Rock Island Argus., 1900-11-06

1 the floor or pulled your boots off In the
| parlor In the eYenin, she'd raise the
| swfulest kind of row. 1 guess you'll
| hev to marry a gal. Samuel You are
| old 'nuff to be the father OF any gal
| around here, but 1 don't see no other
way. Hev you got any pertickler gal
in mind: 1 was thinkin of Sue Sabins
| the other day. She's 20 years old and
| a great hand to work, and mebbe you'd
| be happy with her. Her mother says
| Sue likes to be pettcd. You've never
petted me, but nebbe you'll change
| when l am gone. No, Samuel, 1 can't
| remember a time in % years when
you've pulled my ear or patted me on
| the shoulder or poked me in the ribs.
II
The remembrance that there had
| been no shoulder patting or ear pulling
during all those long years brought q
fresh outburst of emotion. and for two
| minutes Mrs, Gallup sobbed bitterly.
Mr.. Gallup laid down the milestone
and the sickle and picked up the paper
of tacks and balanced 1t on the point
of his finger, but he was obliyious of
his surroundings.
'I-I don't complain, Samuel" said
Mrs. Gallup when she could control her
voice again. when I saw that you
was no hand to pet. let 1t go. I'm old
and wrinkled and scrawny, and 1 can't
look fur pettin. 1t will be different
with a gal. however. If you don't pull
her ear at least once a week and call
her angel, she'll git sulky and finally
run away with a tin peddler. Mrs.
Bebee was sayin that Bertha Williams
would make a good gal wife fur you,
and Mrs. Williams says that you could
not do better than to marry Mary
Hawkins, but 1 amt goin to pick out
nobody fur you nor find fault with
your choice. All I'm goin to do is to
die and become an angel and let you
do jest as you want to. I've got Jest
one leetIe favor to ask"
The lump in her throat and the tears
in her eyes checked her speech for
half a minute, and during that time
Mr.. Gallup put the tacks down and
lifted up the sickle again.
"Its only this. Samuel. You needn't
do no weepin fur me when I'm gone,
and you needn't hang over the gate
and try to look all broke up over my
loss. You kin go right to playin check
ers as soon as the funeral is over, but
some night, later on. when you are all
alone in the house and the crickets
are singin, 1 want you to remember
that 1 had my good p'ints as well as
my bad. 1 want you to remember that
1 used a clothes biler with seven holes
in the bottom fur nine years without
mendln and that 1 hain't had n new
corset fur 'leven years. Our teakettle
is over years old, and I've made one
set of cups and sassers last us since
we was married. That's all, Samuel,
and now I'll go in and die, and you kin
be lookin around fur your second
wifer'
She rose up with a sob and retreated
into the house, but Mr.. Gallup knew
nothing of 1t. He hung the sickle on
n nail near the door, put the milestone
and tacks on a shelf in the wood shed,
and then walked down the path and
closed the henhouse door and cast a
look into the pig pen. When he re-
turned to the house, Mrs. Gallup was
looking at her bowl of emptyings under
the stove and humming the air of "I
Want to Be an Angel" She had had
her lamentation and got over 1t, and it
would be three or four days before she
would break out again. NJ. QUAD.