“What is the matter, Josiah Allen?”
Says he, “I’m a bein’ cheerful, Samantha!”
BEIN’ CHEERFUL.
Says I in the faint accents of weakness, “You are bein’ a natural born idiot, and do you stop it.”
Says he, “I won’t stop it, Samantha, I will be cheerful;” and he giggled.
Says I, “Won’t you go out, and let me rest a little, Josiah Allen?”
“No!” says he firmly, “I will stand by you, and I will be cheerful,” and he snickered the loudest he had yet, but at the same time his countenance was so awfully gloomy and anxious lookin’ that it filled me with a strange awe as he continued—
“The doctor told me that you must be kep’ perfectly quiet, and I must be cheerful before you, and while I have the spirit of a man I will be cheerful,” and with a despairin’ countenance, he giggled and snickered.