"Yes; but I have a bigger business than any mill."
"What are you, then?"
"I am a home missionary."
The laugh the giant greeted this with stopped all the games and conversation in the car for a moment; but I was able to give him a good half-hour's talk, which ended by his saying, "Well, Elder, if I am ever near your place, I am coming to hear ye, sure."
I was often taken for a commercial traveller, and asked what house I was travelling for. I invariably said, "The oldest house in the country," and that we were doing a bigger business than ever. "What line of goods do you carry?" the man would ask, looking at my grip. "Wine and milk, without money and without price. Can I sell you an order?"
At first the man would hardly believe I was a preacher. I remember talking for an hour on the boat with one young man, and after leaving him I began to read my Bible. He saw me reading, and said, "Oh! come off, now; that's too thin."
"What is the matter?" I said. "Do you mean that the paper is thin? It is; but there's nothing thin about the reading."
He at once whispered to the captain; and after the captain had answered him, he came over and apologized. "Why did you not tell me you were a minister?"
"I had no reason to," I said. "Did I say anything in my talk with you of an unchristian nature?"
"No; but I should never have known you were a minister by your clothes."