Burned Bridges

"I see, I see," MacLeod chuckled dryly. "It's partly a matter of the

Methodist Church tryin' to compete with the fathers, eh? Well, I am no

what ye'd call devout. I ha' had much experience wi' these red folk, an'

them that's both red an' white. An' I dinna agree with ye aboot their

speeritual needs. I think ye sky-pilots would do better to leave them to

their ain gods, such as they are. Man, do ye know that it's better than

a century since the fathers began their missionary labors? A hundred

years of teachin' an' preachin'. The sum of it a' is next to

nothin'--an' naebody knows that better than the same fathers. They're

wise, keen-sighted men, too. What good they do they do in a material

way. If men like ye came here wi' any certitude of lightenin' the

struggle for existence--but ye canna do that; or at least ye dinna do

that. Ye'll find that neither red men nor white ha' time or inclination

to praise the Lord an' his grace an' bounty when their life's one long

struggle wi' hardships an' adversity. The God ye offer them disna

mitigate these things. Forbye that, the Indian disna want to be

Christianized. When ye come to a determination of abstract qualities,

his pagan beliefs are as good for him as the God of the Bible. What

right ha' we to cram oor speeritual dogmas doon his gullet?"

MacLeod applied himself to relighting his pipe. Thompson gathered

himself together. He was momentarily stricken with speechless amazement.

He knew there were such things as critical unbelievers, but he had never

encountered one in the flesh. His life had been too excellently

supervised and directed in youth by the spinster aunts. Nor does

materialistic philosophy flourish in a theological seminary. Young men

in training for the ministry are taught to strangle doubt whenever it

rears its horrid head, to see only with the single eye of faith.

Neither the bitterness of experience nor a natural gentleness of spirit

had ever permitted Thompson to know the beauty and wisdom of tolerance.

Whosoever disputed his creed and his consecrated purpose must be in

error. The evangelical spirit glowed within him when he faced the factor

across the little table. Figuratively speaking he cleared for action.

His host, being a hard-headed son of a disputatious race, met him more

than half-way. As a result midnight found them still wordily engaged,

one maintaining with emotional fervor that man's spiritual welfare was

the end and aim of human existence; the other as outspoken--if more

calmly and critically so--in his assertion that a tooth-and-toenail

struggle for existence left no room in any rational man's life for the

manner of religion set forth in general by churches and churchmen. The

edge of acrimony crept into the argument.

"The Lord said, 'Leave all thou hast and follow me,'" Thompson declared.

"My dear sir, you cannot dispute--"