Father Discernment’s Fate

After the great upheaval in the valley, Mrs. Apostasy came forward and asserted herself to set things in order, saying, “Now as you see, there can be no order without my help,” though she too well knew that this was a lie, for she knew the true cause of the discord. But now she and her friends had succeeded in doping with the “great praise” ointment most of the congregation, so that they were too much confused and stupified to render her any answer, much less resistance. Then did they prepare themselves against another possible danger from Mr. Discernment. Now it was in this manner that they accomplished this task: First, they gave him the family dope; then did they punch out.his eyes; and then because of his name, his castle, and the hill upon which it stood, they could find no more suitable person to appoint as general overseer, and chief inspector of affairs. This appointment pleased him so much, that, though he was stone blind, he imagined himself to have infallible eyesight; and daily he could be found upon the walls of his castle, calling out in boastful tones, warnings against those who had escaped to the mountain, and to those who had not yet escaped: “Ho! Fools, can’t you see everything is all right, and just as it always has been? See this great camp which we have founded. Let none escape, lest we put you in chains”; for in this castle which was called Influence, was a dungeon in which they bound discontented ones, and refused to let them go.