H-MAKING

"Cal!" said Mr. Sim.

"Wall!" said Calvin Parks. "That's poetry, Sim, or as nigh to it as you
and me are likely to come."

"Quit foolin', Cal! I want to speak to you serious."

"Fire away!" said Calvin, leaning back in his chair and stretching his
long legs.

"I want to know what you think of Cousin!" Mr. Sim went on.

Calvin sat up, and drew in his legs.

"She's all right!" he said shortly.

"Of course she's all right!" said Mr. Sim peevishly. "She wouldn't be
here if she was all wrong, would she? I want to know what you _think_ of
her."

"I think she's a fine-appearin' woman!" said Calvin slowly. "And smart.
And personable. A 1, clipper-built and copper-fastened, is the way I
should describe your cousin if she was a vessel."

"You're right, Cal; you're right!" said Mr. Sim. "She's all that and
more. She's agreeable, and she's capable, and she's savin', Calvin;
savin'. Ma allers said, 'If the time comes when you _have_ to marry,
marry a saver!' she'd say."

Calvin said nothing. He felt the honest middle-aged blood mounting in
his cheeks, but reflected comfortably that it would not show through the
brown.

"Now, Cal," Mr. Sim went on; "a woman like that ain't goin' through life
single."

"You bet she ain't!" said Calvin briefly; "you darned old weasel!" he
added, but not aloud.

"She ain't no more than forty, and she don't look that. She's well
fixed, too; she ain't no need to work, Cousin ain't; she come here to
accommodate, you understand."

"I understand!" said Calvin; "you blamed old ferret!" Calvin was fond of
finishing his sentences in silence.

"Now what I say is,--" and Mr. Sim leaned forward, and sank his voice to
a whisper,--"What I say is, that woman ought not to go out of the
family, Calvin Parks!"

Calvin grunted. A grunt may mean anything, and Mr. Sim took it for
assent.

"Jes' so! That's what I'm sayin'. I knew you'd see it that way. Now,
Calvin, I want you to help us."

A spark came into Calvin's brown eyes. "Help you!" he repeated. "What's
the matter? Ain't you old enough to speak for yourself?"

"Not for myself, Calvin!" cried Mr. Sim. "No, no, no! for Sam'l! for
Sam'l!"

"Well, I am blowed!" said Calvin Parks.

Mr. Sim leaned forward anxiously. "Don't you see, Cal?" he cried. "I
ain't a marryin' man; that's plain to be seen. Sam'l was allers the one
for the gals, you know he was. You remember Ivy Bell?"

Calvin nodded.

"Well, that's the way of it!" Mr. S