ought to have left that bread out on the table. They've made a pretty
mess of it, and it is every spec there is in the house too. Well, I
must make a do of potatoes for supper, with a bit of pie and a mouthful
of cake."

Accordingly he went to work building a fire that wouldn't burn. Then,
forgetting the simple matter of dampers, the potatoes wouldn't bake. The
tea-kettle boiled over and cracked the stove, and after that boiled dry
and cracked itself. Finally the potatoes fell to baking with so much
ardor that they overdid it and burnt up. And, last of all, the cake-jar
and pie-cupboard proved to be entirely empty. Loizah had left on the eve
of baking-day.

"The old cat! Well, I'd just as soon live on slapjacks a spell," said
Captain Ben, when he made this discovery.

But even slapjacks palled on his palate, especially when he had them
always to cook for himself.

"'T ain't no way to live, this ain't," said he at last. "I'm a good mind
to marry as ever I had to eat."

So he put on his hat and walked out. The first person he met was Miss
Persis Tame, who turned her back and fell to picking thoroughwort
blossoms as he came up.

"Look a here," said he, stopping short, "I'm dreadful put to 't. I
can't get ne'er a wife nor ne'er a housekeeper, and I am e'enamost
starved to death. I wish you _would_ consent to marry with me, if you
feel as if you could bring your mind to it. I am sure it would have been