ion that I cannot find it in my heart to refuse them. I _did_
wish, to be sure, that we might have our Fast-Day in quiet; but Miss
Turligood, who knows much more about the matter than we do, thinks the
spirits would not like it, if we did, and so--although we will absent
ourselves from the sitting long enough to go to church--we must really
make the best of it, and receive the circle."

"You speak like a believer, Colonel Prowley," I said.

"No, not quite that," replied the old gentleman,--"yet, truly, I
sometimes hardly know why I am not. The knockings alone are quite
inexplicable; and when it comes to a fiery hand ringing the dinner-bell,
which Stellato can show in the dark----Besides, there are the
communications from distinguished characters, many of them so very
important and interesting. To be sure, my poor cousin Barley did not do
himself justice this evening, though some of his ideas were very
poetical; but, really, the other night, when he told us how much the
Royal Sextons were thought of in the spheres, and repeated that very
high compliment which Thomas Herne paid to my family-history, it all
seemed so marvellous, and yet so natural, that I could not help
subscribing pretty handsomely to the cause."

"And one of the privileges that your subscription has gone to purchase I
am yet to enjoy. Dr. Burge wished me to visit, in his company, your
former pastor, Mr. Clifton,--and we must look for him, as I see, at the
Spiritualists' Festival in the Town Hall."

"Sad! sad!" cried Colonel Prowley, thoughtfully chewing upon my remark.
"It is an abiding shame for a minister of the gospel to meddle with
these things, except, possibly, in the way of exorcism. Truly, a deep
humiliation has fallen upon the town."

And the chagrin of this respected gentleman was wholly sincere. The
Puritanical distinction between clergy and laity had scarcely faded in
his mind. The pastor of the First Church had belonged to a cherished
class,--a class whose moral and intellectual consequence must be
maintained by avoidance of all dangerous inquiries, common interests,
and secular amusements. A minister attending a Jenny-Lind
Charity-Concert in a play-house, or leading armed men in the most sacred
cause for which human blood might be shed,--what offences would these
have been to this titular Colonel of Foxden, who had won his honors by a
six-months' finery and dining as aide-de-camp to some forgotten
Governor!

"I fear I shall not be ba