The Little Minister

The Little Minister

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Minister, by J.M. Barrie (#7 in our series by J.M. Barrie)
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Title: The Little Minister
Author: J.M. Barrie
Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5093] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 24, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE LITTLE MINISTER ***

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THE LITTLE MINISTER
BY
J. M. BARRIE
AUTHOR OF
"WINDOW IN THRUMS," "AULD LIGHT IDYLLS," "WHEN A MAN'S SINGLE." ETC.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Love-Light II. Runs Alongside the Making of a Minister III. The Night-Watchers IV. First Coming of the Egyptian Woman V. A Warlike Chapter, Culminating in the Flouting of the Minister by the Woman VI. In which the Soldiers Meet the Amazons of Thrums VII. Has the Folly of Looking into a Woman's Eyes by Way of Text VIII. 3 A.M.--Monstrous Audacity of the Woman IX. The Woman Considered in Absence--Adventures of a Military Cloak X. First Sermon against Women XI. Tells in a Whisper of Man's Fall during the Curling Season XII. Tragedy of a Mud House XIII. Second Coming of the Egyptian Woman XIV. The Minister Dances to the Woman's Piping XV. The Minister Bewitched--Second Sermon against Women XVI. Continued Misbehavior of the Egyptian Woman XVII. Intrusion of Haggart into these Pages against the Author's Wish XVIII. Caddam--Love Leading to a Rupture XIX. Circumstances Leading to the First Sermon in Approval of Women XX. End of the State of Indecision XXI. Night--Margaret--Flashing of a Lantern XXII. Lovers XXIII. Contains a Birth, Which is Sufficient for One Chapter XXIV. The New World, and the Women who may not Dwell therein XXV. Beginning of the Twenty-four Hours XXVI. Scene at the Spittal XXVII. First Journey of the Dominie to Thrums during the Twenty-four Hours XXVIII. The Hill before Darkness Fell--Scene of the Impending Catastrophe XXIX. Story of the Egyptian XXX. The Meeting for Rain XXXI. Various Bodies Converging on the Hill XXXII. Leading Swiftly to the Appalling Marriage XXXIII. While the Ten o'Clock Bell was Ringing XXXIV. The Great Rain XXXV. The Glen at Break of Day XXXVI. Story of the Dominie XXXVII. Second Journey of the Dominie to Thrums during the Twenty-four Hours XXXVIII. Thrums during the Twenty-four Hours--Defence of the Manse XXXIX. How Babbie Spent the Night of August Fourth XL. Babbie and Margaret--Defence of the Manse continued XLI. Rintoui and Babbie--Break-down of the Defence of the Manse XLII. Margaret, the Precentor, and God between XLIII. Rain--Mist--The Jaws XLIV. End of the Twenty-four Hours XLV. Talk of a Little Maid since Grown Tall
CHAPTER I.
THE LOVE-LIGHT.
Long ago, in the days when our caged blackbirds never saw a king's soldier without whistling impudently, "Come ower the water to Charlie," a minister of Thrums was to be married, but something happened, and he remained a bachelor. Then, when he was old, he passed in our square the lady who was to have been his wife, and her hair was white, but she, too, was still unmarried. The meeting had only one witness, a weaver, and he said solemnly afterwards, "They didna speak, but they just gave one another a look, and I saw the love-light in their een." No more is remembered of these two, no being now living ever saw them, but the poetry that was in the soul of a battered weaver makes them human to us for ever.
It is of another minister I am to tell, but only to those who know that light when they see it. I am not bidding good-bye to many readers, for though it is true that some men, of whom Lord Rintoul was one, live to an old age without knowing love, few of us can have met them, and of women so incomplete I never heard.
Gavin Dishart was barely twenty-one when he and his mother came to Thrums, light-hearted like the traveller who knows not what awaits him at the bend of the