Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1855-01-18
Pooh I'' interposed the husband, with a

q Pooh !" interposed the husband, with a
contemptuous sneer
g You needn't pooh me, Mr.. Emmerson.
| You know that a minister is better than CAR
penter."
mo, I don't. Ientirely dissent from your
view of the subject 1 think a mechanic quite
as good as a parson; and / am perfectly sat
| isfied that many mechanics are much better,
more respectable, and more useful members OF
society than some ministers could mention "
There it is again IF you had your way
we should have no preaching, and the world
would 60 back antozhsathen n;sm again
And may yet for all that one half of the
preachers will do to prevent it Ihave not
the least objection to John becoming parson
| if he chooses. But let him choose for HIM
self"
LAS though amere boy could know his
own mind. 1t is our duty, husband, to act
for him, till he is old enough to act for him
self 2"
True, but we ought to consider the boys
taste, and have some regard for his fitnesss'
.sYm do not mean to say that he is not fit
for minister :"
81 don't say anything about it. but know
he has both taste and fitness for the trade of a
ship-carpenter."
IIOW 7uuiCaSOi4dOlC Ou diC -1o eAouSh,
when he has been to college, he will not have
taste for preaching When he puts his mind
to it, he viii be perfectly satisfied with the
calling; and if he don't make one of the
.smartest ministers in the country, / lose my
guess.
9. He will make better ship carpenter !;
but let the boy speak for himself. He is old
enough tounderstand the subject
John did speak for himself but his moth
er's eloquence was too much for him; and af-
ter deal of coazing he consented to abandon
bis inciinations, and endeavor to make a min
lister of himself He was an excellent scholar,
and as his mother had predicted, lie was pre-
pared for college at the endof the year.
= Mr.. Emmerson, though he was satisfied that
his son had been unwisely Influenced in the
choice of his future profession, deemed itpru-
>dent to urge no further objection to the plan.
He was well of In the world, and abundantly
able TO give his son liberal education.
John was i'll at ease in view of his future
calling. He was dispifited and gloomy; he
felt how insufficient. were his abilities to meet
the requirements of the sacred profession.-
Though he labored diligently in his studies,
he felt that he was laboring to please his moth
er, rather than to advance Christ's Kingdom
upon earth.
Technically speaking. he had experienced
religion = but 1t was only as an indispensable
qualification for hisfuture duties. There was
no religion in his heart; he knew it, and his
conscience rebelled at the thought of the
denominations to which he laid himself open
by insincerely entering the sacred inclosure.
If he tried to be religious, he realized how
unworthy were his motives; he was-seeking
God for the sake of making respectable APP
pearance in his profession! More than once
he determined to abandon his purpose-throw
away his books of divinity, and take to the
axe and the auger. But his mothers influ-
ence was still potent, and in spite of himself,
he became minister at last.
Twenty years in the swift fight oftime had
passed away, since the two boys stood togeth-
ser in the workshop gazing at the model of the
schooner.
In one of the maratime suburbs of Boston,
near an extensive ship-yard, in which are four
immense clipper-ships on the stocks, stands a
small, dingy church, bearing the most evident
signs of neglect. But it is a small society, and
the few who worship there find it exceedingly
difficult to pay the Rev. John Emerson, the
pastor the meagre salary of five hundred dol
lars year. Mr.. John Broadley, the enter
prising shipwright, who owns the yard near
the church. it is said, pays considerable more
than half of this sum. for the pastor is an old
friend, and he earnestly desires to sustain him.
The church is in most unprosperous con-
dition 1t has been running down for several
years One by one, the society are leaving
it, preferring to walk half mile to another
church.
There is reason for everything; and there
was reason why the Rev. John Emerson
succeeded no better in building up the society
over which he presided. His preaching was
so insupportably dull and insipid, that it was
severe penance to him. People said he was
no more fit for preacher than Beelzebub was
for saint; and they would not hear him.
They said he did not seem to care anything
about his profession, and was so gloomy as well
as dull, that they could not tolerate him either
| in the pulpit or out of it; and if it had not
been for the fact that Mr.. Broadley, with all
his influence, went to meeting there, the pews
would have been entirely deserted.
The Rev. John Emerson was broken-down
minister in his better days he had been set
tied in the pastoral charge ofan extensive and
wealthy society in the city. But after the
first year, he sslatted out" as the folks called
it. and some of his influential parishioners
gave him hint that he had better ask a dis
mission
He had tried several places with no letter
success; and finally, after years of inactivity
| had been compelled to accept call from the
feeble society where he now officiated,
HIS father and mother were both dead, and
he had already expended his inheritance in
supporting his expensive family while waiting
a CALI He was poor; his spirits were broker
down, as well as his reputation.
Harrassed by financial embarrassment, there