Looks shan’t count when I hunt a woman,
Said I to myself, long ago,
That she’s savin’, an’ strong, an’ hearty,
Is all that I hanker to know.
I tell you what, Jane, such a bargain
Won’t travel your road every day,
I’ve fixed my affections right on you,
When shall it be? What do you say?
We’re both of us steady an’ honest,
We’ve both got a fair share of pelf,
I’ve looked quite a while for a woman
Who thinks just about like myself.”
I gasped, Sarah Ann, for a minute,
Was never so shamed in my life,
And old Abner Green stood there leering,
Quite certain, that I’d be his wife.
“Do I look so anxious to marry?”
Said I, with lips scornfully curled,
“That you really think I’d go partners
With the meanest man in the world?
So you’ve waited to find you a wife,
With a mind like your own, you say,
But you’ll not find one so mean as that,
If you wait till the Judgment Day.”
Then I turned me about and left him
Staring up at the silent stars,
But I fancied I caught some swear words
As I hurried over the bars.
Sarah Ann, that’s all the offer
This Aunt Jane of yours ever had;
’Tis as well, I’m content to live here
With my own little bright-eyed lad.
Yes, his mother died in the springtime—
Here he comes with his hair all curled
And face like a peach—now isn’t he
The loveliest thing in the world!
