Whenever the
refrain came in with its militant fervor, crude, but sincere and effective,
the singers seenled faithintoxicated; and Sister Martha in particular might
have been treading the heavenly streets instead of the meetinghouse floor, so
complete was her absorption. The voices at length grew softer, and the
movement slower, and after a few moments' reverent silence the company filed
out of the room solemnly and without speech.
I am as sure that heav'n is mine
As though my vision could define
Or pencil draw the boundary line
Where love and truth shall con quer.
"The Lord ain't shaken Susanna hard enough yet," thought Brother Ansel
shrewdly from his place in the rear. "She ain't altogether gathered in, not by
no manner o' means, because of that unregenerate son of Adam she's left
behind; but there's the makin's of a pow'ful good Shaker in Susanna, if she
finally takes holt!"
"What manner of life is my husband living, now that I have deserted him? Who
is being a mother to Jack?" These were the thoughts that troubled Susanna
Hathaway's soul as she crossed the grass to her own building.
VII
"The Lower Plane"
Brother Nathan Bennett was twenty years old and Sister Hetty Arnold was
eighteen.
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