52 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



farmer to wait in the porch till the congregation had 

 dispersed. In the porch accordingly did Giles station 

 himself, happy in the hope of a solution of such a mystery, 

 and was sedulously watching the departure of the last 

 loiterers in the churchyard, when he was literally "taken 

 all aback," by a tremendous salute in the rear from the 

 well-directed and vigorously applied foot of the pastor, 

 who, in reply to the mingled expressions of pain and 

 wonder, which burst from his disciple, mildly inquired, 

 "whether what he had then received had caused him any 

 pain?" " Hurt me! hurt me most woundily," rejoined 

 the farmer. " Then," said the clergyman, in his most 

 significant manner, " all I can tell you is, that it would 

 have been a miracle if it had not." We may presume that 

 the querist, in this case, required nothing beyond the 

 fundamental lesson he obtained, and must have been 

 ever after fully sensible of all that a word, which was 

 previously as Hebrew to him, could convey. Send your 

 second whipper-in back some miles after hunting, and 

 insist upon his return in good time, not without some 

 hounds that may be missing ; he will be, for the future, 

 more awake to the advantage of minding his business 

 than by repeated lectures upon the expediency of keep- 

 ing the pack together. Follow this principle up, if you 

 would have deeds, rather than words, prevail through- 

 out your establishment. Without strict sobriety, honesty, 

 and civility, no servant should be tolerated ; we will 



