and. I thought likely
by the time it was ours in full he'd've recovered from his attackt, an'
be willin' for his ma to keep it; an' he was.

An' besides, sence his pet squir'l has done chawed the plush clean off
one corner of it, he says he wouldn't part with it for nothin'. Of co'se
a beast couldn't be expected to reelize the importance o' plush. An'
that's what seems to tickle Sonny so.

We had bought it chiefly on his account, so ez to git 'im accustomed to
seein' handsome things around, so thet when he goes out into the world
he won't need to be flustered by finery.

Wife she's been layin' by egg money all spring to buy a swingin',
silver-plated ice-pitcher, so he'll feel at home with sech things, an'
capable of walkin' up to one an' tiltin' it unconcerned, which is more'n
I can do _to this day_. I always feel like ez ef I ought to go home an'
put on my Sunday clo'es befo' I can approach one of 'em.

Sech ez that has to be worked into a person's constitution in youth.
The motions of a gourd-dipper, kep' in constant practice for years,
is mighty hard to reverse.

How does that look now, doctor? Yas; I think so, too. It's tied in a
right good bow for a ten-thumbed man, which I shorely am, come to
fingerin' ribbin.

He chose blue because she's got blue eyes--pore little human! Sir? _Who
is she_, you say? Why, don't you know? She's Joe Wallace's little Mary
Elizabeth--a nice, well-mannered child ez ever lived.

[Illustration: "What could be sweeter 'n little Mary Elizabeth?"]

Wife has had her over here to supper sev'al nights lately, an' Sonny
he's took tea over to the Wallaces' once-t or twice-t, an' they say he
shows mighty good table manners, passin' things polite, an' leavin'
proper amounts on his plate. His mother has always teached him keerful.
It's good practice for 'em both. Of co'se Mary Elizabeth she's a year
older 'n what Sonny is, an' she's thess gittin' a little experience out
o' him--though she ain't no ways conscious of it,--an' he 'll gain a
good deal o' courage th'oo keepin' company with a ladylike girl like
Mary Elizabeth. That's the way it goes, an' I think th' ain't nothin'
mo' innercent or sweet.

How'd you say that, doctor? S'posin' it wasn't to turn out that-a-way?
Well, bless yo' heart, ef it was to work out in _all seriousness, what
could be sweeter 'n little Mary Elizabeth_? Sonny ain't got it in his
power to displease us, don't keer what he was to take a notion to,
less'n, of c