Hevelled

When last Saturday proved rainy, I greased the steering throughout, and having mantled the parts once more, did wash the whole car. I now rejoice to behold it couth, kempt, gainly, hevelled and sightly, though much aggrieved over some spottings which I did not find delible.

But how very young and earnest we looked then! And above all, how very, very kempt, not to say hevelled.

I once described Bud Leavitt, the foremost chronicler of outdoor doings in the state of Maine, as “unkempt and dishevelled,” and got a note from him explaining that if he were any more kempt or hevelled than he is, nobody in the Bangor area, where he lives, would have anything to do with him.

All through his life he shunned the negative, lived by the affirmative, kempt, always perfectly hevelled, when Henry entered a room we expected things to happen and we were always appointed.

There’s a scruffy-looking man in front of me. He has baggy pants that sag to various levels and a shirt so dishevelled it’s hard to believe there was ever a time when it was hevelled.