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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16308-h.zip b/16308-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0310238 --- /dev/null +++ b/16308-h.zip diff --git a/16308-h/16308-h.htm b/16308-h/16308-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f9adc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/16308-h/16308-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4145 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's, And Other Stories, by W.H.H. Murray. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + div.ctr table { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept +New Year's, by W. H. H. Murray + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's + And Other Stories + +Author: W. H. H. Murray + +Release Date: July 16, 2005 [EBook #16308] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW DEACON TUBMAN AND PARSON *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/cover.jpg" + alt="Cover." + title="Cover." /> +</div> + +<h1>How Deacon Tubman and</h1> + +<h1>Parson Whitney Kept New Year's</h1> + +<h2><i>And Other Stories</i></h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>W.H.H. MURRAY</h2> + +<h4><i>Illustrated</i></h4> + +<h5>BOSTON</h5> + +<h5>CUPPLES & HURD</h5> + +<h5><i>94 Boylston Street</i></h5> + +<h4>1888</h4> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2> + +<div class='ctr'> +<table summary="Contents"> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"><b>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#How_Deacon_Tubman_and_Parson_Whitney_Kept_New_Years"><b>How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#The_Old_Beggars_Dog"><b>The Old Beggar's Dog</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#The_Ball"><b>The Ball</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#Who_Was_He"><b>Who Was He</b></a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</a></h2> + + +<h3>I</h3> + +<h4>HOW DEACON TUBMAN AND PARSON WHITNEY KEPT NEW YEAR'S</h4> + +<h5>(Illustrated by THOMAS WORTH)</h5> + +<div class='ctr'> +<table summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image01">Vignette Initial—"New Year's, eh?"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image02">"What's the matter with the pesky thing?"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image03">"Miranda belonged to that sisterhood commonly known as spinsters"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image04">Miranda's chirography—"A Happy New Year"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image05">"Ha, none of that, you woolly-coated rogue, you"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image06">"I want to talk with you about the church"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image07">"Tell the folks that you won't be back till night"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image08">"It was found that the parson could steer a sled"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image09">"Little Alice Dorchester begged him to stay"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image10">"Old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image11">"Hillow, Deacon, ain't you going to shake out old shamble-heels to-day?"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image12">"Jack was going nigh to a thirty clip"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image13">"Go it, old boy!"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image14">Tail piece</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<h4>THE OLD BEGGAR'S DOG</h4> + +<h5>(Illustrated by A.B. SHUTE)</h5> + +<div class='ctr'> +<table summary="Contents"> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image15">Vignette Initial—"Trusty"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image16">"The old man and his dog were constant companions"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image17">"He was teaching the dog a new trick"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image18">"It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the officer roundly"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image19">Tail piece</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<h3>III</h3> + +<h4>THE BALL</h4> + +<h5>(Illustrated by A.B. SHUTE)</h5> + +<div class='ctr'> +<table summary="Contents"> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image20">Vignette Initial—"It was evening"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image21">"The Lad began to play"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image22">"The God of Music was there"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image23">"Even the waiters caught the infection"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image24">"The music stopped with a snap"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image25">Tail piece</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<h4>WHO WAS HE?</h4> + +<h5>(Illustrated by J.H. Snow)</h5> + +<div class='ctr'> +<table summary="Contents"> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image26">Vignette Initial—"John Norton watched the approaching fire"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image27">"A deer suddenly sprang from the bank"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image28">"Past mossy banks where the great eddies whirled"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image29">"Come ashore—you and your companion"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image30">"The four sat in silence by the fire"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#image31">Tail piece</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="How_Deacon_Tubman_and_Parson_Whitney_Kept_New_Years" id="How_Deacon_Tubman_and_Parson_Whitney_Kept_New_Years">How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's</a></h2> + +<h4>I</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> + <a id="image01" name="image01"> + <img class="plain" src="images/01.jpg" + alt="Vignette Initial N" + title="Vignette Initial N" /></a> +</div> +<p>ew Year's, eh?" exclaimed Deacon Tubman, as he lifted himself to his +elbow and peered through the frosty window pane toward the east, where +the colorless morning was creeping shiveringly into sight.</p> + +<p>"New Year's, eh?" he repeated, as he hitched himself into an upright +position and straightened his night-cap, that had somehow gone askew in +his slumber. "Bless my soul, how the years fly! But that's all right; +yes, that's all right. No one can expect them to stay, and why should +we? there's better fish in the net than we've taken out yet," and with +this consolatory observation, the deacon rubbed his head energetically, +while the bright, happy look of his face grew brighter and happier as +the process proceeded. "Yes, there's better fish in the net than we've +taken out," he added, gayly, "and if there isn't, there's no use of +crying about it." With this philosophical observation, he bounced +merrily out of bed and into his trousers.</p> + +<p>I say Deacon Tubman bounced into his trousers, but, to be exact, I +should say that he bounced into half of them; and, with the other half +trailing behind him, he skipped to the window and, putting his little, +plump, round face almost against the pane, gazed out upon the world. +Everything was bright, sparkling and cold, for the earth was covered +with snow and the clear gray of the early morning spread its rayless +illumination over the great dome, in the fading blue of which a few +starry points still gleamed.</p> + +<p>"Bless me, what a morning!" he exclaimed. "Beautiful! beautiful!" he +repeated, as he stood with his eyes fastened upon the east and, +balancing himself on one foot, felt around with the other for that half +of the trousers not yet appropriated. "Bless me, what a day," he +ejaculated, as he saved himself by a quick, upward wrench, from falling +from a trip he had inadvertently given himself in an abortive effort to +insert his foot into the unfilled leg of his pantaloons. "Ha, ha, that's +a good un," he exclaimed; "trip yourself up in getting into your own +trousers, will you, Deacon Tubman?" and he laughed long and merrily to +himself over his little joke.</p> + +<p>"A happy New Year to everybody," cried the deacon, as he thrust his foot +into his stocking, for the floor of the good man's chamber was +carpetless and so cleanly white that its cleanliness itself was enough +to freeze one. "Yes, a happy New Year to everybody, high, low, rich, +poor, south, north, east and west, where'er they are, the world over, at +home and abroad—Amen!" And the deacon, partly at the sweeping character +of his benediction and partly because he was feeling so jolly inside he +couldn't help it, laughed merrily, as he seized a boot and thrust his +foot vigorously into it.</p> + +<p>"What's this? what's this?" cried the deacon, as he tugged away at the +straps until he was red in the face. "This boot never went on hard +before. What's the matter with the pesky thing?" And he arose from his +chair, and, standing on one foot, turned and twisted about, tugging all +the while at the straps.</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the deacon, disgusted with its strange +behavior, "what is the matter with the pesky boot?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image02" name="image02"> + <img src="images/02.jpg" + alt=""What's the matter with the pesky thing?"" + title=""What's the matter with the pesky thing?"" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>What's the matter with the pesky thing?</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>Then he sat down upon the chair again, wrenched his foot out of the +offending article and held it up between both hands in front of him and +shook it violently, when, with a bump and a bound, out rattled a package +upon the floor and rolled half way across the room. The deacon was after +it in a jiffy and, seizing it in his little fat hands, held it up +before his eyes and read: "A New Year's gift from Miranda."</p> + +<p>Now Miranda was the deacon's housekeeper,—Mrs. Tubman having peacefully +departed this life some years before,—and, speaking appreciatively of +the sex, a more prim, prudent, particular member of it never existed. +She had been initiated, some ten years before, into that amiable +sisterhood commonly known as spinsters, and was, it might be added, a +typical representative. Industrious? You may well say so. Her floors, +stoves, dishes, linen,—- well, if they weren't clean, nowhere on earth +might you find clean ones. She hated dirt as she did original sin, and +I've no doubt but that in her own mind considered its existence in the +world as the one certain, damning and conclusive evidence of the Fall. +It was really an entertainment to see her looking about the house for a +speck of dirt; and the cold-blooded manner in which she would seize upon +it, bear it away in the dust pan, and, removing the lid of the stove, +consign it to the flames, was—well,—what should I say,—yes, that's +it—was most edifying.</p> + +<p>Amiable! Yes,—after her way. And a very noiseless sort of way it was, +too. For, though she had lived with the deacon for nearly a dozen +years, he had never known her to so far forget her propriety as to +indulge in anything more hearty and hilarious than the most decorous of +smiles, which smile was such a kind of illumination to her face as a +star of inconceivably small magnitude makes to the sky in trailing +across it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image03" name="image03"> + <img src="images/03.jpg" + alt=""Miranda belonged to that sisterhood commonly known as spinsters."" + title=""Miranda belonged to that sisterhood commonly known as spinsters."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Miranda belonged to that sisterhood commonly known as spinsters.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>Of her personal appearance I will say—nothing. Sacred let it be to +memory! If you ever saw her, or one like her, whether full front or +profile, whether sideways or edgewise, the vision, I am ready to swear, +remains with you vividly still. Let it suffice, then, when I observe +that Miss Miranda was not physically stout, and that the deacon's +standing joke was by no means a bad one when he described her as "not +actually burdened with fat." Yes, she was a very cleanly, very thin, +very prudent, very particular person, that never joined in any sports or +amusements; never joked or participated in any happy events in a happy, +joyous fashion, but lived unobtrusively, and, I may say, coldly, in her +own prim, cold, bloodless, little world.</p> + +<p>"Gracious me!" exclaimed the deacon, as he looked at the package. +"Gracious me! what has got into Mirandy?" And he looked scrutinizingly +at the little, fine, thin, faintly-traced inscription on the package, as +if the writer had begrudged the ink that must be expended on the +letters, or from a subtle and mystic self-sympathy had made the +chirography faint, delicate, and attenuated as her own self.