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THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
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 WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
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THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
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THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 nPHE communion service of January was 
 * just over in the church at Sugar 
 Hollow, and people were waiting for Mr. 
 Parkes to give out 
 the hymn, but he did 
 not give it out ; he 
 laid his book down 
 on the table, and 
 looked about on his 
 church. 
 
 He was a man of 
 simplicity and sincer- 
 ity, fully in earnest to 
 
 do his Lord's work, _ _ 
 
 and do it with all his ~ zlz 
 
 might, but he did sometimes feel discouraged. 
 His congregation was a mixture of farmers 
 and mechanics, for Sugar Hollow was cut in 
 two by Sugar Brook, a brawling, noisy stream 
 
6 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 that turned the wheel of many a mill and 
 manufactory, yet on the hills around it there 
 was still a scattered population eating their 
 bread in the full perception of the primeval 
 curse. So he had to contend with the keen 
 brain and skeptical comment of the men who 
 
 
 piqued themselves on power to hammer at 
 theological problems as well as hot iron, with 
 the jealousy and repulsion and bitter feeling 
 that has bred the communistic hordes abroad 
 and at home ; while perhaps he had a still 
 harder task to awaken the sluggish souls of 
 those who used their days to struggle with 
 barren hillside and rocky pasture for mere 
 food and clothing, and their nights to sleep 
 
THE DEACON'S WEEK J 
 
 the dull sleep of physical fatigue and mental 
 vacuity. 
 
 It seemed sometimes to Mr. Parkes that 
 nothing but the trump of Gabriel could 
 arouse his people from their sins and make 
 them believe on the Lord and follow his 
 footsteps. To-day — no, a long time before 
 to-day — he had mused and prayed till 
 an idea took shape in his thought, and 
 now he was to put it in practice; yet he 
 felt peculiarly responsible and solemnized 
 as he looked about him and foreboded the 
 success of his experiment. Then there 
 flashed across him, as words of Scripture 
 will come back to the habitual Bible reader, 
 the noble utterance of Gamaliel concerning 
 Peter and his brethren when they stood 
 before the council : '* If this counsel or this 
 work be of men, it will come to nought: but 
 if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." So 
 with a sense of strength the minister spoke. 
 
 '* My dear friends," he said, '' you all 
 know, though I did not give any notice to 
 that effect, that this week is the Week of 
 
8 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 Prayer. I have a mind to ask you to make it, 
 for this once, a week of practice instead. I 
 think we may discover some things, some 
 of the things of God, in this manner that 
 a succession of prayer meetings would not 
 perhaps so thoroughly reveal to us. Now 
 when I say this I don't mean to have you 
 go home and vaguely endeavor to walk 
 straight in the old way ; I w^ant you to 
 take ' topics/ as they are called, for the 
 prayer meetings. For instance, Monday is 
 prayer for the temperance work. Try all 
 that day to be temperate in speech, in act, 
 in indulgence of any kind that is hurtful 
 to you. The next day is for Sunday- 
 schools ; go and visit your scholars, such 
 of you as are teachers, and try to feel that 
 they have living souls to save. Wednesday 
 is a day for fellowship meeting ; we are 
 cordially invited to attend a union meeting 
 of this sort at Bantam. . Few of us can go 
 twenty-five miles to be with our brethren 
 there ; let us spend that day in cultivating 
 our brethren here ; let us go and see those 
 
THE DEACON'S WEEK 9 
 
 who have been cold to us for some reason, 
 heal up our breaches of friendship, confess 
 our shortcomings one to another, and act 
 as if, in our Master's words, ' all ye are 
 brethren/ 
 
 *'Thursda\ i^ the day to pray for the 
 family relation ; let us each try to be to 
 our families on that day in our measure 
 what the Lord is to his family, the Church, 
 remembering the words, ' Fathers, provoke 
 not your children to anger;' 'Husbands, 
 love your wives, and be not bitter against 
 them.' These are texts rarely commented 
 upon, I have noticed, in our conference 
 meetings ; we are more apt to speak of 
 the obedience due from children, and the 
 submission and meekness our wives owe 
 us, forgetting that duties are always recip- 
 rocal. 
 
