Luke's Wife by Evelyn R. Garratt

The four members who had left the Church Council when the vote went / against Whist Drives for Church purposes, did not leave the Church. / They valued their Vicar too much to do so suddenly; but they were / thoroughly vexed at the decision arrived at.

It had been a blow to Luke to find that he only had a majority of one. / He had hoped that his congregation had felt with him in the matter, and / finding how strong the stream was towards such means of increasing the / popularity of the Church, depressed him not a little.

Moreover, he felt bound, greatly against his will, to preach against / such methods and to give his reasons for so doing; and though some / respected him for his courage, there were others who resented it. To / Rachel, the Sunday on which he mentioned the matter was a most painful / day; though she was glad that Luke had spoken out on what was much on / his mind.

"I am beginning to think," he said, on sitting down to dinner after the / service, "that my time in the parish is about over. It seems to me my / influence for good is not strong enough. It wants a stronger man than I / am here."

"You are tired," said Rachel. "That's what is making you downhearted. / Last week was such a very heavy one for you. In a day or two you will / see things differently."

Luke smiled unbelievingly.

"What I should like, and in fact what I have always longed for," he / said, "is a Church in London. Though I doubt if such an honour will / ever come my way. I am not a big enough man to be trusted with a London / parish."

"London! " cried Rachel. "Oh Luke, I should hate it of all things. / Besides you must be a man strong in body as well as in soul to work / a London parish satisfactorily. I should be very sorry to see you / undertake such a work."

"I'm quite strong enough," said Luke. "The only things that try me are / the petty quarrels and vexations of such a parish as this. I heard this / morning that Went and Ethers have fallen out, and on a ridiculously / small matter. I fancy everything would be larger and more important in / London. It is just the petty matters that worry me."

"Human nature is the same everywhere. I expect you would find small / souls in a London parish just as you do here."

"Would you very much object to London? " asked Luke. "Not that there / is the slightest chance of me being offered a Church there. But it is / the dream of my life. Fancy working in the very hub of the Universe. I / should revel in it."

"The work would be enormous, unless you had several curates. And you / know how difficult they are to find now-a-days."

"I shouldn't mind the work. The more the better, so long as it is not / spoilt by bickerings and quarrellings. Should you very much dislike it?"

"Intensely. I don't feel in my present mood, as if I could endure it. " / Then seeing a look of disappointment on her husband's face, she added, / "But where thou goest I will go, you know that."

"Yes, I have no doubt of that," he answered.

And his longing for London increased during the next few months. It / was a time of great disappointment for him. When he had first come / to Trowsby, he had had the warmest of welcomes, and the largest / congregation in the place. His preaching was arresting and people / congratulated themselves on having such a Vicar. He had come straight / from France where he had been acting as Chaplain, and had there shown / great bravery under fire. Many came to hear him just because of this. / But when the rage for amusements began to show itself, and it was / found that the Vicar had no sympathy with it, and had no new Gospel to / preach, but preached the same Gospel as they had heard before the war, / untouched with modernism and the various other new religious theories, / the congregation that had increased out of curiosity gradually / dwindled, for they said, "He's not up to date. " It was disheartening / for Luke, specially as he heard that a Church not very far off was / crowded to overflowing on account of all the social questions that were / discussed during the sermons, and well-known lecturers on the various / religions came down from London, Sunday after Sunday, to preach.

"Nevertheless," he said one day to his wife, "I shall continue to / preach the Gospel; and by-the-bye Rachel, I must somehow get three days / of quiet at least, for some of the men's Bible Class want to discuss / those questions which have been raised by the Modern Churchmen's / Conference; and I must prepare for the discussion. But I really don't / see how I can manage it. I am late as it is with the Parish Magazine."

Rachel was laying the table for dinner at the time and looked up / quickly at her husband.

"Pass that over to me," she said.

Luke looked at her a little doubtfully.