</p> + +<p>"Gracious me!" reiterated Deacon Tubman, as he proceeded to untie the +knot in the pale blue ribbon smoothly bound around the package. "Who +ever knew Mirandy to make a present before?" and the deacon was so +surprised at what had taken place that, for a moment, he doubted the +evidence of his own senses. "And put it in my boot, too, ha, ha!" And +the deacon stopped undoing the parcel, and, lying back in the chair, +roared at the thought of the prim, modest, particular Miranda +perpetrating such a joke. And when the wrapping of the package was at +last undone, for every corner and crease of it was as carefully turned +and as sharply edged as if the smoothing iron had passed over +them,—will wonders ever cease in this startling world of ours?—out +dropped a night-cap! Yes, a night-cap, delicately and deftly crocheted +in warm, woolen stuff of a rich cardinal color.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha," laughed the deacon, as he held the cap between his thumb and +forefinger of one hand up before his eyes, while he rubbed his bald +crown with the other. "Good for Mirandy." And then, as a small slip of +white paper fluttered to the floor, he seized it, and read:</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image04" name="image04"> + <img src="images/04.jpg" + alt="Miranda's chirography—"A Happy New Year"" + title="Miranda's chirography—"A Happy New Year"" /></a> +</div> + +<p>"A good girl, a good girl," said the deacon, "not overburdened with fat, +but a good girl!" and with this rather equivocal compliment to the +donor, with his boot in one hand and the cap in the other, he rushed +impulsively to the stairway and shouted:</p> + +<p>"A happy New Year to you, Mirandy. God bless you; God bless you," and he +swung the boot, instead of the cap, vigorously over his head, while his +round, rosy face beamed down the stairway into the cold hall below, like +a warm harvest moon over the autumnal stubble.</p> + +<p>In response to the deacon's hearty, and, I may say, somewhat uproarious +greeting, the kitchen door timidly opened, and Miranda, who had been +astir for nearly an hour and had the table already laid for breakfast, +stepped into view, and, with a smile on her face that actually broadened +its thinness dangerously near to the proportions of a genial and happy +reciprocation of the jovial greeting, dropped a courtesy, and said:</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Deacon Tubman, I hope you may have many happy returns."</p> + +<p>"A thousand to you, Mirandy," shouted the deacon in response, "a +thousand to you and your—children!" and the little man swung his boot +vehemently over his head and laughed like a boy at his own joke, while +poor, frightened, scandalized Miranda turned and scudded, like a patch +of thin vapor blown by an unexpected gust of wind, through the door into +the kitchen, with a face colored scarlet from an actual, unmistakable +blush, though whence the blood came that reddened the clean cold-white +of her thin face is a physiological mystery.</p> + +<p>In a moment the deacon was fully dressed and he scuttled as merrily and +noisily down the resounding stairway as a gust of autumn wind running +through a patch of russet leaves. Through the hall and kitchen he +bustled and out into the woodshed, where he ran against old Towser, the +big Newfoundland watch-dog, who stood in the passage expectantly +watching his coming.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image05" name="image05"> + <img src="images/05.jpg" + alt=" "Ha, none of that, you woolly-coated rogue, you."" + title=" "Ha, none of that, you woolly-coated rogue, you."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption"> "<i>Ha, none of that, you woolly-coated rogue, you.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"A happy New Year to you, Towser, old boy," he cried, and, seizing the +huge dog by his shaggy coat, he wrestled with him like a merry-hearted +boy. "A happy New Year to you, old fellow," he repeated, as the dog +broke into a series of joyful barks; "speak it right out, Towser. God +made you as full of fun as he has the rest of us, and a good deal +fuller than many of your kind, and mine, too," and with this backhanded +hit at the vinegar-visaged and acidulous-hearted of his own species, the +deacon shuffled along the crisp, icy path toward the barn, while Towser +gamboled through the deep snow and plunged into the huge, fleecy drifts +in as merry a mood as his merry master.</p> + +<p>"A happy New Year to you, old Jack," he called out to his horse, as he +entered the barn, and Jack neighed a happy return, more expectant, +perhaps, of his breakfast of oats than appreciative of the greeting. +"And a happy New Year to you, you youngster," he shouted to the colt, +who, being at liberty to roam at will, had already appropriated a +section of the hay-mow to his own satisfaction. "Ha, none of that, you +woolly-coated rogue, you," he cried, as he jumped aside to escape a kick +that the bunch of equine mischief anticly snapped at him. "None of that, +you little unconverted sinner, you. I verily believe the parson is +right, and that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>'In Adam's fall<br /></span> +<span>We sinned all—'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>men and beasts, colts and children, all in one lot."</p> + +<p>And so, talking to himself and his cattle, the jolly little man, whose +good-heartedness represented more genuine orthodoxy than the whole +Westminster catechism, bustled merrily about the barn and did his +chores, while the cockerels crowed noisily from their perches overhead, +the fat white pigs grunted in lazy contentment from their warm beds of +straw, and the oxen, with their large, luminous eyes, gazed benevolently +at him as he crammed their mangers generously full with the fragrant hay +that smelled sweetly of the flowers and odorous meadow lands, where in +the warm summer sunshine it had ripened for the welcome scythe.</p> + +<p>How happy is life, in whatever part of this great fragrant world of ours +it is lived, when men live it happily; and how gloomy seems its +sunshine, even, when seen through the shadows and darkness of our surly +moods.</p> + +<p>What happy-hearted fairy was it that possessed the deacon's heart and +home, on this bright New Year's morn, I wonder? Surely, some angel of +fun and frolic had flown into the deacon's house with the opening of the +year and was filling it, and the hearts within it, too, with mirthful +moods. For the deacon laughed and joked as he buttered his cakes and +fired off his funny sayings at Miranda, as he had never joked and +laughed before, until Miranda herself smiled and giggled; yes, actually +giggled, behind the coffee-urn, at his merry squibs, as if the little +imp above mentioned was mischievously tickling her—yes, I will say +it,—her spinster ribs.</p> + +<p>"Mirandy, I'm going up to see the parson," exclaimed the deacon, when +the morning devotions were over, "and see if I can thaw him out a +little. I've heard there used to be a lot of fun in him in his younger +days, but he's sort of frozen all up latterly, and I can see that the +young folks are afraid of him and the church, too, but that won't +do—no, that won't do," repeated the good man emphatically, "for the +minister ought to be loved by young and old, rich and poor, and +everybody; and a church without young folks in it is like a family with +no children in it. Yes, I'll go up and wish him a happy New Year, +anyway. Perhaps I can get him out for a ride to make some calls on the +people and see the young folks at their fun. It'll do him good and them +good and me good, and do everybody good." Saying which the deacon got +inside his warm fur coat and started towards the barn to harness Jack +into the worn, old-fashioned sleigh; which sleigh was built high in the +back and had a curved dasher of monstrous proportions, ornamented with a +prancing horse in an impossible attitude, done in bright vermilion on a +blue-black ground.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>"Happy New Year to you, Parson Whitney; happy New Year to you," cried +the deacon, from his sleigh to the parson, who stood curled up and +shivering in the doorway of the parsonage, "and may you live to enjoy a +hundred."</p> + +<p>"Come in; come in," cried Parson Whitney, in response, "I'm glad you've +come; I'm glad you've come. I've been wanting to see you all the +morning," and in the cordiality of his greeting, he literally pulled the +little man through the doorway into the hall and hurried him up the +stairway to his study in the chamber overhead.</p> + +<p>"Thinking of me! Well, now, I never," exclaimed the deacon, as, assisted +by the parson, he twisted and wriggled himself out of the coat that he a +little too snugly filled for an easy exit. "Thinking of me, and among +all these books, too; bibles, catechisms, tracts, theologies, sermons; +well, well, that's funny! What made you think of me?"</p> + +<p>"Deacon Tubman," responded the parson, as he seated himself in his +arm-chair, "I want to talk with you about the church."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image06" name="image06"> + <img src="images/06.jpg" + alt=""I want to talk with you about the church."" + title=""I want to talk with you about the church."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>I want to talk with you about the church.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"The church!" ejaculated the deacon, in response, "nothing going wrong, +I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, things are going wrong, deacon," responded the parson; "the +congregation is growing smaller and smaller, and yet I preach good, +strong, biblical, soul-satisfying sermons, I think."</p> + +<p>"Good ones! good ones!" answered the deacon, promptly; "never better; +never better in the world."</p> + +<p>"And yet the people are deserting the sanctuary," rejoined the parson, +solemnly, "and the young people won't come to the sociables and the +little children seem actually afraid of me. What shall I do, deacon?" +and the good man put the question with pathetic emphasis.</p> + +<p>"You have hit the nail on the head, square's a hatchet, parson," +responded the deacon. "The congregation is thinning; the young people +don't come to the meetings, and the little children are afraid of you."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, deacon?" cried the parson, in return. "What is it?" +he repeated, earnestly; "speak it right out; don't try to spare my +feelings. I will listen to—I will do anything to win back my people's +love," and the strong, old-fashioned, Calvinistic preacher said it in a +voice that actually trembled.</p> + +<p>"You can do it; you can do it in a week!" exclaimed the deacon, +encouragingly. "Don't worry about it, parson, it'll be all right; it'll +be all right. Your books are the trouble."</p> + +<p>"Eh? eh? books?" ejaculated the parson. "What have they to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"Everything," replied the beacon, stoutly; "you pore over them day in +and day out; they keep you in this room here, when you should be out +among the people. Not making pastoral visits, I don't mean that, but +going around among them, chatting and joking and having a good time. +They would like it, and you would like it, and as for the young +folks,—how old are you, parson?"</p> + +<p>"Sixty, next month," answered the parson, solemnly, "sixty next month."</p> + +<p>"Thirty! thirty! that's all you are, parson, or all you ought to be," +cried the deacon. "Thirty, twenty, sixteen. Let the figures slide down +and up, according to circumstances, but never let them go higher than +thirty, when you are dealing with young folks. I'm sixty myself, +counting years, but I'm only sixteen; sixteen this morning, that's all, +parson," and he rubbed his little, round, plump hands together, looked +at the parson and winked.</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul, Deacon Tubman, I don't know but that you are right!" +answered the parson. "Sixty? I don't know as I am sixty." And he began +to rub his own hands, and came within an ace of executing a wink at the +deacon himself.</p> + +<p>"Not a day over twenty, if I am any judge of age," responded the deacon, +deliberately, as he looked the white-headed old minister over with a +most comic imitation of seriousness. "Not a day over twenty, on my +honor," and the deacon leaned forward toward the parson and gave him a +punch with his thumb, as one boy might deliver a punch at another, and +then he lay back in his chair and laughed so heartily that the parson +caught the infectious mirth and roared away as heartily as the deacon.</p> + +<p>Yes, it was impossible to sit hobnobbing with the jolly little deacon on +that bright New Year's morning and not be affected by the happiness of +his mood, for he was actually bubbling over with fun and as full of +frolic as if the finger on the dial had, in truth, gone back forty years +and he was only sixteen. "Only sixteen, parson, on my honor."</p> + +<p>"But what can I do," queried the good man, sobering down. "I make my +pastoral visits"—</p> + +<p>"Pastoral visits!" responded Deacon Tubman, "oh, yes, and they are all +well enough for the old folks, but they ar'n't the kind of biscuit the +young folks like—too heavy in the centre, and over-hard in the crust, +for young teeth, eh, parson?"</p> + +<p>"But what shall I do? what shall I do?" reiterated the parson, somewhat +despondently.</p> + +<p>"Oh, put on your hat and gloves and warmest coat and come along with me. +We will see what the young folks are doing and will make a day of it. +Come, come; let the old books and catechisms and sermons and tracts have +a respite for once, and we'll spend the day out of doors with the boys +and girls and the people."