they did dance! Commonly, as the young folks said, he could play only
one tune, "Joe Roe and I;" for it is true that his sleepy violin did
always seem to whine out, "_Joe Roe and I, Joe Roe and I, Joe Roe and
I_." But now the old fiddle was wide awake. He cut capers on it; and
made it laugh, and cry, and whistle, and snort, and scream. He held it
close to his ear, and rolled up the whites of his eyes, and laughed a
great, loud, rollicking laugh; and he made his fiddle laugh, too, right
out.

The young people had their games. Boston, Puss in the Corner, Stir
you must, Hunt the Squirrel round the Woods, Blind Man's Buff, and
Jerusalem. Mr. Atkins, who built the hall, and was a strict Orthodox man
a Know-nothing, got them to play "Break the Pope's neck," which made a
deal of fun. The oldest people sung some of the old New England tunes,
in the old New England way. How well they went off! in particular,

"How beauteous are their feet
Who stand on Zion's Hill;
And bring salvation on their tongues,
And words of peace reveal."

But the great triumph of all was the Christmas Tree. How big it was!
a large stout Spruce in the upper part of the hall. It bore a gift for
every child in the town. Two little girls had the whooping cough, and
could not come out; but there were two playthings for them also, given
to their brothers to be taken home. St. Nicolas--it was Almira Weldon's
lover--distributed the gifts.

Squire Stovepipe came in late, without any of the "family" that he was
so busy in "establishing," but was so cold that it took him a good while