The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-05-22
When Things
Humned
After the Ball Was Started
1t Rolled Rapidly.
BY AMY HARRIS.


Ing to hum
1t was Aunt Judith Weilman whC
| spoke. She had arrived from lndiHug
for visit with her sister in Michigan.
and the pair had been talking for the
last hour on the veranda. while Farmel
Henderson was doing up the chores at
the barn.
What do you mean, JUDITH was
asked
IL mean several things. | mean tEat
| have never heard of Il case like it
Your Minnie has been old enough t.
marry for these last three years. and
you've let feller dawdie around here
lnd make Sleeps eyes at her and keel
al other fellerS away and yet huSaI
asked her to he his. and may be three
more years doing it. call it Il mean
shame. WhcM | say that things are
going to hum | mean that somebody
has got to toe the mark mighty soon Ol
get out. You and Elisha ought to have
pat your foot down long ago"
You wouldn't do anything to embar
rass Minnie:" pleaded the mother.
That's according. guess the EN-,
barraSsment will all be on the Other
side, however. Embarrassment is ali
right in Il girl. Hannah. but it shouldn't
be carried too far. Both of us were em-
barrassed when we We're girls. but we
weren't so much so us to kill our pros.
poets of getting married. We knew
when our beaus had hung around long
enough. Has Minnie ever given this
chap jOg?'
Mercy, nO"'
Have you or Elisha ever given him
jog?"
Never
"Then it remains for Judith Wellman
to do it, and she's right on deck, with
both elbows stuck out. 1t won't be a
week before We'll know whether Joel
Davis means business or is just sitting
around like bump on log"
But you won't-wont"-
81 don't know what I'll do, except to
| decide the case one way or other, and
| you needn't ask questions. | don't be-
lieve in folks getting married within a
week, and | don't believe in courtinG
for half lifetime. A fellow either
wants girl or he don't. If he does
let him take her; If he don't let him shy
off and give some one else chance"
Minnie Henderson was twenty years
old and u recognized belle for ten miles
around. Everybody was agreed that
she would make somebody good wife.
She had been keeping company" with
Joel Davis for nearly three years. Joel
was a bachelor Of twenty-seven, living
on the next farm west. He was steady,
sober and industrious. and everybody
said that he would make some girl a
| good husband. But Joel was also bash
full and retiring. He was in love with
Minnie, to he sure, but that very fact
made him tremble in her presence. A
| hundred times over in the last two
| years he had resolved to propose, but
| on each and every occasion his courage
| had ooZed out of his fingers ends. He
| felt that the time must and would
| come but whether it would take an
earthquake or a cyclone to bring II
about he wasn't sure.
1t was three days before Aunt Ju.
dith saw Joel. She liked his looks. and
that changed her plans somewhat. She
hadn't been going to say Il word tc
Minnie, but now she changed about
and opened fire with:
"WelI, | am astOnished! So that's
the feller that has been hanging
around here for half his lifetime and
will probably die of old age on your
fathers doorstep"
II don't know what you mean by
hanging around" retOrted Minnie
with blush and toss of her head.
"Why. coming over here two or three
times a week to talk about grasShop
pers and tater bugs. | am surprised
at you. What can you see in such t
feller to encourage him? suppose ht
knows pumpkins from squasheS. bu
III bet big apple that if you asked
him when the pilgrim fathers landed
he'd fall off the veranda. Minnie Hen
dersOn, If you are the girl take yol
to be you will send that feller packin!
: this very evening"
You misjudge him. aunty. He doe
not push himself forward, but
1--WE got eyes in my head" snappe,
her aunt. 1T never takes me over tiv
minutes to size up man. Joel Davi
is an it!' He'll always be ten day
, behind the Fourth of July. It's
wonder your father and mother hav
allowed it,"
Minnie choked down Il sharp al
: swer and went off to her room to cry
and Aunt Judith sauntered into th
kitchen to say to her sister:
There. now. I've got the thin
started. and you and Elisha have &c
to turn in and help me. Minnie wi
cry and then get mad and then sc
Joel. and there'll be wedding bt
fore you know it. Don't you weake
when the time comes"
Next day Joel came to the house
bring back bushel basket he ha
borrowed. Minnie was upstairs an
Aunt Judith hiding behind the dOOl
30 it was left for Minnie's mother
say:
/ "Joel, I've been wanting to speak t
you for some time. don't think 20
ought to come here as often as 20
do"
"W-what."s gasped the lover as b
turned very red.
Your coming here so often keeL