Cabot: …Purty, hain’t it? 

Abbie (crossly): I don’t see nothin’ purty. 

Cabot: The sky. Feels like a wa’m field up thar. 

Abbie (sarcastically): Air yew aimin’ to buy up over the farm too? (She snickers contemptuously.)  

Cabot (strangely): I’d like t’ own my place up thar. I’m gittin’ old, Abbie. I’m gittin’ ripe on the bough. (A pause. She stares at him mystified. He goes on.) It’s allus lonesome cold in the house—even when it’s bilin’ hot outside. 

In Part Two, Scene One, Cabot admires the sky, whereas Abbie seems unmoved by it, illustrating their contrasting feelings about the farm. The line Cabot says about a “wa’m field” parallels Eben describing Minnie as a “wa’m plowed field” in Part One, Scene Two. The shared language between father and son shows their similarities, echoing the comments of other characters and demonstrating how they are alike. Although they don't get along, the language shows a kinship and similarity in personality and perspective in Cabot and Eben.

In this scene, Cabot is contemplative, showing tenderness and softness to Abbie that he doesn't display to others. He talks with wonder about a place "up thar," reflecting his religious belief in an afterlife. The idea that the house is cold is also something he repeats at various times, showing his unhappiness with the world he lives in and a desire to go somewhere warmer and kinder. He's concerned with growing old ("ripe on the bough") but here he's expressing acceptance of death if it means a peaceful and warm place in the sky.  

Abbie (Abbie strains her arms towards him with fierce pleading): Don’t ye leave me, Eben! Can’t ye see it hain’t enuf—lovin’ ye like a Maw—can’t ye see it’s got t’ be that an’ more—much more—a hundred times more—fur me t’ be happy—fur yew t’ be happy?  

Abbie says this towards the end of Part Two, Scene Three, when she and Eben are in the parlor. She kisses him, first maternally and then passionately, and expresses her feelings towards him. At this point, Eben is still struggling with giving into his desire and love for Abbie, because he's weighed down by his mother's absence and his memory of her. Abbie's plea illustrates a desire that Eben doesn’t let himself admit—he obsesses over what belongs to him rather than pursuing something that could make him happy. A relationship with Abbie isn't about ownership; it's mutal romantic love, something that is entirely new to Eben.  

Eben: …How could ye—t’murder a pore little critter—ye must’ve swapped yer soul t’ hell! (suddenly raging) Ha! I kin see why ye done it! Not the lies ye jest told—but ‘cause ye wanted t’ steal agen—steal the last thin’ ye’d left me—my part o’ him—no, the hull o’ him—ye saw he looked like me—ye knowed he was all mine—an’ ye couldn’t b’ar it—I know ye! Ye killed him fur bein’ mine! 

In this second-to-last scene of the play, Eben learns that Abbie killed their baby and is lashing out at her in anger and disgust. His actions and words mirror how he spoke to her early in the play when he was trying to deny his desire for her. Here, he reveals that he had strong feelings for the baby, which he hadn’t given voice to before. But it also shows his possessiveness—rather than raging about the farm being his, as he had in their previous altercations, he is now showing possessiveness over the baby, declaring that “he was all mine” and accusing Abbie of killing him “fur bein’ mine.” He’s decided that Abbie wanted to steal what was his, just as he did when he was sure she wanted to steal the farm from him. Eben’s accusations here are similar to those before, but now they bear the weight of a horrific, undeniable tragedy, and they reveal that he loved his son. In the following scene, Eben's love for Abbie has returned, and he is no longer angry with her, but here his anger is also borne out of love, showing a change in his character.