"Mr. Reverend," said Mrs. Mayfield, "I have never known a man like you.
And did you ever have a fight, being a Starbuck?"
"I have seen men fall down."
"But you never killed anybody, did you--still being a Starbuck?"
"Kill anybody!" Tom cried. "Why, he's a D. D. not an M. D."
"Oh, hush, you stock joker. But Mr. Reverend, don't you think it is
awfully wrong to fight?"
And gazing into her eyes he said: "At times, ma'm, it is just as
essential as prayer. Now, Peter drew his sword and cut off a man's ear,
and Peter stood right up next to Christ."
"But the Savior told him to put up his sword."
"Very true, ma'm, but not until after the feller had lost his ear."
"Law, me!" exclaimed Margaret, standing at the door, "but you folks air
cuttin' up scollops."
"Mr. Reverend," Mrs. Mayfield continued, determined to pursue a subject
so interesting to herself, "someone told me of a very heroic thing you
did."
"Why, ma'm, I can't look back an' see that I ever did anything heroic. I
have helped many an old woman across the creek; I have helped a man set
out his tobacco plants, and I want to tell you that settin' out tobacco
is the most fetching work I ever did.
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