 ** Friday the Church is to be prayed for. 
 Let us • then each for himself try to act 
 that day just as we think Christ, our 
 great Exemplar, would have acted in our 
 places. Let us try to prove to ourselves. 
 
lO 
 
 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 and the world about us that we have not 
 taken upon us his name Hghtly or in 
 vain. Saturday is prayer day for the heathen 
 and foreign missions. Brethren, you know 
 and I know that there are heathen at our 
 doors here ; let every one of you who will, 
 
 take that day to 
 preach the gos- 
 pel to some one 
 who does not 
 hear it anywhere 
 else. Perhaps 
 you will find work 
 that ye knew not 
 of lying in your 
 midst. And let 
 us all on Satur- 
 day evening 
 AMOS TUCKER meet here again 
 
 and choose some one brother to relate his 
 experience of the week. You who are will- 
 ing to try this method, please to rise." 
 
 Everybody rose except old Amos Tucker, 
 who never stirred, though his wife pulled at 
 
THE DEACON'S WEEK I I 
 
 him and whispered to him imploringly. He 
 only shook his grizzled head and sat im- 
 movable. 
 
 *' Let us sing the doxology," said Mr. 
 Parkes ; and it was sung with full fervor. 
 The new idea had roused the church fully ; 
 it was something fixed and positive to do ; 
 it was the lever-point Archimedes longed 
 for, and each felt ready and strong to move 
 a world. 
 
 Saturday night the church assembled again. 
 The cheerful eagerness w^as gone from their 
 faces ; they looked downcast, troubled, 
 weary — as the pastor expected. When 
 the box for ballots was passed about, each 
 one tore a bit of paper from the sheet placed 
 in the hymn books for that purpose, and, 
 wTOte on it a name. The pastor said after 
 he had counted them : — 
 
 ** Deacon Emmons, the lot has fallen on 
 you." 
 
 " I 'm sorry for 't,'* said the deacon, rising up 
 and taking off his overcoat. *' I ha'n't got the 
 best of records, Mr. Parkes, now I tell ye." 
 
12 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 ''That isn't what we want," said Mr. 
 Parkes. " We want to know the whole 
 experience of some one among us, and we 
 know you will not tell us either more or less 
 than what you did experience." 
 
 Deacon Emmons was a short, thickset 
 man, with a shrewd, kindly face and gray 
 hair, who kept the village store and had a 
 well-earned reputation for honesty. 
 
 ''Well, brethren," he said, " I do' 'no' why 
 I should n't tell it. I am pretty well ashamed 
 of myself, no doubt, but I ought to be, and 
 maybe I shall profit by what I 've found out 
 these six days back. I'll tell you just as 
 it come. 
 
 " Monday, I looked about me to begin 
 with. I am amazinof fond of coffee, and 
 it a'n't good for me ; the doctor says it 
 a'n't, but dear me ! it does set a man up 
 good, cold mornings to have a cup of hot, 
 sweet, tasty drink, and I haven't had the 
 grit to refuse ! I knew it made me what 
 folks call nervous, and I call cross, before 
 night come ; and I knew it fetched on 
 
THE DEA COX'S WEEK' I 3 
 
 spells of low spirits when our folks could n't 
 get a word out of me — not a good one, 
 any way ; so I thought 1 'd try on that to 
 begin with. I tell you it come hard ! I 
 hankered after that drink of coffee dread- 
 ful ! Seemed as though I could n't eat my 
 breakfast without it. More 'n I ever did 
 in my life before I feel to pity a man 
 that loves liquor ; but I feel sure they can 
 stop if they try, for I Ve stopped, and I 'm 
 a-goin' to stay stopped. 
 
 *' Well, come to dinner, there was another 
 fight. I do set by pie the most of anything. 
 I was fetched up on pie, as you may say. 
 Our folks always had it three times a day, 
 and the doctor, he 's been talkin' and talkin' 
 to me about eatin' pie. I have the dys- 
 pepsy like everything, and it makes me 
 useless by spells, and onreliable as a 
 weathercock. An' Dr. Drake, he says there 
 won't nothing help me but to diet. I 
 was readin' the Bible that morning while 
 1 sat waiting for breakfast, for 'twas Mon- 
 day, and wife was kind of set back with 
 
14 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 « 
 
 washin' and all, and I come acrost that 
 part where it says that the bodies of Chris- 
 tians are temples of the Holy Ghost. Well, 
 thinks I, we 'd ought to take care of 'em 
 if they be, and see that they 're kep' clean 
 and pleasant, like the church ; and nobody 
 can be clean nor pleasant that has dys- 
 pepsy. But come to pie, I felt as though 
 I could n't ! and, lo ye, I did n't ! I eet a 
 piece right against my conscience; facin' 
 what I knew I ought to do, I went and 
 done what I ought not to. I tell ye my 
 conscience made music of me consider'ble, 
 and I said then I would n't never sneer#at 
 a drinkin' man no more when he slipped ilp. 
 I 'd feel for him and help him, for I see 
 just how it was. So that day's practice giv' 
 out, but it learnt me a good deal more 'n I 
 knew before. 
 
