Chapter 59. A Benediction

“And so Dear Friends – I pose this question to you – ” intoned Pastor Edmundson “We – we Yankees – we Americans – doesn’t it seem that so often we do the right thing, but for the wrong reasons?

“It is, I think, our national character.

“But for these lovers, they found in God and in each other all the right things, for all the right reasons. And with God’s enlightenment they have grown in each other’s esteem and love. It is, in a word, an act of Providence.”

“May we all be so blessed by Providence – that mysterious force so often invoked by Washington – that we too, we Yankees must all believe in it.” The pastor closed his psalmistry, and raised his hands high above the heads of the couple, bestowing his blessing upon them, and upon the congregation of their friends, their family – a finer assembly of smiling, confident Yankees as ever there might be.

“Amen, then – and Amen. Providence has seen us through, to this day, this hour, this very moment.”

~

Let us all give thanks.

☼