Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-12-15

| was thought oy many 10 De SeCouu
to the gentleman who obtained the
reading prize IN chapel at my college
in Cambridge.
The day of the bishops sermon ar
rived, and Sir Peter had accepted the
invitation to meet him at dinner at the
vicarage. The bishop was to preach
in the morning, and as the vicar had
q cold was to conduct the services in
the afternoon. l had spent more
than usual care in the construction OF
nv sermon, forif impressed the bish-
OBJ, might he not reward me with
Sheppington? The church was crowd
ed, and the red face of Sir Peter Surly-
man was conspicuous in the foremost
pew. Almost immediately alter the
bishop entered the pulpit, noticed
that he was disconnected. The ma
jority of the congregation did not, [
dare say, observe that anything was
wrong; but could plainly see that he
was disconnected, and more; expert
ence taught me from his movements
that he had lost his sermon Now the
bishop could not. any more than my
self, preach without his MS. Certain
chances began to be exchanged among
the people owing to the delay. The
audience sat expectant while the prel-
ate fumbled. AS in all probability he
| had brought only one sermon, the
gravity of the dilemma could scarcely
| be overestimated. was sitting close
| to him in the choir stalls and sudden
| ly resolved to give him at least the
opportunity of extricating himself
from his difficulty. STOPPING forward
as if to lift something from the bot
tom of the pulpit stairs, I rose with
my own sermon In my hand and
passed it to him. AS I afterward dis
covered, the paper | used was identi-
cal with his own, and [ saw that he
was under the impression that the
missing MS. had been restored to him,
for spreading it out leisurely, he
looked calmly around the congregation
with q certain degree of impressment,
as if nothing unusual had happened.
He spoke the first few words extern
pore, and then had recourse to the
MS. He started on seeing the hand
writing, but it was too late now to re-
cede, so after giving me q glance OF
surprise, he began to read. The SER
mon was filled with passages which [
had carefully selected for their beauty
and these he frequently delivered
with true eloquence. Sir Peter was
attentive and critical, and in common
with everyone else plainly considered
the sermon to be an excellent one.
After the conclusion of the morning
services the bishop sought an oppor-
tunity of speaking to me.
ggVA,, roliox,oI mo - 1o cold ttfroYo
a most awkward predicament, though
Igreatly deplore the means you used.
1t would not do, of course, for the
matter to pass beyond ourselves, and
| think / can best requite your service
by presenting you with the living of
Sheppington."
was SO overcome by surprise and
gratitude that could scarcely MUIR
muir my thanks. I soon contrived in
an agitated whisper to convey the in
telligence to Fanny, but her sad smile
told me that she did not think my
good fortune great enough to altar
the attitude of her parents toward us.
L was nev ertheless much elated, and
was so absorbed by other thoughts
that, when / found myself in the
pulpit In the afternoon, remembered
for the first time that had given the
bishop my sermon, and had not taken
care to provide myself with another.
The church was again crowded; the
bishop and Sir Peter Suriyman were
present, and everyone seemed to me
TO be conscious of my mishap. re-
fected that if left the pulpit the bish-
op might think was rendering my be-
haviOr in the morning equivocal when
l had handed him the MS, and he
might therefore cancel his presenta-
ton. My dilemma was greater far than
his, as my whole future life seemed to be
trembling in the balance. While thus
distracted, my eyes fell on g. paper ly-
ing IN the bottom of the pulpit, and
almost concealed by footstool.
stopped to lift it, fervently hoping
that it might prove to be some old
sermon which had providentially
found it's way there. Thank goodness,
it was a sermon; and l had begun to
read ere ] realized the truth. It was
the Bishops own sermon, which he
must have dropped! Providence
seemed to have extricated me from
my difficulty, and there was no time
to reflect on the propriety of my con-
duct; so without any hesitation | be-
gan to preach. I soon entered into
the spirit of the magnificent discourse,
and did as much justice as I could to
the eloquent periods. Sometimes
the words flowed smoothly on
ward in mellifuous stream,
and anon they would rise in
to the thunder of harsh denuncia-
ton. Once when raising my hand in
an oratoricel gesture, while I delivered
an anathema against worldliness and
self-esteem caught the bishops eye,
and quailed before the angry express
sion of his pale statuesque counte-
ance. [ was too much absorbed with
my subject, however, to be affected by
anything else then; was carrying my
audience away with me, and could not |
relinquish my hold. Almost immedi-
ately after [ left the church I met the
bishop.
Sir" he said in a. low voice of sup
pressed anger, "you will please con.
slider the presentation | made this
as revoked; and I greatly |
regret that + have no other means Of |