No wonder
then that David was a thorn in the side to the authorities of the
church, nor was he less despised by the common people. There was not a
drunken loafer in town who did not pride himself upon the fact that,
though he might be a drunkard, he was at least no Baptist, but
belonged to the "Standing Order." Meshech Little, himself, who
believed and practiced the doctrine of total immersion in rum, had no
charity for one who believed in total immersion in water.
The date which had been set for the sale of David's goods and house,
chanced to be the very Monday following the Sunday with whose
religious services and other events the previous chapters have been
concerned. It seemed to Squire Woodbridge that David's case would be
an excellent one with which to inaugurate once more the reign of law.
Owing to the social isolation and unpopularity of the man, the
proceedings against him would be likely to excite very little sympathy
or agitation of any kind, and having thus got the machinery of the law
once more into operation, it would be easy enough to proceed
thereafter, without fear or favor, against all classes of debtors and
evil-doers in the good old way. Moreover, it had long been the
intention of those having the interest of Zion at heart to "freeze
out" David by this very process, and to that end considerable
sanctified shrewdness had been expended in getting him into debt.
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