Harriet Prescott Spofford

“ There's nobody like you!" And she kissed the tear off his face. "Oh, here's dear old Fuzz! He remembers me—I really think he does—after all these years! And the old clock's ticking just the same! Wait till I run up to my room, and I'll help you get tea, mother."
"I set some white laylocks there," said her father, when she was gone. "I thought 'twould make it seem brighter like. She's ben havin' thin's nice." And then he added, anxiously, "You don't s'pose she's puttin' anythin' on, do you, mother?"
"Mr. James, you do beat all! Goin' about lookin' for trouble. ”

“ My glasses don't noways fit my eyes—"
"Now, father! It ain't likely but Lally's seen enough of the folks that can read them books. She don't love us because we can read books or can't read 'em. She loves us because we're ourselves. I wouldn't own her if she didn't!"
"That's jest it. You'll be gittin' put out 'ith her, an' there'll be trouble—"
"Now, Sam, you go right back to the mowin'-field! ”

“ I shall be all the better nurse. That is, if I'm a nurse at all now," hesitatingly. "Perhaps I sha'n't be a nurse now, and you'll think those two years in the hospital have gone for nothing. Only, if I hadn't been in the hospital,"—pulling down a piece of the Madeira-vine about her,—"I never should have met him, maybe."
"Him!" cried her father.
"Dr. Lewis. And knowing how to nurse, I may be of a great deal of use to him. Now I'll tell you all about him!" she exclaimed. "He's—he's—well, he's Dr. Lewis!" getting herself farther into the shadow. "And you can't help liking him ”

“ That's what gymnasium, and basket-ball, and rowing, and lifting dead-weights of women in the hospital do for you. Oh, I'll show you how I can rake the hay to-morrow!"
"I guess we didn't send ye to college ter hev ye come home an' rake hay," said her father, majestically. "Say! you ain't looked in the keepin'-room!"
"Yes, I did. And you've gone and got an organ, and I can't play on it!"
"I can," said her father.
"You darling old Father James! You can? Oh, won't that be the best yet! Only think of it! Mother and I will sing hymns and you will play them, Sunday nights. ”

“ There ain't any knot he can't ontie with his teeth. I ben in the habit o' takin' up Neighbor Burrage an' givin' him a lift. Burrage is ruther hefty, an' the colt don't like it for a cent. And one day I'd left him a-stan'in' in the market, an' he see a big sailor come along that looked like Burrage, an' he walks across, wagon an' all, and opens his mouth, an' takes the sailor by the scruff of the neck an' throws 'im down. An' then he stan's an' gives a reg'lar laugh, he was so pleased 'ith himself. Oh, he's a great one! If I thought well o' racing—but then I don't," he said, ruefully. ”

“ I guess we hev. You do find a way of makin' thin's comfortable, mother. I s'pose I'd better put my coat on 'fore we sit?"
"Why not?"
"It's dretfle warm."
"She's ben useter coats and all that, you was sayin'?"
"Yes. And I guess she'd feel it wuss 'n I do. Emerline, you've got a collar on!"
"I don' know where your eyes be, Mr. James. Ever sence you come home from the war with your bounty-money an' back-pay, an' we hed the house painted an' the front-door porch built on, I've hed a collar w'en I fixed up after the day's work." ”

“ It's ben a pleasant world; an' the thought of her comin' home has ben the pleasantest part of it—I mean, of course, the pleasantest sence them old days w'en I merried you! But I've ben doin' a sight of thinkin' lately,—an' w'en a girl's ben gone all these years, an' ben amongst the folks thet knows everything an' comes back home to the folks thet don't know much of anythin'—"
"They're her folks, though. An' blood's thicker 'n water. ”

“ Say—she ain't changed a mite."
"You can't change gold," said his wife. " 'Twill allus be gold."
"Thet's so. She's pretty 's a pink, now, ain't she? She puts me in mind of you, Emerline, w'en we fust begun to keep company."
"What talk! You go to sleep."
"But, Emerline—she's so—so—like a flower. Do you s'pose, jest s'pose, she'll ever be keepin' company 'ith anybody?" ”

“ That a good girl 'll look down on her own folks because she knows verbs and angles and languages an' they don't! I know Lally, at any rate, better 'n that. Now you go 'long back ter your mowin', afore the dew's all off the grass. ”

“ I tell ye, w'en you've done yer best for your child, an' sot your heart on her, an' look forrud to her holdin' the light to yer old age, 'tain't easy ter see another man come along an' snake her away from ye. ”

“ Nobody less 'n the Prince o' Wales 'd do for her."
"He'll have to take up 'ith short o' that," said the other, putting back into the box the postal card she had been spelling over, and turning to her little shop. "She's a good gal an' 'd orter hev a good man. ”