“Wuz they so good?” sez the other woman.
“No,” wuz the reply, “they had all sorts of narrowness, sins and coniptions, but they thought dancin’ wuz the wickedest thing ever done. This boy wuz brought up as strict as a he nun, and now see him prancin’ round!”
And I spoke up and sez, “I hope he will prance off some of them hereditary sins, if he’s got to prance.” They looked round at me considerable cool and I said no more. But everybody wuzn’t so clost mouthed, for pretty soon a old lady come and sot down in a chair by the side of me—Faith had moved a little back—and she sez:
“I want to dance; I love it dearly.”
I looked up at her in amaze. Her cheeks wuz fell in. Her brow wuz yellered and furrowed with years, and though her dress wuz gay she couldn’t conceal Time’s ravages.
“Dance,” sez I kinder dreamily and brow beat, “well, why don’t you dance?”
Sez she, “I don’t know any of the gentlemen here.”
I felt a movement on my nigh side and see that Josiah wuz leanin’ forward in deep interest, 130 and thinkses I, he is sorry for her folly, he has a noble heart. Well, ere long she riz up and went out into the hall, and I mused on what I had so often mused on—how necessary it wuz for everybody to keep on their own forts—sixty years had fled since dancin’ wuz her becomin’ fort, now a rockin’ chair and knittin’ work wuz her nateral fort, but she didn’t realize it.
Well, the dancin’ kep’ on, the music pealed out sweet peals, heavenly sweet, heavenly sad, and I wuz carried some distance away from myself and heeded not what wuz passin’ by my side. Anon a dance come on that wuz called a German. In some of the figgers they seemed to be givin’ presents to each other, and had these presents kinder strung onto ’em, same as savages ornament themselves with beads and things, though these wuz quite pretty lookin’ and seemed made up of posies and ribbins and pretty little trinkets. And then the lights wuz lowered and I see a long line of figgers come glidin’ in, keepin’ step to the music, each one bearin’ a pretty little colored lantern. And as I looked on my eyes wuz almost stunted and blinded by a sight I see. Who wuz the couple bringin’ up the rear? Wuz it—it could not be—but 131 yet it wuz my pardner, leadin’ in the ancient dame, who wuz footin’ it merrily on her old toes, or as merrily as she could, liable to fall down every step with rumatiz and old age. And what did my pardner bear in his hand!
That very day in goin’ about the place he found in a store an old tin lantern, a relic of the past someone had left there to be sold. It wuz a lantern that used to be in vogue before Josiah Allen wuz born, a anteek tin lantern with holes in the sides, and one candle power. He had bought it greedily, sayin’ it wuz jest like one his grandpa had when he wuz a child.