章节正文
wounded.
We had in East Dennis what was known as the
``Free Religious Group,'' and when some of the
members of my congregation were not wrangling
among themselves, they were usually locking horns
with this group. For years, I was told, one of the
prime diversions of the ``Free Religious'' faction
was to have a dance in our town hall on the night
when we were using it for our annual church fair.
The rules of the church positively prohibited danc-
ing, so the worldly group took peculiar pleasure in
attending the fair, and during the evening in getting
up a dance and whirling about among us, to the
horror of our members. Then they spent the re-
mainder of the year boasting of the achievement.
It came to my ears that they had decided to follow
this pleasing programme at our Christmas church
celebration, so I called the church trustees together
and put the situation to them.
``We must either enforce our discipline,'' I said,
``or give it up. Personally I do not object to danc-
ing, but, as the church has ruled against it, I intend
to uphold the church. To allow these people to
make us ridiculous year after year is impossible.
Let us either tell them that they may dance or that
they may not dance; but whatever we tell them,
let us make them obey our ruling.''
The trustees were shocked at the mere suggestion
of letting them dance.
``Very well,'' I ended. ``Then they shall not
dance. That is understood.''
Captain Crowell, the father of my dead friend
Mrs. Addy, and himself my best man friend, was a
strong supporter of the Free Religious Group.
When its members raced to him with the news that
I had said they could not dance at the church's
Christmas party, Captain Crowell laughed good-
humoredly and told them to dance as much as they
pleased, cheerfully adding that he would get them
out of any trouble they got into. Knowing my
friendship for him, and that I even owed my church
appointment to him, the Free Religious people
were certain that I would never take issue with him
on dancing or on any other point. They made all
their preparations for the dance, therefore, with
entire confidence, and boasted that the affair would
be the gayest they had ever arranged. My people
began to look at me with sympathy, and for a time
I felt very sorry for myself. It seemed sufficiently
clear that ``the gal'' was to have more trouble.
On the night of the party things went badly from
the first. There was an evidentintention among
the worst of the Free Religious Group to embarrass
us at every turn. We opened the exercises with the
Lord's Prayer, which this element loudly applauded.
A live kitten was hung high on the Christmas tree,
where it squalled mournfully beyond reach of
rescue, and the young men of the outside group
threw cake at one another across the hall. Finally
tiring of these innocent diversions, they began to
prepare for their dance, and I protested. The
spokesman of the group waved me to one side.
``Captain Crowell said we could,'' he remarked,
airily.
``Captain Crowell,'' I replied, ``has no authority
whatever in this matter. The church trustees have
decided that you cannot dance here, and I intend
to enforce their ruling.''
It was interesting to observe how rapidly the
men of my congregation disappeared from that hall.
Like shadows they crept along the walls and vanished
through the doors. But the preparations for the
dance went merrily on. I walked to the middle of
the room and raised my voice. I was always listened
to, for my hearers always had the hope, usually
realized, that I was about to get into more trouble.
``You are determined to dance,'' I began. ``I
cannot keep you from doing so. But I can and will
make you regret that you have done so. The law
of the State of Massachusetts is very definite in re-
gard to religious meetings and religious gatherings.
This hall was engaged and paid for by the Wesleyan
Methodist Church, of which I am pastor, and we
have full control of it to-night. Every man and
woman who interrupts our exercises by attempting
to dance, or by creating a disturbance of any kind,
will be arrested to-morrow morning.''
Surprise at first, then consternation, swept through
the ranks of the Free Religious Group. They denied
the existence of such a law as I had mentioned, and
I promptly read it aloud to them. The leaders went
off into a corner and consulted. By this time not
one man in my parish was left in the hall. As a
result of the consultation in the corner, a committee
of the would-be dancers came to me and suggested
a compromise.
``Will you agree to arrest the men only?'' they
wanted to know.
``No,'' I declared. ``On the contrary, I shall have
the women arrested first! For the women ought to
be standing with me now in the support of law and
order, instead of siding with the hoodlum element
you represent.''
