le."
"I didn't bet," said Mandy; "but what was that other thing you were
going to tell me that was no secret?"
"Oh, that's about another couple," said Hiram. "Tilly James is engaged."
"Well, it's about time," said Mandy. "Which one of them?"
"Samuel Hill," replied Hiram, "and she managed it fust rate. You know
the boys have been flocking round her for more than a year. Old Ben
James, her pa, told me he'd got to put in a new hitchin' post. You see,
there has been Robert Wood and 'Manuel Howe and Arthur Scates and Cobb's
twins and Ben Bates and Sam Hill, but Samuel was the cutest one of the
lot."
"Why, what did he do that was bright?" asked Mandy.
"Well," replied Hiram, "you see, Tilly sot down and writ invites to all
the boys that had been sparkin' 'round her to come to see her the same
night. She gave these invites to her brother Bill to deliver. Well, Sam
Hill met him, found out what he was about, and kinder surmised what it
all meant. Wall, the night came 'round and Sam Hill was the only one
that turned up at the time app'inted. After talkin' about the weather,
last year's crops, and spring plantin', Sam just braced up and proposed,
and Tilly accepted him on the spot."
"Where were the other fellers?" asked Mandy. "I always surmised that she
thought more of Ben Bates than she did of Sam Hill."
"Well, it didn't come out till a couple of days afterwards," said Hiram.
"You see, the shortest way to old James's place is to go over the mill
race, and all of the fellers but Sam Hill went that way, and the joke of
it was that they all fell over into the river and got a duckin'."
"Well," said Mandy, "they must have been drinking. Tilly is well rid of
the whole lot of them. Why, I've walked over that log time and time
again."
"Well, they hadn't been drinkin'," said Hiram. "You see it was pretty
dark and they didn't get on to the fact that the log was greased till it
was kinder too late to rectify matters."
"And did Sam Hill do that?" asked Mandy.
"He did," said Hiram; and he burst into a loud laugh, in which Mandy
joined.
The laughing was quickly hushed as the kitchen door opened and Ezekiel
entered, warmly dressed for his fight with the snow and carrying a heavy
cane in his hand.
"Call the dog, Hiram," said Ezekiel, "and we'll start. Mandy, tell Jim
and Bill to come over to Deacon Mason's for me about four o'clock,
unless it looks too bad; if it does they needn't try it till to-morrow
morning."
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