t the children down, and then set down
herself without even lookin' at anybody, to say nothin' o' smilin' or
speakin'. Well, when half-past ten come, my Jane began to play
'Welcome, sweet day of rest,' and all of 'em begun singin' except
Milly. She set there with her mouth tight shut, and let the bass and
tenor and alto have it all their own way. I thought maybe she was out
o' breath from comin' in late and in a hurry, and I looked for her to
jine in, but she jest set there, lookin' straight ahead of her; and
when Sam passed her a hymn-book, she took hold of it and shut it up
and let it drop in her lap. And there was the tenor and the bass and
the alto doin' their best, and everybody laughin', or tryin' to keep
from laughin'. I reckon if Uncle Jim Matthews had 'a' been there, he'd
'a' took Milly's place and helped 'em out, but Uncle Jim'd been in his
grave more'n two years. Sam looked like he'd go through the floor, he
was so mortified, and he kept lookin' around at Milly as much as to
say, 'Why don't you sing? Please sing, Milly,' but Milly never opened
her mouth.

"I'd about concluded Milly must have the sore throat or somethin' like
that, but when the first hymn was give out, Milly started in and sung
as loud as anybody; and when the doxology come around, Milly was on
hand again, and everybody was settin' there wonderin' why on earth
Milly hadn't sung in the voluntary. When church was out, I heard Sam
invitin' Brother Hendricks to go home and take dinner with
him--Brother Hendricks'd preached for us that day--and they all drove
off together before I'd had time to speak to Milly.

"But that week, when the Mite Society met, Milly was there bright and
early; and when we'd all got fairly started with our sewin', and
everybody was in a good-humor, Sally Ann says, says she: 'Milly, I
want to know why you didn't sing in that voluntary Sunday. I reckon
everybody here wants to know,' says she, 'but nobody but me's got the
courage to ask you.'

"And Milly's face got as red as a beet, and she burst out laughin',
and says she: 'I declare, I'm ashamed to tell you all. I reckon Satan
himself must 'a' been in me last Sunday. You know,' says she,'there's
some days when everything goes wrong with a woman, and last Sunday was
one o' them days. I got up early,' says she, 'and dressed the children
and fed my chickens and strained the milk and washed up the milk
things and got breakfast and washed the dishes and cleaned up the
house