"Smell
o' flowers like this always puts me in mind o' funerals," he kept
telling his niece, Fanny Minafer, who was with him; and he seemed to
get a great deal of satisfaction out of this reminder. His tremulous
yet strident voice cut through the voluminous sound that filled the
room, and he was heard everywhere: "Always got to think o' funerals
when I smell so many flowers!" And, as the pressure of people forced
Fanny and himself against the white marble mantelpiece, he pursued
this train of cheery thought, shouting, "Right here's where the
Major's wife was laid out at her funeral. They had her in a good
light from that big bow window." He paused to chuckle mournfully. "I
s'pose that's where they'll put the Major when his time comes."
Presently George's mortification was increased to hear this sawmill
droning harshly from the midst of the thickening crowd: "Ain't the
dancin' broke out yet, Fanny? Hoopla! Le's push through and go see the
young women-folks crack their heels! Start the circus! Hoopse-
daisy!" Miss Fanny Minafer, in charge of the lively veteran, was
almost as distressed as her nephew George, but she did her duty and
managed to get old John through the press and out to the broad
stairway, which numbers of young people were now ascending to the
ballroom.
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