he'd have gone over, too, but Lucy just hung on herself that time, an'
Hiram was rescued without nothin' worse than his hair mussed an' one
sleeve a little tore. Mr. Sperrit an' Mr. Jilkins carried Gran'ma
Mullins into the dinin'-room, an' I said to just leave her fainted till
after we'd got Hiram well an' truly married; so they did.

"I never see the minister rattle nothin' through like that
marriage-service. Every one was on whole papers of pins an' needles, an'
the minute it was over every one just felt like sittin' right straight
down.

"Mrs. Macy an' me went up an' watered Gran'ma Mullins till we brought
her to, and when she learned as it was all done she picked up wonderful
and felt as hungry as any one, an' come downstairs an' kissed Lucy an'
caught a corner on Mrs. Dill just like she'd never been no trouble to no
one from first to last. I never seen such a sudden change in all my
life; it was like some miracle had come out all over her and there
wasn't no one there as wasn't rejoiced to death over the change.

"We all went out in the dinin'-room and the sun shone in and every one
laughed over nothin' a-_tall_. Mrs. Sperrit pinned Hiram up from inside
so his tear didn't show, and Lucy and he set side by side and looked
like no one was ever goin' to ever be married again. Polly an' the
deacon set opposite and the minister an' his wife an' Mr. Dill an'
Gran'ma Mullins made up the table. The rest stood around, and we was all
as lively as words can tell. The cake was one o' the handsomest as I
ever see, two pigeons peckin' a bell on top and Hiram an' Lucy runnin'
around below in pink. There was a dime inside an' a ring, an' I got the
dime, an' they must have forgot to put in the ring for no one got it."