Not that he intended to be disloyal to her, even in his remotest thought. She was charming as a woman, she was devoted as a wife, she was ideal as a mother, but—it was such a pity that she could not see the visions that he saw, and help him to realize them. If she had but the zeal and ability and view-point of Ruth Tracy, for instance. Ah! There was a woman who was created for a rector's wife. And she was to marry a layman; a kind-hearted and brilliant, but conservative layman, who would doubtless check her aspiration toward the larger righteousness, and bind her with the chains of deadening custom. It was unfortunate; it was, in a way, deplorable; but it was one of those unpreventable situations with which only providence might dare to interfere. He heaved a sigh of regret, quickened his pace, and went forward to the accomplishment of his errand.
On his way back from Rodney McAllister's, as he passed down the main street of the city, he came to Carpenter's Hall. Inside the hall a public meeting was in progress. It had been called by certain labor leaders for the purpose of discussing and deciding upon the attitude of labor in the political campaign then fairly under way. Those who were wise in such things said that the socialists were back of it. The minister stopped to read the poster announcing the meeting, and when he had read it it occurred to him that he would enter the hall and listen to the speeches. He might learn something which would be of benefit to him, on a subject in which he was deeply interested. It was late when he pushed his way into the auditorium, and several of the speakers had already been heard. Representatives of trade-unionism, of socialism, even of syndicalism, had been duly applauded and occasionally hissed as they presented their views in turn to their audience. Representatives and candidates of the old-line parties had been excluded from the speaker's platform.
