honor of our presence at the marriage of his daughter, Belle, to Peter
Theodosius Brown, at Dillamead House, Cashmere-on-the-Hudson, February
three, nineteen hundred and so forth.

We were surprised, of course, and pleased in one way, but in another we
wa'n't real tickled to death. You see, 'twas a good while sence Jonadab
and me had been to a wedding, and we know there'd be mostly young folks
there and a good many big-bugs, we presumed likely, and 'twas going to
cost consider'ble to get rigged--not to mention the price of passage,
and one thing a' 'nother. But Ebenezer had took the trouble to write
us, and so we felt 'twas our duty not to disappoint him, and especially
Peter, who had done so much for us, managing the Old Home House.

The Old Home House was our summer hotel at Wellmouth Port. How me and
Jonadab come to be in the summer boarding trade is another story and
it's too long to tell now. We never would have been in it, anyway, I
cal'late, if it hadn't been for Peter. He made a howling success of our
first season and likewise helped himself along by getting engaged to the
star boarder, rich old Dillaway's daughter--Ebenezer Dillaway, of the
Consolidated Cash Stores.

Well, we see 'twas our duty to go, so we went. I had a new Sunday
cutaway and light pants to go with it, so I figgered that I was pretty
well found, but Cap'n Jonadab had to pry himself loose from considerable
money, and every cent hurt as if 'twas nailed on. Then he had chilblains
that winter, and all the way over in the Fall River boat he was fuming
about them chilblains, and adding up on a piece of paper how much cash
he'd spent.

We struck Cashmere-on-the-Hudson about three o'clock on the afternoon of