But she didn't say nothin', only wept out at one side, and wiped up every time he came in sight.
They say that she hain't never failed once of a-smilin' on the Deacon every time he came home. And once or twice he has got as mad as a hen at her for smilin'. Once, when he came home with a sore thumb—he had jest smashed it in the barn door—and she stood a-smilin' at him on the door step, there are them that say the Deacon called her a “infernal fool.”
But I never have believed it. I don't believe he would demean himself so low.
But he yelled out awful at her, I do 'spoze, for his pain wuz intense, and she stood stun still, a-smilin' at him, jest accordin' to the story books. And he sez:
“Stand there like a——fool, will you! Get me a rag!”
I guess he did say as much as that.
But they say she kept on a-smilin' for some time—couldn't seem to stop, she had got so hardened into that way.
