We saw him get out and hand them out.  Just then Mrs. Wheaton passed by, and he introduced her to them.  Mrs. Wheaton took a seat in the now vacant carriage to go with her husband to the store; and Mr. and Mrs. Mapleson went up the walk.  We saw them go in and shut the door.  In a moment they came out again.  Maurice looked up and down the street in perplexity; then he stepped back a few paces and looked up at the house.  His wife stood meanwhile on the door-step.  Suddenly she beckoned to him, and pointed out something on the side of the door just over the bell-handle.  They had discovered the little silver plate on which was engraved “Rev. Maurice Mapleson.”  At that moment the expressman drove up with their trunks.  Maurice settled with him, looked up and down the street as if looking for Mr. Wheaton, who did not make his appearance as you may believe; and then parson, wife, and trunks all went into the house together, and we dispersed.

As to the Deacon, he had to climb out of a back window into an ally that runs behind the house in order to get out of his position without being discovered.

And that is the way we gave our donation party in Wheathedge.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Maurice Mapleson.

It is not six weeks since Maurice Mapleson preached his first sermon here, at Wheathedge, and already events prove the wisdom of our selection.  I have been studying somewhat and pondering more the secret of his success, and I have sat down this evening to try and clear up my own shadowy thoughts by reducing them to form.  I often take my pen for such a purpose.  Is it not Bacon who says the pen makes an accurate thinker?

Maurice Mapleson certainly is not what I should call a great preacher.  He is not learned.  He is not brilliant.  He seldom tells us much about ancient Greece or Rome.  He preached a sermon on Woman’s function in the church, a few Sundays ago.  I could not help contrasting it with Dr. Argure’s sermon on the same subject.  Maurice could not have made a learned editorial or magazine article out of his sermon.  He did not even discuss the true interpretation of Paul’s exhortations and prohibitions.  He talked very simply and plainly of what the women could do here at Wheathedge.

He thanked them with unmistakeable sincerity for what they had already done, and made it an incentive to them to do more-more for Christ, not for himself.

Jennie says that is the secret of Maurice’s success.  He is appreciative.  He never scolds.  He commends his people for what they have done and so incites them to do more.  She thinks that praise is a better spur than blame.  She always manages her servants on that principle.  Perhaps that is the reason why they are not the greatest plague of life to her.

But if Maurice’s sermons are not great, neither are they long.  He lays it down as a cardinal rule in moral hygiene that a congregation should not go away from the church hungry.  Harry no longer begs to stay at home Sunday mornings, and even Mr. Hardcap rarely gets asleep.