, and me and Abram was out on the back porch, and I had the baby
in my arms. There was somethin' in the sound o' the horse's hoofs
that told me he was carryin' bad news, and I jumped up, and says I,
'Abram, some awful thing has happened.' And he says, 'Jane, are you
crazy?' I could hear the sound o' the gallopin' comin' nearer and
nearer, and I rushed out to the front gate with Abram follerin' after
me. We looked up the road, and there was Sam Amos gallopin' like mad
on that young bay mare of his. The minute he saw us he hollered out to
Abram: 'Git ready as quick as you can, and go to town! Harvey Andrews
has had an apoplectic stroke, and I want you to bring the undertaker
out here right away.'

"I turned around to say, 'What did I tell you?' But before I could git
the words out, Abram was off to saddle and bridle old Moll. That was
always Abram's way. If there was anything to be done, he did it, and
the talkin' and questionin' come afterwards.

"Sam stopped at the gate and got off a minute to give his horse a
breathin' spell. He said he was passin' Harvey's place about five
o'clock and he heard a child screamin'. 'At first,' says he, 'I didn't
pay any attention to it, I'm so used to hearin' children holler. But
after I got past the house I kept hearin' the child, and somethin'
told me to turn back and find out what was the matter. I went in,'
said he, 'and follered the sound till I come to the stable-yard, and
there was Harvey, lyin' on the ground stone dead, and Mary standin'
over him lookin' like a crazy woman, and the children, pore little
things, screamin' and cryin' and scared half to death.'

"The horse and buggy was standin' there, and Mary must 'a' found the
body when she come back from town.

"'I got her and the children to the house,' says he; 'and then I
started out to get some person to help me move the body, and, as luck
would have it,' says he, 'I met the Crawford boys comin' from town,
and between us we managed to get the corpse up to the house and laid
it on the big settee in the front hall. And now,' says he, 'I'm goin'
after Uncle Jim Matthews; and me and him and the Crawford boys'll lay
the body out when the undertaker comes. And Marthy Matthews will have
to come over and stay all night.

"Says I, 'Sam, how is Mary bearin' it?'

"He shook his head, and says he, 'The worst way in the world. She
hasn't shed a tear nor spoke a word, and she don't seem to notice
anything, not even the children. Bu