ng belief
that they were united on a pastor. In the earlier time a minister was
chosen for life, and if he had faults, which was a probably enough
contingency, and if his congregation had any, which is within the bounds
of possibility, each bore with the other (not quite without friction),
as old-fashioned husbands and wives once did, before the easy way out of
the difficulty was discovered, or at least before it was popularized.

The faithful old parson had died after thirty years' preaching,
and perhaps the newer methods had begun to creep in, for it seemed
impossible to suit the two communities most interested in the choice.

The Rev. Mr. Davis, for example, was a spirited preacher, but persisted
in keeping two horses in the parsonage stable, and in exchanging
them whenever he could get faster ones. As a parochial visitor he was
incomparable, dashing from house to house with such speed that he could
cover the parish in a single afternoon. This sporting tendency, which
would never have been remarked in a British parson, was frowned upon in
a New England village, and Deacon Milliken told Mr. Davis, when giving
him what he alluded to as his "walking papers," that they didn't want
the Edgewood church run by hoss power!

The next candidate pleased Edgewood, where morning preaching was held,
but the other parish, which had afternoon service, declined to accept
him because he wore a wig--an ill-matched, crookedly applied wig.

Number three was eloquent but given to gesticulation, and Mrs. Jere
Burbank, the president of the Dorcas Society, who sat in a front pew,
said she couldn't bear to see a preacher scramble round the pulpit hot
Sundays.

Number four, a genial, handsome man, gifted in prayer, was found to be
a Democrat. The congregation was overwhelmingly Republican in its
politics, and perceived something ludicrous, if not positively
blasphemous, in a Democrat preaching the gospel. ("Ananias and
Beelzebub'll be candidatin' here, first thing we know!" exclaimed the
outraged Republican nominee for district attorney.)

Number five had a feeble-minded child, which the hiring committee
prophesied, would always be standing in the parsonage front yard, making
talk for the other denominations.

Number six was the Rev. Judson Baxter, the present incumbent; and he
was voted to be as near perfection as a minister can be in this finite
world. His young wife had a small income of her own, a distinct and
unusual advantage, an