His woman sought ter rechristen ther gal Lizzie or Lake Erie or
somethin' else befittin petticoats. She 'lowed thet no godly man
wouldn't hardly seek a woman in wedlock, ner crave fer her to be ther
mother of his children with a name hung on her like Alexander Macedonia
McGivins."
Brent's eye twinkled as he watched the unbending gravity of the other's
face and since comment seemed expected he conceded, "There seems to be
a germ of reason in that."
"Then ther boy commenced growin' up, lazy-like an' shiftless,"
enlightened the parson. "Ther old man 'lowed thet hit wouldn't hardly
be no fallacy ter name him Lizzie or Lake Erie, but he swore on a hull
stack of Bibles thet he aimed ter make a man of ther gal."
Suddenly the speaker broke off and his brow clouded. Following the
apprehensive direction of the frowning eyes as one might follow a
dotted line the man from the city saw a young mountaineer
surreptitiously tilting a flask to his lips in the lee of a huge
boulder. Palpably the drinker believed himself screened from view, and
when he had wiped the neck of the flask with the palm of his hand and
stowed it away again in his breast pocket he looked furtively about
him--and that furtiveness was unusual enough to elicit surprise in this
land where men drank openly and made moonshine whiskey and even gave it
to their small children.
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