Ezry was allus best tickled
when things was a-stirrin', and then he was a-gittin' ready far
buildin', you know, wanted a house of his own, he said--and of course
it wasn't adzackly like home, all cluttered up as they was there at
Bills's. They got along mighty well, though, together; and the
women-folks and childern got along the best in the world. Ezry's woman
used to say she never laid eyes on jist sich another woman as Annie
was. Said it was jist as good as a winter's schoolin' far the
childern; said her two little girls had learnt to read, and didn't
know the'r a-b abs afore Annie learnt 'em; well, the oldest one, Mary
Patience, she did know her letters, I guess--fourteen year old, she
was; but Mandy, the youngest, had never seed inside a book afore that
winter; and the way she learnt was jist su'prisin'. She was puny-like
and frail-lookin' allus, but ever'body 'lowed she was a heap smarter
'n Mary Patience, and she was; and in my opinion she railly had more
sense 'n all the rest o' the childern put together, 'bout books and
cipherin' and arethmetic, and the like; and John Wesley, the oldest of
'em, he got to teachin' at last, when he growed up,--but, la! he
couldn't write his own name so 's you could read it.
Pages:
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101