And if he didn't have a disposition like a
cherubim-an-seraphim (and better, too, for they 'continually do cry,'
now I come to think of it), he'd be sour and bitter, 'stid o' bein' good
as an angel in a picture-book from sun-up to sun-down!"
Miss Vilda was crushed by the overpowering weight of this argument, and
did not even try to stem the resistless tide of Samantha's eloquence.
"And now folks is all of a high to take in the baby for a spell, jest
for a plaything, because her hair curls, 'n' she's handsome, 'n' light
complected, 'n' cunning, 'n' a girl (whatever that amounts to is more 'n
I know!), and that blessed boy is tread under foot as if he warn't no
better 'n an angleworm! And do you mean to tell me you don't see the
Lord's hand in this hull bus'ness, Vildy Cummins? There's other kinds o'
meracles besides buddin' rods 'n' burnin' bushes 'n' loaves 'n' fishes.
What do you s'pose guided that boy to pass all the other houses in this
village 'n' turn in at the White Farm? Don't you s'pose he was led?
Well, I don't need a Bible nor yit a concordance to tell _me_ he was.
_He_ didn't know there was plenty 'n' to spare inside this gate; a
great, empty house 'n' full cellar, 'n' hay 'n' stock in the barn, and
cowpons in the bank, 'n' two lone, mis'able women inside, with nothin'
to do but keep flies out in summer-time, 'n' pile wood on in
winter-time, till they got so withered up 'n' gnarly they warn't hardly
wuth getherin' int' the everlastin' harvest! _He_ didn't know it, I say,
but the Lord did; 'n' the Lord's intention was to give us a chance to
make our callin' 'n' election sure, 'n' we can't do that by turnin' our
backs on His messenger, and puttin' of him ou'doors! The Lord intended
them children should stay together or He wouldn't 'a' started 'em out
that way; now that's as plain as the nose on my face, 'n' that's
consid'able plain as I've ben told afore now, 'n' can see for myself in
the glass without any help from anybody, thanks be!"
"Everybody 'll laugh at us for a couple o' soft-hearted fools," said
Miss Vilda feebly, after a long pause.
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