It had been going on for four years,
and would probably go on now till Mr. Puttock died. "A man of his
age with the asthma may live for twenty years," said the Senator
who had already learned that Mr. Puttock was only fifty. Then he
ascertained that Mr. Puttock had not been presented to, or selected
for the living on account of any peculiar fitness;--but that he had
been a fellow of Rufford at Oxford till he was forty-five, when he
had thought it well to marry and take a living. "But he must have
been asthmatic then?" said the Senator.
"He may have had all the ailments endured by the human race for
anything I know," said the unhappy host.
"And for anything the bishop cared as far as I can see," said the
Senator. "Well now, I guess, that couldn't occur in our country. A
minister may turn out badly with us as well as with you. But we
don't appoint a man without inquiry as to his fitness,--and if a
man can't do his duty he has to give way to some one who can.
If the sick man took the small portion of the stipend and the
working man the larger, would not better justice be done, and the
people better served?"
"Mr. Puttock has a freehold in the parish."
"A freehold possession of men's souls! The fact is, Mr. Morton,
that the spirit of conservatism in this country is so strong that
you cannot bear to part with a shred of the barbarism of the middle
ages.
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