 '' I started out next day to look up my 
 Bible class. They have n't really tended up 
 to Sunday-school as they ought to, along 
 back, but I was busy, here and there, and 
 there did n't seem to be a real chance to 
 
THE DEACOyS WLhh 
 
 15 
 
 get to it. Well, 'twould take the evenin' 
 to tell it all. but I found one real sick, 
 been abed for three weeks, and was so 
 crlad to see me that I felt fair ashamed. 
 Seemed as though I heerd the Lord for 
 the first time sayin', ' Inasmuch as ye did 
 it not to one of the least of these, ye 
 
 did it not to me/ Then another man's old 
 mother says to rae before he come in from 
 the shed, says she, * He 's been a-sayin' 
 that if folks practiced what they preached 
 you *d ha' come round to look him up afore 
 now, but he reckoned you kinder looked 
 
1 6 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 down on mill hands. I 'm awful glad you 
 come.' Brethring, so was If I tell you 
 that day's work done me good. I got a poor 
 opinion of Josiah Emmons, now I tell ye, 
 but I learned more about the Lord's wisdom 
 than a month o' Sundays ever showed me." 
 
 A smile he could not repress passed over 
 Mr. Parkes' earnest face. The deacon had 
 forgotten all external issues in coming so 
 close to the heart of things ; but the smile 
 passed as he said : — 
 
 '' Brother Emmons, do you remember 
 what the Master said, ' If any man will 
 do his will, he shall know of the doc- 
 trine, whether it be of God, or whether I 
 speak of myself? " 
 
 ''Well, it's so'' answered the deacon; 
 '' it 's so right along. Why, I never thought 
 so much of my Bible class, nor took no 
 sech int'rest in 'em as I do to-day — not 
 since I begun to teach. I b'lieve they'll 
 come more reg'lar now, too. 
 
 '' Now come fellowship day. I thought 
 that would be all plain sailin' ; seemed as 
 
THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 17 
 
 though 1 'd got warmed up till I felt pleasant 
 towardst everybody ; so I went around seein* 
 folks that was neighbors, and *twas easy; 
 but when I come home at noon spell, 
 Philur)' says, says she, * Square Tucker's 
 black bull is into th' orchard a-tearin' round, 
 and he 's knocked two lengths o' fence down 
 
 ^';^;J ■^.•i 
 
 7'/ 
 
 f^*^' 
 
 i 
 
 flat ! ' Well, the old Adam riz up then, you 'd 
 better b'lieve. That black bull has been 
 a-breakin* into my lots ever sence we got 
 in th* aftermath, and it's Square Tucker's 
 fence, and he won't make it bull-strong as 
 he 'd oughter, and that orchard was a young 
 one jest comin' to bear, and all the new 
 
i8 
 
 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 wood crisp as cracklin's with frost. You 'd 
 better b'lieve I did n't have much feller- 
 feehn' with Amos Tucker. I jest put over 
 to his house and spoke up pretty free to 
 him, when he looked up and says, says he, 
 'Fellowship meetin' day, a'n't it. Deacon?' 
 
 I'd ruther he'd 
 ha' slapped my 
 face. I felt 
 as though I 
 should like to 
 slip behind 
 the door. I 
 see pretty dis- 
 tinct what sort 
 of life I 'dbeen 
 . I . livin' all the 
 
 M^'^V^^ years I 'd 
 been a pro- 
 fessor, when I could n't hold on to my tongue 
 and temper one day ! " 
 
 '' Breth-e-ren," interrupted a slow, harsh 
 voice, somewhat broken with emotion, ''Til 
 tell the rest on 't. Josiah Emmons come 
 
 ant" ^", OUcuxm/? 
 
