thin' to
keep money out of my neighbor's pockets. We don't do that way in these
parts. But I've told the gals they're not to speak another word about
it, so you needn't give your mind no worry on that score. And now let's
go in to supper. If you're as hungry as I am, there won't be many of
them fish left fur breakfast."

That evening, as we were sitting smoking on the porch, old Peter's mind
reverted to the subject of the unfounded charge against me. "It goes
pretty hard," he remarked, "to have to stand up and take a thing you
don' like when there's no call fur it. It's bad enough when there is a
call fur it. That matter about your fish buyin' reminds me of what
happened two summers ago to my sister, or ruther to her two little
boys--or, more correct yit, to one of 'em. Them was two cur'ous little
boys. They was allus tradin' with each other. Their father deals mostly
in horses, and they must have got it from him. At the time I'm tellin'
of they'd traded everythin' they had, and when they hadn't nothin' else
left to swap they traded names. Joe he took Johnny's name, and Johnny he
took Joe's. Jist about when they'd done this, they both got sick with
sumthin' or other, the oldest one pretty bad, the other not much. Now
there ain't no doctor inside of twenty miles of where my sister lives.
But there's one who sometimes has a call to go through that part of the
country, and the people about there is allus very glad when they chance
to be sick when he comes along. Now this good luck happened to my
sister, fur the doctor come by jist at this time. He looks into the
state of the boys, and while their mother has gone downstairs he mixes
some medicine he has along with him. 'What's your name?' he says to the
oldest boy when he'd done it. Now as he'd traded names with his brother,
fair and square, he wasn't goin' back on the trade, and he said, 'Joe.'
'And my name's Johnny,' up and says the other one. Then the doctor he
goes and gives the bottle of medicine to their mother, and says he:
'This medicine is fur Joe. You must give him a tablespoonful every two
hours. Keep up the treatment, and he'll be all right. As fur Johnny,
there's nothin' much the matter with him. He don't need no medicine.'
And then he went away. Every two hours after that Joe, who wasn't sick
worth mentionin', had to swallow a dose of horrid stuff, and pretty soon
he took to his bed, and Johnny he jist played round and got well in the
nat'ral way. Joe's mother