CONCLUSION.
When next the Scripture Club convened there were visible some vacant
places. Mr. Alleman was not there, and Mr. Prymm had betaken himself to
Dr. Humbletop's class, where he might study the Word of God without
perplexing annoyances from those who could not, for even an hour in a
week, and that hour on the Sabbath day, let the world out of their
thoughts. Several of the members had endeavored to dissuade Mr. Prymm
from his intention, but he remained firm. Broker Whilcher went back to
his Unitarian brethren, but even among them he was noted as having lost
his old interest in the brotherhood of man and the rights of humanity.
Young Mr. Banty drifted off to nowhere in particular; but for weeks he
told to every irreligious acquaintance the story of the difficulties in
the Scripture Club, and great was the sinful hilarity excited thereby.
The difference of opinion on the subject of righteousness had upon the
class an effect so peculiar that Dr. Fahrenglotz did not hesitate to
express an opinion that free speech was a dead letter, and he thereafter
took pains to absent himself from the company of the assumed custodians
thereof, although he was frequently and earnestly besought to favor the
club with the pure logical aspect of questions, the import of which the
members had first obscured by much sophistry.
Judge Cottaway, Squire Woodhouse, Principal Alleman, Mr. Radley, and the
founder of the class contracted a habit of meeting informally at each
other's residence, and as subscription papers increased in numbers soon
after, there was little or no curiosity manifested by their late
associates to know what was talked about at these meetings. It was a
noteworthy fact, and the subject of much dismal head-shaking among the
churchly, that these five men represented four different denominations,
and that they finally deprived Father McGarry's flock of a member who
had several times listened to the discussions of the club in its earlier
days, whom they failed to provide with a new denominational faith in
place of his old one.
As for Captain Maile, he was thereafter the most shamefaced and silent
man at Valley Rest. He was by no means the first man who had mistaken
the critical faculty for character; but he was not a man of large
information in the history of the world outside of Valley Rest, so he
spent several years of his life in indignant yet humble
self-questionings as to his peculiar mental organization. He finally
admitted to himself that to keep his fault-finding disposition under
control, he must devote more persistent attention to it than he had ever
given his better self before. Several years later he identified himself
closely with all the practical work of the Second Church, and
distinguished himself as being the man of all others who could accept
advice without showing impatience.
But the remainder of the club remained faithful, and they devoted
themselves to study with an earnestness that was simply magnificent.
They would divide each lesson into sections, and assign a section to
each member, which member would in turn collect and present to the class
all available information upon the subject, and some of the young lady
attendants pronounced some of these addresses more interesting than
sermons. Mr. Jodderel naturally took in charge all topics relating to
the future state of existence, and as the class imposed no arbitrary
distinctions as to time, he found no cause to complain. To President
Lottson fell the duty of enlightening the class upon the geography of
Palestine, and so thoroughly did he do his work that one of his papers
was asked for publication, and copies of it were accepted with thanks by
several learned societies. Mr. Prymm, who finally came back to the
class after having been assured that for months it had discussed no
subject not purely scriptural, made some remarks upon the atonement
which were finally collected in a volume entitled "A Layman's Views of
Christ's Great Work," and the book received many carefully worded
non-committal notices from the religious press, though the bulk of the
edition still remains in the storehouse of the publisher. Young Mr.
Waggett kept an observant eye for all topics bearing literally upon the
subject of salvation. Mr. Hopper found at last an opportunity to read
his long-cherished essay upon "The True Location of the Holy Sepulchre,"
with many notes, suggestions, and emendations by himself. And the class
grew in membership and in the number of listeners, and there was never
heard in it a personality or a revival of old disputes which had time
and again rended the church. Nothing was said in its whole subsequent
history which could cast discredit upon the daily life of any member,
or cause Satan to feel any serious apprehensions for the continued
activity of his own business.
THE END.