ouldn't
be, because we'd prayed for rain the Sunday before. And--bless your
life!--while the rest of us Goshen folks was standin' around in wet
clothes and wishin' we could go home, Parson Page and Mis' Page was
sittin' high and dry in the circus tent.

"Parson Page said he never could tell how he got inside that circus
tent. He said he set out to make a bee-line for town, intendin' to stop
at the drug store till the rain was over, but the wind was blowin' and
raisin' such clouds o' dust you couldn't keep your eyes open, and he was
holdin' his hat on with one hand and tryin' to help Mis' Page with the
other, and the crowd was kind o' carryin' 'em along, and all at once, he
said, he found he was makin' straight for the door o' the big tent where
the band was playin' and the circus was about to begin."

Here Aunt Jane paused and laughed until laughter almost turned to tears.
"There's three ways o' tellin' this story, child," she said, as she
regained her breath. "Parson Page used to tell it his way, and Sam Amos
would tell it his way, and Mis' Page had her way o' tellin' it. She used
to laugh fit to kill over Parson Page sayin' he didn't know how he got
into the circus tent. Says she: 'Lemuel may not know how he got into
the circus, but I know, I had hold of his arm, and the wind was blowin'
the dust in my eyes, too, but I knew exactly which way I was goin', and
I was guidin' him.' Says she: 'I had on my best silk dress, and I'd jest
turned it and made it over, and I didn't intend to have that dress
ruined for lack of a little shelter.' She said she never once thought
about tickets, and there was such a crowd, and the wind was blowin'
things every which way and there was lightnin' and the noise o' thunder,
and while the folks in front of her was givin' up their tickets, the
folks behind was pressin' and pushin', and between the two there wasn't
anything for her to do but go into the tent, whether she wanted to or
not. And she said for her part she didn't mind it a bit, for that circus
tent was the cheerfulest, happiest place she ever was in. She said the
music made you feel like laughin' and steppin' lively, and folks was
eatin' peanuts and drinkin' lemonade, and the bareback riders was
tearin' around the ring, and jest as they got fairly inside, the rain
begun beatin' down on the tent, and she thanked her stars she wasn't
outside. She said it took Parson Page some little time to find out where
he was, and when he did fi