l, and in the charity sermon
aforesaid, expatiated in glowing terms on the praiseworthy and
indefatigable exertions of certain estimable individuals. Sobs were
heard to issue from the three Miss Browns' pew; the pew-opener of the
division was seen to hurry down the centre aisle to the vestry door, and
to return immediately, bearing a glass of water in her hand. A low
moaning ensued; two more pew-openers rushed to the spot, and the three
Miss Browns, each supported by a pew-opener, were led out of the church,
and led in again after the lapse of five minutes with white
pocket-handkerchiefs to their eyes, as if they had been attending a
funeral in the churchyard adjoining. If any doubt had for a moment
existed, as to whom the allusion was intended to apply, it was at once
removed. The wish to enlighten the charity children became universal,
and the three Miss Browns were unanimously besought to divide the school
into classes, and to assign each class to the superintendence of two
young ladies.

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a little patronage is more
so; the three Miss Browns appointed all the old maids, and carefully
excluded the young ones. Maiden aunts triumphed, mammas were reduced to
the lowest depths of despair, and there is no telling in what act of
violence the general indignation against the three Miss Browns might have
vented itself, had not a perfectly providential occurrence changed the
tide of public feeling. Mrs. Johnson Parker, the mother of seven
extremely fine girls--all unmarried--hastily reported to several other
mammas of several other unmarried families, that five old men, six old
women, and children innumerable, in the free seats near her pew, were in
the habit of coming to church every Sunday, without either bible or
prayer-book. Was this to be borne in a civilised country? Could such
things be tolerated in a Christian land? Never! A ladies' bible and
prayer-book distribution society was instantly formed: president, Mrs.
Johnson Parker; treasurers, auditors, and secretary, the Misses Johnson
Parker: subscriptions were entered into, books were bought, all the
free-seat people provided therewith, and when the first lesson was given
out, on the first Sunday succeeding these events, there was such a
dropping of books, and rustling of leaves, that it was morally impossible
to hear one word of the service for five minutes afterwards.

The three Miss Browns, and their party, saw the