Well, then, let them keep their monument and let Denny work in his
garden! And don't you see, Dan, that the very ones who fight for the
cast-iron monument must depend at last for their lives and strength upon
the things that Denny grows in his garden. Now boy, that's the first and
only time I ever preached."
CHAPTER XLI
THE FINAL WORD
"'This closes my ministry as you understand it. It by no means closes my
ministry as I have come to understand it.'"
Dan's farewell sermon was to be given in the evening. John Gardner,
who--true to the promise he had made when he challenged the minister,
after that sermon on "Fellowship of Service"--had become a regular
attendant, was present in the morning.
In the afternoon the farmer called on Dan in his study.
"Look here, Dan," he said. "You are making the mistake of your life."
"You're wrong, John. I made that mistake nearly two years ago," he
answered.
"I mean in leaving Corinth as you are leaving it."
"And I mean in coming to Corinth as I came to it."
"But wait a minute; let me tell you! You have done a lot of good in this
town; you don't know--."
"So have you done a lot of good, John; you don't know either."
The farmer tried again. "You have helped me more than you know."
"I'm glad, John, because you have helped me more than _you_ know."
"Oh, come; you know what I mean!"
"Well, don't you know what I mean?"
"Yes, I think I do. I've been listening pretty close to your sermons and
so have a lot of others.
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