d. The meteors, as usual at this time of the year, were
plentiful, and the simple-hearted country-folk were convinced that the
stars were falling out of the sky.

A large bald hill overlooking the Ohio was to be the mount of ascension.
Here gathered Elder Hankins's flock with that comfortable assurance of
being the elect that only a narrow bigotry can give. And here came
others of all denominations, consoling themselves that they were just as
well off if they were Christians as if they had made all this fuss about
the millennium. Here was August, too, now almost well, joining with the
rest in singing those sweet and inspiring Adventist hymns. His German
heart could not keep still where there was singing, and now, in
gratefulness at new-found health, he was more inclined to music than
ever. So he joined heartily and sincerely in the song that begins:

"Shall Simon bear his cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there's a cross for every one,
And there's a cross for me.
I'll bear the consecrated cross
Till from the cross I'm free,
And then go home to wear the crown.
For there's a crown for me!
Yes, there's a crown in heaven above,
The purchase of a Saviour's love.
Oh I that's the crown for me!"

When the concourse reached the lines,

"The saints have heard the midnight cry,
Go meet him in the air!"

neither August nor any one else could well resist the infection of the
profound and awful belief in the immediate coming of the end which
pervaded the throng. Strong men and women wept and shouted with the
excitement.

Then Elder Hankins exhorted a little. He said that the time was short.
But men's hearts were hard. As in the days of the flood, they were
marrying and giving in marriage. Not half a mile away a wedding was at
that time taking place, and a man who called himself a minister could
not discern the signs of the times, but was solemnizing a marriage.

This allusion was to the marriage of Jonas, which was to take place that
very evening at the castle. Mrs. Anderson had refused to have "such
wicked nonsense" at her house, and as Cynthy had no home, Andrew had
appointed it at the castle, partly to oblige Jonas, partly from habitual
opposition to Abigail, but chiefly to express his contempt for
Adventism.

Mrs. Anderson herself was in a state of complete sublimation. She had
sent for Norman, that she might get him ready for the f