e was playin' hangin' and this Dutch boy was the
criminal and was bein' hanged for a crime. And grandma kind of heard a
noise or suspected somethin', so she came into the wood house and found
this here Dutch boy clawin' at the rope and kind of purple in the face,
and Archie standin' by pretendin' to hold a watch and be the sheriff.
Well, this time Uncle Lemuel whipped Archie with the strap; and after
that they made him pray, and put him in a dark room and kept him on
bread and water for a day. Then they let him out and he kissed his pa
and his ma and said he loved 'em and loved God and was all right now and
would never commit another sin while he lived.

But to come back to eatin' chicken, if you've ever seen bricks piled,
kind a thrown down in a pile around a mortar box, that's the way the
chicken bones looked around Uncle Lemuel's plate; and all the time there
was a lot of talk about the evil of intemperance and the curse of strong
drink, and grandpa said that he'd seen slavery abolished, and the time
would come when strong drink would be abolished too.

Then in the afternoon we generally had singin' and music; and Uncle
Lemuel played the piano and sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" in a
terrible deep voice, and all the rest joined as well as they could. And
then after while everybody would get to cryin' and Uncle Lemuel would
say that beyond the weepin' and the wailin' here there was a land of
pure delight where we would all be. And Uncle Lemuel would put his hand
on my head and ask me if I didn't believe it, and I said yes, I did,
though so far as my thoughts went, I didn't know much about it, and I
kept thinkin' of heaven as a place where dead folks suddently made alive
went around in their night-gowns not doin' very much, except just
smilin' sweet on each other and saying soft words.

Grandma always seemed kind of apart at these times, as if she believed
everything maybe, and approved of it, but kind of as if there was other
things which she had to think of and which kept her from takin' part as
much as Uncle Lemuel and Aunt Melissa, and even grandpa, who didn't have
anything else to do. For grandma always had the meals to get and the
cows to milk, and so much business like that to run; and she never shed
any tears except when she was really sayin' good-by to some one, or
maybe when she'd get to talkin' about some of the children which had
died and which she loved so much.

Of course there was always prayers at ni