The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1893-12-08
TRYING THE "ROSE ACT"
But Josiah Aliens Wife Found It
Wouldn't Work.

1t wuz a 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. My
mind and my two arms. AS l said
previous and heretofore, the mornin'
wuz q 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.
smoothin' 'em out, as we do children's
hair when they have got a hard job in
FROM of 'em and have got to go out in
the cold-;lnd she, old Nom Mater, be.
in right III 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
streaks. (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 curtain of lu-
minous blue mist between us and the
fur-off horizon, and no knowin' 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 bed of balm. And l
s'pose mebby it wuz the fine atmos-
! phere which made Josiah Allen in such
wonderful good spirits that mornin'. 1t
wuz rare and invigoreting, like fra
grant old wine, and 1 spose 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 I 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
shaking tablecloth. l had been en-
gagged in the hard and toilsome occupa-
IlOn Ol IL w uL plR OAC anu
the cream wuz thick, the dasher, 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 a 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 i'll the barn Almost all
the mornin' mendin' it and a-soften'
its rough sides with a coatin' of lard
and lampblacl1. 1t is dreadful curious
coincidence, but it most always happens
so that old harness always breaks
down. churnin' day, and, of course, he
couldn't 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
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 1 am
or even to hint at it. Yet it is a 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 l 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 l wuz a
worllin' it over and a-sprinklin' the salt
down into its sweet golden depths in
the white butter bowl And he come
in and sot down in the kitchen lest as
high-spirited and DARN as he wuz when
he went out and more too.
Wall, while 1 was a-workin' in the
salt with my wooden ladle, Josiah took
old paper that l had brung down
from the attick that mornin' to put
onto my buttery shelves, and ever and
anon he would read out paragraph tc
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 eioquence and
hard horse sense. feel that love
the man that wrote that love him
dearly"
"What is it?' sez 1, speakin' out oi
the buttery.
Sez he: 1T is what lot of big mer
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 my
tircd-out arms against the side of the
big butter bowl and listened.
"1f l were a woman / would not dc
anything important would emulate
the rose and it's wisdom. l would
charm and be silent
"'If l were woman would be just
woman and nothing more, for there.
in lies woman's greatest charm. Man
was made to work for woman, woman
to charm him in his hours of ease"
Sez Josiah, in loud, triumphant
axents: DO you hear that, Samantha
Do you hear that?"
YES" sez l, 81 read them effusions
when they first come out; it wuz wher
you wuz down to Uncle Ellick's."
Sez Josiah, in melancholy axents
''That is why missed seein' it But
why didn't you tell me about it, Sa
mantha? ! feel have lost two years
of happiness in not KNOWN such 6
piece wuz wrote" And he went on
warmly: s'Oh. how love them three