"Weel, aw'm oppen to tell yo', if yo're oppen to hear me," quoth Enoch, settling himself for a good talk, than which there was nothing the good soul liked better, the sound of his own voice being ever the music he liked best. "Aw've been a member o' Pole Moor sin' th' chapel were oppened in th' year o' our Lord 1790. Aw joined th' church a bit afore that, when th' saints met for prayer an' thanksgivin' in th' _Silent Woman_, th' public down i' Slowit yonder. Aw'm not denyin' 'at there were conveniences i' holdin' th' sarvices i' a licensed house, for preichin's dry work, an' listenin' to some o' th' preichers we'n had to put up wi' 's drier still. Aw've allus thowt th' Lord missed his way when he didn't ca' me to be a preicher mysen. But aw've done mi best to mak' up for that mistake on th' part o' Providence bi keepin' th' regular ministers up to th' mark. We'n had 'em o' all mak's sin' th' Pole were first oppened. There's bin Calvinist an' hyper-Calvinists an' Fullerites an' Antinomians, an', as aw'n said, all mak's, an' they'n all had th' benefit o' owd Enoch Hoyle's opinion o' their doctrine an' preichin', an' aw ma' no doubt they were all th' better for it. Aw'n stuck like a leech to th' owd spot, an' purge th' flock as they liked, an' some o' th' parsons welly purged it to death, they ne'er managed to purge Enoch Hoyle out o' it. Aw'd have stuck to it if there'd bin nowt but heath-bobs to preich to, as folk said 'ud be th' case when we raised our Ebenezer at th' Pole." "But what in the name o' goodness has all this ancient history to do with Miriam?" I asked. "Aw'm comin' to that, Abe, all i' good time. Dunnot thee be impatient. Th' gret fault o' th' present day is just that same wantin' to cut things short. Why, if we tuk notice o' th' younger end they'd do away wi' th' very hour-glass on th' pulpit desk, an' we'd ne'er be sure we'd had our money's worth. What aw want yo' to understand is 'at me havin' sat sin' th' sap were fresh i' mi. veins till now aw'm in th' sere an' yellow leaf, under this preicher an' that, aw should know th' ins an' outs o' religious doctrine as weel as here an' there a one." "That seems to stand to reason," I conceded, though with some misgiving, for I could not see to what this prolix prelude tended. "Weel," proceeded Enoch, evidently gratified by my concession, "weel, if there's one point on which aw'm more clear nor another it's on th' doctrine o' predestination in a' its fulness an' consekenses." "Ah!" I interposed. "I'll not be sorry to be enlightened on that point myself. I've never been on very sure ground there."