"I'm a-thinkin', Father," she twittered, "that naow me an' yew be a-gwine so fur apart, we be a-gittin' closer tergether in sperit than we 've ever been afore.

I 've heard of him; were you ever in his hands?

"You 've got to lick me before you kin have 'em.

"I 'm 'Reddy' Simpson, an' you ain't licked the fambly till you 've licked me.

Joe Bronson nodded and glanced curiously about him before answering: "Yes; I think the bay life will suit me for a while, and then, when I 've got used to it, I 'm going to sea in the forecastle.

"We 've got enough for three meals now," he said, "so there 's no use in having them spoil.

I 've got to bribe a doctor, shut up the house for a day or two, and have all the ill-humor of two disappointed women to endure until this negro leaves town.

"I 've always hated old Sam Briggs," she said emphatically, "ever since the time he broke a negro's leg with a piece of cordwood.

I 've been courting you for a year, and it 's the hardest work imaginable.

If you 're able to tell me, when I return, that you 've done something to prove your quality, I 'llwell, you may come and tell me about it.

"I 've got a monst'us good appetite ter-day.

"I 've tuck up more 'n a hundred niggers fer stealin', Kurnel, an' I never seed one yit that did n' 'ny it ter the las'.

Why, sir, them we 've see' grow up roun' this country hev been fed on daily rations of "dont's!"

They was to 've come together.

Ef I'd 've knew that day, when my heart was already in my win'-pipe, thet he had give out to the world by sech a printed declaration ez that thet he had to say dedicated all his work in life, in advance, to my ol' soul, I couldn't no mo' 've kep' up my behavior 'n nothin'.

"To my fancy, this is the best anchorage I 've seen in many a day; one altogether to be coveted.

squeezing both my hands as in a vice"I don't know how it isbut ever since I 've fallen in with my mother and little Kitty, I've got to be womanish.

David's a young kid, an' wild, an' without any good home like you an 'me 've got, an' runnin' round the Barbary Coast in Frisco, with those bloody vampires there.

All the Packers 've always been tall.

And although I 've little wealth, Thirty reals to drink my health Shall you for your kindness have".

It I'd lived in New York I wouldn't never 've married.

And now you 've littered all the East With duds of emerald!

The snow and he are intimate; I 've often seen them play When heaven looked upon us all With such severity, I felt apology were due To an insulted sky, Whose pompous frown was nutriment To their temerity.

Now ye know it yerself by heart, an' ye 've knowed it all yer born days, so ye can't begin to tell how new an' 'stonishin' 't was to me,

We 've had enough skylarking.