"Laws a massy. Time was when I never dreamed that you'd slander yo' own kith an' kin. An' come right from yo' daughter's weddin' an' swopped hosses with a preacher. It was a sin and a shame. I never was so mortified in my life. And then at supper he prayed. Just think of it. I'll bet anything he cheated you."
"Wall let us believe not. The next mornin' after standin' all night, the hoss I let him have will show his true worth. He's got a spavin, as you know, an' when he leads him out of the stable a j'int in his right leg'll pop like a pipe stem broke."
"Now Jasper Starbuck, is it possible that you put off that spavined hoss on Brother Fetterson? You ought to be ashamed of yo'se'f. Ain't you got no respect at all for the gospel?"
"Wall, not so powerful much respect for a gospel that always wants to ride a fine hoss at another's expense. Jest thought I'd l'arn him a lesson. Come out an' let's look at my new hoss."
They went out to the stable, and when Jasper attempted to lead forth the horse, the animal cringed and held back, and in his eye there was an expression of pain, for in truth he was so badly spavined that he had to hobble on three legs.
"Ah, hah, that's what you git for tryin' to cheat the gospel," said Margaret. "And you ought to be ashamed of yo'se'f, an' he a preacher at that—preached the loveliest funeral sermon over old Aunt Polly Myer I ever heard in my life."
For a time old Jasper was silent. His wife asked him what he intended to do. "Wall," said he, "believe I'll knock this critter in the head, skin him, take a hindquarter over to that preacher's house and make him eat it raw."
"You'll do nothin' of the sort, an' yo' daughter jest married, too. I'm sorry, Jasper, that I said what I did a while ago. Yes, Lou is lucky—almost as lucky, Jasper, as I was when you asked me to be yo' wife."
"I'd ruther you'd scold me than to talk thatter way, Margaret. You know I can't stand it, an' please don't. Helloa, who's this a comin'?"
It was the post-master, who, ripping open many a man's letter could read it off just like print. He shook hands with Jasper and Margaret and said that he had several letters for the young fellow and the good-looking woman from away off. When Jasper gave him an account of the wedding and told him that the brides and the bridegrooms were gone, he said: "Wall, we jest as wall open the letters an' see if we kin find out what's in 'em."