ds.
I had never been so inside of one before. Bristow is a good man, no
doubt; but it is just the one chosen way with him,--strong crying and
praying, and believing yourself a sinner above all men, and then a
sudden peace and happiness, and a courage to endure,--a blind,
unreasoning courage to take the present as it is, because God sent it,
and it must be for the best. Boyd and Whitlow and Kenny were the great
lights. They went about from house to house; they exhorted and prayed.
Whitlow was one of the old bank-directors. Strange to say, he did not
lose a penny. His money was in government-bonds; and now he has
persuaded Yerbury that if his advice had been taken there would have
been no trouble. Whitlow discharged his man this winter, and took in his
place a half-grown boy. Mrs. Whitlow sets a good example to her class by
discharging one handmaid and making the other do double duty. Yet, so
far as I can find, Whitlow is a richer man than he was three years ago.
Kenny keeps his factory open, and gives the men three days' work in the
week, and pays them in poor shoes, as much as possible; and takes out a
good deal in high rent. Boyd, who has the name of being the greatest
saint of all,--does what? Opens that miserable row of houses, that he
couldn't let on any terms, and takes in tenants who are willing to work
out the rent. He gets good prices, too. Is he losing on them? Faugh! the
very term of charity makes me sick. And this winter he purchased a good
deal of the stock of the relief-store. Wretched flour; miserable,
adulterated stuff of tea; pork, some of it that wasn't fit to eat; and
cheap butter, that every one would have been ten times better without. I
went to him one day, red-hot, in a sanitary view of the business; and he
preached religion to me,--his kind. 'Boyd,' said I, 'there's Keppler's
saloon, your own property, paying you a good income, no doubt, in these
hard times, adding to the want and misery of Yerbury faster than your
whole church can save. If you are in earnest, go break up that den of
iniquity!'"

Jack laughed. "What did he say to that?"

"Meekly, that Keppler had a lease for five years, and was going on the
second. The man is so honorable, he cannot break faith with his
fellow-man, forsooth; but he breaks faith with God, in a serene,
untroubled manner." And Maverick's lip curled scornfully under the
fringe of moustache.

"But there must be some gold, or the counterfeit would not be so
successf