"We all'as dew neighbor a great deal in winter," said he approvingly,
stretching those dear felts before the blaze.
"Is that a piece of the log we used to sit on?" I inquired mournfully.
"Wal, neow! I r'a'ly believe ye feel a kind o' heart-leanin' to'ds
her, don't ye?"
"How can I help it?"
"Sartin! sartin!" said he, delighted; "we're jest like twin-brothers.
But neow don't you werry one mite. She 's done a good werk an' she 's
returnin' to Natur's God. I've got another one 't I'm goin' to roll
deown, first hint o' spring. I don't calk'late ever to be feound, like
them wise an' foolish virgins, without no log to set on."
"Thar 's somethin' abeout a log," continued Captain Leezur; "when ye go
inter the heouse in warm weather, an' sets deown in a cheer, the women
kind o' looks at ye as though you was sick or dreffle lazy; but when
ye're eout settin' on a log ye feels as though God was on yewr side,
an' man nor woman wa'n't able to afflict ye. They 's a depth an' a
ca'm to the feelin' of it, 't them 't sets on fringe an' damarsk sofys
don't know nothin' abeout."
"You must have required a great deal of oil in sawing up the old log,
captain," I said.
The captain gave the restful sigh of battles overpast.
"Mebbe you think 't the drippin's o' one skunk did it," said he; "but
they didn't. Did ye ever think," he resumed, "o' what a wonderful
thing ile is, an' what 'd we dew without 'er?--heow the wringin'
machine 'ud seound when ye was turnin' on 'er for yer wife, Monday
mornin's?"
"No," said I sadly.
"Then ag'in, it 's ile in yer natur' keeps ye ca'm an' c'llected, an'
it's ile in yer dispersition l'arns ye t' say, 'Moderation 's the rewl,
even in passnips.'"
Lubricated with a sense of peace and blessing, I arose.
"Ye're jest like me," gurgled Captain Leezur; "ye don't feel easy in a
cheer! Ye wanter be eout on the old log, don't ye?"
"Yes," said I. "This isn't quite like."
"We're nateral twin-brothers!" he exclaimed, following me to the door.
There he looked cautiously backward.
"Dew you remember what I said to ye once," said he, "on the subject o'
kile?"
"Ahem!--female affection?" I inquired gently. "Yes."
"Some calls it that," said my twin-brother, beaming on me, "and some
calls it kile. Wal, neow, ef a sartin person shows a dispersition to
kile, let 'em! Let 'em," said Captain Leezur, irradiating my thin
being with the glory of his countenance; "let em."
"Ah," said I, and shook my head again sadly, "I think more and more we
will have to go our pilgrimage without that, my friend."
"Neow you look a' here," said Captain Leezur. "I ain't a-sayin'
nothin', that they will or that they won't, but if they dew, let 'em.
Did ye ever think o' what a heap o' wisdom there is in a poor old
bean-pole?
"Mornin' glory comes up an' looks at it. Bean-pole stands up stiff,
without no feelin's: don't look at 'er, nor bend over an' kiss 'er, nor
nothin'. Mornin' glory don't git skeered, an' she peouts out a lot o'
leaves an' tenderls an' begins to kile. Bean-pole takes a chaw o'
terbakker an' looks off t'other eend o' the field t' see what the
pertater crop 's goin' to be. Mornin' glory peouts out more leaves an'
blossoms, an' keeps a-kilin'. By 'n' by thar ain't no poor old
God-forsaken bean-pole standin' there--it 's all one mess o' kile an
mornin' glory!
"I tell ye, major, we need once in a while for t' l'arn a lesson from
natur'. I ain't a-goin' to press ye to stay longer, for I know ye
wanter go neighborin'!"
Dazzled, I turned away from the refulgent keenness of his wink.
But I did not take the direction that wink had indicated. I had an
invitation, not from Vesty, but from the two most ancient of the Basins
to tea, and I stopped in, a solitary and thoughtful bean-pole, at
Captain Pharo's on the way.
The music-box was playing. I was glad to hear that; a tune in
undertone, like waves slowly, softly breaking.
"She used ter play fifteen different tunes when we first had her," said
Captain Pharo pensively; "but she got to squeakin', an' so we had
Leezur up to ile 'er, an' ever sence she 's played one tune fifteen
times! Poo! poo! hohum! Wal, wal--
[Illustration: Music fragment: 'My days are as the grass--']