Part 8 (1/2)
After waiting for a reasonable time, until all ere expected to attend were supposed to be in the house, the lass shaped pulpit, over which hung, like the sword of Da-board, considered indispensable, duly to scatter round that each ht have his appropriate portion, the cruave out” an appropriate hyed as the Ruler of the Seasons This was sung, it must be confessed, by a sadly shrunken choir, stoutly supported, however, by the congregation in the body of the -house, without the sound of tabret, or harp, or other rave bass-viol, those pioneers of the organ, were per and fervent prayer, in which Mr Robinson, the ht papistical twang), after bewailing with ingenious particularity the sins and back-slidings of hiratitude of the whole land, and recounting the innus that had crowned their basket and their store, entreated that notwithstanding their ressions, the divine favor ht not be withdrawn from a land where the Lord had planted his own vine, and where the precious seeds of heavenly grace deposited in the soil and nurtured and cultured byup and borne the inestiious freedom Upon the conclusion of the prayer followed another hymn, and after these ”exercises,” the sermon
The text was the ninth verse of the twenty-sixth chapter of Deuteronoiven us this land, even a land that floithsermon was formerly one on which more than common labor was expended, and was intended to be a celebrity of the year On this occasion the preacher laid out a wide field for his eloquence He co the condition of the first colonists to that of the children of Israel when they fled fro on Plymouth Rock, snow, and ice, and desolation around, but the fire of faith in their hearts He contrasted the feebleness of the beginning with the grandeur of the result, whence he deduced the inference that the Lord had led his people with a ed appearance of the country, converted froarden, whence the perfume of Christian devotion perpetually arose; he portrayed the horrors of the war of the Revolution, and exhorted his hearers to cherish the memory of the men who had consecrated their lives and fortunes to Liberty, and sealed that consecration with their blood Warhter lustre and see into a far future, as in prophetic tones he proclaimed the advent of the latter days, when the beacon fires of Freedom kindled on therays across the seas, and the kingdoe of God and of His Christ ”Seeing these things are so, brethren,” he concluded, ”seeing that God hath chosen you unto his of the world to confound the strong, the rejected, the cast away and despised, to be held up as an exa nations, what ht ye to be in all holy conversation and Godliness?”
Such is an iuage sought the ministers in times past to keep alive the flame of patriotism, and to inspire with humility, yet animate with a just pride Nor are such discourses throay They doas was the serth was it defrauded--it was listened to with the deepest attention, by the older rave decorum of a place of public worshi+p forbade any open exhibition of approval, but hted eye, betrayed the emotions excited by the allusions Let it be remembered, it was nearer the times that tried men's souls; the later events were fresh in their memory; some of the hearers, perhaps, had borne a personal part in theenerous fire of '76--sparks of which, we trust, still glimmer in the bosoms of their descendants What to us, in these colder and as soant, if not vain-glorious, was to the into poison as meant for wholesome nutriment, thanked God that they were not as othertheir hus
At the conclusion of the services, there was the usual grasping of hands, and congratulations of the season, and inquiries after healths, and encomiums on the sermon, when the assembly dispersed to their homes, to attend, in another for and Faith waited for the ether They were overtaken and joined by Doctor El been detained from the services by professional duties
”But,” added he, looking at Mr Robinson, and bowing courteously, ”if I have been so unfortunate as to miss of one feast, I do not mean to be deprived of another I may say of myself, as Shakspeare says of somebody, 'Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of Puritan'”
”I hope your Puritan principles do not consistdinners,” said Mr Robinson, with a smile
”And remember, doctor,” observed Faith, ”what your own Shakspeare says again--
”'dainty bits Make rich the ribs, but bankerout quite the wits'”
”My dear,” interposed Mr Arht a character?”
