colors; spoke in such high praise of his talent, and gave so many guarantees as to what he would do if he only got among the heathen, that her sympathies were enlisted-she resolved to lose no time in getting to New York, and, when there, put her shoulder right manfully to the wheel.  This declaration finds her, as if by some mysterious transport, an object of no end of praise.  Sister Scudder adjusts her spectacles, and, in mildest accents, says, “The Lord will indeed reward such disinterestedness.”  Brother Mansfield says motives so pure will ensure a passport to heaven, he is sure.  Brother Sharp, an exceedingly lean and tall youth, with a narrow head and sharp nose (Mr. Sharp’s father declared he made him a preacher because he could make him nothing else), pronounces, with great emphasis, that such self-sacrifice should be written in letters of gold.  A unanimous sounding of her praises convinces Mrs. Swiggs that she is indeed a person of great importance.  There is, however, a certain roughness of manner about her new friends, which does not harmonize with her notions of aristocracy.  She questions within herself whether they represent the “first families” of New York.  If the “first families” could only get their heads together, the heathen world would be sure to knock under.  No doubt, it can be effected in time by common people.  If Sister Slocum, too, would evangelize the world-if she would give the light of heaven to the benighted, she must employ willing hearts and strong hands.  Satan, she says, may be chained, subdued, and made to abjure his wickedness.  These cheering contemplations more than atone for the cold reception she met at the house of Sister Slocum.  Her only regret now is that she did not sell old Cicero.  The money so got would have enabled her to bestow a more substantial token of her soul’s sincerity.

Tea over, thanks returned, a prayer offered up, and Brother Spyke, having taken a seat on the sofa beside Mrs. Swiggs, opens his batteries in a spiritual conversation, which he now and then spices with a few items of his own history.  At the age of fifteen he found himself in love with a beautiful young lady, who, unfortunately, had made up her mind to accept only the hand of a clergyman:  hence, she rejected his.  This so disturbed his thoughts, that he resolved on studying theology.  In this he was aided by the singular discovery, that he had a talent, and a “call to preach.”  He would forget his amour, he thought, become a member of the clergy, and go preach to the heathen.  He spent his days in reading, his nights in the study of divine truths.  Then he got on the kind side of a committee of very excellent ladies, who, having duly considered his qualities, pronounced him exactly suited to the study of theology.  Ladies were generally good judges of such matters, and Brother Spyke felt he could not do better than act up to their opinions.  To all these things Mrs. Swiggs listens with delight.