7 nr I) J- n-() v <: w i- i- k' 
 
 ^9 
 
 around like a man an' a Christian right 
 there. He asked me for to forgive him, 
 and not to think 't was the fault of his 
 religion, because 'twas his 'n and nothin* 
 else. I think more of him to-day than I ever 
 done before. I was one that would n't say 
 I 'd practice with the rest of ye. I thought 
 't was everlastin' nonsense. I 'd ruther go to 
 forty-nine prayer meetin's than work at bein' 
 good a week. I b'lieve my hope has been 
 one of them that perish ; it ha'n't worked, 
 and I leave it behind to-day. I mean to 
 begin honest, and it was seein* one honest 
 Christian man fetched me round to't." 
 
 Amos Tucker sat down and buried his 
 grizzled head in his rough hands. 
 
 ** Bless the Lord!" said the quavering 
 tones of a still older man from a far corner 
 of the house, and many a glistening eye 
 gave silent response. 
 
 Go on, Brother Emmons," said the min- 
 ister. 
 
 *'Well, when m .vi via; v^iMu^ i -i.L Lip to 
 make the fin- nnd my boy Joe had forgot 
 
20 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 the kindlin's. I 'd opened my mouth to give 
 him Jesse, when it come over me suddin 
 that this was the day of prayer for the family 
 relation. I thought I would n't say nothin'. 
 I jest fetched in the kindlin's myself, and 
 when the fire burnt up good I called wife. 
 
 '' ' Dear 'me ! ' says she. ' I Ve got such 
 a headache, 'Siah, but I 11 come in a minnit/ 
 I did n't mind that, for w^omen are always 
 havin' aches, and I was jest a-goin' to say 
 so, when I remembered the tex' about not 
 bein' bitter against 'em, so I says, ' Philury, 
 you lay abed. I expect Emmy and me can 
 get the vittles to-day.' I declare she turned 
 over and give me sech a look ; why, it struck 
 right in. There was my wife, thai had 
 worked for an' waited on me twenty-odd 
 year, 'most scart because I spoke kind o' 
 feelin' to her. I went out and fetched in the 
 pail o' water she 'd always drawed herself, 
 and then 1 milked the cow. When I come 
 in Philury was up fryin' the potatoes, and 
 the tears a-shinin' on her white face. She 
 did n't say nothin', she 's kinder still, but she 
 
THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 21 
 
 had lit no need to. I 
 felt a little meaner 'n 
 I did the day before. 
 But't wa' n't nothin'to 
 my condition when I 
 was a-goin\ towards 
 night, down the sullar 
 stairs for some apples, 
 so 's the children could 
 have a roast, and I 
 heered Joe up in the kitchen say to Emmy, 
 * I do b'lieve, Em, pa 's goin' to die.' ' Why, 
 
 J o s i a r F2 m - 
 
 '^ \ C^^W: mons, how you 
 
 talk!' 'Well, 
 I do ; he 's so 
 eve r 1 a s ti n ' 
 pleasant an' 
 \ good-nateredl 
 can't but tliink 
 he's struck witn ucath.' 
 
 ** I tell ye. brethren, I set right down wn 
 them sullar stairs and cried. I did, reely. 
 Seemed as though the Lord had turned 
 
22 
 
 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 and looked at me jest as he did at Peter. 
 Why, there was my own children never see 
 
 me act real fatherly 
 and pretty in all 
 their lives. I 'd 
 growled and scold- 
 ed and prayed at 
 'em, and tried to 
 fetch 'em up jest as 
 the twig is bent the 
 tree 's inclined, ye 
 know, but I had n't 
 never thought that 
 they 'd got right and 
 reason to expect I 'd 
 do my part as well 
 as they their 'n. 
 Seemed as though I was findin' out more 
 about Josiah Emmons' shortcomin's than was 
 real agreeable. 
 
 '' Come around Friday I got back to the 
 store. I 'd kind o' left it to the boys the 
 early part of the week, and tilings was a 
 little cuterin', but I did have sens(^ not to 
 
