He says the hairs on your head
is a mere joy to reckon up, 'n' fallin' sparrows too, beside them
gophers. He says savin' a cent in the time o' Egypt 'n' seein' what you
'd have now if you 'd only done it, is nothin' to the way them gophers
on the Pearson farm was give to givin' in marriage. He says as it was a
very stony farm, 'n' in between every two stones was one hole 'n' half a
dozen gophers to a hole, in the _single_ season. He says ploughin' was
like churnin' with nothin' but stones 'n' gophers in the churn. He says
they was that tame they'd run up your legs 'n' up the horses' legs; he
said maybe I would n't believe it, 'n' I told him I certainly would n't,
so then he went on to another subjeck.
"He says he used to plough through them gophers all day 'n' court Tilly
all night. Tilly was old Mrs. Ely. He says she 'd never been courted on
a'count of her nose, but he said he wanted a farm bad enough to be
willin' to never forget to tip his face pretty well crossways. He says
she was so happy bein' courted that at first it made the gophers just
seem like nothin' a tall, 'n' he says as you can't maybe get the full
sense o' that but it's there just the same. I tell you, Mrs. Lathrop,
you can see that man has suffered. I asked him was he afraid of mice
too, 'n' he bristled up pretty sharp 'n' said he wa'n't afraid of
gophers, only they took you so unawares. I had to tell him right there
to look out for the cistern lid, 'n' he hitched over by the table again
'n' then he said, Well, so it went all summer.
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