Is the sleigh at the door? Are the hot soapstones in? Have all of you
your money for the contribution box?"

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! It was a blithe bell, a sweet, true bell, a holy
bell, and to Justin, pacing his tavern room, as to Nancy, trembling in
her maiden chamber, it rang a Christmas message:--

Awake, glad heart! Arise 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 good will, 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