“Josiah Allen’s wife and Josiah presents their compliments to Miss Greene Smythe, and they will be happy to visit her on date mentioned if their old hen turkey hatches at the time it ort to, and they spoze it will.
“Yours truly,
“JOSIAH ALLEN’S WIFE.”
And then, as I see she had put in a lot of letters on one side to kinder ornament it off, “R. S. V. P.”
And I spoze she meant Remember Samantha—V—sunthin’ or ruther to my Pardner. I couldn’t make out what that V did mean; mebby she meant to hint that my pardner wuz voyalent sometimes. But, good land! I thought that if I had been throwed round as she had by companions, I wouldn’t go to hintin’ about somebody else’s pardner; but, howsumever, I don’t know as that wuz what she did mean; but, ’tennyrate, the letters strung out so did look kinder noble, and I thought I would put on more than she did, both for looks and meanin’, so I put on mine, “W. C. I. T. C. O. B.”
And, bein’ one that means to be square and aboveboard even in fashionable correspondence, I put on in a postscript the meanin’ of the letters—“We’ll come if turkey comes off before.”
So, fashion and duty bein’ both tended to, I handed the note to Pompey, done up in a good, large, yeller envelope, such as Josiah uses in the cheese factory, for I see that fashion demanded a larger one than I used in ordinary, and then I went into the pantry and brought out a plate of fried cakes and cream cheese for him, and he seemed real tickled; he knew the taste of my fried cakes, for I had gin him some before when he had been down on errents for Miss Greene Smythe, and after he had eat the cakes and cheese up to the last crumb, he sot there still and twiddled his tall hat in his hand and seemed to be wantin’ to ask me sunthin’ but wuz afraid to, and finally, to relieve his misery, which wuz evident, I sez:
“Is there anything else you wanted, Pompey?”
And then it all come out. He wanted me to write a letter for him to his sweetheart in old Virginia. He said they wuz engaged; he wuz goin’ to marry her when he went back home, and he had lots of things to tell her. He apoligized almost abjectly for askin’ me to write, but he said he might as well ask the Mornin’ Star to write for him as either of his ladies, they wuz so high and mighty, never speaking’ to him only to order him round.
Well, I told him I would write the letter, and I walked up to the mantery piece agin and took down my pen and ink, and got out a sheet of paper. He told me while I wuz makin’ my preparations that he couldn’t write yet, but he said proudly he could read, he had read a little book all though, mighty good readin’ in it, too, he said.
Well, I read it out as I commenced it, “Jonesville, July 17th,” but he stopped me and sez: “I don’t want that on, anyway.”