Zona Gale

“ We took the milk around an', bake' sweet potatoes forgot, Timothy stood up by the stove, between Eppleby an' Silas, an' watched us—an' the Jersey must 'a' picked her way home alone. An' Abel, he just set there to the organ, gentlin' round soft on the keys so it made me think o' God movin' on the face o' the waters. An' movin' on the face o' everything else, too, an' of every place, dedicated or not. It was like we'd felt the big wind, same's Eppleby said. ”

“ But not a woman run past me. Ain't it funny how it's the men that go to danger of rail an' fire an' water—but when it's nothin' but birth an' dyin' natural, then it's for women to be there?
"When I'd got about ready to fly away, waitin' so, I see Abel at the fence. An' he didn't motion to me, but he swung over the top an' come acrost the stubble, an' I see he hed somethin' in his arms. I run to meet him an' he run too, crooked, his feet turnin' over with him some in the hard ground. The sky made his face sort o' bright; an' I see he'd got a child in his arms. ”

“ An' don't you ever let anything living suffer for one minute an' mebbe you'll find out some o' the things the princess knew.' An', royalty or not, I felt all right about Abel's story-tellin' after that.
"Then we all brisked round an' begun settin' the children up on the cots—two or three to a cot with one of us to wait on 'em; an' both the little sleepy ones woke up, too. An' doin' right. You know your doubts come when we sliced an' spread the bread an' dished the hot chicken broth an' see how hungry they all seemed, I declare if one of us could feel wicked. ”

“ We all tried to tell him. Nobody in Friendship has a warm spare room in winter, without it's the Proudfits, an' they was in Europe an' their house locked. Mebbe ten of us, we counted up afterwards, could 'a' took in one child to 'a' slep' with some member o' the family. But, as Abel said, where was the time to canvass round? An' what would we do with the other ten? But Timothy wouldn't listen to nothin'.
"'Amanda,' s'e in a married voice, 'I forbid you to carry a drop o' Jersey milk or any other kind o' milk up to that church.'
"With that he was out the front door an' liniment forgot. ”

“ But when he was two-thirds o' the way acrost the pasture he stops short an' grabs at my sleeve.
"'Look here,' he says, 'you can't go down there. You mustn't do it. We donno what'll be. You stay here,' he says; 'you set there under the Cottonwood.'
"You kind o' haj to mind Abel. It's sort o' grained in that man to hev folks disciple after him. I made him promise he'd motion from the fence if he see I could help any, an' then I se' down under that big tree' down there. I was tremblin' some, I know. It always seems like wrecks are somethin' that happen in other states an' in the dark. ”

“ Half the men o' Friendship run by me, seems though. The whole town'd been rousted up while we was in the church talkin' heresy, an' up on the high place in the road there I see Zittelhof's undertakin' wagon with the sunset showin' in its nickel rails. ”

“ An' finally we got up here in the road, an' it was like the end o' pain to be able to fling open the church door an' marshal 'em through the entry into that great, big, warm room, with the two fires roarin'.
"I got 'em round the nearest stove an' rubbed their little hands an' tried not to scare 'em to death with wantin' to love 'em—an' all the while, bad as I felt for 'em, I was glad an' glad that it was me that could be there with 'em. ”

“ He'll bring up enough little canvas cots from the store. An' I thought mebbe you'd go down to the village an' pick up some stuff they'll need—bedding an' things. An' get the women here with some supper. Come on now,' he calls out to 'em, 'everybody in a procession an' sing!'
"He led 'em off with
"'King William was King James's son,'"
an' he sings back to me, for the secunt line:
"'Go now, go quick, I bet they're starved!'
"So I got into my coat, tryin' to think where I should go to be sure o' not wastin' time talkin'. Lots o' folks in this world is willin', but mighty few can be quick. ”

“ It was Abel Halsey, standin' in the entry, lookin' as handsome as the law allows. An' I see he happened to be there because the through express was about due, an' you can always get a good view of it from this slope here. You know how Abel never misses watchin' a fast train go 'long, if he can help himself. ”

“ An' Eppleby 'side of him. An' we 'most shut the door on Silas Sykes, comin' tearin' up on account o' Timothy's leavin' him a urgent word to come, without explainin' why. An' when Silas see the inside o' the church, all lit up, an' chicken supper for the children, an' the other two elders there with the milk, he just rubs his hands an' beams like he see his secunt term, I donno's it'd ever enter Silas Sykes's head 't there was anything wrong with anything, providin' somebody wasn't snappin' him up for it. I guess it's like that in politics. ”

“ It was so dark in the church by then we could hardly see, but the children could keep track o' the white handkerchief. He let it fall behind the little girl he'd brought me first—Mitsy—an' she catches it up an' sort o' squeaks with the fun, an' runs after him. An' while he doubles, an' turns, 'They've telegraphed ahead,' he says, 'to two or three places In the city. But even if we hear right off we can't get 'em out o' Friendship to-night. They'll hev to stay here. The depot hotel's got all they can do for—five or six men an' a woman, hurt pretty bad. ”

“ Not with them poor babies in there hungrier'n you be an' nowheres to go.'
"'With that she got done milkin' an' stood up an' picked up her two pails.
"'Timothy,' s'she, 'the worst sacrilege that's done in this world is when folks turns their backs on any little bit of a chance that the Lord gives 'em to do good in, like He told 'em. ”