“Well,” says I, “You ort to have thought of that before you promised Solomon Cypher his bride you would be;” says I, “mournin’ for Doodle was jest as honorable as anything could be; I never blamed you for it, I stood firm. But a woman hadn’t ort to try to be a mourner for one man, and a bride to another man at the same time; it haint reasonable; let ’em be fully perswaded in their own mind which business would be the most happyfyin’ and profitable to ’em, and then go at it with a willin’ heart, and foller it up.”
Says I, “If you wanted to spend your days as a mourner you ort to have done it as a Widder, and not as a bride.” Says I, “When a Widder woman or a Widder man embarks in a new sea of matrimony, they ort to burn the ship behind ’em that they sailed round with in them other waters. They hadn’t ort to be a sailin’ round in both of ’em to once, it is unreasonable; and it is gaulin’ to man or woman.”
On lookin’ at her closer I see what made her look so curious. She had tried to dress sort a bridey, and at the same time was a mournin’ a little for Doodle; she said she wouldn’t have Solomon know it, and git to rarin’ round for nothin’ in the world; she put on the white bobinet lace veil to please him, but says she, “though he don’t mistrust it, my black bead collar and jest half of my weddin’ dress means Doodle.” It was a black and white lawn, with big even checks; and she told me (in strict confidence) that she had got a black bombazine pocket to her dress, and had on a new pair of black elastic garters. Says she, “I can’t forget Doodle, I never can forget that dear man.”
And she wont; I know she never will git over Doodle in the world. Everything we see put her in mind of him. But about this time Josiah and Solomon Cypher joined us, and the last named told us that the “Creation Searchers” had all come on the day before, and was makin’ a great stir in the village, the literary and scientific world. And he said that as little a while as they had been here, they had found fault with a great many things, pictures and statutes and the like; he said anybody had got to find fault and not seem to be satisfied with anything, in order to be looked up to. He said it was a trade that, well follered up, give anybody a great reputation.
“Yes,” says Josiah, “I know lots of folks that have got monstrous big reputations for wisdom in jest that way.”
But I was sick of this talk and was glad enough when they sot off for somewhere else. But his last words to me was:
“Josiah Allen’s wife, we shall probable be heerd from before we leave the village.”
“Well,” says I, “I am willin’;” and I was. It never worries me to see anybody git up in the world; I haint got a envious hair in my head—and I have got a noble head of hair for one of my age.
