could 'a' got along handier with seven sons than he did with that
one girl. Oh, the eyes of her were like the two stars over old
Savage, snappin' an' twinklin' an' sparklin' in the clear winter
nights, or soft an' shy an' tender when the hazy spring moon cuddles
up to them. She wasn't afraid of anything 'at walks the face o' the
earth, an' Jabez had a hard time gettin' used to this--'cause he
thought she ought to be afraid o' him.

Still, he fair worshiped her, an' if he'd been given full charge o'
the earth for jest one day, an' anything would 'a' pestered the girl
durin' that day, why the map-maker would sure have had a job on the
day follerin'; 'cause from his standpoint, that girl was what the
sun shone for an' the rain rained for an' the blossoms blossomed
for.

We was allus havin' a lot o' Easterners string along during the
summer, an' they generally was easy to entice into makin' a little
visit with us. Some of 'em would spend their time crackin' stones
an' makin' up tales about their bein' speciments o' the Zelooic age
or the Palazoric age or some such a fool thing. They was mostly
heathens, an' it didn't do no good to spring the Bible on 'em--in
fact after we got able to read their signs we never contraried 'em
at all, but just let 'em heave out any tale they could think up an'
pretend 'at we believed it; an' hanged if I don't begin to suspicion
that the' 's a heap o' truth in some o' their nonsense.

Purty near every one of 'em insisted that at one time all those
mountains, even old Savage, had been under water, an' they'd take us
out an' show us the signs; but we couldn't stomach that until we
found out that this was one o' the Injun traditions too, an' then we