Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 
A Christmas Romance Of A Country Church 

The Old Peabody Pew is written by Kate Douglas Wiggin. The story begins with the Dorcas Society, being female and possessed of notions regarding comfort and beauty, generally disapproved of making any impious alterations in a tabernacle, chapel, temple, or other building used for worship. This sentiment had been maintained for a quarter of a century but was especially strong in the old Tory Hill Meeting House. Every pew in the old Meeting House was scrubbed by members of the Ladies' Christian Temperance Society. "When men lose their wives, they lose their wits, " said the Widow Buzzell. "If there's anything duller than cookin' three meals a day for yourself, and eatin' them by yourself, I'd like to know it!". A bird without a song stood in for Nancy Peabody's love each year. Since that gloomy day in November when Justin said goodbye, the months had seemingly never ended. If she had openly pledged to him, she could have waited twice ten years.