horse-race at the convention, but there were two
competitive examinations in which running horses
competed with each other, and trotting horses
competed with each other, and five thousand dollars was
given to the best runner and the best trotter. These
causes drew all the trustees together. The Rev. Cephas
Philpotts presided. His doctrines with regard to free
agency were considered much more sound than mine. He
took the chair,--in that pretty observatory parlor, which
Polly had made so bright with smilax and ivy. Of course
I took no chair; I waited, as a janitor should, at the
door. Then a brief address. Dr. Philpotts trusted that
the observatory might always be administered in the
interests of science, of true science; of that science
which rightly distinguishes between unlicensed liberty
and true freedom; between the unrestrained volition and
the freedom of the will. He became eloquent, he became
noisy. He sat down. Then three other men spoke, on
similar subjects. Then the executive committee which had
appointed me was dismissed with thanks. Then a new
executive committee was chosen, with Dr. Philpotts at the
head. The next day I was discharged. And the next week
the Philpotts family moved into the observatory, and
their second girl now takes care of the instruments.

I returned to the cure of souls and to healing the
hurt of my people. On observation days somebody runs
down to No. 9, and by means of Shubael communicates with
B. M. We love them, and they love us all the same.