he;
'you've got to break him in and learn all his gaits and tricks before
there's any safety or pleasure travelin' with him. Here you ain't been
married to Emmeline a month yet, and you talk about her havin'
confidence in you!' Says she, 'I've been married to your father
forty-five years this comin' January, and I've never seen cause to
doubt him, but if I was to find another woman's gyarment amongst his
clothes I'd leave him that quick.'
"And about this time old man Sanford come in, and when he'd shook
hands with Henry and hugged and kissed Emmeline he begun to take
notice of how she'd been cryin', and the old lady she told him the
whole story, and, bless your life, the old man was madder'n she was.
He turned around to Henry and says he, mighty stern and solemn, 'Son,
I feel that you've disgraced your raisin'.' Says he, 'A man that'll
cause a woman to shed an unnecessary tear is worse'n a brute, and here
you've let Emmeline cry her pretty eyes out over nothin' right at the
beginnin' of her married life. If you treat her this way now, how'll
it be ten years from now?' And then he patted Emmeline on the shoulder
and says he, 'Never mind, daughter, if Henry don't treat you right,
you stay here with pappy and mammy and be their little gyirl. Henry
always was the black sheep o' the flock, anyhow.'
"And at that Emmeline jumped up and run over to Henry and threw her
arms around his neck and says she, 'You sha'n't talk that way about
Henry. He's not a black sheep, either. He's the best man in the
world, and it's all my fault and I'll never mistrust him again as long
as I live.' And then Henry broke down and cried, and the old man and
the old lady they cried, and they all hugged and kissed each other,
and such a makin' up you never did see. And in two or three days here
Henry and Emmeline come ridin' back home and lookin' like a
sure-enough bride and groom. Emmeline said they went over the same
road, but everything seemed different; the birds sung sweeter, the sun
shone brighter, and the leaves were prettier, for you know, honey, the
way a thing looks depends more on people's minds than it does on their
eyes. They stopped at the same spring to eat their dinner, and
Emmeline said she promised Henry she'd never mistrust him again, and
he promised her he'd never play any more jokes on her. I reckon they
both must 'a' kept their promise, for from that time on there never
was a more peaceable, well-contented married couple than
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