Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family | ||
MRS. PARTINGTON AND PROBATE.
“O, what trials a poor widow has to go through!”
sighed Mrs. Partington, rocking herself in a melancholy
way, and holding the morsel of maccaboy untasted
between her thumb and finger; “terrible trials; and O,
what a hardship it is to be executioner to an intestine
estate — where enviable people are trying every way to
overcome the widow's might; where it 's probe it, probe
it, probe it, all the time, and the more you probe it the
worse it seems! The poor widow never gets justice, for
if she gets all, she don't get half enough. I have had
one trial of it, and if ever I should marry again, if it
should so please Providence to order it, I 'll make my
husband fabricate his will before he orders his wedding-cake;
— I 'll take Time by the foretop, as Solomon says,
you may depend upon it.”
She here revived a little, and the subtle powder passed
to its destination, and reported itself home by an emphatic
sneeze.
Extract from a great unwritten poem of 1051 verses,
entitled “Ye Constabel”: —
A large and ample fee,
I 'll now take one from ye t'other side,
Said ye constabel, said he.”
Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family | ||