That settled it. No girl or woman dared to go
on the dancing-floor, and no man cared to revolve
merrily by himself. A whisper went round, how-
ever, that the dance would begin when I had left.
When the clock struck twelve, at which hour, ac-
cording to the town rule, the hall had to be closed,
I was the last person to leave it. Then I locked the
door myself, and carried the key away with me.
There had been no Free Religious dance that night.
On the following Sunday morning the attendance
at my church broke all previous records. Every
seat was occupied and every aisle was filled. Men
and women came from surrounding towns, and
strange horses were tied to all the fences in East
Dennis. Every person in that church was looking
for excitement, and this time my congregation got
what it expected. Before I began my sermon I
read my resignation, to take effect at the discretion
of the trustees. Then, as it was presumably my
last chance to tell the people and the place what I
thought of them, I spent an hour and a half in fer-
vidly doing so. In my study of English I had ac-
quired a fairly large vocabulary. I think I used it
all that morning--certainly I tried to. If ever an
erring congregation and community saw themselves
as they really were, mine did on that occasion. I
was heartsick, discouraged, and full of resentment
and indignation, which until then had been pent
up. Under the arraignment my people writhed
and squirmed. I ended:
``What I am saying hurts you, but in your hearts
you know you deserve every word of it. It is high
time you saw yourselves as you are--a disgrace to
the religion you profess and to the community you
live in.''
I was not sure the congregation would let me
finish, but it did. My hearers seemed torn by
conflicting sentiments, in which anger and curios-
ity led opposing sides. Many of them left the
church in a white fury, but others--more than I had
expected--remained to speak to me and assure me
of their sympathy. Once on the streets, different
groups formed and mingled, and all day the little
town rocked with arguments for and against ``the gal.''
Night brought another surprisingly large attend-
ance. I expected more trouble, and I faced it with
difficulty, for I was very tired. Just as I took my
place in the pulpit, Captain Sears entered the church
and walked down the aisle--the Captain Sears who
had left us at my invitation some weeks before
and had not since attended a church service. I was
sure he was there to make another attack on me
while I was down, and, expecting the worst, I
wearily gave him his opportunity. The big old fel-
low stood up, braced himself on legs far apart, as
if he were standing on a slippery deck during a high
sea, and gave the congregation its biggest surprise
of the year.
He said he had come to make a confession. He
had been angry with ``the gal'' in the past, as they
all knew. But he had heard about the sermon she
had preached that morning, and this time she was
right. It was high time quarreling and backbiting
were stopped. They had been going on too long,
and no good could come of them. Moreover, in
all the years he had been a member of that congre-
gation he had never until now seen the pulpit oc-
cupied by a minister with enough backbone to up-
hold the discipline of the church. ``I've come here
to say I'm with the gal,'' he ended. ``Put me down
for my original subscription and ten dollars extra!''
So we had the old man back again. He was a
tower of strength, and he stood by me faithfully
until he died. The trustees would not accept my
resignation (indeed, they refused to consider it at all),
and the congregation, when it had thought things
over, apparentlydecided that there might be worse
things in the pulpit than ``the gal.'' It was even
known to brag of what it called my ``spunk,'' and
perhaps it was this quality, rather than any other,
which I most needed in that particular parish at
that time. As for me, when the fight was over I
dropped it from my mind, and it had not entered
my thoughts for years, until I began to summon
these memories.
At the end of my first six months in East Dennis
I was asked to take on, also, the temporary charge
of the Congregational Church at Dennis, two miles
and a half away. I agreed to do this until a per-
manent pastor could be found, on condition that I
should preach at Dennis on Sunday afternoons, using
the same sermon I preached in my own pulpit in the
morning. The arrangement worked so well that it
lasted for six and a half years--until I resigned from
my East Dennis church. During that period, more-
over, I not only carried the two churches on my
shoulders, holding three meetings each Sunday, but
I entered upon and completed a course in the
We had in East Dennis what was known as the
``Free Religious Group,'' and when some of the
members of my congregation were not wrangling
among themselves, they were usually locking horns
with this group. For years, I was told, one of the
prime diversions of the ``Free Religious'' faction
was to have a dance in our town hall on the night
when we were using it for our annual church fair.
