ave said, and the few
harsh things I have done, fill me with confusion. There's the benefit of
a diary. It is an examination of conscience. I remember once at a
station, a rather mean fellow flung a florin on a heap of silver before
me. He should have paid a half-crown. I called his attention to it. He
denied it. It was the second or third time he had tried that little
game. I thought the time had come for a gentle remonstrance. I said
nothing till the people were about to disperse. Then I said I had a
story to tell them. It was about three mean men. One was an employer of
labor in America, who was so hard on his men that when his factory blew
up he docked them, or rather their widows, of the time they spent
foolishly up in the sky. There was a titter. The second was a fellow
here at home, who stole the pennies out of the eyes of a corpse. There
was a roar. 'The third, the meanest of the three, I leave yourselves to
discover. He isn't far away.' The bolt went home, and he and his family
suffered. He never went to a fair or market that it was not thrown in
his face; and even his little children in the schools had to bear his
shame. I never think of it without a blush. Who wrote these lines?--

'He who only rules by terror
Doeth grievous wrong;
Deep as Hell I count his error,
Listen to my song.'"

"I'm not sure," said Father Letheby. "I think it was Tennyson."

"Thank God, the people love us. But for that, I should despair of our
Irish faith in the near future."

"You said, 'Preach not yourself, but God'?"

"Aren't you tired?"

"No!" he said; "I think you are speaking wisely." Which was a direct
implication that this was not in my usual style. But never mind!

"Let me carry out my own suggestion," I said. "Take down that Bible.
Now, turn to the prophecy of Ezekiel--that lurid, thunder-and-lightning,
seismic, magnetic sermon. Now find the thirty-third chapter. Now find
the thirtieth verse and read."

He read:--

"And thou, son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of
thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak, one to
another, each man to his neighbor, saying: Come and let us hear
what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they come to
thee, as if a people were coming in, and my people sit before thee;
and hear thy words, and do them not; for they turn them into a song
of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their cove