“I have to tell the truth as I see it,” said Thrower.

“You may see that a man cheats in his business, but you don’t have to name his name from the pulpit, do you? No sir, you just keep giving sermons about honesty and hope it soaks in.”

“You’re saying that I should use an indirect approach.”

“That’s a right fine church building, Reverend Thrower, and it wouldn’t be half so fine if it wasn’t for your dream of how it ought to be. But the folks here figure it’s their church. They cut the wood, they built it, it’s on common land. And it’d be a crying-shame if you were so stubborn that they up and gave your pulpit to another preacher.”

Reverend Thrower looked at the remnants of dinner for a long time. He thought of the church, not unpainted raw lumber the way it was right now, but finished, pews in place, the pulpit standing high, and the room bright with sunlight through clean-glazed windows. It isn’t just the place, he told himself, but what I can accomplish here. I’d be failing in my Christian duty if I let this place fall under the control of superstitious fools like Alvin Miller and, apparently, his whole family. If my mission is to destroy evil and superstition, then I must dwell among the ignorant and superstitious. Gradually I will bring them to knowledge of the truth. And if I can’t convince the parents, then in time I can convert the children. It is the work of a lifetime, my ministry, so why should I throw it away for the sake of speaking the truth for a few moments only?

“You’re a wise man, Brother Armor.”

“So are you, Reverend Thrower. In the long run, even if we disagree here and there, I think we both want the same thing. We want this whole country to be civilized and Christian. And neither one of us would mind if Vigor Church became Vigor City, and Vigor City became the capital of the whole Wobbish territory. There’s even talk back in Philadelphia about inviting Hio to become a state and join right in, and certainly they’ll make such an offer to Appalachee. Why not Wobbish someday? Why not a country that stretches from sea to sea, White man and Red, every soul of us free to vote the government we want to make the laws we’ll be glad to obey?”