The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1915-07-22
HAPTE XIII-Continued.

mary, who dealt with it by the page,
and which was briefly treated by Joan,
was the staggering information that
Jhe congregation had asked for Mr..
Presprey,s resignation. This news
came while Eric was in Munich. COM
plotting a brief course Of study in that
city, some little time before he was
TO return to America. He had gone
hrst to Vienna and then to Munich,
after finishing the course at the Beaux
Arts.
From all that he could make out of
the disconnected, almost exuberant
letter, MIR. Presbrey had undertaken
to put himself and God over and above
Horace Blagden in the management Of
the church, with dire to
at least n Of the allies. q am quot
Ing Mary almost literally.) It seemed
that Mr.. Presbrey misconstructed a
certain listlessness on the part Of the
great man of Corinth; he took it hi
MIR. Blagden vas losing his force as a
dominant leader. that he no longer
held the reins in a rigid grip, so to
speak. The worthy pastor took heart.
He assumed an independence that,
through cultivation, grew rapidly into
arrogance. He openly defield Horace
at a time when it seemed most unlike
ly that that gentleman would rise from
the ashes of his hopes to take issue
with him.
The controversy had a trivial be-
ginning. Mr.. Presbrey took sides"
in a choir squabble. The soprano and
the tenor, it appears. quarreled
over the rop way to interpret a
duet In one Of the Easter anthems.
The fact that 1t was a contralto and
bass duet doesn't seem to have mat
tered, although you'd think it would.
The bass and the c%ontralto were not
consulted. They were ignored. For
tunately for the congregation, they
sung it in their own sweet way and no
n was aware of the fact that the
anthem was ruthlessly spoiled until it
became known that the soprano and
tenor were not on speaking terms with
each other.
Then the pews began to take notice
of the dissension in the loft. Inside Of
a fortnight, the entire congregation
was involved. Mr. Presbrey came out
flat-footed for the tenor, who, on
week days, CAV vocal lessons in re-
spectacle support Of a teacher in the
Sunday school-his wife, by the way
and did not smoke nor drink. More
over, he advised his pupils to abstain
from smoking and drinking. Neither
habits was good for the voice, he ex-
planned. The soprano, on the other
hand, was a good looking young wom-
an, who went to Boston twice a week
she earned on hats and things to be-
deck herself with, SO that the men in
the pews would think she could sing,
though their wives told them she
couldn't Also she was given to
singing secular songs Of a rather
tertainments in the opera house
and she had spent an entire season in
the chorus of the English Opera COM
pany in Boston, ostensibly for the
training it was said, but, according to
certain ladies in the congregation, In
! kl1 ho~o +Iot y ~ ;oI eNp,o dow 1o
requested to appear In tights. The
soprano was conscious Of a very good
figure.
Well. to get back to Mary's letter:
Mr.. Blagden suddenly threw off his
lethargy. The soprano, it so happened,
had been elevate to the choir on his
recommendation, and as he paid the
weekly salaries of the quartet out OF
his own purse, no one had the right tC
object to his selection, although nearly
every woman in the church knew OF
someone better qualified than Miss
strife. Horace, like the big man that
he was, snapped his fingers smartly
end the whole congregation scurriec
back to the fold in a most amiable way
The surprised Mr.. Prebrey was left
phone, a shorn, stark figure to face the
result Of his convictions.
He resolved to stand his ground. The
soprano must go. Likewise the fiddler
who came in occasionally to play obi
gatos to her solos. The First Congre.
g%ational church was not a dance house
To the intense amaZement of every.
one, he bluntly announced in oper
meeting that a new soprano would be
engaged for the ensuing quarter
Horace could hardly believe his ears.
Miss Smith is hired by the year, Mr.
Presbrey," he said stiffly, arising from
his seat in Congregational meeting.
I trust you will pardon the liberty
take in reminding you, Mr.. Blagden
that she is no hired by the congre.
CATION" remarked the minister, mildly
Horace responded with his wintrN
smile. by the same token, she SHOULD
be dismissed by the person who hiret
her"
"a change is absolutely necessary
sir"
Horace was thoughtful for a moment
"I understand they need a soprano IL
the Second church. If you insist on he
leaving this church, l shall be very gla(
to recommend her for the position
there"
h threat in these words was too
thinly yelled to escape the ~ttentio o
the members who filled the chapel. N
matter how gravely they had divided
against each other in the choir SQUAD
BILE. they became a unit of a~pprehensio,
in view Of the catastrophe that sud
denly doomed up before them.
IL MISS Silllll WcIlI " Tie SGCO1lt
church. there also would go the might,
Blagdens. And then, what would be
home Of the mortgage on the church?
Someone sprang to his feet and sug
gested that the matter be deferred for
fortnight or so. Mr.. Presbrey had tn,
temerity to say the Second churcl
lould have Miss Smith and be welcom
10 all she could bring with her.
That was the beginning. It went from
bad to worse, Mr.. Presbrey finally re
sorting to personalities. He said tina
1t was time to throw off the yoke. MI
Blagden, he explained, was scarcei.
the one to regulate the policies Of
great church when one stopped to con
forts to bring up his own son in Chris,
Moreover, had 1t not been for the in
t%ervention of himself n Mrs. Pres
brey, those two excellent young per
sons, the Midthornes, might have bee
hcctored into a natural defiance of a.
the laws Of God and man, simply be
cause the home influences that SUI
---5 49,, ry1roL 49, ~ 1rr11o tad 4 4