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Speaker 1: The Whizzer by Mary Hartwell Catherwood. That was a cold evening.

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The snow was just as dry as flower and had

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been beat down till the road looked slick as a

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ribbon far up and far down, and squeaked every step.

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I pulled mar on our sled. All the boys went

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home by the creek to skate, but I was afraid

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Mariar would get cold. She's such a little thing. I

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like to play with the girls if the boys do laugh,

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for some of the big ones might push Maurar down

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and hurt her. She misses her mother, so I babies

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are more than I used to. We's almost out of

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side of the schoolhouse and just where the road elbows

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by the Widow Briggs's place. When something passed us like whiz.

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I'd been pulling along with the sled rope over my

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arm and my hands in my pockets, and didn't hear

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a team or anything, but it made me shy off

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the side of the road and pretty near upset Marar.

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School lets out at four o'clock and dust come soon

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after that. But it was wooly gray yet, so you

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could see Plaine except in the fence corners and the

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thing that passed us was a man riding on nothing

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but one big wheel. Oh see there, says Marar, scared

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as could be. I felt glad on her account. We's

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close to Wit to Briggs's place. It would be easy

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to hustle her over Briggs's fence. But the thing runs

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so still and fast it might take fences as well

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as a straight road. The man turned round after he

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passed us and came rearing back away up on that wheel,

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and I stood as close before the sled as I could.

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He sat high up in the air and wiggled his

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feet on each side of the wheel. And I never

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saw a camel or elephant or any kind of wild

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thing at a show. That made me feel so funny.

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But just when I thought he's going to cut through us,

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he turned short and stopped. He had on an overcoat

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to his ears, and a fur cap down to his nose,

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and hairy gloves on, and a little satchel strapped over

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his shoulder. And I saw there was a real small

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wheel behind the big one that balanced him up. He

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wasn't sitting on the tire neither, but on a saddle place,

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and the big wheel had lots of silver spoats, crossing

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back and forward. Whose children are you, says the man.

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Noboddy's says I. But who owns and switches you? Says he.

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The schoolmaster switches me, says I. But we ain't own

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since mother died. Marar begun to cry. We live at

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Uncle Mosey, says she. They don't want to give us away.

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The man laughed and says, are you right sure? But

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I hated to have her scared, so I told her

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the wheel couldn't hurt her nor him either. I've seen

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the car as many a time, I says, And I've

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seen balloons and reading the paper about things that went

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on three wheels. But this it's a bicycle, says he.

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I'm a wheelman, That's what I thought, says I. Then

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he wanted to know our names. Mine's Seal petticoord I

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says an. This is my little sister Marar. His eyes

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looked sharp at us, and he says, your mother died

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about six weeks ago. Yes, sir, says I. Tomorrow won't

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be a very nice Christmas for you, says he. No,

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sir says I, digging my heel in the snow, for

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he had no business to talk that way and make

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Ma feel bad when I had a little wagon all

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whittled out in my pocket to give her. And she

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cried most every night anyhow, until Aunt Abby threatened to

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switch her if she waked the family any more. I

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slept with the boys, but when I heard Ma sniffling

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in the big bed a good many nights, I slipped

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out and sat by her and whispered stories to take

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her attention as long as my jaws worked, But when

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they chattered too much with the cold, I'd lay down

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on the cover with my arm across her till she

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went to sleep. I like mar He said we might

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go up to cousin Andy Sanders's to stay over. Says I.

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We don't have to be at Uncle Moses at Christmas.

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That's some consolation, is it? Says he. I was not

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going to let him know what the relations did. But

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I never liked relations outside of our place. At aunt

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Ibby and Uncle Moses. The children fight like cats, and

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they always act poor at Christmas and make fun of

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hanging your stockings or setting your plate, for you'd only

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get ashes or corn cobs. Aunt Abby keeps her sleeves

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rolled up so she can slap real handy, and Uncle

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Mose has yellow streaks in his eyes, and he shivers

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over the stove and keeps everybody else back at Cousin

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Andy Sanders, as they have no children and don't want them.

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You durst hardly come in out of the snow, and

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all the best things on the table will make you sick.

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If there is a piece in the paper that is

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hard to read and ugly as it can be, they

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will make you sit still and read it, and if

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you get done too quick, they will say you skipped,

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and you have to read it out loud while they

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find fault. I knew Cousin Andy Sanders never had any

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can into your taffy for Christmas. But Mara and me

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could be peaceful there, for they don't push her around

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so bad. Well hand me your rope, says the man,

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and I'll give you a ride. I liked that notion,

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so I handed him the rope, and he waited till

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I got on the slede in front of Marar. That's

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what O'riggs's home said, isn't it? He said, just before

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he started. I told him it was and asked if

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he ever lived down our way. He laughed and said

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he knew something about every place, and then he set

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the wheel Agoin. Marar held tight to me, and I

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braced my heels against the front round of the sled.

