t ye do; let the fear of the Lord be upon you." _Had_
those two gentlemen heard that text?
CHAPTER II.
SOME PEOPLE WHO FORGOT THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
Let me introduce to you the Harrison dinner-table, and the people
gathered there on the afternoon of that Sabbath day. Miss Lily had
brought home with her her cousin Jim; he was privileged on the score
of relationship. Miss Helen, another daughter of the house, had
invited Mr. Harvey Latimer; he was second cousin to Kate's husband,
and Kate was a niece of Mrs. Harrison; relationship again. Also, Miss
Fannie and Miss Cecilia Lawrence were there, because they were
schoolgirls, and so lonely in boarding-school on Sunday, and their
mother was an old friend of Mrs. Harrison; there are always reasons
for things.
The dinner-table was a marvel of culinary skill. Clearly Mrs.
Harrison's cook was _not_ a church-goer. Roast turkey, and
chicken-pie, and all the side dishes attendant upon both, to say
nothing of the rich and carefully prepared dessert, of the nature
that indicated that its flankiness was _not_ developed on Saturday,
and left to wait for Sunday. Also, there was wine on Mrs. Harrison's
table; just a little home-made wine, the rare juice of the grape
prepared by Mrs. Harrison's own cook--not at all the sort of wine
that others indulged in--the Harrisons were temperance people.
"I invited Dr. Selmser down to dinner," remarked Mrs. Harrison, as
she sipped her coffee. "I thought since his wife was gone, it would
be only common courtesy to invite him in to get a warm dinner, but he
declined; he said his Sunday dinners were always very simple."
Be it known to you that Dr. Selmser was Mrs. Harrison's pastor, and
the preacher of the morning sermon.
Miss Lily arched her handsome eyebrows.
"Oh, mamma!" she said, "how could you be guilty of such a sin! The
_idea_ of Dr. Selmser going out to dinner on Sunday! I wonder he did
not drop down in a faint! Papa, did you ever hear such a sermon?"
"It slashed right and left, that is a fact," said Mr. Harrison,
between the mouthfuls of chicken salad and oyster pickle.
"A little too sweeping in its scope to be wise for one in his
position. Have another piece of the turkey, James? He is running into
that style a little too much. Some person whose opinion has weight
ought to warn him. A minister loses influence pretty rapidly who
meddles with everything."
"Well, there was _everything_ in that sermon," said Miss
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