he middle of
the desert of Sarah. I knew that it would be some months before he
waked up to the fact of there bein' another woman in the world. And
oh, how Phila scoffed at the idee of pa jinin' the Mormons. They had
bought part of a store of a Gentile and wuz goin' to be pardners with
him and kinder grow up with the country. I felt that hey wuz a likely
couple and would do well, but rememberin' Dorothy's and Miss Meechim's
smiles I reached up and stiddied myself on that apron-string of Duty,
and took Phila out one side and advised her not to call her bridegroom
pa. Sez I, "You hain't but jest married and it don't look well."

And she said that "Her ma always called her father pa."

"Well," sez I, "if you'll take the advice of a old Jonesvillian and
well-wisher, you'll wait till you're a few years older before you call
him pa."

And she sez, lookin' admirin'ly at him, "I spoze I might call him
papa."

Well, you can't put sense into a certain bump in anybody's head if it
wuzn't made there in the first place--there are holler places in heads
that you can't fill up, do your best. But oh! how her devoted love to
him put me in mind of myself, and how his small-sized devotion to
her--how it reminded me of him who wuz far away--and oh, why did I not
hear from him! my heart sunk nearly into my shues as I foreboded about
it. It seemed as if everything brung him up before me, the provisions
we had on the dining car wuz good and plenty of 'em, and how they made
me think of him, who wuz a good provider. The long, long days and
nights of travel, the jar and motion of the cars made me think of him
who often wuz restless and oneasy. And even the sand of the desert
between Cheyenne and Denver, even that sand brought me fond
remembrances of one who wuz sandy complected when in his prime. And
oh! when did I not think of him? Christmas had gone by, but how could
we celebrate it without a home to set up a Christmas tree, or set out
a table with good Jonesville vittles. How I thought on him who made a
holiday in my heart by his presence, and always helped me put the
leaves in the extension table.

Tommy wanted to hang up his little stockin', and did, hangin' it out
like a little red signal of distress over the side of his top shelf,
and we filled it with everything good we could git hold on.

Dorothy put in a little silver watch she had bought on her travels,
not bigger than a warnut, and Miss Meechim put in some of the toys she
had