The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-10-26
suaffht.
wEDNEsDAY......o oToBER 10 1871


stYsmsn,ber I used to lead the singin' IA
,hsvn fisvs. and Miry she used 10 sing coun.
ter no We :scs pretty near togather In She
singers seats and j used 10 think Sunday
moinin's when she'd come 10 the nletin' In
her white dress and herred cheeks and her
bonnet all tipped of with laylock, TINT it
was for all the world just like q june sunrise
Themswxa the days that didn't improve
nv psiyaieges, boys,Y said Sam, signing
despsy. g There was time that ef I'd o
spoke there's no knowin' what mIghent
hsppened, cause You zee, boys, was bet
ter lookin' In them days than i be now.
Now you Esind, boys, when you grow up
Ell yon get to waitin,. on nice ga, anu
you're most q mind to speak up 70 nef,
don't you 20 and put it of, cause, OF you
do, you may live to repent 1t. ny,
Wal, you see, from the Time tnas Dlil
Eiderkin came and took me acaosmy,
could see plain enough that II was time Tor
me to hang l,p INV fiddle. Bill he used TO
set La the singers seats, too, and ne would
have II that he snng tenor. lie no mole
SIM, Tenor than u skunk blackbird, but he
made b'lieye that be did, jest to git next to
Miry in the singers seats, and then they
used 10 DO writin' backward and forward
TO each other till they tore out all the leaves
Of the i1ymn-books, and the singin'-books
besides. Wal, i never thought the house
o. the Lord was jest the place to be courtin.
In, and I used TO get considab shocked
Mt the way things went on atween Fem.
Why, they'd be writin' all sermon-time !;
and i'vese him o Iookin' at her all through
the long prayer In way that want right.
considerin' they we're both professors Of
religion. But then the fact was, old Black
Hoss John was to blame for it, cause he
never let 'em have no chance to home. You
see old Black Hoss ne was sot agin Elder
kin cause he was poor. You see his mother,
the old widdah Elderkin, she was jest about
the poorest, peakedest old body over to
Sherburne, and went out to days work,
and Bill Elderkin he was all for books and
larnin', and old Black Horse John he
thought it was jest shiftlessness; but Miry
she thought it was a genius, and she got it
sot in her mind that he was a goiR to be
President OF. the United States, or some
SIGH. Is
"Wal, old Black Hoss he want none too
polite to Miry's beaux in gineral, but when
Elderkin used to come to see her he was
snariier than saw he hadn't q good word
for him noways; and he'd rake up the fire
right before his face and eyes, and rattle
a ao0ns nag up c. fh Down Ss ehs faa
stairs to Miry to 60 to bed, and was sort o.
aggravatin' every way.
"Wal, eff folks want to get gal set on
havin' man, that ar's the way to so to
work. Miry had consid' able stiff win Of
her own, and If she didn't care about Tom
Beacon before, she hated him now; and If
she liked Bill Elderkin before, she was
clean gone over to him now; and so she
took to goin to the Wednesday evening
lecture, and the Friday evening prayer
meetin', and the singin' school, just as reg
liar as a clock, and so dad he; and after
ward they always walked home the longest
way. Fathers may jest as well let their
gals be courted In the house, peaceable,
cause, II they can't be courted there,
they'll find places where they can be; it's
jest human natur' Atlantic Monthly.