ip her
till he was blue in the face, an' she wouldn't budge. Only made her more
sot and stubborner....

"--guess she was born the way she was ... she never could stay still a
minute ... always fidgettin' ... when she was a little girl, even--I
used to say, 'Now, look here, Phoebe,' I'd say, 'your ma 'ull give you a
whole dime all at once if you'll set still jest for five minutes in that
chair.' An' she'd try ... and, before sixty seconds was ticked off she'd
be on her feet, sayin', 'Ma, I guess you kin keep that dime.'

"When she took to runnin' out at nights," my great-aunt continued, in a
low voice, "yes, an' swearin' back at her pa when he gave her a bit of
his mind, it nigh broke my heart ... and sometimes she'd see me cryin',
and that would make her feel bad an' she'd quiet down fer a few days ...
an' she'd say, 'Ma, I'm goin' to be a good girl now,' an' fer maybe two
or three nights she'd help clean up the supper-things--an' then--" with
a breaking voice, "an' then all at once she'd scare me by clappin' both
hands to that pretty brown head o' hers, in sech a crazy way, an'
sayin', 'Honest, Ma, I can't stand it any longer ... this life's too
slow.... I've gotta go out where there's some life n' fun!'

"It was only toward the last that she took to sneakin' out after she
pretended to go to bed.. gangs of boys an' girls, mixed, would come an'
whistle soft fer her, under the window ... an' strange men would
sometimes hang aroun' the house ... till Josh went out an' licked a
couple.

"It drove Josh nigh crazy.

"One evenin', after this had gone on a long time, Josh ups an' says,
'Ma, Phoebe's run complete out o' hand ... she'll hafta be broke o' this
right now ... when she comes back to-night I'm going to give her the
lickin' of her life.'

"'Josh, you mustn't whip her. Let's both have a long talk with her. (I
knowed Josh 'ud hurt her bad if he whipped her. He has a bad temper when
he is het up.) Maybe goin' down on our knees with her an' prayin' might
do some good.'"

"'No, Ma, talkin' nor prayin' won't do no good ... the only thing left's
a good whippin' to straighten her out.'"

"O Aunt Rachel," I cried, all my desire of Phoebe breaking but into
tenderness. I looked at the lovely face, crossed with sunlight, full of
such quick intelligence, such mischievousness....

You can catch a wild animal in a trap, but to whip it would be sacrilege
... that might do for domesticated animals.

"Josh never laid a han