</p> + +<p>"I'll do it!" exclaimed the parson. "Deacon Tubman, you are right. I +keep to my study too closely. I don't see enough of the world and what's +going on in it. I was reading the Testament this morning and I was +impressed with the Master's manner of living and teaching. It is not +certain that he ever preached more than twice in a church during all his +ministry on the earth. And the children! how much he loved the children +and how the little ones loved him! And why shouldn't they love me, too? +Why shouldn't they? I'll make them do it. The lambs of my flock shall +love me." And with these brave words, Parson Whitney bundled himself up +in his warmest garment and followed the deacon down stairs.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image07" name="image07"> + <img src="images/07.jpg" + alt=""Tell the folks that you won't be back till night."" + title=""Tell the folks that you won't be back till night."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Tell the folks that you won't be back till night.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Tell the folks that you won't be back till night," called the deacon +from the sleigh, "for this is New Year's and we're going to make a day +of it." And he laughed away as heartily as might be—so heartily, +indeed, that the parson joined in the laughter himself as he came +shuffling down the icy path toward him.</p> + +<p>"Bless me, how much younger I feel already," said the good man, as he +stood up in the sleigh, and with a long, strong breath, breathed the +cool, pure air into his lungs. "Bless me, how much younger I feel +already," he repeated, as he settled down into the roomy seat of the old +sleigh. "Only sixteen to-day, eh, deacon," and he nudged him with his +elbow.</p> + +<p>"That's all; that's all, parson," answered the deacon, gayly, as he +nudged him vigorously back, "that's all we are, either of us," and, +laughing as merrily as boys, the two glided away in the sleigh.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image08" name="image08"> + <img src="images/08.jpg" + alt=""It was found that the parson could steer a sled."" + title=""It was found that the parson could steer a sled."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>It was found that the parson could steer a sled.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>Well, perhaps they didn't have fun that day—those two old boys that had +started out with the feeling that they were "only sixteen," and bound to +make "a day of it." And they did make a day of it, in fact, and such a +day as neither had had for forty years. For, first, they went to +Bartlett's hill, where the boys and girls were coasting, and coasted +with them for a full hour; and then it was discovered by the younger +portion of his flock that the parson was not an old, stiff, solemn, +surly poke, as they had thought, but a pleasant, good-natured, kindly +soul, who could take and give a joke and steer a sled as well as the +smartest boy in the crowd; and when it came to snow-balling, he could +send a ball further than Bill Sykes himself, who could out-throw any boy +in town, and roll up a bigger block to the new snow fort they were +building than any three boys among them. And how the parson enjoyed +being a boy again! How exhilarating the slide down the steep hill; how +invigorating the pure, cool air; how pleasant the noise of the chatting +and joking going on around him; how bright and sweet the boys and girls +looked, with their rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes; how the old parson's +heart thrilled as they crowded around him when he would go, and urged +him to stay; and how little Alice Dorchester begged him, with her little +arms around his neck, to "jes stay and gib me one more slide."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image09" name="image09"> + <img src="images/09.jpg" + alt=""Little Alice Dorchester begged him to stay."" + title=""Little Alice Dorchester begged him to stay."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Little Alice Dorchester begged him to stay.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"You never made such a pastoral call as that, parson," said the deacon, +as they drove away amid the cheers of the boys and the good-byes of the +girls, while the former fired off a volley of snowballs in his honor and +the latter waved their muffs and handkerchiefs after them.</p> + +<p>"God bless them! God bless them!" said the parson. "They have lifted a +great load from my heart and taught me the sweetness of life, of youth +and the wisdom of Him who took the little ones in His arms and blessed +them. Ah, deacon," he added, "I've been a great fool, but I'll be so, +thank God, no more."</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>Now, old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character, and had a great +history, but of this none in that section, save the little deacon, knew +a word, Dick Tubman, the deacon's youngest, wildest, and, I might add, +favorite son, had purchased him of an impecunious jockey at the close of +a, to him, disastrous campaign, that cleaned him completely out and left +him in a strange city, a thousand miles from home, with nothing but the +horse, harness and sulky, and a list of unpaid bills that must be met +before he could leave the scene of his disastrous fortunes. Under such +circumstances it was that Dick Tubman ran across the horse and, partly +out of pity for its owner and partly out of admiration of the horse, +whose failure to win at the races was due more to his lack of condition +and the bad management of his jockey than lack of speed, bought him +off-hand and, having no use for him himself, shipped him as a present to +the deacon, with whom he had now been for four years, with no harder +work than plowing out the good old man's corn in the summer, and jogging +along the country roads on the deacon's errands. Having said this much +of the horse, perhaps I should more particularly describe him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image10" name="image10"> + <img src="images/10.jpg" + alt=""Old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character."" + title=""Old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character</i>."</span> +</div> + +<p>He was, in sooth, an animal of most unique and extraordinary appearance. +For, in the first place, he was quite seventeen hands in height and long +in proportion. He was also the reverse of shapely in the fashion of his +build, for his head was long and bony and his hip bones sharp and +protuberant; his tail was what is known among horsemen as a "rat tail," +being but scantily covered with hair, and his neck was even more +scantily supplied with a mane; while in color he could easily have taken +any premium put up for homeliness, being an ashen roan, mottled with +black and patches of divers hue. But his legs were flat and corded like +a racer's, his neck long and thin as a thoroughbred's, his nostrils +large, his ears sharply pointed and lively, while the white rings around +his eyes hinted at a cross, somewhere in his pedigree, with Arabian +blood. A huge, bony, homely-looking horse he was as he drew the deacon +and Miranda into the village on market days and Sundays, with a loose, +shambling gait, making altogether an appearance so homely and peculiar +that the smart village chaps, riding along in their jaunty turn-outs, +used to chaff the good deacon on the character of the steed, and +satirically challenge him to a brush. The deacon always took the +badinage in good part, although he inwardly said, more than once, "If I +ever get a good chance, when there ain't too many around, I'll go up to +the turn of the road beyond the church and let Jack out on them;" for +Dick had given him a hint of the horse's history, and told him "he could +knock the spots out of thirty," and wickedly urged the deacon to take +the shine out of them airy chaps some of these days.</p> + +<p>Such was the horse, then, that the deacon had ahead of him and the +old-fashioned sleigh when, with the parson alongside, he struck into +the principal street of the village.</p> + +<p>New Year's day is a lively day in many country villages, and on this +bright one especially, as the sleighing was perfect, everybody was out. +Indeed, it had got noised abroad that certain trotters of local fame +were to be on the street that afternoon and, as the boys worded it, +"There would be heaps of fun going on." So it happened that everybody in +town, and many who lived out of it, were on that particular street, and +just at the hour, too, when the deacon came to the foot of it, so that +the walk on either side was lined darkly with lookers-on and the smooth +snow path between the two lines looked like a veritable home-stretch on +a race day.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image11" name="image11"> + <img src="images/11.jpg" + alt=""Hillow, Deacon, aren't you going to shake out Old Shamble-Heels, to-day?"" + title=""Hillow, Deacon, aren't you going to shake out Old Shamble-Heels, to-day?"" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Hillow, Deacon, aren't you going to shake out Old Shamble-Heels, to-day?</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>Now, when the deacon had reached the corner of the main street and +turned into it, it was at that point where the course terminated and the +"brushes" were ended, and at the precise moment when the dozen or twenty +horses that had come flying down were being pulled up preparatory to +returning at a slow gait to the customary starting point at the head of +the street a half mile away. So the old-fashioned sleigh was quickly +surrounded by the light, fancy cutters of the rival racers and Old +Jack was shambling along in the midst of the high-spirited and smoking +nags that had just come down the stretch.</p> + +<p>"Hillow, deacon," shouted one of the boys, who was driving a +trim-looking bay, and who had crossed the line at the ending of the +course second only to the pacer that could "speed like lightning," as +the boys said; "Hillow, deacon, ain't you going to shake out old +shamble-heels and show us fellows what speed is, to-day?" And the +merry-hearted chap, son of the principal lawyer of the place, laughed +heartily at his challenge, while the other drivers looked at the great +angular steed that, without check, was walking carelessly along, with +his head held down, ahead of the old sleigh and its churchly occupants.</p> + +<p>"I don't know but what I will," answered the deacon, good-naturedly; "I +don't know but what I will, if the parson don't object, and you won't +start off too quick to begin with; for this is New Year's and a little +extra fun won't hurt any of us, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"Do it! do it! we'll hold up for you," answered a dozen merry voices. +"Do it, deacon, it'll do old shamble-heels good to go a +ten-mile-an-hour gait for once in his life, and the parson needn't fear +of being scandalized by any speed you'll get out of him, either," and +the merry-hearted chaps haw-hawed as men and boys will when everyone is +jolly and fun flows fast.</p> + +<p>And so, with any amount of good-natured chaffing from the drivers of the +"fast uns," and from many that lined the roads, too,—for the day gave +greater liberty than usual to bantering speech,—the speedy ones paced +slowly up to the head of the street with Old Jack shambling demurely in +the midst of them.</p> + +<p>But the horse was a knowing old fellow and had "scored" at too many +races not to know that the "return" was to be leisurely taken; and, +indeed, he was a horse of independence and of too even, perhaps of too +sluggish a temperament to waste himself in needless action; but he had +the right stuff in him and hadn't forgotten his early training, either, +for when he came to the "turn," his head and tail came up, his eyes +brightened, and, with a playful movement of his huge body, without the +least hint from the deacon, he swung himself and the cumbrous old +sleigh into line and began to straighten himself for the coming brush.</p> + +<p>Now, Jack was, as I have said, a horse of huge proportions, and needed +"steadying" at the start, but the good deacon had no experience with the +"ribbons," and was, therefore, utterly unskilled in the matter of +driving. And so it came about that Old Jack was so confused at the start +that he made a most awkward and wretched appearance in his effort to get +off, being all "mixed up," as the saying is, so much so that the crowd +roared at his ungainly efforts and his flying rivals were twenty rods +away before he had even got started. But at last he got his huge body in +a straight line and, leaving his miserable shuffle, squared away to his +work, and with head and tail up went off at so slashing a gait that it +fairly took the deacon's breath away and caused the crowd that had been +hooting him to roar their applause, while the parson grabbed the edge of +the old sleigh with one hand and the rim of his tall black hat with the +other.</p> + +<p>What a pity, Mr. Longface, that God made horses as they are, and gave +them such grandeur of appearance and action, and put such an eaglelike +spirit between their ribs, so that, quitting the plodding motions of the +ox, they can fly like that noble bird and come sweeping down the course +as on wings of the wind.