News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-04-10
THE EMPTY P0CKET-BOOK.

THE EMPTY P0CKET-B00K.
The congregation worshiping in the
Presbyterian Church, in certain small
city, no matter exactly where, was COM
posed of those, who, while living COM
fortably in their homes, were by no
means a.wealthy people. Feeling this,
they unanimously decided that their
minister's salary must be extremely
moderate. also. They did very well in
carrying out this conclusion as long as
Rev. Mr.. Brownley, a married man,
without children, stayed with them, but
when he resigned the charge, to accept
call elsewhere, and Rev Charles Sea-
bright came, with a wife and seven
children to support on the same meagre
amount, they were surprised that there
seemed SO many things lacking in the
manse
They were surprised, also, that Mrs.
Seabright so seldom attended the vari-
GUS benevolent meetings, carried ON by
the ladies of the church. When asked
to become the President of the Sewing
Circle, she declined, and even refused to
engage to cut the garments, upon which
they expected to sew two hours every
week, saying when she did so ''that it
was impossible, as, not keeping a SER
want, she had no one to leave with her
little children, and indeed, in order to
accept such a position, she would be
obliged to neglect her home duties, which
she was unwilling to do"
The ladies, therefore, were sorely per-
picked
The position was the most responsible |
and arduous one in the society, it alb |
sorbed great amount of time not only |
in working hours, but at home, and had |
usually been attended to by the wife of
their pastor.
''Where there is viii there is always
q way" an old adage, but seemingly
appropriate, from the many times it was
quoted in that place, on that the i'm
portant occasion referred TO. Tt tcertainly
caused amount OF Inconvenience, and
1t was past comprehension, why Mrs.
Seabright should be excused.
''Why did she not hire servant as
Mrs. Brownley had done p
Finally Mrs Storing accepted the cut
ter's position, and the society was in
augurated for the winter.
Once or twice Mrs. Seabright came in
for few moments, but, although i'm |.
possible for her to attend regularly, she |
always sent for garment to make at |
home. and in this way accomplished |
more during the winter than any two
persons had done. Still, she had de-
prived them of her personal attendance,
and they felt aggrieved.
After Mr. Seabright had been with
them one year, it was decided that he
lacked animation in his preaching. His
sermons excelled in beauty of compost
ton; the pure, true Gospel was faithfully
set before them-but, there certainly
was fault in the manner of delivery. 1t
seemed as though every word cost an
effort, as though the thoughts OF the
speaker wandered, in fact, as though the
minister himself took no interest In
what he said.
The matter was fully discussed, not
only by the ladies, but in many of the
church gatherings.
'What ought to be done?'
1t was at length decided that a COM
mittee of two be appointed to wait upon
the delinquent pastor, in order to set the
case before him in its true light. Ho
should be informed, through them, that
his people had perfect confidence in his
ability to preach powerful sermons in
powerful way; all they asked was that
he arouse himself and diffuse more
spirit into the delivery of his discourses.
Two ladies accordingly called at the
manse one Thursday morning, and being
conducted ints the study and presence
OF the minister, they at once, as deliber-
ately as possible, laid the matter before
him.
The good man listened calmly until
they had finished their remarks, then,
after few moments of profound thought,
said:
Ladies, confess with regret, that
your criticisms are just. As ] think the
matter over, / see that [ have, indeed
been lacking In animation, and further
more, I know 1 am capable, as you say,
of better things. However, there has
been, assure you, a good reason for the
defect of which you speak. That reason
still remains, but hope it can be obvi-
ated. I shall endeavor to overcome it,
and with Gods help, you shall have no
further cause of complaint"
The next Sunday a most notable
change had taken place. Their pastor
seemed full of life. His sermon, as
usual, was excellent; every thought most
beautifully expressed, while the delivery
was almost perfect.
':What could have caused the
changer
The matter was freely discussed at the
ladies' meeting, as well as at all other
meetings of the church, but no one
could solve the mystery. What occa-
stoned the difficulty, as well as the
change, remained unexplained.
Six months went by, and never again
could they complain of the least lack of
animation in their pastors manner.
At the end of that time new subject
claimed the attention of the members of
the sewing circle. 1t occurred in this
way:
Mrs. Leroy, one of the leading Off
GERS, was the wife of the richest man in
the place Her husband was also an
elder in the church, and being very in
fuential man among them, was looked
up to and respected by all.
One Wednesday afternoon Mrs. Le-
10Y, III the course of conversation