“And this,� shouted the speaker in the Wilderness, “this is the boasted equal rights of Massachusetts. I do not wonder that you, manufacturers of Papyrus, are ashamed,—so ashamed that you have forbidden me to mention this subject in the pulpit,—so ashamed that you have muzzled every newspaper within fifty miles, even the usually independent Springdale Democrat. You ought to be ashamed. The State of Massachusetts, which disfranchises its own workmen, while demanding political equality for the Southern negro, ought to be ashamed.�
Soon after Miss Baldwin left the coachman heard a voice, and fearful for her safety, hurried to the ledge, where he saw and heard the speaker. He did not stay long, but long enough to learn that it was the minister’s farewell, and a very unusual discourse.
“My last word to you,� rang out the powerful voice across the valley, “shall be in favor of a pure church. Ask on the street, for the worst libertines and adulterers in town, the wreckers of happy homes, the men whose social life is a stench,—and members of this church, protected by their wealth, will be pointed out to you. Search for the employers most unjust to their workmen, and you will find them sheltered by this church. My parting advice is, to purify your church,—to drive out of it the thieves and adulterers, or to cease calling it a church of Christ.�
The lady returned with a basket of arbutus, but there was no song on her lips, and the fire had burned out of the black eyes.
“John,� she said, “drive me to the home of the Widow Fordyce. She is sick and may be glad of these flowers.�
To an acquaintance, that evening, the coachman said:—“If you want to hear Reverend Ralph Cutter’s farewell and the greatest sermon ever preached in Papyrus, go to the First Church to-morrow.�
The news spread rapidly, and Ralph Cutter was surprised when he met a congregation for which the building could not furnish standing-room. But even those in the street heard him.
CHAPTER IV.
CONDITIONS improved steadily with the Wycliffs. Mrs. Wycliff and Robert were both gaining slowly, but surely. From various sources, some of them unexpected, came sufficient income to pay all bills promptly when due. Wycliff had dabbled in literature since boyhood, and his income from this source, though small, was helpful.
While he was still at home, helping about the house, and frequently consulted by Hugh Maxwell, and by those whose political fortunes were linked with his, a stranger called. He was a keen-looking man, who wasted no time in ceremony.