wrong with either one.

I even been callin' him "it" to myself all along, so 'feerd thet ef I
set my min' on either the "he" or the "she" the other one might take a
notion to come--an' I didn't want any disappointment mixed in with the
arrival.

But now he's come,--_an'_ registered, ez they say at the polls,--I know
I sort o' counted on the boy, some way.

Lordy! but he's little! Ef he hadn't 'a' showed up so many of his
functions spontaneous, I'd be oneasy less'n he mightn't have 'em; but
they're there! Bless goodness, they're there!

An' he snez prezac'ly, for all the world, like my po' ol' pap--a reg'lar
little cat sneeze, thess like all the Joneses.

Well, Mr. Turkey, befo' I go back into the house, I'm a-goin' to make
you a solemn promise.

You go free till about this time next year, _anyhow_. You an' me'll
celebrate the birthday between ourselves with that contrac'. You needn't
git oneasy Thanksgivin', or picnic-time, or Easter, or no other time
'twixt this an' nex' Christmas--less'n, of co'se, you stray off an' git
stole.

An' this here reprieve, I want you to understand, is a present from the
junior member of this firm.

Lord! but I'm that tickled! This here wood ain't much needed in the
house,--the wood-boxes 're all full,--but I can't _de_vise no other
excuse for vacatin'--thess at this time.

S'pose I _might_ gether up some eggs out 'n the nestes, but it'd look
sort o' flighty to go egg-huntin' here at midnight--an' he not two hours
ol'.

I dunno, either, come to think; she might need a new-laid egg--sof
b'iled. Reckon I'll take a couple in my hands--an' one or two sticks o'
wood--an' I'll draw a bucket o' water too--an' tote _that_ in.

Goodness! but this back yard is bright ez day! Goin' to be a clair, cool
night--moon out, full an' white. Ef _this ain't the stillest_ stillness!

Thess sech a night, for all the world, I reckon, ez the first Christmas,
when He come--

When shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel o' the Lord come down,
An' glory shone around--

thess like the hymn says.

The whole o' this back yard is full o' glory this minute. Th' ain't
nothin' too low down an' mean for it to shine on, neither--not even the
well-pump or the cattle-trough--'r the pig-pen--or even me.

Thess look at me, covered over with it! An' how it does shine on the
roof o' the house where they lay--her an' him!

I suppose that roof has shined that-a