Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-02-10
HOW THE BOARDERs "TOOK Us IN.
BY "JOsIAH ALIENS WIFE,"

BY "JOsIAH ALIENS WIFE,"
I have told you how we took in our sum-
mer Boarders, thinkin' to make money. l
must now tell you how they ''took us in. !"
s'pose it was my lofty feelin's that
KEEP nae up. Truly, if it hadn't been, I
don't know how could have lived, cook
in as much as had to, and goin' through
with what 1 did; historicks, and fallin'
fits, and etcetery, etcetery.
And the three smallest children wus ugly.
There can It be no other name made that
will describe their actions and demeeners,
only jest that word-ugly.
They made me more work than all my
homework together. A-handlin' every
thing, and a-breakin' everything. and
ridin' the turkeys, and everything. 1
s'spose they wus told more'n a hundred
times by me and Josiah, to not ride that
old turkey gobbler, and don spose there
wus ever any other children on earth but
jest them three, but what would have been
afraid to have gone nigh it. Why, I have
seen moral and right-minded children,
time and agin, shed tears and weep, if it
come towards 'em. But, good lord! first
we'd know, we would see one of 'em right
on it's back, a-pretendin' to ride it. They
almost killed that tom turkey.
And, then. all Of sudden, we would
hear the fannin' mill a-goin' full blast.
and Josiah would run to the barn, and they
would be a-runnin' dirt through it, and
slate stuns, and things.
And then I'd hear the wheel a-goin' up
stairs, a-buzzin' as if it would break its
old band, and I'd start upstairs on the
run, and there they'd be a-spinnin' of my
best rolls. And five different times took
the youngest one out of the flour barrel,
where they wus maxim ghost of him, to
appear to the Oldest one; they loved to
skeer that boy into fits, they loved SO dear
ly.
And then they'd get into the preserve
jars, and honey boxes, and eat themselves
sick, time and agin; and sugar. why, they
eat more sugar than used a-cookin'; and
raisings, why you couldn't hide 'em from
'em, do the best you could, they'd watch
their chances. And they'd get down sell
Ter. where keep my best cake, and cook
les, and tarts. No matter how much /
had baked up ahead, never knew, when
I went to set tho table, whether I would
find anything to put on it. It seemed as
fhrOy,rb holo
couldn It, they wus that sly.
If I had scrimped 'em to the table, or
between meals, could have stood it bet.
ter; but, when 1 wus so lavish and profuse
with 'em, at meal times, and always a.
handln' 'em out cakes and turnovers, when
I wus a-bakin', (knowin' we'll what chill
dren S stomachs wus,l it wus CALM to me.
They wasted three times over what their
board come to every week.
But I KEEP still, and didn't say nothin'.
bitter to the taste, but it is goin' to do
good. The patient is feelin' the effects of
it," For Josiah looked awful. AS the
days went by, he saw he made a terrible
mistake. He saw that he would have.
done better to have listened to his faith
full pardner. He saw where he missed it.
But pride KEEP him silent. Only, in the
little unguarded speeches that he would
make. in sudden moments of pain and ag-
ony, entirely unbeknown TO him; such as
sayin', in loud, quick axents:
''Dang it, 1 can't stand it so, much lon
ger !"
Or, in low ,plaintive tones: ''Did heaven
ever witness such tribulations %
hear him a-sayin' that, as he would be
a-bringin' Bill in, for Josiah would have
to lift him, and lug him in, when he would
fall out doors. That. in itself. I could
see, wus a-underminin' my pardners
strength, and almost a-breaking down his
back
And that, shall always think, wus one
great reason why banks himself, Mrs
Danks' pardner stood out of the way. It
wus onderhanded in him. He knew Bill
would fall, when he had 'em, and would
have to be fetched in, and SO he Jest stayed
away, and let Josiah do all the luggin' and
llftin'. It was three weeks before that
man came, and Josiah didn't look
like the same man; what with chasin
around after them three little boys,
and carryin' around the big one in his fall
ing fits, and havin' the care of providin'
more provisions than was ever devoured
before on earth by the same number of
people, and bein' KEEP awake night after
night by Mrs. Danks' historicks, and Bills
walking in his sleep, Il don't know as l
have mentioned that, but Bill was liable
to appear to us, at any time of night, and
have to be headed upstairs AGAIN.; take
it all together, Josiah looked like shad-
der. And thinks [ to myself:
''My principles wus heftY. and they are
hefty-I said 1 would stand firm, and
have stood frm-but oh must L, must
see nv partner die off before my face and
eyes ?'' And his pride stood in the way of
his startin' of 'em off.
It was on a Friday mornin' I said this.