He brought it down with
such a whack upon the music stand that it careened, tottered, and fell
to the platform with a crash. Tilly James leaned over and whispered to
Huldy Mason: "The Professor seems to have a bad attack of Quincy, too."
And the two girls smothered their laughs in their handkerchiefs. If the
singing society had not been so well acquainted with the closing chorus
the Professor certainly would have thrown them out by his many mistakes
in beating time. The piece was a "sleighride" song. The Professor forgot
to give the signal for the ringing of the sleigh bells, but the members
of the singing society did not, and their introduction, which was
unexpected by the audience, to use a theatrical term, "brought down the
house." The number was well rendered, despite the manifest defects in
leadership. The concert came to a close.
Deacon Mason and his wife, accompanied by their daughter, Huldy, and
Rev. Mr. Howe, occupied a double sleigh, as did Hiram, Mandy, and Cobb's
twins. Another double-seated conveyance contained Mr. and Mrs. Benoni
Hill, their son, Samuel, and Miss Tilly James.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59