Page:The complete poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar.pdf/83

 But Lawyer Jones of all gone men did shorely look the gonest, When he found out that he 'd furgot to put the "h" in "honest," An' Parson Brown, whose sermons were too long fur toleration, Caused lots o' smiles by missin' when they give out "condensation." So one by one they giv' it up—the big words kep' a-landin', Till me an' Nettie Gray was left, the only ones a-standin', An' then my inward strife began—I guess my mind was petty— I did so want that spellin'-book; but then to spell down Nettie Jest sort o' went ag'in my grain—I somehow could n't do it, An' when I git a notion fixed, I'm great on stickin' to it. So when they giv' the next word out—I hadn't orter tell it, But then 't was all fur Nettie's sake—I missed so's she could spell it. She spelt the word, then looked at me so lovin'-like an' mello', I tell you 't sent a hunderd pins a shootin' through a fello'. O' course I had to stand the jokes an' chaffin' of the fello's, But when they handed her the book I vow I was n't jealous. We sung a hymn, an' Parson Brown dismissed us like he orter, Fur, la! he'd learned a thing er two an' made his blessin' shorter. 'T was late an' cold when we got out, but Nettie liked cold weather, An' so did I, so we agreed we'd jest walk home together. We both wuz silent, fur of words we nuther had a surplus, 'Till she spoke out quite sudden like, " You missed that word on purpose." Well, I declare it frightened me; at first I tried denyin', But Nettie, she jest smiled an' smiled, she knowed that I was lyin'. Sez she: "That book is yourn by right;" sez I: "It never could be— I—I—you—ah—" an' there I stuck, an' well she understood me. So we agreed that later on when age had giv' us tether, We'd jine our lots an' settle down to own that book together.