"But do you not struggle against it."
"Yes, I do struggle, but each struggle is weaker and weaker, and shorter and shorter. You appear to be above the average tramp, and as we are to travel together, I'll tell you some of my history without asking any of your own in return. I had a fair education and studied for the ministry. Until my mother died (and at mention of that sacred name of mother his voice softened) I had something to live for, some one to make proud of me. But on her death I was left alone in life, and though homage comes from all the world, it can not give a mother's praise. With a naturally unstable disposition I took to rambling, and I have been rambling ever since."
"And do you never try to settle down; never attempt anything permanent?" persisted Ben.
"Oh yes," returned the other with a laugh; "I have been reporter, auctioneer, teamster, raftsman, railroader, clerk, stable-hand, and Evangelist!"
"Evangelist!" exclaimed Cleveland.
"Yes," replied he, and immediately the "tramp" presented itself; "don't you know the racket. Lots of the boys made a stake at it last year. It's the Moody business gave them a starter. First they evangelized themselves and then started out to evangelize others, with a weather eye out for financial matters."
Ben was horrified! He had attended the Hippodrome meetings and been greatly impressed with the work of the revivalists, and had never connected a mercenary thought with them. This new development of using revivals for money-making purposes grated harshly on his feelings, and so he expressed himself.
"And why not?" asked the Evangelist. "People are willing to pay well for being led to the devil, why should they not pay to be started on the road to Heaven? It is singular that men should honor money-making by all methods except the saving of their souls."
"But are the Evangelists engaged in money-making?" asked Ben.
"To an extent—certainly. Why not? It is dishonest? Look-a-here, why don't you view this matter practically? What's the use of giving it a fictitious reputation? Is it dishonest? No. Why should not men make money in doing good as well as in doing evil? Oh why should there be any attempt to disguise the matter? There is where the mistake is made, for it gives to good works a taint of deception. Do you for a moment suppose the world does not see under the cloak of a 'call' the greed of gain! Why not be open and above board and say, 'We do this good for money'? Is honesty a crime? Indeed I half believe it is. When I started as an Evangelist, I fixed a fair remuneration for my services, and demanded it the same as I would wages for any other work. What was the result. I was called mercenary, and people said I not only laborized for the good of my fellow man, but for the good of my pocket also. I was fool enough to acknowledge it, and shortly found my services no longer in demand. Naturally I changed my tactics. I no longer asked a stipulated remuneration. I was not after money. But quietly determined that money should be after me. The result was I received more in contributions than I ever could have obtained in wages. Do you think people were not aware of my object just the same, because I did not make a demand? Perhaps you will learn, as you journey through life, that all the world wears a mask, and though the mask may be transparent, it is highly impolitic to ask its removal. Humanity is an ostrich, with its head in a sandbank!"