"'Oh!' says Silas, snappy. 'You want me to pay to be wrote up, is that it?'
"'Well,' I says, 'no; not if you don't want to. Of course everybody'll be buried in the Cemetery whether they give anything towards the fund for keeping it kep' up or not.'
"'Lord Heavens,' says Silas, 'I've had that Cemetery fund rammed down my throat till I'm sick o' the thought o' dyin'.'
"That almost made me mad, seeing we was having the disadvantage of doing the work and Silas going to get all the advantages of burial.
"'Feel the same way about some of the Ten Commandments, don't you, Silas?' I says, before I knew it.
"Silas just rared.
"'The Ten Commandments!' says he, 'the Ten Commandments! Who can show me one I ain't a-keepin' like an old sheep. Didn't I honour my father an' mother as long as I had 'em? Did they ever buy anything of me at more than cost? Didn't I give 'em new clothes an' send 'em boxes of oranges an' keep up their life insurance? Do I ever come down to the store on the Sabbath Day? Do I ever distribute the mail then, even if I'm expectin' a letter myself? The Sabbath I locked the cat in, didn't I send the boy down to let it out, for fear I'd be misjudged if I done it? Who do I ever bear false witness against unless I know they've done what I say they've done? I can't kill a fly—an' I'm that tender-hearted that I make the hired girl take the mice out o' the trap because I can't bring myself to do it. So you might go through the whole list an' just find me workin' at 'em an' a-keepin' 'em. What do you mean about the Ten Commandments?' he ends up, ready to burst.
"'Don't ask me,' I says. 'I ain't that familiar with 'em. I didn't know anybody was. Go on about 'em. Take stealing—you hadn't got to that one.'
"'Stealing,' says Silas, pompous. 'I don't know what it is.'
"And with that I was up on my feet.