The religious interest had also the
strongest domestic character in quite another sense from
that of the family prayers which Dr Drummond was always
enjoying. "Set your own house in order and then your own
church" was a wordless working precept in Elgin. Threadbare
carpet in the aisles was almost as personal a reproach
as a hole under the dining-room table; and self-respect
was barely possible to a congregation that sat in faded
pews. The minister's gown even was the subject of scrutiny
as the years went on. It was an expensive thing to buy,
but an oyster supper would do it and leave something over
for the organ. Which brings us to the very core and centre
of these activities, their pivot, their focus and, in a
human sense, their inspiration--the minister himself.
The minister was curiously special among a people so
general; he was in a manner raised in life on weekdays
as he was in the pulpit on Sundays. He had what one might
call prestige; some form of authority still survived in
his person, to which the spiritual democracy he presided
over gave a humorous, voluntary assent. He was supposed
to be a person of undetermined leisure--what was writing
two sermons a week to earn your living by?--and he was
probably the more reverend, or the more revered, from
the fact that he was in the house all day.
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