Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-09-05
POLLY SIMMONS.

POLLY SIMMONS.
"wAen a woman will, she will, you may de-
And when she won't she won't and that's
"'Pears like you're sot on turnin' this
quiltin' into a sort O. love feast, a-tell-
in on your courtin' experiences" said
Aunt Polly Simmons, as she stretched
half her length acrossthe quilt to reach
q spool of thread; land SEEM you're
all o. that way O. thinkin', I've a mind
to give you a chunk O. nine"
"Yours. Aunt Polly!!" laughed bright
eyed Sue Harding. "You don't actu-
Polly, 81 do actilly lei to say that 1
was young onct, and good lookin', too,
all the boys said, and It WANT so many
years ago that you ships O. schoolgirls
need be sassy about it"
BEG pardon" said Sue. with mock
gravity. 81 didn't mean to be saucy.
I've been taught to reverence gray
hairs"
"Gr~y hairs, indeed!" cried Aunt
Polly, excitedly. II defy you to-"
"No,' interrupted Sue, demurely, II
can't point them out. The company
will excuse me. We all know that they
dyed some time since"
"Mind your sewing, Sue, and don't
rifle Polly. Your line is as crooked as
the streets of Jericho" said tall Mary
Jane, who at every quilting bee was
s~elf-appointed inspector-general, while
good natured Mrs. Brown purred sooth-
"Never mind, Sue, if she is aleetle
pert. We all know your hair allus was
black. Go on with your story, do now"
"Wall," she commenced, ga few
years back we was q Twin in Ohio. I
was a gay slip O. a gal in my teens, and
rs likely lookin' as any gal round, if 1
do say it myself and, as a material con-
sequence, every boy for miles around
used to cast sheep's-eyes at me as /
walked to meetin' O a Sunday mornin',
and mighty black looks at whatever
chap was alongside, for I never went
alone them days"
"How ome it then that you 90 alone
now ?" queried Sue.
Aunt Polly, needing the interruption
only by a contemptuous glance; con-
tinued:
"But it was about Jacob Green that
I sot out to tell you; Jake, we young
sters alters called him. Green was his
name, and sartain he had a good right
to it, for a greener lookin' chap wan
easy to find. He was low and squatty
like, his face right red, especially when
he came to see me, and his hair looked
like the end of an old hemp rope. l
disremembcr what color his eyes was;
facts there wa'n'tenough O them to tell;
his mouth made up though, there was
enough o that to have done two men;
but, exceptin' in the way O. eatin'
double, he made poor use O. its sizeable-
ness. 1 could get away with more talk
in five minutes than he could in a week.
His ideas came slow, and his words
slower. He suffered like, too, some
times, when things sort O. upset him.
You see, on the hull, he want exactly
the sort O. a follower a likely gal would
choose, if she had her way. But, la
me! them days a gal didn't dare say
her say very loud, if it went crossways
to the old folks. Not that gals was
made O. tafy any more than they be
now, but their parents sot over them
with more authority; consequently,
though they got their own way pretty
much after all, it obliged them to use
their wits.
"And mother, she liked Jake. Father
was n O. them peaceable men a settin'
hen couldn't quarrel with. He alters
'paared to gree with her; he'd learned
1t want profitable to hold contrary
opinions. Mother was alters a-findin'
good pints in Jake-beats all how thick
they was; seed in a blackberry want
nowhere. Father said onct, in his
quiet wayne alters sided with me,
father did-'that he guessed she had
Jake's smart white house, and
eighty-acre farm, in her eye, and
couldn't see the owner right plain.
But. sakes, she just fired up at that, and
found a dozen more good pints on the
spot. So father, he backed out, and
left me to paddle alone. But 1 was
equal to it, and got a deal O fun out o.
It fux me and Dick. Dick was my
brother, next older, and it used to tickle
him nigh into fits to see Jake a-hyin' to
make up to me
sit used to poster mother to see how
reckless 1 carried on with him stead O.
gettin' him tied to my apron-strings.
AS fol- Jake hisself, he didn't pear to
know what to think. Mother was
mighty good to him, and sort o. encour-
aged him up, and sometimes I'd be as
perlite as a manners book, and then
he'd perk up a deal, but, like as not, the
next time he'd come I'd be as oflish as
eve you see.
81 din't think so hard O. him when he
first come. He was an amusin' chap to
make game out O., and 1 didn't think 40
further then. But, pretty quick, l got
my notion sot somewhere else. 1t was
a picter taker that took my eye. He
came through Scrabbleton with his
picter gallery-that's what he called it
on wheels, and stopped two weeks,
and took the likeneses o. every man.