y instructed by a committee of the leading members that before he
began to open the services, he must make it plain to the congregation
that what he had said on the preceding Sunday about every woman being
possessed by seven devils was Scripture truth, and not mere wicked
nonsense out of his own brain. If he could not do that, they wanted no
more praying or preaching from him.

Uncle Peter made no answer, but, ascending the little pulpit, he put his
hat on the bench behind him where it was used to repose, took out his
red cotton handkerchief and blew his nose in his accustomed way, and
looked about him. The house was crowded. Even Aunt Rebecca was there.

After a deliberate survey of his audience the preacher spoke: "Brev'eren
an' sisters, I see afore me Brudder Bill Hines, who kin read de Bible,
an' has got one. Ain't dat so, Brudder?"

Bill Hines having nodded and modestly grunted assent, the preacher
continued. "An' dars' Aun' Priscilla's boy, Jake, who ain't a brudder
yit, though he's plenty old 'nuf, min', I tell ye; an' he kin read de
Bible, fus' rate, an' has read it ter me ober an' ober ag'in. Ain't dat
so, Jake?"

Jake grinned, nodded, and hung his head, very uncomfortable at being
thus publicly pointed out.

"An' dar's good ole Aun' Patty, who knows more Scripter' dan ennybuddy
h'yar, havin' been teached by de little gals from Kunnel Jasper's an' by
dere mudders afore 'em. I reckin she know' de hull Bible straight froo,
from de Garden of Eden to de New Jerus'lum. An' dar are udders h'yar who
knows de Scripters, some one part an' some anudder. Now I axes ebery one
ob you all wot know de Scripters ef he don' 'member how de Bible tells
how our Lor' when he was on dis yearth cas' seben debbils out o' Mary
Magdalum?"

A murmur of assent came from the congregation. Most of them remembered
that.

"But did enny ob you ebber read, or hab read to you, dat he ebber cas'
'em out o'enny udder woman?"

Negative grunts and shakes of the head signified that nobody had ever
heard of this.

"Well, den," said the preacher, gazing blandly around, "all de udder
women got 'em yit."

A deep silence fell upon the assembly, and in a few moments an elderly
member arose. "Brudder Pete," he said, "I reckin you mought as well gib
out de hyme."

SECOND EXPOSITION: GRANDISON'S QUANDARY.

Grandison Pratt was a colored man of about thirty, who, with his wife
and two or three children, lived in a neat log cabin in one of th