The Republican., 1896-07-30

who had any doubt befos- sS.at really
am an atheist?"
1t was on the face Of ;sszz 1nfortunats
circumstance, and orc esraid only srA-
gest that peoples zcemories are vsy
short in these busy days.
| THE people in that room don't Isr-
get" said Fletcher, gloomily. "And
this very day l crowned my iniquity;
it's no use fighting against fate, by
which l mean this hideous vice of the
ridiculous. It's in my blood-the only
bad turn my mother did me.
What happened to-day? Oh, nothing
again, nothing. l simply stumbled into
the conference of the 'Sisterhood of
Female Philanthropists,' and was
dragged to the platform, where l sat
| facing the audience" and he shudde1ed
at the remembrance.
''She was a most eloquent speaker,
and she was enlarging on the courage
! it needed to ask a stranger to join the
sisterhood. Well do l remember my
| feelings and then she travelled into
autobiography. Your feelings that day
were doubtless the same as mine and
again she turned aside, and we were
kept in anguish. Yes, you and had
the same experience, and we shall never,
never forget there every one made
ready to take note. Dear sisters, did
not each of US burst that minute into a
violent perspiration?' There seemed
no way of getting out except through
the hall, and it was really very good of
them not to hiss me.
''Of course I'll never run such risks
again, but it does not matter where am,
this evil spirit will seize me; it is my
profound conviction that there is a
personal devil, and that humor is one
of his choice Instruments.
You know that wonderful verger of
ours who Is an understudy of an alder
| man? Well, he took charge of a party
of staugers at the door, who had come
in at the venite, and started procession
! he leading majestcally, chanting as
he went, and genCly beating time with
his left hand. Then he turned at GER
tain pew, and motioned to his convoy
to enter, but there was nobody. The
| people had found seats for themselves
at the back, and the procession had
consisted of the great man himself.
| When [ stood at the lectern, the sight
came up before me, and Iwent to pieces
over the word Nebuchadnezzar.
'As for funerals"-FIetcher was de-
termincd to make a clean breast of it
they are simply a terror to me; men
| play such pranks and are SO unreal.
| You know Bibby, what droll, chubby
faced, hearty little man he is?" Yes,
did know Bibby. well, he came yes
! terday into the room where we were all
sitting in that awful silence with an
expression so woebegone that l could
have shaken him; ne sat down beside
me, and sighed like blast furnace"
which was too much for your wick
edness?"
4 only said in a natural voice: Bitter
east wind and if the wretched creature
did not reply: 'Ah, yes, very uncx-
pected'-he did not know the relatives
| by sight. and had mistaken the doctor
for the chief mourner-'and sad. We
are there to-day and here tomorrow
Then if he didn't wag his head, and
Satan seemed to take possession of me.
1T isn't that l am not ashamed of my
self, or that l don't take precautions.
l have not preached a sermon for years
without reading it over once for the
| special purpose of scoring out any sin
| gle word that would provoke a smile
Yet people laugh when l preach in
strange churches, although l am as SOL
emn as a grave-digger, and rascally
| newspaper called me an amusing
preacher. AS for myself, the public exc
cutions | have conducted"
"As counteractive, do you mean?"
"Yes, of course; the moment see any
danger, l condemn some poor wretch
to death without mercy, and strap his
legs and arms, and place him on the trap
door, and put on the white cap, and pull
the bolt. Surely that is enough. The
number of people bave hung at an &C.
clesiastical gathering, say the diocesan
conference, to maintain my character,
often fills me with remorse."
do ccclesiastics never laugh?" 1
dared to inquire.
-NCNCA, cACepC Ill u uulets reg uIdleu
fashion at some jocose, time-honored
clerical pleasantly, and then only if it
proceed from an archdeacon upwards.
If mere commoner like myself. being
suddenly overcome by the pedantic alb
surdity of ecclesiastical ways, should
express himself freely, you would see a
sic1ly smile on the faces of those SUI
perior men, and afterwards you might
overhear them: Great want of serious
ness; very light mettle, indeed
I'm fact" and Fletcher became al
most bitter, "if you wish to succeed in
church or state, never jest, and remem-
Der what our English humorist said
when, with his friends, he was tasting
some agreeable tale: Look solemn,
here's Il fool coming"
1t was in vain that labored at con-
ISOLATION, urging the woodenness of men
that had no humor, their blunders,
weariness, and inanities, from all of
which a sense of humor surely delivers
| a man. No poor words of mine could Eft
the detected rector Of st. Origens, who
left, declaring that he was a disabled
man, and that the conditions of solid
success in public life were a stout figure,