yself from the dust, arise and sit
down ... loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, O captive daughter of
Zion ... how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion: Thy God
reigneth! Break forth into joy, sing together ... depart ye, depart ye,
go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing ... be ye clean, that bear
the vessels of the Lord....'

"Sometimes a thing you've heard always will come at you sudden, like a
star had fell on your very head. It was that way with me that day. 'Put
on thy beautiful garments ...' I says over, 'Put 'em on--put 'em on!'
An' all the while I was seein' to the supper for the crowd that was
goin' to be there--train relations an' all--I kep' thinkin' that over
like a song--'Put 'em on--put 'em on--put 'em on!' An' it was in me yet,
like a song had come to life there, when they'd all gone to the
cemetery--'Leven with 'em--an' I'd got through straightenin' the
chairs--or rather crookedin' 'em some into loops from funeral lines--an'
slipped over to my house, back way. For I ain't sunk so low as to be
that sympathetic that I'll stay to supper after the funeral just because
I've helped at it. There's a time to mourn an' there's a time to eat,
an' you better do one with the bereaved an' slip home to your own
butt'ry shelf for the other, _I_ say.

"I was just goin' through the side yard to my house when I see 'em
comin' back from the cemetery, an' I waited a little, lookin' to see
what was sproutin' in the flower-bed. It was a beautiful, beautiful
evenin'--when I think of it it seems I can breathe it in yet. It was
'most sunset, an' it was like the West was a big, blue bowl with eggs
beat up in it, yolks an' whites, some gold an' some feathery. But the
bowl wa'n't big enough, an' it had spilled over an' flooded the whole
world yellowish, or all floatin' shinin' in the air. It was like the
world had done the way the Bible said--put on its beautiful garments. I
was thinkin' that when 'Leven come in the front gate. She was walkin'
fast, an' lookin' up, not down. Her cheeks was some pink, an' the light
made the shroud all pinkey, an' she looked rill nice. An' I marched
straight up to her, feelin' like I was swimmin' in that lovely light:--

"''Leven,' I says, ''Leven--it's like the whole world was made over
to-night, ain't it?'

"'Yes,' says she--an' not 'Huh