For about two years there has been great doin's in Hamen Smith's family, owin' to Tamer Ann's wantin' to make Anna marry a young old chap who come down from New York village to look at some grave-stuns in the buryin' ground by the old Dutch Reform Church up in Zoar.
There wuz some dretful aged stuns there with old Dutch names on 'em, and the young old feller wuz in hopes he would find some ancestors there. He had piles and piles of 'em before he begun to hunt there, enough for comfort and more, too, but he wanted some more, so sure it is that the more you have the more you want.
And so he come down a purpose. He didn't find any ancestors, but he found Anna. And he jest stayed along and stayed along. He had only got board at the tarven for two days, but he stayed seven weeks that time and come down agin frequent after that, and the next summer spent the hull of his summer there.
Anna wuz engaged to Tom Willis, a good lookin' and good actin' young chap, and Tamer Ann had never lifted her finger or said a word to stop their intimacy or engagement. But when this old young feller come she jest commanded Anna to not think of Tom Willis any more, and ordered her to be polite and sociable with this young old man. Curious how some mothers can act, ain't it now?
