"Was Mr. Thompson, then, actually mobbed?" cried I.

"His meeting was broken up," answered Mr. Arlington, "and he saw fit to secure himself by flight. The rioters were very much incensed, it is said, and were ready to proceed to the most sanguinary acts.'

"He is understood to have made his escape, then?" said I.

"Yes, the Abolitionists covered him with their bucklers, and got him safely out of the hall. The mob was hard after him, but he eluded pursuit, and found a place of refuge somewhere. He has doubtless left the city, before now."

As I sat ruminating over the recital, Mr. Arlington resumed:

"It seems the Yankee fanatics did not come off so well from the mêlée. I hear of half a dozen who were more or less injured, in defending this foreign agitator. They will not receive much sympathy, I am afraid. If they persist in violating the national feelings of the people, and in supporting English emissaries, like Mr. Thompson, they have no reason to complain of the patriotic indignation which their fanaticism excites!"

"Why, father!" exclaimed Miss Arlington (and her face glowed with interest and amazement), "you do not surely intend to apologize for this outrage, by calling the ruffianly spirit of those rioters patriotic indignation?"

"We will not argue, my daughter," quoth Mr.

Arlington, somewhat disconcerted, and with a little tartness in his tone. "Mr. Peppery has imposed enough discussion upon me to-night, already. A very desperate man!"

"Was Mr. Peppery at the meeting yesterday?" I inquired.

"Certainly, he was. He would not have missed the occasion on any account. And his zeal has cost

him dear, I assure you!

"Has anything befallen him?" I inquired, in considerable alarm.

"Yes, he was thrown down, in the tumult, and trampled very badly. He was brought home, this afternoon, pretty much insensible. His injuries are quite serious indeed."

Miss Lark uttered a slight scream,- Miss Arlington leaned her brow upon her hand,-Miss Pennyweight suspended her knitting.

There was a strong sensation in the circle, for Mr. Peppery was familiarly known to every person present, and his misfortune inspired the lively sympathy of most of them.

"I went round to see the reckless man, this evening," said Mr. Arlington, "but he no sooner saw me than he forgot his pains, and began to assail me with his Garrisonian fanaticism. He is a thorough madman as unmanageable as a wild tiger. By the way, Brother Chester," added the parishioner, "he had a good deal of denunciation to offer against your

self. I am glad to find that his singular intimacy with you is over."

"Nevertheless," answered I, "it is but right that I should go and see the poor man in his affliction." And I went.

XX.

THE ABOLITIONISTS.

I FOUND poor Mr. Peppery in a very sad condition indeed. His physical injuries were serious enough to awaken sympathy; but the excitement of the riot, together with the pain he had endured, had acted so powerfully upon his peculiar temperament as to render him partially delirious. His ravings sparkled with revolutionary epithets. He summoned his brother-reformers to the conflict, by the most exciting appeals. He hurled upon the oppressors and their apologists a torrent of invective, as vivid in its conception as Scriptural metaphors could render it, and as lofty in its tone as the periods of Rienzi or of Sheridan. The entire nature of the man glowed with the fanaticism of liberty and self-devotion.

It was my first visit to Mr. Peppery's home, and I soon perceived that his family which consisted of a wife and three children. were not less objects of sympathy than himself. Both the furniture of the house and the clothing of its inmates betrayed great destitution. It was evident that the little reformer

devoted his whole time to his ungrateful country. He had not done a day's work, as the poor wife subsequently told me, for three months. The oldest child a ragged, scowling little urchin of some eight years told me, with angry tears in his eyes, that he "wished there never had been any niggers made!" And, indeed, he seemed likely to grow up with as great an antipathy for his colored brethren, as his father had expressed for their enslavers.

A large number of Mr. Peppery's neighbors and acquaintances were present, and I saw, by the sympathy which they uniformly expressed, that he was not likely to want any aid which it was in their power to render. Satisfied of this, I soon withdrew, without having attracted the reformer's personal notice.

Grouped around the doorway, and half-illuminated by one of the street-lamps, stood about a dozen men, earnestly discussing the riot. In the hope of learning more fully the particulars of the scene, I lingered and gave ear to their observations. Presently I discovered another listener, standing near by, in the person of a tall and rather distinguished-looking man, who held his cloak before his face, as if desirous of concealing his features. There was a certain air about this individual that instantly impressed me with the idea of his being a stranger in Bubbleton.

"I pity Peppery, with all my heart," observed one of the men,-"a good fellow by nature, only spoiled by this Abolition humbug."