The Preacher of Cedar Mountain: A Tale of the Open CountrySeton, Ernest Thompson
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The Preacher of Cedar Mountain: A Tale of the Open Country
Seton, Ernest Thompson
Clergy -- Fiction; Great Plains -- Fiction; Western stories
One man came to complain that a member had been drunk and disorderly at
a certain other place the night before. A year ago, Jim would have said
that it was a disgrace and that he would make a thorough investigation,
which would have meant assuming a special guardianship of each and every
member all the time. Wiser now, he said, "Since it was not on our
premises, we have no knowledge of the matter." On the other hand, it was
a serious affair when a member brought in a bottle of strong drink and
treated a number of weak friends until there was a wild orgy going on in
one of the rooms, in spite of official protests from those in charge.
This was clearly high treason; and repressing a disposition to gloss it
over, Hartigan expelled the principal and suspended the seconds for long
periods.
During a boyish contest in the gymnasium, a man somewhat in liquor,
shouted out a string of oaths at the youngsters. Jim rebuked him quietly
for using such language there, whereupon the man turned upon him with a
coarse insult and, misunderstanding the Preacher's gentleness, struck
him a vicious blow, which Jim only partly warded off. "If you do that
again, we may have to put you out," said Jim, inwardly boiling under the
double insult. Fortunately, the man's friends interfered now and got the
fellow away. For this Jim was most thankful. Afterward, he rejoiced
still more that he had restrained himself; and he knew Belle would flush
with pride at this victory over self, this proof of a growing
self-control.
Another week went by and again came word that Belle could not return for
perhaps ten days at the earliest. A dozen broils that Jim had been
postponing for Belle to arbitrate had now to be considered. Dr. Mary
Mudd was the leader of an indignant party of women to complain that
though the men were not more in numbers than the women they had
appropriated sixty out of the one hundred coat hangers.
Rippe, the tailor, was there to complain that Dr. Mary Mudd always
walked up the middle of the stairs, unlawfully delaying the traffic,
instead of keeping the proper right side. With his outstretched arms, he
illustrated the formidable nature of the barrier. Dr. Mudd retorted that
said Rippe had repeatedly smoked in the ladies' room, etc., etc. But
these were small matters easily adjusted. Two, much more serious, came
on him in one day.
First, he yielded to the temptation of having a beautiful banner hung on
the wall, because it was contributed and very decorative. It bore a
legend, "No popery." This was much in line with his private views, but
it made a great stir and cost them a score of members, as well as
incurring the dislike of Father O'Hara, hitherto friendly. His second
blunder was to allow the cook in the restaurant to put scraps of pork in
the soup, thereby raising a veritable storm among the many keen debaters
of the kosher kind, and causing the resignation of Skystein from the
board--temporarily at least.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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