John Habberton

“ I certainly did not propose to defend it against any fancies or dislikes of this child's peculiar father.
"All right: I'll tell it to her," said little Alice; "but I fought everybody had heard dat story. Well, once dere was an awful big rain-storm. Folks knew it was comin', 'cause a smart man told 'em so, but dey didn't pay no 'tention to him. Dere was lots of fings goin' on dat suited 'em well enough, so dey didn't want to fink 'bout fings dat didn't suit em, and, of course, nobody wanted any rain. Well, one man dat knew all 'bout it began to get ready for it ”

“ Once dere was a time when da wasn't any rain in a country dat's a long way off, an' ev'rybody in dat country came to have lots of trouble to get anyfin' to eat, 'cause noffin' could grow in de gardens an' on de farms, 'cause dere wasn't any water to make 'em grow. An' dere was a good man named 'Lijah dat didn't have noffin' to eat 'xcept what birds brought him, an' I guess de bids didn't have noffin' to bring him after a while, 'cause one day he went to a woman's house an' begged for somefin' to eat. ”

“ He was de kind of a man who had finked 'bout somefin' for children to do on rainy days, so he fixed up a whole lot of de boat so he could carry some animals too 'cause all children likes animals. Dere was places for cows, so de children could have all de milk dey wanted to drink, when uvver folkses' children didn't have any 'cause de rain got so bad dat it spoiled de roads an' washed away de bridges, so de milkman didn't come. An' dere was places for dogs, 'cause my fahver says no man dat's got a heart is goin' to be happy in-door in a big storm if he knows his dog is out in de wet. ”

“ I fink 'twas perfec'ly awful; but my fahver says 'twas de best fing dat could have happened to 'em, for de world in dem days wasn't a very good place for children to grow up in; 'most all dat men an' boys did was to fight an' get killed, an' de women an' girls had to cry lots 'bout it But all de time of dat big rain dere wasn't nobody drowned on board de ark, an' dere wasn't no trouble dere, 'xcept p'raps it wasn't always easy to open de windows an' air de rooms when de rain was comin' down so hard. But de folks was all right ”

“ My fahver says he can't see why people tell lies 'bout big rain-storms, when once dere was a real rain so much bigger dan anybody can make believe about. It filled up de roads so folks couldn't change deir minds an' go down to de ark if dey wanted to. No matter how tight folks shutted deir doors an' windows, de rain got in de houses, and wouldn't go out again. ”

“ I go all 'bout de neighborhood an' see ev'ryfin' I can, an' den I go home an' ask gran'ma or my fahver all 'bout 'em; dat takes lots of time, you know. Mos' generally it's gran'ma I have to ask, 'cause my fahver ain't home "
"Isn't home, you should say, my child," said I. The force of habit is strong, and I had not been a teacher, correcting bad grammar for years, for nothing. ”

“ He was sure he was goin' to get what he wanted, so he didn't care noffin' more for de man what had done it for him, so he whipped up his horses an' left 'Lijah trottin' along in de dusty road. De king had good horses,—kings has de best of ev'ryfin', you know,—but first fing he knew, 'Lijah had run so fast dat he'd got to town first. De reason was dat folks who ain't got anybody but 'emselves to help 'em get out of de rain, or any uvver trouble, is pretty sure to have more 'go' to 'em dan uvver folks, like kings, dat has ev'ryfin' done for 'em. ”

“ A single illustration, given with great vigor, caused all the adults to decline.
"Then let's play cookin'-school; you an' Missis Drusilla an' Miss Dorcas make cakes an' pies an' fings, an' I help you eat 'em. You needn't be 'fraid of makin' too many."
"Pet," said Mistress Drusilla, "the stove is pretty well covered with things being fixed for dinner, so we can't play cooking-school very well. Suppose we tell stories until we can think of something better. I don't believe Miss Brown has ever heard the story of——"
"Miss Brown!" exclaimed the child, looking at me gravely. ”

“ We haven't let her come to the house since you've been here, for fear of worrying you; but, my dear, we can't watch her closely enough to keep her entirely off the grounds."
"She's not at all offensive," said I. "Indeed, she is quite amusing in some ways. ”

“ Well, one of our neighbors made fun of it one day, 'cause he said 'Our Fahver which art in heaven' was ungarmatical, an' he said he didn't see how folks dat knew anyfin' could say a prayer in dat ungarmatical way. My fahver finked a little while, an' den he frowed away his cigar so hard dat it made my kitty jump out of de window. Den he said if all folks was so particular, he guessed prayin' wouldn't ever do 'em any goOod. Isn't it just awful to fink of folks bein' so particular 'bout little bits of fings? ”