Sweet Cicely | Page 3

I believe Cicely will see trouble with that chin."
And then--I well remember it, for it was the very first time after
marriage, and so, of course, the very first time in our two lives--Josiah
called me a fool, a "dumb fool," or jest the same as called me so. He
says, "I wouldn't be a dumb fool if I was in your place."
I felt worked up. But, like warriors on a battle-field, I grew stronger for
the fray; and the fray didn't scare me none.
[Illustration: PAUL SLIDE.]
But I says, "You'll see if you live, Josiah Allen"; and he did.
But, as I said, I didn't see how Cicely ever fell in love with a man with
such a chin. But, as I learned afterwards, she fell in love with him under
a fur collar. It wus on a slay-ride. And he wuz very handsome from his
mouth up, very: his mouth wuz ruther weak. It wus a case of love at
first sight, which I believe in considerable; and she couldn't help lovin'
him, women are so queer.
I had always said that when Cicely did love, it would go hard with her.
Many's the offers she'd had, but didn't care for 'em. But I knew, with
her temperament and nater, that love, if it did come to her, would come
to stay, and it would come hard and voyalent. And so it did.
She worshipped him, as I said at first, under a fur collar. And then,
when a woman once gets to lovin' a man as she did, why, she can't help
herself, chin or no chin. When a woman has once throwed herself in
front of her idol, it hain't so much matter whether it is stuffed full of

gold, or holler: it hain't so much matter what they be, I think. Curius,
hain't it?
It hain't the easiest thing in the world for such a woman as Cicely to
love, but it is a good deal easier for her than to unlove, as she found out
afterwards. For twice before her marriage she saw him out of his head
with liquor; and it wus my advice to her, to give him up.
And she tried to unlove him, tried to give him up.
But, good land! she might jest as well have took a piece of her own
heart out, as to take out of it her love for him: it had become a part of
her. And he told her she could save him, her influence could redeem
him, and it wus the only thing that could save him.
And Cicely couldn't stand such talk, of course; and she believed him--
believed that she could love him so well, throw her influence so around
him, as to hold him back from any evil course.
It is a beautiful hope, the very beautifulest and divinest piece of folly a
woman can commit. Beautiful enough in the sublime martyrdom of the
idee, to make angels smile; and vain enough, and foolish enough in its
utter uselessness, to make sinners weep. It can't be done--not in 98
cases out of a 100 at least.
Why, if a man hain't got love enough for a woman when he is tryin' to
win her affection,--when he is on probation, as you may say,--to stop
and turn round in his downward course, how can she expect he will
after he has got her, and has let down his watch, so to speak?
But she loved him. And when I warned her with tears in my eyes,
warned her that mebby it wus more than her own safety and happiness
that wus imperilled, I could see by the look in her eyes, though she
didn't say much, that it wusn't no use for me to talk; for she wus one of
the constant natures that can't wobble round. And though I don't like
wobblin', still I do honestly believe that the wobblers are happier than
them that can't wobble.

I could see jest how it wuz, and I couldn't bear to have her blamed. And
I would tell folks,--some of the relations on her mother's side,--when
they would say, "What a fool she wus to have him!"--I'd say to 'em,
"Wall, when a woman sees the man she loves goin' down to ruination,
and tries to unlove him, she'll find out jest how much harder it is to
unlove him than to love him in the first place: they'll find out it is a
tough job to tackle."
[Illustration: SAMANTHA AND THE "BLAMERS."]
I said this to blamers of Cicely (relatives, the best blamers you can find
anywhere). But, at the same time, it would have been my way, when he
had come a courtin' me so far gone with