ficers had to hold him--

I sez, "It is a pity the officers didn't hold him in the first place,
and then all the horrer and tragedy might have been saved."

But my pardner wouldn't even notice a thing I said. He felt, I could
see, that my remarks wuz indeed beneath his notice.

Wall, I stood and see this poor, weak, despairin' victim of rum dragged
off to a felon's doom, dragged off to the scaffold, and one of his chief
draggers wuz the one that caused his crime--caused it accordin' to law.
And the rest of his draggers wuz the ones who had voted to have the
trade of murderer makin' and child killin' and villian breedin'
perpetuated and kep up.

And the Goverment of the United States hung him, the same Goverment that
wuz in partnership with that saloon up in Zoar, and took part of the pay
for makin' this man murder that innocent little girl.

Wall, Josiah and me, we went to that funeral. I felt that I must go, and
so did he; it wuz only about five milds from here, in the Methodist
Episcopal Meetin'-House up to Zoar.

Her father and mother wuz members in good standin'. Lots of
Jonesvillians went to the funeral; there hadn't been such a excitement
in Zoar and Jonesville sence Seth Widrik murdered his wife's mother
with a broad axe (and that wuz done through whiskey, so they say; it wuz
done before my time).

The Meetin'-House in Zoar wuz crowded to its utmost capacity and the
ceilin'. And seats wuz sot in all the aisles, and the pulpit stairs wuz
full of folks, and the door-steps, and the front yard wuz packed full.
We went early, and got a seat.

[Illustration: Wall, Josiah and me, we went to that funeral.]

All the ministers of Zoar, and Jonesville, and Loontown, and Shackville
wuz there, and of all the sermons that wuz preached--wall, it wuz a
sight. The tears jest run down most everybody's face, and when the
mourners wuz addressed, why, big, hefty men all round me jest boohooed
right out. Why, it wuz enough to melt a stun.

Then the preacher depictered that little golden head that had made
sunshine in her home through the darkest days, as bein' brung low by an
asassin. Then he spoke of that sweet little silvery voice a-ringin'
through the home and the hearts of her father and mother, of how it wuz
lifted up in vain appeal to her slayer that dretful night.

Then he spoke of the tender white arms that clung so lovingly round her
parent's neck, how they wuz lifted up in frantic appeal and vain to her
destroye