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On Picket Duty
by
“‘Poor Hiram! they didn’t use yeou waal. Yeou ought to hev tried some er the poor an’ humly girls; they’d a been glad an’ grateful fer such a sweetheart as yeou be.’
“I was good-natered ag’in by that time, an’ I sez, larfin’ along with her, ‘Waal, I’ve got three mittens, but I guess I might’s waal hev ‘nother, and that will make two pair complete. Say, Bewlah, will yeou hev me?’
“‘Yes, I will.’ sez she.
“‘Reelly?’ sez I.
“‘Solemn trew,’ sez she.
“Ef she’d up an’ slapped me in the face, I shouldn’t hev ben more throwed aback, fer I never mistrusted she cared two chips for me. I jest set an’ gawped; fer she was ‘solemn trew,’ I see that with half an eye, an’ it kinder took my breath away. Bewlah drawed the grewel off the fire, wiped her hands, an’ stood lookin’ at me a minnet, then she sez, slow an’ quiet, but tremblin’ a little, as women hev a way er doin’, when they’ve consid’able steam aboard,–
“‘Hiram, other folks think lumberin’ has spilt yeou; I don’t; they call you rough an’ rewd; I know you’ve got a real kind heart fer them as knows haow tew find it. Them girls give yeou up so easy, ’cause they never loved yeou, an’ yeou give them up ’cause you only thought abaout their looks an’ money. I’m humly, an’ I’m poor; but I’ve loved yeou ever sence we went a-nuttin’ years ago, an’ yeou shook daown fer me, kerried my bag, and kissed me tew the gate, when all the others shunned me, ’cause my father drank an’ I was shabby dressed, ugly, an’ shy. Yeou asked me in sport, I answered in airnest; but I don’t expect nothin’ unless yeou mean as I mean. Like me, Hiram, or leave me, it won’t make no odds in my lovin’ of yeou, nor helpin’ of yeou, ef I kin.’
“‘Tain’t easy tew say haouw I felt, while she was goin’ on that way, but my idees was tumblin’ raound inside er me, as ef half a dozen dams was broke loose all tew oncet. One think was ruther stiddier ‘n the rest, an’ that was that I liked Bewlah more ‘n I knew. I begun tew see what kep’ me loafin’ tew hum so much, sence aunt was took daown; why I wan’t in no hurry tew git them other gals, an’ haow I come tew pocket my mittens so easy arfter the fust rile was over. Bewlah was humly, poor in flesh, dreadful freckled, hed red hair, black eyes, an’ a gret mold side of her nose. But I’d got wonted tew her; she knowed my ways, was a fust rate housekeeper, real good-tempered, and pious without flingin’ on’t in yer face. She was a lonely creeter,–her folks bein’ all dead but one sister, who didn’t use her waal, an’ somehow I kinder yearned over her, as they say in Scripter. For all I set an’ gawped, I was coming raound fast, though I felt as I used tew, when I was goin’ to shoot the rapids, kinder breathless an’ oncertin, whether I’d come aout right side up or not. Queer, warn’t it?”
“Love, Flint; that was a sure symptom of it.”
“Waal, guess ’twas; anyway I jumped up all of a sudden, ketched Bewlah raound the neck, give her a hearty kiss, and sung aout, ‘I’ll dew it sure’s my name’s Hi Flint!’ The words was scarcely out of my maouth, ‘fore daown come Dr. Parr. He’ d ben up tew see aunt, an’ said she wouldn’t last the night threw, prob’ly. That give me a scare er the wust kind; an’ when I told doctor haow things was, he sez, kinder jokin’,–
“‘Better git merried right away, then. Parson Dill is tew come an’ see the old lady, an’ he’ll dew both jobs tew oncet.’
“‘Will yeou, Bewlah?’ sez I.
“‘Yes, Hiram, to ‘blige yeou,’ sez she.