Betty Goes to Church

They each had a child's hand as they walked to the church, which was small and old, smelling of damp, flowers and age and , to Araminta's mind, rather bleak.  They sat right at the front in a high-backed pew with narrow seats and hassocks.  The boys sat between them, standing on the hassocks to sing the hymns and then sitting through the lengthy sermon.
Of course, Araminta understood very little of the service, although some of the hymn tunes were the same, but the sermon, preached by an elderly dominee with a flowing beard, sounded as though it was threatening them with severe punishments in the hereafter; she was relieved when it ended with a splendid rolling period of unintelligible words and they all sang a hymn.
Nanny By Chance