THE DEACON'S WEEK 23 
 
 tear round and use sharp words so much as 
 common. I began to think 'twas gettin' 
 easy to practice after five days, when in 
 come Judge Herrick's wife after some 
 curt'in calico. I had a han'some piece, all 
 done off with roses an' things, but there 
 was a fault in the weavin' — every now and 
 then a thin streak. She did n't notice it, but 
 she was pleased with the figures on 't, and 
 said she 'd take the w^hole piece. Well, jest 
 as I was wrappin' of it up, what Mr. Parkes 
 here said about tryin' to act jest as the Lord 
 would in our place, come acrost me. Why, 
 I turned as red as a beet, I know I did. It 
 made me all of a tremble. There was I, a 
 doorkeeper in the tents of my God, as 
 David says, really cheating and cheatin' a 
 woman ! I tell ye, brethren, I was all of a 
 sweat. ' Mis' Herrick,' says I, 'I don't 
 b'lieve you 've looked real close at this goods ; 
 't ain't thorough wove,' says I. So she did n't 
 take it ; but what fetched me was to think 
 how many times I *d done sech mean, onreli- 
 able little things to turn a penny, and all the 
 
24 
 
 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 time sayin' and prayin' that I wanted to be 
 like Christ. I kep' a-trippin' of myself up all 
 day jest in the ordinary business, and I was 
 a peg lower down when night come than I 
 
 was a Thursday. I 'd ruther, as far as the 
 hard work is concerned, lay a mile of four- 
 foot stone wall than undertake to do a man's 
 livin' Christian duty for twelve workin' hours ; 
 and the heft of that is, it's because I ain't 
 used to it and I ought to be. 
 
////'. J'/.AiU.\ ■> \\I:l\I\ 
 
 -'D 
 
 ** So this mornin' came around, and I felt 
 a mite more cherk. T was missionary morn- 
 in', and seemed as if 'twas a sight easier to 
 preach than to practice. I thought I 'd begin 
 
 .j/-^*^ v^^ 
 
 to old Mis' Vedder's. So I put a Testament 
 in my pocket and knocked to her door. Says 
 I, ' Good mornin', ma'am,' and then I stopped. 
 Words seemed to hang, somehow. I did n't 
 want to pop right out that I 'd come over to 
 try 'n' convert her folks. I hemmed and 
 
26 THE DEACON'S WEEK, 
 
 swallered a little, and fin'lly I said, says I, 
 ' We don't see you to meetin' very frequent, 
 Mis' Vedder.' 
 
 " ' No, you don't ! ' says she as quick as 
 a wink. * I stay to home and mind my 
 business.' 
 
 '' 'Well, we should like to hev you come 
 along with us and do ye good,' says I, sort 
 of conciliatin'. 
 
 '' ' Look a here. Deacon ! ' she snapped, 
 * I Ve lived alongside of you fifteen year, and 
 you knowed I never went to meetin' ; we 
 a'n't a pious lot, and you knowed it ; we 're 
 poorer 'n death and uglier 'n sin. Jim, he 
 drinks and swears, and Malviny do' 'no' her 
 letters. She knows a heap she had n't ought 
 to, besides. Now what are you a-comin' 
 here to-day for, I 'd like to know, and talkin' 
 so glib about meetin' ? Go to meetin' ! I '11 
 go or come, jest as I darn please, for all you. 
 Now get out o' this ! ' Why, she come at 
 me with a broomstick ! There was n't no need 
 on 't ; what she said was enough. \.hadnt 
 never asked her nor her'n to so much as 
 
THE DEACON'S WEEK 2 J 
 
 thiniv o! j^oudncss ijcioK!. i iu;ii i went to 
 another place jest like that — 1 won't call no 
 more names ; and sure enough there was ten 
 children in rags, the hull of em, and the man 
 half drunk. He giv^' it to me, too ; and I 
 
 •-^^ 
 
 don't w^onder. I 'd never lifted a hand to serve 
 nor save 'em before in all these years. I 'd 
 said consider'ble about the heathen in foreign 
 parts, and give some little for to convert 'em, 
 and I had looked right over the heads of 
 them that was next door. Seemed as if I 
 
28 
 
 THE DEACON'S WEEK 
 
 could hear Him say, ' These ought ye to have 
 done, and not have left the other undone.' 
 I could n't face another soul to-day, brethren. 
 I come home, and here I be. I ve been 
 searched through and through and found 
 wantin'. God be merciful to me a sinner ! " 
 
 He dropped into his seat and bowed his 
 head ; and many another bent, too. It was 
 plain that the deacon's experience was not 
 the only one among the brethren. Mr. 
 Parkes rose, and prayed as he had never 
 prayed before ; the week of practice had 
 fired his heart too. And it began a mem- 
 orable year for the church in Sugar Hollow ; 
 not a vear of excitement or enthusiasm, but 
 
THE DF A COST'S WEEK 29 
 
 one wncii inc)' iujaru iiujir Lord saying as to 
 Israel of old, *' Go forward/' and they obeyed 
 his voice. The Sunday-school flourished, 
 the church ser\'ices were fully attended, every 
 good thing* was helped on its way, and 
 peace reigned in their homes and hearts, 
 imperfect, perhaps, as new growths are, but 
 still an ofishoot of the peace past under- 
 standing. 
 
