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Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918

"The Puritans"


She smiled a little on hearing the object of her son's visit.
"I am glad to see you on any terms," she observed, "but I cannot say
that I think your coming very wise."
"But, mother," he urged, "don't you see that it is a matter of so much
importance that we ought not to neglect any chance?"
"My dear boy," questioned she, "do you really think that it is of so
much importance who is bishop?"
"It is of the greatest possible importance," he returned earnestly. "Of
course you don't agree with me as to the importance of forms of
worship, but suppose that it were your own church, and the question
were of having a man put into a place so influential. Wouldn't you be
troubled if one were likely to be chosen who taught what you regarded
as heresy?"
She smiled on him still, but he saw the seriousness in her eyes.
"Yes," she said, "I suppose I should; but doesn't it ever occur to you,
Philip, that we are all too much inclined to feel that everything is
going wrong if Providence doesn't work in our way? We can't help, I
suppose, the habit of regarding our plans as somehow essential to the
proper management of the universe.


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