' 'When you are
as old as I be,' says Jerry, 'mayhap you may be foundered too, young
man; I have seen the day when you wouldn't dare to pass that joke
on me, big as you be.' 'Will any gentleman bid for him,' says the
deacon, 'he's cheap at 7s. 6d.' 'Why deacon,' said Jerry, 'why surely
your honour isn't a-goin' for to sell me separate from my poor old
wife, are you? Fifty years have we lived together as man and wife,
and a good wife has she been to me, through all my troubles and
trials, and God knows I have had enough of 'em. No one knows my ways
and my ailments but her, and who can tend me so kind, or who will
bear with the complaints of a poor old man but his wife? Do, deacon,
and Heaven bless you for it, and yours, do sell us together. We have
but a few days to live now, death will divide us soon enough. Leave
her to close my old eyes, when the struggle comes, and when it comes
to you, deacon, as come it must to us all, may this good deed rise up
for you, as a memorial before God. I wish it had pleased him to have
taken us afore it came to this, but his will be done;' and he hung
his head, as if he felt he had drained the cup of degradation to its
dregs. 'Can't afford it, Jerry--can't afford it, old man,' said the
deacon, with such a smile as a November sun gives, a-passin' atween
clouds. 'Last year they took oats for rates, now nothin' but wheat
will go down, and that's as good as cash; and you'll hang on, as most
of you do, yet these many years.
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