the more so as he saw the
look of disdain and scorn flitting over the pretty face of Susanna.

"Thee does us an injustice, friend," he said. "Was it not Benjamin
Franklin who a few months back gave such notable help to General
Braddock that he called him the only man of honesty and vigour in
all the western world? But the Lord showed that He would not have
us attack our brother men, and Braddock's army was cut to pieces,
and he himself slain. When the Lord shows us His mind, it is not
for us to persist in our evil courses; we must be patient beneath
His chastenings."

"Tush, man! the whole campaign was grossly mismanaged; all the
world knows that by now. But why hark back to the past? it is the
present, the future that lie before us. Are we to let our province
become overrun and despoiled by hordes of savage Indians, or are we
to rise like men and sweep them back whence they came? There is the
case in a nutshell. And instead of facing it like men, the Assembly
talks and squabbles and wrangles like a pack of silly women!"

"Oh no, Cousin Jack," quoth Susanna saucily, "say not like women!
Women would make up their minds to action in an hour. Say rather
like men, like men such as Ebenezer loves--men with the tongues of
giants and the spirit of mice; men who speak great swelling words,
and boast of their righteousness, but who are put to shame by the
brute beasts themselves. Even a timid hen will be brave when her
brood is attacked; but a Quaker cannot be anything but a coward,
and will sit with folded hands whilst his own kinsmen perish
miserably!"

This was rather too much even for Ebenezer's phlegmatic spirit. He
seized his broad-brimmed hat and clapped it on his head.

"Thee will be sorry some day, Susanna, for making game of the
Quakers, and of the godly ones of the earth," he spluttered.

"Go thee to the poultry yard, friend Ebenezer," called Susanna
after him; "the old hen there will give thee a warm welcome. Go and
learn from her how to fight. I warrant thee will learn more from
her than thee has ever known before--more than thine own people
will ever teach thee. Go to the old hen to learn; only I fear thee
will soon flee from her with a text in thy mouth to aid thy legs to
run!"

"Susanna, Susanna!" cried a voice from within, whilst Jack doubled
himself up in a paroxysm of delight, "what are you saying so loud
and free? Come hither, child. You grow over bold, and I cannot have
you in the public room. With