Summary

In Chapter 3, Miriam describes the increasingly large crowds, though there is not another significant healing. On Saturday, the family packs up to leave early. Reverent Davenport hands Samuel an envelope filled with money. Miriam knows “it was vulgar to mingle money and souls,” meaning “the payments for these revivals were supposed to be private” (39). Reverend Davenport keeps some money for his church. The rest goes to Samuel. A week of revival offerings “often brought in more than we made in a month of offerings at the church at home” (40). Samuel has talked about the preachers who bought new cars and houses. Some have lost everything. Samuel says, “They forgot who their master was” (40). By contrast, Samuel had moved from a modest storefront church to a huge new sanctuary to accommodate the ever-growing congregation. The family continues to live in a modest home and...