Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-05-31

die an old maid"
Now this made me feel powerful
bad. | telled Elnathan about it that
night, an begged him to let me buy
store carpet fur the parlor. He sots
so much store by Malviny tibet ]
thought her a-wantin' it so bad would
fotch him if anythin' would.
"Foolish pride! foolish pride!" he
said. "Why, that carpet is nice
enough fur any body. l want to buy
that quarter-section of Baker, an
won't hev no money to spend on GIN
cracks. Malviny will be glad enough
if 1 can leave her an Jim each nice
farm. The fellers worth havin' will
look at that more than fixed up
room"
knowed it want no use to say any
more, but l did mighty lot of think
in. If Malviny could hev a pleasant
home an nice company while she wuz
young an lively, 'twould do more fur
her than a farm when the bloom an
joy she missed out of her life he'd
made her old, an soured, an lone
some.
Then another thing happened. We
went to church in Jacobsville when
it wuzn't too cold, or too warm, or
the horses hedn't been worliin' too
hard. The wimmen he'd SEWN So
ciety, an l he'd bin to it onc't or
twic't, an liked it very much. But
one day, in the fall, the parsons wife,
she said to me, says she:
"Sister Jacobs, some of us has bin
q talllin', and wishin' we could hev the
society out at your place, some time.
We love to go into the country onc't
in while"
l wuz struck all in a heap. This
wuz wuss an more of it. / could Jest
see that parlor, so different from the
other parlors where he'd been to So
ciety. There it wuz, in my minds
eye, with the rag carpet on the floor,
the wooden cheers, an the old wooden
rocker we kept in there to help fill
up, an because it wuz so hard an
straight we didn't like to set in it.
Then there wuz the dish closet, with
its cracked, nicked dishes on the
shelves. There wuzn't thing there
fit to set company table. All this
flashed through my mind in less time
than / hev took to tell it. Suddenly
a big resolution grabbed hold of me-
l lifted up my head, an looked her
straight in the face, which couldn't
hev done afore. l know there wuz a
streak of fire in my eyes, but it
wuzn't meant fur the parsons wife,
who is a pleasant-spoken, nice woman.
SISTER Taylor" says I, 81 amt jest
fixed fur the society yet. Wait a
while, an shall be very glad to hev
We all come"
"All right" she said in a pleased
sort of way, an begun talkin' about
somethin' else. / made sure she
knowed more than she let on, but she
he'd sense enough to keep still.
Now, as told you aforc, I he'd lived
with Elnathan Jacobs fur 25 year,
an in all that time / hedn't once fair
ly made up my mind. 1t wuz his mind
that wuz alters made up, so to speak.
But now | wuz that riz up, / deter
mined that things he'd got to be diff
ferent. That parlor wuZ goin' to hev
a new carpet, an new furniture, an
lace curtains, like what / he'd seen at
society. There wuz goin' to be a
new set of dishes, too,- an whatever
wuZ needed to make table look nice.
AS fur the eatables, / want afraid
a mite. My riz biscuits air the talk
of the hull country thrashin' time,
though mebbe | hadn't ort to men
ton it. 1 jest state it as a fact.
Elnathan wuz a good provider in the
eatin' line, cause his own stummicll
wuz very dear to him. Jellies an
preserves / alters he'd in plenty |
knowed if / he'd the dishes, | could
set as good table fur the society
as they'd find anywheres.
rode my high horse of determine
'iOii hoihN, thcuSh 1 pun nlSu lulll-
bled off in wonderin' how / wuz goin'
to carry out all my fine plans. But
| grit my teeth an stamped my foot
an said to myself: "Sary Ann Jacobs,
you've got to do it, or die. You've
passed your word to the parsons
wife, an Malviny's frettin' her soul
out, an that's got to be stopped"
Jim's our boy-we've only got the
two children-an' he's good to his
mother. He's IS year old, an his pas
kept him at work, an give him
mighty little money. you'll git all
the more in the end" he telled him,
as if that wuz much comfort to a
lively lad! So Jim couldn't help me
much, but it wuz comfort to talk
it over with him, an he wuz right
in fur dom all he could.
"See here, ma" he says, 81 wuz
over to Mis- Haines this mornn' u
| Mis- HaineS is orr neiohbor half n