Phares was not given to
foolishness or love-making to her!

She was glad that he suggested moving to the edge of the crowd after his
successful bidding was completed. There a welcome diversion came in the
form of the old man who had previously amused them by his talk about the
pewter plate.

"There now, Eph," he was saying, "what do you think of paying forty
dollars for that old chest of drawers? To be sure it's good and all the
drawers work yet--I tried 'em before the sale commenced. But forty
dollars--whew!"

The stupidity and extravagance of some people silenced him for a moment,
then he continued: "My Lizzie, now, she knows better how to spend money.
She bought ten dollars' worth of flavors and soap and things like that
and she got in the bargain a big chest of drawers bigger than this old
one, and it was polished up finer and had a looking-glass on the top
yet. That man must have a lot of money to give forty dollars for one
piece of furniture! Ach"--in answer to a remonstrance from his
companion--"they can't hear me. I don't talk loud, and anyhow, they're
listening to the auctioneer. That girl with him has a funny streak too.
She bought the old cradle and then I heard her tell Hetty that she just
bought it for fun and she gave it to Hetty. So, is that man Phares Eby
from near Greenwald? Well, I thought he'd have too much sense to buy
such a thing for forty dollars, but some people gets crazy when they get
to a sale. Who ever heard of a person buying a cradle for fun and giving
it away? But I guess that cradles went out of style some time ago. My
girl Lizzie wasn't raised with funny notions like some girls have
nowadays, but when she was married and had her first baby and we told
her she could borrow the old cradle she was rocked in to put her baby
in, she said she didn't want it, for cradles ain't healthy for babies,
it is bad to rock babies! I guess that was her man's dumb notion, for
he's a professor in the High School where they live, but he's just Jake
Forney's John. They get along fine, but they do some dumb things. They
let that baby yell till he found out that he wouldn't get rocked. It
made her mom quite sick when we were up to visit them, and sometimes
we'd sneak rocking it a little, just so the little fellow'd know there
is such a thing as getting rocked. They don't want any person to kiss
that baby, neither. Course I ain't in favor of everybody kissing a baby,
but I can't see the hurt of its own peop