Josiah's Alarm, and Abel Perry's FuneralHolley, Marietta
General
Josiah's Alarm, and Abel Perry's Funeral
Holley, Marietta
Married people -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
And I says, “I guess where Harrison is now, the color of a
handkerchief-border hain’t a-goin’ to make much difference to him either
way.”
And I don’t s’pose it wuz noticed much, for there wuzn’t more’n ten or a
dozen folks there when we went in. We went in in Injin file mostly, by
Abel’ses request, so’s to make more show. And as a procession we wuz
middlin’ long, but ruther thin.
The sermon was not so very good as to quality, but abundant as to
quantity. It wuz, as nigh as I could calkerlate, about a hour and
three-quarters long. Josiah whispered to me along about the last that
“we had been there over seven hours, and his legs wuz paralyzed.”
And I whispered back that “seven hours would take us into the night, and
to stretch his feet out and pinch ’em;” which he did.
But it wuz long and tejus. My feet got to sleep twice, and I had hard
work to wake ’em up ag’in. The sermon meant to be about Harrison, I
s’pose; he did talk a sight about him, and then he kinder branched off
onto politics, and then the Inter-State bill; he kinder favored it, I
thought.
Wall, we all got drippin’ wet a-goin’ home, for Abel insisted on our
gettin’ out at the grave, for he had hired some oncommon high singers
(high every way, in price and in notes) to sing at the grave.
And so we disembarked in the drippin’ rain, on the wet grass, and formed
a procession ag’in. And Abel had a long exercise right there in the
rain. But the singin’ wuz kinder jerky, and cur’us, and they had got
their pay beforehand, so they hurried it through. And one man, the
tenor, who wuz dretful afraid of takin’ cold, hurried through his part,
and got through first, and started on a run for the carriage. The others
stood their grounds till the piece wuz finished, but they put in some
dretful cur’us quavers. I believe they had had chills: it sounded like
it.
[Illustration: “Abel and S. Annie selected one.”]
Take it altogether, I don’t believe anybody got much satisfaction out of
it, only Abel. S. Annie sp’ilt her dress and bonnet entirely—they wuz
wilted all down; and she ordered another suit jest like it before she
slept.
Wall, the next mornin’ early two men come with plans for monuments. Abel
had telegrafted to ’em to come with plans and bid for the job of
furnishin’ the monument.
And after a good deal of talk on both sides, Abel and S. Annie selected
one that wuz very high and p’inted.
The men stayed to dinner, and I said to Abel, out to one side,—
“Abel, that monument is a-goin’ to cost a sight.”
“Wall,” says he, “we can’t raise too high a one. Harrison deserved it
all.”
Says I, “Won’t that, and all these funeral expenses, take about all the
money he left?”
“Oh, no,” says he. “He had insured his life for a large amount, and it
all goes to his wife and children. He deserves a monument, if a man ever
did.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account