George. "And well she deserved her
fate. A good grandmother, indeed! But who was she?"

"That's the very thing I want to know," replied Mary. "But perhaps some
of you can tell me who her very lovely mother was?"

"There is no mistaking her," said Amy. "There is only one Jezebel in the
world, I hope. Think of the horrid old thing, painting herself off, and
trying to look like a beauty! I wonder if she thought she could possibly
captivate the murderer of her son!"

"Hardly that, I should think. Perhaps it was on the same principle that
Julius Caesar drew his robe around him, before his death--an idea of the
proprieties becoming the station they occupied. It reminds me of a
passage in Pope, describing 'the ruling passion strong in death:'

"'Odious--in woollen! 'twould a saint provoke,'
(Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke;)
No, let a charming chintz and Brussels' lace
Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face;
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead:
And--Betty--give this cheek a little red.'

And now, can you tell me who was that prophet that sent a letter to the
husband of 'the good grandmother,' and who predicted the fate of her
parents, Ahab and Jezebel?"

"He who did not _live to see_ their accomplishment, and yet was not
dead," said Cornelia. "Oh, I remember well about that: it was Elijah,
the Tishbite, who had ascended to heaven without dying. By the way, how
do you understand that saying of Elisha's, Mary--'My father, my father!
the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof?' I never knew rightly
whether the latter part of his exclamation referred to the ascending
prophet, or to the chariot and horses of fire."

"I once asked our clergyman that very question; and he told me that it
alluded to Elijah himself, and meant to say, that he was the defence of
the country, and a whole host in himself: comprising cavalry, and those
heavy chariots filled with warriors, and armed with scythes on either
side, which did such deadly execution in ancient warfare. I suppose
Elisha thought, How can _I_, how can our country exist without you!"

"I remember now the name of 'the good grandmother,'" said Ellen,
smiling. "It was Athaliah--and a worthy daughter she was for Ahab and
Jezebel to leave as a legacy to the world. And her son was Ahaziah, who
was killed in Samaria, while on a visit to his uncle, King Jehoram. And
now I think some one else should tell who the