American literature -- Humor; American wit and humor
Well, the end on't was, he brung it in and sot it up the other end of
the parlor, and drove off. And when Josiah come in from his work, and
Thomas J. come home from Jonesville, they liked it first rate.
But the very next day, a new agent come, and he looked awful skairt when
he katched sight of that organ, and real mad and indignant too.
"That villain haint been a tryin' to get one of them organs off onto
you, has he?" says he.
"What is the trouble with 'em?" says I, in a awestruck tone, for he
looked bad.
"Why," says he, "there is a heavy mortgage on every one of his organs.
If you bought one of him, and paid for it, it would be liable to be took
away from you any minute when you was right in the middle of a tune,
leavin' you a settin' on the stool; and you would lose every cent of
your money."
"Good gracious!" says I, for it skairt me to think what a narrow chance
we had run. Well, finally, he brung in one of hisen, and sot it up in
the kitchen, the parlor bein' full on 'em.
And the fellers kep' a comin' and a goin' at all hours. For a spell, at
first, Josiah would come in and talk with 'em, but after a while he got
tired out, and when he would see one a comin' he would start on a run
for the barn, and hide, and I would have to stand the brunt of it alone.
One feller see Josiah a runnin' for the barn, and he follered him in,
and Josiah dove under the barn, as I found out afterwards. I happened to
see him a crawlin' out after the feller drove off. Josiah come in a
shakin' himself--for he was all covered with straw and feathers--and
says he:
"Samantha there has got to be a change."
"How is there goin' to be a change?" says I.
"I'll tell you," says he, in a whisper--for fear some on 'em was
prowlin' round the house yet--"we will git up before light to-morrow
mornin', and go to Jonesville and buy a organ right out."
I fell in with the idee, and we started for Jonesville the next mornin'.
We got there jest after the break of day, and bought it of the man to
the breakfast table. Says Josiah to me afterwards, as we was goin' down
into the village:
"Let's keep dark about buyin' one, and see how many of the creeters will
be a besettin' on us to-day."
So we kep' still, and there was half a dozen fellers follerin' us round
all the time a most, into stores and groceries and the manty makers, and
they would stop us on the sidewalk and argue with us about their organs
and pianos. One feller, a tall slim chap, never let Josiah out of his
sight a minute; and he follered him when he went after his horse, and
walked by the side of the wagon clear down to the store where I was, a
arguin' all the way about his piano. Josiah had bought a number of
things and left 'em to the store, and when we got there, there stood the
organ man by the side of the things, jest like a watch dog. He knew
Josiah would come and git 'em, and he could git the last word with him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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