sunshine did after
the stuffy room. Then they all sat down. Dave was becoming more
alert, and was not caught napping in this movement.

There was a short prayer, which Dave did not understand, and more
singing by everybody, and then the ushers came around for the
collection. Dave did not know how much to put on the plate, but he
supposed a good seat like this in the theatre would cost a dollar, so
he put on that amount. He noticed that his neighbour on one side put
on a nickel, and on the other side nothing at all. He began to think
he must have made a mistake. All this time the organ was playing
boisterously, but suddenly it dropped to a low, meditative theme, and
Dave began to fear it would stop altogether. But no; a young woman was
standing up in the choir; she was pretty, with quite a different air
and a finer comeliness than that of the theatre girls of the night
before. In some vague way she seemed reminiscent of Reenie Hardy.
Dave's introspection was not deep enough to know that any fine girl
would remind him of Reenie Hardy.

Then she began to sing, and he felt again that the sunshine was playing
about him, but this time he heard the birds, too, and the ripple of the
distant water, and the stir of the spruce trees, and he could see the
lattice of sunlight through their dark leaves playing on the brown
grass, and there was a smell of distant wood smoke, and the glow of
dying coals. . . He was swaying gently in his seat, held in the thrall
of her voice, and suddenly he was glad he had put a dollar on the
plate. He could not follow all the words, but it was something about a
land where the sun would never go down. Well--no doubt the preacher
would tell them more about it.

Then there was a long prayer by the preacher. He began by addressing
the Deity as all mighty and all knowing, and then spent many minutes in
drawing His attention to details which had evidently escaped His
notice, and in offering suggestions for the better government of the
universe. He dwelt on the humility and penitence of the congregation,
including himself, and at this point Dave's unorthodox ear began to
detect a false note. He looked about from preacher to congregation,
and saw no evidence of penitence or humility. "If God is all-knowin',"
said Dave to himself, "that preacher is goin' to get in wrong. Why, he
couldn't put over that humility bunk on me."

At length it seemed that the sermon was really going to commence, b