and let his mentor go on.

"We ain't had no trouble with the Free Methodists here," continued
Brother Pierce, "jest because we kept to the old paths, an' seek for
salvation in the good old way. Everybody can shout 'Amen!' as loud
and as long as the Spirit moves him, with us. Some one was sayin' you
thought we ought to have a choir and an organ. No, sirree! No such
tom-foolery for us! You'll only stir up feelin' agin yourself by hintin'
at such things. And then, too, our folks don't take no stock in all that
pack o' nonsense about science, such as tellin' the age of the earth by
crackin' up stones. I've b'en in the quarry line all my life, an' I know
it's all humbug! Why, they say some folks are goin' round now preachin'
that our grandfathers were all monkeys. That comes from departin'
from the ways of our forefathers, an puttin' in organs an' choirs, an'
deckin' our women-folks out with gewgaws, an' apin' the fashions of the
worldly. I shouldn't wonder if them kind did have some monkey blood in
'em. You'll find we're a different sort here."

The young minister preserved silence for a little, until it became
apparent that the old trustee had had his say out. Even then he raised
his head slowly, and at last made answer in a hesitating and irresolute
way.

"You have been very frank," he said. "I am obliged to you. A clergyman
coming to a new charge cannot be better served than by having
laid before him a clear statement of the views and--and spiritual
tendencies--of his new flock, quite at the outset. I feel it to be
of especial value in this case, because I am young in years and in my
ministry, and am conscious of a great weakness of the flesh. I can
see how daily contact with a people so attached to the old, simple,