p, an' he said he an' Polly would bring their own
lunch an' their own pillow an' blanket an' hammock an' look on, 'cause
Polly wanted to see the fun an' they were n't intendin' to have any
fireworks anyhow. He said he was curious about the ox himself; he said
he wondered where they'd get the ox, an' the pit, too, for that matter.

"He said he wanted it distinctly understood as he an' Polly'd bring
their own lunch an' neither borrow nor lend. He said that rule would
apply to the pillow an' the blanket an' the hammock, the same as to the
lunch. There was some talk after he was gone on how terrible close he
an' Polly are both gettin'. Seems kind of funny, to be so savin' when
you ain't got nobody to save for, but the Whites an' Allens was always
funny an' what's bred in the flesh always sticks the bones out
somewhere, as we all know.

"The minister come up an' he said as it says in the Bible as when the ox
is in the pit every one must join in an' help him out, so he shall do
his part an' bring all his family with him. But he said he must remark
as to his order of thinkin' a ox struck him as a most singular way to
commemorate the day our forefathers fought an' bled over. He says he
should have thought a service o' song an' a much to be desired donation
towards cleanin' out his cistern would have been a more fittin' way to
spend the glorious Fourth in, than fixin' a ox in a pit an' tryin' to
bake him there. He says he don't think it can be done anyhow, he says a
ox ain't no chestnut to stick in the ashes till he bounces out cooked o'
his own accord.

"Mrs. Fisher says she sha'n't have nothin' to do with any of it; they're
all goin' to the city, an' Mr. Fisher is goin' to a lecture on that
Russian that his country wants to amalgamate for suthin' he's done; an'
she an' John Bunyan is goin' to the Hippodrome. They want to see the
girl turn upside down in the automobile an' Mrs. Fisher says she can
hear about the ox when she comes back.

"Mrs. Brown says they sha'n't go, 'cause young Dr. Brown's afraid o'
microbes in the woods. He's goin' to disinfect everythin' with that new
smell he's invented the day before the Fourth, an' then they're goin' to
have huckleberry biscuit an' watermelon an' just spend a quiet day
waitin' for any accidents as may maybe come along. Mrs. Brown says
young Dr. Brown is always hopin' for another railroad smash-up like that
one that came while he was away studyin'. She says it always seems too
bad