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 in prison, when the Baptist seemed to have lost
heart and wondered whether Jesus were really He who should come? He
said that to the poor the gospel was preached, but He gave half a dozen
other proofs, each of them showing special care for men's bodies."

"Judge, you're talking materialism," said the deacon. "It's a spirit