Moved
by this conviction, she joined the family parade to
the church, and later, in the sacristy, she pulled me
about and pinned me up to her heart's content.
Then, reluctantly, she went into the church and
heard me preach. She offered no tributes after our
return to the house, but her protests ceased from
that time, and we gave each other the love and
understanding which had marked our girlhood days.
The change made me very happy; for Mary was the
salt of the earth, and next only to my longing for
my mother, I had longed for her in the years of our
estrangement.
Every Sunday that summer I preached in or near
St. Johnsbury, and toward autumn we had a big
meeting which the ministers of all the surrounding
churches attended. I was asked to preach the ser-
mon--a high compliment--and I chose that impor-
tant day to make a mistake in quoting a passage
from Scripture. I asked, ``Can the Ethiopian change
his spots or the leopard his skin?'' I realized at
once that I had transposed the words, and no doubt
a look of horror dawned in my eyes; but I went on
without correcting myself and without the slightest
pause. Later, one of the ministers congratulated
me on this presence of mind.
``If you had corrected yourself,'' he said, ``all the
young people would have been giggling yet over
the spotted nigger. Keep to your rule of going
right ahead!''
At the end of the summer the various churches
in which I had preached gave me a beautiful gold
watch and one hundred dollars in money, and with
an exceedingly light heart I went back to college
to begin my second year of work.
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