The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-10-30

me, and Is SUCCESSFUL In ms errand.
, Holder as a man, but somehow
not as a clergyman. Nor did the
rector volunteer any evidences of
the soundness OF his theological or
political principles.
NOT BEGGING FOR THE PLACE.
He gave Langmaid the impress
sion--though without any apparent
egotism-that by accepting the call
he would be comforting a favor on
st. Johns: and this was when he
spoke with real feeling OF the ties
that bound him to Bremerton.
Langmaid felt a certain deprects-
ton Of the fact that he was not a
COMMUNICATE
For the rest, II Mr.. Holder were
disposed to take himself and his
profession seriously. he was by no
means lacking In an appreciation OF
Langmaid's humor.
The tempering of the lawyers
citation as he returned homeward
to report to Mr.. Parr and the
vestry may be best expressed by
his own exclamation, which he
made TO himself:
"I wonder what that fellow would
do IL he ever got started" A par
had done his best.
A high. oozing note Of the brakes,
and the heavy train came 10 a stop.
Holder looked out of the window
of the sleeper to read the sign
Marcion against the yellow brick
of the station set down in the
prairie mud. and fianked by a long
row of dun-colored freight cars
backed I'D to q factory.
The factory was fiimsy, somewhat
resembling a vast greenhouse with
its multitudinous windows, and
bore the name of firm whose Of
fees were in the city to which he
was bound
Eve most IN now, sab. the negro
porter volunteered. ''You kin see
the smoke yondah.'
Holders mood found a fgure in
this portentous sign whereby the
citys presence was betrayed to
travellers from afar-the huge pail
seemed an emblem Of the weight OF
the city's sorrows; or again. .
cloud of her own making which
shut her in from the sight OF
heaven. Absorbed in the mad con-
test for life, for money and pleas
ure and power. she felt NO need to
ncT eyes Ucy BCVCi VI hSk
material endeavors.
He, John Holder, was to live IN
der that clouda to labor under it.
The mission on which he was
bound, like the prophets Of old. was
somehow to gain the ears Of this
self-absorbed population. to strike
the fear Of the eternal into their
souls, to convince them that there
was something above and beyond
that smoke which they ignored to
their own peril.
Yet the task, at this nearer view.
took on proportions overwhelming
80 dense was that curtain az
which he gazed. And today the
very skies above It were leaden.
as though Nature herself had
turned atheist. In spite OF the
vigor with which he. was endowed.
in spite of the belief in his own
soul, doubts assailed him Of his
ability to cope with this problem
of the modern Ninevah-at the
very moment when he was about to
realize his ma tured ambition of a
great city parish.
Leaning back on the cushioned
seat, as the train started again, he
reviewed the years at Bremerton,
his first and only parish. Hitherto
Ito his surprise, since he had been
prepared for trials) he had found
the religious life primrose path.
Clouds had indeed roster on Brem-
erton's crests, but beneficent clouds,
always scattered by the sun. And
there, amid the dazzling SHOWS. he
had on coca sions walked with God.
His success, modest, though It
were, had been too simple. He had
loved the people. and they him. and
the pang of inconsistencies he now
experienced was the intensest sor-
row he had known since he had
been among them. Yes, Bremcrton
had been for him Che realized now
that he had left it, as near an ap-
proach to Arcadia as this life per-
mits. and the very mountains by
which it was encircled had seemed
effectively to shut out those mon
stcr problems which had set the
modern world outside to secthing.
A DULL ROUTINE.
Gerald Whiteley's thousand opera
tivcs had never struck; the New
York newspapers, the magazines
that discussed with vivid animus
the corporation political problems
in other states, had found Bremen
: ton interested, but unmovcd; and
Mk. whitley, who was a trustee of
thc\library. wasted her endrEy in
dcploring the recent volumes on
economies, sociology. philosophy
and religion that we're placed OH
the shelves. IL Bremerton read
thoan-and a portion of Bremerton
did-no difference was apparent in
the attendance at Holders, church.
The Woman's Club discussed them
strenuodsly, but made no attempt
to put their doctrines into practice.
Holder himself had but glanced
at a few OF them, and. to do him
justice. this abstention had not had
it's root in cowardice. His life was
rull--his religion worked" And
tho conditions with which these
books dealt simply did not exist for
him. The fact that there were
other churches in the town less
successful than his own tone or
two, indeed. virtually starving) he
found II simple to account for In
that their denominations had aban-
doncd tho true conception Of tho
church. and were logically degcn-
Grating into atrophy
4. T. L. H..