AtthisCephasallbutblubberedintheagonyofhissoul。ItwasbadenoughtobetoldbyPattythatshewas\"consideringseveral，\"buthisfirstromancehadendedinsuchcompletedisasterthathesawinavisionhislifeblasted；changedinonebriefmomentfromthatofaprosperousyoungpaintertothatofablightedanddespisedbungler，whoseweek’swageswerelikelytobeexpendedinmolassestomakegoodtheDeacon’sloss。
\"Findthosecleaning—clothsIleftinthehackroom，\"orderedPattywithaflashingeye。\"Getsomeblocks，orbitsofboard，orstones，formetowalkon，sothatIcangetoutofyournastymess。FillBillMorrill’sjug，quick，andsetitoutonthestepsforhimtopickup。Idon’tknowwhatyou’ddowithoutmetoplanforyou！Lockthefrontdoorandhangfather’ssignthathe’sgonetodinneronthedoorknob。Scoopupallthemolassesyoucanwithoneofthosenewtrowelsonthecounter。Scoop，andscrape，andscoop，andscrape；thenputaclothonyouroldestbroom，pourlotsofwateron，pailafterpail，andswab！Whenyou’veswabbedtillitwon’tdoanymoregood，thenscrub！Afterthat，I
shouldn’twonderifyouhadtofanthefloorwithanewspaperorit’llnevergetdrybeforefathercomeshome。I’llsitontheflourbarrelalittlewhileandadvise，butIcan’tstaylongbecauseI’mgoingtoapicnic。Hurryupanddon’tlookasifyouweregoingtodieanyminute！It’snousecryingoverspiltmolasses。Youdon’tsupposeI’mgoingtotellanytalesafteryou’vemademeanofferofmarriage，doyou？I’mnotsomeanasallthat，thoughImayhavemyfaults。\"
Itwasnearlytwoo’clockbeforethecardannouncingDeaconBaxter’sabsenceatdinnerwasremovedfromthefrontdoorknob，andwhenthestorewasfinallyreopenedforbusinessitwasamostdejectedclerkwhodealtoutgroceriestothepublic。Theworstfeatureoftheaffairwasthateveryoneinthetwovillagessuddenlyandcontemporaneouslywantedmolasses，sothatCephasspenttheafternoonreviewinghismiserybycontinuallyturningthetapanddrawingoffthefatalliquid。Then，too，everyinquisitiveboyintheneighborhoodcametothebackofthestoretoviewtheoperation，exclaiming：\"Whatmakesthefloorsowet？Hain’tbeenspillin’molasses，haveyer？Betyerhave！GoodjokeonOldFoxy！\"
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