The present temple had been built about 1870 and was considered very
satisfactory. It was solid and free from draughts and took the
central heating very well. The graveyard also was new and shiny,
with no bones in it remoter than the memories of the present
generation could compass. The church clock was a very late addition
-put up by subscription five years ago-and its clamour was so up to
date and smart that it was a cross between the whistle of a steam-
engine and a rich and prosperous dinner-bell.
All this was rightly felt to be very satisfactory. As Miss Purves
said: "So far as the dear Church goes, no one had any right to
complain about anything."
When Maggie had first arrived in Skeaton her duties with regard to
the Church were made quite plain to her. She was expected to take
one of the classes in Sunday school, to attend Choir practice on
Friday evening, to be on the Committees for Old Women's Comforts,
Our Brave Lads' Guild, and the Girls' Friendly Society, to look
after the flowers for the Altar, and to attend Paul's Bible Class on
Wednesdays.
She had no objection to any of these things-they were, after all,
part of her "job.
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