, than we
had been befo'.

That was over five year ago, an' th' ain't been a day sca'cely sence
then but we've seen her, an' in my jedgment they won't be nothin'
lackin' in her thet's needful in a little wife--not a thing.

Ef they's anything in long acquaintance, they've certainly knowed one
another all the time they've had.

Of co'se Mary Elizabeth, she ain't to say got Sonny's thoughts, exac'ly,
where it comes to sech a thing ez book-writin', but he says she's a heap
better educated 'n what he is.

She's got all her tuition repo'ts du'in' the whole time she attended
school, an' mostly all her precentages was up close onto the hund'eds.

Sonny never was no hand on earth to git good reports at school.

They was always so low down in figgurs thet he calls 'em his "misconduc'
slips."

But they ain't a one he's ever got, takin' 'em from the beginnin' clean
up to the day o' his gradjuatin', thet ain't got some lovin' remark
inscribed acrost it from his teacher--not a one.

Even them that wrastled with him most severe has writ him down friendly
an' kind.

An' little Mary Elizabeth--why, she's took every last one of 'em an'
she's feather-stitched 'em aroun' the edges an' sewed 'em up into a sort
o' little book, an' tied a ribbin' bow acrost it. I don't know whether
she done it on account o' the teacher's remarks or not--but she cert'n'y
does prize that pamphlet.

She thinks so much of it thet I been advisin' her to take out a fire
insu'ance on it.

In a heap o' ways she thess perzacly suits Sonny. Lookin' at it from one
p'int o' view, she's a sort o' dictionary to him.

Whenever Sonny finds hisself short of a date, f' instance, or some
unreasonable spellin' 'll bother 'im, why, he'll apply to her for it an'
she'll hand it out to him, intac'. I ain't never knew her to fail.

You see, while Sonny's thoughts is purty far-reachin' in some ways, he's
received his education so sort o' hit an' miss thet the things he knows
ain't to say catalogued in his mind, an' while he'll know one fac',
maybe he won't be able to recall another thet seems to belong hand in
hand with it. An' that's one reason why I say thet little Mary Elizabeth
is thess the wife for him.

She may not bother about the whys an' wherefores, but she's got the
statistics.

It's always well, in a married couple, to have either one or the other
statistical, so thet any needed fac' can be had on demand.

Wife, she was a heap more gifted that-a-way 'n