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We start in the middle of a scene. Margret is sent off to do her homework. The doorbell rings, and a relative arrives. Jediah X Barber is a talkative, forgetful man who means well, but seems to have a touch of what would call dementia today.
He mistakes Hazel for a painted strumpet, since he only has an old photograph of the family to go by, and Hazel has long grown up. He thinks Margret is a young Claudia, and has trouble with the idea that Henry is at his own house. In the vein of Uncle Fletcher, the other alter ego of Clarence Hartzel, he always has a story to tell from his past in Bloomington, Illinois, and a litany of people he knows.
Finally getting to visit Henry Barber, Jediah is welcomed in. Although it may be more out of a sense of duty, and embarrassment of what the neighbors might think.
