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Samuel the Seeker, a fiction by Upton Sinclair |
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Chapter 24 |
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_ CHAPTER XXIV Samuel had had nothing to eat since morning, but he did not feel hungry. He was faint from grief and despair. To encounter a man of the world like Mr. Wygant, cold and merciless and masterful--that was a terrible ordeal for him. The man seemed to him like some great fortress of evil; and what could he do, save to gaze at it in impotent rage? He went home, and Sophie met him at the door. "I thought you wanted an early supper, Samuel," said she. "Why?" he asked dully. "You had something to do at the church tonight!" "Yes," he recollected, "there's to be a vestry meeting, and I have to light up. But I'm tired of the church work." "Tired of the church work!" gasped the child. "Yes," he said. And then to the amazed and terrified family, he told the story of his day's experiences. Sophie listened, thrilling with excitement. "And you went to see Mr. Wygant!" she cried in awe. "Oh, Samuel, how brave of you!" "He ordered me out of his house," said the boy bitterly. "And Dr. Vince has gone back on me--I have no one at all to help." Sophie came to him and flung her arms about him. "You have us, Samuel!" she exclaimed. "We will stand by you--won't we mother?" "Yes," said Mrs. Stedman--"but what can poor people like us do?" "And then you have Miss Gladys!" cried Sophie after a moment. "Miss Gladys!" he echoed. "Will she take my part against her own father?" "She told you that she loved you, Samuel," said the child. "And she knows that you are in the right." "I will have to go and see her," said Samuel after a little. "I promised that I would come and tell what happened." "And I will see her, too!" put in the other. "Oh, I'm sure she'll stand by you!" The child's face was aglow with excitement; and Samuel looked at her, and for the first time it occurred to him that Sophie was really beautiful. Her face had filled out and her color had come back, since she had been getting one meal every day at the Wygant's. "Don't you think Miss Gladys will help, mother?" she asked. "I don't know," said Mrs. Stedman dubiously. "It's very terrible--I can't see why such things have to be." "You think that Samuel did right, don't you?" cried the child. "I--I suppose so," she answered. "It's hard to say--it will make so much trouble. And if Miss Gladys were angry, then you might lose your place!" "Oh, mother!" cried Sophie. And the two young people gazed at each other in sudden dismay. That was something they had never thought of. "You mustn't do it, Sophie!" cried the boy. "You must leave it to me!" "But why should you make all the sacrifices?" replied Sophie. "If it's right for you, isn't it right for me?" "But, Sophie!" wailed Mrs. Stedman. "If you lost this place we should all starve!" And again they stared at each other with terror in their eyes. "Sophie," said Samuel, "I forbid you to have anything to do with it!" But in his heart he knew that he might as well not have said this. And Mrs. Stedman knew it, too, and turned white with fear. The boy ate a few hurried mouthfuls, and then went off to his work at the church. But he did not go with the old joy in his soul. Before this it had been the work of the Lord that he had been doing; but now he was only serving the Wygants--and the Hickmans--apparently one always served them, no matter where or how he worked in this world. "You are late," said old Mr. Jacobs, the sexton, when he arrived. "Yes, sir," said Samuel. "Dr. Vince left word that he wanted to see you as soon as you came." The boy's heart gave a leap. Had the doctor by any chance repented? "Where is he?" he asked. "In the vestry room," said the other; and the boy went there. The instant he entered, Dr. Vince sprang to his feet. "Samuel," he cried vehemently, "this thing has got to stop!" "What thing, Dr. Vince?" "Your conduct is beyond endurance, boy--you are driving me to distraction!" "What have I done now, sir?" "My brother-in-law has just been here, making a terrible disturbance. You have been defaming him among the congregation of the church!" "But, Dr. Vince!" cried Samuel, in amazement. "I have done nothing of the sort!" "But you must have! Everyone is talking about it!" "Doctor," said the boy solemnly, "you are mistaken. I went to see Mr. Wygant, as I told you I would. Besides that, I have not spoken to a single soul about it, except just now to Sophie and Mrs. Stedman.