How it Happened. (down Around the River Poems)

I got to thinkin' of her -- both her parents dead and gone -- / And all her sisters married off, and none but her and John / A-livin' all alone there in that lonesome sort o' way, / And him a blame old bachelor, confirmder ev'ry day! / I'd knowed 'em all from childern, and their daddy from the time / He settled in the neighborhood, and had n't ary a dime / Er dollar, when he married, far to start housekeepin' on! -- / So I got to thinkin' of her -- both her parents dead and gone!

I got to thinkin' of her; and a-wundern what she done / That all her sisters kep' a gittin' married, one by one, / And her without no chances -- and the best girl of the pack -- / An old maid, with her hands, you might say, tied behind her back! / And Mother, too, afore she died, she ust to jes' take on, / When none of 'em was left, you know, but Evaline and John, / And jes' declare to goodness 'at the young men must be bline / To not see what a wife they 'd git if they got Evaline!