he fox and wild cat
chose more accessible haunts. Yet, here came the persecuted Christians and
worshiped God, whose hand hung over their head those magnificent pillars
and arches, scooped out those galleries from the solid rock, and laid at
their feet the calm water, in its transparent beauty, in which they could
see themselves sitting, in reflected groups, with their Bibles in their
hands.

Here, upon a semicircular ledge of rocks, over a narrow chasm, of which
the tiny stream played in a murmuring waterfall, and divided the
congregation into two equal parts, sat about a hundred persons, all
devoutly listening to their minister, who stood before them on what might
he called a small, natural pulpit of living stone. Up to it there led a
short flight of steps, and over it waved the canopy of a tall, graceful
birch tree. The pulpit stood in the middle of the channel, directly facing
the congregation, and separated from them by the clear, deep, sparkling
pool, into which the scarce-heard water poured over the blackened rock.
The water, as it left the pool, separated into two streams, and flowed on
each side of that altar, thus placing it in an island, whose large, mossy
stones were richly embowered under the golden blossoms and green tresses
of the broom.

At the close of divine service, a row of maidens, all clothed in purest
white, came gliding off from the congregation, and, crossing the murmuring
stream on stepping stones, arranged themselves at the foot of the pulpit
with those who were about to be baptized. Their devout fathers, just as
though they had been in their own kirk, had been sitting there during
worship, and now stood up before the minister. The baptismal water, taken
from that pellucid pool, was lying, consecrated, in an appropriate
receptacle, formed by the upright stones that composed one side of the
pulpit, and the holy rite proceeded.

Some of the younger ones in that semicircle kept gazing down into the
pool, in which the whole scene was reflected; and now and then, in spite
of the grave looks and admonishing whispers of their elders, letting fall
a pebble into the water, that they might judge of its depth, from the
length of time that elapsed before the clear air bells lay sparkling on
the agitated surface. The rite was over, and the religious service of the
day closed by a psalm. The mighty rocks hemmed in the holy sound, and sent
it in a more compact volume, clear, sweet, and strong, up to heaven.