nervous and worried. Seems to me the minister was never comin' to lastly,
and I find myself wonderin' whether Laura is listenin' to what the
preachin' is about, or is writin' notes to Sam Merritt in the back of the
tune-book. I get thirsty, too, and I fidget about till Father looks at me,
and Mother nudges Helen, and Helen passes it along to me with interest.

"An' then," continues Ezra in his revery, "when the last hymn is given out
an' we stan' up ag'in an' join the choir, I am glad to see that Laura is
singin' outer the book with Miss Hubbard, the alto. An' goin' out o'
meetin' I kind of edge up to Laura and ask her if I kin have the pleasure
of seen' her home.

"An' now we boys all go out on the Common to play ball. The Enfield boys
have come over, and, as all the Hampshire county folks know, they are
tough fellers to beat. Gorham Polly keeps tally, because he has got the
newest jack-knife,--oh, how slick it whittles the old broom-handle Gorham
picked up in Packard's store an' brought along jest to keep tally on! It
is a great game of ball; the bats are broad and light, and the ball is
small and soft. But the Enfield boys beat us at last; leastwise they make
70 tallies to our 58, when Heman Fitts knocks the ball over into Aunt
Dorcas Eastman's yard, and Aunt Dorcas comes out an' picks up the ball an'
takes it into the house, an' we have to stop playin'. Then Phineas Owens
allows he can flop any boy in Belchertown, an' Moses Baker takes him up,
an' they wrassle like two tartars, till at last Moses tuckers Phineas out
an' downs him as slick as a whistle.

"Then we all go home, for Thanksgivin' dinner is ready. Two long tables
have been made into one, and one of the big tablecloths Gran'ma had when
she set up housekeepin' is spread over 'em both. We all set round, Father,
Mother, Aunt Lydia Holbrook, Uncle Jason, Mary, Helen, Tryphena Foster,