ut she would make us take it; she said "if her Mother Gowdy wuz alive,
she would say to her,

"Sarah Ann, I'd ruther not be mourned for in bombazeen than to have the
dear old meetin' house in Jonesville go to destruction. Sell the dress
and mourn fer me in a black calico."

_That_ Sister Gowdy said would be, she knew, what Mother Gowdy would say
to her if she wuz alive.

And we couldn't dispute Sarah Ann, for we all knew that old Miss Gowdy
worked for the meetin' house as long as she could work for anything.
She loved the Methodist meetin' house better than she loved husband or
children, though she wuz a good wife and mother. She died with cramps,
and her last request wuz to have this hymn sung to her funeral:

[Illustration: "I LOVE THY KINGDOM, LORD."]

"I love thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of thine abode,
The church our dear Redeemer bought
With His most precious blood."

The quire all loved Mother Gowdy, and sung it accordin' to her wishes,
and broke down, I well remember, at the third verse--

"For her my tears shall fall,
For her my prayers ascend,
For her my toil and life be given,
Till life and toil shall end."

The quire broke down, and the minister himself shed tears to think how
she had carried out her belief all her life, and died with the thought
of the church she loved on her heart and its name on her lips.

Wall, the dress would sell at the least calculation for eight dollars;
the storekeeper had offered that, but Sarah Ann hoped it would bring ten
to the fair.

It wuz a cross to Sarah Ann, so we could see, for she had loved Mother
Gowdy dretful well, and loved the uncle who had gin it to her, and she
hadn't a nice black dress to her back. But she said she hadn't lived
with Mother Gowdy twenty years for nothin', and see how she would always
sacrifice anything and everything but principle for the good of the
meetin' house.

Sister Gowdy is a good-hearted woman, and we all on us honored her for
this act of hern, though we felt it wuz almost too much for her to do
it.

Wall, Sister Gowdy wuz the last one to gin in her testimony, and havin'
got through relatin' our experiences we proceeded to business and
paperin'.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Sister Sylvester Bobbet and I had been voted on es the ones best
qualified to lead off in the arjeous and hazerdous enterprize.

And though we deeply felt the honor they wuz a-heapin' on to us, yet
es it hes been, time and agin, in o