But I was here to the first Christmas dinner that was ever eaten in this house -- and the schoolmaster 's bride cooked it . That was sixty years ago today , Mistress Blythe -- and a day very like this -- just enough snow to make the hills white , and the harbor as blue as June . I was only a lad , and I 'd never been invited out to dinner before , and I was too shy to eat enough . I 've got all over THAT . '' `` Most men do , '' said Miss Cornelia , sewing furiously . Miss Cornelia was not going to sit with idle hands , even on Christmas . Babies come without any consideration for holidays , and there was one expected in a poverty-stricken household at Glen St. Mary . Miss Cornelia had sent that household a substantial dinner for its little swarm , and so meant to eat her own with a comfortable conscience . `` Well , you know , the way to a man 's heart is through his stomach , Cornelia , '' explained Captain Jim . `` I believe you -- when he HAS a heart , '' retorted Miss Cornelia . `` I suppose that 's why so many women kill themselves cooking -- just as poor Amelia Baxter did . She died last Christmas morning , and she said it was the first Christmas since she was married that she did n't have to cook a big , twenty-plate dinner . It must have been a real pleasant change for her . Well , she 's been dead a year , so you 'll soon hear of Horace Baxter taking notice . '' `` I heard he was taking notice already , '' said Captain Jim , winking at Gilbert . `` Was n't he up to your place one Sunday lately , with his funeral blacks on , and a boiled collar ? '' `` No , he was n't . And he need n't come neither . I could have had him long ago when he was fresh . I do n't want any second-hand goods , believe ME .
As for Horace XXXXX , he was in financial difficulties a year ago last summer , and he prayed to the Lord for help ; and when his wife died and he got her life insurance he said he believed it was the answer to his prayer .
Baxter Blythe Cornelia Gilbert Jim Mary day first morning year