"Don't you see," his wife asked earnestly, "that we must get John into a different circle, if we would draw him away from the one he has fallen into?"
Yes, he admitted that; in fact, he admitted everything that she could possibly desire, and yet she knew he went away feeling that it was, after all, of exceeding little consequence whether John went or stayed.
Nevertheless her desire for the accomplishment of this matter remained firm. She studied many ways for winning John's consent to the plan, seeking counsel on her knees, and wondering much that no way opened to her, until she discovered, on the day in question, that there was no need for an opening. John, for reasons best known to himself, had settled the matter, and himself broached the subject by inquiring whether she still believed that the pleasantest thing she could do was to walk.
"Walk where?" questioned the mother, and the subject was before them.
"Why, to the social this evening," explained Louise quickly. "I propose a walk. The evenings are perfect now, and I'm a first-class walker; I feel anxious to show my skill in that line."
"To the church fiddlestick!" said Father Morgan, with more than usual asperity; and Mother Morgan added—
"I wonder if you and Lewis are going to countenance those gatherings?"
"Why," said innocent Louise, "of course we must sustain the social gatherings of our church; I think them very important aids."
"Aids to what, I'd like to know? They are just dancing parties, and nothing else. I'm not a church member, to be sure, but I know what church members ought to be; and to see them standing up for the world in that way, and helping it along, is sickening, to say the least." This from Farmer Morgan.
Then Mrs. Morgan, senior—