Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-07-21
Christian Larceny.

Christian Larceny.
An unsentimental lawyer was per
suaded by his religious daughter once
upon time this is not fairy tale) to
go out to stated weekly prayer-meet-
| ing of the church of which they were
both members. The subject of confer
ence and discussion was the question
whether Christians love one another
| better than the worldly" love one
another In the judgment of the meet
| ing there did not seem to be any ques-
| ton about it, They made out an I'M
pregnable case for the Christians. me
| lawyer stood tor. to be more precise,
sat it-as long as he could, and then,
moved by his own spirit of combative-
ness and sundry nudges and winks from
| his daughter, he arose and spoke as
follows. as nearly as | can now recall
| it:
..It is not wise for us to deceive our
selves on this subject, and take what Is
| for what ought to be. 1t is undoubted-
| " true that Christians no longer burn
| their fellows for mere differences OF
| dogmatic opinion, although. Judging
| from the proceedings on heresy ulals,
they probably still have the inclination.
Speaking for myself. and without de-
string to complain in the least. / must
saw that the only really bad treatment
7 have ever received has been from
fellow Christians. To my recollection
no infidel or agnostic, or non-commu-
meant has ever injured me to speak Of
| There are certain very common prac-
tices among church people which. for
ha Oh, aranfariya1 'hrlS
tan larceny. and cannot see that they
disclose any particular tenderness
toward their brethren in the faith. For
example, there are many good CHRISTIAN
women engaged in housekeeping, who
when they are in want OF COOK are
guilty of coveting their neighbor's maiu-
servant and getting her away II they
| decently can. The good woman says
to a third good woman: On, dear
how I wish ! had a cook like Mrs. so
and-so's, / don't suppose she mas any
idea of leaving her place. though
Somehow that cook calls on the coVet-
Gus good woman in few days. ana IN
Inmates that Mrs. So-and-so does not
altogether suit her. and perhaps she
could be induced to make the change'
But the good woman says very frmlE:
| oh. I couldn't think of taking you
away from Mrs. So-and- 50; but if you
should leave her and want place, why
| LET me know What wages do you
nav ma'am?' 'So-much'-which is
half a dollar more than Mrs. So-and-so
NAYS. Curiously enough. that COOK
turns up in that new place at the END
| of a week. and Mrs. So-and-so makes 1t
hot in the parish for the new employer
| I have nut this case very mildly for the
lcoyetous woman. Frequently she takes
measures much more direct and undls-
g,Iised to do her neghbor a culinary
! injury. | don't believe agnostic women
do any worse than this.
| Take another form of Christian lar
ceny | have been the sole music COM
! rnitteeman of this parish for many
wears during which time | nave re-
| ceived several anonymous letters OF
| abuse but never one of approbatloh'
| unsigned or signed. | have hired
! great many singers on moderate
| salaries and had them trained unui
| they became skillful and then some
| other parish would steal them away
| by the bait of small advance OF
wages This is an extremely demon
| aliZing practice. 1t has even corrupted
me. 50 that ! no longer scruple 10
Doach on my neighbors' musical pre-
serves. | was never more ashamed or
myself than once when | went to n
church in this city. at the solicitation
Of the soprano. to hear her sing. in
the hope that | would carry her away.
and in the vestibule | was accosted
! Iy the pastors wife. who said. so
/ glad to see you. but so sorry you won't
| hear the dOctor-he's away: come and
! sit with me-. And SO | sat in the
minister's pew and listened to his
| singers with that nefarious design. 1t
will be a solace to my dying hour that
| his soprano sang so badly that l didn't
want her. | can even endure her cut
| ting me on the street afterwards. But
the meanest form of Christian larceny
| is where churches steal away one
another's clergymen. one would sup
pose that the churchly way of getting
Il clergyman from another society
would be to go openly and say to that
ether church, We feel that we need
your pastor: that ours is a larger and
| more useful field: that we can help
| you to another who will answer your
wants just as well.' etc. etc. But no:
nothing of the sort The predatory
church appoints a committee of three
to go and hear sundry preachers on
the sly know their tricks and their
Manners have been on smelling
committees myself They pretend not
to know one another at the hotel
They sneak into church separately
next morning, and get separate seats.
But all these are vain ostrich pre-
cautions. Everybody spots them.
Even the minister in the pulpit recog
niZes them, and startles his people
with an unwonted display of elo-
quence and fervor. A loud cali fol-
lows-or doesn't follow-and in either
event hard feelings are engendered.
Really. brethren, all these practices
are apt to seem very reprehensible to
the worlds people. and one cannot
blame them if they cannot take the
NEGATIVE the ,,niar