  God makes sech nights, all white an' still Fur 'z you can look or listen, Moonshine an' snow on field an' hill, All silence an' all glisten. 5Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown An' peeked in thru' the winder, An' there sot Huldy all alone, With no one nigh to hender. A fireplace filled the room's one side There warn't no stoves till comfort died, To bake ye to a puddin'. The wa'nut logs shot sparkles out Toward the pootiest, bless her! 15An' leetle flames danced all about The chiny on the dresser. Agin the chimbley crook-necks hung, An' in amongst 'em rusted The ole queen's-arm thet gran'ther Young 20Fetched back from Concord busted. The very room, coz she was in, Seemed warm from floor to ceilin', An' she looked full ez rosy agin Ez the apples she was peelin'. 25'Twas kin' o' kingdom-come to look On sech a blessed cretur, A dogrose blushin' to a brook Ain't modester nor sweeter. He was six foot o' man, A 1, None couldn't quicker pitch a ton Nor dror a furrer straighter. He'd sparked it with full twenty gals, Hed squired 'em, danced 'em, druv 'em, 35Fust this one, an' then thet, by spells,— All is, he couldn't love 'em. But long o' her his veins 'ould run All crinkly like curled maple, The side she breshed felt full o' sun 40Ez a south slope in Ap'il. She thought no v'ice hed sech a swing Ez hisn in the choir; My! when he made Ole Hunderd ring, She knowed the Lord was nigher. 45An' she'd blush scarlit, right in prayer, When her new meetin'-bunnet Felt somehow thru' its crown a pair O' blue eyes sot upon it. Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some! For she felt sartin-sure he'd come. Down to her very shoe-sole. She heered a foot, an' knowed it tu, A-raspin' on the scraper,— 55All ways to once her feelins flew Like sparks in burnt-up paper. He kin'o' l'itered on the mat, Some doubtfle o' the sekle, His heart kep' goin' pity-pat, 60But hern went pity Zekle. An' yit she gin her cheer a jerk Ez though she wished him furder, An' on her apples kep' to work, Parin' away like murder. 65"You want to see my Pa, I s'pose?" "Wal ... no ... I come designin'" "To see my Ma? She's sprinklin' clo'es Agin to-morrer's i'nin'." To say why gals acts so or so, Mebby to mean yes an' say no Comes nateral to women. He stood a spell on one foot fust, Then stood a spell on t'other, 75An' on which one he felt the wust He could n't ha' told ye nuther. Says he, "I'd better call agin;" Says she, "Think likely, Mister:" That last word pricked him like a pin, 80An' ... Wal, he up an' kist her. When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips, Huldy sot pale ez ashes, All kin' o' smily roun' the lips An' teary roun' the lashes. 85For she was jist the quiet kind Whose naturs never vary, Like streams that keep a summer mind Snowhid in Jenooary. The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued Tell mother see how metters stood. An' gin 'em both her blessin'. Then her red come back like the tide Down to the Bay o' Fundy, 95An' all I know is they was cried In meetin' come nex' Sunday. |
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