n' in a
peacock-shaped gilt chariot drawed by four horses, accompanied by a
band of music; a big crowd of friends follered him, and coolies
bearing torches; it seemed as if he wanted to show himself off all he
could. When they got to the house of the bride, they took her in a
closed palanquin and meached away to the house of the groom. As in
some other countries, females play a minor part in the tune of life;
wimmen and children can't eat at the table with their husband and
father, and he sets to the table and she sets down on the floor.

Miss Meechim exclaimed loudly about the awful position of wimmen here,
but Arvilly told her that "though wimmen at home had crep' up a little
so she could set to the table and pour the tea, yet at banquets of
honor she wuz never seen and at the political table, where men proudly
sot and partook, wimmen still sot on the floor and couldn't git a
bite."

Miss Meechim didn't dain a reply, but turned her talk onto the dretful
idee of widders bein' burnt with their dead husbands. The English
won't allow it where they can help it, but it is still practised in
way back regions, and Arvilly said that she believed that some
American widders, who had had their property took from them by the
family of the deceased and had their unborn children willed away from
'em by law, suffered enough sight more than they would if they had
burnt themselves up with their relics; to say nothin' of widders bein'
burnt up twice in America, first through their own fiery agony, and
then seein' their children sot fire to by whiskey dealt to 'em by the
will of the rulers of the land.

Arvilly always would have the last word. Miss Meechim kinder snorted
and tosted her head and held in.

I spoze it wuz partly on Robert Strong's account, he bein' high
connected and rich, that we wuz all invited to a garden party gin by
Mr. and Miss Curzon, she that wuz Miss Leiter, who used to be one of
our neighbors, as you may say, out in Chicago, U.S. And then I spoze
that it wuz partly on my account, they'd hearn of me, without any
doubt, and craved a augience. Josiah thought that it wuz on his
account that we wuz invited; he thinks he is a ornament to any festive
throng.

But 'tennyrate invited we wuz, and go we did, the hull caboodle on us,
all but Tommy, who stayed to home with the good English maid that Miss
Meechim had hired to take Aronette's place, but never, never to fill
it.

Oh, Aronette! sweet girl! where are you?