The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-10
GEORGIA SCENES
A SAGE CONVERSATION

was, that he knew that one of us would
be asked to say grace and he thought
he might as we'll save the good ladies the
trouble of asking The matter was, how
ever, more fully explained just before the
moment of our retiring to bed arrived. 10
this moment the conversation went round
between the good ladies and ourselves
with mutual interest to all. 1t was much
enlivened by Ned, who was capable, as
the reader has been heretofore informed,
of making himself extremely agreeable
In all company, and who upon this oc-
casion was upon his very best behavior
1t was Immediately after I had looked at
my watch, in token of my disposition 10
retire for the night, that the CONVERSE
ton turned upon marriages, happy ana
unhappy, strange, unequal, runaways,
ETC. Ned rose in the midst of it, and
asked the landlady where we should
Sleep She pointed to an open shed-room
adjoining the room in which we were sit
ting, and separated from it by log par
tition, between the spaces of which might
be seen all that passed in the dining
room, and so close to the fireplace of
this apartment that a loud whisper might
be easily heard from one to the other.
1.-THE strangest match" said Ned, re-
Stunning the conversation with a parsons
gravity, that ever I heard of was that
of George Scott and David Snow, two
most excellent men, who became so much
attached to each other that they actually
got married.
1.-THE lackadayv' exclaimed one of the
ladies'.
"And was it really a fact?' inquired an
other.
/ "Oh yes, ma am continued Ned; ~
knew them very well, and often went to
their house; and no people could have
| lived happier and managed better than
they did. And they raised lovely parcel
of children; as fine a set as I ever saw,
except their youngest son, Billy; he was
little wild, but, upon the whole. q right
clever boy himself. Come. friend Bald
win, we're sitting up too late for trav-
elers." So saying, Ned moved to the she'd
room, and I followed him.
| The ladies were left in silent amaze
ment; and, Ned, suspecting, doubtless,
that they were listening for laugh from
our chamber as we entered it, continued
the subject with undated gravity thus:
l"You knew those two men, didn't your
Where did they live?" inquired I, not a
little disposed to humor him.
why, they lived down there on Cedar
Creek, close by Jacob Denman's. Oh,
| I'll tell you who their daughter Nancy
married; she married John Clarke. You
knew him very we'll"
'Oh yes" said I, IT knew John Clarke
very well. His wife was a most excellent
woman"
well, the boys were just as clever for
| boys as she was for girl, except Bill;
and l never heard anything very bad of
| him. Now, Baldwin, when | go to bed,
l go to bed to Sleep and not to talk; and,
| therefore, from the time my head touches
the pillow there must be no more talking
| Besides, we must take an early start to-
morrow, and I'm tired" So saying, he
hoped into his bed, and 1 obeyed his in
| functions.
| Before l followed his example I could
not resist the temptation of casting an
eye through the cracks of the partition,
to see the effect of Ned's wonderful story
upon the kind ladies. Mrs. Barney lit is
time to give their names) was sitting in
| a thoughtful posture, her left hand sup
porting her chin, and her knee supporting
her left elbow. Her counterance was that
of one who suffers from slight tooth
ache. Mrs. Shad leaned forward, resting
her forearm on her knees, and looking
into the fire as if she saw groups of chill
dren playing in 1t. Mrs. Reed, the land
lady, who was the latest of the three
was thinking and laughing alternately
at short intervals. From my bed it re-
quired but a slight change of position to
see any one of the group at pleasure
I was no sooner composed on my pill
low than the old ladies drew their chairs
close together, and began the following
colloquy in low undertone. which rose
as it progressed:
Mrs. Barney: Didn't that man say them
was two men that got married to one an
other?
Mrs. Shad: 1t seemed to me so.
ID
know he said so; for he said what their
names was.
Mrs. B.: Well. in the name o. sense,
what did the man mean by saying they
raised fine pa'cel of children?
Mrs. R.: Why. bless your heart and
soul, honey!s that's what I've been think
in about. 1t seems mighty curious to me,
somehow Or other. I can't study 1t out,
nohow.
Mrs. s.: The man must be Jokin, GER
tainly.
Mrs. r.: No, he wasn't jokin', for I
looked at him and he was just as much
IN yearnest as anybody I ever seed, and,
besides, no Christian man would tell such
story in that solemn way. And didn't
you hear that other man say he knew
their da'ter Nancy?
Mrs. s.: But, la messy! Mis- Reed, it
can't be SO. It doesn't stand to reason.
Don't you know 1t don't?
Mrs. R.: Well, I wouldn't think so; but
It's hard for me somehow to dispute a
Christian mans word.
Mrs. B.: I've been thinking the thing
all over In my mind, and / reckon-now
I don't say 1t is SO. for I don't know
nothing at all about it-but I reckon that
one of them men was a women dressed
in mems clothes; for I've often hearn of
| O. women dom them things, and follow
| ing their true-love to the wars, and bein'
| a waitin' boy to EN-. and all such.
Mrs. s.: Well, maybe it's somehow in
that way; but, la me! twould "a been
obliged to been found out Don't you
know 1t would? Only think how many
| children she had. Now 1t stands to reason
| that at some time or other 1t must have
| been found out
| Mrs. R.. Well, I'm an old woman any,
how and I reckon the good man won t
| mind what an old woman says to him;
| so, bless the Lord, If live to see the
| morning, I'll ask him about it,
| l knew that Ned was surpassed by no
man in extricating himself from difficult
| ties: but how he was to escape from this,
with even tolerable credit to himself I
could not devise.
The ladies here took leave of Ned's mar
| velous story, drew themselves closely
round the fire. lighted their pipes and
proceeded as follows:
Mrs. B.: Jist before me and my old
man was married there was a gal named
Nancy Mountcastle (puf, puff, and she
was a nightly likely gal (puff) I know d
her mighty we'll; she dressed herself up
in mems clothes (puf, puff, and followed
Jenny Darden from Pankatank. in King
and Queen (puff) clean to Ioudon