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 Koniwasset 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?
Mr. Hardcap.:
--Oh! that's different, altogether-very different. The apostle was
inspired, Mr. Gear.
I notice that this is a very popular style of argument with Mr.
Hardcap. Whenever he is posed in argument his never failing
rejoinder is "Oh! that's different, altogether different." And I
think I have observed that the Hardcap logic is not confined to Mr.
Hardcap, but is in high regard in other quarters, where I should
least look for it.
Mr. Gear.:
--Well I don't think much of apostolic authority myself. But I
supposed the rest of you thought you were bound by any precedents
Paul had set.
Mr. Hardcap.:
--It's mighty high seems to me for a young man to be making of
himself out as good as the apostle Paul.
Mr. Wheaton.:
--I like that young Mapleson, and I like his letter. I wish we could
get him. Is there any chance of persuading him to come, Mr. Laicus?
not as a candidate you know, but just to preach, in good faith like
any other man.
Mr. Gear shrugs his shoulders.
Laicus,: [(decidedly).]
--No! and I should not want to be the one to try.
Mr. Wheaton.:
--Well then who stands next on our list?
Mr. Gear.:
--Excuse me gentlemen, but if he can't come to us why shouldn't we go
to him. Why not try him as we would try any other man.
Deacon Goodsole.:
--How do you mean Mr. Gear?
Mr. Gear.:
--If I want a workman at my factory I don't invite one to come from
my neighbor and try his hand for a day while I stand over and watch
him. We try our apprentices that way, but never a good workman. I go
to his shop, inquire as to his character, and examine the work that
he has done. If he has done good work in another man's shop he will
do it well in mine. At least that's the way we reason in our
factory.
Mr. Hardcap.:
--That's a very different case Mr. Gear, altogether different.
Mr. Gear.:
--Suppose this Mr. Whats-his-name comes, what more will you know
about him than you know now?
Deacon Goodsole.:
--We shall hear him preach and can judge for ourselves.
Mr. Gear.:
--One good sermon does not make a good preacher.
Mr. Wheaton.:
--No! But you don't need to drive a horse more than five miles to
know what are his paces.
Mr. Gear.:
--I don't know much about church management but I like the tone of
that man's letter, and I should like to know more about him. I
believe if we were to appoint a committee to go out to Koniwasset
Corners, hear him preach, look in on his Sabbath-school, find out
what kind of a pastor he is, and in a word see what sort of work
he's doing where he is now, we would get his measure a great deal
better than we should get it by having him come here, and give us
one of his crack sermons-even if he would do it, I honor him because
he won't.
Deacon Goodsole.:
--I am afraid it wouldn't do Mr. Gear-not with our people. I wouldn't
mind it myself.
Mr. Wheaton,: [(blandly).]
--You see Mr. Gear you don't understand church matters altogether. It
would not be ecclesiastical-not at all.
Mr. Gear,: [(sarcastically and sotto voce).]
--I hope I may never learn.
Laicus,: [(desiring to prevent controversy).]
--Gentlemen, I for one agree with Mr. Gear. But we are evidently in
the minority; so there is nothing more to be said about it. We both
believe in government by the majority, and shall submit. What next,
Deacon? Are there any of your letters you want to read to us?
Deacon Goodsole.:
--Oh no! It isn't worth while to read any of them. Though I am sorry
for that poor old man and his pleading daughter.
Mr. Wheaton.:
--The Deacon's list are all too anxious.
Deacon Goodsole.:
--I suppose there is nothing to do but to pursue the usual course. I
move that Mr. Laicus and Mr. Wheaton be appointed to open a
correspondence with candidates.
Laicus,: [(decidedly).]
You must excuse me gentlemen. I don't believe in candidating, and I
can't be accessory to it. I will substitute Deacon Goodsole's name
for my own. And as so amended will put the motion.
As so amended the motion was put, and carried, and the committee on
supply adjourned to meet at the call of Deacon Goodsole and Mr.
Wheaton. But as we walked along toward my home, M. Gear remarked to
me that he wished I would let him know when we got a parson so that
he could come to church again; for said he, "I have no inclination
to serve as a parson tester." And I confess I am quite of mind with
him.