 And another year they will keep another 
 w^eek of practice, by common consent. 
 
WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 

 
 'THE DEACON AND MIS' BAXTER WENT TO SUNDAY- 
 SCHOOL." 
 
WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 IT was a calm, sweet sunset. I had been 
 to church with the deacon in the morn- 
 ing, and, lying in the hammock, had read The 
 CongregationaHst while he arni '* Mis* Bax- 
 ter'* went to Sunday-school ; for I was only 
 a summer boarder at the farm, and, like most 
 
 
 
 ■^.^ 
 
 summer boarders, I had left my work behind 
 me for a few weeks of absolute rest. I 
 thought I had done my full share when I 
 went to hear old Parson Simpson preach that 
 morning. Just now the deacon, having had 
 
34 
 
 WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 his supper and done his chores, sat down on 
 the front doorstep to enjoy the utter quiet ; 
 and I lay stretched on the grass just below, 
 
 thinking of an article I had been reading. 
 Before us spread a vast amphitheater of fold- 
 ing hills, with silent, darkling forests clothing 
 every crest, their verdant foothills meeting in 
 a narrow intervale, and their blue distances 
 keeping well the secret of the hidden water- 
 courses that in the stillness sent up the plash 
 and fall of their downward leap and made 
 the air musical. 
 
 The deacon's benign face, wrinkled with 
 many a year of toil and trouble, seemed 
 touched with that solemn peace of the moun- 
 
WHAT DEACOX HAXTLK SAW 
 
 35 
 
 tains. His kind old eyes were pathetic in 
 their expression of patient expectance. I 
 thought, glancing up at him, of the Psalm- 
 ist's words: ''I will lift up mine eyes unto 
 
 the hills, from whence cometh my help. My 
 help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven 
 and earth." But my mind was filled with a 
 sort of uncertain pleasure that yet I half 
 
36 WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 doubted. I wanted the deacon's opinion, so 
 I interrupted his quiet. 
 
 '* Deacon/' said I, ''did you read a letter 
 in your last paper giving a man's reasons for 
 not wishing to join the church, though rang- 
 ing himself on the side of religion, signed 
 ' Veza ' ? " 
 
 "Well, I did," said he. ''Poor feller! 
 poor feller ! " he added in a tone of the ten- 
 derest pity. 
 
 "Why," I resumed, "I liked it so much! 
 It's just the way I feel myself." 
 
 "Do ye? Well, well! Say, Cap'en, you 
 went to the war, did n't ye ? " 
 
 " Yes, I 'm glad and proud to say I did. 
 I was all through it, from the first volunteer- 
 ing to Lee's surrender. That 's where I got 
 the bullet in my hip that 's given me a limp, 
 and had those two fingers shot off, besides 
 two months of typhoid in camp at Talla- 
 hassee." 
 
 " What made you go ? " 
 
 "Why, deacon, what else could a man do 
 who loved his country?" 
 
H'l/AT DEACON BAXTER SAID 37 
 
 ** Still, the' was some who stayed to home." 
 
 **That IS so, I 'm sorry to say." 
 
 ** Well, now, I 'd like to ask a few questions 
 about it all. I could n't go myself. I was 
 lame from a boy ; put out my hip by a fall, 
 and 't was n't set right, so they would n't take 
 me. I did what I could to home, but I 
 always felt real interested in the hull thing ; 
 and when I beared you say the other day 
 somethin' about your old rigiment, I thought 
 I 'd like to have a dish of talk with ye about 
 it, and perhaps now 's a good time." 
 
 I did not think how the deacon had sud- 
 denly changed the subject from " Veza's" 
 letter and my sympathy with it ; for the w^ar 
 with its glorious results was the theme of all 
 others that interested me ; and all was just 
 now freshly recalled, as I searched eagerly 
 every day for the bulletins of my grand old 
 general's condition, dying by inches where 
 he lay on the heights of Mount McGregor, 
 spared by shot and shell to be tortured for 
 months with deadly and terrible disease. 
 
