The new minister of the Memorial Church was the sensation of the hour.
The building could scarcely hold the crowd, while the rival churches
were deserted, save only by the few faithful "pillars" who were held in
their places by the deep conviction that heaven itself would fall should
they fail to support their own particular faith. With the people who had
attended the fair, the Ally journeyed far into the country, and the roads
being good with promise of a moon to drive home by, the country folk for
miles around came to worship God, and, incidentally, to see the preacher
who had fought and vanquished the celebrated Jud. Many were there that
day who had not been inside a church before for years. The Ally went
also, but then the Ally, they say, is a regular attendant at all the
services of every church.
Judge Strong, with an expression of pious satisfaction on his hard face,
occupied his own particular corner. From another corner Elder Jordan
watched for signs of false doctrine. Charity, except when busy at the
organ, never took her adoring eyes from the preacher's face. At the last
moment before the sermon, Dr. Harry slipped into the seat beside the
Doctor. And many other earnest souls there were who depended upon the
church as the only source of their life's inspiration and strength.
Facing this crowd that even in the small town of Corinth represented
every class and kind, Dan felt it all; the vulgar curiosity, the craving
for sensation, the admiration, the suspicion, the true welcome, the
antagonism, the spiritual dependence.
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