Religion: Son-of-a-Pastor

To what, good purpose can a cow That brings no calf or milk be bent?

And why beget a, son who proves A dunce, and disobedient?

—THE PANCHATANTRA

A score or more of stern Baptists ranged themselves in a circle in the study of Rev. Roach Straton, Manhattan's loud-speaking Fundamentalist. It was a steaming day; flies buzzed at the window. The visitors mopped their brows and readjusted their scowls. They were nervous, suspicious; their task was weighty.

Before them was a sallow, gangling youth of 21, a candidate for ordination in the...

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