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The fence corners went faster and faster, and the wind

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whistled through our ears while you could not see one

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dry blade in the fodder shocks. Move. Ain't he a whizzer,

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says I to Marar. We turned another jog and spokes

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in the wheel looked all smeared together. It did beat

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horse racing. I got excited and hollered for him to

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go it old whizzer, and he went it till we's

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passed Cousin Andy Sanders. As before I knew the place

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was nigh cass loose. Now, mister, we're much obliged, says I.

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But he kept right on like he never heard me.

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So I yelled up louder and told him he's there,

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and he turned to round his head a minute and laughed.

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Please let go, mister, I says, that's Cousin Andy Sanders

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is a way back there. We're obliged, but we'll have

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to go back. The wizzard never let on. He whizzed

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ahead as fast as ever I thought it was a

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mean trick for him to play on marar, and wished

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I could trip up his wheel. It would be dark

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long before I got her back to cousin Andy Sanders's,

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and the Wizard whizzed ahead like he was running off

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with us. I had a notion to cut the rope,

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but there was no telling when i'd get another, and

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it was new. I made up my mind to do it, though,

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when we come along by our old place. But there

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the Wizard turned round and jumped off in the road.

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I picked up the end of my rope and shook

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my head because I was mad. Why didn't you let go?

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Says I. Haven't I brought you home? He says. I

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looked at the shut up house and felt a good

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deal worse than when I thought he was running off

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with us. Oh, steely, says Maurart. Let's go in and stay.

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I want to come home so bad. He was a

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man grown an I's only ten years old, but he

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ought to know better than to made Mark cry till

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the tears run down her chin. I'd been to look

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at the house myself, but never say a word to

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her about it. Once about noon, I slipped up there

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by the cornfields round about, and sat on the fence

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and thought about mother till I could hardly stand it.

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The house looked lonesomer than an old cabin about to fall,

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because an old cabin about to fall has forgot its folks.

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But all our things were locked up here except what

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aunt Ibby and cousin Andy Sanders had carried off. Our

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sale was to be in January. The snow was knee

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deep in the yard and drifted even on the porch.

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The tracks showed where aunt Ibby walked when she got

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out a load of provisions and bedclothes. She had the

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front door key, and took even the blue and white

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coverlet with birds woven that I heard Mother say was

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to be Mars, and the canned fruit, for fear it

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would freeze when our cellar is warmer than there stove.

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She said to Uncle Mo's when I was by unbeknown

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that Murr and me would have ten times as much

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property as her children anyhow, and she ought to be

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paid more for keeping us. She might have our money

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for all I cared, But I did not know how

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to stand her robbing things out of mother's house, and

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wished the sale would come quick and scatter them all.

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The wizard lant his chin on his breast and looked

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pitiful out of his eyes at Marar, for seemed like

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the tears had a notion to freeze on her face,

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only she kept them running down too fast. And he says,

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let's go into the house. Oh deo steally, says mar

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hugging my knee, for I was alongside the sled. And

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I'll cook all your dinners and we'll hang up our

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Christmas stockings every Sunday, says she. And Aunt Hibby's boys

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won't durst to take away my lead pencil, mother give me,

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and if you see them coming here, you'll set bounce

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on them. Marar says, I. We will go in and

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make a fire and act like mother's just gone out

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to a neighbor's. Then she begun to laugh, and one

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of her tears stuck to an indspot that comes and

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goes in her face, like it was denied with your finger.

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But now you mind, I says. If Aunt Ibby or

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Uncle Mos goes to whip us for this, you tell

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em I put you up to it and made you

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go along with me. Marar looked scared, and you tell them,

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says the wizard lifting his wheel across the snow toward

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the gate that I put you both up to it

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and made you go along with me. I pulled Mara

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over the drifts and we went to the side door.

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Aunt Ibby's got the big key, I says, and I'll

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have to raise a window while you wait here the

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window as we're all locked down. But we went round

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and round till the one in the shed give way,

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and I crawled through and bursted the latch off the

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kitchen door. I breathed so fast it made my heart thump.

