k firebrands, and visited
the Dissenters in their habitations. And many Dissenters were put into
prison, and others fined and spoiled of their goods. And he wrote other
pamphlets, and each was cleverer and wickeder than the last. And whatsoever
Daniel had of old declared to be white, lo! it was black; and what he had
said was black, behold! it was white. And he throve and prospered
exceedingly, and became a commissioner for public-houses and
hackney-coaches and the imposing of oaths and the levying of custom, and
all other such things as one does by deputy. And he mended the holes in his
ears.

But the time came when Daniel must be judged, and he went before the Lord.
And all the court was full of Dissenters, and the Devil was there also. And
the Dissenters testified many and grievous things against Daniel.

"Daniel," said the Lord, "what answerest thou?"

"Nothing, Lord," said Daniel. "Only I would that the Dissenter who threw
that stone at me should receive due and condign punishment, adequate to his
misdeed."

"That," said the Devil, "is impossible."

"Thou sayest well, Satan," said the Lord, "and therefore shall Daniel go
free. For if anything can excuse the apostasy of the noble, it is the
ingratitude of the base."

So the Devil went to his own place, looking very small. And Daniel found
himself in the same garret whence he had gone forth to the pillory; and
before him were bread and cheese, and a pen and ink and paper. And he
dipped the pen into the ink, and wrote _Robinson Crusoe_.

IV.--Cornelius the Ferryman

Fourscore years ago there was a good ferryman named Cornelius, who rowed
people between New York and Brooklyn. He had neither wife nor child, nor
any one to think of except himself. It was, therefore, his custom, when he
had earned enough in a day for his own wants, to put the rest aside, and
bestow it upon sick or blind or maimed persons, lest they should come to
the workhouse. And the sick and the blind and the maimed gathered around
him, and waited by the water's edge, until Cornelius's day's work should be
over.

This went on until one of the little sooty imps who are always in mischief
came to hear of it, and told the principal devil in charge of the United
States, whose name is Politicianus.

"Dear me," said the Devil, "this will never do. I will see to it
immediately."

And he went off to Cornelius, and caught him in the act of giving two dimes
to a blind beggar.

"How foolish