Several elderly Friends were in their place on the floor, and in the gallery were those who held the positions of elders and accepted ministers. Their hands were folded, and one or two of the men, who held walking sticks, rested their hands on the rounded tops. But the faces of all wore a far-away look, as if the present surroundings could never disturb the sweet serenity of their souls. Quietly the congregation gathered. There was not a large company. But few wore the garb of the past generation. There was, among the middle-aged, a disposition to grow a little plainer with increasing years, but the soft felt hat was conspicuous in the room, and the stiff bonnets were relieved by silk shirrs of brown or gray. Cassy, this warm day, has assumed a gown of white stuff, the very essence of simplicity; a straw bonnet of half modern date, destitute of embellishment, unless the satin ties, reaching halfway to the crown, and the blond pleating surrounding her face, could be called trimming. The dress was closed at the throat by a small gold clasp, which confined also the edges of the linen collar; drab, openwork mitts covered her well-shaped hands--hands that were never weary with good work, nor ever fearful of losing their beauty in the performance of the daily toils that fell upon them. As the house grew silent, and more silent, a gentle prayer went up from her heart that she might keep her spirit undefiled, and when, after a little, the stillness was broken by the voice of an aged man in the upper seat, she raised her head and paid the strictest attention to his opening words. “Like as a father pitieth his children,” he began, his pale face reflecting the purity of his aspirations, and the trembling voice, growing in volume as he proceeded, until after a few moments it had fallen into that peculiar cadence, a sort of half melancholy rising and falling inflection, measured and monotonous, that afflicts the unaccustomed ear, and so often in these holy assemblies destroys their solemnity. Philo Thomas was a trial to poor Cassy; she revered his patient life of tribulation, she caught the reflection of the light which glowed within his soul, but his outward manifestations were singularly unacceptable to her; she wished that so good a man might feel called upon to keep silence in public places, and yet she half rebuked herself for the seeming disrespect.