-- Oh, yes," he added quickly--"and to Miss Gladys!" "Ah!" exclaimed the other. "There you have it! Miss Gladys is a school friend of Mr. Hickman's daughter; and, of course, she went at once to tell her. And, of course, she will tell everyone else she knows--the whole congregation will be gossiping about it to-morrow!" "I am very sorry, sir." "You see the trouble you cause me! And I must tell you plainly, Samuel, that this thing cannot go on another minute. Unless you are prepared to give up these absurd ideas of yours and attend to your duties as the sexton's boy, it will be necessary for you to leave the church." Samuel was staring at him aghast. "Leave the church!" he cried. "Most assuredly!" declared the other. "Dr. Vince!" exclaimed the other. "Do you mean that you would actually try to turn me out of the church?" "I would, sir!" "But, doctor, have you the right to do that?" "The right? Why not?" "You have the right to take away my work. But to turn me out of the church?" "Samuel," cried the distracted clergyman, "am I not the rector of this church?" "But, doctor," cried Samuel, "it is the church of God!" There was a long pause. Finally, Samuel took up the conversation again. "Tell me, Dr. Vince," he said. "When Mr. Hickman came to see you, did he deny that he had committed that crime?" "I did not ask him," replied the other. "You didn't ask him!" exclaimed the boy in dismay. "You didn't even care that much?" Again there was a pause. "I asked Mr. Wygant," said Samuel in a low voice. "And he confessed that he was guilty." "What!" cried the other. "He confessed it--his whole conversation was a confession of it. He said everybody did those things, because that was the way to make money, and everybody wanted to make money. He called it competition. And then I asked him why he came to the church of Jesus, and he ordered me out of his house." Dr. Vince was listening with knitted brows. "And what do you propose to do now," he asked. "I don't know, sir. I suppose I shall have to expose him." "Samuel," exclaimed the clergyman, "in all this wild behavior of yours, does it never occur to you that you owe some gratitude to me?" "Oh, doctor!" cried the boy, clasping his hands in agony. "Don't say anything like that to me!" "I do say it!" persisted the other. "I saved you and helped you; and now you are causing me most terrible suffering!" "Doctor," protested Samuel, "I would do anything in the world for you- -I would die for you. But you ask me to be false to my duty; and how can I do that?" "But does it never occur to you that older and wiser people may be better able to judge than you are?" "But the facts are so plain, sir! And you have never answered me! You simply command me to be silent!" The other did not reply. "When I came to you," went on Samuel, "you taught me about love and brotherhood--about self-sacrifice and service. And I took you at your word, sir. As God is my witness, I have done nothing but try to apply what you told me! I have tried to help the poor and oppressed. And how could I know that you did not really mean what you said?" "Samuel," protested the other, "you have no right to say that! I am doing all that I can. I preach upon these things very often." "Yes!" exclaimed the boy, "but what do you preach? Do you tell the truth to these rich people who come to your church? Do you say to them: 'You are robbing the poor. You are the cause of all the misery which exists in this town--you carry the guilt of it upon your souls. And you must cease from robbery and oppression--you must give up this wealth that you have taken from the people!' No--you don't say that-- you know that you don't! And can't you see what that means, Dr. Vince- -it means that the church is failing in its mission! And there will have to be a new church--somewhere, somehow! For these things exist! They are right here in our midst, and something must be done!" And the boy sprang forward in his excitement, stretching out his arms. "The people are starving! Right here about us--here in Lockmanville! They are starving! starving! starving! Don't you understand, Dr. Vince? Starving!" The doctor wrung his hands in his agitation. "Boy," he exclaimed, "this thing cannot go on. I cannot stand it any longer!" "But what am I to do, sir?" "You are to submit yourself to my guidance. I ask you, once for all, Will you give up these wild courses of yours?" "Dr. Vince," cried Samuel, "I cannot! I cannot!" "Then I tell you it will be necessary for us to part. You will give up your position, and you will leave the church." The tears started into Samuel's eyes. "Doctor," he cried frantically, "don't cast me out! Don't! I beg you on my knees, sir!" "I have spoken," said the other, clenching his hands. "But think what you are doing!" protested the boy. "You are casting out your own soul! You are turning your back upon the truth!" "I tell you you must go!" exclaimed the doctor. "But think of it! It means the end of the church. For don't you see--I shall have to fight you! I shall have to expose you! And I shall prevail over you, because I have the truth with me--because you have cast it out! Think what you are doing when you cast out the truth!" "I will hear no more of this!" cried Dr. Vince wildly. "You are raving. I tell you to go! I tell you to go! Go now!" And Samuel turned and went, sobbing meanwhile as if his heart would break. _ |
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