“Miss Clark made that seat,” said Raphael. “We boys made the chair, and the piano was sent her by some rich people up north. We helped her paint and varnish the floors, too.”
“She has some new rugs,” said Miss Howard. “They’re like those made down at the loom house.”
There were three made of rags with patterns in the borders. They were blue and white. The curtains were white cheesecloth with a blue, stencilled pattern across the bottom. A few water colours and Hoffman’s Christ were the only pictures.
“Come on back and help me find the oil stove; I’m getting hungry,” called Kizzie from the dining-room. “Isn’t this cosy?” she asked, pointing to the long, built-in cupboard and the little square table in the centre of the room.
Beyond, was the kitchen. A large range occupied one corner near the sink. “We’ve made candy and popped corn here many a time,” said Raphael. “Miss Clark has a cooking class every week this year for the older people.”
The oil stove was soon discovered and the coffee over. They ate their dinner in the dogtrot and the crumbs went to the chickens who were sociably inclined. Then they started for the church house, going through the garden and a long arbour.
“What lovely flowers!” Mallie stopped to admire the larkspurs and fall roses until the rest had disappeared inside the church, then she followed.
It was a T-shaped building, one upright being used for the day school and the other for the Sunday-school and monthly preaching. In case of a crowd the two rooms could be thrown into one. A tiny, portable organ occupied the space near the pulpit. Various mottoes, picture cards, and Bible charts adorned the walls. There were a large fireplace and a small sheet-iron stove, a dozen long benches which could be stacked at one side when they met for sociability, and a little Sunday-school library sitting in neat uprightness on the open shelves.
Miss Howard played a half-dozen hymns and they all sang, then Gincy, in a clear, sweet voice, read the lesson. Miss Howard was explaining it when the people began to gather for the baptizing. They came on horseback, in jolt wagons, and afoot. Not far from the house the branch widened until in spring it was almost a pond. Here, under the shade of a dozen walnut and tulip trees, a motley crowd was assembling and the folks inside the church house hurried out to join them. Once outside, they saw Miss Clark coming up the pike, her horse trotting briskly.
They waited at the gate. It wanted only a few minutes of the time and the horse must be unharnessed. Joe dropped the bars and Rafael helped Miss Clark out of the carriage. “You go on with the rest,” he said in a low tone, “we’ll be along after a bit.”