The rules of the church positively prohibited danc-
ing, so the worldly group took peculiar pleasure in
attending the fair, and during the evening in getting
up a dance and whirling about among us, to the
horror of our members. Then they spent the re-
mainder of the year boasting of the achievement.
It came to my ears that they had decided to follow
this pleasing programme at our Christmas church
celebration, so I called the church trustees together
and put the situation to them.
``We must either enforce our discipline,'' I said,
``or give it up. Personally I do not object to danc-
ing, but, as the church has ruled against it, I intend
to uphold the church. To allow these people to
make us ridiculous year after year is impossible.
Let us either tell them that they may dance or that
they may not dance; but whatever we tell them,
let us make them obey our ruling.''
The trustees were shocked at the mere suggestion
of letting them dance.
``Very well,'' I ended. ``Then they shall not
dance. That is understood.''
Captain Crowell, the father of my dead friend
Mrs. Addy, and himself my best man friend, was a
strong supporter of the Free Religious Group.
When its members raced to him with the news that
I had said they could not dance at the church's
Christmas party, Captain Crowell laughed good-
humoredly and told them to dance as much as they
pleased, cheerfully adding that he would get them
out of any trouble they got into. Knowing my
friendship for him, and that I even owed my church
appointment to him, the Free Religious people
were certain that I would never take issue with him
on dancing or on any other point. They made all
their preparations for the dance, therefore, with
entire confidence, and boasted that the affair would
be the gayest they had ever arranged. My people
began to look at me with sympathy, and for a time
I felt very sorry for myself. It seemed sufficiently
clear that ``the gal'' was to have more trouble.
On the night of the party things went badly from
the first. There was an evidentintention among
the worst of the Free Religious Group to embarrass
us at every turn. We opened the exercises with the
Lord's Prayer, which this element loudly applauded.
A live kitten was hung high on the Christmas tree,
where it squalled mournfully beyond reach of
rescue, and the young men of the outside group
threw cake at one another across the hall. Finally
tiring of these innocent diversions, they began to
prepare for their dance, and I protested. The
spokesman of the group waved me to one side.
``Captain Crowell said we could,'' he remarked,
airily.
``Captain Crowell,'' I replied, ``has no authority
whatever in this matter. The church trustees have
decided that you cannot dance here, and I intend
to enforce their ruling.''
It was interesting to observe how rapidly the
men of my congregation disappeared from that hall.
Like shadows they crept along the walls and vanished
through the doors. But the preparations for the
dance went merrily on. I walked to the middle of
the room and raised my voice. I was always listened
to, for my hearers always had the hope, usually
realized, that I was about to get into more trouble.
``You are determined to dance,'' I began. ``I
cannot keep you from doing so. But I can and will
make you regret that you have done so. The law
of the State of Massachusetts is very definite in re-
gard to religious meetings and religious gatherings.
This hall was engaged and paid for by the Wesleyan
Methodist Church, of which I am pastor, and we
have full control of it to-night. Every man and
woman who interrupts our exercises by attempting
to dance, or by creating a disturbance of any kind,
will be arrested to-morrow morning.''
Surprise at first, then consternation, swept through
the ranks of the Free Religious Group. They denied
the existence of such a law as I had mentioned, and
I promptly read it aloud to them. The leaders went
off into a corner and consulted. By this time not
one man in my parish was left in the hall. As a
result of the consultation in the corner, a committee
of the would-be dancers came to me and suggested
a compromise.
``Will you agree to arrest the men only?'' they
wanted to know.
``No,'' I declared. ``On the contrary, I shall have
the women arrested first! For the women ought to
be standing with me now in the support of law and
order, instead of siding with the hoodlum element
you represent.''
That settled it. No girl or woman dared to go
on the dancing-floor, and no man cared to revolve
merrily by himself. A whisper went round, how-
ever, that the dance would begin when I had left.
When the clock struck twelve, at which hour, ac-
cording to the town rule, the hall had to be closed,
I was the last person to leave it. Then I locked the
door myself, and carried the key away with me.
