"When you take a job Mr. Hardcap," said I, "do you expect to be paid according to the value of the work or according to the size of your family?" "Oh! that's a very different thing," said Mr. Hardcap, "very different." "Any way," said Mr. Wheaton, "Mr. Elder is entirely out of the question--entirely so. Mr. Laicus can hardly have proposed him seriously." "Why out of the question, gentlemen?" said I. "He is a good preacher. Our congregation know him. He is a faithful, devoted pastor. We shall do Wheatensville no injustice, for it cannot give him a support. As to age, he is certainly not infirm. I do not believe he is a year over forty-five." "No! no!" said Mr. Wheaton, decidedly. "It is utterly out of the question. We must have a young man, one who is fresh, up with the spirit of the age; one who can draw in the young men. The Methodists are getting them all." "And the young girls too," said Mr. Gear dryly. I wish Mr. Gear were not on this committee. The Deacon meant well. But he made a blunder. "Very well, then, gentlemen," said I; "if we want a fresh man let us go right to the theological seminary and get the best man we can find there." "The seminary!" said Mr. Wheaton. He received this suggestion even more disdainfully than the previous one. "We must have a man of experience, Mr. Laicus. A theological student would never do." "Experience without age!" said I; "that's a hard problem to solve. For the life of me I do not see how we are going to do it." "Well you must consider, Mr. Laicus," said Mr. Wheaton, adding force to his words by a gentle and impressive gesture with his forefinger, "that this is a very important and a very peculiar field-a very peculiar field indeed, Mr. Laicus. And it requires a man of very peculiar qualifications. It is really a city field," he continued. "To all intents and purposes Wheathedge is a suburb of New York City. In the summer our congregation is very largely composed of city people. They are used to good preaching. They won't come to hear a commonplace preacher. And at the same time we have a very peculiar native population. And then, apart from our own people, there is the Mill village which really belongs to our parish, and which our pastor ought to cultivate. All these various elements combine to make up a diverse and conflicting population. And it will require a man of great energy, and great prudence, and no little knowledge of human nature, and practical skill in managing men, to get along here at all. I know more about Wheathedge than you do, Mr. Laicus, and I assure you that it is a very peculiar field." I believe that in the estimation of supply committees all fields are very peculiar fields. But I did not say anything. "And we need a very peculiar man?" said Mr. Gear inquiringly. "Yes," said Mr. Wheaton, decidedly; "a man of peculiar abilities and qualifications."