And she tusseled more than half an hour with him, and supper wuz belated, and she come down hot and wore out with her efforts to make him give up, and sez she, “He is such a hard child to manage, I can’t make him give up and say things right. Now, that child knew that Boliver wuzn’t the right word, but still he wuz bound to have his own way and say it as he wanted to.”
Then Duty gin me a real hard jog, I up and sez to her: “Children are great cases to foller example and do what they see done.”
“What under the sun do you mean?” sez she wonderin’ly.
“Why,” sez I, “this very mornin’ when you wuz bound and determined to call little Delight Tirzah, I told you that wuzn’t her name, but you said that it wuz a good name and you should call her so. I noticed Jack eyin’ us clost as if it wuz a new and agreeable idee, that folks could alter names if they wanted to, and,” sez I firmly, “Delight’s name is no more Tirzah than Bolivia is Boliver!”
“Oh, well,” sez Tamer, “that is of no consequence at all. What I do and what Jack can do is two.”
“Yes,” sez I solemnly, “and it may turn out to be more than two in the end.”
Sez she coldly, “I don’t know what you mean.” And to tell the truth, I don’t really know as I knew myself, but it made a kinder good endin’ to our talk. But as anybody can see Jack wuzn’t a mite to blame in the Boliver affair, he is naturally very conscientious, if they only knew enough to appreciate it, he always wants to fix things jest right even in his play. I remember one time when I wuz stayin’ there over Sunday he gin a remarkable instance of it.
Tamer wuz strict, I must say, about not lettin’ Jack play games on Sunday, and he wuz good about mindin’, but I spoze he hankered after playin’ sunthin’ when the time hung too heavy on his hands, and, like older folks, he wanted a change. He had one Bible game that Tamer let him play, but I spoze he had got tired of it, and then the names wuz dretful tegus to keep the run on—Nebuchadnezer, Melchizedec, Mephilboseth—good land! they wuz hard for grown folks to git right. Hamen and his brother, John, wuz great cases to play cards evenin’s, and Jack had a game that he played with ’em some like authors. I had played it myself with him sometimes week-day evenin’s, and Jack come to me that Sunday evenin’ and sez: “Aunt Samantha, why can’t we play a Bible game with cards?”
And I sez, “I don’t see how you could fix it so as to play a Bible game with ’em.”
And he sez, “Well, you can call the two spot Jacob, and I can call for it, and we can call the ten spot Paul, or the Jack, and you can call for him.”