sides around us. I say it's ridiculous," said he, departing.




CHAPTER XIII.

THE TEMPTER AT THE WOMAN.


It was arranged among the Pryings and their advisers, one day in August,
that, as Amanda said Paul was an incorrigible young man, he should be
sent off to the State fair of Vermont, and, in the meantime, a certain
"true blue" Presbyterian minister, named Grinoble, should try his hand
at converting Paul's little sister Bridget. It was, some thought, wrong
to begin with Paul, as all experience, but especially scriptural
testimony, taught that temptation was more likely to succeed when woman
was the subject or the instrument. So thought Parson Grinoble; and, with
true serpent wisdom, he concluded that it was through the woman, the
weaker sex, that, in this instance, Popery was to be conquered. Besides,
this old hand at proselytism read somewhat of the epistles of St. Paul,
and read there of the success of his predecessors in unbelief in
seducing "silly women," and ensnaring their confiding souls within the
meshes of their wily nets. So thought Mr. Grinoble, and he began to act
on it on the day in question, by going into the kitchen and addressing
himself to Bridget, as she was peeling apples for cooking, in the
following manner:

"Come here, my dear, and shake hands," said his dominieship to the girl.