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When I unlocked the side door and let the whizzard

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and Mar into the sitting room. I noticed then he'd

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hung his wheel on the limb of a tree, for

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it glittered. Bounce ain't here to jump on us, Izzy

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Marr says, I no, and he hates to stay at

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cousin Andy Sanders's says she. Bounce would come to the

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schoolhouse and kind of cry till ask the master please

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may I go out, And then bouncin me'd have a

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talk behind the schoolhouse, and I'd tell him I could

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not help it, and he'd own that he might live

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at aunt Ibby's with us if he could only keep

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from chawing up their miserable yellow dogs, and we'd both

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feel better. But I did miss him that minute I

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opened the door when here he come, like a house

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a fire, and lit down on the floor, panting and

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pounding his tail and laughing. And then he jumped up

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and paught us in the dark, till Marr had to

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hold him round the neck to keep him still while

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I got a light. He must a snuffed our tracks

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when we whizz past cousin Andy Sanders's. I felt to

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the pantry and put my hand in the candle box,

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but Aunt Ibby never left one. I knew there's a

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piece and a candlestick in the shed cupboard, though it

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burnt half out the night mother died, so I got it,

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and the Wizard scraped a match and lit the wick.

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The Wizard and me set too then, and brought in

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loads from the wood house. We built a fire, clean

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up into the chimney, and Rar took the broom and

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swept all the dust into it. Bounce laid on the

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carpet and licked at us and whacked his tail till

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we's in a broad laugh. The fire got me warmer

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than i'd been since Mother died. The Wizard took out

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a thick gold watch and wound our clock and set it.

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Then he says, let's go over the house, and we did.

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I carried the candle, and Rar and the dog went along.

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The Wizard looked in all the upstairs presses and opened

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the bureau drawers. I stayed outside of the parlor, and

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rarm Bounce did too. I did not want to think

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of the sheet stretched in the corner, for it was

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not like Mother under the sheet, but her picture hung

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up in there, and so did my father's. The Wizzard

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stayed in with the candle a good while. I heard

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him going from one thing to another, and wondered what

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he was about. I'd rather gone out to the graveyard, though,

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and set on the fence, watching mother's and father's graves,

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and heard the dry sumac bushes scrape together. Then to

238
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stepped into the parlor. Father died a year before mother,

239
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,120
but I didn't like him the same as I did her.

240
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Then we looked down cellar, and I thought I ought

241
00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,399
to tell the wizzer about the provisions and bedclothes being

242
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taken out of the house, or he'd suppose Mother never

243
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,279
kept us nice he smiled under his cap, and I

244
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found one jar of canned honey behind some bars, where

245
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Aunt Ibby overlooked it. We carried that up to the

246
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sitting room. Marar likes candid honey better than anything. Just

247
00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:26,159
as we come into the sitting room, I heard somebody

248
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pound on the front door. They're after us, says Marar.

249
00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,919
Let me see to it, says the Whizzer. So we

250
00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:34,840
stepped around the house and came back with his wheel

251
00:10:34,879 --> 00:10:36,919
on his arm, and held the door open. The snow

252
00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,919
made out doors light, and we saw a little fellow

253
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,720
lead a horse and buggy through the yard into the

254
00:10:40,759 --> 00:10:42,960
barn lot, and he came right in carrying a couple

255
00:10:43,039 --> 00:10:46,200
of baskets. All right, Sam, says the Wizzar. Put your

256
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:47,879
horse in the stable, and then build a fire in

257
00:10:47,919 --> 00:10:50,840
the kitchen stove. The man he called Sam, stopped to

258
00:10:50,879 --> 00:10:53,120
warm himself at our heart. And I never saw such

259
00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,440
a looking creature before. He had a cap with a

260
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,120
button on top of his head, and his hair was

261
00:10:57,159 --> 00:10:59,879
braided and a long tail behind. He laughed, and as

262
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,159
his eyes glittered and they sloped up like a ladder

263
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,600
set against the house, he was just as yellow as

264
00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:07,120
brass and wore a cloth circular with big sleeves, but

265
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:09,639
the rest of 'em looked like other folks. Mara went

266
00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:11,679
back into the corner, and I noticed the Wizard set

267
00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:13,799
his wheel against the wall, and I wondered if he'd

268
00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:15,559
left it out for a sign so the little yellow

269
00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,159
man would know where to stop. The yellow Man went

270
00:11:18,159 --> 00:11:19,799
out to his horse, and the Whizzard took off his

271
00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:21,720
cap and gloves and coat and hung them in the

272
00:11:21,759 --> 00:11:24,720
sitting room. He looked nice. His eyes snapped, and his

273
00:11:24,799 --> 00:11:27,240
hair was cut off close except a brush right along

274
00:11:27,279 --> 00:11:29,600
the middle of his head. We set our chairs up

275
00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:31,679
to the fire, and I watched him and watched him.

