"Yer never said Amen! 'T ain't no good 'thout yer say Amen!"

_"Amen!"_

Silence for many minutes. The brain was alive with thoughts, but the
poor tired body was weakened already with the labor of telling them.
When he spoke again, it was more slowly and with greater difficulty.

"I guess--Heaven--is kind o' like--our Kindergartent--don't you? 'nd
so--I ain't goin' to feel--strange! There'll be beautiful places, with
flowers bloomin' in 'em, 'nd birds 'nd brooks mebbe, like those in the
stories you tell us, and lots of singin' like we have; and the peoples
are good to each other, like our children, 'ceptin' Jimmy Battles,--'nd
they'll do each other's work, 'nd wait on the angels, 'nd run errants
for God, I s'pose--and everybody'll wear clean--white--aprons--like in
the picture-books; but I sha'n't like it much 'thout you git there
pretty quick, Miss Kate;--but I ain't goin' to cry!"

"Oh, Patsy, my boy, it is for those who are left behind to cry. It must
be better to go."

"Well, I'm willin'. I've got enough o' this, I tell yer, with backaches,
'nd fits, 'nd boys callin' sassy names--'nd no gravy ever on my
pertater;--but I hate to go 'way from the Kindergartent--only p'raps
Heaven is just like, only bigger, 'nd more children--'nd no Jimmy
Battleses! Sing about the pleasant mornin' light, will yer, please--Miss
Kate?"

And in a voice choked with tears, as Jim came in and lifted Patsy in his