He wuz layin’ in a front room, ruther bare-lookin’, for the Elderkins wuz poor enough so fur as this world’s goods go, but rich in the spirit.
And the bare floor, and whitewashed walls, and green paper curtains looked anything but luxurious, but everything wuz clean.
And on a clean, poor bed lay the relation on his side.
He looked wan—wanner fur than I expected to see him look, though I wuz prepared for wanness. His cheeks wuz fell in, and his eyes wuz holler, but bright still with that glowin’ fire that always seemed to be built up in ’em. But the light of that fire seemed to be a burnin’ down pretty low now. And he looked up and see us and smiled.
It wuz the smile of a homesick child fur away to school, when he sees his own folks a comin’ towards him in the school-room.
Poor John Richard! His school wuz hard, his lessons had been severe, but he had tried to learn ’em all jest as perfect as he could, and the Master wuz pleased with his work.
But now he wuz sick. He wuz a sick man.
As I said, he smiled as he see Josiah and me advancin’ onto him, and he held out his weak hands, and took holt of ourn, and kep’ ’em in hisen for some time, and sez he:
“I am glad—glad to see you.”
He wuz interrupted anon, and even oftener, by his awful cough and short, painful breathin’. But he gin us to understand that he wuz dretful glad to see us once more before he passed away.