Oh, my friends! what can be more blessed than the counsel of
an aged and feeble companion?"
The deacon sat down, and Tom Drake, his finger on the pea-shooter,
assured himself, in acute mental triumph, that he had almost done it
that time.
Then followed certain incidents eminently pleasing to the boys. To
their unbounded relief, Sarah Frances Giles rose to speak, weeping as
she began. She always wept at prayer meeting, though at the very moment
of asserting her joy that she cherished a hope, and her gratitude that
she was so nearly at an end of this earthly pilgrimage and ready to
take her stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire. The boys reveled
in her testimony. They were in a state of bitter uneasiness before she
rose, and gnawed with a consuming impatience until she began to cry.
Then they wondered if she could possibly leave out the sea of glass;
and when it duly came, they gave a sigh of satiated bliss and sank into
acquiescence in whatever might happen. This was a rich occasion to
their souls, for Silas Marden, who was seldom moved by the spirit, fell
upon his knees to pray; but at the same unlucky instant, his
sister-in-law, for whom he cherished an unbounded scorn, rose (being
"nigh-eyed" and ignorant of his priority) and began to speak.
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