The Damnation of Theron Ware | Page 4

stray specimens of a
more urban class, worthies with neatly trimmed whiskers, white
neckcloths, and even indications of hair-oil--all eloquent of citified
charges; and now and again the eye singled out a striking and scholarly
face, at once strong and simple, and instinctively referred it to the
faculty of one of the several theological seminaries belonging to the
Conference.
The effect of these faces as a whole was toward goodness, candor, and
imperturbable self-complacency rather than learning or mental
astuteness; and curiously enough it wore its pleasantest aspect on the

countenances of the older men. The impress of zeal and moral worth
seemed to diminish by regular gradations as one passed to younger
faces; and among the very beginners, who had been ordained only
within the past day or two, this decline was peculiarly marked. It was
almost a relief to note the relative smallness of their number, so plainly
was it to be seen that they were not the men their forbears had been.
And if those aged, worn-out preachers facing the pulpit had gazed
instead backward over the congregation, it may be that here too their
old eyes would have detected a difference--what at least they would
have deemed a decline.
But nothing was further from the minds of the members of the First M.
E. Church of Tecumseh than the suggestion that they were not an
improvement on those who had gone before them. They were
undoubtedly the smartest and most important congregation within the
limits of the Nedahma Conference, and this new church edifice of
theirs represented alike a scale of outlay and a standard of progressive
taste in devotional architecture unique in the Methodism of that whole
section of the State. They had a right to be proud of themselves, too.
They belonged to the substantial order of the community, with perhaps
not so many very rich men as the Presbyterians had, but on the other
hand with far fewer extremely poor folk than the Baptists were
encumbered with. The pews in the first four rows of their church rented
for one hundred dollars apiece-- quite up to the Presbyterian highwater
mark--and they now had almost abolished free pews altogether. The
oyster suppers given by their Ladies' Aid Society in the basement of the
church during the winter had established rank among the fashionable
events in Tecumseh's social calendar.
A comprehensive and satisfied perception of these advantages was
uppermost in the minds of this local audience, as they waited for the
Bishop to begin his reading. They had entertained this Bishop and his
Presiding Elders, and the rank and file of common preachers, in a style
which could not have been remotely approached by any other
congregation in the Conference. Where else, one would like to know,
could the Bishop have been domiciled in a Methodist house where he

might have a sitting-room all to himself, with his bedroom leading out
of it? Every clergyman present had been provided for in a private
residence--even down to the Licensed Exhorters, who were not really
ministers at all when you came to think of it, and who might well thank
their stars that the Conference had assembled among such open-handed
people. There existed a dim feeling that these Licensed Exhorters-- an
uncouth crew, with country store-keepers and lumbermen and even a
horse-doctor among their number--had taken rather too much for
granted, and were not exhibiting quite the proper degree of gratitude
over their reception.
But a more important issue hung now imminent in the balance-- was
Tecumseh to be fairly and honorably rewarded for her hospitality by
being given the pastor of her choice?
All were agreed--at least among those who paid pew-rents-- upon the
great importance of a change in the pulpit of the First M. E. Church. A
change in persons must of course take place, for their present pastor
had exhausted the three-year maximum of the itinerant system, but
there was needed much more than that. For a handsome and expensive
church building like this, and with such a modern and go-ahead
congregation, it was simply a vital necessity to secure an attractive and
fashionable preacher. They had held their own against the Presbyterians
these past few years only by the most strenuous efforts, and under the
depressing disadvantage of a minister who preached dreary out-of-date
sermons, and who lacked even the most rudimentary sense of social
distinctions. The Presbyterians had captured the new cashier of the
Adams County Bank, who had always gone to the Methodist Church in
the town he came from, but now was lost solely because of this
tiresome old fossil of theirs; and there were numerous other instances
of the same sort, scarcely less grievous. That this state of things must
be altered was clear.
The unusually large local attendance upon