r slips.

"'I s'pose that's so,' says Eppleby, doubtful. But he's one o' them that
sort o' ducks under situations to see if they're alike on both sides,
an' if they ain't, he up an' questions 'em. Timothy, though, he was
differ'nt. Timothy was always goin' on about constituted authority, an'
to him the thing was the thing, even if it was another thing.

"'That's right,' he insists, his lips disappearin' with certainty. 'I
s'pose we hadn't reely ought even to come in here an' stan' 'round, like
we are.'

"He looks sidlin' over towards me, warmin' my hands rill secular by the
church stove. An' I felt like I'd been spoke up for when somebody says
from the door:--

"'You better just bar out the carpenters o' this world, friends, an'
done with it!'

"It was Abel Halsey, standin' in the entry, lookin' as handsome as the
law allows. An' I see he happened to be there because the Through was
about due,--that's the one that don't stop here,--an' you can always get
a good view of it from this slope. You know Abel never misses watchin' a
fast train go 'long, if he can help himself.

"'What's the i-dea?' Abel says. 'How can you pray at all in closets an'
places that ain't been dedicated? I shouldn't think they'd be holy
enough, 's'e.'

"'That,' says the postmaster, sure o' support, 'ain't the question.'

"'I thought it couldn't be,' says Abel, amiable. 'Well, what is the
question? Whether prayer is prayer, no matter where you're prayin'?'

"'Oh, no,' says Eppleby Holcomb, soothin', 'it ain't that.'

"'I thought it couldn't be that,' says Abel. 'Is it whether the Lord is
in dedicated spots an' nowheres else?'

"'Abel Halsey,' Timothy tarts up, 'you needn't to be sacrilegious.'

"'But,' says Abel, 'the question is, whether _you_'re sacrilegious to
deny a prayer-meetin' or any other good use to the church or to any
other place, dedicated or not. Well, Timothy, I think you are.'

"Timothy clears his throat an' dabs at the palm of his hand with his
other front finger. But before he could lay down eternal law, we sort o'
heard, almost before we knew we heard, folks hurryin' past out here on
the frozen ground. An' they was shoutin', like questions, an' a-shoutin'
further off. We looked out, an' I can remember how the whole slope up
from the village there was black with folks.

"We run outside, an' I know I kep' close by Abel Halsey. An' I got hold
o' what had happened when somebody yelled an answer to his askin'. You
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