</p> + +<p>It was not my fault, nor the deacon's, nor the parson's, either, please +remember, then, that awkward, shuffling, homely-looking Old Jack was +thus suddenly transformed by the royalty of blood, of pride and of speed +given him by his Creator from what he ordinarily was into a magnificent +spectacle of energetic velocity.</p> + +<p>With muzzle lifted well up, tail erect, the few hairs in it streaming +straight behind, one ear pricked forward and the other turned sharply +back, the great horse swept grandly along at a pace that was rapidly +bringing him even with the rear line of the flying group. And yet so +little was the pace to him that he fairly gamboled in playfulness as he +went slashing along, until the deacon verily began to fear that the +honest old chap would break through all the bounds of propriety and send +his heels anticly through his treasured dashboard. Indeed, the spectacle +that the huge horse presented was so magnificent and his action so free, +spirited and playful, as he came sweeping onward that the cheers, such +as "Good heavens! see the deacon's old horse!" "Look at him! look at +him!" "What a stride!" ran ahead of him; and old Bill Sykes, a trainer +in his day, but now a hanger-on at the village tavern, or that section +of it known as the bar, wiped his watery eyes with his tremulous fist, +as he saw Jack come swinging down, and, as he swept past, with his open +gait, powerful stroke and stifles playing well out, brought his hand +down with a mighty slap against his thigh, and said: "I'll be blowed if +he isn't a regular old timer!"</p> + +<p>It was fortunate for the deacon and the parson that the noise and +cheering of the crowd drew the attention of the drivers ahead, or there +would surely have been more than one collision, for the old sleigh was +of such size and strength, the good deacon so unskilled at the reins, +and Jack, who was adding to his momentum with every stride, going at so +determined a pace, that had he struck the rear line with no gap for him +to go through, something serious would surely have happened. But as it +was, the drivers saw the huge horse, with the cumbrous old sleigh behind +him, bearing down on them at such a gait as made their own speed, sharp +as it was, seem slow, and "pulled out" in time to save themselves; and +so, without any mishap, the big horse and heavy sleigh swept through the +rear row of racers like an autumn gust through a cluster of leaves.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image12" name="image12"> + <img src="images/12.jpg" + alt=""Jack was going nigh to a thirty clip!"" + title=""Jack was going nigh to a thirty clip!"" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Jack was going nigh to a thirty clip!</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>But by this time the deacon had become somewhat alarmed, for Old Jack +was going nigh to a thirty clip—a frightful pace for an inexperienced +driver to ride—and began to put a good strong pressure upon the bit, +not doubting that Old Jack, ordinarily the easiest horse in the world to +manage, would take the hint and immediately slow up. But though the huge +horse took the hint, it was in exactly the opposite manner that the +deacon intended he should, for he interpreted the little man's steady +pull as an intimation that his driver was getting over his flurry and +beginning to treat him as a horse ought to be treated in a race, and +that he could now, having got settled to his work, go ahead. And go +ahead he did. The more the deacon pulled the more the great animal felt +himself steadied and assisted. And so, the harder the good man tugged at +the reins, the more powerfully the machinery of the big animal ahead of +him worked, until the deacon got alarmed and began to call upon the +horse to stop, crying, "Whoa, Jack, whoa, old boy, I say! whoa, will +you, now? that's a good fellow!" and many other coaxing calls, while he +pulled away steadily at the reins. But the horse misunderstood the +deacon's calls as he had his pressure upon the reins, for the crowds on +either side were yelling and hooting and swinging their caps so that the +deacon's voice came indistinctly to his ears at best and he interpreted +his calls for him to stop as only so many encouragements and signals for +him to go ahead. And so, with the memory of a hundred races stirring his +blood, the crowds cheering him to the echo, the steadying pull, the +encouraging cries of his driver in his ears and his only rival, the +pacer, whirling along only a few rods ahead of him, the monstrous +animal, with a desperate plunge that half lifted the old sleigh from the +snow, let out another link, and, with such a burst of speed as was never +seen in the village before, tore along after the pacer at such a +terrific pace that, within the distance of a dozen lengths, he lay +lapped upon him and the two were going it nose and nose.</p> + +<p>What is that feeling in human hearts which makes us sympathetic with man +or animal, who has unexpectedly developed courage and capacity when +engaged in a struggle in which the odds are against him? And why do we +enter so spiritedly into the contest and lose ourselves in the +excitement of the moment? Is it pride? Is it the comradeship of courage? +Or is it the rising of the indomitable in us that loves nothing so much +as victory and hates nothing so much as defeat? Be that as it may, no +sooner was Old Jack fairly lapped on the pacer, whose driver was urging +him along with rein and voice alike, and the contest seemed doubtful, +than the spirit of old Adam himself entered into the deacon and the +parson both, so that, carried away by the excitement of the race, they +fairly forgot themselves and entered as wildly into the contest as +two ungodly jockeys.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image13" name="image13"> + <img src="images/13.jpg" + alt=""Go it, old boy!"" + title=""Go it, old boy!"" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Go it, old boy!</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Deacon Tubman," said the parson, as he clutched more stoutly the rim of +his tall hat, against which, as the horse tore along, the snow chips +were pelting in showers, "Deacon Tubman, do you think the pacer will +beat us?"</p> + +<p>"Not if I can help it! not if I can help it!" yelled the deacon, in +reply, as, with something like a reinsman's skill, he lifted Jack to +another spurt. "Go it, old boy!" he shouted, encouragingly, "go along +with you, I say!" And the parson, also, carried away by the whirl of the +moment, cried, "Go along, old boy! Go along with you, I say!"</p> + +<p>This was the very thing, and the only thing, that the huge horse, whose +blood was now fairly aflame, wanted to rally him for the final effort; +and, in response to the encouraging cries of the two behind him, he +gathered himself together for another burst of speed and put forth his +collected strength with such tremendous energy and suddenness of +movement that the little deacon, who had risen and was standing erect in +the sleigh, fell back into the arms of the parson, while the great horse +rushed over the line amid such cheers and roars of laughter as were +never heard in that village before. Nor was the horse any more the +object of public interest and remark,—I may say favoring remark,—than +the parson, who suddenly found himself the centre of a crowd of his own +parishioners, many of whom would scarcely have been expected to +participate in such a scene, but who, thawed out of their iciness by the +genial temper of the day and vastly excited over Jack's contest, +thronged upon the good man, laughing as heartily as any jolly sinner in +the crowd.</p> + +<p>So everybody shook hands with the parson and wished him a happy New +Year, and the parson shook hands with everybody and wished them all many +happy returns; and everybody praised Old Jack and rallied the deacon on +his driving, and then everybody went home good-natured and happy, +laughing and talking about the wonderful race and the change that had +come over Parson Whitney.</p> + +<p>And as for Parson Whitney himself, the day and its fun had taken twenty +years from his age. And nothing would answer but the deacon must go with +him and help eat the New Year's pudding at the parsonage. And he did.</p> + +<p>At the table they laughed and talked over the funny incidents of the day +and joked each other as merrily as two boys. Then Parson Whitney told +some reminiscences of his college days and the scrapes he got into, and +about a riot between town and gown when he carried the "Bully's Club"; +and the deacon returned by narrating his experiences with a certain +Deacon Jones's watermelon patch, when he was a boy.</p> + +<p>And over their tales and their nuts they laughed till they cried, and +roared so lustily at the remembered frolics of their youthful days that +the old parsonage rang, the books on the library shelves rattled and +several of the theological volumes actually gaped with horror.</p> + +<p>But at last the stories were all told, the jokes all cracked, the +laughter all laughed, and the little deacon wished the parson good-bye +and jogged happily homeward. But more than once he laughed to himself +and said, "Bless my soul, I didn't know the parson had so much fun in +him."</p> + +<p>And long the parson sat by the glowing grate, after the deacon had left +him, musing of other days and the happy, pleasant things that were in +them, and many times he smiled, and once he laughed outright at some +remembered folly, for he said: "What a wild boy I was, and yet I meant +no wrong, and the dear old days were very happy."</p> + +<p>Aye, aye, Parson Whitney, the dear old days were very happy, not only to +thee, but to all of us, who, following our sun, have faced westward so +long that the light of the morning shows through the dim haze of memory. +But happier than even the old days will be the young ones, I ween, when, +following still westward, we suddenly come to the gates of the east and +the morning once more; and there, in the dawn of a day which is endless, +we find our lost youth and its loves, to lose them and it no more +forever, thank God.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image14" name="image14"> + <img src="images/14.jpg" + alt="Tail piece" + title="Tail piece" /></a> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Old_Beggars_Dog" id="The_Old_Beggars_Dog">The Old Beggar's Dog</a></h2> + +<div class="figleft"> + <a id="image15" name="image15"> + <img src="images/15.jpg" + alt="Vignette Initial H" + title="Vignette Initial H" /></a> +</div> + +<p>e was a tramp—that is all he was—at least when I knew him. What he +had been before, I cannot say, as he never told me his history. Of +course every tramp has a history, even as every leaf that the winds blow +over the fields has its history, and my old tramp doubtless had his, and +God knows it must have been sad enough, judging by his looks, for he had +the saddest face I ever looked at, and I've seen a good many sad faces +in my day.</p> + +<p>No, he was nothing but a tramp, old and gray-headed, and nearly worn out +with his tramping. How long he had been going the rounds I cannot say, +but for nearly a dozen years, once each year, hi made his appearance in +the city, tarried a month, perhaps, and then quietly disappeared, and we +saw him no more for a twelvemonth. Inoffensive? Decidedly—as +mild-mannered a man as ever asked grace at a poorhouse table.</p> + +<p>Indeed, the children were his best patrons, for he had a most winning +way with them, and he could scarcely be seen on the street without the +accompaniment of a dozen, tagging at his heels and holding on to his +hands and the skirts of his long coat. There's Dick there, six feet if +he's an inch and gone twenty last month. Well, many and many a time have +I seen the strapping fellow when he was a little chap sitting astride +the old vagabond's neck, with his little feet crooked in under his +armpits, laughing and screaming uproariously as his human horse +underneath him pranced and curvetted along the pavement, and charged +through the flock of childish admirers around him, as if they were a +hostile soldiery and Dick was a very Henry of Navarre, whose white plume +must always be found in the path to glory.</p> + +<p>God bless the youngsters! Who of us with the burden of life's toil and +care weighing us down, ever saw a frolicsome group of them, happy in +their freedom from trouble and care, and did not wish he might slip his +shoulders from under the load of his fifty years and be a boy again? +What a pity it is that we must age and die in our wrinkles, leaving +nothing better to gaze upon than a shrunken face, colorless of bloom and +written all over with the scraggy record of our griefs, our errors, and +our pains! Why cannot death charm back the boyish vigor and girlish +grace to our faces, when, with the invisible and fatal gesture, he +sweeps his hand swiftly across them?