"I am glad you have told me all this," replied Roderick. "It increases my already high opinion of the parson."
"He is a veritable shepherd among the people," continued Major Hampton. "Reverend Grannon is the true flockmaster of Wyoming. The people are frequently unruly, boisterous, intemperate and immoral, yet he treats them with greatest consideration and seeks to persuade and lead them away from their sins and transgressions. Yes, he is a great flockmaster--he is well named The Flockmaster."
Both were silent for a few moments. Then the Major, as if suddenly remembering something, looked up and said: "He tells me Scotty Meisch is getting along fine over in the _Dillon Doublejack_ printing office."
"I am glad to hear that," exclaimed Roderick. "It is good to have saved at least one lad from going the way of those outlaws of Jack Creek. I have never forgotten that ghastly midnight scene--the massacred sheep and the burning herders' wagons."
"Well, what can you expect?" asked the Major. "When the social waters are poisoned at the fountain head, the whole course of the stream becomes pernicious. In this state of Wyoming the standard of political decency is not high. The people have no real leaders to look up to. The United States Senator, F. E. Greed, sets a pernicious example to the rising generation. He violates laws in scores of instances because of his greed and grafting proclivities, and his bribed supporters go on year after year supporting him. What the state needs is a leader. High-minded leaders are priceless. Their thoughts and their deeds are the richest legacy to a state or a community. Great leaders are beacon lights kindled upon the mountain peaks of the centuries, illuminating the mental and moral atmosphere of civilization. The history of the world--of a nation, of a state and of a community--is the story of their epochal deeds, while man's advancement is only the lengthened shadow of their moral, spiritual and temporal examples. Leaders come up from the crowd, from among the poor and the lowly. They are immediately recognized by the great mass of the people and invariably crowned, although sometimes it is a crown of thorns that they are compelled to wear and endure for upholding priceless principles in their endeavor to lead humanity to a higher plane. However," concluded the Major, "the world is growing better. The nimble-fingered, tilltapping, porch-climbing derelicts in politics and commercialism are becoming unpopular. The reprehensible methods in all avenues of life are being condemned instead of condoned--the goats are being cast out from among the sheep."