le impostor, and there was great interruption to the
harmony of the proceedings, the squire declaring he should have notice to
leave his cottage that day fortnight. However, when we got to the
servants' hall there sat Andrew, who had been let in at the back door by
the orders of the squire's wife, after being turned out at the front by
the orders of the squire, and nothing more was heard about his leaving
his cottage. But Andrew never performed in public as a musician after
that night; and now he's dead and gone, poor man, as we all shall be!'

* * * * *

'I had quite forgotten the old choir, with their fiddles and bass-viols,'
said the home-comer, musingly. 'Are they still going on the same as of
old?'

'Bless the man!' said Christopher Twink, the master-thatcher; 'why,
they've been done away with these twenty year. A young teetotaler plays
the organ in church now, and plays it very well; though 'tis not quite
such good music as in old times, because the organ is one of them that go
with a winch, and the young teetotaler says he can't always throw the
proper feeling into the tune without wellnigh working his arms off.'

'Why did they make the change, then?'

'Well, partly because of fashion, partly because the old musicians got
into a sort of scrape. A terrible scrape 'twas too--wasn't it, John? I
shall never forget it--never! They lost their character as officers of
the church as complete as if they'd never had any character at all.'

'That was very bad for them.'

'Yes.' The master-thatcher attentively regarded past times as if they
lay about a mile off, and went on:--

ABSENT-MINDEDNESS IN A PARISH CHOIR

'It happened on Sunday after Christmas--the last Sunday ever they played
in Longpuddle church gallery, as it turned out, though they didn't know
it then. As you may know, sir, the players formed a very good
band--almost as good as the Mellstock parish players that were led by the
Dewys; and that's saying a great deal. There was Nicholas Puddingcome,
the leader, with the first fiddle; there was Timothy Thomas, the bass-
viol man; John Biles, the tenor fiddler; Dan'l Hornhead, with the
serpent; Robert Dowdle, with the clarionet; and Mr. Nicks, with the
oboe--all sound and powerful musicians, and strong-winded men--they that
blowed. For that reason they were very much in demand Christmas week for
little reels and dancing parties; for they could turn a jig or a hornpipe
out of hand as well as