`` I -- do n't -- know , '' said Captain Jim thoughtfully . `` Eliphalet Baxter lived too much alone -- had n't even a cat or dog to keep him human . When a man is alone he 's mighty apt to be with the devil -- if he ai n't with God . He has to choose which company he 'll keep , I reckon . If the devil always was at Life Baxter 's elbow it must have been because Life liked to have him there . '' `` Man-like , '' said Miss Cornelia , and subsided into silence over a complicated arrangement of tucks until Captain Jim deliberately stirred her up again by remarking in a casual way : `` I was up to the Methodist church last Sunday morning . '' `` You 'd better have been home reading your Bible , '' was Miss Cornelia 's retort . `` Come , now , Cornelia , I ca n't see any harm in going to the Methodist church when there 's no preaching in your own . I 've been a Presbyterian for seventy-six years , and it is n't likely my theology will hoist anchor at this late day . '' `` It 's setting a bad example , '' said Miss Cornelia grimly . `` Besides , '' continued wicked Captain Jim , `` I wanted to hear some good singing . The Methodists have a good choir ; and you ca n't deny , Cornelia , that the singing in our church is awful since the split in the choir . '' `` What if the singing is n't good ? They 're doing their best , and God sees no difference between the voice of a crow and the voice of a nightingale . '' `` Come , come , Cornelia , '' said Captain Jim mildly , `` I 've a better opinion of the Almighty 's ear for music than THAT . '' `` What caused the trouble in our choir ? '' asked Gilbert , who was suffering from suppressed laughter . `` It dates back to the new church , three years ago , '' answered Captain Jim . `` We had a fearful time over the building of that church -- fell out over the question of a new site . The two sites was n't more 'n two hundred yards apart , but you 'd have thought they was a thousand by the bitterness of that fight .
We was split up into three factions -- one wanted the east XXXXX and one the south , and one held to the old .
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