Page:The Ladies of the White House.djvu/109

Rh Reverend Mr. Peabody, of New Hampshire. This anecdote is told in connection with the marriage of Mrs. Adams. When her eldest sister was married, her father preached to his people from the text, " And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." The disapprobation to his second daughter's choice was due to the prejudice entertained against the profession of the law. Mr. Adams, besides being a lawyer, was the son of a small farmer of the middle class in Braintree, and was thought scarcely good enough to match with the minister's daughter, descended from a line of ministers in the colony. Mr. Smith's parishioners were outspoken in their opposition, and he replied to them Immediately, after the marriage took place. In a sermon, in which he made pointed allusion to the objection against lawyers. His text on this occasion was, "For John came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say. He hath a devil."Mr, Smith, it may be as well to add, was in the habit of making application of texts to events which in any manner interested himself or his congregation. In a colony founded so exclusively upon motives of religious zeal as Massachusetts was, it necessarily followed that the ordinary distinctions of society were In a great degree subverted, and that the leaders of the church, though without worldly possessions to boast of, were the most In honor everywhere. If a festive entertainment was meditated, the minister was sure to be first on the list of those invited. If any assembly of citizens