human
Well, exclaimed Sonora,
gpt
Glad--very glad to see you,
human
I know'd you would be--that's just what I told 'em, continued Sonora;
gpt
We are like most other people, I suppose,
human
So, this your man? I'd hearn tell on him, but never see'd him afore, near by--and there are the children! and that is your big looking-glass they tell'd about! The dear massy on us, she exclaimed,
gpt
Why, Mrs. Brown, said I,
human
Come to take a good look at you, and so you was; but I was so frustered that day that I didn't know which eend I stood on. How pesky sassy them 'turneys-at-la' are!
gpt
Mrs. Brown, have you lived long in this country?
human
Why, bless your soul, yes! Didn't you know that? We come in from the 'Hio twenty years ago, and lived her 'fore there was anybody, nor nothing but bears and catamounts.
gpt
How, in the world, did you manage to get through the country twenty years ago?
human
Well, it _was_ a pretty orful time, said the old lady;
gpt
Where did you eat and sleep?
human
We bunk'd in the wagon nights, and camp'd out to eat; and so we travelled for two months.
gpt
But you got through all safe?
human
No, we didn't, said she, heaving a sigh;
gpt
(she wiped away a tear);
human
She died!
gpt
And we had to bury her in a strange place--a high knoll in the woods by the road-side--and go away and leave her there alone. O, Mr. ----, she exclaimed,
human
I've dream'd a thousand times of that spot in the woods: what wouldn't I give if I could go and find it!
gpt
What did you do when you first arrived here?
human
Why, it was all trees all over, everywhere, then. There warn't any houzens, nor any roads to travel on, nor no white folks but Venison Styles, and some other hunters who are gone away now; nor anything to live on; and nothin' to be heard nights but the varmints screamin', said Mrs. Brown, laying down her knitting-work, and shoving up her spectacles with a convulsive twitch, for she was getting eloquent.
gpt
There warn't a pound of meat for fifty miles round--no pork for love nor money--and so we cut down a place, and built a log shanty, and liv'd on deer meat, for deers were as thick as hops all over.
human
And what then?
gpt
The next spring, she continued,
human
And that large farm you live on, Mrs. Brown, is _the_ spot you first settled? Where are your children now?
gpt
They are round yet, said Sonora.
human
Jim teaches school, and spec'lates, and fiddles some, and _can_ doctor if he likes. Jim is the only genus in our family: he's as smart as _litenin'_; Lem is more staid and sober-like. He allers took to hum chores, fod'ring cattle, and such like-er things. He married Squire Nolet's darter; and they are pretty big folks--got carpets in their bed-rooms, and all _over_ the house--and he is now settled on a farm out on Horse-Neck Plains; and Jim is now doin' fust-rate.
gpt
What became of Molly?
human
Molly made a bad go on't. She married a trav'ling singing-master--and I _do_ suppose, she exclaimed,