Reverend Doctor

Hi, Vermont. Welcome to A2K.

I would say that "primal energy" refers to the primitive in us, and Reverend doctor probably a doctor of theology or minister.

Perhaps the comment has something to do with thievery among clergymen

This is an excerpt of a book "The four million" by O. Henry.

You can read the excerpt here

anyone who earns a doctorate degree may be called dr.

you can earn a doctorate in nursing....

I guess that makes you Dr. Nurse.

This is awfully stilted writing, but not at all hard to understand. The narrator begins to use the word 'God' (or 'G--'). He is interrupted by an unseen voice (a reader?) which says, "oh, you mean primal energy." So, within this context, the interlocutor is equating 'G--' with 'primal energy'. The narrator is addressed as 'Reverend Doctor.' No, Vermont, in this instance 'doctor' has nothing to do with a doctor of medicine. The narrator is addressed as Revernt Doctor because he is taken to be a theologian. It used to be quite common to address a minister as 'Reverend Docotr' if he had a doctor's degree in Theology or Divinity.

BTW, Francis, thx for identifying the source. It looked familiar but I couldn't place it.

Right, Andy, all I ever read by William Sidney Porter were his short stories.

William Sidney Porter was the pen name of O. Henry, as everybody knows :wink:

<laughing> Well, Francis, not everybody. And isn't The Four Million a collection of his short stories?

I learned, after twenty years, that some were unfinished ones...

Sorry, Vermont. Didn't mean to get your thread side-tracked, but Francis and his knowledge of American literature always fascinates me.

Miss Letty, you are too kind. (Sorry, Vermont, but the Vermont capital is a French city) :wink:

Yes, Montpelier. But, then, 'Vermont' is just a corruption of a French phrase, as well.

(How did we get on this subject?)

We got on this subject while waiting for Vermont to acknowledge.

David Hume knew a lot about that...

Let us not exhume Hume.

Yes, let's hum some air...