"It was all a great success," she went on calmly. "The minister's
discourse was very fine; only when he prayed for consolation we all
knowed he meant 'Liza Em'ly. All but the deacon, that is. I guess the
deacon was thinkin' more o' Gran'ma Mullins 'n any one else 't first;
Mrs. Jilkins told me he asked how old she was, comin' back in the
carriage."
"I allers thought--" said Mrs. Lathrop.
"So did a good many people. I don't know 's that was surprisin', either;
for it's a well-known fact 's they was fond o' each other forty or fifty
years back. She 's got a daguerre'type o' him 's is so old 't you can't
be very sure whether it 's him, after all. She says she ain't positive
herself, 'cause she had one o' her cousin 's shot himself by accident on
his way to the war, 'n' the wreath o' flowers stamped on the red velvet
inside was just the same in both cases. You have to go by the light 'n'
tip him a good while to say for sure whether he's got a collar on or
not, 'n' you could n't swear to his havin' on anythin' else if you was
to turn him round 'n' round till doomsday. She had that picture in a box
with her first hair 'n' Hiram's first tooth 'n' a nut 't she said the
deacon did a hole in with his knife when they was children together one
day. She showed 'em all to me one time when I was there; I did n't think
much o' the nut, I must say. But I will say as it seemed to make her
happy, so I jus' remarked 't it was surprisin' how foolish we got 's we
got old, 'n' let it go 't that.
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