hat loves you--ah,
To choose that good part, that Mary chose--ah,
That the worrrr-uld kin neither give ner take away--ah."

That went on until he was hoarse, then he prayed, and arose and sang
his song. Other men spoke where they stood. Isaac always walked to
the altar, faced the people, and he was tired out when he finished, but
so proud of himself, so happy, and he felt so sure that his efforts
were worth a warm bed, sausage, pancakes, maple syrup, and coffee for
breakfast, that it was mighty seldom he failed to fool some one else
into thinking so too, and if he could, he wouldn't have to walk four
miles home on cold nights, with no overcoat. In summer, mostly, they
let him go. Isaac always was fattest in winter, especially during
revivals, but at any time mother said he looked like a sheep's carcass
after the buzzards had picked it. It could be seen that he was
perfectly strong, and could have fed and clothed himself, and Mandy and
the children, quite as well as our father did us, if he had wanted to
work, for we had the biggest family of the neighbourhood. So we
children made fun of him and we had to hold our mouths shut when he got
up all tired and teary-like, and began to quaver:

"Many dear childurn we know dew stan'
Un toon ther harps in the better lan',
Ther little hans frum each soundin' string,
Bring music sweet, wile the Anguls sing,
Bring music sweet, wile the Anguls sing,--

We shell meet them agin on that shore,
We shell meet them agin on that shore,
With fairer face, un angel grace,
Each loved un ull welcome us ther.

"They uster mourn when the childurn died,
Un said goo-bye at the river side,
They dipped ther feet in the glidin' stream,
Un faded away, like a loveli dream,
Un faded away like a loveli dream."

Then the chorus again, and then Isaac dropped on the front seat
exhausted, and stayed there until some good-hearted woman, mostly my
mother, felt so sorry about his shiftlessness she asked him to go home
with us and warmed and fed him, and put him in the traveller's bed to
sleep. The way we played it was this: we stood together at the edge of
a roadside puddle and sang the first verse and the chorus exactly as
Isaac did. Then I sang the second verse, and May was one of the "many
dear childurn," and as I came to the lines she dipped her feet in the
"glidin' stream," and for "fading away," she jumped across.

Now