h the usual channels, to all
lounging-places that were open, and at one of them--the post-office--it
was heard by Deacon Quickset. It troubled the good man a great deal,
and he said,--

"There's no knowing how much harm'll be done the fellow by that speech.
If he thinks the Lord is going to take care of him in such unexpected
ways, he'll go to loafing and then get back into his old ways."

"Didn't the Lord ever help you in any unexpected way, deacon?" asked
Judge Prency, who nearly every evening spent a few moments in the
post-office lobby.

"Why, yes,--of course; but, judge, Sam and I aren't exactly the same
kind of men, I think you'll allow."

"Quite right," said the judge. "You're a man of sense and character.
But when Jesus was on earth did He give much attention to men of your
general character and standing? According to my memory of the
record,--and I've re-read it several times since Sam Kimper's
return,--He confined His attentions quite closely to the poor and
wretched, apparently to the helpless, worthless class to whom the
Kimper family would have belonged had it lived at that time. 'They that
are whole need no physician,'--you remember?--'but they that are
sick.'"

"According to the way you seem to be thinking, Judge Prency," said the
deacon, coldly, "them that's most deserving are to be passed by for
them that's most shiftless."

"Those who deserve most are those who need most, aren't they,
deacon?--that is, if anyone is really 'deserving,' as we use the word."

"Your notions would break up business entirely, if they were carried
out," asserted the deacon.

"Not at all; though I've never discovered that business is the first
interest of the Almighty."

"You mean to say that because I work hard and get a little fore-handed
I ought to take a lot of shiftless folks and teach them to be lazy and
dependent on me?"

"Certainly not, deacon. How you do jump at conclusions! There aren't a
lot of shiftless people in this town; there are very few; and even they
might be helped, and shamed into taking care of themselves, if you and
I and some more fore-handed people were to follow our Master's
example."

"I've spoken to every unbeliever in this town about his soul's
salvation," said the deacon; "I've always made it a matter of duty.
Christ came to preach salvation, and I'm following His example, in my
humble way."

"Didn't He do anything else?" asked the judge. "You remember what
answer He sent to John