but begun the first thing to find fault with me for bein' to work on
that day. She sez, "The idee, of the last day of the world, and you
a-bein' found makin' riz biscuit, yeast ones!" sez she.

"Wall," sez I, "I don't know but I had jest as soon be found a-makin'
riz biscuit, a-takin' care of my own household, as the Lord hes
commanded me to, as to be found a-sailin' round in a book muslin Mother
Hubbard."

"It hain't a Mother Hubbard!" sez she.

"Wall," sez I, "I said it for oritory. But it is puckered up some like
them, and you know it." Hers wuz made with a yoke.

And Josiah sot there a-fixin' his plantin' bag. He wuz a-goin' out that
mornin' to plant over some corn that the crows had pulled up. And she
bitterly reproved him. But he sez, "If the world don't come to a end,
the corn will be needed."

"But it will," she sez in a cold, haughty tone.

[Illustration: "WALL," SEZ HE, "IF IT DOES, I MAY AS WELL BE DOIN'
THAT AS TO BE SETTIN' ROUND."]

"Wall," sez he, "if it does, I may as well be a-doin' that as to be
settin' round." And he took his plantin' bag and went out. And then she
jawed me for upholdin' him.

And sez she, as she broke open a biscuit and spread it with butter
previous to eatin' it, sez she, "I should think _respect_, respect for