St. John’s was crowded that night, the children occupying the front seat, with looks of expectancy upon their faces, as they studied the heavily laden tree, the boys wondering if that ball, or whistle, or wheelbarrow was for them, and the girls appropriating the tastefully-dressed dolls showing so conspicuously among the dark green foliage. The Barlows were rather late, for upon Uncle Ephraim devolved the duty of seeing to the license, and as he had no seat in that house, his arrival was only known by Aunt Betsy’s elbowing her way to the front, and near to the Christmas tree which she had helped to dress, just as she had helped to trim the church. She did not believe in such “flummeries” it is true and she classed them with the “quirks,” but rather than “see the gals slave themselves to death,” she had this year lent a helping hand. Donning two shawls, a camlet cloak, a knit scarf for her head, and a hood to keep from catching cold, she had worked early and late, fashioning the most wonderfully shaped wreaths, tying up festoons, and even trying her hand at a triangle; she turned her back resolutely upon _crosses_, which were more than her Puritanism could endure. The cross was a “quirk,” with which she’d have nothing to do, though once, when Katy seemed more than usually bothered and wished somebody would hand her _tacks_, Aunt Betsy relented so far as to bring the hoop she was winding close to Katy, holding the little nails in her mouth, and giving them out as they were wanted; but with each one given out, conscientiously turning her head away, lest her eyes should fall upon what she conceived the symbol of the Romish Church. But when the whole was done, none were louder in their praises than Aunt Betsy, who was guilty of asking Mrs. Deacon Bannister, when she came in to inspect, “why the Orthodox couldn’t get up some such doin’s for their Sunday-school. It pleased the children mightily.” But Mrs. Deacon Bannister answered with some severity, “We don’t believe in shows and _plays_, you know,” thus giving a double thrust, and showing that the opera had never been quite forgotten. “Here’s a pair of skates, though, and a smellin’ bottle I’d like to have put on for John and Sylvia,” she added, handing her package to Aunt Betsy, who, while seeing the skates and smelling bottle suspended from a bough, was guilty of wondering if “the partaker wasn’t most as bad as the thief.”