One timid little woman ventured to say that it could not be Satan, for he was never known to do anything good. Another said there must be something uncanny about it, for she had experienced the most peculiar sensations when shaking hands with Mrs. Hayden. Mrs. Dyke had waited for a more practical time to give her opinion, and now she concluded the whole matter for herself, at least, by saying in a most practical way: "It is the devil's work from first to last, and I am not surprised that that woman, Mrs. Hayden, has got into his clutches, for she never did her duty to the church, and such people can't expect he will always let them go their own way. Christian Healing has no right to its name or its pretentions. It is only the magician's rod, and I, for one, don't propose to look at it," with which profound announcement she went to the other room to oversee her charge of sewing girls. "Oh, how righteous we are!" giggled one very young lady, with a mock look of reverence. "Well, now, see here ladies!" declared Mrs. Grant, another "practical" woman, but of a different type from Mrs. Dyke, "we may as well look at this matter in a sensible and candid light. Here are the facts: Mrs. Hayden is a lovely and reliable woman. She has, as we all know, suffered everything from her headaches and dyspepsia, besides the limb that was broken at the fire. We see her well, and ought to believe what she says. They often say, 'Truth is stranger than fiction.' An example has come to our door, and why should we refuse to believe, when the proof is so plain? For my part, I can believe though I do not understand, and I want to know what there is in Christian Healing." Mrs. Grant had spoken, and as she usually did, turned the tide of thought in her direction. "Why, yes, we all want to know if there is anything in it, but there is an if--" "_If!_ There it is again! I've no patience with people who always tumble over an _if_. You can bar the very gates of heaven with that nipping little word. It means doubt, and doubt is the destroyer of faith which we _must_ have in this world, if we live at all." Mrs. Grant unwittingly preached a little sermon, which not only served to quell the confusion, but gave them a helpful thought to carry home. Scattering good seed seemed to be her mission, and many a good word dropped into fruitful soil, and took its time to bring forth. CHAPTER IX. "Soul, receive into thyself the warm and radiant life of heaven, to breathe it out again as spiritual fragrance over other lives, and so change this wilderness-world into the garden of the Lord! This is the lovely moral which hides within the roses of June, and makes more than half their sweetness."--_Lucy Larcom._