The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles.

“It’s not the way it used to be.”Old Man Warner said clearly. “People ain’t the way they used to be.”

Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers. “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair!”

Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd. “Clean forgot what day it was,”she said to Mrs. Delacroix, who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly.

Andwhen Mr. Summers said, “Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?”there was a hesitation before two men. Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter. Cameforward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it.

THEmorning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 2th.

there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory. tuneless chant that hadbeen rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people, but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time, until now it was felt necessary only for the official to speak to each person

The rest of the year, the box was put way, sometimes one place, sometimes another; it had spent one year in Mr. Graves’s barn and another year underfoot in the post office. Andsometimes it was set on a shelf in the Martin grocery and left there.

Soon the men began to gather. Surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed. The women, wearing faded house dresses and sweaters, came shortly after their menfolk. They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip as they went to join their husbands. Soon the women, standing by their husbands, began to call to their children, and the children came reluctantly, having to be called four or five times.