7

James Kerby Ward

-6-

look a heap better.

"Yes, we spent considerable money on fixin up the place, but I do
want the kids to have a nice home to remember after we are dead and
gone. I want the girls and William to bring their friends home and have
a good clean time. Now just last night there was a crowd here, a-play-
ing and a-singin. Geneva can't play much but hymns. But they do have
a good clean time and I make them some chocolate or tea. I most always
try to have a little cake in the house 'cause you never can tell when
you gonna have company.

"I want you to see my new range that Mr. Ward bought me the other
day. I told him I knowed that he couldn't stay outa debt two weeks and
sure nuff he couldn't.

We walked to the kitchen and she pointed at the stove proudly.
"It don't look like a stove a-tall, does it? It looks more like a
chest of drawers that belongs in the bedroom. I'm proud of it all
right.

"Mr. Ward's been good to get me everything I ever wanted for the
house. I try to fix it up nice; I did all the crochet and fancy work
you see around here. The girls have so much home-work to do that they
don't have time to do things like that, and they think it's a waste of
time, anyway, to sit and do it. But you see I got the low blood pressure
and heart trouble. I can't do no more 'n I have to, after they come
home from school."

"Show her the other rooms, sweetheart, so she can see just how we
poor folks live," Mr. Ward suggested.

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