`` Have you really proof that he said that , Cornelia ? '' `` I have the Methodist minister 's word for it -- if you call THAT proof . Robert Baxter told me the same thing too , but I admit THAT is n't evidence . Robert Baxter is n't often known to tell the truth . '' `` Come , come , Cornelia , I think he generally tells the truth , but he changes his opinion so often it sometimes sounds as if he did n't . '' `` It sounds like it mighty often , believe ME . But trust one man to excuse another . I have no use for Robert Baxter . He turned Methodist just because the Presbyterian choir happened to be singing ` Behold the bridegroom cometh ' for a collection piece when him and Margaret walked up the aisle the Sunday after they were married . Served him right for being late ! He always insisted the choir did it on purpose to insult him , as if he was of that much importance . But that family always thought they were much bigger potatoes than they really were . His brother Eliphalet imagined the devil was always at his elbow -- but I never believed the devil wasted that much time on him . '' `` I -- do n't -- know , '' said Captain Jim thoughtfully . `` Eliphalet Baxter lived too much alone -- had n't even a cat or dog to keep him human . When a man is alone he 's mighty apt to be with the devil -- if he ai n't with God . He has to choose which company he 'll keep , I reckon . If the devil always was at Life Baxter 's elbow it must have been because Life liked to have him there . '' `` Man-like , '' said Miss Cornelia , and subsided into silence over a complicated arrangement of tucks until Captain Jim deliberately stirred her up again by remarking in a casual way : `` I was up to the Methodist church last Sunday morning . '' `` You 'd better have been home reading your Bible , '' was Miss Cornelia 's retort .
`` XXXXX , now , Cornelia , I ca n't see any harm in going to the Methodist church when there 's no preaching in your own .
Come Served choose excuse insisted said stirred tells thought turned