276
00:11:32,799 --> 00:11:35,200
If you and that fellow travel together, I says, What

277
00:11:35,399 --> 00:11:38,159
makes him go in a buggy and you on a wheel? Oh?

278
00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,360
I like the bicycle, says he. I've run thousands of

279
00:11:41,399 --> 00:11:43,840
miles on it. I sent Sam out from San Francisco

280
00:11:43,919 --> 00:11:45,799
by the railroad, but I came through on the wheel.

281
00:11:46,039 --> 00:11:48,639
It took me three months. I thought he was a

282
00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,759
funny man, but I liked him too. When Sam came

283
00:11:51,799 --> 00:11:53,440
in from the stable, Maura and I went to the

284
00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:55,799
kitchen and saw him cook supper for One of the

285
00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,840
baskets was jammed full of vittals. He heated a roasted

286
00:11:58,879 --> 00:12:02,039
turkey and made oysters soup, and mashed potatoes and chopped cabbage.

287
00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,120
There were preserves the Wizzar called scotch, and hot rolls

288
00:12:05,159 --> 00:12:07,720
and jelly, and cold chicken, and little round cakes that

289
00:12:07,799 --> 00:12:10,879
melted in your mouth, pickles and nuts and oranges. And

290
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,399
we put the candied honey on the table. The coffee

291
00:12:13,399 --> 00:12:16,360
smelt like thanksgiving. Sam waited on us and I eat

292
00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:19,039
till I's ashamed. We never expected to have such a

293
00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:21,799
dinner in mother's house any more. When Ura and I

294
00:12:21,919 --> 00:12:24,039
got down and begun to toss our oranges, the Wizzard

295
00:12:24,039 --> 00:12:25,799
told Sam to clear the things away and have his

296
00:12:25,879 --> 00:12:28,000
supper in the kitchen, and then to fix the beds

297
00:12:28,039 --> 00:12:30,840
as comfortable as he could. I'd made up my mind.

298
00:12:30,879 --> 00:12:33,080
Even if the Wizard did travel, had that Morron mean

299
00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:35,879
stay there all night, aunt Ibby's would think we were

300
00:12:35,919 --> 00:12:38,759
at Cousin Andy Sanders's, and Cousin Andy Sanders's would think

301
00:12:38,759 --> 00:12:41,320
we were at aunt Ibby's. He sat in Mother's big

302
00:12:41,399 --> 00:12:43,679
chair before the fire, and I felt willing. If it

303
00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:45,799
had been Uncle Mo's in the chair, I wouldn't felt

304
00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,360
willing when a stick broke on the dog irons. We

305
00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,039
piled on more wood, and the clock ticked and struck nine,

306
00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:53,240
and I wished we's never going away from there again.

307
00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,200
R and I played and jumped, and he was blind man,

308
00:12:56,279 --> 00:12:58,919
and we had solid fun till he's tired out. I

309
00:12:59,039 --> 00:13:00,960
showed him my books, for I never took one to

310
00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,639
Uncle Moses. The boys there make ye give up everything,

311
00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:06,600
and they licked their dirty thumbs to turn leaves. Marr

312
00:13:06,639 --> 00:13:08,320
and I stood and looked into the glass doors of

313
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,320
the bookcase like we used to when the fire made

314
00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,759
them like a looking glass. And there were our faces,

315
00:13:12,919 --> 00:13:15,440
hers round and wide between the eyes, and curly headed,

316
00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:17,879
and mine long and narrow between the eyes, and my hair,

317
00:13:17,919 --> 00:13:20,559
and a black roach. I told the wizards she'd better

318
00:13:20,639 --> 00:13:22,960
have a bed made down by the fire, considering the

319
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,399
blankets and comforts were most all out of visitin'. And

320
00:13:25,519 --> 00:13:27,759
he guessed so too, And Sam helped me bring lots

321
00:13:27,759 --> 00:13:29,519
of quilts and a feather tick from my old room

322
00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:31,720
to fix up the lounge. With Sam went into the

323
00:13:31,799 --> 00:13:34,840
kitchen and slept by the stove. Then I undressed Marr

324
00:13:34,919 --> 00:13:37,320
and heard her prayers. After I tucked her in she's

325
00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,759
six years old and dressed herself before mother died, all

326
00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:42,320
but hooking up. I hooked her up, and sometimes she's

327
00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:44,200
swell out for mischief when she ought to swell in.

