United States or Georgia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Quit snappin' that lash. 'Pears-like ter me ez ye makes yerself powerful free round this hyar tanyard." "Tennie air a-growin' wonderful fast," the sly Nathan remarked pleasantly. Birt softened instantly. "She air a haffen inch higher 'n she war las' March, 'cordin' ter the mark on the door," he declared, pridefully. "She ain't pretty, I know, but she air powerful peart."
The noise of his entrance roused his mother, who stared in drowsy astonishment at the bedraggled apparition on the threshold. "Tennie follered me ter the tanyard 'fore I fund her out," Birt explained. "It 'pears ter hev rained on her, considerable," he added deprecatingly. Tennie was looking eagerly over her shoulder to note the effect of this statement.
Her streaming hair flirted drops of water on the floor; her cheeks were ruddy; her black eyes brightened with apprehension. "Waal, sir! that thar child beats all. Never mind, Tennie, ye'll meet up with a wild varmint some day when ye air follerin' Birt off from the house, an' I ain't surprised none ef it eats ye! But shucks!" Mrs.
"I dunno 'bout Tennie's peartness," his mother sarcastically rejoined. "'Pears ter me like the chile hain't never hed good sense; afore she could walk she'd crawl along the floor arter ye, an' holler like a squeech-owEL ef ye went off an' lef' her. An' ye air plumb teched in the head too, Birt, ter set sech store by Tennie. I look ter see her killed, or stunted, some day, in them travels o' hern."
Dicey continued impersonally, "I mought ez well save my breath; Tennie ain't feared o' nuthin', ef Birt air by." The word "varmint" seemed to recall something to Tennessee. She began to chatter unintelligibly about an "owEL," and to chuckle so, that Birt had sudden light upon that mysterious laugh which he had heard behind him at the bars.
"You have never left me on these nights. That is why I let Tennie go. I will spend the evening at The Larches, or, better still, call in Mr. and Mrs. Talcott to keep me company." But her husband did not approve of her going out or of her having company. The Larches was too far away, and as for Mr. and Mrs. Talcott, they were meddlesome people, whom he had never liked; besides, Mrs.
When he found that Birt would only reiterate that Tennie "kem along unbeknown an' purvented" him, Jube Perkins gave up the effort at last, convinced of his guilt. And Andy Byers said that he was not surprised, for he had known for some little time that Birt was a "most MISCHIEVIOUS scamp."
Then Jube Perkins argued the question: "How kin ye expec' ennybody ter b'lieve ye when ye say Tennessee purvented ye from takin' the grant ennything the size o' leetle Tennie, thar." And he pointed at the little sister, who was perched upon the wood- pile munching an Indian peach.
"You have never left me on these nights. That is why I let Tennie go. I will spend the evening at The Larches, or, better still, call in Mr. and Mrs. Talcott to keep me company." But her husband did not approve of her going out or of her having company. The Larches was too far away, and as for Mr. and Mrs. Talcott, they were meddlesome people, whom he had never liked; besides, Mrs.
Word Of The Day