Elder Hopkins. Mistress Delight, I have been thinking that perhaps we have grown over hard and stern.
[Unhindered now, the children
draw close to the little tree.
Deacon Porter. There was much that was good in the old ways, after all.
Elder Hopkins. I will take a sprig in memory of the happy Christmases in Old England.
Mistress Wells. Perhaps we may e'en keep what was good in the old ways here in this New England. I'll take a bit of green, too.
All the others. And I, too. And I!
Mistress Delight. For the sake of the happy Christmases of old, and the homes we left, and more than all for the sake of the very first Christmas Day of all, let us sing one of the dear old carols we have loved so long.
Elder Hopkins. Willingly, Mistress Delight.
[All sing "Come Ye Lofty,"[25] and while singing
come forward and take bits of green
from the Tree, which Gilbert Appleton,
Reuben Turner, and Roger cut for them.