Good ministers fought shy of Danbridge , and poor ones met with a chill welcome . The harassed presbytery , worn out with `` supplying , '' were disposed to think that the millennium would come if ever the Danbridgians got a minister whom they liked . At Putney they had had the same minister for fifteen years and hoped and expected to have him for fifteen more . They looked with horror-stricken eyes on the Danbridge theological coquetries . Bloom Valley church was over head and heels in debt and had no visible prospect of ever getting out . The moderator said under his breath that they did over-much praying and too little hoeing . He did not believe in faith without works . Tarrytown Road kept its head above water but never had a cent to spare for missions or the schemes of the church . In bright and shining contradistinction to these the Putney church had always paid its way and gave liberally to all departments of church work . If other springs of supply ran dry the Putneyites enthusiastically got up a `` tea '' or a `` social , '' and so raised the money . Naturally the `` heft '' of this work fell on the women , but they did not mind -- in very truth , they enjoyed it . The Putney women had the reputation of being `` great church workers , '' and they plumed themselves on it , putting on airs at conventions among the less energetic women of the other churches . They were especially strong on societies . There was the Church Aid Society , the Girls ' Flower Band , and the Sewing Circle . There was a Mission Band and a Helping Hand among the children . And finally there was the Women 's Foreign Mission Auxiliary , out of which the whole trouble grew which convulsed the church at Putney for a brief time and furnished a standing joke in presbyterial circles for years afterwards . To this day ministers and elders tell the story of the Putney church strike with sparkling eyes and subdued chuckles . It never grows old or stale . But the Putney elders are an exception . They never laugh at it .
They never refer XXXXX it .
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