The Penn's Grove record., 1886-02-27

4 EJ W II AAeAA NHAAS ~ - NN@A+
fer ter walk off alone. A silk gown in
the n%elghborho0d o. the cove in them
laws would make a stone wall stare, m
more specially on to a Gsherman's wife
thet ginrally felt pritty proud ter get a
new caliker. Some folks thought twas
kinder lnsultin' ter the parsons lady,
tibet hadn't nothin' better than alapaccy
ter her name, ter hey tibet gown iiaun-
ted into her face; M she did look real
kinder convicted, m solemn, m dis
| approvin' when she sot her eyes onto it;
but l say now, as l said then, that Miss
| Cram had as good a right to wear it,
eff she came by it honest, ez anybody
livin'
but Galassy, herself, didn't come
home on a visit or nothin' fur about
five or six years, m then she appeared,
bag m baggage, as If she'd come fur
good, a bringin' with her a nice little
light-cOmplected boy, tibet she said wuz
the craven image of his father, about
four years old. M after a spell folks
| begun ter say in the store as how her
IN her hWsban' didn'tpull oars together
dretful well, IN she'd been m left him.
though he still forked over enuff cash
ter keep the boy m her like kings m
queens.
"'N' some folks was a whisperin'
that she warn't married at all, m all
kinds o. bigoted and nOnsensical ru-
mOrs wuZ talked over on an evenia'
when the mackrel fleets was in. But
eZ fur me an marm, we alWez stood up
fur Galassy. She wuz a fust-rate
neighbor, powerful good in a case o.
sickness, m warn't never ashamed oy
her old friends nor stuck up obove lem,
eff she could wear a silk gown and ride
in a stable team. She was dretful good
ter her W folks, too, bought a new
bote for the old man, fixed up the
house, that warn't nothin' but a shaky
ole cabin in the first place, till it look
ed Jest like a palace outside m in, IN
pervided the best kind er yittlesfur the
hull family. l tel you there warn't
nothin' but store tea drunk there, Her
little chap Robert she called him, took
a great likin' ter me, II would cfG0Hga
sight rather go out with me in my b0te
than with his grandady in his'n, m me
M marin both liked him fust-rate fur
he WIZ a proper smart, good natered
little Teller, always chock full o. bust
ness m a playin' off his little jokes on
me whenever he got the chance. Him
m my boy, Seth, got along fust-rate
tergether, too, N wuz CRATE friends,
though Seth wuz quite a spell ahead on
him In years, m scarce ever an evenin'
went by but he'd be e a settin with
us round the fire, a coaXlH' Of me ter
tell stories. He wuZ master hand fur
stories m could listen ter tac same one
over and over and over again with his
eyes Jest as big as saucers, m scarce a
DRAWN oY his breath. IN it seems,
he likes ter hear my yarns now jest as
well as ever he did in the world, M him
chock full on college lea MIN, m able
to hold his own with eny parson Twin.
His mother, she wuZ Jest bound up III
him; accordin' ter her recknia' he wuz
es nigh perfecshin' ez enythin' ever
born inter this imparlc state o eXis'
tencen, mn hevin grown kinder sub
dued like m quiet sence she wuz a girl
ef she could only foller him round with
her y e m know't he wuz all right,
she 'peared ter be parfectly contented
m twas his likin fur this place that
kept her here summer N winter. NO"
IN then she'd take him of to the city
for spell in cold weather, bnt the little
tyke would git ser homeSiek she'd sOon
hey ter bring him back agin n let him
tumble about on the rocks m go out
on the water with the fishermen. But
ez he grew bigger she begun ter git kim
der nerved-up about his dedication, m
when the news o. his fathers death
came, that wuz when he WIZ about ten
wears old, she'd nigh about made III
her mind fer ter send him off ter some
boardin' school whether or no.
CHOW I'd seen Galassy bout every
day durin' her long spell o. llyin here,
M she never wuz the one ter mention
/, her husban's name ter me, but when he
was dead, she seemed all up INTO a heal
n the day she went off fer ter SCI
bout hevin' his property settled IN
make her cloims, she wuZ jest as white
as a ghost. She war'nt gone morn
three weeks, m when she came back
agin, she wuz whittier still, 'n'her coun-
tenance looked ez mournful e8 th2t
there old hulk over yonder does, ct
nIghtfall.
81 was over ter the village when the
, stage come in, m when she got out'n'
/, see me, she busted right out a cryin'
oh. JOEL sez she, what is a goln' tel
become o. my pore boy? I've been'n
lost my merriage stifkit, mall his faith
er's property is a goln' ter distant rela'
{ shuns.'
"tLor,, says 1, a tryin' ter comfort
her a leetle, Bob halnt 4 o. the kind
o. chaps tibet needs a fortin fur tel
build him up. He'll make up his OWL
way in the world fast enough, IN TAKE
care of his mother lik a lady, too N
!, Bob was ez smart eZ a cricket, enyhow
But she only shook her head kinder
mournful.
"'Strange, how everything IL agir
me-, she wen on. my lawyer he say.
!, there haint nothin' ter be done less !
ken find thet stifkit, fur the town hal
over in Greenville where we was mar.
, ried hez been burnt down, m all thu
records with it,
"sWell, likely enough you'll com.
acrost the stifkit,' SEE l; "a bit o. papal
like that ez terrible likely ter git mis-
laid -,
+ "'But L sarched the house through
and through fur it, fore | went away
, knowini fur sure that it would be calleC
fur, she SEE; 'but 'twarnt nowhere K
be found, m l reckoned I'd put it awal
: ez safe ez anything ken be in this world
Why, 'twarnt more'n two weeks age
/, that | came acrost it folded up in
bag, M looked it over. | remembe
wonderin' why the paper had grown
ser waller in 'leVen years, though to b(
sure 'leven years is a good stretch
"'You shure you didn't put it wher,
the wind could ha' blowed it away5
SEE l. kinder re6ectin'.
"'T'm sure l put it away safe my
|, self SEE she, but s'pose somebodl
might ha' rubbidged, 'mongst my thing.
inlet it git lost that way. It's Ger
tain that no one in my own famil,
would ha' destroyed it a purpose, m /
; there's them in the place that has spit
., agin me ter steal it, l don't see how
! they could ha' got inter the house fun
ter find it; we alwez keep our door
= locked when we're away
.'Wesl, anyhow, the stifkit warn'
l found, m matters begun ter pear kin
/, der solemn oYer ter the Grams. Tn