f done it too only
I'd left my parasol at home an' had n't nothin' with me but a basket o'
currants. I told him though as the idea o' God an' the stars bein'
anyways new was surely _most_ new to me, an' then I went on to say as
Rachel Rebecca had said she'd come an' pick berries for me Monday an'
seein' as Tuesday was lettin' its sun down pretty fast I could only hope
as some other new thought had n't run off with her, too.

"It's this way, Mrs. Lathrop, I don't get much fun out o' church anyway,
for I'm on red-hot porcupines the whole time I'm there thinkin' what I
could be doin' at home if I _was_ at home, an' wonderin' whether Elijah
is in bed or whether he's up an' about. I don't know a more awful
feelin' than the feelin' that you're chained helpless in a church while
the man in your house is up an' about your house. Men were n't meant to
be about houses an' I always liked father because he never was about,
but Elijah is of a inquirin' disposition an' he inquires more Sundays
than any other time. The idea as he's wanderin' around just carelessly
lookin' into everythin' as ain't locked upsets me for listenin' to the
minister anyway, but lately my patience has been up on its hind legs in
church clawin' an' yowlin' more 'n ever, for it seems as if the minister
gets tamer an' tamer faster an' faster as time rolls on, an' between
not likin' to hear him an' bein' half mad to get back to Elijah I'm
beginnin' to wish as God in His infinite mercy had let me be somethin'
besides a Christian. I don't know what I'd be if I was n't a Christian,
but my own view o' this idea o' free-trade in religion as is takin' so
many folks nowadays is as it all comes from most anybody with common
sense jus' naturally knowin' more than any minister as always has his
house an' his potatoes for nothin' ever can possibly get a chance to
learn; an' when folks realize as they know more than the minister they
ain't apt to like to waste the time as they might be learnin' more yet,
sittin' an' listenin' to him tag along behind what they know already. A
minister is kind o' like a horse in blinders or a cow as wears a yoke to
keep her from jumpin', anyway--he feels as he can't launch out even if
he wants to an' so he never does, but my idea would be to give 'em a
little rope an' let 'em be a little more interestin'. Here's two hours
a week as we sit still an' might be learnin' things much more useful
than as Job was patient an' Joseph was n't. I'm tired o