gel, unto his
weeping mother, Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad
where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for
I will make him a great nation? Even so now hast thou done unto me and
remembered me in my low estate, for thy mercy endureth for ever."

Thus the father poured out his heart, alike unconscious of the
gathering crowd, which his unusual appearance and strange language had
collected around him, and of the observations they made.

"I say, Haxall," said a stout boy, whose dirty and ragged clothing,
and vicious expression of face, proclaimed him one of those
predestined candidates for the State Prison and gallows, bred to
their fate by the criminal neglect of the State, "I say," he said,
addressing his companion, as wicked looking as himself, "isn't it a
rum old covey."

"Why the old cuss is a crying," answered Haxall, "or, perhaps, it's
the whisky leaking out he took for his morning bitters."

"Whisky be d----d," said the other. "He never got as far as that. It's
nothing but sour cider. I can smell it."

Here there was a brutal laugh, in which some of the bystanders,
equally degraded, joined.

"For shame, young men," said a respectable-looking person, whose
broad-brimmed hat, and formal and amply cut clothing, proclaimed him
a Quaker; "is an old man, in tears, a proper subject for ribaldry?
It were better ye were engaged in some honest employment, than idling
away your time, and disgracing yourselves by the use of profane
language."

"Smoke the old quiz, Haxall," cried the boy who had first spoken. "He
opens rich. Let's see what's in the prig."

"Smoke him, smoke him," cried several voices.

Thus exhorted, Haxall jerking his cap jauntily on one side of his
head, throwing an additional quantity of impudence into his face, and
placing his hands on the hips, so that the elbows stuck out on each
side, approached the Quaker.

"So you set yourself up for a preacher of righteousness," he said; "do
ye? Well, you may preach away without asking my leave, or I'll give it
to ye gratis, for nothing. That's cheap enough, I guess. Most of
your sort, though, don't like to preach for nothing. So here's my
contribution to set you a going." So saying, he held out a cent.
"There's value received," he added, "and, mind ye, ye give us a
preachment equal to the consideration. But first, beloved brother,
I've a question to ask. Up to the tip top of your judgment, now do you
think your re