Edgewood side of the river, till at length he approached the
green Common where the old Tory Hill meeting-house stood, its
white paint and green blinds showing fair and pleasant in the
afternoon sun. Both doors were open, and as Abijah turned into
the Wareham road the church melodeon pealed out the opening bars
of the Missionary Hymn, and presently a score of voices sent the
good old tune from the choir-loft out to the dusty road:

"Shall we whose souls are lighted
With Wisdom from on high,
Shall we to men benighted
The lamp of life deny?"

"Land!" exclaimed Abijah under his breath. "They're at it up
here, too! That explains it all. There's a missionary meeting at
the church, and the girls wa'n't allowed to come so they held one
of their own, and I bate ye it's the liveliest of the two."

Abijah Flagg's shrewd Yankee guesses were not far from the truth,
though he was not in possession of all the facts. It will be
remembered by those who have been in the way of hearing Rebecca's
experiences in Riverboro, that the Rev. and Mrs. Burch, returned
missionaries from the Far East, together with some of their
children, "all born under Syrian skies," as they always explained
to interested inquirers, spent a day or two at the brick house,
and gave parlor meetings in native costume.

These visitors, coming straight from foreign lands to the little
Maine village, brought with them a nameless enchantment to the
children, and especially to Rebecca, whose imagination always