Part 25 (1/2)

”Here is a request for the use of the church,” said one of the trustees, explaining its nature

”Well,” said Burridge, ”you'd better let hi about it,” the trustee replied, ”until Mr Pale saw no reason for waiting, the other trustees did, and upon that the board rested Burridge was furious By one fell stroke he was put in second place, a man who had to await the return of Palmer--and that in his own church, so to speak

”Why,” he told so”

From that time on differences of opinion within the church and elsewhere were coh no personal animosity was ever admitted, local issues almost invariably found these two men opposed to each other

There was the question of whether the village should be h--apublic works for the as and distribution of water; a third, that of naht be to the advantage of Pale, but yet he e public debt upon s and orphans, those who could not afford or did not need these things, and he proceeded to so express his Slowly the breach widened Burridge became little more than a malcontent in many people's eyes He was a ”knocker,” a h defeated in many instances he won in others, and this did not help s the decay of the fishi+ng industry helped to fix definitely the position of the twodied out, then ht only at farther and farther distances from the town, and finally three- and even two-masted schooners ceased entirely to buy their outfits here, and Burridge was left dependent upon local patronage or smaller harbor trade for his support Coextensively, he had the dissatisfaction of seeing Palrow until eventually three hundred and fifty men were upon his payrolls and even his foremen and superintendents were considered influential townspeople Palrew up and married, branched out and becaed to rocery trade dwindle and sink, while with age his religiosity grew, and he began to be littleas to whether the interpretation of the Bible as handed down from the pulpit of what he now considered _his_ recalcitrant church was sound or not When those who years before had followed hiical pins and ventured to disagree with him, he was quick and sometimes foolish in his replies Thus, once a forone over to the opposition ca and said:

”Elihu, for a ion as you are, I see you do one thing that can't quite be justified by the Book”

”What's that?” inquired Burridge, looking up

”I see you sell tobacco”

”I see you chew it,” returned the host grimly

”I know I do,” returned his visitor, ”but I'll tell you what I'll do, Elihu If you'll quit selling, I'll quit chewing it,” and he looked as if he had set a fancy trap for his straw-balancing brother, as he held hie on the instant ”It's a bargain!”

And from that day on tobacco was not offered for sale in that store, although there was a large local deinal leadershi+p, he had accepted the conduct of the local ce which was more a burden than a source of profit With his custo credit upon hi it, ht of returning to hi vault was desired, he had added seven hundred dollars of his own to three hundred gathered by the church trustees for the purpose, and the vault was immediately constructed Frequently also, in his pride of place, he had been given to asserting he was tired of conducting the cen

In these later evil days, therefore, the trustees, following the star of the newer power, saw fit to intilad to look after it if he was tired of it Instantly the fact that he could no longer boast as forer in anything The church did not want hiht of this so weighed on hined from this particular task, but thereafter also every nation was his bitter enemy He spoke acidly of the seven hundred he had spent, and jibed at the decisions of the trustees in othereleraveyard again, and not long after resigned all his other official duties--passing the plate, et cetera--although he still attended services there

Decoration Day rolled around, the GAR Post of which he was an ardent raves of its dead coathered before their lodge hall, Burridge a the detailsof the wreaths and the firing of the salute were to take place

No one thought of Burridge until the gate was reached, when, gun over shoulder and uniform in perfect trim, he fell conspicuously out of line and marched away home alone It was the cee

Men now looked askance at hi queer, no doubt of it, not really sensible--or was he? Up in Northfield, a nearby toelt a colonel of the Civil War who had led the very regi the war had cole of orders, and had been dishonorably discharged

Although wounded in one of the engageuished itself, he had been allowed to languish alet a pension, had died in poverty

On his deathbed he had sent for Burridge, and re him of the battle in which he had led hione, for the sake of his family, he would take up the ed of the stigreed ress against hi done Later he took up theto find the measure of his own enthusiasm, he went finally direct to one of the senators of the State and laying the ress and the dead colonel honorably discharged

One day thereafter in the local GAR he commented unfavorably upon the indifference which he deemed had been shown