on that sweet June Sabbath.

As the hour for morning service drew near, the drummer took his
accustomed stand before the church and began to thunder forth his
summons,--a summons not unfitting those stern Puritans whose idea of
religion was that of a life-long warfare against the world, the flesh,
and the devil.

Soon the people began to gather,--grave men and women, dressed in the
sober-colored garb of the day, and little children, clad in their
"Sunday best," undergoing the awful process of "going to meeting," yet
some of them, at least, looking at the cool shadowed wood as they
passed, and thinking how pleasant it would be to hunt berries or
birds' nests in those sylvan retreats instead of listening to a two
hours' sermon, under imminent danger of perdition if they went to
sleep,--for in such seductive guise did the Evil One tempt the souls
of these youthful Puritans. Solemn of visage and garb were the groups,
although here and there the gleam of a bit of ribbon at the throat of
some young maiden, or a bonnet tastefully adorned, showed that "the
world, the flesh, and the devil" were not yet wholly subdued among
them.

As the audience filed through the open door, the men and women
divided, the former taking one side of the house, the latter the
other,--the aisle forming a dividing line between them. The floor was
uncarpeted, the walls bare, the pulpit undraped, and upon it the
hour-glass stood beside the open Bible. Anything more stiff and barren
than the interior of the meeting-house it would be difficult to find.

An unwonted stir breaks the silence and solemnity of the waiting
congregation, as an official party enters. It is the Governor of the
colony and his staff, who are making a tour of the province, and have
stopped over Sunday in the little frontier settlement,--for although
the Governor is an august man, even he may not presume to travel on
the Sabbath in this land of the Puritans. The new-comers are richly
dressed. There is something heavy, massive, and splendid in their
garb, especially in the Governor's. He is a stately military-looking
man, and wears his ample vestments, his embroidered gloves, his lace
and ruffles, with a magisterial air.

A rustle goes through the audience as the distinguished visitors pass
up the aisle to the front seats assigned, as the custom was, to
dignitaries. Young people steal curious glances at them; children turn
around in their seats to stare, provoking divers shakes o