He never earns above four hundred dollars in a year, and as he has a wife and several young children, the closest scrimping is necessary to get him through to the end of the twelve months debtless.
To such a man a funeral is a colossal financial disaster.

While I was writing one of the preceding chapters, this man lost a little child.
He walked the town over with a friend, trying to find a coffin that was within his means.

He bought the very cheapest one he could find, plain wood, stained.

It cost him twenty-six dollars.

It would have cost less than four, probably, if it had been built to put something useful into.
He and his family will feel that outlay a good many months..