ing, they were singing the very tune, as I told you.
Something went wrong. The singing-master stopped his viol, and called
out to the class to stop singing. But the heedless girl had got into
mischief, and could not stop with the rest, or she did not hear, or she
did not wish to. So on she went, all alone, right out, at the top of her
voice:--

'And vie with _Israel_, while he sings,
In notes almost divine!'

"And there she broke down, and sat down, and, graceless hussy as she
was, laughed as if she was mad. The truth was, that 'vying with Israel'
was a byword with us. We were always teasing Sally about her vying with
Israel, as she certainly did, while they sung out of the same book, and
thought a deal more of each other than they did of the music. Everybody
took the joke, and such a time as there was! Prudence Clark, who turned
round and looked at me in meeting to-day, she laughed the most
spitefully of anybody, for she had a great notion of your fath--I mean
of Israel. As to Israel and Sarah, if ever you did see two persons who
did not know whether to stand still or to run, to cry or to laugh, they
were the couple. The master, he tried to read us a solemn lecture; but
he was so full of suppressed fun that he hugged his viol under his arm
till one of the strings snapped. That gave the pitch, and we had a
laughing chorus. All joined in, except Israel and Sarah. She pouted, and
I do believe he grit his teeth." Here Aunt Clara gave herself up to the
comic reminiscence, till her eyes filled again.

"Well, and what came of it all?" asked Jerusha.

"Why, it broke up the school for that season, and made town-talk for
nine days. Parson Oliver,--he was a young man then,--he went for to give
the mischievous girl a good talking to. He needn't have tried that; for
he was too young to scold a young girl, full of mischief, and, though I
say it that shouldn't say it, rather pretty."

"Why shouldn't _you_ say she was pretty?" asked Jerusha.

"O, you hush! Well, the girl bent her head down, and a few stray tears
came, for it _was_ wicked, and she knew it. But before the water got
head enough to fall from her eyes, she kind of thought that the young
minister's voice was getting shaky, either with mirth or with sadness.
To find out which, she slyly looked up, and both she and the minister
laughed long and loud. So there was an end of the jobation that he meant
to give her."

"How did you know all this?" said Jerusha. "