s simple and inexpensive a summer
outfit as any one could have, and certainly was not fitted to excite the
hateful thoughts to which it was giving rise in Bertie's mind--Bertie,
clad in her unsuitable finery! This finery had not been the success that
Bertie expected. To be sure, it was a silk dress, and the brightest
color she could procure, but it had been made by the Squantown
dressmaker, and entirely lacked the fit and finish of Etta Mountjoy's
dresses, besides being in direct contrast to the delicate, harmonious
colors which the latter wore--a contrast which her admirer and would-be
imitator was quick to perceive when her own brilliant coloring had been
selected and it was too late to change. The disappointment made her
cross, and inclined her still more to look for flaws in Katie, whom she
began to hate as natures not sanctified by the grace of God are apt to
hate those who are trying to do his will, and are thus a constant rebuke
to them.

"Just look at her finery," said Bertie to her nearest neighbor, as Katie
entered, looking as fresh and sweet as a June rose, "and her mother so
poor. I could tell a story about how she got it that would make Miss
Etta open her eyes, and Miss Eunice, too, for all she makes such a pet
of the saint."

"What in the world do you mean?" said the other; but Bertie shook her
head and looked mysterious, of course thus exciting the curiosity of the
other tenfold.

"Do tell me," she said.

"We know what we do know, don't we?" said Bertie, provokingly, appealing
to Gretchen, who nodded, but did not speak.

"Now, you're real mean," said the other, one Amelia Porter by name. "I
know something I won't tell you, that's all."

Just then the bell tapped for silence, and the rest of the conversation
was carried on in whispers, the only part which was heard being Amelia's
astonished "Stole it? You don't say so! I never would have thought of
such a thing."

But Katie did not hear. She was not thinking about her dress at all. The
lesson was to her a very interesting one--the oft-repeated story of the
tongues of fire that came down upon the early church, symbolizing the
mighty power of the Holy Spirit to enkindle divine emotions, enthusiasm,
and praise, and to make human tongues as flames of fire.

Miss Etta explained (for she had taken pains to study it up) how, in
the early, times one Sunday in June was observed in commemoration of
this descent of the Holy Ghost, and how, on that day, the