as isn't sure how
long it can keep on makin' it. It seemed like a month as they was under
way before they finally got stopped in front o' the minister. An' then
come _the_ time! Hiram had to step beside Lucy an' take her hand an' he
couldn't! We all just gasped. There was Hiram tryin' to get loose and
Mr. Dill tryin' to help him. Gran'ma Mullins's tears dripped till you
could hear 'em, but she hung on to Hiram like he'd paid for it. They
worked like Trojan beavers, but as fast as they'd get one side of him
uncovered she'd take a fresh wind-round. I tell you, we all just held
our breath, and I bet Lucy was sorry she persisted in havin' a
procession when she see the perspiration runnin' off her father an'
Hiram.

"Finally Polly got frightened and begun to cry, an' at that the deacon
put his arm around her an' give her a hug, an' Gran'ma Mullins looked up
just in time to see the arm an' the hug. It seemed like it was the last
hay in the donkey, for she give a weak screech an' went right over on
Mr. Dill. She had such a grip on Hiram that if it hadn't been for Lucy
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'