St. Landry democrat., 1885-06-20

We said we would stay and would
| try to do what was proper.
How appetizing going to the grave
must be, said Gertrude, as we walked
home.
On the way we met Nancy Holland,
who was taking down stranger from
Mill Village. She explained that her
companion had never seen Mr.. EWell,
the man, but that she felt wish to see
the corpse. Mrs. Holland was old, and
trembling with the interest and excite
ment of the occasion. She asked if we
were to be present ''to the tuneril." "
When told thatwe were to be 'tWaiters,"
she looked at usWith unmistakable sur
| prise and envy.
s.Be We, nowP declare told Miss
Ewell I'D Jest as lieve stay an help,
only I can't leave Robert, ye know
and she went on.
From interviews with several other
neighbors we saw that our office was
coveted one. Did it not give an almost
unlimited opportunity to peer into
every part of the house; to see where
dust had collected; to find out how
many pies had been made, and to Judge
pretty accurately whether they were
made as they ought to be? over
heard one decrepit old woman, who re-
mained behind in the house ofmourning,
say to another, as the two tottered
| along the narrow entry through which
the coffin had Just been borne:
| Il call it odd that Miss Ewell should
a. had them two gals as walters; my
| gals would a. been glad to come. What
do they know?" jerking her head back
in our direct on.
Oh, how not it was! It was fervent
as day in Massachusetts will some-
times be in the summer, the heavens
being overspread by q thin. coppery
haze, and without breath of air. 1t
was the third day of such heat, and
every one foretold that the 'tspell
would break before night. Mean
while it had not broken, and we were
in the kitchen brewing coffee and tea.
We put two tables end to end in the
s'settin' room" and h2stened tospread
them with crockery, cake and pie,
stacks of bread and of cold-boiled
corned beef.
The cemetery was not far, and we
were barely ready, when carriage after
carriage drove back from the grave,
and their occupants poured into the
house. Where do the men get those
| curiouslY shaped sack coats which bag
SO in the back and sleeves? But that
the DAYS of peripatetic female tailors
are over, we should say that these gar
ments were their work. These men
slouch in and out of doors, talking in
mumbling voices, while their women
in prim dresses pat their hair before
the little looking -glassin the bedroom,
then come out one by one, and peer
over the table at us. They talk, too,
and discuss how well, or how i'll the
minister did. One thinks he did not
improve the occasion correctly, an
other that he was not sufficiently
'feelin' in his prayer for the widder. "
ssWidders is 'customed to bein' prayed
fur more particular, /" said Nancy Hol-
land, who spoke, suppose from expe-
rience, she having been widow twice
before she married her Robert.
: Though they all talk, they are evil
IDENTIFY impatient for the feast No less
than ten carriage loads have come.
! We learn from the remark of one thin,
! pale-faced woman that it is distinc-
/ tion to have good many come back
from the grave and partake of the fes-
/ tival.
s.When Miss Martin was buried they
t only had six carriages to supper" she
saws, in a congratulatory way to the
! bereaved woman, as if in Mrs. EWell g
, case sorrow had its compensations.
ssWarren, he had good many
q friends,'' replied the widow, a glimmer
. of complacencY on her face, which is
q careworn and salloW.
: In a few minutes we have the first
q tables full, including the minister, who
a is in hurry, having another funeral
to attend at three o'clock. He drinks,
' thirstily, three cups of tea, and is hus-
4 tied off after a handshake and gentle
! murmur Of coincidence to the widow.
For the next hour my sister and ]
i might have been walters in a crowded
Il restaurant. We find the feasters very
!. particular about their coffee and tea,
! and very copious in their consumption
q of those beverages. We have cut the
"a third stack of corned beef, of bread and
! Of cake. We have emptied one pickle
. lar, and / am going down cellar attel
a second; for one cadaYerOus woman
I, in q blue and green gingham dress
:. seems to subsist on pickles, and is very
4 arbitrary in her remarks to me con
h cerning those relishes. She appears t
e think that, in some mysterious way,
: am responsible for the fact that Their
% is a whitish mould on some of thes'
preserved cucumbers. When / hant
IA her the dish the third time she says il
5. husky whisper:
p 7, "There ought to a. been bake'
"a a beans. Why didn't ye see to it? Han'
o 2 - I,, asIro, Ain' thara M bean