Page:Samantha on Children's Rights.djvu/20

 couldn't see Jack through her tears, and she would have to wipe her eyes when Jack disturbed her, and tell him all choked down by her emotions to run away, that his Ma wuz too busy to answer him, or else she would have some new distemper that day, and tell Jack to run away for his noise wuz killin' her.

Well, what wuz the poor little feller to do? Everything wuz new to him, he had so many things that he wanted to find out, what could he do? Wall, there wuz only one thing he could do, and that wuz to try to find 'em out for himself. Tamer Ann bein' a good woman at the bottom of her heart (but the goodness bein' all covered up with nonsense, dime novels, fancy distempers, etc.), she sent Jack to Sunday school.

And everything there wuz new to him. Tamer Ann had, I spoze, been willin', but had never had the time to teach Jack the Bible. Havin' so many heroines, pirates, etc., to drive along in front of her mind, she naterally hadn't any room for the apostles and prophets. The procession of lovely bein's and hoary villains wuz big, and the thoroughfare small (Tamer's mind I mean). And when a woman is huntin' round for new fancy distempers, what time has she to tell a child about the Babe of Bethlehem?

No, Jack didn't know a thing about the Bible, and the female Sunday school teacher he went to wuz a Born Baptist, she wuzn't as you may say a woman, a female citizen, or human bein', she wuz jest Baptist, plain Baptist.

And so the food poor little Jack had put before him at that Sabbath school wuz hard, sound food. Good doctrine, but tough, fearful tough. Well, Jack accepted