Part 8 (1/2)
”Well, if you have any doubts about Solomon's statement, you can have none whatever about mine.”
He then went on to preach a most extraordinary discourse in which fun, wit, and humour were occasionally interspersed with allusions to the subject matter. No arguments, no logic, were discoverable; but there were plenty of amusing ill.u.s.trations, a good deal that might better have been left out, and the audience was highly amused though wholly unedified.
”And how did ye like my sermon?” was the hearty greeting Hartigan gave Belle Boyd next day, as they met on the boardwalk of Main Street. She glanced up with a faint flush, looked down, then meeting his eyes squarely she said:
”Some parts I liked, but much of it I did not.”
This was an unexpected reply; Jim had quite looked for a burst of admiration. In answer to his questions, Belle gave an a.n.a.lysis of the sermon, as they walked along, pointing out the clay and the gold, and the total lack of form.
His att.i.tude, at first, had been superior and his tone frivolous. For, strange to say, the gallantry so strong in his Irish blood is ever mixed with, or maybe it is a mere mark of belief in, the superiority of the male. But, before Belle had finished two things had happened--he was much less sure of his sermon and was a little in awe of her. There could be no doubt that she was right. Yes, those two stories would have been better left out; an early paragraph should have been at the end, for it was the summing up; and the illogical conclusion, which had no promise in anything he said before, was weak, to say the least. Hartigan felt much as he used to feel when his mother had called him into a detailed account of some doubtful conduct.
”What are you going to give us next time?” inquired Belle.
”I thought of beginning a series of sermons on the bad habits of the congregation--swearing, drinking, gambling, horse-racing, smoking, and spitting. Last Sunday, right by the door in church, two men were smoking their pipes and spitting on the floor. It seems to me that Revelations XI:2 is about the right medicine for such conduct. This is the text: 'And he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit,' Or Psalms x.x.xVII:20: 'The wicked shall perish ... into smoke shall they consume away,' Then there is a pa.s.sage in Jeremiah VII:30: 'They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to pollute it,' With these I think we have a good scaffolding to build on.”
Belle looked puzzled and said nothing. Hartigan was waiting for her approval. He wanted it.
”What do you think?” he asked, a decided note of anxiety creeping into his question.
”I would not do it,” was the answer.
”Why not?” said Jim instantly on the defensive. ”Don't they need it, and aren't they awfully weak on these things?”
”Yes, they are,” said Belle, ”but----”
”But what?”
”Mr. Hartigan,” she replied as she stopped at her gate, ”if you wanted a rich man to help a poor widow, and went to him saying: 'You miserable old skinflint, I know you are as greedy as the pit, but I demand it as a human right that you help this poor woman out of your ill-gotten abundance,' how much are you going to get? Nothing at all; and the truer it is the less your chance. On the other hand, if you go to him and say: 'Mr. Dives, you are one of the few men in town who have the power to help this woman. I know she is well worthy of help, for she's having a hard struggle. Now, you had a struggle once and know what that means. It made a keen, successful business man of you; but I know you are kind-hearted and generous and that all you want is to be sure that the case is genuine. Well, I can a.s.sure you it is. Will you not help her with the rent till strawberry time, when she expects to get a little money?' That way you will get something. He _has_ to become generous when you _say_ he is; and I think that you will get more out of these people if you a.s.sume that they are something good. Later, when they know you better, you can put them right on their faults.”
Hartigan stared at her with frankly admiring eyes.
”Well,” he said, ”you surely have the level head. You are right and I will do as you say. But I wonder why you take all this trouble with me?”
Flushed and happy over her victory and very deeply moved by the look she had seen on Jim's face, Belle realized the full meaning of her success and took a woman's pride in the fact that this great, powerful, self-confident, gifted man should in two short encounters completely change about and defer to her judgment. There was a moment's silence in which she sought to get her voice under control. Then she added:
”Will you let me know what you decide to preach on?”
”I will,” said Jim, his eyes still on her face.
They had been standing at the door of the Boyd home. In that instant of his dependence upon her Belle had been conscious of a very sweet and precious bond between them. Without turning toward him, she touched his arm lightly with her hand and went into the house.
Jim's first effort had not encouraged Dr. Jebb to transfer much of the pulpit service to the young man. Subsequently, he had a long talk with him and pointed out some of the defects as Belle had done; also a number of lapses which, though purely academic, he considered of prime importance. Thus, more than a month elapsed before Jim was again called to fill the pulpit.
Meanwhile, he had had many experiences of value in his widespread congregation, among them the raising of a charitable fund for an unfortunate neighbour, and he had become well acquainted with Jack s.h.i.+ves, the blacksmith, a singular mixture of brusqueness and kindness.
s.h.i.+ves was a good citizen who did good work at the forge, but he was utterly opposed to all creeds and churches. He made it a point to set all the weight of his solid character against these, as well as the power of his biting tongue.
As soon as Dr. Jebb asked him to take the pulpit, Jim called on Belle.
”Well, I'm to have another chance,” he said, as with one hand he lifted an armchair that Dr. Jebb could not have moved at all.