Page:Samantha on Children's Rights.djvu/231

 She wuzn't quite so noble a Christian old maid as the one who took care of Anna's childhood, but she wuz a good, faithful creeter, and the best judge of mustard plasters and milk porridge I ever see—well, she'd handled 'em enough to be a judge of 'em. Hamenses wife went right on to her old home with the man who come to tell the news, and Josiah and I told her we would come to the funeral. It wuz goin' to be to the house, and as their house wuz liable to be full of relations I told her to leave Jack and I would bring him with me.

We wuz goin' to stop and leave Delight to home on the way to the funeral. Well, no sooner had they started off than Jack tackled me about the funeral—what funerals wuz, and what they did to 'em. And I went on and explained it all out to him as well as I could, and when I come to tell him about the hearse, for I talked quite diffuse, partly to get his mind off, he said he should ride in it.

I argued with him for a spell, but he stood firm to the last that he should "ride in that hearse." I told him it wuz for his poor Grandma. And he said there wuz room enough for both; she had always divided everything with him. And he cried a little—he loved his Grandma. And he wanted to know if his Grandma couldn't talk and tell him about dyin', what it wuz. He said Grandma would always answer questions.

And I sez, "Grandma can't answer this question, Jack." And then I tried to explain it to him as well as I could how part of Grandma, the best part, her life and soul, had gone up into heaven, and he would find it there some day. Tegus wuz the questions he put to me, but I buckled on my boddist waist of duty and tried to answer 'em, and he went to bed quite clever.