Samantha at Coney Island, and a Thousand Other IslandsHolley, Marietta
General
Samantha at Coney Island, and a Thousand Other Islands
Holley, Marietta
Coney Island (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction
The tall Pollard willers wuz the only ones that could look down into
her chamber, and see how she looked, or what she wuz doin'. And they
never told, only jest murmured and sithed, and kinder took on about it
in their own way. But the next day, Faith always looked paler and
sweeter than ever, they said.
Well, I wuz glad enough to see Faith. I think a sight on her and she
of me, and we had a real good time. Josiah sez to me the day after
she come, "She is the flower of your family!"
And I told him I didn't know as I should put it in jest that way, and
he might jest as well be mejum, sez I, "You're quite apt to demean the
relation on my side, and if you take it into your head to praise one
of the females, you no need to go _too_ high."
"Well," he repeated, "she is the flower of the Smith race. Of course,"
sez he, glancin' at my liniment and then off towards the buttery full
of good vittles, "I always except _you_, Samantha, who I consider the
fairest flower that ever blowed out on the family tree of Smith."
Josiah is a man of excelent judgment. But to resoom backward, I had a
dretful good visit with Faith and enjoyed her bein' with us the best
that ever wuz. Instead of makin' work she helped, though I told her
not to. She would wipe and I would wash, and we would git through the
dishes in no time. She hunted round in my work basket and found some
nightcaps I'd begun and would finish 'em, put more work on 'em than I
should, for I slight my every day sheep's-head nightcaps. But she
trimmed 'em and cat-stitched 'em, till they wuz beautiful to look
upon. She wuz always very sweet and gentle in her ways. As wuz said
of her once, she entered a room so quietly and gracefully, she made
all the other wimmen there feel as if they'd come in on horse-back.
Now that I hadn't seen her for some time, it seemed as if I hadn't
remembered how lovely and interestin' she wuz.
We had a good visit talkin' about the world's work, and reciprocity,
and Woman's suffrage--which we both believed in--and hens, both
settin' and layin'. And we talked about the relation on our two sides.
Of course, some of the wimmen hadn't done as we thought they ort to;
but we didn't run 'em, only wuz sorry they wuz so different.
There wuz Aunt Nancy John and Aunt Nancy Jim, widders of the two old
Smith twins. I told Faith I wuz sorry they wuzn't more like her mother
and mine, our mothers wuz so much better dispositioned, and fur better
lookin', and didn't try to color their hair and act younger than they
wuz; and Uncle Preserved's boy, a lawyer, I told Faith it wuz a pity
he wuzn't more like our Thomas Jefferson, though it wuzn't to be
expected that there _could_ be two boys amongst the relations so
nearly perfect as Thomas Jefferson wuz; but I didn't act hauty, only
wuz sorry he hadn't turned out so well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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