Chapter I

It was four o'clock when the ceremony was over and
the carriages began to arrive. There had been a crowd
following all the way, owing to the exuberance of Marija
Berczynskas. The occasion rested heavily upon Marija's
broad shoulders -- it was her task to see that all things
went in due form, and after the best home traditions; and,
flying wildly hither and thither, bowling everyone out of
the way, and scolding and exhorting all day with her tre~
mendous voice, Marija was too eager to see that others
conformed to the proprieties to consider them herself.
She had left the church last of all, and, desiring to arrive
first at the hall, had issued orders to the coachman to
drive faster. When that personage had developed a will
of his own in the matter, Marija had flung up the window
of the carriage, and, leaning out, proceeded to tell him
her opinion of him, first in Lithuanian, which he did not
understand, and then in Polish, which he did. Having
the advantage of her in altitude, the driver had stood his
ground and even ventured to attempt to speak; and the
result had been a furious altercation, which, continuing
all the way down Ashland Avenue, had added a new swarm
of urchins to the cortege at each side street for half a
mile.

This was unfortunate, for already there was a throng
before the door. The music had started up, and half a
block away you could hear the dull "broom, broom" of a
'cello, with the squeaking of two fiddles which vied with
each other in intricate and altitudinous gymnastics. See~

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