But he could not immediately check the doctor
”Ha, Miss Faith,” he cried, ”'wilt thou show the whole wealth of thy wit, in an instant? I pray thee, understand a plainwenches are as keen As is the razor's edge invisible, Cutting a smaller hair thanthat Mr Arrave, ”take ether” So saying, he offered his arm to Faith, which she took, and they followed, at a few steps distance, after Mr Ar and thehis pace, so as to allow the others to get out of hearing, ”you would prefer a certain young gentleman's arues, whose principal recommendation, I flatter er, should steal away all hed, as she replied:
”Why, dear doctor, ould you have us do? You never will propose; so you irls to desperation”
”You wicked little baggage, is this the way you laugh at theyears have I spent in your service, froiving you, to sweeten your humors, a teaspoon of castor oil, or a half-dozen drops of elixir salutis, up to the present tiin to feel desperate, and have half a mind to transfer my affections to Anne Bernard”
”Do not treat me so cruelly I assure you, ht find your perfidy punished bya too formidable rival”
”Ah, ha! I understand Yet, I feel my chivalry a little roused at the idea of opposition But, on the whole, Faith, I will accept your pledge of affection, and stick to my colors like a man and a doctor
And, to exhibit my confidence, you may, meanwhile, flirt in et tired of it when the novelty wears off; so I shall escape, and it is better that you should tease him now than me hereafter But, dearand the minister had waited for theether Shortly after Pownal arrived, and somewhat later the family of the Bernards
We should deceive our readers if we left the talk of the doctor that anyand Williauely expressed, and herself so unconscious of any feelings of the kind, that Faith had not thought it worth while to notice the Bernard had known each other from infancy; they had attended the same school; the intimacy betwixt Faith and Anne, and the friendly relations of the two faht the could be further froement existed between them They treated one another, indeed, like brother and sister; but if any war affection for her father see exactly expressed the footing on which the fa shook hands cordially with all, and in a feords uttered his pleasure at welco them; Mrs Bernard kissed the cheek of Faith, with alirls' was like that of sisters, and Faith extended her hand to Williah utterly unlike, it would be difficult to conceive of twoand Anne Bernard The dark hair of Faith, the large black eyes, the nose slightly aquiline, an expression of countenance ordinarily cohted up into enthusiasnity that marked every action, while it seemed only a necessary part of herself, forcibly reminded one sometimes of the heroines of the ancient Scriptures So in her youthful years, before her eyes were fully opened to the vision, and before to the sound of the clanging ti of the children of Israel, ht have looked the prophetess, Miriaer than that presented by sweet Anne Bernard Light colored hair fell in graceful curls around an oval and perfectly regular face, of the most delicate complexion So thin, so almost transparent was the skin, that the veins seeht emotion was sufficient to suffuse it with a tint that needed to fear no rivalry with the rose No heaven could be bluer than the soft eyes that seemed ”to love whate'er they looked upon,”
and whether di withfeatures which all were beautiful, if one could be called more beautiful than another, it was the ular and perfectly forure was rather below than above the ordinary height, and its roundness indicated the most perfect health Let not this description be deemed a picture of rohters of New England will acknowledge its truth, or, at least, confess, it errs not on the side of exaggeration
The intermediate ti up of dinner, was spent by them in such conversation as usually takes place on occasions of the kind Somebody has said, that two A politics, but we can vouch for the fact, that although Mr Are a de spent several of his early years in France, where he was supposed to have imbibed his sentiments, not a word on the subject was uttered A reference or tascondition of the country and its prospects adverted to; and soe anecdotes narrated Such was the conversation of the elders: as for what passed between the young people, we know there was soret this irreparable loss, and proth, the ebony disc of Felix's face, rising pleasantly above a snow-bank of neck-cloth, appeared at the door, and announced dinner, when Mr Ar his ar-rooe's escort, and Pownal tried to wait on Anne, but somehow or other (and we suspect her of complicity in the affair), the divine secured the prize
Before the co reference to their supposed tastes and attractions, at a request frorace was said by the minister, which happily avoided the extrereat prolixity on the other; or, in other words, it was neither irreverently short, nor i