Samantha at the St. Louis Exposition | Page 8

her property in his different
enterprises.
Now I dote on inventors, they wear a halo in my partial eyes. They're
the greatest men of our day, and I mentally kneel at their feet, but gold
always has counterfeits. The real inventor, made by the Deity to carry
out his plans, is modest, silent, broodin' over his great secrets, away
from the multitude where angels minister to him. But Jabez wuz loud,
boastin', arrogant, his pert impudent face proclaimin' the great things he
wuz goin' to do, but never did. He wuz in love, too, or what he called
love, with a girl that wuz a prime favorite of mine, sweet little
Rosamond Nickleson, she and I wuz such great friends she often used
to come and stay a week at a time with me.
When Jabez Wind came to Jonesville, Rosy wuz about the same as
engaged to a good sensible young farmer, Royal Nelson, who lived
three milds above Jonesville on the old stage road. He wuz a stiddy,
likely young man, who owned a nice farm well stocked, wuz good
lookin', good appearin', but ruther bashful and retirin', which made him
some times in company a little awkwud in his manners, and most offish

where he wanted to please most. But he had a good mind, and his heart
wuz pure gold, and he loved Rosy with the deep earnest love, such
undemonstrative men often cherish for the one woman in the world for
them. His calm gray eyes would light up with the pure light of
deathless love when they rested on the sweet face of little Rosy. And he
wuz always tryin' to help her in some way, lookin' out for her interest,
he seemed to love to protect and wait on her in a way that argued well
for the future, but mebby it wuz this constant and almost slavish
devotion that made her slight him, she had got so used to his stiddy
love that she didn't appreciate it as she'd ort to.
He had paid attention to Rosy for most three years. I thought mebby he
wuz such a manly chap he didn't want to hurry her, she wuz so young,
but everybody spozed they wuz as good as engaged when Jabez Wind
come to Jonesville to live with his uncle, old Kellup Wind. He lost his
wife, and Miss Wind, his brother's widder, come to keep house for him
and brung Jabez with her. I hurn it wuz the bargain she wuz to have
two dollars a week and Jabez'es board. That showed me what he wuz, a
young man twenty-five years old hangin' on to his mother's apron
strings to support him, or ruther hangin' onto her hard workin' fingers,
she wuz a good housekeeper.
Well, Jabez made such a splurge in the social pool of Jonesville society,
he made such florid eloquent boasts of the wonderful things he wuz
goin' to do in the near future; his clothes wuz so showy, and his looks
so showy (shaller I called it), with beady shiny black eyes, red cheeks,
mustache and whiskers naturally red like his hair, but dyed black, and
he played the fiddle so sweet, the girls said, and he sung comic songs
so bea-eu-ti-ful, and he danced so light that he become a general
favorite in Jonesville society and the girls all seemed to seek after him.
But from the first he singled out Rosy as the object of his special
patronizin' affection. She wuz well off, her pa left her a good property
in money besides bein' so pretty and good herself.
And she, girls are so queer, the best of 'em, from the very fact that his
affection wuz so patronizin' and down stoopin' to her, and kinder
oncertain, for onlike Royal he would have spells of slightin' her and

waitin' on other girls, why mebby for this very reason she seemed to be
carried some distance away with him, and believed all his grand idees
and looked forward to the realization of his stupendious schemes, high
soundin' schemes, which had took him no furder than the middle of the
creek and his uncle's back yard.
His uncle didn't believe in him no more than I did, but stood it with him
on account of Karen, bein' a man that loved domestic comfort, and
havin' lived in dirt, on pan-cakes and canned meats durin' different
rains of incompetence materialized in hired girl form, before Karen
come. But Karen worshipped Jabez, his highest mounts of future
eminence seemed too low for his footstool in her adorin' eyes,
somehow the very loftiness of his airs to her, his own mother who
supported him and bought his clothes, seemed to render him more
precious in her eyes. Wimmen are queer, queer as