328
00:13:44,759 --> 00:13:47,080
But now I tended to her entirely because she missed

329
00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:49,720
her mother. The Whizzard acted like he saw something in

330
00:13:49,759 --> 00:13:51,759
the fire. But when Mara was asleep and I sat

331
00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:53,879
down by him, he pushed up my roach and he says,

332
00:13:54,639 --> 00:13:58,279
you're a very fatherly little fellow, Steel Petticourt. It put

333
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:00,320
me in mind to ask him if he sam'spy but

334
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,559
he laughed out loud at the notion. Sam's smaller than you.

335
00:14:03,639 --> 00:14:05,879
And he minds so well, says I. And I never

336
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:07,840
saw a man that was so handy at girl's work.

337
00:14:08,639 --> 00:14:11,600
Sam's an excellent fellow, says the Wizar. But I don't

338
00:14:11,639 --> 00:14:14,399
deserve to have a chinaman and called my son. Oh,

339
00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,159
I says, is he a chinaman? Well, I've read about them,

340
00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,000
but I never saw one before. Then I concluded to

341
00:14:20,039 --> 00:14:22,159
ask the wizard what his own name was, But just

342
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:23,840
then he got up from his chair and brought the

343
00:14:23,879 --> 00:14:26,840
other basket to the fire. Do you know whose Santa

344
00:14:26,879 --> 00:14:30,360
Claus is? He says, talking low. I found that out

345
00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:33,720
two years ago, says I. Well, get her little stockings.

346
00:14:33,759 --> 00:14:37,240
Then he says, I thought you'd like to do this yourself,

347
00:14:37,559 --> 00:14:40,799
says the Wizzer, He acted just like mother. We took

348
00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:43,159
the things out of the basket. There were toy sheep

349
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,200
and dogs, and dolls, and tubs and dishes, and underneath

350
00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,360
them all kinds of candies enough to treat a school.

351
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,399
I felt like the Wizzer was Santa Claus. We stuffed

352
00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:53,679
her a little stocking. Still, they stood alone like kegs,

353
00:14:53,879 --> 00:14:56,039
and tied bundles to them, and fastened them together and

354
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,080
hung them on the mantelpiece. Bounced, wake up and watch us,

355
00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:00,840
and then he doze off, for Bounce was full o

356
00:15:01,039 --> 00:15:03,519
turkey bones than he ever expected to be again, and

357
00:15:03,639 --> 00:15:06,159
Marars leapt away, looking like a doll in the fire shine.

358
00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:08,679
But all at once Bounce gave a jump and a bark.

359
00:15:09,039 --> 00:15:10,960
Back went the door like the wind had tore it open,

360
00:15:11,039 --> 00:15:13,080
and there stood Uncle MOA's and Aunt Ibby, and cousin

361
00:15:13,159 --> 00:15:15,840
Andy Sanders, and the widow Briggs's grown son, and two

362
00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:18,639
or three men behind them. They all looked scared or mad,

363
00:15:18,679 --> 00:15:20,799
and Aunt Ibby's face was so white that her mules

364
00:15:20,799 --> 00:15:24,639
all bristled. This is a pretty how to do, says she,

365
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:26,960
speaking up loud, like she did on wash days or

366
00:15:27,039 --> 00:15:28,679
times she took a stick and drove the boys to

367
00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,159
the woodpile. What's going on in this house? To night?

368
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,519
Fires and candles burning, and travelers putting up and children

369
00:15:34,639 --> 00:15:36,480
running away when they're let go some place else to

370
00:15:36,519 --> 00:15:39,919
stay all night? You little sneak, says she. You'll get

371
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:41,840
one such a whipping as you waked for when your

372
00:15:41,879 --> 00:15:46,559
mother was alive. Stop, stop, says the whizzard peaceably. What

373
00:15:46,679 --> 00:15:49,519
are you doing in this house, says cousin Andy Sanders.

374
00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:51,360
Are you the man I saw go past my place

375
00:15:51,399 --> 00:15:54,159
to night on that wheel pulling the children? I am,

376
00:15:54,759 --> 00:15:56,960
says the Whizzar, and I've been making notes of the

377
00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,919
personal property that has been carried out of the house. Well,

378
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,440
says uncle Mos. I'm the constable, and this is my posse.

