The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-12-09
TRYING THE "ROSE ACT"
But Josiah Aliens Wife Found It
Wouldn't Work.

WOulQuC WOIks
It wuz q calm, fair morn. The sun
streamed meller and golden into the
buttery winder where wuz a-standin'
engaged in the avocation that had oc-
cupied my mind and my arms for the
last three hours. In fact, my avocation
had been so arjous and continuous that
they ached hard all three on 'em. Ny
mind and my two arms. As l said
previous and heretofore, the mornin'
wuz a fair one. had noticed and ad-
mired it as shook my tablecloth often
the back stoop. How the hand of mater
had been a-pattin' and a-pettin' the
trees in the distant woods, and sort o
'em out, as we do children's
hair when they have got hard job in
front of 'em and have got to 60 out in
the cold-and she, old Nom Mater, be-
in right In the midst of her fall color
in, and her hands all full of the gor-
geous dye-stuff, she had left the marks
of her finger tips on the green verdure
and they shone with red and yeller
strcaks. (Metafor.)
And beyond the woods there wuz a
meller blue haze a-hangin', as if Nom
Mater, same as wimmen will when
they are hard to work with their fall
cleanin', had dropped a curtain of lu-
minous blue mist between us and the
fur-off horizon. and no KNOWN what
she wuz a-doin' behind that screen,
a-paintin' the hilltops most likely. The
air wuz as soft and balmy as If it
blowed often q bed of balm. And !
s'pose mebby it wuz the fine atmos-
phere which made Josiah Allen in such
wonderful good spirits that mornin'. 1t
wuz rare and invigorating, like fra
grant old wine, and s'pose he had
drinked it in and it had stimulated
him.
Anyway he had acted real presump-
tious and highlarious all the mornin'.
and inclined to be high-headed. ] had
noticed it to the breakfast table and
afterward.
myself, as said prior and hereto
fore, had been to work so hard that /
could not enjoy the rich beauty of the
day only by cursory glimpses from the
buttery winder and over the top of the
tablecloth. l had been en-
gagged in the hard and toilsome occupa-
ton of churnin'. 1t wuz big one and
the cream wuz thick, the dasher, a re-
volvin' one, wuz hard indeed to move.
and to keep on a-movin' it for over two
hours by the clock had called for out
lay for all my strength and all my
patience aud Christian fortitude.
Josiah would have helped me churn,
he said he would have been glad to
have done it all himself, but unfortu-
nately, the old harness wuz broke and
he had to be out in the barn Almost all
the mornin' a mendin' it and a-soften'
its rough sides with coatin' of lard
and lampblack. 1t is dreadful curious
but 1t most always happens
80 that old harness always breaks
down churnin' day, and, of course. he
drive with martingill broke
into, or tug that wuzn't all right.
Josiah had promised to carry the but
ter to Jonesville that day to meet the
buyer from Loontown, and that buyer
had promised him as much as three and
a half cents pound in advance of the
common price, on account of the ex-
treme worth of my butter. Yes; my
butter is sought after, although am
fur from bein' the one to say it myself,
or even to hint at it. Yet it is great
truth, we'll known all over Jonesville,
and as fur out as Loontown and Zoar,
that make good. uncommon good but
ter.
Wall, had got the butter all churned,
and s'pose Josiah had heard, out to
the barn, that the dasher had ceased its
heavy motion, and s'pose he had got
through with the harness at the same
time for he come in jest as / wuz a.
worlin' 1t over and a-sprinklin' the salt
down into it's sweet golden depths in
the white butter bowl And he come
in and sot down in the kitchen Jest as
and DARN as he wuz when
he went out and more too.
Wall, while / was a-workin' in the
salt with my wooden ladle, Josiah took
a old paper that i had brung down
from the attick that mornin' to put
onto my buttery shelves. and ever and
anon he would read out paragraph to
me, as is the way, s'pose, of all male
companions in their good-natured hours
of ease. And, all at once, he cried out
in glad. joyous axents, as if unbeknown
to himself:
Here, Samantha, is sunthin' that is
worth readin'. Here is eloquence and
hard horse sense. l feel that 1 love
the man that wrote that love him
dearly"
what is it?'' SEE /, speakin' out of
the buttery.
Sec he: 1T is what q lot of big men
say about wimmen, but this one beats
all" Sez he: "Just listen to it,
So Strengthened up my weary frame.
to rest my aching back, and leaned nv
tired-out arms against the side of the
big butter bowl and listened.
"1f were woman 1 would not do
anything important would emulate
the rose and its wisdom. / would