and sing;
It is the birthday of thy King!

The congregation filled every seat in the old meeting-house. As Maria
Sharp had prophesied, there was one ill-natured spinster from a rival
village who declared that the church floor looked like Joseph's coat
laid out smooth; but in the general chorus of admiration, approval, and
goodwill, this envious speech, though repeated from mouth to mouth, left
no sting.

Another item of interest long recalled was the fact that on that august
and unapproachable day the pulpit vases stood erect and empty, though
Nancy Wentworth had filled them every Sunday since any one could
remember. This instance, though felt at the time to be of mysterious
significance if the cause were ever revealed, paled into nothingness
when, after the ringing of the last bell, Nancy Wentworth walked up the
aisle on Justin Peabody's arm, and they took their seats side by side in
the old family pew.

("And consid'able close, too, though there was plenty o' room!")

("And no one that I ever heard of so much as suspicioned that they had
ever kept company!")

("And do you s'pose she knew Justin was expected back when she scrubbed
his pew a-Friday? ")

("And this explains the empty pulpit vases! ")

("And I always said that Nancy would make a real handsome couple if she
ever got anybody to couple with!")

During the unexpected and solemn procession of the two up the aisle
the soprano of the village choir stopped short in the middle of the
Doxology, and the three other voices carried it to the end without any
treble. Also, among those present there were some who could not remember
afterward the precise petitions wafted upward in the opening prayer.

And could it be explained otherwise than by cheerfully acknowledging the
bounty of an overruling Providence that Nancy Wentworth should have had
a new winter dress for the first time in five years--a winter dress of
dark brown cloth to match her beaver muff and victorine? The existence
of this toilette had been known and discussed in Edgewood for a month
past, and it was thought to be nothing more than a proper token
of respect from a member of the carpet committee to the general
magnificence of the church on the occasion of its reopening after
repairs. Indeed, you could have identified every member of the Dorcas
Society that Sunday morning by the freshness of her apparel. The brown
dress, then, was generally expected; but why the white cashmere waist
with colla