It depends largely upon how a pout is took, whether it'll contrac' itself into a hard knot an' give trouble or thess loosen up into a good-natured smile, an' the oftener they are let out that-a-way, the seldomer they'll come. Little Mary Elizabeth, why, she looks so purty when she pouts, now, that I've been tempted sometimes to pervoke her to it, thess to witness the new set o' dimples she'll turn out on short notice; but I ain't never done it. I know a dimple thet's called into bein' too often in youth is li'ble to lay the foundation of a wrinkle in old age. But takin' her right along stiddy, day in an' day out, she's got a good sunny disposition an' is mighty lovin' and kind. An' as to character and dependableness, why, she's thess ez sound ez a bell. In a heap o' ways she nears up to us, sech, f' instance, ez when she taken wife's cook-receipt book to go by in experimentin' with Sonny's likes an' dislikes. 'T ain't every new-married wife thet's willin' to sample her husband's tastes by his ma's cook-books. They seem to think they 're too dictatorial. But, of co'se, wife's receipts was better 'n most, an' Mary Elizabeth, she knows that. She ain't been married but a week, but she's served up sev'al self-made dishes a'ready--all constructed accordin' to wife's schedule. Of co'se I could see the diff'ence in the mixin'--but it only amused me. An' Sonny seemed to think thet, ef anything, they was better 'n they ever had been--which is only right and proper. Three days after she was married, the po' little thing whipped up a b'iled custard for dinner an', some way or other, she put salt in it 'stid o' sugar, and poor Sonny--Well, I never have knew him to lie outright, befo', but he smacked his lips over it an' said it was the most delicious custard he had ever e't in his life, an' then, when he had done finished his first saucer an' said, "No, thank you, I won't choose any more," to a second helpin', why, she tasted it an' thess bust out a-cryin'. But I reckon that was partly because she was sort o' on edge yet from the excitement of new housekeepin' and the head o' the table. Well, I felt mighty sorry to see her in tears, an' what does Sonny do but insist on eatin' the whole dish o' custard, an' soon ez I could git a chance, I took him aside an' give him a little dose-t o' pain-killer, an' I took a few drops myself. I had felt obligated to swaller a few spoonfuls o' the salted custard when she'd be lookin' my way, an' I felt like ez ef I was pizened, an' so I thess took the painkiller ez a sort o' anecdote. Another way Mary Elizabeth shows sense is the way she accepts discipline from the ol' nigger, Dicey.