ley had always blamed old
things on new things.

It was a ferocious sermon, however, and the wincing Pepperalls felt that
it was aimed directly at them. When Doctor Brearley denounced modern
parents for their own godlessness and the irreligion of their homes,
William took the blame to himself. On his way home he announced his
determination to resume the long-neglected family custom of reading from
the Bible.

After the heavy Sabbath dinner had been eaten--Prue was up in time for
this rite--he gathered his little flock in the parlor for a solemn
while. It had been his habit to choose the reading of the day at
random--he called it "letting the Lord decide." The big rusty-hinged
Bible fell open with a loud puff of dust several years old. Papa
adjusted his spectacles and read what he found before him:

"Nehemiah x: 'Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the
son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashur,
Amariah, Malchijah, Hattush ...'" He began to breathe hard. He was lost
in an impenetrable forest of names, and he could not pronounce one of
them. He sneaked a peek ahead, dimly made out "Bunni, Hizkijah, Magpiash
and Hashub," and choked.

It looked like sacrilege, but he ventured to close the Book and open it
once more.

This time he happened on the last chapter of the Book of Judges, wherein
is the chronicle of the plight of the tribe of Benjamin, which could not
get women to marry into it. The wife famine of the Benjamites was not in
the least interesting to Mr. Pepperall, but he would not tempt the Lord
again. So he read on, while the children yawned and shuffled, Prue
especially.

Suddenly Prue sat still and listened, and papa's cough grew worse. He
was reading about the "feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly," and how the
elders of the congregation ordered the children of Benjamin to go and
lie in wait in the vineyards.

"'And see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in
dances, then come ye out of the vineyards and catch you every man his
wife of the daughters of Shiloh....

"'And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to
their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and
returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in
them....

"'In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which
was right in his own eyes."

He closed the Book and stole a glance at Prue. Her eyes wer