"
"But I am, Johnnie, I am. I've been working hard since you left." As if
she had not worked hard _before_ I left ... she informed me that, giving
away to her children what she had received for the sale of her two
houses (that never brought her anything because of her simplicity, while
they were in her possession) she had grown tired of "being a burden to
them," as she phrased it, and had hired herself out here and there as
scrubwoman, washerwoman, housekeeper, and what not....
Later I learned that nothing could be done with her, she was so
obstinate. She had broken away despite the solicitude of all her
children--who all loved her and wanted her to stay with them.
At last she had answered an advertisement for a housekeeper ... that
appeared in a farm journal ... and so she had met her old cork-legged
veteran, whom she now had her mind set on marrying.
"But Granma, to get married at your age?"
"I'd like to ask why not?" she answered sweetly, "I feel as young as
ever when it comes to men ... and the man ... you wait till you see him
... you'll like him ... he's such a good provider, Johnnie; he draws a
steady pension of sixty dollars a month from the Government, and he'll
give me a good home."
"But any of my aunts and uncles would do the same."
"Yes, Johnnie, but it ain't the same as having a man of your own around
... there's nothing like that, Johnnie, for a woman.
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