 ** What shall I tell you about ?" I asked. 
 
38 WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 ''How came you first to think o' j'inin* 
 the army ? " 
 
 '' Why, I wanted to help fight the rebels, and 
 then I hoped to help do away with slavery; 
 that was a second thought, perhaps." 
 
 '' You did n't have any doubts nor hanker- 
 ings about which side you 'd fight on ? " 
 
 *' No ! I meant to be on the right side, 
 whether we beat or were whipped. But I 
 did n't expect to be beaten. I remember one 
 line of a verse I saw somewhere once kept 
 ringing and singing in my ears, — 
 
 ' Forward, and God defend the right ! ' 
 
 and I meant to help defend it." 
 
 '' I suppose you liked the folks in your com- 
 pany, too, and that made it pleasant for you ? " 
 
 ** No, I did n't, not all of them. There 
 were some of the worst fellows I ever saw in 
 
IVHAT DEACON BAXTER SAW 39 
 
 our regiment ; low rascals who cursed like 
 pirates and stole even our rations, if they 
 could get at them. I gave one fellow a good 
 sound kicking for swearing about Grant when 
 we got down to Shiloh. I don't believe he 
 used his vile tongue against the general for 
 one while again. Then there were a parcel 
 of gamblers, drunken bullies, who were good 
 food for powder, nothing else : a perfect 
 disgrace to the army." 
 
 *' I suppose they fit pretty well, though, 
 did n't they?" 
 
 *' No, sir ; the best men were the best 
 fighters. These fellows shirked and malin- 
 gered and ran when they got a chance. Lots 
 of *em deserted while w^e were near home ; 
 they could n't very well when we were in the 
 enemy's countr)^" 
 
 *' What made 'em join the army, do you 
 suppose ? 
 
 *' Oh, some of them did it for the sound of 
 it. They got excited ; they liked the interest 
 everybody felt then in volunteers ; they had 
 one eye on the pay and bounty, too. I 
 
40 
 
 WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 think some of them expected 'twould be a 
 good thing for them afterward. It has proved 
 good capital for beggars ever since. Lots of 
 people will help an old soldier, w^ho would n't 
 give one cent to a common tramp." 
 
 '' I should n't think you 'd have liked to 
 fight alongside such folks." 
 
 ''I didn't; but then my business was to 
 fight, whether or no. I 'd enlisted for the 
 war. The general was all right. I 'd got to 
 obey orders myself, and I could n't fall out of 
 
IVI/AT DEACON BAXTER SAID 41 
 
 ranks because my ri^ht-haiul man in file was 
 half drunk, or the one on the left singing a 
 vile song. I did blow at them a good deal, 
 but 1 could n't desert in the face of the 
 enemy." 
 
 '* Frhaps you would n't have 'listed if you 'd 
 known what sort of fellers was to be in your 
 rigiment ? " 
 
 **Why, yes, I should. I tell you I wanted 
 to fight those confounded rebels. I did n't 
 care who went along, if I only went myself. 
 I w^as going to fight my country's battles, 
 whether the men along with me w^ere good 
 or bad. I did n't trouble my head about 
 them." 
 
 "You want airaid folks would think you 
 was one of em ? " 
 
 ** I did n't think about it any way. I 'd 
 got to march, to forage, to camp, to fight, to 
 retreat ; in short, to obey orders. I did n't 
 stop to consider what the stay-at-homes 
 thought about me or my comrades." 
 
 *' You had a pretty hard time ? " 
 
 ** Yes, but that we expected after w^e got 
 
42 V/IIAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 used to the business. It was n't play ; it was 
 business^ 
 
 '' Ain*t you a little queer ? " said he, looking 
 at me with sad, serious eyes. '' You did all 
 this, and you won't enlist under the Lord of 
 Hosts because there 's just such a lot of folks 
 takes the name of his soldiers upon them- 
 selves as there was in the fedVal army." 
 
 I sat dumb. 
 
