fell through the ceilin' into Phoebe's room 'n' a pretty job
we had sweepin' up his dust.

"The minister come in while we was sweepin'. He certainly does come to
call always at very uncomfortable times; but I suppose everybody 's got
to have a cross, 'n' ours 's him. Anyway, he wanted to know about if it
'd be agreeable to the family to have Mrs. White discoursed on 's a
faithful handmaid, 'cause he did n't want to have to alter her after he
'd got her all copied. He said there was the choice o' a bondwoman o'
the Lord 'n' a light in Israel, too. We had to go 'n' holler the deacon
a long time, 'n' finally we found him out settin' a hen. I did n't think
's he 'd ought to 'a' set a hen the day o' his wife's funeral--I did n't
think much o' settin' hens any time; it's set 'n' set, 'n' then half the
time all you get is a weasel.

"Well, he come in at last, 'n' he would n't hear o' havin' his wife
called a handmaid, 'cause, he said, it was him 's had always done all
the work. The minister said it was astonishin' what 'Liza Em'ly could
get through in a mornin', 'n' then he coughed; 'n' Mrs. Macy said 't
'Liza Em'ly was very helpful for a child o' her age, 'n' then she
coughed; 'n' then the deacon went back to his hen, 'n' the minister
sighed 'n' went, too."

Mrs. Lathrop herself sighed as Susan paused.

"I remember--" she said slowly.

"It was a nice funeral, though," her friend continued; "I never see a
nicer one, even if Mrs. White was n't able to look after nothin'
herself. Mr. Kimball got down to business like it 'd always been his
business, 'n' the way he hustled things through was a lesson to them 's
takes a whole afternoon to one member of a family. He took all the
table-leaves 'n' laid 'em from chair to chair, so 's everybody had a
seat; 'n' then, 's folks come in, he had Billy hand 'em each a fan with
his advertisement on one side 'n' two rows o' readin' on the other, so
's no one got dull waitin'.

"'N' then I never shall forget what a neat job he done with the dove.
You know 's well 's I do 't it 's hard on the dove, 'n' always has been
hard on the dove, to go to every funeral 'n' be the window advertisement
between deaths. I 've told you before how it was freely remarked in the
square, after Mrs. Dill's burial, as the way the dove looked there was
suthin' borderin' on scandalous. He 'd hovered with a motto till his
wings was 's dirty inside 's outside, 'n' they 'd tipped his head back
to look up resurrecte