Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1893 — PELEG’S DIAMONDS. [ARTICLE]

PELEG’S DIAMONDS.

Detroit Free Press. Peleg M. Bivins, taking him all together, was the provokenest man l ever see. Not that Peleg was not honest and Methodist, pious, and all that, but he did have the shif’lessest ways and the carelessest habits of anybody I ever came across. He owned a tol’able good farm on the edge of town and somehow made a living on it, and they did say he had money in the bank, but he wasn’t thrifty and didn’t seem to knQw how to make the odds and ends useful. If he had an old plow or an old suit of clothes, or a pig that didn’t exactly suit him, he never could tell, what to do with it, and was sure to give it to some of his poor neighbors, and one time he gave a man an old horse and the man actually sold him for |3O. Fifty dollars! and Peleg M. only laughed that lazy laugh of his when he heard of it. Another thing that I didn’t like about Peleg M. was that he took a fancy to me. Me! Mary Kent Colliper, one of the best catches in the country, and the way he pestered my daily life out was terrib,le to contemplate. He kept on coming around two or three times a week, ambling up to the front door from the gate like a pacing colt and asking where Mary was, when Mary was busy in the kitchen or doing her housework and having no time to waste on any man, much less any man like Peleg M. Bivins.

But Peleg M. just laughed when I scolded and set around in the way, talking to mother, for she thought Peleg M. was the nicest young man in the whole State. One night Peleg M. came to see me expressly, so he said, and mother went over to a neighbor s. “I’d like to know,” says I to him, “I'd like to know, Mr. Bivins, why you annoy me with your attentions.” You see I was on my high horse and used high language. “I didn’t know I annoyed you, Miss Colliper,” said he, chuckling kind of mean like. “I thought I only . pestered you. That’s what you’ve said all along." “You know what I mean,” said I, “and why do you come to see me.” “There isn’t any girl, so handy, Miss Mary,” said he. “Oh,” said I, with my nose turned up. “If that’s the reason I won’t be so handy,” and I got up to leave the room. “Are you going to leave me here alone,” said he. “There’s nobody to leave you with, is there,” said I. “Not that I know of. But I’m right good company for myself and I think I’d enjoy a quiet evening. So run along up stairs.” “I won’t, either,” said I, finding that he hadn’t better sense than to stay there by himself. I didn't say anything more for five minutes, and he didn’t. “I like this,” he said after a while. “Like what?” said I. “Like this quiet evening. I didn’t think it could be so quiet while you were around.” “Oh, didn’t you, said I. “Mary,’’said he,“l’d like to marry a woman as quiet as you are. I believe I could stand married life in that way.” “Don’t talk to me about marrying,” said I. “I wouldn’t marry you if there was a diamond on every hair in your head.” “It wouldn’t do you any good if you did,” said he, softening his voice till it sounded nicer than I ever heard it before; “because, Mary, you are such a good dispositioned girl that you never would pull any Of mv hair out, and what good would the diamonds do you?” 1,, don’t know about that,” said I, feeling flattered a good deal. “I’m very fond of diamonds and I don’t ever expect to have one.” Peleg M. chuckled a little, and reaching in his pocket he brought out a tiny silver box and handed it to me. “What is it?” said I. “Look and see,” said he, and I opened the box. “Oh, oh,” said I, for there was the shiningest, brightest diamonds in a ring I ever set my eyes on, and it must have cost as much as S4O. “What are you going to do with it?” said I, handling it as if it were a precious baby. “Going to give it to a g'r.,” said he. “What girl?” said I, shutting it up with a snap and holding it tight. “A girl that likes me and that I don’t pester half to death,” said he. “I think you might give it to me,” said I, feeling hurt. “I’d rather have a diamond than anything in the world.” “But Peleg M. Bivins goes with the diamond,” said he. Then I had to laugh a little, for I really didn’t hate Peleg M. “Well,” said I, “I suppose every blessing has it drawbacks, and it’s a rare apple that hasn't a speck in it somewhere.” Peleg wasn’t saucy a bit when he spoke next“Mary,” said he, “do you really mean that?” I just nodded and laughed. “Stand up here,” he said, grabbing for me, “and let me kiss you.” I never would have thought it of myself, but would you really believe it, I got right up and Peleg M. kissed me four times and I seemed to like it, for I had that shining ring on my finger and somehow there was a new light filling the room and falling around Peleg M. Half an hour afterward when mother came home 1 tried to make Peleg M. keep still, but he told her all about it and she actually kissed Peleg M. Bivins.