It’s really surprisin’, how ’mazin’ pop’lar it does make a body to be engaged to be married to a butiful young lady. Sense the thing’s leaked out, everybody’s my pertickeler frend, and I can’t meet nobody wherever I go, but what wants to congratilate me on my good fortin, ’cept Cousin Pete and two or three other fellers, who look sort o’ like they wanted to laugh and couldn’t. Almost every night Mary and me is invited to a party. T’other night we went to one to old Squire Rogerses, whar I got my dander up a little the worst I’ve had it for some time. I don’t b’lieve you have ever hearn of jest sich a fool trick as they played on me. Ther was a good many thar, and as the Squire don’t ’low dancing they all played games and tricks, and sich foolishness to pass away the time, which to my notion’s a ’bominable site worse than dancin’.
Cousin Pete was thar splurgin’ about in the biggest, and with his dandy-cut trowsers and big whiskers, and tried to take the shine off everybody else, jest as he always does. Well, bimeby he ses:
“S’pose we play Brother Bob—let’s play Brother Bob.”
“Yes, let’s play that,” ses all of ’em; “won’t you be Brother Bob, Majer?”
“Who’s Brother Bob?” ses I; for I didn’t know nothing ’bout it, and that’s the way I cum to be so ’bominably tuck in.
“I’ll tell you,” ses he; “you and somebody else must set down in the chairs and be blindfolded, and the rest must all walk round and round you, and keep tappin’ you on the head with sumthing ’til you gess who bob’d you.”
“But how bob me?” ses I.
“Why,” ses he, “when any one taps you, you must say, ‘Brother, I’m bob’d!’ and then they’ll ax, ‘Who bob’d you?’ and if you gess the rite one, then they must take your place and be bob’d ’til they gess who bob’d ’em. If you’ll be blindfolded I will,” ses he, “jest for fun.”
“Well,” ses I, “anything for fun.”
And Cousin Pete sot out two chairs into the middle of the room, and we sot down, and they tied a hankercher round my eyes tite as the mischief, so I couldn’t see to gess no more’n if I had no eyes at all.