wo others caught hold of his dress, and held
it out on each side, and dropped it again. The boys in white and scarlet
and purple made themselves into double lines, and walked out of the door
they came in by. The leading scarlet and gold man took the gold cup in
his hands, and followed after, and the other men in their sparkling
dresses--with those two in black and white--walked beside and behind him
while he carried it out.

There was a little stir in the congregation after this, but by and by
the man who had stood on the steps of the altar and carried out the cup,
came back in another dress, and went up into a little cubby-house of a
pulpit, where he preached a beautiful sermon, which I didn't understand
a word of, and then Easter was over in that church.

When we got out of church I felt like a bird with its wings spread out
wide. It was raining like Jehu, but I didn't care for that; the music,
the flowers, the bursts of light had made me feel like another creature.
Even the stormy sky looked splendid. But when we got home, I began to
think over what I had seen and heard, and as soon as Cousin E. E. seemed
to feel like talking, I put a few questions to her.

"Cousin," says I, "who were the men that came out there, all glistening
with gold and things, and stood on the steps of the altar?"

"Them? Why, they were the priests."

"Oh! And the one who held that cup in his hand--wasn't he something a
little more particular than the rest?"

"He was the arch-priest."

"You don't say so! But what was that round thing he lifted out of the
cup?"

"That? Why, Phoemie, that was the Host!"

"There was a host of people on the floor, of course; but I mean the
little thing he held up between his thumb and finger?"

"That?" says Cousin E. E., a-lifting up both hands, as if I'd done
something dreadful. "That is the holy wafer."

"The what, Cousin E. E.?"

"The body of our Saviour."

"Oh, cousin, how can you?" says I, a-feeling myself grow cold all over.

"It is so, Phoemie. As yet you may not understand the mystery, but in
time you will see it."

I couldn't answer her, she was in such solemn earnest; but then and
there I made up my mind that we should have to talk over that matter in
earnest before long, for I felt the Pilgrim blood riling up in my bosom.

"Do Episcopalians believe that?" says I.

"Those that take a high stand do," says she.

"Well," says I, "we won't talk that over just now. But whose boys were
th