The Voice | Page 3

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THE VOICE BY MARGARET DELAND

CHAPTER I
"Dr. Lavendar," said William King, "some time when Goliath is doing
his 2.40 on a plank road, don't you want to pull him up at that house on
the Perryville pike where the Grays used to live, and make a call? An
old fellow called Roberts has taken it; he is a--"
"Teach your grandmother," said Dr. Lavendar; "he is an Irvingite. He
comes from Lower Ripple, down on the Ohio, and he has a daughter,
Philippa."
"Oh," said Dr. King, "you know 'em, do you?"
"Know them? Of course I know them! Do you think you are the only
man who tries to enlarge his business? But I was not successful in my
efforts. The old gentleman doesn't go to any church; and the young lady
inclines to the Perryville meeting-house--the parson there is a nice
boy."
"She is an attractive young creature," said the doctor, smiling at some
pleasant memory; "the kind of girl a man would like to have for a
daughter. But did you ever know such an old-fashioned little thing!"
"Well, she's like the girls I knew when I was the age of the Perryville
parson, so I suppose you'd call her old-fashioned," Dr. Lavendar said.
"There aren't many such girls nowadays; sweet-tempered and sensible
and with some fun in 'em."
"Why don't you say 'good,' too?" William King inquired.
"Unnecessary," Dr. Lavendar said, scratching Danny's ear; "anybody

who is amiable, sensible, and humorous is good. Can't help it."
"The father is good," William King said, "but he is certainly not
sensible. He's an old donkey, with his TONGUES and his VOICE!"
Dr. Lavendar's face sobered. "No," he said, "he may be an Irvingite, but
he isn't a donkey."
"What on earth is an Irvingite, anyhow?" William asked.
Dr. Lavendar looked at him, pityingly: "William, you are so
ridiculously young! Well, I suppose you can't help it. My boy, about
the time you were born, there was a man in London-- some folks called
him a saint, and some folks called him a fool; it's a way folks have had
ever since our Lord came into this world. His name was Irving, and he
started a new sect." (Dr. Lavendar was as open-minded as it is possible
for one of his Church to be, but even he said "sect" when it came to
outsiders.)
"He started this new sect, which believed that the Holy Ghost would
speak again by human lips, just as on the Day of Pentecost. Well, there
was 'speaking' in his congregation; sort of outbursts of exhortation, you
know. Mostly unintelligible. I remember Dr. Alexander said it was
'gibberish'; he heard some of it when he was in London. It may have
been 'gibberish,' but nobody can doubt Irving's sincerity in thinking it
was the Voice of God. When he couldn't understand it, he just called it
an 'unknown tongue.' Of course he was considered a heretic. He was
put out of his Church. He