When the marriage day came Robson did not attend the ceremony; but he sent his daughter Alicia in his place, and gave her a check for five thousand dollars, drawn to Lewis’ order, but with emphatic orders not to part from it until Lewis and Miss Barrett were pronounced man and wife. When Alicia returned her father asked her if she had given Lewis the check.
“What did he do and say?” Robson inquired impatiently.
“Why, father, he was so overcome that he cried for a minute after I gave it to him.”
“Egad!” squeaked Robson, “was that all? Why, I cried for an hour when I wrote it.”
Henry Dixey is an adept at the leisurely tale, which is a word picture from start to finish. Here is a sample:
In one of the country stores, where they sell everything from a silk dress and a tub of butter to a hot drink and a cold meal, a lot of farmers were sitting around the stove one cold winter day, when in came Farmer Evans, who was greeted with:
“How d’do boys?” After awhile he continued: “Wa-all, I’ve killed my hog.”
Farmer Evans stroked his chin whiskers meditatively and replied: “Wa-all, guess.”
“I guess about three twenty-five,” said a third.
Then all together demanded: “Well, how much did he weigh?”
Other men kept dropping in and hugging the stove, for the day was cold and snowy outside. In came Cy Hopkins, wrapped in a big overcoat, yet almost frozen to death; but there wasn’t room enough around that stove to warm his little finger.
But he didn’t get mad about it; he just said to Bill Stebbins who kept the store: “Bill, got any raw oysters?”
“Well, just open a dozen and feed ’em to my hoss.”
Well, Stebbins never was scared by an order from a man whose credit was good, as Cy’s was, so he opened the oysters an’ took them out, an’ the whole crowd followed to see a horse eat oysters. Then Cy picked out the best seat near the stove and dropped into it as if he had come to stay, as he had.
Pretty soon the crowd came back, and the storekeeper said: “Why, Cy, your hoss won’t eat them oysters.”
“Won’t he? Well, then, bring ’em here an’ I’ll eat ’em myself.”
When Charley Evans and Bill Hoey traveled together, they had no end of good-natured banter between them.
Once when Hoey saw Evans mixing lemon juice and water for a gargle, he asked: “What are you doing that for, Charley?”