etin' house that wuz
able to work any. They wuz all in a hurry with their spring's work, and
their buzz saws, and their inventions, and their agencys, etc., etc.,
etc.

And that wuz the reason why we wimmen wuz havin' such a hard job on the
meetin' house.

CHAPTER XVII.

You see the way on't wuz: we had to do sumthin' to raise the minister's
salary, which wuz most half a year behindhand, to say nothin' of the
ensuin' year a-comin'. And as I have hinted at before but hain't gi'n
petickulers, the men in the meetin' house had all gi'n out, and said
they had gi'n every cent they could, and they couldn't and they wouldn't
do any more, any way.

As I have said more formally, there wuz a hardness arozen amongst the
male brethern.

Deacon Peedick thought he had gi'n more than his part in proportion, and
come right out plain and said so.

And Deacon Bobbet said "he wuzn't the man to stand it to be told right
to his face that he hadn't done his share," and he said "he wuzn't the
man either, to be hinted at from the pulpit about things." I don't
believe he wuz hinted at, and Sister Bobbet don't And she felt like
death to have him so riz up in his mind, and act so. I know what the
tex' wuz; it wuz these words:

"The Lord loveth a cheerful giver."

The minister didn't mean nothin' only pure gospel, when he preached
about it. But it proved to be a tight-breasted, close-fittin' coat
to several of the male brothers, and it fitted 'em so well it fairly
pinched 'em.

But there it wuz, Deacon Bobbet wouldn't gi'n a cent towards raisin' the
money. And there wuz them that said, and stuck to it, that he said "he
wouldn't give a _darn_ cent."

But I don't know as that is so. I wouldn't want to be the one that said
that he had demeaned himself to that extent.

Wall, he wouldn't give a cent, and Peedick wouldn't give, and Deacon
Henzy and Deacon Sypher wouldn't. They said that there wuz certain
members of the meetin' house that had said to certain people suthin'
slightin' about buzz saws.

I myself thought then, and think still, that the subject of buzz saws
had a great deal to do in makin' 'em act so riz up and excited. I
believe the subject rasped 'em, and made 'em nervous. But when these
various hardnesses aroze amongst some of the brethern, the rest of the
men kinder joined in with 'em, some on one side, and some on the other,
and they all baulked right out of the harness. (Allegory.) And there the
minister wuz, go