Perhaps no circumstances could have extenuated the old man's
surly manners or his lack of all citizenly graces and virtues;
but his neighbors commonly rebuked his present way of living and
forgot the troubled past that had brought it about: the
sharp-tongued wife, the unloving and disloyal sons, the
daughter's hapless fate, and all the other sorry tricks that
fortune had played upon him--at least that was the way in which
he had always regarded his disappointments and griefs.

This, then, was the personage whose moral rehabilitation was to
be accomplished by the Daughters of Zion. But how?

"Who will volunteer to visit Mr. Moody?" blandly asked the
president.

VISIT MR. MOODY! It was a wonder the roof of the barn chamber did
not fall; it did, indeed echo the words and in some way make them
sound more grim and satirical.

"Nobody'll volunteer, Rebecca Rowena Randall, and you know it,"
said Emma Jane.

"Why don't we draw lots, when none of us wants to speak to him
and yet one of us must?"

This suggestion fell from Persis Watson, who had been pale and
thoughtful ever since the first mention of Jacob Moody. (She was
fond of Granny Garlands; she had once met Jacob; and, as to what
befell, well, we all have our secret tragedies!)