The weekly Panola star. [volume] (Panola, Miss.) 1857-1881, 1866-07-21

'utfNtts 'H' HHu tfftt HUOVA, NJ
regular intervals. She was q Mas
sachusctts schoolmarm. She was an
old maid. She understood all Of
Daboll but the multiplication. She
had never been on the multiply Oh,
mol And she could skin eels faster
than the devil could catch a nddlerl
BY the beach We sat. She skinned
cells for the net proceeds. We talked
Of love and sich. She listened to my
tale. She felt the moving of my
plea-thc burning eloquence thereof,
so called. Said /,
"Oh, Betsey, scin' it's ycou, / love
yeou, | sweow. / wouldst be thine.
/ would share thy cot, and
"Drcam sleep with thee, love-"
Wouldst be mine? / am a stranger,
Betsey. l am not aged, but on the
contrary, am agile as those eel. / will
offer thee all l have. l would be
thus to thee. I would crawl out Of
myself as those eel crawl out Of his
undershirt in thy hands, and be
thine onlyest." -
She took up another eel.
"Oh, Betsey," said /, as / laid
partly on the grass, partly 10 the lap
Of Betscy, with the slickery tails Of
the eels tickling my nose, "were you
ever carcssted BY mortal ?" She said
no, and looked sidewisc.
She took another eel.
II then caressted her. She said,
"Praisc Che Lord, but that is the
first kiss ever mortal man gave me"
l asked her If she liked il? She
said it war better nor spanking a
young un, or skinning a big eel. She
said she liked school teaching. II
was better than a gymnasium. She
said kissing was better than skin
ming eels. When q Massachusetts
girl says that, you may, with the
lambs on the hills, gamble that she
liketh it with vehement muchness.
The pale moon slid along over
head just as easyl It seemed to
skin itself from under the Aeccy
clouds, as those eels skinned them
selves from the fingers of my Betsy
Jcrusha. II sat me to thinking she
was something heavenly like the
moon. Only she was a little plumper.
II was a new moon. Newer than
Betsey, and a little simmer. / con-
vcrscd with Betsey. She had little
knife, like a shoe-knifc. l would
have thought her a shoemaker If she
had carried a cobbler's kitten and a
wax end. But she didn't. She
skinned eels, chawcd spruce gum and
talked love. Said she:
"What is your name?"
Asked we, "the rcverberating cog
nomen to which we rcspond?n
Said she, "Yes.D
Said we, t" Brick Pomeroy.D
Then she asked ms Of our Western
home. She wanted to know what
State Illinois was in, and il Wincon-
sin was in the first or second ward Of
Lacrosse. And she wahted to know
IL we had any young ones in the
West. We told her not many yet !!
Then she wanted 10 know II the
Mississippi river had eels in Il. We
told her nay. And she wanted TO
know If the people out in that bar
barous region wore clothes every day,
or only when they went sparkling.
And she wanted TO know how far Il
was from where we lived to house.
And she wanted TO know IL they
spanked or ferruled youngsters in
schools. And she wanted TO know II
women dressed In bcarskins or tilt
ing hoops, which we suppose are all
the same! And she wanted to know
II We had newspapers, and could
read and write, and had ever heard
Of Anna Dickinson. And she wanted
to know If Il was not terrible living
80 Ear from Bostonl
Then we caressed her and kissed
her 80 swcefly. And shc tv;red th<