 The deacon went on : '' Can't you obey His 
 orders, and fight under him same as you did 
 under Grant because there is hypocrites and 
 backsliders in his Church ? What if you 'd 
 said, ' I '11 fight on my own hook rather than 
 beside these scallawags and rascals ; I won't 
 enlist, but I '11 take my gun and go raiding 
 around, and do my level best without wearin' 
 uniform or gettin' into line or under orders ' ? 
 If that is the right way to fight, why don't 
 people do it ? Why don't the generals say, 
 'Go along, do your best; whatever 's right 
 in your own eyes, foller that ' ? Why, there 
 would be no race nor people left on the face 
 of the airth, if they done so. Here's this 
 
< <. <.'. \ /> » .\ / 
 
 43 
 
 poor ' Veza/ he s too good to eat with pubH- 
 cans and sinners at his Master's table. Is 
 the disciple above his Lord ? Just look back 
 and see how Jesus Christ fixed the first Chris- 
 tian Church, and who was in it. There w^as 
 Thomas, who would n't believe the Lord was 
 risen onless he could put his finger right into 
 the nail holes in his hands. That was n't a 
 great deal like faith, was it ? Then there was 
 Peter went and denied him three times, and 
 the Lord knew he was goin' to do it ; and 
 well he knew that Judas would betray him 
 into the hands of them that would crucify 
 him on the cross. But he sat down with 
 them all at the table, and gave to them 
 his last commands, and shared with them the 
 sacramental bread and wine. Why, I think 
 he did it a-purpose, so 's that we should not 
 set ourselves up above anybody. 
 
 ** I suppose it's natural that you and this 
 * Veza,' and a good many other folks, should 
 feel the way you do, for I Ve been there my- 
 self before now. There 's been times when 
 I have knowed evil about church members. 
 
44 IVI/AT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 and such evil that it seemed as though I 
 couldn't pass the bread and wine to 'em, or 
 take it myself in their comp'ny ; but some- 
 how I fell back on the Lord, how he set there 
 and ate the supper with them he knowed 
 well was false and murderous and deceitful ; 
 and I thought if he could do it, who was I to 
 set up that I could n't ? 
 
 ''*Veza' says he knows there is better 
 Christians in the Church than he is. Well, 
 if that 's so, why can't he train with them ? 
 And how does he know but what some of 
 these folks he despises are sayin' in their 
 own hearts, ' God be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner ! ' whilst that he is thankin' God that he 
 is n't as they are ? 
 
 '' I tell you, folks don't seem to under- 
 stand that a man has got to grow in grace in 
 the Church. It is a strait gate and a narrow 
 way, and people will stray and stumble 
 therein ; but after all Christ says, ' Enter in 
 at the strait gate,' and ' Whosoever therefore 
 shall confess me before men, him will I con- 
 fess also before my Father which is in 
 
heaven ; but whosoever shall deny me be- 
 fore men, him will I also deny before my 
 Father which is in heaven.' There's your 
 orders, Cap'en." And the old man looked 
 at me with such a grand, sweet look that I 
 turned my own face -aw^w T wns not rrady 
 to speak. 
 
 Presently, however, words came to me. 
 ** But, Deacon Baxter, you must own that 
 the sins and shortcomings of so-called Chris- 
 tians are a great stumbling-block to many." 
 
 ** Yes, to them that want to stumble ; but 
 I never yet heard anybody that was really 
 new- hearted and in dead airnest to serve the 
 Lord, who was kept out of the Church by 
 the poor professors in it, any more than you 
 was kept out of the fedVal army by the ras- 
 cals and dead beats you knowed was in your 
 rigiment when you 'listed. I am willin', and 
 more than willin', to allow that the average 
 church member don't live as he 'd ought 
 to live, and them that do ought to stir up 
 them that don't. 
 
 '' The Lord said to Peter, ' When thou art 
 
46 WHAT DEACON BAXTER SAID 
 
 converted strengthen thy brethren,' as much 
 as to say Peter was n't converted ; yet he 
 was one of the twelve, one of the visible 
 Church ; so I believe there is some in every 
 church who ain't converted, and when they 
 are, why, their duty is to strengthen the rest 
 from their own experience. And there 's 
 some that are backsliders ; they 've died 
 down to the roots, as you may say, same as 
 young trees will in a cold winter or a long 
 dry spell ; but, if the livin' root is in them, 
 they '11 sprout up ag'in an' grow. If it is n't, 
 then they '11 have to be cast into the fire, for 
 what I see. But neither for you nor for this 
 'Veza,' Cap'en, is there any gettin' away 
 from the Word of God. * He that is not for 
 me is against me.' And I can't add nothing 
 to the Word of the Lord ; for it is his, not 
 mine." 
 
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