“Good mornin’, parson,” was his cheery greeting.  “Ye’re abroad early.”

“Oh, good morning, captain,” was the hearty reply.  “We seem to be the only persons astir, eh?”

“More’s the pity, parson.  Don’t see the like of that every day,” and the captain waved his stick through the air.  “Fine sight, that.”

“It certainly is,” the clergyman assented, “and how few are abroad to see it.  But say, captain, you haven’t seen anything of my cow, have you?”

“Ho, ho, that’s a sudden jump, isn’t it, parson?”

“A sudden what?”

“A sudden jump from the sublime to the ridiculous; from a scene like that to a cow.”

“Not when you have no milk or cream, captain.  Brindle has broken out of the pasture, and I have no idea where she can be.”

“Did ye pray this mornin’ that ye might find her, parson?”

“No, I can’t say that I did,” was the somewhat reluctant reply, for Parson Dan was well accustomed to Captain Josh’s thrusts.

“Ah, that’s too bad.  The missionary said night before last that we must pray if we expect to receive, didn’t he?”

“Yes, captain, he did.”

“And he told us more’n that, parson.  He said that we couldn’t expect to receive unless we gave.”

“Yes, he said that also.”

“And by jingo, he was right, too,” and the captain brought his stick down upon the road with a bang.  “I’ve tried it, and it has turned out just as the missionary said it would.”

“You have!” and the clergyman looked his astonishment.  “I am so glad, captain, to know that you have come to view things in a different light.  I was pleased to see you at the missionary meeting, and I am so thankful that you were benefited by what you heard.  Won’t you tell me how you proved Mr. Dicer’s words to be true?”

“Would ye like to know, parson?” and a sly twinkle shone in the captain’s eyes as he asked the question.

“Certainly.  Go ahead.”

“And ye won’t feel hurt?”

“Feel hurt!  Why should I?”

“Well, ye see, it concerns yer cow, and no matter how a man might feel about the welfare of others, when it comes to himself and his own personal property, it makes a great difference.”

“I do not understand your meaning, captain,” and the clergyman’s voice had a note of sharpness.  “What has the missionary meeting to do with my cow?”

“Considerable, parson, considerable.  When I went home from that meetin’, sez I to my wife, ’Betsey, I have learned a new wrinkle to-night, which may be of much use to us.’  She asked me what I meant, so I up and told her what the missionary had said about givin’ and receivin’.  He laid it down very plain that unless a man gave to the Lord’s work, he couldn’t expect to prosper.  Now, didn’t he?”

“That’s what he said,” and the clergyman nodded his assent.

“Well, then, sez I to Betsey, ’Betsey, we’ve never prospered, because we’ve never given anything.’