Page:Scarlet Sister Mary (1928).pdf/322

 in de street does. De members pays fifty cents evy time somebody dies; if you lose a child as much as twelve years old, you get fifteen dollars; if you lose a baby or a child under twelve, you get twelve dollars and a half; if a man loses his wife he gets twenty-five dollars an' a good store-bought box to bury em, an' a nice tombstone."

"How much does a dead man bring?" Seraphine looked grave. "A lawful husband brings sixty dollars, but if e ain' married to you, you don' get a Gawd's cent."

"Dat don' seem ezactly right," Unex ventured, but Mary said it didn't matter. She and Seraphine had no husbands and did not belong to the Bury-league, not yet. It was cheaper for her and the children to stay well, so they could spend the money they made on rations and clothes and pleasure. None of them was likely to die anytime soon. Of course, if one was to show any sign of getting weakly, she might join then, but it was not a bit of use now. Not now.