the hen-mother wings of her
sympathies. That she and they exaggerated the degree of her personal
feeling for her individual listeners is probable; the oratorical
temperament enlarges the image of a sentiment as naturally as a magic
lantern magnifies a picture. In later days beloved Maggies and Matildas
of the class, who had believed themselves special favorites of Mrs.
Frankland--their images graven on her heart of hearts--were amazed to
find that they had been quite forgotten when they had been out of sight
a year or two.

The Bible-class room in the Church of St. James the Less soon became
uncomfortably crowded. This was what Mrs. Frankland had long desired.
She thereupon availed herself of the hospitality of a disciple of hers
who had a rather large parlor, and in this she opened a Bible reading on
Friday afternoons. Eloquent talk, and especially pathetic talk and vivid
illustrations by means of incidents and similes, were as natural to her
as melodious whistling is to a brown thrush, and the parlors were easily
filled, though out of deference to church authorities men were excluded.

The success of this first course of so-called Bible readings was marked,
and it determined Mrs. Frankland's career. She was enough of a woman to
be particularly pleased that some of the wealthiest parishioners of St.
James the Less were among her hearers, and that, having neglected her in
all the years of baby-tending and dishwashing obscurity, these people
now invited her to their houses and made her the confidante of their
sorrows. This sort of success was as agreeable to her as merely social
climbing was to Mrs. Hilbrough. For even in people of a higher type than
Mrs. Frankland the unmixed heroic is not to be looked for: if one finds
zeal or heroism in the crude ore it ought to be enough; the refined
articles have hardly been offered in the market since the lives of the
saints were written and the old romances went out of fashion.

Two results of Mrs. Frankland's first winter's readings, or preachings,
had not entered into her calculations, but they were potent in deciding
her to continue her career. One was that her husband's law practice was
somewhat increased by her conspicuousness and popularity. He was not
intrusted with great cases, but there was a very decided increase in his
collection business. At the close of the season Mrs. Frankland, in
making her farewell to her class, had, like a true orator, coined even
her private