the alminick agin, an' fin' out when this moon sets. So the cappen thought 't was 'bout time to go on deck. Dreadful slow them Dutch cappens be." And X. walked away, rumbling inwardly, like the rote of the sea heard afar. -Fireside Travels. THE COURTIN'. God makes such nights, all white an' still Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown A fireplace filled the room's one side The wa'nut logs shot sparkles out Agin the chimbley crook-necks hung, The ole queen's-arm thet gran'ther Young The very room, coz she was in, 'T was kin' o' kingdom-come to look He was six foot o' man, A I, He'd sparked it with full twenty gals, Hed squired 'em, danced 'em, druv 'em, Fust this one, an' then thet, by spells— All is, he could n't love 'em. But long o' her his veins 'ould run The side she breshed felt full o' sun She thought no v'ice hed sech a swing Ez hisn in the choir; My! when he made Ole Hundred ring, She knowed the Lord was nigher. An' she'd blush scarlit, right in prayer, Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some! She seemed to 've gut a new soul, For she felt sartin-sure he'd come, Down to her very shoe-sole. She heered a foot, an' knowed it tu, All ways to once her feelin's flew He kin' o' l'itered on the mat, An' yit she gin her cheer a jerk Ez though she wished him furder, An' on her apples kep' to work, Parin' away like murder. "You want to see my Pa, I s'pose?" "Wal no . . . I come dasignin' "To see my Ma? She's sprinklin' clo'es Agin to-morrer's i'nin'." To say why gals acts so or so, Or don't, 'ould be presumin'; Mebby to mean yes an' say по Comes nateral to women. He stood a spell on one foot fust, Says he, "I'd better call agin"; When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips, All kin' o' smily roun' the lips For she was jes' the quiet kind Like streams that keep a summer mind The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued Tell mother see how metters stood, Then her red come back like the tide -Biglow Papers. |