“He is a relation on his side—be calm!” and I wuz calm.
“IT WUZ ‘HOLD THE FORT’ HE BELCHED OUT IN.”
Wall, I rubbed Melinda Ann and explained it to her, and poulticed her, and got her kinder settled down.
And I see it took up her mind some. She didn’t seem to dislike it now, after the first shock wuz over.
And I left her propped up on her piller a listenin’, and went down and got supper.
Wall, it wuz all I could do to get that man away from the instrument long enough to eat.
He seemed to be kinder absent-minded and lost like till he got back to it agin.
Wall, it had been still for some time; you couldn’t hear a thing from the dinin’ room up in Melinda’s room. And when he bust out agin imegiatly after supper, it wuz too much, too much, for I spoze she had been in a drowze.