SHE thought of her lace caps and saved all her money to buy 'em; she thought nothing about how she might get a clean heart and a right spirit--she only wanted to have better lace than other girls.

And one day when she put her new cap on and looked in the glass, she saw a bleeding Face crowned with thorns.

That face is looking at you now"-- here Dinah pointed to a spot close in front of Bessy--"Ah, tear off those follies! Cast them away from you, as if they were stinging adders.

They ARE stinging you--they are poisoning your soul--they are dragging you down into a dark bottomless pit, where you will sink for ever, and for ever, and for ever, further away from light and God." Bessy could bear it no longer: a great terror was upon her, and wrenching her ear-rings from her ears, she threw them down before her, sobbing aloud.

Her father, Chad, frightened lest he should be "laid hold on" too, this impression on the rebellious Bess striking him as nothing less than a miracle, walked hastily away and began to work at his anvil by way of reassuring himself.