ed them. But the crowning proof of his "pride," Don noted
with unutterable scorn.

"Look at him," he said, "splits his head in the middle."

Ranald found himself wondering how the young fop would look sitting in
a pool of muddy water. How insufferable the young fellow's manners were!
He sat quite close to Maimie, now and then whispering to her, evidently
quite ignorant of how to behave in church. And Maimie, who ought to
know better, was acting most disgracefully as well, whispering back and
smiling right into his face. Ranald was thoroughly ashamed of her. He
could not deny that the young fellow was handsome, hatefully so, but he
was evidently stuck full of conceit, and as he let his eyes wander
over the congregation assembled, with a bold and critical stare, making
remarks to Maimie in an undertone which could be heard over the church,
Ranald felt his fingers twitching. The young man was older than Ranald,
but Ranald would have given a good deal for an opportunity to "take him
with one hand."

At this point Ranald's reflections were interrupted by Mrs. Murray
rising to open the class.

"Will some one suggest a Psalm?" she asked, her cheek, usually pale,
showing a slight color. It was always an ordeal for her to face her
class, ever since the men had been allowed to come, and the first
moments were full of trial to her. Only her conscience and her fine
courage kept her from turning back from this, her path of duty.

At once, from two or three came responses to her invitation, and a Psalm
was chosen.

The singing was a distinct feature of the Bible class. There was nothing
like it, not only in the other services of the congregation, but in
any congregation in the whole county. The young people that formed that
Bible class have long since grown into old men and women, but the echoes
of that singing still reverberate through the chambers of their hearts
when they stand up to sing certain tunes or certain Psalms. Once a week,
through the long winter, they used to meet and sing to John "Aleck's"
sounding beat for two or three hours. They learned to sing, not only the
old psalm tunes but psalm tunes never heard in the congregation before,
as also hymns and anthems. The anthems and hymns were, of course, never
used in public worship. They were reserved for the sacred concert which
John "Aleck" gave once a year. It was in the Bible class that he and his
fellow enthusiasts found opportunity to sing their new Psalm tunes,