h, thinking in her own heart that Jethro was a prize for any
girl, was in constant dread of a renewal of the engagement, and ready to
go to any length to prevent it.

Although a member of the "circle" that met at the minister's house, Leah
was not so regular an attendant as the others; for there were no men
there and she never liked to miss the opportunity of a private
conversation with Jethro, opportunities which were somewhat limited,
owing to the continual watchfulness of her mistress. Still she went
frequently enough to be fully imbued with the spirit of their doings,
while not becoming such a victim as most of them were to disordered
nerves, and an impaired and confused mental and moral constitution.

CHAPTER VI.

A Disorderly Scene in Church.

If anything were needed to add to the excitement which the condition of
the "afflicted children," as they were generally termed, naturally
produced in Salem village and the adjoining neighborhood, it was a scene
in the village church one Sunday morning.

The church was a low, small structure, with rough, unplastered roof and
walls, and wooden benches instead of pews. The sexes were divided, the
men sitting on one side and the women on the other, but each person in
his or her regular and appointed seat.

It was the custom at that time to select a seating committee of
judicious and careful men, whose very important duty it was to seat the
congregation. In doing this they proceeded on certain well-defined
principles.

The front seats were to be filled with the older members of the
congregation, a due reverence for age, as well as for the fact that
these were more apt to be weak of sight and infirm of hearing,
necessitated this. Then came the elders and deacons of the church; then
the wealthier citizens of the parish; then the younger people and the
children.

The Puritan fathers had their faults; but they never would have
tolerated the fashionable custom of these days, whereby the wealthy,
without regard to their age, occupy the front pews; and the poorer
members, no matter how aged, or infirm of sight or hearing are often
forced back where they can neither see the minister nor hear the sermon.
And one can imagine in what forcible terms they would have denounced
some city meeting-houses of the present era where the church is regarded
somewhat in the light of an opera house, and the doors of the pews kept
locked and closed until those who have purchased the rig