Randy and Her Friends | Page 9

intended.
"I think we could fix up this 'ere square," said Joel, "ter begin with.
Take that old horse trough. That could be fixed up 'n' painted, 'n' that
willer tree; 'twouldn't hurt it ter give it a good preunin'. Growin' as it
does daown in the ditch, or puddle beside this store, it flourishes, an'
lops its limbs nigh onto across the square; an' the rickety fence beside it
ought ter be straightened up 'fore some of the fellers that are
perpetually leanin' 'gainst it pitch with it backward inter the ditch."
"Wal, Joel, while yer 'baout it," remarked Silas Barnes, "why don't yer
suggest a brick block er two, an' pavin' stones in the square an' a few
other things such as I told ye I seen in Boston. 'Tain't wuth while ter

stop after ye git started ter make suggestions."
"Speakin' of the teacher," remarked Mr. Potts, "I'm one that speaks in
favor of Miss Gilman every time, and Jotham seconds everything I
say."
"Lemme tell ye what my Timotheus is a doin' these days. I set him ter
hoeing fer me, and I tell ye ye'd like ter watch him a spell," said old Mr.
Simpkins, his face beaming with pride in his youngest son.
"Fust he'd work the hoe with them long arms er his'n 'til the weeds an'
dirt flew like Hail Columby, and ye'd think he'd got goin' an' couldn't
halt, when all to onct he'd stop as ef somethin'd bit him, an' he'd drop
the hoe and begin ter gesticerlate and spaout like a preacher.
"Pooty soon he'd make a grab fer the hoe, and agin the dirt would fly
like all fury. Next thing ye knew, daown'd go the hoe agin, and up
would go his arms, a sawin' the air like a windmill, an' there he'd be a
spaoutin' an' a elocutin' fit ter kill. Who but Timotheus would ever
think of combinin' hoein' an' elocutin'? I tell ye, he's the most possessed
of 'rig'nal'ty of any pusson I ever seen."
"I wonder someone don't think he's a reg'lar loony, a carryin' on like
that," muttered Joel, filled with jealousy and disgust.
Old Mr. Simpkins was deaf, and Joel's muttered remark passed
unnoticed.
"He ain't one er them fellers that can't do but one thing to a time.
T'other day I axed him ter bring two pail er water inter the barn, and
away he went ter git 'em. Anybody'd think a pail er water in each hand
oughter held him daown, but no sir, that feller came across the
door-yard, both pails full, an' his head in the air, his maouth wide open,
and the elocutin' a goin' on continoous."
"Ef I thought fer a moment that edication would make any er my
children act like that, I vaow I'd keep 'em outer school fer one while,"
said a farmer who had recently arrived in the village, and roars of

laughter followed this remark.
As he was deaf, old Mr. Simpkins failed to catch the meaning of the
hilarity, so he construed it as it pleased him to, and when the laughter
had subsided, said,
"I don't wonder ye laugh, ye didn't see him er doin' it, so ye don't know
haow he looked, but I tell ye 'twas a grand sight ter see a young feller
so eloquent that nothin' on airth could stop him."
"Must 'a been a 'stonishing sight," agreed Mr. Jenks, "but naow, friends,
we've talked fer quite a spell on one thing or another, an we ain't much
nigher ter settlin' the question of a bigger schoolroom than when we
started.
"Naow instead er hagglin' 'baout it, I b'lieve we'd better have a
committee meetin' called, and a reg'lar vote taken, an' I say right here
and naow, that I shall vote fer better quarters fer the school an' I'll 'gree,
as I said, ter put my hand right in my pocket an' give the thing a start.
"Nathan Lawton gave the use of his best room fer a schoolroom last
year, an' 'twas kind an' generous fer him ter do it, but the village has
been growin' just amazin', an' this year shows a bigger list of
inhabitants, an' it 'pears as if most of the new comers had a family er
children, so something's got ter be done 'baout that school buildin'."
"Good fer ye," squeaked old Nate Burnham, "an' I wish ye luck at the
meetin'."
The village gossip was not monopolized by the frequenters of Barnes'
store. Indeed it seemed as if the place had taken on new life and
ambition, and if at any corner or turn of the road one chose to listen, he
could often hear a few stray bits of conversation in regard to the
interests which lay