CHAPTER VI.

PAUL'S FRIENDS.

For five months Paul had been leader of the choir, and so faithfully
were his duties performed, so excellent his drill, and so good his taste
and mature his judgment, so completely were the choir under his control,
that the ministers from the surrounding parishes, when they exchanged
with Rev. Mr. Surplice, said, "What glorious singing they have at New
Hope!" It was so good, that people who never had been in the habit of
attending church hired pews,--not that they cared to hear Mr. Surplice
preach and pray, but it was worth while to hear Azalia Adams and Daphne
Dare sing a quartette with Paul and Hans, and the whole choir joining in
perfect time and in sweetest harmony.

Paul believed that a thing worth doing at all was worth doing well. His
heart was in his work. It was a pleasure to sing. He loved music because
it made him happy, and he felt also that he and Azalia and Daphne and
all the choir were a power for good in the community to make men
better. Farmer Harrow, who used to work at haying on Sunday, said it was
worth a bushel of turnips any time to hear such sweet singing. So his
hired man and horses had rest one day in seven, and he became a better
man.

In the calm moonlight nights Paul often lay wide awake, hour after hour,
listening with rapture to the sweet music which came to him from the
distant woods, from the waterfall, from the old maple in front of the
house, when the leaves, tinged with gorgeous hues, were breaking one by
one from the twigs, and floating to the ground, from the crickets
chirping the last lone songs of the dying year, and from the robins and
sparrows still hovering around their summer haunts. It was sweet to
think of the pleasant hours he had passed with Azalia and Daphne, and
with all the choir; and then it was very pleasant to look into the
future, and imagine what bliss there might be in store for him;--a
better home for his mother in her declining years,--a better life for
himself. He would be a good citizen, respected and beloved. He would be
kind to all. He wished that all the world might be good and happy. When
he became a man, he would try and make people good. If everybody was as
good as Azalia, what a glorious world it would be! She was always good,
always cheerful. She had a smile for everybody. Her life was as warm and
sunny and golden as the October days, and as calm and peaceful as the
moonlight streaming across his chamber. Sweet it