136 THE MOUNTAINS 



laboring to carry a piano upstairs. At 

 one point the way was circuitous and it 

 seemed impossible to go further. Out of 

 breath, and out of patience, the regular 

 piano movers gave up and were about to 

 begin to work their way back to the first 

 floor, when John, already half crushed 

 against the wall, shouted out in his high- 

 keyed voice: "We kin do it, if you but 

 'low the heft to come more right down 



on me." 



One more quality there is which I must 

 notice, but shrink from trying to place or 

 estimate. It is better simply to state the 

 fact, and allow everyone to think of it as 

 he will. We tried to get John to attend 

 Dr. Upham's funeral, or at least to go 

 into the chapel after the funeral and look 

 at the body, lying in state, guarded by 

 the students who loved their teacher- 

 friend. John would not go; but he did 

 go to the extreme limit of the seminary 

 grounds, and there, bareheaded, his old 

 rake in his hands, he stood silently, like 



