The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-25
HE DUPLICITY OF
 WARREN LANGF0RD
BY EDGAR MELTON COOLEY.

Copyright. 1904, by Daily Story Pub.
 Co.).
 The romance really began at the time Joel Augustin and Warren Lang ford first met. That was at Mount Si- mai Theological Seminary, where they were students.
 As the years of their collegeship went by, they became fast friends. In devotion to their profession and the firm belief that they had been called to tend the Masters sheep, they were identical, but in temperament they were the antipodes of one another. The Rev. Mir. Langford was nerv- | ous, impulsive and inclined to be emo l tional, while his brother in the church | was quiet, deliberate and a great
 Ter for dignity.
 Tn the same year they were gradu- | ated. on the same day they were or- dained, and at the same time they re- | ceived their first ministerial assign | ment.
 It was the last named event that caused them their first pang of mu- tual regret. for hundreds of miles sep- arated their initial parishes. Duty and the promise of a liberal salary, to be promptly and regularly paid. called the Rev. MT. Langford to Fairhaven, Mass, while the Rev. Mir. Augustin found that the portion of the Lords vineyard in which he had been selected to work lay at Loogootee, in the State of Indiana.
 With hearty hand press and many an earnest Gods speed, they bid each other adieu and went their respective ways.
 Tn the course of a few years, how ever, & humble and rather penurious resident of Loogootee went into his back yard to bore for water. He struck oil and things began to boom along the White river.
 The price of real estate climbed so fast that one could see 1t move, and everybody in the erstwhile drowsy town seemed mounted on springs-for everyone was on the jump. Things moved fast in Loogootee, for every thing was we'll oiled. and the slow and deliberate aroused little else than con- tempt.
 Under these circumstances it was not, perhaps, surprising that the mem bers of Rev. Joel Augustus congrega- tion awoke one morning to the convic- tion that their pastor, while his spir- duality and his capabilities were un- questioned, lacked the push and rapid fire action essential to the new Loo gootee.
 They desired a trip-hammer that pounded with lightning speed on the surface, rather than a dredge that moved ponderously, but went to the bottom of things.
 By a strange coincidence, a growing displeasure for the Rev Warren Langford had been gradually matur- ing in Fairhaven.
 Fairhaven took life easily. The vil- lQRn Nnnfant beside the blue sea and let the world move as it would. Chautauauas, Iyce- ums, women's clubs and physchologi- cal societies touched elbows for want of room. Culture was the scales on which all men were weighed and brain foods had a ready sale.
 The Rev. MT. Langford's sin was one of omission, rather than of commis- sion. His sermons were marvels of eloquence and diction. but he parted his hair on the side and was short on dignity.
 If necessary, he would not have hes itated to take off his coat to fight for the Lord, but he was i'll at ease at an afternoon tea. In brief. he was the embodiment of force and energy, but did not work we'll in a groove that was clogged with the accumulations of centuries of idleness.
 ho secretary or the national min isterial bureau of the church received by a certain mall two letters. One was from Loogootee, Ind, and the other from Fairhaven. Mass.
 The first reported that the local minister. Rev Joel Augustin, was in the habit of delivering dignifed, phil osophical sermons, while the congre- gation desired living, breathing, hust- ling actualities. The second stated that the congregation at Fairhaven was tired of listening to the rumblings of rhetorical earthquakes and would like a pastor who could pass out a few theoretical bon-bons. Ands above all things. he must be dignified.
 When he read these letters, the sec retary of the national ministerial bu- reau decided that Fairhaven and I,oo- gootee could swap pastors to their mutual advantage; that Augustin was name evidently intended to |. grace rose-5cented and lavender colored ih- vitations, while Langford, being more Of commercial name seemed to sug- gest the activity of the oil belt
 So the edict went forth, and the change was made
 Now, in FairhaVen- by the-Sea, one woman, who, it must be admitted was not member of the Sorosis, had been wooed and won by the Rev. Mir. Langferd. To her, therefore. the pas torial change was not hailed with de- light.
 Her tears, were many and copious, but she finally found hope in the re- ===========5 ===s=============.-.==-- ss==.================.-.==--