uncle Rutherford, and a
comprehensive wave of his hand, as if to say that he excepted from his
adverse criticism both of his present companions, and all who belonged
to them; "on'y a few; but they're pintin' straight for the New
Jerusylem,"--another nod pointed the compliment. "Where was I? Oh, them
stairs. Wa'l, as I was a-sayin', I reckon I've had 'bout enuf of 'em,
an' I'd like to be home where I can be down onto the flat groun' an'
not like to what's his name's coffin, what I heerd the boys speakin'
about, what got hitched half way up to heaven an' stuck there. He's a
fable feller, ov course; Mahomet, that's his name; there ain't never
been no such doin's sence miracle days 'cept in the theayters an' them
places. An' t'other night Miss Dodge, she asked me would I go to the
opery, an' I says 'yes.' I was boun' to see all there was to see, an'
we went; an' such a goin' up stairs as there was there, up an' up an'
up, an' when we got there I thought we might ha' stopped sooner; for
down below there was lots of folks sittin' an' standin', an' I asked
Miss Dodge why she didn't stop onto some of them floors, three or four
of 'em below, an' she kinder smirked, an' says it costs lots to go in
there. Wa'l, I couldn't make out what they was at on the platform,--the
play actors; it wasn't half so nice as the mother-in-law actin'; they
did all their talkin' to singin', an' they died singin', an' all sorts
of things; an' there was a old man got young an' fell spooney on a
girl; an' they all got foolisher an' foolisher, an' the devil was
there, an' such a mix-up; an' bimeby the girl, she died in a prison,
an' angel actin' folks come down an' took her up,--leastways was takin'
her up to heaven,--an' there come a hitch, an' there they stuck, half
up, half down. Miss Dodge said there must ha' been somethin' wrong with
the machinery what h'isted 'em; an' it made me think of that feller's
coffin, so I sung out, 'Mahomet's coffin!' an' the folks, some larfed,
they was mostly boys an' young fellers, an' some few below looked up;
an' Miss Dodge, she was awful affronted, an' she says she was glad
enough we wasn't below, she would ha' been too mortified. W'al, that
ain't nothin' to do with Miss Yorke, for she wasn't along; she couldn't
ha' clumb so high; an' I never was a man of many words, so I'll get to
my p'int. As I was a-sayin', Miss Yorke, she can't go home yet, an' she
can't be left alone, so I've got to stay on."

Here mamma went t