His God was a bitterly revengeful God! The Bible told him to fear Him and to obey His commandments. The base of his religion was “an eye for an eye--a tooth for a tooth!” He knew no “turning of the other cheek”--no “forgiveness of enemies,” and many a time, in his efforts to show his disapproval of the loving, gentle, yet strong teaching of the New Testament, he blasphemed unconsciously. Few things made him so angry as to suggest “a Hell of remorse”--of “tortured conscience”--of “mental agony”--while a hint at “atonement”--a final winning of forgiveness--was a rag so red as to set him madly charging through the harshest and most cruelly just punishments meted out in the Bible--and the worse one promised for the future--_Hell_! “And _their_ future is _now_!” he would shout, with glaring eyes! “_Now_, do you understand? All these disobedient servants of the Lord are in fiery torments _now!_ and _will_ be forever! Ah! it’s a big place--a _mighty_ big place!--far and far away bigger than Heaven! It has to be, there’s so many more to go there!” Night and morning he read a portion of the Bible, and prayed loud and long--and right there he came in conflict with his Emily. There was just one point they differed on--they did not quarrel, because Emily was too slow in speech. There’s no comfort to be had out of a quarrel, unless it’s quick--_very_ quick; and if Emily had had her choice she would a good deal rather have died than try to be quick. The point of difference between this otherwise peaceful pair was whether the chewing of gum was un-Christianlike and disrespectful when indulged in during family service. The first time he had caught her in the heinous act he had roared out: “Woman, have you no decency? Would you chaw the ten commandments up into a hunk of gum?” Emily had mildly stated that she chewed “to keep herself awake,” and after many struggles it had come to a compromise--she was only to chew while he read; _not_ while he prayed.