"Well," says he, "the year afore I knowed you, I was
a-goin' in the fall, down to Clare, about sixty miles
below Annapolis, to collect some debts due to me there
from the French. And as I was a-joggin' on along the
road, who should I overtake but Elder Stephen Grab, of
Beechmeadows, a mounted on a considerable of a
clever-lookin' black mare. The Elder was a pious man;
at least he looked like one, and spoke like one too. His
face was as long as the moral law, and p'rhaps an inch
longer, and as smooth as a hone; and his voice was so
soft and sweet, and his tongue moved so ily on its hinges,
you'd a thought you might a trusted him with ontold gold,
if you didn't care whether you ever got it agin or no.
He had a bran new hat on, with a brim that was none of
the smallest, to keep the sun from makin' his inner man
wink, and his go-to-meetin' clothes on, and a pair of
silver mounted spurs, and a beautiful white cravat, tied
behind, so as to have no bows to it, and look meek. If
there was a good man on airth, you'd a said it was him.
And he seemed to feel it, and know it too, for there was
a kind of look o' triumph about him, as if he had conquered
the Evil One, and was considerable well satisfied with
himself.

"'H'are you,' sais I, 'Elder, to-day? Which way are you
from?"

"'From the General Christian Assembly, sais he, 'to Goose
Creek. We had a "_most refreshin' time on't_." There was