Middletown transcript., 1896-05-30

getneT, lOVln al
sympathizin' with each other. What
| knowed I told Bill, am what Bill
knowed he told me, an what neither
on us knowed why. that warn't wuth
knowin'l
If I hadn't got over my brapgih'
days, I'd allow that in our lime Billan'
wuz just about the sparkinest beaus
iu the township, leastwise that's what
the girls thought; but, t. be honest
about it. there wuz only wv, NV them
girls we courted- Bill an /, he courtin'
one an tother. Ypu see, We sung in
the choir, an as our good luck would
have it we got sot on the s0pranner an
the alto, and bimeby-oll, well, after
beauin' 'em round spell--a year or so,
for that matter-we up an mari led EN-
an the old folks gin US the farms jim
in farms, where we Buys had lived all
our lives. Lizzie, my wife, had always
been powerful friendly with Martby.
Bills wife; ,hem two girls never met
up but what they wuz huggin' an kis-
sim an carryin' on, like girls does; for
women amt like men-they can't con-
troll themselves an their feelin Is like the
stronger sext does.
tell you it wuz happy times for Liz
zie an me and Marthy an Bill-happy
times on the 'jinin' farms, with the pas
lures full NV fat cattle, an the barns
full Nv hay an grain, au' the twin cot
tages full NV love an contentmentl
Then when Cyrus come-our little boy
our first an only one!-why, when
he come, l wuz jest SO ha ,py an SO
grateful that if l hadn't been man l
guess I'd have hollered-maybe cried
with joy. Wanted to call the tyke
Bill, but Bill wouldn't hear to nothin
but Cyrus. You see, he bought q cy-
clopeedy the winter we wuz all married
an had been readin' in Nv great for
eign warrior named Cyrus that lived a
long spell ago.
"Land Nv Goshen, Bill!' sez 1. 'you
don't reckon the baby II ever get to be
WARRIOR"
swell. 1 don't know about that, =
sez Bill. "There's no tellin'. At any
rate, Cyrus Ketcham has an uncommon
sound for name; SO Cyrus it must be,
an wen he's seven years old I'll give
him the finest Morgan colt in the dees-
trick"
So we called him Cyrus, an he grew
up lovin' and tein' loved by everybody.
Well, along about two years-or, say,
eighteen months or so-after Cyrus
come to us a little girl baby come to
Bill an Marthy, an Of all the cunnin'
sweet little things you ever seen, that
little baby was the cunnin'est an
sweetestl Looked just like one of them
foreign crockery figgers you buy in city
stores all pink an white, with big
bro wn eyes here, an a teeny. weeny
mouth here, an nose an ears, you'd
have bet they wuz wax-they wuz so
small an fragile. Never darst hold
her for fear I'd break her, an it like to
skeered me to death to see the way
Marthy an Lizzie would kind NV toss
her round an trot her-so-on their
knees or pat her-so-on the back when
she wuz colicky like the wimmin folks
sez all healthy babies is afore they're
three months old.
"You're goin' to have the namin NV
her," sez Bill to me.
''Yes,'' sez Marthy, .we made it up
atween us long ago that you should
have the namin' nv our baby like We
had the namin' Nv yourn.
Then, kind Nv hectorin' like-for l
was always powerful tease-I sez;
How would Cleopatry do for name2
Or VenisP have been readin' the cy-
clopeedy myself. I'd have you knowp"
An, then l laffed one on them pro.
yokin' laffs Nv mine-oh, tell ye, l
was the worst Teller for hectorin' folks
you ever seen! But meant it all in
fun, for when I suspicioned they didn't
like my funnin', sex: ''Bill." sez /
''an' Marthy, there's only one name I'D
love above all the rest to call your
little lambkin. an that's the dearest
rame on earth to me-the name Nv
Lizzie, my wife!''
That just suited 'em to T, an al
ways after that she wuz called lettle
Lizzie, an it sot on her, that name did,
like it wuz made for her an she for it.
We made it up then-perhaps more in
fun than in anything else that when
the children growed up, Cryus and lee
tie Lizzie, they should get mar ED to-
gether, an have both the farms an be
happy, an be blessin' to us all in our
old age. We made it up in fun. perhaps,
but down in our hearts it wuz oui
prayer jest the same, and God heard the
prayer an granted it be 50.
They played togei her, they lived to-
gether; together they tended the dee
strick school an went huckleberrin' !;
there wuz huskin's an spellin' bees an
choir meetin's an skatin' an sIidin'
down hill-oh. the happiest times Nv
youth an all those times our boy Cy-
rus an leetle Lizzie went loyih'iy to-
getheri
What made me start so-waat made
me ask of Bill one timt: s'Are We ~
gettin' old, Bill? That wuz the Thank :
g:vin' night when as we set ro,rd The
fire in Bilps front rern,. CSr,ss c.,n,= ~
us, holdil, little Lizzie by the laid.
and they asked US c.stlt they est sl...i.
red come next Thank giyin tin,s2
Why, II seemed only yesterday thar