on with more gaiety:

"I'm nine years old! An' you can't guess how much I weigh, I bet!--
Last birthday I weighed thirty-three!--An' I weigh thirty yet!
I'm awful little far my size--I'm purt' nigh littler 'an
Some babies is!--an' neighbors all calls me 'The Little Man!'
An' Doc one time he laughed an' said: 'I 'spect, first thing you
know,
You'll have a little spike-tail coat an' travel with a show!'
An' nen I laughed--till I looked round an' Aunty was a-cryin'--
Sometimes she acts like that, 'cause I got 'Curv'ture of the
Spine!'"

Just in front of me a great broad-shouldered countryman, with a rainy
smell in his cumbrous overcoat, cleared his throat vehemently, looked
startled at the sound, and again settled forward, his weedy chin
resting on the knuckles of his hands as they tightly clutched the seat
before him. And it was like being taken into a childish confidence as
the quaint speech continued:

"I set--while Aunty's washin'--on my little long-leg stool,
An' watch the little boys an' girls 'a-skippin' by to school;
An' I peck on the winder, an' holler out an' say:
'Who wants to fight The Little Man 'at dares you all to-day?'
An' nen the boys climbs on the fence, an' little girls peeks
through,
An' they all says: 'Cause you're so big, you think we're 'feared o'
you!'
An' nen they yell, an' shake their fist at me, like I shake mine--
They're thist in fun, you know, 'cause I got 'Curv'ture of the