Page:The unhallowed harvest (1917).djvu/93

88 The meeting was to be held, as usual, in the rector's study, after the mid-week evening service. Judge Bosworth, the senior warden, was the first to arrive. He was followed closely by Westgate. While they were awaiting the coming of the others there was some casual conversation on different topics, but it was marked by an air of restraint of which all three men were aware. Then, in rapid succession, the remaining members of the vestry came in—all but old Mr. Ray, who was ill and unable to leave his house.

They knelt with due devotion while brief prayers were read, and then the usual order of business was taken up. The treasurer's report was made and commented on, and other matters of more or less importance to the parish were considered and disposed of.

When the order of "new business" was reached, the rector said:

"There is a matter, gentlemen, on which I desire to have your judgment, and, if possible, your favorable action. You have doubtless observed the increased attendance on our services by people of the laboring class. I am convinced that it is among these people, during the next few years, that our work must largely be done. We must break down the indifference, the prejudice, the open antagonism which so many of them manifest, not wholly without reason, toward the Church. If we extend to them a fitting welcome, and if we properly provide for them, I have no doubt they will continue to come to us in increasingly large numbers, to their own spiritual benefit, and to the great strengthening of the Church. It is plain that we cannot accommodate them under our present system by which we rent pews for the exclusive use of our several families. It is my recommendation, therefore, and my hearty desire, that the renting system shall be abolished, and that all pews shall be open freely to all worshipers. It is for you to act on the recommendation."

For a moment no one spoke. The proposition was