ect on their folly 'n'
think a little on how the rest of us as did n't care rhyme or reason for
folly is got no choice but to puff up, too. Mrs. Jilkins is awful mad;
she says Mr. Jilkins wanted to wear his straw hat anyhow, 'n' she says
she always has hated his silk hat 'cause it reminds her o' when she was
young 'n' foolish enough to be willin' to go 'n' marry into a family as
was foolish enough to marry into Deacon White. Mrs. Jilkins is extra hot
because she got one in the neck, but my own idea is as Polly Allen's
weddin' was the silliest doin's as I ever see from the beginnin', 'n'
the end wa'n't no more than might o' been expected--all things
considered.

"When I got to the church, what do you think was the first thing as I
see, Mrs. Lathrop? Well, you 'd never guess till kingdom come, so I may
as well tell you. It was Ed 'n' Sam Duruy 'n' Henry Ward Beecher 'n'
Johnny standin' there waitin' to show us to our pews like we did n't
know our own pews after sittin' in 'em for all our life-times! I just
shook my head 'n' walked to my pew, 'n' there, if it was n't looped shut
with a daisy-chain! Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I wish you could have been there
to have felt for me, for I may remark as a cyclone is a caterpillar wove
up in hisself beside my face when I see myself daisy-chained out o' my
own pew by Polly Allen. Ed was behind me 'n' he whispered 'That's
reserved for the family.' I give him one look 'n' I will state, Mrs.
Lathrop, as he wilted. It did n't take me long to break that daisy-chain
'n' sit down in that pew, 'n' I can assure you as no one asked me to get
up again. Mrs. Jilkins's cousins from Meadville come 'n' looked at me
sittin' there, but I give them jus' one look back 'n' they went 'n' sat
with Mrs. Macy themselves. A good many other folks was as surprised as
me over where they had to sit, but we soon had other surprises as took
the taste o' the first clean out o' our mouths.

"Just as Mrs. Davison begin to play the organ, Ed 'n' Johnny come down
with two clothes-lines wound 'round with clematis 'n' tied us all in
where we sat. Then they went back 'n' we all stayed still 'n' could n't
but wonder what under the sun was to be done to us next. But we did n't
have long to wait, 'n' I will say as anythin' to beat Polly's ideas I
never see--no--nor no one else neither.

"'Long down the aisle, two 'n' two, 'n' hand in hand, like they thought
they was suthin' pretty to look at, come Ed 'n' Johnny 'n' Henry Ward