Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1869-10-16
Paying the Church Debt.

Of our Atlantic cities, had by course of
active rc;ti'a-ging succeeded in fliing his
pockets. Full pockets enabled him to as
sumo an imposing style Of living, and the
reputation of having gotten rich ly prac-
tice at the bar, very naturally increased
the number Of his fees. s. soon stood
"a, Number One among his legal brcth-
rcn.
Ifany one had very hard case for lti-
CATION, s. was his man; for if anybody
could gain it for him, he could. lie not
only understood all the quirks and turns
of the law, but was fertile in orr ginal cXpc-
dicnts. The goodness or badness of
cause was nothing to him; his business
was to gain it for his client, by any means
he could use, fair or foul.
At length, from some cause or other
not clearly asccrtaincd, s. became re-
ligiously disposed, and joined the church.
An influential man like MIN was not long
suffered to remain inactive in the sccular-
ties of the church. At the first fitting op-
portunity he was made Il ve>tryman.
S. had always been looked upon in
the community as "prctty hard case"
and the reputation by no means bcicl the
truth. The gaining Of one like him. there
fore, to the cause of religion, was Il source
of no little conGratulation to those who
regarded things spiritual--anI was looked
on as quite a triumph over the enemy of
souls. There were some. however. who
shrugged their shoulders, and profcsscl to
have just about as much confidence in him
now as they ever had, and to regard his
religion, to use one of their expressions,
all in your eye"
Matters professionally went on pretty
much in the old way. Religion in the
eyes of -, was too sacred thing to
bring down into the world, where it must
suffer violence. and be, in consequence
brought into disrcpu'c, He, therefore,
kept his religion nicely laid up in lavender
for Sunday, when it was brought forth un-
spotted irom the worll.
About two years after s. joined the
church. it was thought by those who had
affairs in charge that they ought to have
a new and more imposing clihcc than the
one they wor>hippcl in. s. was rroni
ncnt in the matter--in fact he was the
prime mover, aud headed subscription
list with a thousand dollars.
In due time the church was finished.
and an elegant cdicc it was. But the
building committee and the architect had
managed to run the cost up to one hund-
red thousand dollars, and the church in
debt about seventy thousand This caused
all concerned to feel, as nigh be supposed,
rather serious on the subject. A debt of
seventy thousand dollars was a serious af-
fair, placed in any light.
The first thing to be done was to have a
sale Of the pews. This proceeded rather
slowly, and the prices at which they sold
were by no means as large as anticipated.
From this source only twenty thousand
dollars came. An extra subscription was
then tried, but only ten thousand dollars
could be raised.
In this aspect of affairs, S., who was
chairman of the building committee, and
to whom was mainly chargeable the excess
of cost over the first estimate for the
church, felt called upon to devise some
means for liquidating the heavy debt.
{" 1t could be done easily enough, if
those who are able would come forward,
buy pews at a fair price, instead of renting
them" he said to fellow vcstryman.
1t was freely admitted that this would
certainly change thcaspcct of affairs. But.
ifthc members preferred renting to buy.
ing, nothing could be done.
"They ought to be made to buy" said
warmly. "Thcre is Preston worth
thirty or forty thousand dollars at least,
who, instead Of paying a couple of thous.
and dollars for the pew his family occupies.
is very well contentcd to get it at yearly
rent of Il hundred dollars. Is is too bad ,
would not give much for his interests in
religion, if he has no better way of showing
it."
" lie certainly ought to buy was un-
hesitatingly replied
"1Ie shaH buy" said S., swapping
his fingers, as sudden thought struck
him
DO You think you can make him ?"
"Ics."
How? What means will you use ?"
= Never mind about that. But. mark