John Wesley, Jr.: The Story of an ExperimentBrummitt, Dan B. (Dan Brearley)
Religion
John Wesley, Jr.: The Story of an Experiment
Brummitt, Dan B. (Dan Brearley)
Christian fiction; Methodists -- Fiction
"But that wasn't all. Next Sunday he reported, and before any of us
could say 'Praise the Lord!' says he, 'Don't think the Lord's giving any
of us much credit for that stuff. We owe him a good deal more than a few
eggs that we'll never miss. I just wanted to show you that when we
country people really start paying our tithe to the Almighty our
missionary and other offerings will make that truckload look like the
crumbs from our tables. I've proved that we're rich, instead of being
too poor to provide for missions. And it's all our Father's, you know.
When we pay him our tithe we admit that in the only practical way,'
Funny thing was the whole business had been so queer, nobody got mad
over his plain talk. Some of us have begun to tithe, and to enjoy it.
Yes; that young feller is quite a go-ahead young feller."
J.W. rather admired the tale of the truck; it was like Marty, right
enough, to get his tithing talk illustrated with a load of produce; but
there was more than a hint of a new Marty, with a new directness and
confidence.
So he asked, "What else is he doing that's making a difference?"
And the floodgates were lifted. The Bellamy gift of utterance had a
congenial theme. For an hour the stream ran strong and steady, and when
it would have stopped none could tell. But J.W. remembered he had
promised to be back with Marty for dinner, and so, in the midst of a
story about Marty's Saturday afternoon outings with the boys, highly
reminiscent of their own old-time Saturdays in the Deep Creek timber,
J.W. made his excuses and hurried away.
In that hour he had heard of the observing of special days, Thanksgiving
and Christmas particularly; of the rage for athletic equipment on every
farm which had youngsters, so that the usual anaemic croquet outfit had
given place to basketball practice sets, indoor-outdoor ball,
volley-ball nets, and other paraphernalia. Some of it not much used now,
since winter had come, but under Marty's leadership, a skating rink
construction gang had thrown up a dirt embankment in a low spot near the
creek and then cut a channel far enough upstream to flood about four
acres of swamp. Mr. Bellamy told about the skating tournaments every
afternoon of the cold weather for the school children, and Saturday
afternoons for the older young folks. More people went than skated too,
the garrulous farmer asserted. It was just another of that young
preacher's sociability schemes, and there was no end to 'em, seemed like
to him.
There was even more on the business side of country life: how Marty had
joined forces with the Grange and the county agent and the cooperators
of the creamery and the elevator and the school teachers. And so on, and
so on.
J.W. would be the last to worry about such a program; it just fitted
his ideas. But it made him a little more interested in the Sunday
services. Would Marty's preaching match his community work?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account