The Monmouth inquirer., 1921-06-23

the green was a long block Of stores.
and on the opposite side a row OF
churches, side by side, five in number.
There was the Meeting House, in plain
gray; "The First Church of Durford,"
with a Greek portico in front; 1.-THE
Central Church." with box-like tow
er and slender steeple with gllded
rooster perched on top-an edifice
which looked like a cross between
skating rink and railroad station;
and last Of all, the Episcopal Church
on the corner-a small, elongated
structure which might have been q
carpenter shop but for the little cross
which sur1nountcd the front gable,
and the pointed tops of the narrow
win ows, which were supposed to Do
"gc hic' and to proclaim the struc-
ture to be the house of God.
Just around the corner was little
tumble-down house known as "the rec
tory" The tall grass and the lowered
shades indicated that 1t had been un-
occupied for some time. Mrs. Burke
called Maxwell's attention to 1t.
"I suppose you'll be hvin' there
some day-if you stay here long
enough; though OF course you cant
keen house there alone. The place
needs a lot of overhaulin'. Mickey
saws there's six feet of plaster off the
parlor ceilin', and the cellar gets full
of water when it rains; but / guess
we can fix it up when the time comes.
That's your cathedral on the corner.
You see, we have five churches, when
we really need only one; and SO we
have to scrap for each others COLI
verts to keep up the interest. We feec
'em on sandwiches, pickles and COT
fee every now and then, to make 'em
come to church Yes, preachin' and
pickles, sandwiches and salyation'
seem to run in the same class these
days"
When they arrived in front OF the
block. Mrs. Burke hitched her horse,
and left Maxwell to his own devices.
He proceeded to hunt up the post OIL
flee; and as the mail was not yet dis-
tributed, he had to wait some time,
conscious of the fact that he was the
center of interest to the crowd assem-
bled in, the room. Finally when he
gained access to the delivery window,
he was greeted by smile from the
postmistress, a woman OF uncertain
age. who remarked as she handed him
his letters:
"Good morning, Mr.. Maxwell. Glad
to meet you. I'm a Presbyterian N.Y.
self; but / have always made 1t
point to be nice to everybody You
seem to have quite a good many cor
respondents, and / presume you'll be
wantin' lock box. It's SO convenient.
You must feel lonesome in strange
place. Drop in and see mother some
day. She's got curvature of the spine,
but no religious prejudices. She'll be
right glad to see you, I'm sure, even
though she's not Episcopal"
Maxwell thanked her and inquired
the way to the Senior Warden's office
to which she directed him.
Three doors below the post office
was a hallway and flight of stairs
leading up to Mr.. Bascom's sanctum.
AS he ascended, Maxwell bethought
him of the Bishops hint that this was
the main stronghold for the exercise
of his strategy. The Senior Warden,
for some reason or other, had persist
emily quarreled with the clergy, or
crossed them What was the secret
Of his antagonism? Would he be pre-
disposed in Maxwell's favor. or pre-
iudiced against him? He would soon
discover-and he decided to let Bas-
com do most of the talking. Reaching
the first landing, Donald knocked on
a door the upper panel of which was
filled with glass, painted white. on
the glass in large black letters was
the name: sylvester Bascom."
THE Senior Warden sat behind a ta-
Bile, covered with musty books and
litter OF letters and papers. In his
prime he had been a small man; and
now, we'll past middle age, he looked
as If he had shrunk until he was at
least five sizes too small for his skin,
which was sallow and loose. There
was suspicious look in his deep set
eyes, which made his hooked nose all
the more aggressive. He was bald. ex-
cept for few stray locks of gray hair
which were brushed up from his ears
over the top of his head, and evidently
fastened down by some gluey cosmet
ic. He frowned severely as Maxwell
entered, but extended a shrivelct.
bony hand, and pointed to chair.
Then placing the tips of his fingers
together in front of his chest. he gaz-
ed at Donald as IL he were the prisos.
er at the bar, and began without any
preliminary welcome:
$50. you are the young man who Is
to take charge Of the church. 1t is al
ways difficult for city bred man to
adjust himself to the needs and man
ners of country parish. Very diff
cult Mr.. Maxwell-yery difficult"
\ Maxwell smiled as he replied:
swoc h,Yf that ia faIIlt which time