reasonable
conclusion. When one arrangement was proposed, various faces of the
group grew dark and sour; when another, other faces blackened and
elongated; tongues, too, wagged faster every minute, and at length grew
to such a hubbub as to call old Sylvester away from his Bible and bring
him to the door to learn what turmoil it was that at this quiet hour
disturbed the peace of the Peabodys. He was not long in discovering the
ground of battle, and even as in old pictures Adam is shown walking
calmly in Eden among the raging beasts of all degrees and kinds, the old
patriarch came forward among the women of the Peabody family--"My
children," he said, "should dwell in peace for the short stay allotted
them on earth. Why make a difference about so small a matter as a
lodging-place--they are all good and healthful rooms. I have seen the
day when camping on the wet grounds and morasses I would have held any
one of them to be a palace-chamber. The back chamber, my child," he
continued, addressing the Captain's wife, "looks out on the orchard,
where you always love to walk; the white room, Hannah, towards your
father's house; and Jane, you cannot object to the front chamber which
is large, well-furnished, and has the best of the sunrise. The Son of
Man, my children, had not where to lay his head, and shall we who are
but snails and worms, compared with his glory and goodness, presume to
exalt ourselves, where he was abased."

The old patriarch wished them a good night, and with the departure of
his white locks gleaming as he walked away, as though it had been the
gentle radiance of the moon stilling the tumult of the waters, they each
quietly retired, and without a further murmur, to the chambers assigned
them.

CHAPTER FIFTH.

THE CHILDREN.

There was no question where the children were to lodge, for there had
been allotted to them from time immemorial, ever since children were
known in the Peabody family, a great rambling upper chamber, with beds
in the corners, where they were always bestowed as soon after dark as
they could be convoyed thither under direction of Mopsey and the
mistress of the household. This was not always--in truth it was
rarely--easy of achievement, and cost the shuffling black servant at
least half an hour of diligent search and struggling persuasion to bring
them in from the various strayings, escapes, and lurking-places, where
they shirked to gain an extra half-hour of freedom.

To the c