"He had one uniform practice, and a very bad one it was, during the time of family worship, and just three or four seconds before the conclusion of the prayer, he started to his feet, and ran barking round the apartment like a crazed beast"

This quote is describing an extremely odd and inappropriate practice of a male during household worship. It appears that the male would wait up until the prayer was almost completed and after that unexpectedly stand up and begin barking like a crazed beast. This habits is obviously not appropriate for a family worship setting and it is most likely that the man was seen as strange and disruptive by those around him. It is possible that the male was experiencing some type of mental illness or was simply trying to reveal himself in an unusual way. Whatever the reason, it is clear that this male's habits was not appropriate and it is likely that it caused confusion and interruption to the family praise.