Of co'se I sort o' ca'culate on him takin' the "Junior," an' lettin' me
tack a capital "S" an' a little "r" to my name 'fo' I die; which would
nachelly call attention to him _di_rec' eve'y time I'd sign my
signature.
Deuteronomy Jones ain't to say a purty name, maybe; but it's
scriptu'al--so far ez my parents could make it. Of co'se the
Jones--well, they couldn't help that no mo' 'n I can help it, or Sonny,
_or his junior_, thet, of co'se, may never be called on to appear in the
flesh, Sonny not bein' quite thoo with his stomach-teeth yet, an' bein'
subject to croup, both of which has snapped off many a fam'ly tree fore
to-day. But I reckon the Joneses ain't suffered much that a-way. I doubt
ef any of 'em has ever left 'thout passin' the name on--not knowin'
positive, but thess _jedgin'_. None o' mine ain't, I _know_, leastwise
none of my _di_rec' ancestors--they couldn't have, an' me here, an'
Sonny.
_Don't_ jump, doctor! That's the supper-bell. 'Tis purty loud, but
that's on account o' my mother-in-law. She's stone-deef--can't hear
thunder; but I told wife thet I thought we owed it to her to do the best
we could to reach her, and I had that bell made a-purpose.
Now, some men they'd slight a mother-in-law like that, an' maybe ring a
dummy at her; but that's thess where I differ. I don't forget where I
get my benefits, an' ef it hadn't 'a' been for her, the family circle o'
Deuteronomy Jones would be quite diff'rent to what it is. She's handed
down some of Sonny's best traits to him, too.
I don't say she give him his hearin', less'n she give 'm all she
had--which, of co'se, I'm thess a-jokin', which is a sin, an' her
stone-deef, and Sonny thess come thoo a death-spell!
Me havin' that extry sized bell made thess out of respects to her
tickled her mightily.
Come along, Sonny! He heerd the bell, an' he knows what it means. That's
right--fetch the clock along.
Sonny's cheer is toler'ble low, an' he's took a notion to set on the
clock mealtimes. I thess lay 'er face down'ards in his cheer, 'n' I
don't know ez it hurts her any; 'n' then it saves the dictionary, too.
She did strike that a-way one day, and Sonny was so tickled he purty
near choked on a batter-cake, he laughed so. He has broke sev'ral
casters tryin' to jostle her into doin' it again, but somehow she won't.
Seem like a clock kin be about ez contrary ez anything else, once't git
her back up.
He got so worked up over her not strikin' that a-way one day thet he
stiffened out in a spell, then an' there.
You say they ain't apt to be fatal, doctor--them spells!
Well--but you ain't never saw him in one yet. They're reg'lar
death-spells, doctor.
Tell you the truth, they was the 'casion of us j'inin' the church, them
spells was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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