have preachin',
and I've a mind to go. How the folk'll stare though to see Bill. Say, will
you go?"

The gentlemen signified their assent, and at the usual hour they proceeded
to the church, which was situated about two miles from Mr. Middleton's. We
are sorry for it, but truth compels us to say that on this day Uncle
Joshua was not quite as devotional as usual. He was looking over the
congregation to see what effect his brother's presence was producing. When
he saw that no one exclaimed or turned pale, and that even the minister
kept on the even tenor of his discourse, he inwardly accused them all of
being "doughheads," and wondered he had never before discovered how little
they knew. However, when meeting was over, the neighbors crowded around
the old man, congratulating him on the unexpected return of his brother,
whom they welcomed so warmly that Uncle Joshua began to think he had been
too hasty in condemning them, for "after all, they knew a heap."

That night, after supper, Mr. Middleton was again seated in the little
porch with his guests. They had been speaking of the sermon they had
heard, when Mr. Middleton said, "That's the right kind of meetin' to my
notion. A feller can sleep a bit if he feels like it; but whar my gals go,
in Frankford, they have the queerest doin's--keep a gittin' up and sittin'
down; 'pears like you don't moren't git fairly sot afore you have to hist
up again, and you can't sleep to save you. Then they have streaked yaller
and black prar books and keep a-readin' all meetin' time."

"Do your daughters prefer that church?" asked William.

"Why, yes," returned his brother; "or, that is, Dick, poor boy Dick,
belonged thar; so did the young Leftenant Carrington; so does Dr. Lacey;
and that's reason enough why Sunshine should prefer it. Tempest goes thar,
I reckon, because its fashionable, and she can have a nice prar-book to
show. You ought to see the one I bought for Sunshine. It's all velvety,
and has gold clasps, with jest the word 'Sunshine' writ on it. Tempest has
got a more common one. It didn't cost half as much."

"I notice that you make quite a distinction between your daughters," said
William. "May I ask why you do it?"

Mr. Middleton stopped smoking and said, "If you please, Bill, I'd rather
say nothin' about that now. I make it a rule never to swar Sundays, and if
I got to goin' it about Tempest and the way she used poor Dick, I should
have to swar and no mistake. Mebby you t