Page:Samantha on Children's Rights.djvu/157

 fix things jest right even in his play. I remember one time when I wuz stayin' there over Sunday he gin a remarkable instance of it.

Tamer wuz strict, I must say, about not lettin' Jack play games on Sunday, and he wuz good about mindin', but I spoze he hankered after playin' sunthin' when the time hung too heavy on his hands, and, like older folks, he wanted a change. He had one Bible game that Tamer let him play, but I spoze he had got tired of it, and then the names wuz dretful tegus to keep the run on—Nebuchadnezer, Melchizedec, Mephilboseth—good land! they wuz hard for grown folks to git right. Hamen and his brother, John, wuz great cases to play cards evenin's, and Jack had a game that he played with 'em some like authors. I had played it myself with him sometimes week-day evenin's, and Jack come to me that Sunday evenin' and sez: "Aunt Samantha, why can't we play a Bible game with cards?"

And I sez, "I don't see how you could fix it so as to play a Bible game with 'em."

And he sez, "Well, you can call the two spot Jacob, and I can call for it, and we can call the ten spot Paul, or the Jack, and you can call for him."

And I sez, "I would hate to call such a good man as Paul the Jack."

"Well," sez he, "we could call the king Paul, and the queen Mary."

But I talked him offen the idee, it didn't seem right to me somehow. But he wuz honest and likely about it and didn't mean no harm, and at the best it wuz only tryin' to reconcile science and religion, or religion and fashion, as so many do, holdin' the world in one hand and religion in the other, and tryin' to carry 'em both