and two young ladies, to represent the Society. They met in the new
rooms one evening and Deacon Wickham took the floor at once.

"I hope our young friends won't take offense at what I am about to
say, but you know I am one of the kind who always say just what I
think, for I believe that if a man has anything on his mind, it had
better come out. This business ought to be in the hands of the church
board; you young folks have no Scriptural rights to speak on the subject
at all." The three young Christians looked at Uncle Bobbie, whose left
eye remained closed for just the fraction of a second, and the speaker
wondered at the confident smile with which his words were received.
"There's not one of you that has the proper qualifications for an elder
or a deacon," he continued. "You girls have no right to have the
oversight of a congregation, anyway, and Charlie Bowen here is not
even the husband of one wife."

"Give him time, Brother Wickham; give the boy time," broke in Uncle
Bobbie, with a chuckle, much to the delight of the girls, and the
confusion of Charlie. "You just wait; he may surprise you some day in
his qualifications."

But the deacon continued with a frown at the interruption, "As far as
that goes, the whole thing is unscriptural and I was opposed to it at
the first, as Brother Wicks here can tell you." Uncle Bobbie nodded.
"But you've gone ahead in spite of what I and the Scriptures teach,
and you've got your reading rooms; and now I mean to see to it that
you have a good Brother, who is eminently qualified to teach, at the
head of the concern; a good man who is thoroughly grounded in the
faith, and who has arrived at years of discretion; a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed of his handiwork, rightly dividing the word