</p> + +<p>The dog? Oh! certainly; but don't hurry me. I'm too old to tell a story +in a straight line and at express speed. I will get to the dog all in +good time, and, in order to feel as I do about the terrible thing that +happened to him, you must know something about his master, for in an odd +sort of way they supplemented each other. Indeed, they seemed to have +entered into a kind of partnership to share each other's moods as they +shared each other's fortune. And it was a strange, and, I may say, a +very touching sight, to see two creatures, of different species, so +intimately attached to each other; and often, as I have looked at the +dog when he was gazing at his master, have I said to myself, "Surely, +something or some one has blundered, and a human soul was put, by +mistake, into that dog's body," for never—no, sir, I will not qualify +it—never have I seen a greater love look from human into human eyes +than I have seen gazing devotedly up into the old man's face from the +eyes of that dog. How did he look? Queer enough, I assure you, for his +cross, while an admirable one to yield wit and affection both, was the +worst possible one for beauty, for his father was a full-blooded +shepherd and his mother a Scotch terrier, without a taint in her blood.</p> + +<p>How well I remember the dog and his peculiar looks! I remember him now +as plainly as if he were lying on the rug there this very minute. He had +the size of his father and the bristly coat of his mother. His ears were +like a terrier's, and naturally pricked forward. His color was a dirty +gray—a miserable color; his tail had been cropped and the remnant that +remained—some four inches in length—stood stiffly up, with scarce a +suggestion of a curve; he was homely, but not inferior looking, for his +head was such an one as Landseer would have loved to have translated +from time and death to the immortality of his canvas; what a matchless +front, and room enough in the cranium to hold the brains of any two +common dogs. But his eyes were the impressive and magnificent feature +of his face—large, round and warmly hazel in color, and so liquid clear +that, looking into them, you seemed to be gazing into transparent +depths, not of water, but of intelligent being. What eyes they were! I +remember what a young lady said once apropos to them. She was a belle +herself, and nature spoke through her speech. She came into the office +here one day when the dog was performing, for he was a great trick dog, +and, after watching him a moment, she exclaimed, "Ah! if a woman only +had those eyes, what might she not do!" More fun could look out of that +dog's head than of any other I ever saw, whether of dog or man. And +though you may not credit it, yet, as true as I sit here, I have seen +those eyes weep as large and honest tears as ever fell in sorrow from +human orbs. "Laugh, too?" You put that question incredulously, do you? +Well, you needn't, for the dog could laugh. "With his tail?" No, any dog +can do that, but he could laugh with his mouth. Why, sir, I have seen +him sit bolt upright on his haunches there by that post, lean his back +against it, and laugh so heartily that his mouth would open and shut +like a man's when guffawing, and you could see every tooth in his head, +and he did it intelligently, too, and laughed because he was tickled and +couldn't help it.</p> + +<p>Alas! poor dog, he came to a sad end at last, and died in so wretched a +way that the recollection of his death puts a dark eclipse upon the +unhappy memory of his life.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image16" name="image16"> + <img src="images/16.jpg" + alt="The old man and his dog were constant companions." + title="The old man and his dog were constant companions." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption"><i>The old man and his dog were constant companions</i>.</span> +</div> + +<p>Comfort to his master? You may well say that; and no man ever loved his +child more fondly than the old beggar loved his dog. And well he might, +for he was his companion by day, his guard by night, and the means by +which he eked out the sometime scant living that the fickle charity of +the world flung to him. How often have I seen the old man take him in +his arms and hug him to his breast, that had, I fancy, so many bitter +memories in it; and how often have I seen the dog lap with gentle and +caressing tongue the tears as they rolled down the furrowed cheeks, when +the fountain of grief within was stirred by the angel of recollection. +But it was from the sympathy of his faithful and loving companion, and +not from the moving of the bitter waters, that his aching heart found +consolation.</p> + +<p>Tell you about the man? Why, certainly; but there isn't much to tell. +You see, no one knew much of him, for he seldom if ever spoke of +himself. I suppose I knew him better than anyone on his beat here, for I +fell in love with his dog, and with himself, too, for that matter, for, +in the first place, he was old, and whoever saw a white head and didn't +love it, and whoever looked upon a wrinkled face and didn't wish to kiss +it, if it was peaceful, and the old man's head was as white as snow is, +and the peacefulness of a sleeping child hovered over the sadness of his +face, albeit the shadow of a sorrowful past lay darkly resting upon it. +But though I saw much of him as he swung around on his annual visit, and +though he looked upon me as his friend—as, indeed, I was, and proved +myself to be such more than once, thank God!—still he never offered to +tell me his history, and I certainly never questioned him about it. For +life is a secret thing, and each man holds the key to his own; and only +once, if at all, may it be opened, and even then only the Father is +gentle and forgiving enough to look upon the wheat and the chaff which +we in our grief or joy keep closely locked from human eyes.</p> + +<p>No, I knew little of him; but occasionally, sitting by the fire here +when a storm was heavy outside, for the coming of storms was always the +prelude of these moods in him, he would begin to mutter to himself, and +to talk to his dog of days long gone; of men and women he had once hated +or loved, or who loved or hated him—God knows which—and of deeds he +had once done, but which were now deeply buried under the years.</p> + +<p>Perhaps he did not know that he was talking. Perhaps his soul, busy with +the past, forgot the motion of the lips and ceased to keep its watch +over the movements of that member which, unless ceaselessly guarded, +betrays us all so often. What did he mutter about? Well, the man is dead +and gone, and what little there is to tell cannot pain him now. Death +makes us indifferent to disclosure, and little do we care what the world +says about us when we lie sleeping in the grave, I ween. Yes, the man is +dead and gone this many a year; God rest his soul, and I heartily hope +he has found riches and rest and his dog ere now, as I feel certain he +has, and what little I know can do no harm, if told, to any.</p> + +<p>Well, as I was saying, when storms were brewing in the air and the sea, +the uneasiness of the elements themselves seemed to take possession of +his soul and agitate it,—for his very body would rock to and fro and +sway in the chair when the fit was on him, and he would talk to his dog, +and to men and women, too, whom no one could see save himself, and if +what he said might be taken as the words of a sane man, he certainly had +been rich and powerful one day—and loved and hated, too, for that +matter. For from his speech one could but learn that all that makes life +worth the living was once his, and that he had lost it all—but +whatever may have been his other losses, one there must have been in +truth, for as to it his words were always the same: "<i>Gone, gone</i>," he +would say, "<i>gone</i>—and the winds I hear coming blow over her grave—but +winds cannot reach her, for she lies warm and well covered, deep down in +her grave." And so he would sit muttering and swaying his body in the +chair, as the winds blew stormily out of the east, and the boom of the +waves rolled up from the bluff, as they pounded heavily against the +rocks and the shore.</p> + +<p>Why did I not make him settle down? Because he wouldn't. I tried time +and again to persuade him to it, but he never would consent. Perhaps he +was right in his impulse to roam, and loved the careless freedom of it, +and the solitude it gave him. For if a man would hide himself from man +he must keep on the move. If he stops he becomes known. But in travel he +loses his identity, and passes from place to place unknown and unnoted.</p> + +<p>But it seemed pitiful to me that one so old and feeble should have no +home, and so I persuaded him to settle down for one winter, at least, +and hired him a little house in a pleasant street and started him in +his housekeeping experiment. But alas! evil came of it, and I never did +a deed I more profoundly regretted, for it led to the calamity I am +about to tell you of, and brought upon the poor man the greatest grief +that might befall him, even the death of his dog, and in a most cruel +and painful fashion at that. Ah, me! could we but see the end of things +from their beginning, how little of our doing would be done at times; +for the benevolent blundering of our lives is as often fruitful of harm +as the evil we do in our malice and passion.</p> + +<p>It all happened in this way, and I will tell you as it was told me, +partly by the old man himself, and partly by those who had knowledge of +the dreadful event at the time, for I was out of the city the morning +the occurrence took place, or it never would have happened. I don't +think anything of the kind ever before made so much talk, or excited so +much indignation.</p> + +<p>The legislature at its last session, not having wit or honesty enough to +exercise itself over one of a dozen crying evils that were then vexing +the people, got greatly excited over—<i>dogs</i>!</p> + +<p>Some miserable curs—many affirmed they were wolves, and no dogs at +all—in a remote corner of the state, had killed a few sheep, and the +farmers of that region got up a great scare, and raised a hue and cry +against the whole canine family. It is incredible how much noise was +made over the killing of a few half-starved sheep that were browsing on +those northern mountains! You would have thought, judging by the clamor, +that the fundamental interests of the commonwealth were attacked, and +that the stately structure of government itself was on the point of +falling to the ground.</p> + +<p>Well, when the legislature met the excitement was at its height and the +gust of popular foolishness converged all its forces at the capitol. In +due time a bill was reported, and an outrageous bill it was, too, for it +not only put a heavy tax upon dogs in every section of the state, city +as well as country, but provided that certain officers should be +appointed to enforce the law, whose duty it should be to kill every dog +not duly registered on a certain date. Even this was not all; for it +stimulated the enforcement of the law by enlisting the cupidity of men +and boys alike, especially of the lower and hardened classes, by +providing that whoever killed an unregistered dog should be paid three +dollars from the state treasury.</p> + +<p>It was a bad law, in truth, for it was the outgrowth of senseless +excitement, and an attempt to tax the affections. Property, of course, +can be taxed, but we all know that a dog is not property, any more than +is a boy's pet rabbit, or a child, for that matter. A dog is a member of +his master's family. He has connection with his heart, not with his +pocket. He is a creature to love and be loved by, and not to be bought +and sold like a bit of land or a yoke of oxen, and any law aimed at the +affections is an offence to the holiest impulses of the bosom, and as +such should be resented.</p> + +<p>Yes, the law was a bad one. I did what I could to defeat it in its +passage, and I broke it all I could after its passage, and that was some +satisfaction to my feelings, which were in fact outraged by it; for I +saw not only the injustice of it, as viewed in the light of correct +principle, but that it would bear heavily upon the poor, and bring +sorrow like the sorrow of death itself into families. I saw, moreover, +that it was a cruel law in its relation to children, whose pretty and +harmless pets and playmates could be murdered before their very eyes. +Many a sad case did I hear of, the winter after the law was passed, but +the saddest of all was that of my old friend, who was living peacefully +and happily with his dog in the little house I had hired for him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image17" name="image17"> + <img src="images/17.jpg" + alt="He was teaching the dog a new trick." + title="He was teaching the dog a new trick." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption"><i>He was teaching the dog a new trick</i>.</span> +</div> + +<p>He was sitting one evening in the comfortable quarters I had provided +for him, playing with his companion and teaching him some new tricks to +practise against my return, happy as he might be, when a loud rap was +delivered upon his door, and at the same instant it was pushed rudely +open, and a man walked into the room and, without pausing to give or +receive a greeting, pointed to the dog, and said:</p> + +<p>"Is that your property, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I never think of him in that way," answered the old man, mildly. "He +has been my companion—I may say my only companion—these many years, +and I love him as property is not loved. No, sir, <i>Trusty</i> is not +property—he is my companion and my friend."