Wall, Boy grew pretty every day—not a prettiness like Snow’s, delicate
and spiritual, but a sort of a healthy, happy boy pretty. Bold, bright
blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and a mouth that seemed made for smiles and
kisses, and cheeks that wuz perfect rose nests for dimples—short brown
curls begun to lengthen on his round little head.
And he wuz altogether a very pretty boy, very.
But Snow, the darlin’, wuz the very light of our eyes, the joy of our
lives.
A sweeter child never lived, and that I know. She twined round our
hearts as it seemed as if no other child ever had or ever could.
Her Pa and Ma watched her grow in beauty and goodness with
love-glorified eyes; and as for her Grandpa, I should have said he acted
fairly foolish if it wuz on any other subject than this that he wuz so
carried away on.
[Illustration:
ROSY’S BABY.
]
But I could see plain that every word he said in commendation and praise
of that child wuz Gospel truth.
There never wuz such a beautiful child before, either in America, or
Asia, or Africa, or the Islands of the Sea. And bein’ entirely
onprejudiced myself, of course I could see that he wuz in the right
on’t.
That man wuz jest led round by her like a lamb by the shearer, only the
lamb might mebby be onwillin’ and Josiah Allen went happy and smilin’,
the shearer wuz so awfully smart and pretty. (That metafor don’t quite
fit into my meanin’, but I guess I will let it go. It is hard work
sometimes to find metafors a layin’ round handy all rounded off to suit
round holes in your conversation, and square ones to fit the square
places, etc.)
But as I wuz a sayin’, I never see a man take more solid comfort than my
pardner did a walkin’ round, and a talkin’, and a playin’ with that
beautiful, beautiful child.
And I too the same, and likewise.
And the help all jest about worshipped her, and they couldn’t do enough
for her, from Genieve down to Rosy and Rosy’s baby.
That little ebony image would seem to laugh louder and show his white
teeth and the whites of his little eyes like two pearl buttons sot in
black beads, and babble his baby talk faster and faster, if she come in
his sight.
Mebby it wuz her oncommon beauty and worth, and then, agin, mebby it wuz
the little nice bits she always carried him—candy, and nuts, and cakes,
and such, and lots of her toys that she had sort o’ outgrown.
I want to be exact and truthful as a historian, and so I say, _mebby_ it
wuz this and _mebby_ it wuz that.
[Illustration:
URY.
]
Wall, now that they wuz all well agin and oncommon prosperous, Josiah
and me begun to talk about goin’ back to Jonesville and our duties
there.
But our children wouldn’t hear a word to it. They said nuthin’ hendered
us from stayin’ and takin’ a good rest, as Ury took good care of
everything, and we had worked hard, and ort to rest off for a long time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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