d:

"I never did, so to say, meet up with her. She jest naturally overtook
me."

* * *

An African newspaper recently carried the following advertisement:

_Wanted_
Small nicely furnished house, nice
locality, from August 1st, for
nearly married couple.

* * *

The solemn ceremony of marriage was being performed for the blushing
young bride and the elderly gentleman who had been thrice widowed. There
was a sound of loud sobs from the next room. The guests were startled,
but a member of the bridegroom's family explained:

"That's only our Jane. She always cries when Pa is gettin' married."

* * *

The mistress was annoyed by the repeated calls of a certain negro on her
colored cook.

"You told me," she protested to the cook, "that you had no man friends.
But this fellow is in the kitchen all the time."

"Dat nigger, he hain't no friend o' mine," the cook declared scornfully.
"Him, he's jes' my 'usban'."

* * *

Deacon Gibbs explained why he had at last decided to move into town in
spite of the fact that he had always declared himself a lover of life in
the country. But his explanation was clear and conclusive.

"My third wife, Mirandy, she don't like the country, an' what Mirandy
she don't like, I jist nacherly hev to hate."

* * *

The wife suggested to her husband that he should pay back to her the
dollar he had borrowed the week before.

"But," the husband protested indignantly, "I've already paid that dollar
back to you twice! You can't expect me to pay it again!"

"Oh, very well," the wife retorted with a contemptuous sniff, "never
mind, since you are as mean as that."

* * *

The very youthful son of a henpecked father was in a gloomy mood,
rebellious against the conditions of his life. He announced a desperate
purpose:

"I'm going to get married. I'm bossed by pa an ma, an' teacher, an' I
ain't going to stan' for it. I'm going to get married right smack off. A
married man ain't bossed by nobody 'cept his wife."

* * *

The woman was six feet tall and broad and brawny in proportion. The man
was a short five feet, anemic and wobegone. The woman haled him before
the justic