Simeon came down trembling and abashed, and the doctor told
him to go home as fast as he could and get the Thanksgiving
Proclamation. The doctor filled up the time as well he could
with an enormously long prayer, until the boy got back. Simeon
confessed to some of the boys that he had been engaged in
some mischief just before he was called, and he was terribly
afraid the doctor had caught him.
This old church with its tower, yellow spire, old clock and
weathercock, seems to me as I look back on it to have been
a very attractive piece of architecture. It was that church
which suggested to Emerson the leading thought in one of
his most famous poems, "The Problem."
In those days, when people were to be married the law required
notice to be given of their intention by proclaiming it aloud
in the church three Sundays in succession. So just before
the service began, the old town clerk would get up and proclaim:
"There is a marriage intended between Mr. John Brown of this
town and Miss Sarah Smith of Sudbury," and there was great
curiosity in the congregation to hear the announcement.
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