"Mrs. Fisher said," continued Susan, "as she thought maybe she got used
to lookin' pleasant at him in all them years as she kept house for him
afore he made up his mind to get married to her, an' so the habit kind
of is on her an' what's dyed in the wool keeps on stickin' to Mr.
Sperrit. She said as they do say as he married her 'cause he wanted her
bedroom to hang up corn to dry in. She went on to say as for her part
she always enjoyed seein' the Sperrits so happy for it done any one good
to only look at 'em an' that she'd only be too happy to be a idiot
herself if it'd do any human bein' good to look at her an' Mr. Fisher
afterwards. She went on to say as she'd heard as the other night Mr.
Sperrit drove two miles back in the rain 'cause he'd forgot a cake o'
sapolio as she'd asked him to bring. I spoke up at that an' I said I did
n't see nothin' very surprisin' in that, for I know if I asked any man
as I was married to to bring home a cake o' sapolio I should most surely
look to see the cake when he come home."

"I--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

"I know; but you always spoiled him," said Susan. "Well, what was I
sayin'? Oh, yes, Mrs. Brown said as Mrs. Macy was tellin' her the other
day as they've got a idiot in Meadville--a real hereditary one; the
doctors have all studied him an' it's a clear case right down from his
great-grandfather."

"His great--" cried Mrs. Lathrop.

"Grandfather," said Susan. "Yes, Mrs. Lathrop, that is how it was, an'
Mrs. Macy says it's really so, for she see the tombstones all but the
mother's--hers ain't done yet. Seems the idiocy come from the
great-grandfather's stoppin' on the train crossin' to pick up a frog
'cause he was runnin' for suthin' in connection with the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals."

"The frog!" cried Mrs. Lathrop.

"No, the great-grandfather. Seems he never stopped to consider as what'd
kill a frog would be sure to hit him, an' Mrs. Macy says the doctors
said as that was one very strong piece o' evidence against the family
brains right at the start, but she says he really was smarter than they
thought, for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals paid
for the funeral an' for the grandmother's, too."

"The grand--" cried Mrs. Lathrop.

"--Mother's," said Susan. "Yes, seems the railway track was their back
fence an' she'd always begged an' prayed him at the top o' her voice not
to go to town that way, but he would n't listen 'cause he was