379
00:16:05,399 --> 00:16:08,080
The whizzer laughed, and he says, this thorn bush is

380
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,240
my thorn bush, and this dog my dog. I did

381
00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,000
not know what he meant, and they acted as if

382
00:16:13,039 --> 00:16:16,759
they did not either. I arrest you, says Uncle Mos,

383
00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,279
for breaking into a house and disturbing the peace. You

384
00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:23,639
can't do it, says the Whizzer. Go in and take him,

385
00:16:23,879 --> 00:16:26,879
says Uncle Mos to the other men. Because this is

386
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,240
my house, says the Whizzer. I swallowed my breath when

387
00:16:30,279 --> 00:16:33,840
he said that. I wish you'd shut the door, he says.

388
00:16:34,399 --> 00:16:36,320
And since tomorrow is Christmas and I don't want to

389
00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:38,759
harbor any ill, will you can shut it behind instead

390
00:16:38,759 --> 00:16:41,960
of in front of you. I'm Steel Pettichord, this boy's father,

391
00:16:42,279 --> 00:16:45,399
as you might all know by looking at me. Even

392
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,799
cousin Andy Sanders didn't jump any more than I did.

393
00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:50,320
But I jumped for gladness, and seemed like he jumped

394
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,559
for something else. I'm appointed gerdyon to the children, he says.

395
00:16:54,879 --> 00:16:57,240
And I don't want any impudent talk from a stranger.

396
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,279
You pretend you don't know me, Andy Sanders, says the wizard.

397
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,319
But I always knew you. You expected to settle on

398
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:06,799
their land while Mose and his wife pillaged their goods.

399
00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:11,160
I didn't grow up with you for nothing. Steel Petticoord

400
00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,079
died when that boy was a year old, says Aunt Abby.

401
00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:15,960
And she looked so awful and so big I could

402
00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,599
hardly bear to watch her. He was killed by the

403
00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:20,839
Indians on his way from California after he sent his

404
00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,319
money home. He was only kept prisoner by the Indians,

405
00:17:24,559 --> 00:17:27,440
says my father, and sick and ill used. But he

406
00:17:27,519 --> 00:17:29,799
had no notion he was dead till he got away

407
00:17:29,839 --> 00:17:31,920
after a few years and heard his widow was married

408
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,960
again and even mother to another child. It's a likely story,

409
00:17:36,319 --> 00:17:39,319
says cousin Andy Sanders, that a man wouldn't come forward

410
00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:42,799
and claim his own in such case. Your notion of

411
00:17:42,839 --> 00:17:45,720
a man and mine never did agree, Andy Sanders, says

412
00:17:45,799 --> 00:17:48,440
my father, she wasn't to blame, and her second husband

413
00:17:48,559 --> 00:17:51,039
was my best friend. The boy and girl are mine now.

414
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,440
It's some robbing scheme, says Aunt Abby. But she looked

415
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,519
as if she knew him well enough. I've more to

416
00:17:58,559 --> 00:18:00,920
give them than you could have taken from them, he says,

417
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,559
And you may begin to investigate to night. Is that

418
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,799
the widow Briggs's boy, he says. The Briggs boy came

419
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:08,440
up and shook hands with them, and the other men

420
00:18:08,519 --> 00:18:11,279
stepped in and shook hands too. They all begun to talk,

421
00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,039
but Uncle Mose and Aunt Ibby and cousin Andy Sanders

422
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,000
left the door, and I heard them slam the gate.

423
00:18:16,799 --> 00:18:19,279
Mar slept right along, though the neighbors talked so loud

424
00:18:19,279 --> 00:18:21,079
and fast, and I sat down on the lounge at

425
00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,000
her feet, wondering what she would say Christmas morning when

426
00:18:24,039 --> 00:18:26,200
she found out the wizard was my own father, the

427
00:18:26,319 --> 00:18:28,240
mother thought was dead since I was a year old.

428
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:30,720
I felt so queer and glad that something in me

429
00:18:30,759 --> 00:18:33,319
whizzed like the wheel. And while my father was not looking,

430
00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:35,880
and everybody sat up to the fire asking questions, I

431
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,079
slipped over and tried to hug it around the cranks

432
00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:40,759
that he wiggled with his feet. You can read pieces

433
00:18:40,759 --> 00:18:43,599
about Santa Claus comin on a sledge, but that's nothing

434
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,880
to havin your own father that you think is dead

435
00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,839
and gone, Ride up like a regular whizzer and open

436
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:53,839
the house for Christmas. End of the Whizzer by Mary

437
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:54,960
Hartwell Catherwood