Peabody said that he didn't know whether his leg would hold out or not
"through a whole meetin'." His left leg was lame from a wrench and
pained him if he sat long in one position. I greatly enjoyed this first
public exhibition of my new trousers. I remember praying in silence, as
we sat down, that Uncle Peabody's leg would hold out. Later, when the
long sermon had begun to weary me, I prayed that it would not.

I decided that meetin's were not a successful form of entertainment.
Indeed, Sunday was for me a lost day. It was filled with shaving and
washing and reading and an overwhelming silence. Uncle Peabody always
shaved after breakfast and then he would sit down to read the _St.
Lawrence Republican_. Both occupations deprived him utterly of his
usefulness as an uncle. I remember that I regarded the razor and the
_Republican_ as my worst enemies. The _Republican_ earned my keenest
dislike, for it always put my uncle to sleep and presently he would
stretch out on the lounge and begin to puff and snore and then Aunt Deel
always went around on her tiptoes and said sh-h-h! She spent the greater
part of the forenoon in her room washing and changing her clothes and
reading the Bible. How loudly the clock ticked that day! How defiantly
the cock crew! It seemed as if he were making special efforts to start
up the life of the farm. How shrill were the tree crickets! Often Shep
and I would steal off into the back lot trying to scare up a squirrel
and I would look longingly down the valley, and could dimly see the
roofs of houses where there were other children. I would gladly have
made friends with the Wills boy, but he would have nothing to do with
me, and soon his people moved away. My uncle said that Mr. Grimshaw had
foreclosed their mortgage.

The fields were so still that I wondered if the grass grew on Sunday.
The laws of God and nature seemed to be in conflict, for our livers got