At the first sound of that martial call to the place of holy and quiet thoughts Tobias and Dorothy set forth , each holding a hand of little Ilbrahim , like two parents linked together by the infant of their love . On their path through the leafless woods they were overtaken by many persons of their acquaintance , all of whom avoided them and passed by on the other side ; but a severer trial awaited their constancy when they had descended the hill and drew near the pine-built and undecorated house of prayer . Around the door , from which the drummer still sent forth his thundering summons , was drawn up a formidable phalanx , including several of the oldest members of the congregation , many of the middle-aged and nearly all the younger males . Pearson found it difficult to sustain their united and disapproving gaze , but Dorothy , whose mind was differently circumstanced , merely drew the boy closer to her and faltered not in her approach . As they entered the door they overheard the muttered sentiments of the assemblage ; and when the reviling voices of the little children smote Ilbrahim 's ear , he wept . The interior aspect of the meeting-house was rude . The low ceiling , the unplastered walls , the naked woodwork and the undraperied pulpit offered nothing to excite the devotion which without such external aids often remains latent in the heart . The floor of the building was occupied by rows of long cushionless benches , supplying the place of pews , and the broad aisle formed a sexual division impassable except by children beneath a certain age . Pearson and Dorothy separated at the door of the meeting-house , and Ilbrahim , being within the years of infancy , was retained under the care of the latter . The wrinkled beldams involved themselves in their rusty cloaks as he passed by ; even the mild-featured maidens seemed to dread contamination ; and many a stern old man arose and turned his repulsive and unheavenly countenance upon the gentle boy , as if the sanctuary were polluted by his presence . He was a sweet infant of the skies that had strayed away from his home , and all the inhabitants of this miserable world closed up their impure hearts against him , drew back their earth-soiled garments from his touch and said , `` We are holier than thou . '' Ilbrahim , seated by the side of his adopted mother and retaining fast hold of her hand , assumed a grave and decorous demeanor such as might befit a person of matured taste and understanding who should find himself in a temple dedicated to some worship which he did not recognize , but felt himself bound to respect . The exercises had not yet commenced , however , when the boy 's attention was arrested by an event apparently of trifling interest . A woman having her face muffled in a hood and a cloak drawn completely about her form advanced slowly up the broad aisle and took place upon the foremost bench . Ilbrahim 's faint color varied , his nerves fluttered ; he was unable to turn his eyes from the muffled female . When the preliminary prayer and hymn were over , the minister arose , and , having turned the hour-glass which stood by the great Bible , commenced his discourse . He was now well stricken in years , a man of pale , thin countenance , and his gray hairs were closely covered by a black velvet skull-cap . In his younger days he had practically learned the meaning of persecution from Archbishop Laud , and he was not now disposed to forget the lesson against which he had murmured then . Introducing the often-discussed subject of the Quakers , he gave a history of that sect and a description of their tenets in which error predominated and prejudice distorted the aspect of what was true . He adverted to the recent measures in the province , and cautioned his hearers of weaker parts against calling in question the just severity which God-fearing magistrates had at length been compelled to exercise .
He spoke XXXXX the danger of pity -- in some cases a commendable and Christian virtue , but inapplicable to this pernicious sect .
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