After some inward wondering he concluded that it was because there were no flowers anywhere . The table before the pulpit was bare . On the organ a vase held a sorry , faded bouquet left over from the previous week . The floor was ' unswept . Dust lay thickly on the pulpit Bible , the choir chairs , and the pew backs . `` This church looks disgraceful , '' said John Robbins in an angry undertone to his daughter Polly , who was president of the Flower Band . `` What in the name of common sense is the good of your Flower Banders if you ca n't keep the place looking decent ? '' `` There is no Flower Band now , Father , '' whispered Polly in turn . `` We 've disbanded . Women have n't any business to meddle in church matters . You know the session said so . '' It was well for Polly that she was too big to have her ears boxed . Even so , it might not have saved her if they had been anywhere else than in church . Meanwhile the men who were sitting in the choir -- three basses and two tenors -- were beginning to dimly suspect that there was something amiss here too . Where were the sopranos and the altos ? Myra Wilson and Alethea Craig and several other members of the choir were sitting down in their pews with perfectly unconscious faces . Myra was looking out of the window into the tangled sunlight and shadow of the great maples . Alethea Craig was reading her Bible . Presently Frances Spenslow came in . Frances was organist , but today , instead of walking up to the platform , she slipped demurely into her father 's pew at one side of the pulpit .
Eben XXXXX , who was the Putney singing master and felt himself responsible for the choir , fidgeted uneasily .
Band Bible Craig Frances Myra Spenslow Wilson altos pew undertone