ain their united and disapproving
gaze; but Dorothy, whose mind was differently circumstanced, merely drew
the boy closer to her, and faltered not in her approach. As they entered
the door, they overheard the muttered sentiments of the assemblage, and
when the reviling voices of the little children smote Ilbrahim's ear, he
wept.

The interior aspect of the meeting-house was rude. The low ceiling, the
unplastered walls, the naked woodwork, and the undraperied pulpit
offered nothing to excite the devotion, which, without such external
aids, often remains latent in the heart. The floor of the building was
occupied by rows of long, cushionless benches, supplying the place of
pews, and the broad aisle formed a sexual division, impassable except by
children beneath a certain age.

Pearson and Dorothy separated at the door of the meeting-house, and
Ilbrahim, being within the years of infancy, was retained under the care
of the latter. The wrinkled beldams involved themselves in their rusty
cloaks as he passed by; even the mild-featured maidens seemed to dread
contamination; and many a stern old man arose, and turned his repulsive
and unheavenly countenance upon the gentle boy, as if the sanctuary
were polluted by his presence. He was a sweet infant of the skies, that
had strayed away from his home, and all the inhabitants of this
miserable world closed up their impure hearts against him, drew back
their earth-soiled garments from his touch, and said, "We are holier
than thou."

Ilbrahim, seated by the side of his adopted mother, and retaining fast
hold of her hand, assumed a grave and decorous demeanor, such as might
befit a person of matured taste and understanding, who should find
himself in a temple dedicated to some worship which he did not
recognize, but felt himself bound to respect. The exercises had not yet
commenced, however, when the boy's attention was arrested by an event,
apparently of trifling interest. A woman, having her face muffled in a
hood, and a cloak drawn completely about her form, advanced slowly up
the broad aisle, and took a place upon the foremost bench. Ilbrahim's
faint color varied, his nerves fluttered, he was unable to turn his eyes
from the muffled female.

When the preliminary prayer and hymn were over, the minister arose, and
having turned the hour-glass which stood by the great Bible, commenced
his discourse. He was now well stricken in years, a man of pale, thin
countenance, and his gra