</p> + +<p>"I didn't come here to listen to any of your crazy nonsense, but as an +officer of the law, to see if you have registered your dog, and paid +your tax as it commands, and, if you hadn't, to see that the penalty was +put upon you as you deserve, you old begging loafer, you."</p> + +<p>"I've broken no law that I know of," replied the beggar, "I love my dog, +that is all. I hope it breaks no law for a man to love his dog in this +city, does it, friend?"</p> + +<p>"If you don't know what the law is, you'd better find out," answered the +fellow, roughly. "What right have you to own a dog, anyway? It strikes +me that it is about enough for you to sponge your own living out of the +community, without sponging another for a miserable whelp of a dog like +that."</p> + +<p>"Trusty eats very little," replied the old man, respectfully, "and he +amuses people a great deal, especially the children; and, besides, he is +a great comfort to me, and God knows that I have nothing else to +comfort me in all the world—wealth, home, friends, and one dearer than +all,—all lost, and thou'rt all I have left, Trusty, to comfort me," and +he looked affectionately at his companion, whose head was resting +lovingly on his knee.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've heard the whining of your class before to-night," replied the +fellow, "and am not to be taken in by any of your sniffling, so you +needn't try that trick on me. Law is law, and I shall see it enforced, +and on you, too, in spite of your shuffling, you miserable old sneak of +a beggar, you."</p> + +<p>"Friend," answered the old man with dignity, as he rose from the chair +and looked the fellow calmly in the face, "better men than you or I have +begged their daily bread before now, and eaten it, too, with an honest +conscience and a grateful heart, and more than once when night has +overtaken me, weary of journeying along inhospitable roads, and I have +been compelled to make my bed on the leaves under some hedge, I've +remembered that the Son of God when on the earth to teach us the sweet +lesson of charity, 'had not where to lay his head.' The lesson he came +to teach, you certainly have not learned, or you would never have made +my poverty and my misfortunes the butt of your scoffings."</p> + +<p>The old man spoke with dignity, but the coarseness of the fellow's +nature and the hardening influence of the business he was engaged in +prevented him from feeling either shame or sympathy, for he turned +toward the door with an oath, saying: "You'll hear from me in the +morning, old chap, but I'll tell you this to chew on over night; that if +your tax money isn't ready when I come again, I'll teach you what it is +to break the laws in this city, and insult the officers whose duty it is +to see them enforced against just such white-headed old dead-beats as +you!" and with another oath, he passed out of the door and shut it with +a slam.</p> + +<p>I don't know how the old man passed the night. But little sleep, I +warrant, came to his old eyes, for he was as timid as a child, and +easily frightened, and a threat against his own life would have +disturbed him less than one against the life of his dog. But whether he +slept or not, the hours of the night wheeled along their dark courses +without stopping, and speedily brought the dreaded morning. I know not +when he died, or where, but well I know that the memory of that +dreadful morning and the woe that came to him on it haunted him to the +close of his life, and embittered the last hours of it.</p> + +<p>The morning came as all mornings, whether they bring joy or grief to us, +do come. The threat the fellow had uttered against his dog the evening +before had naturally disturbed him and the old man was nervous and +excited, but he managed to cook his frugal breakfast and eat it with his +companion. I can well imagine his thoughts and his worriment. "Law! what +law?" I can hear him say. "I've broken no law. I've only loved and been +loved by my dog. That's not wicked, surely. He said he'd come again, and +if I didn't have the money ready. Money! what money? He knows I've no +money. Tax! what tax? Do they tax a man's heart in this city? Can't a +man love anything here unless he's rich? Kill my dog! I don't believe +it. There isn't a man on the earth wicked enough to kill an old man's +dog, an old man's harmless dog; no, he didn't, he couldn't mean that! he +just said it to scare me. Yes, yes, I see now; he'd been drinking and he +said it just to scare me." Thus, as I fancy, the poor old man sat +muttering to himself, listening with dread to every passing step, +listening and muttering to himself, while his old heart, quaked in his +bosom, and his soul, which had so little to cheer it, as it journeyed +along its lonely path, was sorely tried and disquieted within him.</p> + +<p>The clock in a neighboring steeple was striking the ninth hour, and the +old man paused in his muttering and sat counting the strokes as the iron +tongue pealed them forth; counting them in his fear as if each stroke +was a knell, and so indeed to him it was, and many of the chimes we +listen carelessly to, would be knells to us, if we knew what would +happen twixt them and their next chiming.</p> + +<p>The vibration of the last stroke was swelling and sinking in the air, +when a heavy step sounded on the stair, and without even the ceremony of +knocking, the door was pushed suddenly open, and the fellow, who had +intruded upon him the evening before, entered the room. In one hand he +held a rope and in the other a club.</p> + +<p>"Well, old chap," he said, "you see I am here as I told you I would be. +I've given you a whole night to study up the law."</p> + +<p>"Law! what law?" exclaimed the old man, interrupting him, "I don't know +that I broken"—</p> + +<p>"Come, come, old shuffler, none of your blarney, if you please," broke +in the fellow; "you know well enough what law I mean. I mean the +dog-law."</p> + +<p>"Dog-law! dog-law!" answered the old man, "what law is that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you don't pull the wool over my eyes," sneered the other; "you know +what law I mean well enough, but, to jog your memory, I'll say that the +law I mean makes the owner of a dog pay a tax of three dollars, and if +the tax isn't paid"—</p> + +<p>"Three dollars!" ejaculated the poor man. "Three dollars! when have I +had so much money as that? Three dollars! you might as well have asked +me to pay three thousand as three."</p> + +<p>"Very well, very well," exclaimed the other; "the law covers just such +cases as yours—covers them perfectly," and he laughed a coarse, cruel +laugh. "Out with the money, or I take the dog."</p> + +<p>"Take my dog!" screamed the old man, "take Trusty! What should you take +him for? You can't want him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I do, old fellow," retorted the other; "I want him very much +indeed, I know just what to do with him, I'll see to that."</p> + +<p>"Do with him?" cried the other, whose mind, perhaps because paralyzed by +fear, perhaps because of the enormity of the deed, would not receive the +horrible suggestion, "what would you do with Trusty?"</p> + +<p>"Kill him, damn you!" shouted the other; "kill him as I have a hundred +other curs this fall and pocket the money the law gives me for doing it. +Do you understand that, you old dead-beat?"</p> + +<p>For a moment the wretched man never spoke, his lips paled to the color +of ashes, and shrivelled as if suddenly parched against the teeth, and +he clutched the back of a chair for support. Twice he essayed to speak, +his lips moved, but his tongue in its dryness clove to the roof of his +mouth. At last he gasped forth in the hoarse whisper of mortal terror:</p> + +<p>"Kill my dog! kill Trusty!"</p> + +<p>It was a sorry sight, truly, and might well touch the hardest heart. But +the officer of the law—God save the mark!—remained unmoved. What was +one dog more or less to him? had he not already killed hundreds, as he +said? The sportsman's favorite hunter, astray without his collar, the +lady's pet, crying pitifully in the street, unable to find its +mistress's door, the children's playmate, waiting in front of the school +house for school to close, the poor man's help and comfort, his +household's joy, guardian and friend, caught in the street on his return +from his humble master, to whom he carried his homely dinner. What was +one dog more or less to him, hardened by the murderous habit of his +office and eager to earn his wretched fee,—what was one dog more or +less to <i>him</i>?</p> + +<p>"Come, come," he cried, as he uncoiled the rope he held in his hand, +"out with the money or I take the dog."</p> + +<p>"How much is it? how much is it?" cried the old man, fumbling in his +pockets and bringing forth a few small pieces of silver and some +pennies. "Here take it, take it, it's all I have—there's a ten-cent +piece, isn't it? and there's two fives, and here, yes, God be praised, +here's a quarter of a dollar; Trusty earned that yesterday. Let's see, +twenty-five, that's the quarter, and ten is thirty-five, and two fives, +that makes forty-five, and eight pennies, that makes fifty-three cents; +won't that do? It's every cent I have, as God is my witness—it will do, +won't it?" And the old man seized one of the hands of the fellow, and +strove to put his little hoarding into it.</p> + +<p>But the hard-hearted wretch drew his hand back with a jerk, and, seizing +the dog by the neck, slipped the rope over his head and saying, "The law +allows me four times that for killing him," opened the door and pulled +the poor dog out after him into the street.</p> + +<p>"God of heaven!" screamed the poor old man, as he rushed, bareheaded as +he was, out of the door, and hurried in pursuit of the man, who was +pulling the dog along and walking as fast as he could, while Trusty +struggled and cried and did all he could to get rid of the rope. "Where +is thy justice or thy mercy? Oh, sir; oh, sir;" he shouted, running +after the man, "give me back my dog; oh, give him back to me, good +people;" he cried, for his own cries and those of the dog, too, had +already drawn a crowd to the scene, "good people, tell him not to kill +my dog."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image18" name="image18"> + <img src="images/18.jpg" + alt=""It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the officer roundly."" + title=""It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the officer roundly."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the officer roundly.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the officer roundly, +and called on him and shouted, "Give the old man back his dog," and +greater honor yet to them that some of the boys pelted him with +snowballs and junks of ice as he hurried on, and one brawny chap, +sitting on the seat of his cart, struck him a stinging blow with his +black whip as he scuttled past, with, "Damn you, take that, for killing +<i>my</i> dog." The officer shook his club at the honest fellow and said, +"I'll pay you for that, see if I don't," but he dared not stop to make +the arrest, for the crowd was thickening and the air getting fuller of +missiles, and every door and window was hooting him as he passed them, +with the poor dog crying and moaning pitifully at his heels. Even the +women, God bless them (for the feeling against the law ran high in the +city), opened the doors and lifted the windows of their houses, the +ladies crying, "Shame on you, shame on you!" and the cooks and chamber +maids from the nadir and zenith of their household worlds, with homelier +and more piquant phrase and saucier tongues, scoffed him for the +miserable work he was doing; but in spite of the popular uprising, now +almost swelled to the dimensions of a mob, and the verbal uproar, +through the hoarse murmur of which the boy's gibe, the woman's taunt and +the strong man's curse, came and smote upon him in volleys, still he +clutched the rope and rushed along, threatening the crowd that was +closing in ahead of him with his club, and so making headway on his +dreadful errand, while the poor old man, unable to keep up with him, was +filling the air with his cries, and, without knowing what he was saying, +perhaps, kept calling on the people, saying, "Oh, good people, good +people, don't let him kill my dog."</p> + +<p>Indeed, his grief was piteous to see, for he was half distraught with +fear, and like as a mother whose child had been snatched from her and +was being hurried to death, so he, with tears, sobs and screams, kept +entreating one moment the crowd and the next beseeching heaven, saying, +"Don't let him kill my dog," and being an old man and white-headed, and +as his countenance and gestures were eloquent with the eloquence of true +grief, the people were filled with pity for him and their hearts melted +with sympathy at the piteous spectacle they beheld.</p> + +<p>Then up spake the honest carter, saying, "Friends, let's give the old +man a lift, for it's a shame that one so old should lose his dog. How +much is it you lack of the tax?" he asked of the poor old gentleman as +he came panting up. But he was so confused and tremulous with terror +that he could not answer, and so being unable to do more he stretched +his old shaken hands in which the money was still, tightly clutched, up +to him, but the old hands shook so that the carter could not count it, +until he had taken it into his own steady palm.