UNBUILDING A BUILDING 31 



church on Sunday morning pointed dramatically 

 at the notice, saying to the sexton, "Take that 

 notice down, and don't you dare to put it up 

 again till I give the word." 



The sexton, seeming to know who was in 

 charge of things, took it down and it was not 

 again posted for two years. The marriage then 

 took place. A few years later the wife died, and 

 after a brief period of mourning another notice 

 was posted announcing the marriage of the 

 widower and the lady who had forbidden the 

 banns of his first marriage. The second mar- 

 riage took place without interference, and they 

 lived happily ever after, leaving posterity in 

 doubt whether the incident in the church vesti- 

 bule was the climax in a battle royal between the 

 two ladies for the hand of the man who dwelt in 

 the old house, or whether the man himself had 

 loved not wisely but too many. 



Another dweller in the old house was a locally 

 celebrated singer who for years led the choir and 

 the music in the old church, having one son whom 

 a wealthy Bostonian educated abroad, "becom- 

 ing," said the historian sagely, "a great tenor 

 singer, but very little of a man." These were 

 days of growing importance for the old house. 



