secondly by asserting, with a positive cheerfulness which was peculiar
to him when he was hard pressed, that, even if the church withdrew all
support, he (Philip) could probably get a job somewhere on a railroad,
or in a hotel, where there was always a demand for porters who could
walk up several flights of stairs with a good-sized trunk.

"Sometimes I almost think I missed my calling," said Philip, purposely
talking about himself in order to make his wife come to the defense. "I
ought to have been a locomotive fireman."

"The idea, Philip Strong! A man who has the gift of reaching people with
preaching the way you do!"

"The way I reach Mr. Winter, for example!"

"Yes," said his wife, "the way you reach him. Why, the very fact that
you made such a man angry is pretty good proof that you reached him.
Such men are not touched by any ordinary preaching."

"So you really think I have a little gift at preaching?" asked Philip,
slyly.

"A little gift! It is a great deal more than a little, Philip."

"Aren't you a little prejudiced, Sarah?"

"No, sir. I am the severest critic you ever have in the congregation. If
you only knew how nervous you sometimes make me!--when you get started
on some exciting passage and make a gesture that would throw a stone
image into a fit, and then begin to speak of something in a different