Four Girls at Chautauqua | Page 6

half controlled when she is actually attending
Sabbath service. There will be nothing to control her in the woods, and
she will lose what little reverence she possesses. I tell you, the more I
think of it, the more certain I am that for such people these great
religious jubilees, holding over the Sabbath, do harm."
"You put it more gently than our friend Mr. Archer," Mr. Harrison said,
smiling. "He is in a condition of absolute scorn. He gives none of them
credit for honesty or genuine interest. He says it is a running away from
work, a regular shirking of what they ought to be doing, and going off
into the woods to have a good time, and, by way of gulling the public,
they pretend to season it with religion."
Dr. Dennis laughed.
"That sounds precisely like him, and is quite as logical as one could
expect, coming from that source," he said, indifferently. "Why doesn't
it occur to his dull brain, that thinks itself such a sharp one, that the
leaders thereof are men responsible to no one save God and their own
consciences for the way in which they spend their time? There is
nothing earthly to hinder their going to the woods, and staying three
months if they please to do so."
"Oh, but I have left out one of the important reasons for the meeting. It
is to make money; a grand speculation, whereby the fortunes of these
same leaders are to be made at the expense of the poor victims whom

they gather about them."
Again Dr. Dennis' shoulders went upward in that peculiar but
expressive shrug.
"Of all the precarious and dangerous ways of making a fortune, I
should think that went ahead," he said, still laughing. "What an idea
now! Shouldn't you suppose people with common sense would have
some faint idea of the immense expenses to be involved in such an
undertaking, and the tremendous risks to be run? If they succeed in
meeting their expenses this year I think they will have cause for
rejoicing."
"The point that puzzles me," Mr. Harrison said, "is what particular
commandment would they be breaking if they should actually happen
to have twenty-five cents to put in their pockets when the meeting
closed; though, as you say, I doubt the probability. But they force no
one to come; it is a matter for individual decision, and they render a fair
equivalent for every cent of money spent; at least, if the spender thinks
it is not a fair equivalent he is foolish to go; so why should they not
make enough to justify them in giving their time to this work?"
"Of course, of course," assented Dr. Dennis, heartily; "they ought to;
none but an idiot would think otherwise."
It is to be presumed that both these gentlemen had gotten so far away
from the name that was quoted as holding these views as to forget all
about him, else they certainly would not have been guilty of calling a
brother minister an idiot, however much his arguments might suggest
the thought.
"But," continued Dr. Dennis, "my trouble lies, as I said, in the results. I
have no sort of doubt that great good will be done, and I have the same
feeling of certainty that harm will be done. Take it in my own church.
We are so situated, or we think ourselves so situated, that not a single
one of the earnest, hearty workers who would come back to us with a
blessing for themselves and us, is able to go; instead, we have four
representatives who will turn the whole thing into ridicule, and dish it

up for the entertainment of their friends during the coming winter.
"That Miss Erskine seems to have a special talent for getting up
Thursday evening entertainments, to invite our people who are
supposed to be interested in the prayer-meeting, but who rarely fail to
make it convenient to go to the party. I imagine a bevy of them being
entertained by Eurie Mitchell. She can do it, and she is looking forward
to just that sort of thing, for I heard her rejoicing over it. That girl will
be injured by Chautauqua; I know it as well as though I already saw it;
and the question with me is, whether the amount of evil done will not
overbalance the good. At the same time I am inconsistent enough to
wish with all my heart that I could be there."
"What about Miss Shipley? Perhaps relief will come to you from that
quarter."
Those shoulders again.
"She is nothing in the world but a little pink feather, and she blows
precisely in the direction of the strongest current; and Satan looks out
for her with untiring