Everybody respected him. The best proof of it was that no one in any of
the other churches ever attempted to do any proselyting in Father
Black's flock.
"My son," said the priest, seating himself in the chair and spreading a
friendly smile over his large, expressive features, "I have heard a
great deal of you since you came back from your unfortunate absence,
and I merely dropped in to say to you that if it's any comfort to you
to know that every day you have whatever assistance there can be in the
prayers of an old man who has been in this world long enough to love
most those who need most, you may be sure that you have them."
"God bless you, sir! God bless you!" said the cobbler, quickly.
"Have you connected yourself with any church here as yet?" asked the
priest.
"No, sir," sighed the cobbler: "one an' another has been pullin' an'
haulin' at me one way an' another, tellin' me that it was my duty to go
into a church. But how can I do it, sir, when I'm expected to say that
I believe this an' that, that I don't know nothin' about? Some of 'em
has been very good tryin' to teach me what they seem to understand very
well, but I don't know much more than when they begun, an' sometimes it
seems to me that I know a good deal less, for, with what one tells me
in one way, an' another tells me in another way, my mind--and there's
not very much of it, sir--my mind gets so mixed up that I don't know
nothin' at all.
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