When the place was all aflame, Mr Lee dramatically made a dash to get to his office to retrieve his books and another fellow and I grabbed him for if he'd gone in at that time he would have surely perished. As events turned out, most people believed it was just putting on a show, and actually his financial affairs were in a mess. Not many doubted that he had set alight to the premises after we left work and before he finally locked up for the night. He still made out that he'd start afresh and indeed, we set up in a small shop next door and got in fresh supplies. We traded thus for a few weeks and then he told me he'd have to get new finance to re-build, and as he was an Englishman he was going by the next boat to London to get money from his family to re-establish himself. So off he and his wife went and he asked me to manage the business till his return in 3 or 4 months. This I agreed to do and a few weeks went by and the bills from the warehouses began to pour in.
I had never had anything to do with keeping his books, so I didn't know how his accounts with the Perth suppliers were. A very short time after, seeing outstanding accounts remained unpaid, the warehouses in Perth said, "No money--we will cease supplying you." We had no alternative but to shut up shop. I consulted a solicitor and he said the man would be declared a bankrupt which indeed he was. Through the weeks of turmoil 1 didn't receive my wages, so the solicitor told me to file my account as in final settlement of a bankrupts affairs, salaries are always paid in full and others get just what is left--if anything. Sometime later, the Bankruptcy Court paid my account in full. Apart from this payment, I don't know how other creditors fared, for shortly after the store was forced to close, I left Gnowangerup as I wanted to continue in this type of employment and there weren't any openings in Gnowangerup. I believe Mr Lee did ultimately return to the town and engaged in some kind of business.

TIMES OF STRUGGLE AND DECISION
For some months before I came to Gnowangerup my mind had been in rather a state of turmoil as the conviction had come home to me that life could be spent in its highest form in service to God and man. Some may say this strong feeling is a definite "call". I find it hard to say--that this was so in my case--but I can assert with honesty that the issue kept on coming back to me again and again at unwanted moments. I was very happy in the kind of work I was now engaged and had no desire to leave it. I didn't at any time think I had any particular gifts or potential that qualified me for the ministry--yet the disturbing thought kept recurring. I'd forced it to the back of my mind on numerous occasions and said "This is not for me." I can say firmly this was no shadow boxing--it was a most difficult and disturbing struggle. Though I can't remember discussing the matter with Frank and Lottie with whom I was boarding, but the very atmosphere of their home did help me at the time. They were a fine couple, highly esteemed in the community because of their kindly interest in people and their readiness to help anyone in need. They stood for what they believed right and Christian, and did it with joy and no display of "holier than thou" attitude. Their standards helped me in the critical years around 20. I will always be grateful for what they did for me, without knowing they were doing it.

I wrote to George Fitzgerald who was then in Invercargill, NZ, about my turmoil of mind and sought his thinking on the issue. He said, among other things, "Don't go in for the ministry if you can possibly keep out of it." As time went on I found it very hard to say, "No" and by the time I left Gnowangerup, I felt I'd have to give in and say "Yes".
In a small country town as Gnowangerup was, it was not always easy to stand up and show one's colours against a background of fairly poor quality living, generally. I was thankful for my early home training. There were some fine folk in the little Baptist Church in the town--and I attended there and also taught a class in the Sunday School. I think I was about the only young man in the town that did. Consider my surprise when a fellow came into the shop one day "slightly under the influence" and he was very chummy and wanting to be confidential and he said to me, "Keith, do you know what the chaps in the town call you?" "No, I don't," I replied. "Well" said he "they call you "The Bishop"!!