</p> + +<p>"Here's fifty cents and a few odd pennies," he shouted, "and the law +demands three dollars; two dollars and a half is wanted; who'll help +make up the three dollars and save the old man's dog? Here's fifty +cents," he added as he took a silver half-dollar from his pocket and +dropped it into the hat, "it's half I earnt yesterday, and more than +I'll earn to-day, perhaps, for times be dull, but the old man shall have +it, if Mary and I go without sugar and tea for a week."</p> + +<p>'Twas a good speech and bravely said, and the crowd responded to it as +bravely, for it fairly rained dimes and quarters and pennies, not only +into the carter's hat until it sagged, but into his cart, too, until the +bottom of it was speckled all over with copper and silver coin, and the +honest fellow held up his hands for the crowd to give no more, crying:</p> + +<p>"Hold, hold! Here's enough, and more than enough."</p> + +<p>But he could scarcely make himself heard, because of the cheering and +the laughing and the rattling of the pieces as the crowd continued to +rain them all the faster into his cart. Ah, me, what is that sweet +something in human hearts, which, in its response to human want, +translates us like a flash from low to highest mood; aye, which breaketh +through all barriers of selfish habit, and even the adamantine of +foreign tongues and poureth out its rich largess in a common tide to +meet a brother's need, where'er that brother is or whatever he may be?</p> + +<p>But the old man did not wait to gather up the offerings of the generous +and sympathetic crowd, but snatching a handful of silver from the +carter's hat pushed his way out of the jam, and, holding the hand in +which he clutched the silver high above his head, hurried on after the +officer, crying at the top of his voice: "Here's the money, here's the +money; oh, good people," for the street was nearly blocked with those +that swarmed thickly in the wake of the officer and he could make but +slow progress through it, "tell him I have the money and am coming; +don't let him go any farther; I shall never catch him; stop him, stop +him, for the love of heaven, stop him; here's the money." And thus +crying aloud and calling, with his thin, tremulous voice, upon the +officer to stop, he ran frantically along the street, as fast as he +could, in pursuit.</p> + +<p>But it is certain that the old man would not have caught up with the +officer had the latter been uninterrupted in his progress, for the +street was filled with people and he could not push his way with much +speed because of his feebleness, but fortune, or perhaps I should say +misfortune, favored him, so that he shortly overtook the object of his +pursuit and came up with the officer and the dog. But, alas! his old +heart got little gain thereby, but a grievous loss, rather, for when he +came to the spot both lay stretched senseless on the ground, the man +knocked flat to the earth by the fist of an indignant citizen, and the +dog lying with his skull broken in by a brutal blow from the fellow's +club.</p> + +<p>When the old man came to the spot where the dog and the officer lay, he +stopped, and when he saw what had happened, the money he had brought +with which to deliver his dog, fell rattling, unheeded to the ground, +and then he raised his palms toward heaven, as if entreating the +vengeance or the benignity of the skies, and with tears streaming down +his cheeks, he lifted up his voice and wept, saying: "Oh, God, he's +killed my dog!" And then he sank down all in a heap, as if he would die +beside his dying dog, for the dog was not yet dead, but dying.</p> + +<p>This his master soon perceived, and heedless of the multitude who +thronged the street from side to side, he lifted the dying dog into his +lap and laid his poor crushed head against his breast and mourned over +him as a mother, deserted by husband and friends, might mourn for an +only babe when, alone in a foreign land, it lay on her bosom dying; and +the multitude, who, by this, had knowledge of the dreadful deed, stood +in silence while he mourned.</p> + +<p>"Trusty, Trusty," he said, "do you know me, Trusty?" and his tears fell +fast into the dog's bristly coat. The poor creature, now far gone in +that unconsciousness which deafens the ear to the voice of love itself, +still faintly heard the familiar tones, for he lifted his eyes to his +master's face and nestled closer into his bosom. It was a touching +sight, in truth, and those who stood close enough to see the moving +spectacle, wiped their own eyes, divinely moist with the mist of +sympathy.</p> + +<p>It was evident to all, and to the old man himself, that above and around +and closing in upon them was the mystery which men call death—a mystery +as inscrutable as it hovers over the kennel and stable as when it enters +the habitations of men—and that in a few moments the life still within +the body of the poor animal, with all its powers of doing, of thinking, +and of loving, would depart the structure in which it had found so +pleasant an abode and so facile a medium of expression.</p> + +<p>For a few moments nothing more was said; the old man continued to sob +and the life of his companion continued to ebb away. The brutal blow +that caused his death had mercifully numbed the power of feeling, so +that whatever the gloomy journey he was about to take might mean to him, +whether the same life he was leaving, or a larger, or none at all, he +would move on through the darkness toward the one or the other at least +without pain.</p> + +<p>"You and I have fared in company for many a year," said the old man at +last, "and bread, whether scant or plenty, and bed, whether hard or +soft, we have shared together. Thou hast made the days brighter, and the +nights shorter, by thy presence as I suffered through them, and dark +will the one be, and long the other, when I see thee no more; would to +God I could die with thee, my dog, my dog!"</p> + +<p>Did the dog indeed understand what he said or did he merely sense the +sorrow in the tones and seek once more, as he had done so many times +before, to comfort his disconsolate master? I know not; I only know that +the poor animal, with dying strength, lifted his muzzle to his master's +face, and twice he lapped it with his tongue. Aye, lapped the salt tears +tenderly from his master's wrinkled and pallid cheeks with his tongue; +only this, for no more could he do. "My dog," cried the old man once +more, amid his tears. "My dog, the God who made thee so loving and +worthy to be loved, and filled thee with such sweet feeling and the wish +to comfort human woe, will not surely let thee perish. In his great +universe there is, there must be, room for thee. I will not mourn thee +as wholly lost. I cannot do it. For amid the false thou hast been true, +and surely falsehood shall hot live on and sweet truth die. Tell me, my +dog, give me some sign that we shall meet in the great hereafter?"</p> + +<p>But in response to this appeal the dog gave no motion, for, indeed, his +strength, like a tide ebbing in the night, was gliding silently and +swiftly outward in the gloom, gliding outward and beyond all questioning +and answering, but he opened wide his glorious eyes and fixed them +steadily on his master's face with such a great love in their depths +that mortal might not doubt that in that love was hope and its +sustaining evidence; and then the fatal dimness crept along their edges, +the pure, sweet light faded away in their clear depths, and the +impenetrable shadow settled forever over the lustrous orbs. The lids at +last gradually closed as in sleep, and the beggar's dog, with his head +on his master's neck and his body resting on his bosom, lay dead.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image19" name="image19"> + <img src="images/19.jpg" + alt="Tail piece" + title="Tail piece" /></a> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Ball" id="The_Ball">The Ball</a></h2> + +<div class="figleft"> + <a id="image20" name="image20"> + <img src="images/20.jpg" + alt="Vignette Initial IT" + title="Vignette Initial IT" /></a> +</div> + +<p>was evening—dark, cool and starry. The earth and water lay hidden in +the dusky gloom. Above, the stars were at their brightest. They gleamed +and glowed, flashed and scintillated, like jewels fresh from the case. +Their fires were many-colored—orange, yellow, and red; and here and +there a great diamond, fastened into the zone of night, sent out its +intense, colorless brilliancy. Through all the air silence reigned. The +winds had died away, and the waters had settled to repose. No gurgle +along the shore: no splash against the great logs that made the wharf; +no bird of night calling to its mate. Outside all was still. Nature had +drawn the curtains around her couch, and, screened from sight, lay in +profound repose.</p> + +<p>Within, all was light, and bustle, and gayety. From every window lights +streamed and flashed. The large parlors were alive with moving forms. +The piano, whose white keys were swept by whiter hands, tinkled and rang +in liveliest measure. The dance was at its height; and the very floor +seemed vibrant with the pressure of lively feet. The dancers advanced, +retired, wheeled and swayed in easy circles, swept up and down, and +across the floor in graceful lines.</p> + +<p>Amid the happy scene the Old Trapper stood, his stalwart frame erect as +in his prime; while his great, strong face fairly beamed in benediction +upon the dancers. For his nature had within its depths that fine +capacity which enabled it to receive the brightness of surrounding +happiness and reflect it again.</p> + +<p>It was a study to watch his face and mark the passage of changeful +moods; surprise, delight, and broad, warm-hearted humor, as they came to +and played across the responsive features. The man of the woods, of the +lonely shore, and of silence, seemed perfectly at home amid the noise +and commotion of human merry-making.</p> + +<p>At last the music died away. The dancers checked their feet. The lady +who had been playing the piano rose wearily from the instrument and +joined a group of friends. The music was not adequate. The notes were +too sharp; too isolate; they did not flow together. There was no sweep +and swing, nor suavity of connected progress in the strains. The +instrument could not lift the dancers up and swing them onward through +the mazy motions.</p> + +<p>"I tell ye, Henry," said the Old Trapper, as he turned to Herbert who +was standing by his side, "the pianner isn't the thing to dance by, for +sartin. It tinkles and chippers too much; it rattles and clicks. It +don't git hold of the feelin's, Henry;—it don't start the blood in yer +veins, nor set yer skin tinglin', nor make the feet dance agin yer will. +It's good enough in its way, no doubt; but it sartinly isn't the thing +to lift the young folks up and swing 'em round. The fiddle is the +thing;—yis, the fiddle is sartinly the thing. I would give a good deal +if we had a fiddle here to-night, for I see the boys and girls miss it. +Lord-a-massy! how it would set 'em a-goin' if we only had a fiddle +here."</p> + +<p>"John Norton," said the Lad, who was sitting on a chair hidden away +behind the Trapper, "John Norton," and the Lad took hold of the sleeve +of his jacket and pulled the Trapper's head down towards him, "would you +like to hear a violin to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Like to hear a fiddle? Lord bless ye, Lad, I guess I would like to hear +a fiddle. I never seed a time I wouldn't give the best beaver hide in +the lodge to hear the squeak of the bow on the strings. What's the +matter with ye, Lad?" and he drew the old man's head still closer to +him, until his ear was within a few inches of his mouth. "I love to play +the violin better than I love any thing in the world, and I've got one +of the best ones you ever heard, out there in the bow of the boat."</p> + +<p>"Heavens and 'arth, Lad!" ejaculated the Trapper, "Did ye say ye could +play the fiddle, and that ye had a good one out there in the boat? +Lord-a-massy! how the young folks will hop. Scoot out there and git it, +boy, and Henry and me will let the folks know what ye've got and what ye +can do."</p> + +<p>The Lad fairly flashed out of the room. He was gone in an instant; and +in a few minutes he had returned, bearing in his hands a bundle which he +carried as carefully as a mother would carry her babe; but brief as had +been his absence it had allowed sufficient time for Herbert to +communicate with the master of ceremonies and for him to announce to the +company present that the great lack of the occasion had fortunately and +unexpectedly been supplied; for the young man who was with Mr. Herbert +and John Norton not only knew how to play the violin, but actually had +one in his boat, and had gone to get it, and would be back in a moment. +The announcement was received with applause. White hands clapped, and a +hundred ejaculations of wonderment sounded forth the surprise and +pleasure of the eager throng. And when the Lad came stealing in, bearing +his precious burden, he was received with a positive ovation.