the table of the Lord, then I ain't good enough
neither, and you can have it all to yourselves."

And Job Manning, somewhat angry, it must be confessed, strode out from
the assembled body of Christians, up to his pew in the side aisle, and
plucking his wife by the sleeve, who arose and followed him, marched out
of the Baptist church for good and all.

But in the case of Mrs. Colonel Selby it was altogether different. She
was a woman of wealth and influence. She could do so very much for the
Baptist church, it would never do to offend her. And the Colonel was so
devoted to her, he might go off in a huff as poor Job Manning had done,
and stand it out to the bitter end. It was a dilemma, no disputing about
that. A bad precedent, more particularly after the precedent in the
Manning case. But it _must_ be got along with, and it _was_, and Mrs.
Colonel Selby, a strict and ultra Presbyterian, always open and
outspoken, became an honored member of this closely-guarded Baptist
fold. What was to hinder? Who was to say, why do you so? No bishop with
his interdict, no Pope with his "thunders from the Vatican." Here was
one of the beauties of the Protestant system.

"System," says Webster, "is an assemblage of things adjusted into a
regular whole, or a whole plan or scheme consisting of many parts
connected in such a manner as to create a chain of mutual dependencies."
It is not at all strange that Protestantism should protest against this
definition, and should establish its own instead: An assemblage of
things so adjusted and built up as that they may easily be rearranged or
completely demolished as occasion may require, or a whole plan or scheme
consisting of many parts so connected as to create a gossamer-thread of
mutual independencies.

Mrs. Selby was too shrewd and sensible not to see the inconsistency
involved. But then she was quite used to inconsistencies. Moreover, she
deemed herself quite in the right, and the Baptist Church had mounted
upon the plane it behooved itself to stand; at all events, it must
answer for its own right and wrong doing, as Mrs. Selby expected to
answer for her own.

Mary Selby sought not to influence Philip in the matter of his baptism.
She saw where his inclination tended and was silent. He accompanied his
mother's cousin to her native city, and was there received into the
First Presbyterian by Mrs. Selby's venerable and beloved friend, Rev.
Mr. Storrs.

Colonel Selby used his influence in