Samantha at the St. Louis Exposition

talked it over with the children. They wuz goin' to be mortified to death by the idee if c

on. I've pompied him, cooked the very best of vittles, argued with him, eppisoded, but all

you tried readin' hist

with him, your pa's health hain't what i

e you tried r

hrough to him, and the biggest heft of 'Paradise Lost,' an

it do an

ff in the soarinest passages to boast abo

nd sez, "I don't kn

t his mind on some work? Hain't there sunthin' tha

ne in the house, I tried my best to git him at it in the fall, I do want a furnace and hot water pipes put in to he

m interested in that and he will forgit all abo

ed way, "If I couldn't g

I'm goin

scheme must be broke up, and if you git your fur

ew tact, or ruther the old tact in a new way, I told him how sot

n, and I see it kinder moved him, but

water pipes and a furn

Josiah? And Thomas J. sez it will be so nice to have it all r

deef as an adder!" And he jammed his hat down over his ears and went to the barn. Bu

e, I found I had another trial worse than the first to contend with. Instead of hirin' a first rate workman who knew his bizness,

And when I see Josiah wuz sot on hirin' him to do the job I felt dretful, for he wuz no more fit for it than our brindle cow to do fine sewin', or our old steer to give mus

rk; he hain't got any shop or tools and I don't want him meddlin' round my house. We want the rooms warmed good and we don't want a

her, and so easy to tend. Jest twice a year, he sez, to put a pail of water in the upper tank, two pails of water a year to insure summer warmth,

ot havin' to sweep up after chips and kindlin' wood. But yet how did we know these thin

man can borry tools, but he can't dicker for such id

when he sot off on it and headed it for the road it backed up and took him down that steep hill back of the barn into the creek, where it kep on ploughin' up dirt and slate stuns till his uncle stopped it

d shouldn't if I'd seen him settin' swingin' his legs off the very top of Fame's pillow. He wuz oncongenial to me, made so from the beginin'. I never knew any particular hurt of him, but he

ns, is modest, silent, broodin' over his great secrets, away from the multitude where angels minister to him. But Jabez wuz loud, boastin', arrogant, his pert impudent face proclaimin' the great things he wuz goin' to do, but

ittle awkwud in his manners, and most offish where he wanted to please most. But he had a good mind, and his heart wuz pure gold, and he loved Rosy with the deep earnest love, such undemonstrative men often cherish for the one woman in the world for them. His calm gray eyes would light up with the pure light of deathless love when they rested on the sweet

esville to live with his uncle, old Kellup Wind. He lost his wife, and Miss Wind, his brother's widder, come to keep house for him and brung Jabez with her. I hurn it wuz the bargain she wuz to have two dollars a wee

dy shiny black eyes, red cheeks, mustache and whiskers naturally red like his hair, but dyed black, and he played the fiddle so sweet, the girls said, and he sung comic songs so bea-eu-ti-ful, and he danced so light that he become a general favorite in

d have spells of slightin' her and waitin' on other girls, why mebby for this very reason she seemed to be carried some distance away with him, and believed all his grand idee

in' different rains of incompetence materialized in hired girl form, before Karen come. But Karen worshipped Jabez, his highest mounts of future eminence seemed too low for his footstool in her a

it when he and Karen had been over to spend the evenin', and Karen come over the next mornin' ostensibly to borry a cup of molasses, she wuz lookin' w

ez she, holdin' her hand to her achin' side, "my son is the greatest geniu

hould go to work and take care of you instead of y

ow and hadn't ort to work so hard. But her pale face lit up, "Oh, he wil

ung your washin' yesterday on the remains of his Perpetual Motion, and his

ill be successf

y to tell you that I feel dubers

endently rich. He's takin' the plans now of Luman Heath's kitchen stove and riggin' u

sure comforts and solid foundations as a sacrifice on the altar of friendship

man's, as it is dead sure to be, Jabez is g

t 'tennyrate he won't let the Powers git the better of him in the contract and control it and enrich themselves at his expense. He will

osiah dretfully and he sez, "I shall have this new inventio

ded to have it reproduced in my home, and seein' my looks Karen amplified on the idee, How sweet it would be in December to set down in a rockin' chair in the still warmth of a day in July and go through the winter in that luxurious lovely way. She talked till she had to go home almost on the run, for she said Jabez'

gin' onto some woman for help. But with her too I used the same tick-tacks I had with Karen, I said mildly after each m

re absence of noise, and agin that thought tempted me, but I se

greater eulogies from noted people on this new invention, and he intends to have your name head the list. When you say this perfectly noisel

and Cabinet come first," sez I d

have them come next to yours, and I approved of

ok as soon as he comes

big eulogies he gits t

she would politely and gently tackle me about it, at the table and while she wuz washin' dishes, but I held firm, though very considerate and te

about it, Rosy,

y the sweat of my brow and I'm goin' to use it as I'm a minter, and I'm a minter have these water pipes

ut my foot right down on the plan. And the children sez, "Better anything, mother, than his celebrati

of the hardware man at Zoar, another of Karen's cousins,

and insure the safety of my dear but misguided pardner, and then I sot down in the parlor bedroom, the furthest I could git without goin' upstairs, and let the tide of events sweep by me or sweep me away, and I didn't know whic

be accomplished. The hull thing wuz to be done and we settin' down fannin' ourselves inside of

in' loud about what a success he wuz makin' of it and how everything wuz workin' jest as he wanted it to, and boasted in particular every time he come acrost me, ashakin' with the cold, how perfectly still and noiseless it wuz goin' to be, and how luxurious

torn up here over three days, a

less. Never," sez he impressively, "from one year's end to the other will you

us it will be finished some time, for I'm most f

voice soundin' real wheezy and husky o

osiah Allen, your nose

anyway, I'd ruther have it blue that red as madd

t has turned our noses, Josiah Al

him for some time. But he wuz driv most beyend his strength, and the cold wuz almost Klondikey, I could make allowance for him. Well, the next day passed, and the next and the next, and finally, jest four weeks and four days after he had guaranteed to have it finis

end on, had beset Royal Nelson to come and stand by me that day and night, I didn't say Rosy wuz to be there for fear he wouldn't come, for I could see by his white cheeks and s

the furnace and built the fire, Jabez seemin'ly willin' they should do the work, he's so lazy. Rosy, Karen and I remained upstairs, Philury and I tryin' to mop and

hands wuz on the pipes every minute, when a low hollow rumblin' wuz hearn down in the suller, growin' louder and louder every minute till it got to be perfectly terrific, and Jabez

arm and rushed her outdoors through the snow, not stoppin' till they got to the barn, then he leggo of her and stood in the barn door to reconnoiter. It wuz a awful and skairful seen. I

in' the dressin' gown he worshipped hangin' up in the clothes press where the tank wuz. Alas! alas! as he brung it out drippin' and steamin' from the fiery bath, where wuz the once gay colors? Them tossels and red palm leaves on yeller ground that had so lately been the light of his eyes and desire of his heart? Who could tell which wuz palm leaves a

about it! you never said the word dressin' gown! and I'd like to know wh

while I seized a dipper and a twelve quart pail and hurried up to the flooded deestrick, which we commenced to bail out like a sinkin' boat, Royal, Karen and Rosy helpin' me, and