he
had sent on ahead, and hired one of the little cubby-houses for us to
stay in till the religious season was over.

We found our cubby-house at last, but somebody else had got their nine
points of the law out of it. So the man sent on beforehand had pitched a
tent on the grass, which we went into like Indians just returned from a
hunting-party--dusty, thirsty, and sort of wolfish for something to eat.

We took off our bonnets, and pinned them by the strings to the walls of
the tent, which were of the best tow-cloth I ever saw out of Vermont.
Then we shook ourselves, as hens do when they have been rolling in the
dust, and pushed back our hair with both hands, which E. E. said was
making a rural toilet worthy of the occasion. Then I, with the kindest
intentions, shook out E. E.'s--full panier--and found it puckered-up
with green burdock burs, which she had got on from the weeds on her way
to the tent. These I picked off, one by one, while she was stamping her
foot with a spirit that shocked me dreadfully in that sacred place, for
all around us the people were singing and praying, and shouting
"Hallelujah" and "Amen" and "Glory," in a way that made the pious
teachings of my grandmother rile up within me. I looked upon the burdock
burs as a judgment upon Mrs. Dempster, especially as I hadn't any
puckerings in my dress to catch them in, and she had brought all her
wordliness on her back.

LXXXII.

FIGHTING FOR THE BODY.

By and by the shouts and noises hushed up a little, and there was a
stampede, like a rush of cattle, in the grounds.

"Come," says Dempster, "or we shall get nothing to eat."

"Does that mean dinner?" says E. E., with a hungry look.

"Just that," says Dempster, "so look sharp; for here it is every man for
himself, and the----"

"Dempster!" said I, stepping back with pious horror, "do you know where
you are?"

"Exactly; but I know, too, that unless we look sharp, we shall feel flat
when we get to the dining-hall and find everything swept off."

We took the hint. I lifted the skirt of my alpaca dress gently, between
my thumb and forefinger, just enough to give an idea of the ankle
without revealing it, and went out of the tent, imbued with the spirit
of the place, but humiliated with worldly craving.

Sisters, if the denizens of this Sea Cliff are only half as earnest in
their souls' salvation as they are in replenishing poor, frail human
nature, there will be a glorious harvest of reg