ey wuz the awfullest children I ever laid eyes on, for them that had
such pious and well-meanin' names.

There wuz John Wesley, and Martin Luther, and little Peter Cooper
Schack.

Miss Schack wuz a well-principled woman, no doubt, and I dare say had
high idees before they wuz jarred, and hauled down, and stomped and
trampled on, by noise and confusion. And I dare presoom to say that she
had named them children a-hopin' and a-expectin' some of the high and
religious qualities of their namesakes would strike in. But to set and
hear Martin Luther swear at John Wesley wuz a sight. And to see John
Wesley clench his fists in Martin Luther's hair and kick him wuz enough
to horrify any beholder. But Peter Cooper wuz the worst; to see him take
everything away from his brothers he possibly could, and devour it
himself, and want everything himself, and be mad if they had anything,
and steal from 'em in the most cold-blooded way, and act--why, it wuz
enough to make that blessed old philanthropist, Peter Cooper, turn over
in his grave.

They wuz dretful troublesome and worrisome to the rest of the boarders,
but Mr. Freeman could quell 'em down any time--sometimes by lookin' at
'em and smilin', and sometimes by lookin' stern, and sometimes by candy
and oranges.

I declare for't, as I told Miss Plank sometimes, I didn't know what we
would have done durin' some hot meal times if it hadn't been for that
blessed bacheldor.

I said that right out openly to Miss Plank, and to everybody else. Bein'
married happy, I felt free to speak my mind about bacheldors, or
anything. Of course, bein' a widder, Miss Plank felt more hampered.

And he wuz good to me in other ways, besides easin' my cares and nerves
at the table.

His rooms wuz jest acrost the hall from ourn, and my Josiah's and my
room wuz very small; it wuz the best that Miss Plank could do, so I
didn't complain. But it wuz very compressed and confined, and extremely
hot.

When we wuz both in there sometimes on sultry days, I felt like
compressed meat, or as I mistrusted that would feel, sort o' canned up,
as it were.

And one warm afternoon, 'most sundown, jest as I opened my door into the
hall, to see if I could git a breath of fresh air to recooperate me,
Josiah a-pantin' in the rockin'-chair behind me, Mr. Freeman opened his
door, and so there we wuz a-facin' each other.

[Illustration: And so there we wuz a-facin' each other.]

And bein' sort o' took by surprise, I ma