It was all for her material comfort . It did not matter to him what mental agony she might suffer over his strange attitude . For the first time in their married life Mary Bell felt resentment against her husband . They drove along in silence , past the snow-powdered hedges of spruce , and under the arches of the forest roadways . They were late , and a great stillness was over all the land . David Bell never spoke . All his usual cheerful talkativeness had disappeared since the revival meetings had begun in Avonlea . From the first he had gone about as a man over whom some strange doom is impending , seemingly oblivious to all that might be said or thought of him in his own family or in the church . Mary Bell thought she would go out of her mind if her husband continued to act in this way . Her reflections were bitter and rebellious as they sped along through the glittering night of the winter 's prime . `` I do n't get one bit of good out of the meetings , '' she thought resentfully . `` There ai n't any peace or joy for me , not even in testifying myself , when David sits there like a stick or stone . If he 'd been opposed to the revivalist coming here , like old Uncle Jerry , or if he did n't believe in public testimony , I would n't mind . I 'd understand . But , as it is , I feel dreadful humiliated . '' Revival meetings had never been held in Avonlea before . `` Uncle '' Jerry MacPherson , who was the supreme local authority in church matters , taking precedence of even the minister , had been uncompromisingly opposed to them . He was a stern , deeply religious Scotchman , with a horror of the emotional form of religion . As long as Uncle Jerry 's spare , ascetic form and deeply-graved square-jawed face filled his accustomed corner by the northwest window of Avonlea church no revivalist might venture therein , although the majority of the congregation , including the minister , would have welcomed one warmly . But now Uncle Jerry was sleeping peacefully under the tangled grasses and white snows of the burying ground , and , if dead people ever do turn in their graves , Uncle Jerry might well have turned in his when the revivalist came to Avonlea church , and there followed the emotional services , public testimonies , and religious excitement which the old man 's sturdy soul had always abhorred .
Avonlea was a good field XXXXX an evangelist .
against as by for if like past since to with