CHAPTER VII.
When his little audience next assembled round the chair, Grandfather gave them a doleful history of the Quaker persecution, which began in 1656, and raged for about three years in Massachusetts.
He told them how, in the first place, twelve of the converts of George Fox, the first Quaker in the world, had come over from England.

They seemed to be impelled by an earnest love for the souls of men, and a pure desire to make known what they considered a revelation from Heaven.

But the rulers looked upon them as plotting the downfall of all government and religion.

They were banished from the colony.

In a little while, however, not only the first twelve had returned, but a multitude of other Quakers had come to rebuke the rulers, and to preach against the priests and steeple-houses.
Grandfather described the hatred and scorn with which these enthusiasts were received.