The Heart of Mid-Lothian - Penn State University

It is true she felt disposed to be shocked at his surplice,
of which she had heard so much, but which she
had never seen upon the person of a preacher of the
word. Then she was confused by the change of posture
adopted in different parts of the ritual, the more so as
Madge Wildfire, to whom they seemed familiar, took the
opportunity to exercise authority over her, pulling her
up and pushing her down with a bustling assiduity, which
Jeanie felt must make them both the objects of painful
attention. But, notwithstanding these prejudices, it was
her prudent resolution, in this dilemma, to imitate as
nearly as she could what was done around her. The
prophet, she thought, permitted Naaman the Syrian to
bow even in the house of Rimmon. Surely if I, in this
streight, worship the God of my fathers in mine own
language, although the manner thereof be strange to
me, the Lord will pardon me in this thing.
In this resolution she became so much confirmed, that,
withdrawing herself from Madge as far as the pew permitted,
she endeavoured to evince by serious and composed
attention to what was passing, that her mind was
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composed to devotion. Her tormentor would not long
have permitted her to remain quiet, but fatigue overpowered
her, and she fell fast asleep in the other corner
of the pew.
Jeanie, though her mind in her own despite sometimes
reverted to her situation, compelled herself to give attention
to a sensible, energetic, and well-composed discourse,
upon the practical doctrines of Christianity,
which she could not help approving, although it was
every word written down and read by the preacher, and
although it was delivered in a tone and gesture very different
from those of Boanerges Stormheaven, who was
her father’s favourite preacher. The serious and placid
attention with which Jeanie listened, did not escape the
clergyman. Madge Wildfire’s entrance had rendered him
apprehensive of some disturbance, to provide against
which, as far as possible, he often turned his eyes to the
part of the church where Jeanie and she were placed,
and became soon aware that, although the loss of her
head-gear, and the awkwardness of her situation, had
given an uncommon and anxious air to the features of