d.

He thought he wuz crazy, and he whispered to me, "Is it caused by
drinkin'? or is it nateral and come on sudden--"

Josiah heard it, and answered out loud, "It wuz caused by style, by
bein' fashionable; my only aim has been to git my wife a fashionable
dinner, but I see it has overcome her."

The waiter wuz a good-hearted-lookin' man--a kind heart beat below that
white necktie (considerable below it on the left side), and sez he to
me--

"Shall I bring you a dinner, Mom, without takin' the order?"

And I replied gratefully--

"Yes, so do;" and so he brung it, a good enough dinner for anybody--good
roast beef, and potatoes, and lemon pie, and tea, and Josiah eat
hearty, and had to quiet down some, though he kept a-mournin' all
through the meal about its not bein' carried on fashionable and stylish,
and that it wuz my doin's a-breakin' it up, and etc., etc., and the last
thing a-wantin' tutty-frutty, and etc., etc.

And I paid for the meal out of my own pocket; the waiter thought I had
to on account of my companion's luny state, and he gin the bill to me.

And Josiah a-chucklin' over it, as I could see, for savin' his money.

And I got him out of that place as quick as I could, the bystanders, or
ruther the bysetters, a-laughin' or a-lookin' pitiful at me, as their
naters differed.

And as we wended off down the broad path on the outside, I sez, "You
have disgraced us forever in the eyes of the nation, Josiah Allen."

And he sez, "What have I done? You can't throw it in my face, Samantha,
that I hain't tried to cut style--that I didn't try to git you a stylish
meal."

I wouldn't say a word further to him, and I never spoke to him once that
night--not once, only in the night I thought there wuz a mouse in the
room, and I forgot myself and called on him for help.

And for three days I didn't pass nothin' but the compliments with him;
he felt bad--he worships me. He did it all to keep me from goin' to a
costly place--I know what his motives wuz--but he had mortified me too
deep.

CHAPTER XV.

Wall, this mornin' I said that I would go to see the Palace of Art if I
had to go on my hands and knees.

And Josiah sez, "I guess you'd need a new pair of knees by the time you
got there."

And I do spoze it wuz milds and milds from where I wuz.

But I only wanted to let Josiah Allen know my cast-iron determination to
not be put off another minute in payin' my devours to Art.

He see it writ in my m