Well--when she turned and _kissed_ me, _with her arms around me--law!_
I'd a bigger load o' heaven than I had a load o' straw!
I don't p'tend to learnin', but I'll tell you what's a fact,
They's a mighty truthful sayin' somers in a' almanack--
Er _somers-_--'bout "puore happiness"--- perhaps some folks'll laugh
At the idy--"only lastin' jest two seconds and a half."--
But it's jest as true as preachin'!--fer that was _a sister's_ kiss,
And a sister's lovin' confidence a-tellin' to me this:--
_"She_ was happy, _bein' promised to the son o' farmer Brown."_--
And my feelin's struck a pardnership with sunset and went down!
[Illustration]
I don't know _how_ I acted--I don't know _what_ I said,
Fer my heart seemed jest a-turnin' to an ice-cold lump o' lead;
And the hosses kindo' glimmered before me in the road.
And the lines fell from my fingers--and that was all I knowed--
Fer--well, I don't know _how_ long--They's a dim rememberence
Of a sound o' snortin' hosses, and a stake-and-ridered fence
A-whizzin' past, and wheat-sheaves a-dancin' in the air,
And Mary screamin' "Murder!" and a-runnin' up to where
_I_ was layin' by the road-side, and the wagon upside down
A-leanin' on the gate-post, with the wheels a whirlin' round!
And I tried to raise and meet her, but I couldn't, with a vague
Sorto' notion comin' to me that I had a broken leg.
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