If one or two aged persons complained that they could not
sleep as sweetly during sermon-time in the now clear atmosphere of the church,
and that the parson's eye was keener than before, why, that was a mere detail,
and could not be avoided; what was the loss of a little sleep compared with
the discoloration of Mrs. Jere Burbank's white ostrich feather and the
smarting of Mrs. Jere Burbank's eyes?
A new furnace followed the new chimney, in due course, and as a sense of
comfort grew, there was opportunity to notice the lack of beauty. Twice in
sixty years had some well-to-do summer parishioner painted the interior of the
church at his own expense; but although the roof had been many times
reshingled, it had always persisted in leaking, so that the ceiling and walls
were disfigured by unsightly spots and stains and streaks. The question of
shingling was tacitly felt to be outside the feminine domain, but as there
were five women to one man in the church membership, the feminine domain was
frequently obliged to extend its limits into the hitherto unknown. Matters of
tarring and waterproofing were discussed in and out of season, and the very
school-children imbibed knowledge concerning lapping, over-lapping, and
cross-lapping, and first and second quality of cedar shingles.
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