Classic Poem

" Will they do anythin' to her, do you think, Mirandy? "
" Do you mean prison?
No, I guess not.
That doctor from Boston said she wa'n't no ways responsible. "

" She's over to th' 'sylum, ain't she? "

" Yes, but th' doctor said she'd be right as a trivet
In a month or two. "

" I never seed th' child but once,
But now I mind, it 'peared awful big fer five weeks, ter me. "

" You may say so, 'Melia.
Ef you was a married woman
You'd ha' sensed right off
Somethin' was wrong.
Why 'twas all of a year an' more.
I guess that was th' reason she let you see it.
You not bein' knowin' in such things.
I ast her ter le' me look at it a hunder'd times
But she al'ays put me off
One way or another.
Bless you! She was as nervous as a witch
Fear o' bein' found out. "

" Old man Drew wouldn't think nothin' o' course. "

" That's why she come here.
She was safe with only her Grandsir in th' house.
He's in a terrible tew now, they say.
Eighty year old and al'ays respectable.
It do seem hard. "

" How does 'Lisha take it?
He's one o' them husbands as sets a store by their wives.
I remember his courtin',
He'd ha' pulled th' stars out o' th' sky
To lay a path so's Claribel could step easy. "

" He won't hear a word agin her now.
Says 'twas his fault fer bein' 'way when 'twas born.
Eben said he jest bust out cryin'
When they tell'd him th' baby wa'n't his. "
" Travels, don't he? "

" Yes, stoves.
Doin' elegant.
Only, o' course it takes him 'way most o' th' time. "

" She should ha' come home fer her layin' in,
Then nothin' wouldn't ha' happened. "

" I dunno.
'Tain't in nater to leave yer own home
When a baby's comin'. "

" But she did leave her home, didn't she?
Went to a hospital or somethin'. "

" Well, she had ter do that
Jest at th' last.
'Lisha was off West, you see,
An' somebody had to 'tend her. "

" My! Ain't it a shame!
Poor little thing!
Ef she'd ha' sent fer me
I'd gone right down to Boston next train. "

" Anybody would.
But she was al'ays proud as Lucifer,
Was Claribel.
An' that baby comin' made her prouder'n ever.
Why th' letters she writ 'bout it!
I declare they sounded like th' Bible.
She was all keyed up,
Seemed she wa'n't steppin' on no common earth,
An' she most sewed her eyes out
Makin' th' clo'es.
She didn't need nobody
But jest her thoughts.
She'd kep' that baby on her mind so long
It went all to shivers when ther' wa'n't none. "

" The Almighty's ways do be past understandin'.
Why couldn't her baby ha' lived, I wonder?
Most on 'mdash does. "

" Seems she slipped on th' ice or somethin'.
Anyway th' baby was born dead.
They do say she took on 'bout it somethin' awful,
An' she wouldn't let nobody write to 'Lisha.
That doctor said they oughtn't never to ha' let her out o' th' hospital alone.
But they did,
An' she was walkin' home
When she seed a baby-carriage settin' outside a drug-store
With th' baby in it.
Th' mother'd gone inside fer a minit,
An' 'fore she knowed what she was doin'
She had th' baby in her arms an' was cuddlin' it.
She's a born mother, is Claribel,
An' her milk wa'n't dry,
An' I guess she jest couldn't put it down.
It's wicked to think o' what she must ha' suffered
To do such a thing;
But she took that baby off home with her,
An' she 'lowed to 'Lisha 'twas her own
She'd brought from th' hospital.
'Lisha was new to babies,
An' he didn't think nothin' 'bout its size. "

" I wonder why she come up here? "

" To git farther away, I guess.
'Twas all right an' proper
To bring th' baby home to visit with her Grandsir fer a spell.
An' she never figured as they could trace her up here.
When anybody wanted to see th' baby
She'd say she didn't want it should be waked up.
It might ha' gone on till th' Day o' Judgment
Ef th' Sheriff hadn't been a fam'ly man. "

" You don't say! "

" Yes. You see th' other mother was right down sick with fussin',
Nat'rally.
An' she an' her husband got th' perlice on it.
An' they sent all over th' state,
An' to New York.
I guess they spent a mint o' money
Ef you was to count it.
Sheriff, he read th' papers,
An' one day he seed Claribel
In th' village
Wheelin' th' baby.
It looked awful large ter him,
An' he stopped an' ast a heap o' questions.
Claribel was at her wits' ends,
An' bimeby she muddled herself 'bout somethin',
An' he took her right into Cole's store
An' had a good look at th' baby.
That settled it.
They do say that Claribel most killed th' Sheriff
With a pitchfork was standin' ther'
'Fore they got th' baby from her.
I dunno's I blame her
She's got mother in her blood. "

" Blame her! Mirandy, you'd do th' same.
So would I ef th' Lord had seed fit ter gi' me a child. "

" Ther's th' other woman, 'Melia. "

" Yes, that's so.
My! But th' ways of th' Almighty do beat all,
An' I al'ays says so.
Why, it's only a week ago I says to Parson Davis,
" Parson," says I, " ther' ain't no manner o' use
You expounding Scripture th' way you do,
Day in an' day out.
We'll never understan'," I says,
" Not till Gabriel's trump starts us all puttin' on our bunnits fer th' Resurrection."
Mirandy, d'you s'pose Claribal'd care fer one o' my spice cakes,
She used to be real partial to 'mdash?
Jason could drive over to th' 'sylum with one most any day,
Now th' apples is picked. "

" So do, so do, 'Melia.
An' I'll jest slip some o' them new jars o' quince conserve into a basket
An' send 'mdash along too.
I got a plenty. "