Good land! I should have thought he would have wore it out—he would if it hadn’t been made of good stuff.
And he would converse with Thomas Jefferson about political matters, and talk some with my Josiah and Cousin John—not much with the latter, because they wuzn’t congenial, as I have hinted at; and Cousin John Richard seemed to take as much agin comfort a bein’ off with the children, or a layin’ in the green grass a watchin’ the butterflies, or a talkin’ with Genieve and Victor.
And the Senator would compliment Maggie up to the skies. He wuz more’n polite to females, as is the way with such men; and he would write letters by the bushel, and get as many of ’em or more, and telegrams, and such. And little Raymond, poor little creeter, I believe took more comfort than he had before for some time.
He wuzn’t very deep, as I could see, he didn’t act over and above smart; but then, I sez to myself real ironikle, mebby this dulness is caused by lookin’ at the sun so much (his Pa used as a metafor).
And then what could you expect of a child of seven? he wuzn’t much more’n a baby. Good land! I used to hold Thomas Jefferson in my lap and baby him till he wuz nine or ten years old, and his legs dragged on the floor, he wuz so tall.
I thought like as not Raymond Fairfax Coleman would take a turn after a while and live up to the privileges of his name and be quite smart.
He took a great fancy to Rosy’s baby, and it was as cunnin’ a little black image as I ever see, jest a beginnin’ to be playful and full of laugh.
Raymond would carry it down candy and oranges, and give him nickels and little silver pieces to put into his savings-bank.
I gin that bank myself to little Thomas Jefferson Washington, for that wuz the name his Pa and Ma had gin him—we called him Tommy. They gin him the name of Thomas Jefferson, I spoze, to honor the name of my son, and then put on the Washington to kinder prop up the memory of the Father of our Country, or so I spoze.
I gin him that bank to try to give his Pa and Ma some idee of savin’ for a rainy day, and days when it didn’t rain.