, it wasn't their
wives--it don't seem hardly human natur', but it wasn't their wives."
The speaker sighed a little. He was commonly supposed to have gained
more experience than felicity through matrimony. "I've heard it said
that it was hoss-reddish that begun it. You see, they used to eat
together, and Stephen he used to like a little hoss-reddish along with
his victuals in the spring, and Reuben, he said 't was a pizen weed.
But there! you can never tell; they're both of 'em just as sot as--as
erysipelas; and when that's so, somethin' or other is sure to come. I
know for a fact that Reuben always wanted a taste of molasses in his
beans, and Stephen couldn't abide anythin' but vinegar. So, bymeby, they
took to havin' their meals separate. You know it ain't in human natur'
to see other folks puttin' things in their mouths that don't taste good
to yours, and keep still about it."

His companion admitted the truth of this statement.

"Sometimes I think," went on Monroe, musingly, "that if they'd begun by
eatin' separate they might have got along, 'cause it's only His saints
that the Lord has made pleasant-tempered enough to stand bein' pestered
with three meals a day, unless they're busy enough not to have time to
think about anythin' but swallerin'. Hayin'-time most men is kinder
pleasant 'bout their food--so long 's it's ready. Wal, however it was,
after they eat separate there was other things. There was the weather.
They always read the weather signs different. And each of 'em had that
way of speakin' 'bout the weather as if it was a little contrivance of
his own, and he was the only person who could give a hint how 'twas run,
or had any natural means of findin' out if 'twas hot, or cold, or
middlin', 'less he took hold and told 'em. It's a powerful tryin' sort
of way, and finally it come so that, if Reuben said we was in for a wet
spell, Stephen'd start right off and begin to mow his medder grass, and
if Stephen 'lowed there was a sharp thunder-shower comin' up, inside of
ten minutes, Reuben'd go and git his waterin'-pot and water every blamed
thing he had in his garden. I dunno when it was they stopped speakin',
but that was about all there was to it--little things like that. They
didn't either of 'em have any children; sometimes I've thought if they
had, the kids might sort of brought 'em together--they couldn't have
kep' 'em apart without they moved away, and of course they wouldn't
either of 'em give in to the