The cribbage game was going hot and heavy in the front of McIntyre's Store when one of the Sullivan boys crashed through the front door, out of breath, black smudges on his face and arms and yelling, Some damn fool set the church afire! The men abandoned their game and raced out while Mr. McIntyre ran for the telephone. In a matter of minutes, the whole island had been alerted and was headed for The Point. The bucket brigade was in high gear but there really wasn't much to be done except watch the old building burn and hope it didn't spread. By morning, it was nothing but ashes and debris and a goodsized patch of charred ground. Dispirited islanders made their way home wearily, grateful that no one had been hurt.
Catholics had never been welcomed on the island and when a small group arrived and took over the old house to make a church out of it, they were shunned or ignored. No one considered it a serious threat and imagined that they would soon give up and return to their heathen roots in St. John. The island was hard core Baptist and suspicious of Latin and foreign rituals. But they harmed no one and their recruiting efforts were half hearted at best - so they were mostly regarded as misguided and left to their own devices. It was rumored that some of the regular summer people might be of their faith but as there was never any proof, the village extended them a measure of tolerance and the benefit of the doubt. It was the only act of arson the island had ever known and while it was widely known who had set the fire, his name was never revealed. After the fire, the Catholics packed and left quietly and were never heard from again. The following Sunday's sermon on tolerance was sincere but ineffective and the blackened ground was left to heal on its own. The wild grass soon grew and grew well and all traces of the fire were erased and forgotten. By the following summer, sheep were set out to graze on the abandoned land and no one gave the site a second look.
Catholics had never been welcomed on the island and when a small group arrived and took over the old house to make a church out of it, they were shunned or ignored. No one considered it a serious threat and imagined that they would soon give up and return to their heathen roots in St. John. The island was hard core Baptist and suspicious of Latin and foreign rituals. But they harmed no one and their recruiting efforts were half hearted at best - so they were mostly regarded as misguided and left to their own devices. It was rumored that some of the regular summer people might be of their faith but as there was never any proof, the village extended them a measure of tolerance and the benefit of the doubt. It was the only act of arson the island had ever known and while it was widely known who had set the fire, his name was never revealed. After the fire, the Catholics packed and left quietly and were never heard from again. The following Sunday's sermon on tolerance was sincere but ineffective and the blackened ground was left to heal on its own. The wild grass soon grew and grew well and all traces of the fire were erased and forgotten. By the following summer, sheep were set out to graze on the abandoned land and no one gave the site a second look.
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