' There was some
talk, too, about axin' the old man to resign; but nuthin' came o't.
An' arter a time, when the congregashun got a bit reconciled, folks
began to allow the new eye improved Mennear's pulpit manner, an'
guessed that, arter all, et mou't be a powerful engine for effectual
salvashun. Et had a _dead_ appearance, ef you understands me, sir,
and yet a sort o' gashly wakefulness, like a thing onhuman, 'cos o'
cou'se et niver winked; th' ould man cudn' ha' winked, not for a
fi'-pund note, for the thing was that big et strained his eyelid like
a drum. 'Sides which, et had a way o' keepin' order 'mong the
worshippers that you cudn' believe onless you seed it; for, let alone
the colour o't, you niver knawed whether 'twas fixed on you or ten
pews off, but somehow felt dead-sure 'twas you all the time, an'
cudn' ha' moved, not if you had a blue-tailed fly inside the back o'
your collar.
"Well, sir, nat'rally the Meetin' House began to fill agen, at fust
out o' curiosity, but by-'m-by the list of Admitted Members began to
fill up. Folk cudn' hold out when th' ould Lawyer ramped on 'bout t'
other world an' there was that eye fixin' mun an' lookin' as though
et had _been there_. I needn' tell 'ee th' ould man wore et ivery
Sunday: 'deed, he wore et most days, but tuk et out o' nights, I've
heerd, for 'twudn' shut when he slep', but used to scare ould Deb'rah
Mennear fairly out of her sken o' moonshiny nights, when the light
comed in 'pon et.
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