I hyuh you tellin' dis white
gemmun take caih his teef--not bite on no i'on?"

William smiled in pity. "I don't need to bother about that, I guess," he
said. "I can crack nuts with my teeth."

"Yes, suh," said the old man. "You kin now. Ev'y nut you crac' now goin'
cos' you a yell when you git 'long 'bout fawty an' fifty. You crack nuts
now an' you'll holler den!"

"Well, I guess I won't worry myself much now about what won't happen
till I'm forty or fifty," said William. "My teeth 'll last MY time, I
guess."

That brought a chuckle from Mr. Genesis. "Jes' listen!" he exclaimed.
"Young man think he ain' nev' goin' be ole man. Else he think, 'Dat
ole man what I'm goin' to be, dat ain' goin' be me 'tall--dat goin' be
somebody else! What I caih 'bout dat ole man? I ain't a-goin' take caih
o' no teef fer HIM!' Yes, suh, an' den when he GIT to be ole man, he
say, 'What become o' dat young man I yoosta be? Where is dat young man
agone to? He 'uz a fool, dat's what--an' _I_ ain' no fool, so he mus'
been somebody else, not me; but I do jes' wish I had him hyuh 'bout two
minutes--long enough to lam him fer not takin' caih o' my teef fer me!'
Yes, suh!"

William laughed; his good humor was restored and he found the
conversation of Mr. Genesis attractive. He seated himself upon an
upturned bucket near the wheelbarrow, and reverted to a former theme.
"Well, I HAVE heard of people getting married even younger 'n you were,"
he said. "You take India, for instance. Why, they get married in India
when they're twelve, and even seven and eight years old."

"They do not!" said Jane, promptly. "Their mothers and fathers wouldn't
let 'em, an' they wouldn't want to, anyway."

"I suppose you been to India and know all about it!" William retorted.
"For the matter o' that, there was a young couple got married in
Pennsylvania the other day; the girl was only fifteen, and the man was
sixteen. It was in the papers, and their parents consented, and said it
was a good thing. Then there was a case in Fall River, Massachusetts,
where a young man eighteen years old married a woman forty-one years
old; it was in the papers, too. And I heard of another case somewhere in
Iowa--a boy began shaving when he was thirteen, and shaved every day for
four years, and now he's got a full beard, and he's goin' to get married
this year--before he's eighteen years old. Joe Bullitt's got a cousin in
Iowa that knows about this case--he knows the girl this fellow