A satisfied expectation expressed itself in the silence that followed
the reading of the paper, whatever pain and shame were mixed with the
satisfaction. If the contempt of kindly usage shown in offering such a
resolution without warning or private notice to the minister shocked many
by its brutality, still it was satisfactory to find that Mr. Gerrish had
intended to seize the first chance of airing his grievance, as everybody
had said he would do.
Mr. Peck looked up from the paper and across the intervening pews at Mr.
Gerrish. "Do I understand that you move the adoption of this resolution?"
"Why, certainly, sir," said Mr. Gerrish, with an accent of supercilious
surprise.
"You did not say so," said the minister gently. "Does any one second
Brother Gerrish's motion?"
A murmur of amusement followed Mr. Peck's reminder to Mr. Gerrish, and an
ironical voice called out-"Mr. Moderator!"
"Mr. Putney."
"I think it important that the sense of the meeting should be taken on
the question the resolution raises. I therefore second the motion for its
adoption."
Putney sat down, and the murmur now broadened into something like a general
laugh, hushed as with a sudden sense of the impropriety.
Mr. Gerrish had gradually sunk into his seat, but now he rose again, and
when the minister formally announced the motion before the meeting, he
called, sharply, "Mr. Moderator!"
"Brother Gerrish," responded the minister, in recognition.
"I wish to offer a few remarks in support of the resolution which I have
had the honour--the duty, I _would_ say--of laying before this
meeting." He jerked his head forward at the last word, and slid the fingers
of his right hand into the breast of his coat like an orator, and stood
very straight. "I have no desire, sir, to make this the occasion of a
personal question between myself and my pastor. But, sir, the question has
been forced upon me against my will and my--my consent; and I was obliged
on the last ensuing Sabbath, when I sat in this place, to enter my public
protest against it.
"Sir, I came into this community a poor boy, without a penny in my pocket,
and unaided and alone and by my own exertions I have built up one of the
business interests of the place. I will not stoop to boast of the part I
have taken in the prosperity of this place; but I will say that no public
object has been wanting--that my support has not been wanting--from
the first proposition to concrete the sidewalks of this village to the
introduction of city waterworks and an improved system of drainage,
and--er--electric lighting. So much for my standing in a public capacity!
As for my business capacity, I would gladly let that speak for itself,
if that capacity had not been turned in the sanctuary itself against the
personal reputation which every man holds dearer than life itself, and
which has had a deadly blow aimed at it through that--that very capacity.
Sir, I have established in this town a business which I may humbly say that
in no other place of the same numerical size throughout the commonwealth
will you find another establishment so nearly corresponding to the wants
and the--er--facilities of a great city. In no other establishment in a
place of the same importance will you find the interests and the demands
and the necessities of the whole community so carefully considered. In no
other--"