There had been no Free Religious dance that night.
On the following Sunday morning the attendance
at my church broke all previous records. Every
seat was occupied and every aisle was filled. Men
and women came from surrounding towns, and
strange horses were tied to all the fences in East
Dennis. Every person in that church was looking
for excitement, and this time my congregation got
what it expected. Before I began my sermon I
read my resignation, to take effect at the discretion
of the trustees. Then, as it was presumably my
last chance to tell the people and the place what I
thought of them, I spent an hour and a half in fer-
vidly doing so. In my study of English I had ac-
quired a fairly large vocabulary. I think I used it
all that morning--certainly I tried to. If ever an
erring congregation and community saw themselves
as they really were, mine did on that occasion. I
was heartsick, discouraged, and full of resentment
and indignation, which until then had been pent
up. Under the arraignment my people writhed
and squirmed. I ended:
``What I am saying hurts you, but in your hearts
you know you deserve every word of it. It is high
time you saw yourselves as you are--a disgrace to
the religion you profess and to the community you
live in.''
I was not sure the congregation would let me
finish, but it did. My hearers seemed torn by
conflicting sentiments, in which anger and curios-
ity led opposing sides. Many of them left the
church in a white fury, but others--more than I had
expected--remained to speak to me and assure me
of their sympathy. Once on the streets, different
groups formed and mingled, and all day the little
town rocked with arguments for and against ``the gal.''
Night brought another surprisingly large attend-
ance. I expected more trouble, and I faced it with
difficulty, for I was very tired. Just as I took my
place in the pulpit, Captain Sears entered the church
and walked down the aisle--the Captain Sears who
had left us at my invitation some weeks before
and had not since attended a church service. I was
sure he was there to make another attack on me
while I was down, and, expecting the worst, I
wearily gave him his opportunity. The big old fel-
low stood up, braced himself on legs far apart, as
if he were standing on a slippery deck during a high
sea, and gave the congregation its biggest surprise
of the year.
He said he had come to make a confession. He
had been angry with ``the gal'' in the past, as they
all knew. But he had heard about the sermon she
had preached that morning, and this time she was
right. It was high time quarreling and backbiting
were stopped. They had been going on too long,
and no good could come of them. Moreover, in
all the years he had been a member of that congre-
gation he had never until now seen the pulpit oc-
cupied by a minister with enough backbone to up-
hold the discipline of the church. ``I've come here
to say I'm with the gal,'' he ended. ``Put me down
for my original subscription and ten dollars extra!''
So we had the old man back again. He was a
tower of strength, and he stood by me faithfully
until he died. The trustees would not accept my
resignation (indeed, they refused to consider it at all),
and the congregation, when it had thought things
over, apparentlydecided that there might be worse
things in the pulpit than ``the gal.'' It was even
known to brag of what it called my ``spunk,'' and
perhaps it was this quality, rather than any other,
which I most needed in that particular parish at
that time. As for me, when the fight was over I
dropped it from my mind, and it had not entered
my thoughts for years, until I began to summon
these memories.
