Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow."

"But in cases where your doing so would involve a great public evil--"

"Obeying God never brings on public evils. I know it can't. It's always
safest, all round, to _do as He_ bids us.

"Now, listen to me, Mary, and I can state to you a very clear argument,
to show--"

"O, nonsense, John! you can talk all night, but you wouldn't do it.
I put it to you, John,--would _you_ now turn away a poor, shivering,
hungry creature from your door, because he was a runaway? _Would_ you,
now?"

Now, if the truth must be told, our senator had the misfortune to be
a man who had a particularly humane and accessible nature, and turning
away anybody that was in trouble never had been his forte; and what was
worse for him in this particular pinch of the argument was, that
his wife knew it, and, of course was making an assault on rather an
indefensible point. So he had recourse to the usual means of gaining
time for such cases made and provided; he said "ahem," and coughed
several times, took out his pocket-handkerchief, and began to wipe his
glasses. Mrs. Bird, seeing the defenceless condition of the enemy's
territory, had no more conscience than to push her advantage.

"I should like to see you doing that, John--I really should! Turning a
woman out of doors in a snowstorm, for instance; or may be you'd take
her up and put her in jail, wouldn't you? You would make a great hand at