Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret

No, no, Doctor, said the grave-digger, laughing; it would crack better teeth than mine, old and crumbly as it is. And yet I meant to do something with it that is akin to eating; for my oven needs a new floor, and I thought to take this stone, which would stand the fire well. But here, continued he, scraping away the snow with his shovel, a task in which little Ned gave his assistance, – here is the headstone, just as I have always seen it, and as my father saw it before me.