med to me a hard and gloomy thing."

"Hard and gloomy?"--The old man clasped his hands, with deep emotion,
and his face radiated with inexpressible joy. "O! how softening, how
bright it is! The true spirit of religion makes men happier than all
earthly comforts and triumphs can do; it is a cold and mechanical
adherence to the mere forms of religion,--from fear, or a dark sense of
duty,--which appears gloomy. Look at the glorious sky, with its soft
blue depths, and floating silvery clouds; pass into the shadowy retreats
of the cool woods; breathe the sweet air that comes from kissing green
fields and dallying on beds of flowers; hear the birds sing,--and you
must feel your heart opened, your soul warmed, your inmost thoughts
kindled with love: love for God, love for man, love for everything: and
this is religion."

So the old clergyman talked on; his simple and natural words bubbling
from his lips like crystal waters, and filling his companions' hearts
with new and refreshing truths.

Chester drove up before a handsome white cottage, which was one of a
thin cluster of houses grouped around an old-fashioned country
meeting-house.

"Here our minister lives," said Mr. Royden. "You must see him, first of
any."

He helped the old man out of the wagon, while Chester tied the horse.

"What a delightful residence!" said Father Brighthopes. "Ah! let me stop
and take a look at these busy bees!"

There were two small hives perched upon a bench, under a plum-tree, and
the happy insects were incessantly creeping in and out, through the
small apertures,--flying abroad, humming in the flowers of the sweet
thyme that loaded the air with fragrance, and coming home with their
legs yellowed from tiny cups and bells. The old man was so charmed with
the scene, that he could hardly be prevailed upon to leave it, and walk
along the path towards the cottage door.

"We see so little of such delightful exhibitions of nature, in city
life," said he, "that in the country I am like a child intoxicated with
novelty."

They made but a brief call on the minister, who was a young and
boyish-looking man of about twenty-five. He received them in his study,
a luxurious little room, with a window open upon the little garden in
front of the house, and shaded by thick jasmines, trained on the wall.
He showed no very warm inclination to sociability, but deigned to treat
the old man with an air of deference and patronage, for which he no
doubt gave