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Smith, Jewell Ellen, 1915-1998

"Great Jehoshaphat and Gully Dirt"

"
I started to listen to him. Then I happened to glance toward
the far side of the stage. I was glad I did! There came all the
school girls-Mierd and Irene and Sally and all the rest-every one
dressed up like an angel with pretty shining wings. And right
behind the girls were Wiley and Wallace Goode and the Hansen
boys. But they didn't have on wings. They were just toting little
pasteboard sheep, gray and droopy, and long crooked sticks.
Slowly the angels and the sheep boys circled around behind Bess
and Jim-Bo, and every last one of them leaned their heads over to
look down in the hay.
"Mama, there's something down in that box!"
"Sh-sh, Bandershanks. If you can't see, why here, stand up on
the bench a minute."

I stood on tiptoe and stretched my neck. "It's a baby, Mama!"
"I know."
"He's asleep!"
"Be quiet, Bandershanks, and sit back down."
"Mama, how come the baby's in the hay?"
"Hon, the baby is like the Little Lord Jesus."
I stood up again to look.
"He's got red hair! Mama, that's Miss Ophelia's baby! He-"
We heard a big commotion outside, and everybody turned toward
the back door.


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