He is a sensitive man beneath his composure;
he has suffered, and keenly, when he has been
unjustly attacked; he feels pain of that sort for
a long time, too, for even the passing of years
does not entirely deaden it.
``When I have been hurt, or when I have talked
with annoying cranks, I have tried to let Patience
have her perfect work, for those very people, if
you have patience with them, may afterward be
of help.''
And he went on to talk a little of his early
years in Philadelphia, and he said, with sadness,
that it had pained him to meet with opposition,
and that it had even come from ministers of his
own denomination, for he had been so misunder-
stood and misjudged; but, he added, the momentary
somberness lifting, even his bitter enemies
had been won over with patience.
I could understand a good deal of what he
meant, for one of the Baptist ministers of
Philadelphia had said to me, with some shame, that
at first it used actually to be the case that when
Dr. Conwell would enter one of the regular ministers'
meetings, all would hold aloof, not a single
one stepping forward to meet or greet him.
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