back at the gaping black
faces. "You putt on dog when she ain't heah, but minute she lif's her
han', you cayn't make a riffle! Ba-h-h! S-sh!" she hissed at them like a
cat or a snake. "Come on, you fool nigger!" she jeered, pulling at her
bewildered husband's collar; and in this sorry fashion, but still with
her head high, she left Zion for ever.

"An' now," concluded Sister Esmeralda Humphreys sedately, "let us all
try fo' to lead a bettah life. I shall preach nex' Sunday on the
_Seventh_ Commandment, an' all them that feels they have broke that
commandment is at free liberty to stay away. I shall expec' to see all
the res' of you, even if 'tis fallin' weader. Let us all sing befo' we
go:

"'Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.'"

Brother Moore arose. "Sist' Humphreys," he announced, "you got de right
kin' o' gospil light in you. I cayn't jine in the singin' 'cause since I
got my store teef I ain't be'n able to cyar' a chune; but I want to do
sumfin de wuk er grace; an' I got up to say dat de nex' socherble
gatherin' I'll donate de lemons."

"Dis meetin' accep's with t'anks," shouted Brother Morrow. "Now, le's
show our beloved pastor the clouds is swep' away! _All_ sing!"

And never had so noble a burst of melody wakened the echoes along the
moonlit road as that which made the colonel outside turn, smiling, in
his saddle.

"She didn't need me," he mused. "Well, so much the better. I reckon they
need a good despot, and they've got one, all right."

THE REAL THING

The club had gone, save only the guest of the afternoon and a few
friends of the hostess, who lingered to congratulate her. It had been a
most successful meeting. The guest who had spoken was the president of a
southern club. The hearers were warm in their praises of the leisurely
music of her southern voice, the charm of her southern manner, so simple
and direct and sympathetic, her beauty, her grace, even of the finish of
her toilet. She had handled a weighty subject with a light touch (it was
the child labor of the south), and her husband being a very large
manufacturer, she had spoken out of experience as well as theory.
Moreover, she had shown a luminous common sense and a tolerant humor
such as did not always brighten such serious themes; and not only the
earnest students of the club, but the more flippant members, were
aroused to an unusu