“Waal, I stood it one summer; but it was the longest kind of a job.
Come fall I turned contrary, darned the farm, and vaowed I'd go back
tew loggin'. Aunt hed got fond er me by that time, and felt dreadful
bad abaout my leavin' on her. Cousin Siah, as we called Josiah,
didn't cotton tew the old woman, though he did tew her cash; but we
hitched along fust-rate. She was 'tached tew the place, hated tew
hev it let or sold, thought I'd go to everlastin' rewin ef I took
tew lumberin' ag'in, an' hevin' a tidy little sum er money all her
own, she took a notion tew buy me off. 'Hiram,' sez she, 'ef yeou'll
stay tew hum, merry some smart gal, an' kerry on the farm, I'll
leave yeou the hull er my fortin. Ef yeou don't, I'll leave every
cent on't tew Siah, though he ain't done as waal by me as yeou hev.
Come,' sez she, 'I'm breakin' up like brother; I shan't wurry any
one a gret while, and 'fore spring I dessay you'll hev cause tew
rejice that yeou done as Aunt Si counselled yeou.'
“Now, that idee kinder took me, seein' I hedn't no overpaourin' love
fer cousin; but I brewdid over it a spell 'fore I 'greed. Fin'lly, I
said I'd dew it, as it warn't a hard nor a bad trade; and begun to
look raound fer Mis Flint, Jr. Aunt was dreadf'l pleased; but 'mazin
pertickler as tew who was goan tew stan' in her shoes, when she was
fetched up ag'inst the etarnal boom. There was a sight er lovely
women-folks raound taown; but aunt she set her foot daown that Mis
Flint must be smart, pious, an' good-natered; harnsome she didn't
say nothin' abaout, bein' the humliest woman in the State er Maine.
I hed my own calk'lations on that pint, an' went sparkin' two or
three er the pootiest gals, all that winter. I warn't in no hurry,
fer merryin' is an awful resky bizness; an' I warn't goan to be took
in by nobuddy. Some haouw I couldn't make up my mind which I'd hev,
and kept dodgin', all ready to slew raound, an' hitch on tew ary one
that seemed likeliest. 'Long in March, aunt, she ketched cold, took
tew her bed, got wuss, an' told me tew hurry up, fer nary red should
I hev, ef I warn't safely merried 'fore she stepped out. I thought
that was ruther craoudin' a feller; but I see she was goan sure, an'
I'd got intew a way er considerin' the cash mine, so that it come
hard to hear abaout givin' on't up. Off I went that evenin' an'
asked Almiry Nash ef she'd hev me. No, she wouldn't; I'd
shilly-shallyed so long, she'd got tired er waitin' and took tew
keepin' company with a doctor daown tew Bang-gore, where she'd ben
visitin' a spell. I didn't find that as hard a rub to swaller, as
I'd a thought I would, though Almiry was the richest, pootiest, and
good-naterest of the lot. Aunt larfed waal, an' told me tew try
agin; so a couple er nights arfter, I spruced up, an' went over to
Car'line Miles's; she was as smart as old cheese, an' waal off intew
the barg'in. I was just as sure she'd hev me, as I be that I'm
gittin' the rewmatiz a settin' in this ma'sh. But that minx, Almiry,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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