At the end of my first six months in East Dennis
I was asked to take on, also, the temporary charge
of the Congregational Church at Dennis, two miles
and a half away. I agreed to do this until a per-
manent pastor could be found, on condition that I
should preach at Dennis on Sunday afternoons, using
the same sermon I preached in my own pulpit in the
morning. The arrangement worked so well that it
lasted for six and a half years--until I resigned from
my East Dennis church. During that period, more-
over, I not only carried the two churches on my
shoulders, holding three meetings each Sunday, but
I entered upon and completed a course in the
- annual [´ænjuəl]
a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词) - peculiar [pi´kju:liə] a.特有的；奇异的 (初中英语单词)
- enforce [in´fɔ:s] vt.执行；强迫；加强 (初中英语单词)
- whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- sympathy [´simpəθi] n.同情，怜悯 (初中英语单词)
- evident [´evidənt] a.明显的，明白的 (初中英语单词)
- intention [in´tenʃən] n.意图；打算；意义 (初中英语单词)
- kitten [´kitn] n.小猫 (初中英语单词)
- innocent [´inəsənt] a.无罪的；单纯的 (初中英语单词)
- definite [´definit] a.确定的，明确的 (初中英语单词)
- existence [ig´zistəns] n.存在；生存；生活 (初中英语单词)
- promptly [´prɔmptli] ad.敏捷地；即时地 (初中英语单词)
- arrest [ə´rest] vt.逮捕 n.逮捕；停止 (初中英语单词)
- contrary [´kɔntrəri] a.相反的 n.相反 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- whisper [´wispə] v.耳语 n.低语；沙沙声 (初中英语单词)
- previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
- excitement [ik´saitmənt] n.兴奋；骚动；煽动 (初中英语单词)
- vocabulary [və´kæbjuləri, vəu-] n.词汇；词汇量 (初中英语单词)
- deserve [di´zə:v] v.应受；值得 (初中英语单词)
- disgrace [dis´greis] n.耻辱 vt.玷辱；贬黜 (初中英语单词)
- invitation [,invi´teiʃən] n.邀请；请帖；吸引 (初中英语单词)
- moreover [mɔ:´rəuvə] ad.再者，此外，而且 (初中英语单词)
- minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
- discipline [´disiplin] n.纪律；训练 (初中英语单词)
- preach [pri:tʃ] v.宣扬；鼓吹 n.训诫 (初中英语单词)
- arrangement [ə´reindʒmənt] n.整理；排列；筹备 (初中英语单词)
- positively [´pɔzətivli] ad.确实；断然；绝对 (高中英语单词)
- decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
- pleasing [´pli:ziŋ] a.使人愉快的；合意的 (高中英语单词)
- personally [´pə:sənəli] ad.亲自；就个人来说 (高中英语单词)
- ridiculous [ri´dikjuləs] a.荒谬的；可笑的 (高中英语单词)
- cheerfully [´tʃiəfuli] ad.高兴地，愉快地 (高中英语单词)
- merrily [´merili] ad.欢乐地；愉快地 (高中英语单词)
- pastor [´pɑ:stə] n.牧师 (高中英语单词)
- disturbance [di´stə:bəns] n.扰乱，骚动 (高中英语单词)
- parish [´pæriʃ] n.教区(的全体居民) (高中英语单词)
- surrounding [sə´raundiŋ] n.周围的事物 (高中英语单词)
- sermon [´sə:mən] n.说教；训诫；讲道 (高中英语单词)
- resignation [,rezig´neiʃən] n.辞职(书)；放弃；顺从 (高中英语单词)
- community [kə´mju:niti] n.团体；社区；公众 (高中英语单词)
- indignation [,indig´neiʃən] n.愤慨；气愤 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- profess [prə´fes] v.声称；讲授 (高中英语单词)
- slippery [´slipəri] a.滑的；不稳固的 (高中英语单词)
- confession [kən´feʃən] n.招供；认错；交待 (高中英语单词)
- apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)
- temporary [´tempərəri] a.暂时的 n.临时工 (高中英语单词)
- congregation [,kɔŋgri´geiʃən] n.集合；团体 (英语四级单词)
- worldly [´wə:ldli] a.现世的；世俗的 (英语四级单词)
- uphold [,ʌp´həuld] vt.支持，拥护；维持 (英语四级单词)
- supporter [sə´pɔ:tə] n.支持者，援助者 (英语四级单词)
- consultation [,kɔnsəl´teiʃən] n.商量；会诊；查阅 (英语四级单词)
- pulpit [´pulpit] n.讲坛 (英语四级单词)
- backbone [´bækbəun] n.脊骨；骨干；支柱 (英语四级单词)
- subscription [səb´skripʃən] n.预订；预约；捐款 (英语四级单词)
- consternation [,kɔnstə´neiʃən] n.惊愕；惊恐；惊慌失措 (英语六级单词)
- presumably [pri´zju:məbli] ad.推测起来；大概 (英语六级单词)
- surprisingly [sə´praiziŋli] ad.惊人地；意外地 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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