“Ladies,”—the president’s tap broke upon a lively hum,—“we are called upon to face a most unprecedented state of affairs. As the meeting to-day is so much larger than the usual attendance at our Missionary Society—so very much in excess of the one that launched this enterprise”—there was marked irony in the implication—“I feel called upon to explain. At our October meeting it was decided to send a box to a poor minister’s family in the West, and you were all urged to contribute as liberally as possible. You will remember that the call was one given from the pulpit to the entire church. How you responded to that call we shall soon see.”
There was a startled movement, quickly controlled, in several quarters.
“I was called from the city in November and placed the packing of the box in the hands of another.”
There was a slight stir in the second row, but Mrs. McArthur raised a protesting hand.
“One moment, please. The barrel was sent out as a Christmas offering from the First Church—not the Missionary Society, mind you, but our wealthy First Church. It was returned immediately. With it came this letter, which I will now read, since it concerns you all.”
The president of the Missionary Society was generously sharing honors with the church.
“This is from the wife of the missionary to whom the box was sent—Mrs. Mary C. Haloran. I do not know Mrs. Haloran personally, but I am told by a lady of this congregation at whose suggestion the box was sent that she is a cultivated Christian lady. They have a family of four boys, ranging in age from five to eleven. This I ascertained definitely, in order that there might be no haphazard, misfit giving. I left that paper with one of our members.”
She looked the assemblage over interrogatively and a lady rose with evident reluctance.
“Madam President—I am ashamed to acknowledge it, but that paper was never sent to the Society. I simply forgot it.”
The president shook her head sadly. “It has placed us in a mortifying position. I am sure Mrs. Woodley will pardon me for saying that it exemplifies the truth of the old saying: