Shortly after ten o'clock the singing-boys arrived at the tranter's
house, which was invariably the place of meeting, and preparations were
made for the start. The older men and musicians wore thick coats, with
stiff perpendicular collars, and coloured handkerchiefs wound round and
round the neck till the end came to hand, over all which they just showed
their ears and noses, like people looking over a wall. The remainder,
stalwart ruddy men and boys, were dressed mainly in snow-white
smock-frocks, embroidered upon the shoulders and breasts, in ornamental
forms of hearts, diamonds, and zigzags. The cider-mug was emptied for
the ninth time, the music-books were arranged, and the pieces finally
decided upon. The boys in the meantime put the old horn-lanterns in
order, cut candles into short lengths to fit the lanterns; and, a thin
fleece of snow having fallen since the early part of the evening, those
who had no leggings went to the stable and wound wisps of hay round their
ankles to keep the insidious flakes from the interior of their boots.

Mellstock was a parish of considerable acreage, the hamlets composing it
lying at a much greater distance from each other than is ordinarily the
case. Hence several hours were consumed in playing and singing within
hearing of every family, even if but a single air were bestowed on each.
There was Lower Mellstock, the main village; half a mile from this were
the church and vicarage, and a few other houses, the spot being rather
lonely now, though in past centuries it had been the most
thickly-populated quarter of the parish. A mile north-east lay the
hamlet of Upper Mellstock, where the tranter lived; and at other points
knots of cottages, besides solitary farmsteads and dairies.

Old William Dewy, with the violoncello, played the bass; his grandson
Dick the treble violin; and Reuben and Michael Mail the tenor and second