"Of course he shan't!" said Wesley. "Wait, Billy, let me show you."

Thereupon he explained to Billy that ladies wearing beautiful white
dresses sat in hammocks, so little boys must not put their dusty feet in
them. Billy immediately sat, and allowed his feet to swing.

"Margaret," said Wesley after a long silence on the porch, "isn't it
true that if Billy had been a half-starved sore cat, dog, or animal of
any sort, that you would have pitied, and helped care for it, and been
glad to see me get any pleasure out of it I could?"

"Yes," said Margaret coldly.

"But because I brought a child with an immortal soul, there is no
welcome."

"That isn't a child, it's an animal."

"You just said you would have welcomed an animal."

"Not a wild one. I meant a tame beast."

"Billy is not a beast!" said Wesley hotly. "He is a very dear little
boy. Margaret, you've always done the church-going and Bible reading for
this family. How do you reconcile that 'Suffer little children to come
unto Me' with the way you are treating Billy?"

Margaret arose. "I haven't treated that child. I have only let him
alone. I can barely hold myself. He needs the hide tanned about off
him!"