"Perfectly. But he accepts the wage: he does not dictate it. The builder of London's new concert-hall in Denambrose Avenue did not let his masons domineer. He offered work at a certain wage. They took it, or left it. You confuse the functions of the buyer with those of the seller, as the clergy always do. Besides, as you seem fond of Scripture, 'provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses,' and 'take no thought for the morrow----'" "This is simply Tolstoy!" "No. We never have read a line of Tolstoy. We studiously avoid doing so. We give you the commands of Christ Himself as reported by St. Matthew. Lord Cardinal, you are all wrong----" "Your Holiness speaks as though You were not one of us." "Oh no! The head looks down at the hands; and says 'Your knuckles and your nails are dirty.'" The cardinal really was angry. Hadrian paused: fixed him with a taming look: and continued "Is it right or even desirable that the clergy should engage in trade--actually engage in trade? Look at your _Catholic Directory_; and see the advertisement of a priest who, with archiepiscopal sanction, is prepared to pay bank interest on investments, in plain words to borrow money upon usury in direct contravention of St. Luke's statement of The Lord's words on this subject. Look at the _Catholic Hour_; and see the advertisement of a priest who actually trades as a tobacconist. Look in the precincts of your churches; and see the tables of the Fenian-literature-sellers and the seats of them that sell tickets for stage-plays and bazaars where palmistry is practiced----" "I merely interrupt to remind Your Holiness that Your august predecessor traded as a fisherman." "Very neat," the Pope applauded, enjoying the retort: "but not neat enough. A fisherman's trade is an open-air trade, and a healthy trade, by the way: but--did Our predecessor St. Peter trade as a fisherman after He had entered upon the work of the apostolature? We think not. No, Lord Cardinal, the clergy attempt too much. They might be excellent priests. As tradesmen, variety-entertainers, entrepreneurs, they are failures. As a combination, they are catastrophes. These two things must be kept apart, the clerical and the secular, God and Mammon. The difference must be emphasized. By attempts at compromise, the clergy fail in both. As priests, they are mocked: and as for their penny-farthing peddling----" "But Holy Father, do think for one minute. What are the clergy to live on?" "The free-will offerings of the faithful; and one must keep the other." "But suppose the faithful do not give free-will offerings?" "Then starve and go to Heaven, as Ruskin says. That is what We are going to do, if possible." "How are we to build our churches?" "Don't build them, unless you have the means freely given. Avoid beggary. That way you sicken the faithful--you prevent generosity----" "How shall we keep up those we have? For example, the cathedral----"