Laicus; Or, the Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish.Abbott, Lyman
Religion
Laicus; Or, the Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish.
Abbott, Lyman
Christian fiction; New York (State) -- Fiction; Parishes -- Fiction
The meeting was certainly a remarkable success, there was just
opposition enough to make it so. Those that were determined it
should succeed were there ready to speak, to sing, to pray. Those
that did not believe in it were there to see it fail. Those that
were indifferent were there, curious to see whether it would succeed
or fail, and what it would be like. And Deacon Goodsole and Miss
Moore were there with their recruits, a curious and motley addition
to the congregation. The church was full. Every ear was attention;
every heart aroused. And when finally good old Father Hyatt, with
his thin white hair and tremulous voice, and eyes suffused with
tears, told in tones of unaffected pathos, the sad story of Charl.
Pie's death, I do not believe that even Jim Wheaton's eyes were dry.
At all events I noticed that when, at the close of the meeting,
Maurice put the question whether a second meeting should be held the
following month, Jim Wheaton was among those who voted in the
affirmative. There were no dissentients.
When I came home from this meeting, I put on paper as well as I
could Father Hyatt's pathetic story. It is as follows:
CHAPTER XXVII.
Father Hyatt's Story.
IF you had known Charlie P., and had seen his little struggle, and
had felt as I did the anguish caused by his tragic death, you would
not talk of moderate drinking as a remedy for intemperance.
I was away from my parish when I first heard of it. I very well
remember the start with which I read the first line of the note,
"Charlie P-- is dead;" and how after I had finished the account,
written in haste and partaking of the confusion of the hour, the
letter dropped from my hands, and I sat in the gathering darkness of
the summer twilight, rehearsing to myself the story of his life, and
the sad, sad story of his tragic death. Years have passed since, but
the whole is impressed upon my memory in figures that time cannot
fade. If I were an artist, I could paint his portrait, I am sure, as
I see him even now. Such a grand, open-hearted, whole-souled fellow
as he was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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