If you had a
daughter, sir, would you not tremble to think of her linking her lot
with so worthless a character?" Before the lawyer could reply, the old
man called back: "Mother, I think you had better give the gentleman a
rest; he must be tired of hearing your tongue go like a cow-bell in fly
time." Coristine protested, but his companion declined to continue the
conversation.
"The mistress is as proud of wagging that old tongue of hers," remarked
the dominie's companion, "as if she had half the larnin' of the country,
and she no more nor a third class county certificut."
"Many excellent teachers have begun on them," remarked Wilkinson.
"But she begun and ended there; the next certificut she got was a
marriage one, and, in a few years, she had a class in her own house to
tache and slipper."
"Your wife seems to be a very superior woman, Mr. Hill."
"That's where the shoe pinches me. Shuparior! it's that she thinks
herself, and looks down on my book larnin' that's as good as her own.
But, I'll tell ye, sir, I've read Shakespeare and she hasn't, not a
word."
"How is that?"
"Her folks were a sort of Lutherian Dutch they call Brethren.
Pages:
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165