Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife — John Shaqi
Around the World with Josiah Allen's WifeHolley, Marietta
General
Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife
Holley, Marietta
Women travelers -- Fiction
Agin I laid down and tried to sleep; in vain, my thoughts, my heart
wuz in Jonesville, so I riz up agin as fur as I could and took my
handkerchief pin offen the curtain where I had pinned it and looked at
it long and sadly. I hadn't took any picture of Josiah with me, I
hadn't but one and wuz afraid I should lose it. He hain't been willin'
to be took sence he wuz bald, and I knew that his picture wuz engraved
on my heart in deeper lines than any camera or kodak could do it. But
I had a handkerchief pin that looked like him, I bought it to the
World's Fair, it wuz took of Columbus. You know Columbus wuz a
changeable lookin' critter in his pictures, if he looked like all on
'em he must have been fitty, and Miss Columbus must have had a hard
time to git along with him. This looked like Josiah, only with more
hair, but I held my thumb over the top, and I could almost hear Josiah
speak. I might have had a lock of his hair to wep' over, but my
devoted love kep' me from takin' it; I knew that he couldn't afford to
spare a hair with winter comin' on. But I felt that I must compose
myself, for my restless moves had waked Tommy up. The sullen roar of
the wheels underneath me kep' kinder hunchin' me up every little while
if I forgot myself for a minute, twittin' me that my pardner had let
me go away from him; I almost thought I heard once or twice the echo,
Grass Widder! soundin' out under the crunchin' roar and rattle of the
wheels, but then I turned right over on my shelf and sez in my agony
of sperit: Not that--not grass.
And Tommy called down, "What say, grandma?" And I reached up and took
holt of his soft, warm little hand and sez: "Go to sleep, Tommy,
grandma is here."
"You said sunthin' about grass, grandma."
And I sez, "How green the grass is in the spring, Tommy, under the
orchard trees and in the door-yard. How pretty the sun shines on it
and the moonlight, and grandpa is there, Tommy, and Peace and Rest and
Happiness, and my heart is there, too, Tommy," and I most sobbed the
last words.
And Tommy sez, "Hain't your heart here too, grandma? You act as if you
wuz 'fraid. You said when I prayed jest now that God would watch over
us."
"And he will, Tommy, he will take care of us and of all them I love."
And leanin' my weary and mournful sperit on that thought, and leanin'
hard, I finally dropped off into the arms of Morphine.
CHAPTER III
Well, we reached Chicago with no further coincidence and put up to a
big hotel kep' by Mr. and Miss Parmer. It seems that besides all the
money I had been provided with, Thomas J. had gin a lot of money to
Miss Meechim to use for me if she see me try to stent myself any, and
he had gin particular orders that we should go to the same hotels they
did and fare jest as well, so they wanted to go to the tarven kep' by
Mr. Parmerses folks, and we did.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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