Caleb Burnett was gettin' to be a right strappin' boy when he finally decided it was time to take a wife. He waited till Saturday mornin', put on his Sunday-go-to-meetin' cloths and lit out fer town, where he knew there'd be a dance that night.

When the dance got under way, Caleb looked over the girls there and picked out the best lookin' one he could find that wasn't already spoke for and went to work. By the time the dance ended, he had a promise of marriage.

Sunday mornin' he collected his bride-to-be, they went to the church and got married and then and they headed up the holler so she could met paw an' the rest of Caleb's family.

Well, Maw and Paw Burnett were just tickled with Caleb's choice. Maw put on a real fine dinner of chicken 'n' dumplins, collard greens, black-eyed peas and apple pie and the menfolk just sat around drinkin' likker and eyein' Caleb's new wife.

'Long about sundown, Caleb decided it was time to do what generations of Burnett boys had done. He took his new wife by the hand and led her up the path and across the ridge to the family's other little cabin.

Back down at the main house things settled down and Paw was sittin' out on the stoop, nippin' on a jug, smokin' his pipe and rockin' in his chair. He was just feelin' real good when a shot rang out. Paw stopped, listened for a minute and then went back to rockin'.

A few minutes later Caleb came just flyin' down the path and he was all upset. He came runnin' up on the porch and said: "Aw, Paw — I had to shoot her!"

Paw, figurin' out right away that something serious was goin' on, stopped rockin' and said: "Yeah, why's that, Boy?"

Caleb said: "Aw, Paw — she was a virgin!"

Paw thought about that for a minute, took a pull on his pipe and said: "Ya done right, Boy. Any woman ain't good enough fer kin ain't good enough fer a Burnett."