In his soul he was asking bitterly what good had come of all his prayerful labours among the people of this pinched , narrow world , as rugged and unbeautiful in form and life as the barren hills that shut them in . He had been two years among them and he counted it two years of failure . He had been too outspoken for them ; they resented sullenly his direct and incisive tirades against their pet sins . They viewed his small innovations on their traditional ways of worship with disfavour and distrust and shut him out of their lives with an ever-increasing coldness . He had meant well and worked hard and he felt his failure keenly . His thoughts reverted to a letter received the preceding day from a former classmate , stating that the pastorate of a certain desirable town church had become vacant and hinting that a call was to be moderated for him unless he signified his unwillingness to accept . Two years before , Allan Telford , fresh from college and full of vigorous enthusiasm and high ideas , would have said : `` No , that is not for me . My work must lie among the poor and lowly of earth as did my Master 's . Shall I shrink from it because , to worldly eyes , the way looks dreary and uninviting ? '' Now , looking back on his two years ' ministry , he said wearily : `` I can remain here no longer . If I do , I fear I shall sink down into something almost as pitiful as one of these canting , gossiping people myself . I can do them no good -- they do not like or trust me . I will accept this call and go back to my own world . '' Perhaps the keynote of his failure was sounded in his last words , `` my own world . '' He had never felt , or tried to feel , that this narrow sphere was his own world . It was some lower level to which he had come with good tidings and honest intentions but , unconsciously , he had held himself above it , and his people felt and resented this . They expressed it by saying he was `` stuck-up . '' Rykman 's Corner came into view as he drove over the brow of a long hill . He hated the place , knowing it well for what it was -- a festering hotbed of gossip and malice , the habitat of all the slanderous rumours and innuendoes that permeated the social tissue of the community . The newest scandal , the worst-flavoured joke , the latest details of the most recent quarrel , were always to be had at Rykman 's store .
As the minister drove down the hill , a man XXXXX out of a small house at the foot and waited on the road .
came counted go hated like preceding quarrel saying shrink signified