soda on your beefsteaks?' He is as fat as a
prize ox, and the father of five children."

"Enos!" exclaimed Mrs. Billings, looking at the clock, "it's nearly
midnight! Mr. Johnson must be very tired, after such a long story.

"The Chapter of the A. C. is hereby closed!"

FRIEND ELI'S DAUGHTER.

I.

The mild May afternoon was drawing to a close, as Friend Eli Mitchenor
reached the top of the long hill, and halted a few minutes, to allow his
horse time to recover breath. He also heaved a sigh of satisfaction,
as he saw again the green, undulating valley of the Neshaminy, with its
dazzling squares of young wheat, its brown patches of corn-land, its
snowy masses of blooming orchard, and the huge, fountain like jets
of weeping willow, half concealing the gray stone fronts of the
farm-houses. He had been absent from home only six days, but the time
seemed almost as long to him as a three years' cruise to a New Bedford
whaleman. The peaceful seclusion and pastoral beauty of the scene did
not consciously appeal to his senses; but he quietly noted how much the
wheat had grown during his absence, that the oats were up and looking
well, that Friend Comly's meadow had been ploughed, and Friend Martin
had built his half of the line-fence along the top of the hill-field.
If any smothered delight in the loveliness of the spring-time found
a hiding-place anywhere in the well-ordered chambers of his heart, it
never relaxed or softened the straight, inflexible lines of his face. As
easily could his collarless drab coat and waistcoat have flushed with a
sudden gleam of purple or crimson.

Eli Mitchenor was at peace with himself and the world--that is, so much
of the world as he acknowledged. Beyond the community of his own sect,
and a few personal friends who were privileged to live on its borders,
he neither knew nor cared to know much more of the human race than if
it belonged to a planet farther from the sun. In the discipline of the
Friends he was perfect; he was privileged to sit on the high seats,
with the elders of the Society; and the travelling brethren from other
States, who visited Bucks County, invariably blessed his house with
a family-meeting. His farm was one of the best on the banks of the
Neshaminy, and he also enjoyed the annual interest of a few thousand
dollars, carefully secured by mortgages on real estate. His wife,
Abigail, kept even pace with him in the consideration she enjoyed
within the limits