ost every one was there 'n' I was gettin'
pretty anxious, for Hiram was n't there neither, 'n' the more fidgety
people got the more they caught their corners on Mrs. Dill. I just saved
her from Mr. Kimball, 'n' Amelia saw her goin' as a result o' Judge
Fitch 'n' hardly had time for a jump. The minister himself was beginnin'
to cough when, all of a sudden, some one cried as the Sperrits was
there.

"Well, we all squeezed to the window, 'n' such a sight you never saw.
They was gettin' Gran'ma Mullins out 'n' Hiram was tryin' to keep her
from runnin' the color of his cravat all down his shirt while she was
sobbin' 'Hi-i-i-i-ram, Hi-i-i-i-i-ram', in a voice as would wring your
very heart dry. They got her out 'n' got her in an' got her upstairs,
'n' we all sat down 'n' begin to get ready while Amelia played 'Lead,
Kindly Light' and 'The Joyous Farmer' alternate, 'cause she'd mislaid
her Weddin' March.

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, you never knowed nothin' like it!--we waited, '_n_'
we waited, '_n_' we waited, 'n' the minister most coughed himself into
consumption, 'n' Mrs. Dill got caught on so often that Mr. Kimball told
Ed to stand back of her 'n' hold her to the easel every minute. Amelia
was just beginning over again for the seventeenth time when at last we
heard 'em bumpin' along downstairs. Seems as all the delay come from
Lucy's idea o' wantin' to walk with her father 'n' have a weddin'
procession, instid o' her 'n' Hiram comin' in together like Christians
'n' lettin' Mr. Dill hold Gran'ma Mullins up anywhere. Polly says she
never see such a time as they had of it; she says fightin' wolves was
layin' lambs beside the way they talked. Hiram said frank 'n' open as
the reason he did n't want to walk in with his mother was he was sure
she would n't let him out to get married, but Lucy was dead set on the
procession idea. So in the end they done it so, 'n' Gran'ma Mullins's
sobs fairly shook the house as they come through the dinin'-room door.
Lucy was first with her father 'n' they both had their heads turned
backward lookin' at Hiram 'n' his mother.

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, it was certainly a sight worth seein'! The way that
Gran'ma Mullins was glued on! All I can say is as octopuses has got
their backs turned in comparison to the way that Hiram seemed to be all
wrapped up in her. It looked like wild horses, not to speak of Lucy
Dill, would n't never be able to get him loose enough to marry him. The
minister was scared; we was