his first dragon in Milton, and found him to be a very ugly one and hard
to kill. What hurt him as much as the lack of spiritual fineness of
apprehension of evil in his church-member, was the knowledge that, as
Mr. Bentley so coarsely put it, his salary was largely paid out of the
rentals of those vile abodes. He grew sick at heart as he dwelt upon the
disagreeable fact; and as he came back to the parsonage and went up to
his cosey study, he groaned to think that it was possible through the
price that men paid for souls.

"And this, because society is as it is!" he exclaimed, as he buried his
face in his hands and leaned his elbows on his desk, while his cheeks
flushed and his heart quivered at the thought of the filth and vileness
the money had seen and heard which paid for the very desk at which he
wrote his sermons.

But Philip Strong was not one to give way at the first feeling of
seeming defeat. He did not too harshly condemn his members. He wondered
at their lack of spiritual life; but, to his credit be it said, he did
not harshly condemn. Only, as Sunday approached, he grew more clear in
his own mind as to his duty in the matter. Expediency whispered to him,
"Better wait. You have only just come here. The people like you now. It
will only cause unpleasant feelings and do no good for you to launch out
into a crusade against this thing right now. There are so many of your
members involved that it will certainly alienate their support, and
possibly lead to your being compelled to lose your place as pastor, if
it do not drive away the most influential members."

To all this plea of expediency Philip replied, "Get thee behind me,
Satan!" He said with himself, he might as well let the people know what
he was at the very first. It was not necessary that he should be their