538 RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT-II 



and seeing him &quot;face to face.&quot; It all seems poor when 

 put upon paper ; but, as he gave it, nothing could be more 

 vivid. We seemed to hear the sudden crash of the trans 

 lucent sheet, and to look full into the face of the Almighty 

 looming up before us. 



Chapin was a Universalist, and his most interesting 

 parishioner was Horace Greeley, whose humanitarian 

 ideas naturally inclined him to a very mild creed. As 

 young men, strangers to the congregation, were usually 

 shown to seats just in front of the pulpit, I could easily see 

 Mr. Greeley in his pew on a side aisle, just behind the 

 front row. He generally stalked in rather early, the 

 pockets of his long white coat filled with newspapers, and, 

 immediately on taking his seat, went to sleep. As soon as 

 service began he awoke, looked first to see how many va 

 cant places were in the pew, and then, without a word, put 

 out his long arm into the aisle and with one or two vigor 

 ous scoops pulled in a sufficient number of strangers stand 

 ing there to fill all the vacancies; then he slept again. 

 Indeed, he slept through most of the written parts of Dr. 

 Chapin s sermons; but whenever there came anything 

 eloquent or especially thoughtful, Greeley s eyes were 

 wide open and fixed upon the preacher. 



Greeley s humanitarianism was not always proof 

 against the irritations of life. In his not infrequent out 

 bursts of wrath he was very likely to consign people who 

 vexed him to a region which, according to his creed, had 

 no existence. 



A story told of him in those days seemed to show that 

 his creed did not entirely satisfy him ; for one day, when 

 he was trying, in spite of numberless interruptions, to 

 write a * l Tribune leader, he became aware that some one 

 was standing behind his chair. Turning around suddenly, 

 he saw a missionary well known in the city slums, the 

 Rev. Mr. Pease, and asked in his highest, shrillest, most 

 complaining falsetto, &quot;Well, what do you want?&quot; Mr. 

 Pease, a kindly, gentle, apologetic man, said deprecat- 

 ingly, &quot;Well, Mr. Greeley, I have come for a little help. 



