"It ain't every day a feller gits spliced, I can tell yer, and one orter put the best foot for'ard. Tell you what it is, mother, Melindy and me is a-goin' to make the folks' eyes stick out when we 'pear out in the Mill Crossin' meetin' house."
The good old lady wiped her glasses and advised her son to be moderate in his ideas, "for," said she, "I always think that a quiet beginnin' makes the best endin'"
"Endin', did you say, mother' Wal, that's very encouragin', to be a-talkin' about endin' when a fellar feels like livin' till he has to be killed off," and Moses' big blue eyes glistened like two big china marbles.
"Now, Moses, if you are a-goin' to be married, you needn't be a-losin' of every speck of sense. It's enough for a bit of a boy to be a-makin' of sich light speeches."
Mrs. Spriggins' remarks were brought to a close by Moses making an exit via the back door, and when the privacy of the sheep-house had been gained he sat down on a big log and began counting how much money he had still on hand after his trip to town on the day previous.
"Let's see—there's thirty-six dollars and one cent. Yes, every cent's a cent, and twenty-one dollars Sam Wiggles owes me, and the two loads o' hay Jim Briggs is a-takin' to town this week—that's sure cash—well, thirty-six and twenty-one is fifty-seven, and the hay—wal, it's all as good as seventy-five dollars."
A couple of huge hogs acting upon the aggressive in appropriating a large share of hen feed, now interrupted the soliloquy, and after combating the unscrupulous animals, Moses Spriggins once more seated himself upon the log.
"Wal, seventy-five dollars won't make a bad spread, neither. I'm terrible sorry that there's trouble in the Verneses. I'd like deuced well to have that Miss Margit—now that's too highfalutin a name for me—if Melindy were here she'd git it off in good style."
Silence reigned for a moment; then Moses took up the thread of discourse. "When a fellar's gettin' spliced hisself he wants every one else to follow. Wal, it's no use a-sayin' it, but if Mr. Lawson and Miss Verne could have both a-come to the weddin' there's no tellin' what might have happened. They'd git interested in the cer'mony, and I'd bet ten to one they'd be a-proposin' before it was over. Wal, sir, if Mr. Verne gits the leastest bit better, I'm a-goin' after Miss Verne, sure pop."
Moses having made such resolution now carefully folded the notes in his business-like pocket-book and set off to do the work which awaited him.