"Here comes Lyman. Make place for him," cried Amanda as a boy of
fifteen came to the kitchen door.
"You can't come in here unless you work," challenged Uncle Amos.
"I can do that," said the boy, though he seemed none too eager to take
the knife and plate Mrs. Reist offered him.
"You dare sit beside me," Amanda offered.
Lyman smiled his appreciation of the honor, but the girl's eyes
twinkled as she added, "so I can watch that you make thin peelin's."
"That's it," said Uncle Amos. "Boys, listen! Mostly always when a
woman's kind to you there's something back of it."
"Ach, Amos, you're soured," said Millie.
"No, not me," he declared. "I know there's still a few good women in
the world. Ach, yea," he sighed deeply and looked the incarnation of
misery, "soon I'll have three to boss me, with Amanda here growin' like
a weed!"
"Don't you know," Mrs. Reist reminded him, "how Granny used to say that
one good boss is better than six poor workers? You don't appreciate us,
Amos."
"I give up." Uncle Amos spread his hands in surrender. "I give up. When
women start arguin' where's a man comin' in at?"
"I wouldn't give up," spoke out Lyman. "A man ought to have the last
word every time."
"Ach, you don't know women," said Uncle Amos, chuckling.
"A man was made to be master," the youth went on, evidently quoting
some recent reading. "Woman is the weaker vessel."
"Wait till you try to break one," came Uncle Amos's wise comment.
"I," said Lyman proudly, "I could be master of any woman I marry! And I
bet, I dare to bet my pop's farm, that any girl I set out to get I can
get, too. I'd just carry her off or something. 'All's fair in love and
war.'"
"Them two's the same thing, sonny, but you don't know it yet," laughed
Uncle Amos. "It sounds mighty strong and brave to talk like you were a
giant or king, or something, and I only hope I'm livin' and here in
Crow Hill so I can see how you work that game of carryin' off the girl
you like. I'd like to see it, I'd sure like to see it!"
"Oh, Uncle Amos, tell us, did you ever go to see the girls?" asked
Amanda eagerly.
"Did I ever go to see the girls? Um-uh, I did!" The man laughed
suddenly. "I'll tell you about the first time. But now you just go on
with your snitzin'. I can't be breakin' up the party with my yarns. I
was just a young fellow workin' at home on the farm. Theje was a nice
girl over near Manheim I thought I'd like to know better, and so one
night I fixed up to try my luck and go see her. It was in fall and got
dark pretty early, and by the time I was done with the farm work and
dressed in my best suit and half-way over to her house, it was gettin'
dusk. Now I never knew what it was to be afraid till that year my old
Aunty Betz came to spend a month with us and began to tell her spook
stories. She had a long list of them. One was about a big black dog
that used to come in her room every night durin' full moon and put its
paws on her bed. But when she tried to touch it there was nothing
there, and if she'd get up and light the light it would vanish. She
said she always thought he wanted to show her something, take her to
where there was some gold buried, but she never could get the dog to do
it, for she always lighted the light and that scared him away. Then she
said one time they moved into a little house, and once when they had a
lot of company she slept on a bed in the garret. She got awake at night
and found the covers off the bed. She pulled 'em up and something
pulled them off. Then she lighted a candle, but there wasn't a thing
there. So she went back to bed and the same thing happened again; down
went the covers. She got frightened and ran down the stairs and slept
on the floor. But that spook was always a mystery. I used to have
shivers chasin' each other up and down my back so fast I didn't know
how to sit up hardly when she was tellin' them spook stories. But she
had one champion one about a man she knew who was walkin' along the
country road at night and something black shot up in front of him, and
when he tried to catch it and ran after it, he rolled into a fence, and
when he sat up, the spook was gone, but there was a great big hole by
the fence-post near him, and in the hole was a box of money. She could
explain that ghost; it was the spirit of the person who had buried the
money, and he had to help some person find it so that he could have
peace in the other world. Well, as I said, I was goin' along the road
on the way to see that girl, and it was about dark when I got to the
lane of her house. I was a little excited, for it was my first trial at
the courtin' business. Aunty Betz's spook stories made me kinda shaky
in the dark, so it's no wonder I jumped when something black ran across
the road and stood by the fence as I came along. I remembered her story
of the man who found the gold, and I thought I'd see whether I could
have such luck, so I ran to the black thing and made a grab--and--it
was a skunk! Well,"--after the laughter died down--"I didn't get any
gold, but I got something! I yelled, and the girl I started to call on
heard me and come to the door. I hadn't any better sense than to go up
to her. But before I could explain, the skunk's weapon told the tale.
'You clear out of here,' she hollered; 'who wants such a smell in the
house!' I cleared out, and when I got home Mom was in bed, but Pop was
readin' the paper in the kitchen. I opened the door. 'Clear out of
here,' he ordered;' who wants such a smell in the house! Go to the
wood-shed and I'll get you soap and water and other clothes.' So I went
to the wood-shed, and he came out with a lantern and water and clothes
and I began to scrub. After I was dressed we went to the barn-yard and
he held the lantern while I dug a deep hole, and the clothes, my best
Sunday clothes, went down into the ground and dirt on top. And that
settled courtin' for a while with me."