o Carolina's
soil to better their estate; but it was for liberty of soul, to lift
their ardent and exalted prayer to God as their own conscience bade
them, and not as any man dictated, that those French colonists sought
the New World. No Puritan splendor of independence and indomitable
courage outshines theirs. They preached a word as burning as any that
Plymouth or Salem ever heard. They were but a handful, yet so fecund
was their marvelous zeal that they became the spiritual leaven of their
whole community. They are less known than Plymouth and Salem, because
men of action, rather than men of letters, have sprung from the loins
of the South; but there they stand, a beautiful beacon, shining upon the
coasts of our early history. Into their church, then, into the shrine
where their small lamp still burns, their devout descendant, Mrs.
Weguelin St. Michael led our party, because in her eyes Kings Port could
show nothing more precious and significant. There had been nothing to
warn her that Bohm and Charley were Americans who neither knew nor loved
their country, but merely Americans who knew their country's wealth and
loved to acquire every penny of it that they could.

And so, following the steps of our delicate and courteous guide, we
entered into the dimness of the little building; and Mrs. Weguelin's
voice, lowered to suit the sanctity which the place had for her, began
to tell us very quietly and clearly the story of its early days.

I knew it, or something of it, from books; but from this little lady's
lips it took on a charm and graciousness which made it fresh to me. I
listened attentively, until I felt, without at first seeing the
cause, that dulling of enjoyment, that interference with the receptive
attention, which comes at times to one during the performance of music
when untimely people come in or go out. Next, I knew that our group of
listeners was less compact; and then, as we moved from the first point
in the church to a new one, I saw that Bohm and Charley were dropping
behind, and I lingered, with the intention of bringing them closer.

"But there was nothing in it," I heard Charley's slow monologue
continuing behind me to the silent Bohm. "We could have bought the
Parsons road at that time. 'Gentlemen,' I said to them, 'what is there
for us in tide-water at Kings Port? '"

It was not to be done, and I rejoined Mrs. Weguelin and those of
the party who were making some show of attention to her quiet l