The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1914-01-01

r.. know how the
/ would get along 6
first but all Of the boys had been use
to helpin' ma a good deal. and the
were real handy, and when | asked
they wasn't goin' to have a house
keeper, they wouldn't hear to il
They said they wasn't goin' tt
have no strange woman round IL
mas place, nohow. So Silas/ he tool
hold and did the washin' and ironin'
and Reuben did the >/sweepin', ant
Lemuel, he was the youngest next tt
me, did the cookin' He could cook 6
dinner equal to any woman, and his
pies beat mine. My husband said SO
and >Fhad to give in they did
I/Well, they seemed to get along SO
r nice, and none OF 'em had ever seemed
to think much about the girls, not
even when they was boys, that | must
say was astonished when Lemuel he
up and got married to Mehitabl
Pierce. She was little along in
years, too, rather more SO than Lem
uel, and dreadful smart piece. She
was good lookin' and she had property,
but she was dreadful smart and UP an
| comm. l could never see how Lem
uel ever got the courage 10 ask her to
have him, he was always kind of
mild spoken little fellow. Reuben he
declared he didn't. He vowed that
Mehitable asked him herself. He said
he knew it for a fact, and he said it
with the tears rollin' down his cheeks.
Reuben was the oldest and he'd al
ways been terrible fond of Lemuel.
THAT poor boy would never have got
in such fix If that woman hadn't up
an asked him, an he didn't have
spunk enough to say no." said Reuben,
and he swallowed hards
Mehitable had a nice house of her
own that her father left her, all fur
nished and everything, so of course
Lemuel he went to live with her, and
Mehitables house was pretty near
where l lived, SO could zee every
thing that was goin' on. 1t want very
long before I said to Hannah Morse,
my husbands old maid sister that |
lives with us and teaches school, that |
/ believed Lemuel was henpecked,
though I hadn't anythin' against Me-
hitable.
II don't see what else anybody that
married Mehitable Pierce would ex-
pect," said Hannah. She spoke real
sharp for her. I've always kind of
wondered If Hannah would have had
Lemuel If he'd asked her. WELL" said
!, II hope poor Lemuel will be happy
He's always been such a good, mild,
willin' boy that it does seem a pity
for him to be rode over rough-shop.
and have all the will he ever did have
trcdden into the dust"
well, that is what will happen, or
I'll miss my guess" said Hannah
Morse. For long while thought she
was right. 1t was really -pitiful to see
Lemuel. He didn't have no more lib
erty nor will of his own than a five
year-old boy. and not 80 much. Mehit-
able wouldn't let him do this and that,
Ind II there was anythin' he wanted to
10, she was set against 1t, and he'd al
ways give right In. Many's the time
4emuel has run over to my house, and
lis wife come racin' to the fence and
screamed after him to come home, and
led start up as scared as he could be.
And many's the time I've been in
here, and he started to go out, and
he'd tell him to set down, and he's
ct without a murmur.
Mehitable she bought all his clothes,
n she favored long-tailed coats, and
Q bein' such . short man never
'oked we'll in EN-, and she wouldn't
st him have store shirts and collars,
ut made them herself, and she didn't
ave very good patterns, she used her
ather's old ones. and he wasn't no
UGH built man as Lemuel, and l know
9 suffered everything, both in his
ride an his feelins. Lemuel began
look real downtrod He didn't seem
Re half such q man a. he did, and the
aeerest thing about 1t was: Mehit-
bic didn't pear to like the work of
Dr. own hands. 20 to speak.
One day she talked to me about it.
dunno what 'tis,' said she. but
emuel. he don't seem to have no 10
lead and no ambition and no viii of
. own. He tries to please me, but
don't seem az II he had grit enough
ZEN for that. Sometimes think he
MT we'll, but dunno what ails him.
70 been real careful Of him. He's .
orn thick fiannels. and he's had a.
holesome victuals: ! amt never let "
10 have pie" vi
1fW1yB 0iH10fuf fond al
pie" said |. ! felt kind Of sorry, for be
how fond poor Lemuel
4 always been Of mothAr,s Pies. AMI he