"
Then, after a lengthy pause, in which her mind worked feverishly, she said,
"Mardie, I was just groping a little bit, but I won't do it any more tonight.
If the old quail birds in the woods where Elder Calvin prayed, if those old
birds had been Shaker birds, there would n't have been any little quail birds,
would there, because Shakers don't have children, and then perhaps there would
n't have been any little Polly Reed."
Susanna rose hurriedly from the list-bottomed chair and folded her work. "I'll
go up and help you undress now," she said; "it's seven o'clock, and I must go
to the family meeting."
VI
Susanna Speaks in Meeting
It was the Sabbath day and the Believers were gathered in the meetinghouse,
Brethren and Sisters seated quietly on their separate benches, with the
children by themselves in their own place. As the men entered the room they
removed their hats and coats and hung them upon wooden pegs that lined the
sides of the room, while the women took off their bonnets; then, after
standing for a moment of perfect silence, they seated themselves.
In Susanna's time the Sunday costume for the men included trousers of deep
blue cloth with a white line and a vest of darker blue, exposing a full-
bosomed shirt that had a wide turned-down collar fastened with three buttons.
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