"
"Well, it may still be doing it, for all I know," said the banker. "What
do you say?" he asked, turning to the minister. "You ought to be able to
give us some statistics on the subject with that large congregation of
yours. You preach to more people than any other pulpit in your city."
The banker named one of the principal cities in the East, and the minister
answered, with, modest pride: "I am not sure of that; but our society is
certainly a very large one."
"Well, and how many of the lower classes are there in it--people who work
for their living with their hands?"
The minister stirred uneasily in his chair, and at last he said, with
evident unhappiness: "They--I suppose--they have their own churches. I
have never thought that such a separation of the classes was right; and I
have had some of the very best people--socially and financially--with me
in the wish that there might be more brotherliness between the rich and
poor among us. But as yet--"
He stopped; the banker pursued: "Do you mean there are _no_ working-people
in your congregation?"
"I cannot think of any," returned the minister, so miserably that the
banker forbore to press the point.
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