aw-mills. When I marry a man he's got to give bonds
not to have anything to do, in no way or shape, with saw-mills. I don't
want to be a widder, or take care o' half a man for the rest o' my days.
You've got a chance to git your girl yit. Mebbe she'll git tired o' him
after he's bin run through the mill two or three times, and there's more
o' him in the graveyard than there is walkin' to church with her. Cheer
up."

Shorty tried to disprove the charge as to the subject of his thoughts
by falling to furiously and with such precipitation that he spilt his
coffee, upset the molasses-jug, and then collapsed in dismay at his
clumsiness.

Maria did not go free herself. The other girls had not been blind to
Shorty's condition of mind, and rather suspected that Maria was not
wholly indifferent to him. When she came into the kitchen for another
supply. Cousin Susie, younger sister of Martha, remarked:

"Maria, I've a notion to take your advice, and set my cap for Corpril
Shorty. Do you know, I think he's very good lookin'. He's a little rough
and clumsy, but a girl could take that out o' him. I believe I'll begin
right away. You stay in here and bake and I'll wait on the table."

"Don't be a little goose, Susie," said Maria severely. "You're too young
yit to think about beaux. You hain't got used to long dresses yit. You
go practice on boys in roundabouts awhile. This is a full-grown man and
a soldier. He hain't got no time to waste on schoolgirls."

"Ha, how you talk, Miss Jealousy," responded Susie. "How scared you are
lest I cut you out. I've a great mind to do it, just to show you I kin.
I'd like awfully to have a sweetheart down at the front, just to crow
over the rest o' the girls. Here, you take the turner and let me carry
that plate in."

"I'll do nothin' o' the kind," said Maria, decisively. "You look out
for your cakes there. They're burnin' while you're gossipin'. That's
my brother and his friend, and I hain't got but a short time to be with
'em. I may never see 'em agin, and I want to do all I kin for 'em while
they're with me."

"Too bad about your brother," laughed Susie. "How lovin' and attentive
all at once. I remember how you used to wig him without mercy at school,
and try to make him go off and take me home, instid o' taggin' along
after you, when that big-eyed school teacher that sung tenor'd be makin'
sheep's eyes at you in school, and wantin' to walk home with you in the
evenin'. I remember your sla