Page:A Colonial Wooing.djvu/186

 held in the west room or in the kitchen or in the hall, or all of them?"

"In the west room, dear," replied her mother, delighted that her daughter should show so much interest in the matter; "and if that will not accommodate the Friends, there will be room in the hall."

"The women Friends will sit in there, then," said Ruth, pointing to the west room, "and the men in the hall. I shall sit next the window, and if the preaching is not good, I'll listen to the birds on the hill-side. They sing many a lesson we might well take to heart. A merry bird is the foe of despondency, I've heard cousin Robert say, and I incline to many of his views."

"Ruth dear, I fear thee is not a Friend at heart; surely John Bishop, too, does not hold thy strange views."

"Mother, if it is strange or worldly or wicked to love a singing bird, then I am wicked all over and through and through. How often have I told thee this! And, mother, when I was a little girl and came into the house with my apron full of flowers