the attention of old Doctor Greenwich from Dobbinsville. In the event of
the illness of Mrs. Gramps, it devolved upon Preacher Bonds to make
full arrangements for the funeral, in which affair Jake Benton and his
good wife showed every disposition to help where help was possible.

Preacher Bonds went to Dobbinsville and sent a telegram to each of the
Deacon's five sons, two of whom lived in St. Louis, and three in
Chicago. He also sent a telegram to a minister in St. Louis to come to
preach the funeral, as, he said, he did not feel that he could officiate
at the funeral of such a worthy brother as the departed. This St. Louis
preacher had been a college chum of Preacher Bonds, and was full of the
Mount Olivet persuasion.

Those were in the days before undertakers and other such modern
conveniences had been introduced into that country. Jake Benton, good
soul, went to Dobbinsville after the coffin and hauled it back in the
same old lumber wagon he had hauled Evangelist Blank in five years
before.

The funeral was arranged for Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock. A
handful of ashes, together with the pocket-knife and other articles
found in the ash-heap, was taken and wrapped in a napkin and placed in
the big new coffin.

On Wednesday afternoon, when two o'clock arrived, the two front rooms of
the Gramps farmhouse were crammed full of people. The yard was full,
too. The St. Louis preacher began and spoke thus: "My friends and
brethren, we have met on this sad occasion to pay our last respects to
the honored dead. Within the narrow confines of this casket lie the
earthly remains of a man whose spirit yet lives. It was not my happy