</p> + +<p>It was amusing to see the change which had come over the looks and +actions of the company at the mention and appearance of the violin. The +faces that had shown indifference and the look of languid weariness +freshened and became tense in all their lines; and on their heads again +animation sat crowned. Those who were seated jumped to their feet. The +conversationalists broke their circle and swung suddenly into line. Eyes +sparkled. Little happy screams and miniature war-whoops from the +boisterous youngsters rang through the parlor. In eye, and look, and +voice, the popular tribute spoke in honor of the popular instrument,—an +instrument whose strings can sound almost every passion forth: The quip +and quirk of merriment, the mourner's wail, the measured praise of +solemn psalms, the lively beat of joy, the subtle charm of indolent +moods, and the sweet ecstacy of youthful pleasure, when with flying feet +and in the abandon of delight she swings, circles, and floats through +the measures of the voluptuous waltz.</p> + +<p>In one corner of the parlor there was a platform, from which charades +and private theatricals had been acted on some previous evening, and to +this the Lad was escorted; and strange to say his awkwardness had +departed from him. His form was straight. His head was lifted. His +shambling gait steadied itself with firmest confidence. His long arms +sought no longer feebly to hide themselves, but held the package that he +carried in fond authority of gesture, as a proud mother, whose pride had +banished bashfulness, might carry a beautiful child. So the Lad went +toward the dais, and, seating himself in the chair, proceeded with +deliberate tenderness to uncover the instrument.</p> + +<p>An old, dark-looking one it was. The gloom of centuries darkened it. +Their dusk had penetrated the very fibre of the wood. Its look suggested +ancient times; far climes; and hands long mouldering in dust. It was an +instrument to quicken curiosity and elicit mental interrogation. What +was its story? Where was it made? By whom, and when? The Lad did not +know. It was his mother's gift, he said. And an old sea-captain had +given it to his mother. The old sea-captain had found it on a wreck in +the far-off Indian Ocean. He found it in a trunk—a great sea chest made +of scented wood and banded with brazen ribs. And in the chest, with it, +it was rumored the old mariner had found silks, and costly fabrics, and +gold, and eastern gems,—gems that never had been cut, but lay in all +their barbaric beauty, dull and swarth as Cleopatra's face. Thus the +violin had been found on the far seas—at the end of the world, as it +were, and in companionship of gems and fabrics rich and rare; and in a +chest whose mouth breathed odors. This was all the Lad knew.</p> + +<p>"Henry," said the old Trapper, "the Lad says the fiddle is so old that +no one knows how old it is; and I conceit the boy speaks the truth. It +sartinly looks as old as a squaw whose teeth has dropped out and whose +face is the color of tanned buckskin. I tell ye, Henry, I believe it +will bust if the Lad draws the bow with any 'arnestness across it, for +there never was a glue made that would hold wood together for a thousand +year. And if that fiddle isn't a thousand year old, then John Norton is +no jedge of appearances, and can't count the prongs on the horns of a +buck."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image21" name="image21"> + <img src="images/21.jpg" + alt=""The Lad began to play."" + title=""The Lad began to play."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>The Lad began to play</i>."</span> +</div> + +<p>At this instant the Lad dropped the bow upon the strings. Strong and +round, mellow and sweet, the note swelled forth. Starting with the least +filament of sound, it wove itself into a compact chord of sonorous +resonance; filled the great parlors; passed through the doorway into the +receptive stillness outside; charged it with throbbings—thus held the +air a moment; reigned in it—then, calling its powers back to itself, +drew in its vibrating tones; checked its undulating force; and leaving +the air by easy retirement, came back like a bird to its nest and died +away within the recesses of the dark, melodious shell from whence it +started.</p> + +<p>When the bow first began its course across the strings the old Trapper's +eyes were on it; and as the note grew and swelled he seemed to grow with +it. His great fingers shut into their palms as if an unseen power was +pulling at the chords. His breast heaved. His mouth actually opened. It +was as if the rising, swelling, pulsating sounds actually lifted him +from off the floor on which he stood, and when the magnificent note +ebbed and finally died away within the violin, not only he, but all the +company stood breathless: charmed, surprised, astonished into silence at +the wondrous note they had heard.</p> + +<p>The old Trapper was the first to move. He brought his brawny hand down +heavily upon Herbert's shoulder, and, with a face actually on fire with +the fervor stirred within him, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Lord-a-massy! Henry, did ye ever hear a noise like that? I say, boy, +did ye ever hear a noise like that? Where on arth did it all come from? +Why, boy, 'twas as long and as solemn as a funeral, as arnest as the cry +of a panther, and roared like a nest of hornets when ye poke 'em with a +stick. If that's a fiddle, I wonder what the other things be that I have +heerd the half-breeds and the Frenchers play in the clearin's."</p> + +<p>Well might the old Trapper be astonished. The violin of unknown age and +make was one among ten thousand. It was a concert to hear the Lad tune +it; which he did with a bold and skilful touch, and the exactness of an +ear which nature had made exquisitely true to time and chord. His +bashfulness was gone. His timidity had departed. His awkwardness, even, +went out of body and arm and fingers, with the initial note. His soul +had found its life with his mother's gift; and he who was so weak and +hesitating in ordinary moments, found courage and strength, and the +dignity of a master, when he touched the strings. At last the instrument +was ready. And with a flourish bold and free he struck into the measures +of a waltz that filled the parlor with circling noise, and made the air +throb and beat—swing and swell, as if it were liquid, and unseen +hands were moving it with measured undulations.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image22" name="image22"> + <img src="images/22.jpg" + alt=""The God of Music was actually in the room."" + title=""The God of Music was actually in the room."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>The God of Music was actually in the room.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>There was no resisting an influence so sweet, subtle, and pervasive, as +flowed from that easy-going bow, as it came and went over the resounding +strings. Couple after couple swung off into the open space, until the +entire company were swinging and floating through the dreamy and +bewitching measures. The god of music was actually in the room, and his +strong, passionate touch was on the souls of those who were floated +hither and thither as if blown by his invisible breath. The music took +possession of the dancers. It banished the mortal heaviness from their +frames, and made them buoyant, so that their feet scarce touched the +floor. Up and down and across from side to side and end to end they +whirled and floated. They moved as if a power which took the place of +wings was in them. They did not seem to know that they were dancing. +They did not dance; they floated, flowing like a current moved by easy +undulations. Their hands were clasped. Their faces nearly touched. Their +eyes were closed or glowing. And still the long bow came and went, and +still the music rose and sank, swelled and ebbed, as easy waves +advance, retreat and flood again, breaking in white and lazy murmurs at +twilight on the dusky beach.</p> + +<p>Herbert stood still; his eyes were lifted, the gaze in them far away, +and one foot beat the measure. Beside him stood the Trapper. His arms +were crossed; his eyes were on the bow that the Lad was drawing, and his +body swayed, lifted and sank in perfect harmony with the motions and the +accompanying sound, with a grace which nature only reaches when the will +is utterly surrendered to a power that has charmed the stiffness and +tension out of the frame and made it yielding and responsive.</p> + +<p>At last the music stopped; and with it stopped each form. Each foot was +arrested at the point to which the sound had carried it when it paused. +Each couple stood in perfect pose. The motive power which moved them was +withdrawn, and the limbs stood motionless as if the soul that gave them +animation had retired. They had been lifted to another world—a world of +impulse and movement more airy and spirit-like than the gross +earth,—and it took a moment for them to struggle back to ordinary life. +But in a moment thought recalled them to themselves, and they realized +the mastery of the power that had held them at its will and the applause +broke out in showers of happy tumult. They crowded around the +Lad—strong men and beautiful women,—gazing at him in wonder; then +broke up into knots talking and marvelling. To the old Trapper's face, +as he gazed at the Lad, a strange look came,—the look of a man to whose +soul has come a revelation so pure and sweet that he is unable at first +to compass it with his understanding. He came close to the Lad, and, +sitting down on the edge of the platform, put his hand on the knee of +the youth, and said:</p> + +<p>"I have heerd most of the sweet and terrible noises that natur' makes, +boy: I have heered the thunder among the hills, when the Lord was +knockin' ag'in the 'arth until it jarred; and I have heered the wind in +the pines and the waves on the beaches when the darkness of night was on +the woods, and Natur' was singin' her evenin' psalm; and there be no +bird or beast the Lord has made whose cry, be it lively or solemn, I +have not heerd; and I have said that man had never made an instrument +that could make so sweet a noise as Natur' makes when the Sperit of the +universe speaks through her stillness: but ye have made sounds +to-night, Lad, sweeter than my ears have ever heerd on hill or +lake-shore, at noon or in the night season, and I sartinly believe that +the Sperit of the Lord has been with ye, boy, and gi'n ye the power to +bring out sech music as the Book says the angels make in their happiness +in the world above. I trust ye be grateful, Lad, for the gift the Lord +has gi'n ye; for, though yer tongue knows leetle of speech, yit yer +fingers can bring sech sounds out of that fiddle as a man might wish to +have in his ears when his body lies stiffenin' in his cabin, and his +sperit is standin' on the edge of the Great Clearin'. Yis, Lad, ye must +sartinly play for me when my eyes grow dim, and my feet strike the trail +that no man strikes but once, nor travels both ways."</p> + +<p>At this point the announcement of supper was made; and the company +streamed towards the tables. The repast was of that bounteous character +customary to the houses located in the woods, in which the hearty +provisions of the forest were brought into conjunction with and +re-enforced by the more light and fanciful <i>cuisine</i> of the cities. +Among the substantiate, fish and venison predominated. There was +venison roast, and venison spitted, and venison broiled; venison steak +and venison pie; trout broiled, and baked, and boiled; pancakes and +rolls; ices and cream; pies and puddings; pickles and sauces of every +conceivable character and make; ducks and partridges; coffee and tea +whose nature, I regret to say, was discernible only to the eye of faith. +In the midst of this abundance, the Old Trapper was entirely at home. He +ate with the relish and heartiness of a man whose appetite was of the +highest order, and whose courage mounted to the occasion.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image23" name="image23"> + <img src="images/23.jpg" + alt=""Even the waiters, as they came and went, caught the infection."" + title=""Even the waiters, as they came and went, caught the infection."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Even the waiters, as they came and went, caught the infection.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"I tell ye, Henry," said the old man, as he transferred a duck to his +plate and proceeded to carve it with the aptness of one who had +practical knowledge of its anatomy, "I tell ye, Henry, the birds be +gittin' fat; and I sartinly hope the flight this fall will be a good un. +Don't be bashful, Lad, in yer eatin'," he continued, as he transferred +half of the bird to his companion's plate, "ye haven't got the size of +some about the waist, but yer length is in yer favor, and if ye will +only straighten up, and Henry don't gin' out, there'll be leetle left on +this eend of the table when we have satisfied our hunger. I don't know +when the cravin' of natur' has been stronger within me then it is this +minit; and if nothin' happens, and ye stand by me, the Saranacers will +remember our visit for days after we be gone. It isn't often that I feed +in the settlements, or get a taste of their cookin', but the man who +basted these birds knowed what he was doin', and the fire has given +them jest the right tech; and the morsels actilly melt in yer mouth."</p> + +<p>The Trapper's feelings were evidently not peculiar to himself. And the +spirit of feasting was abroad. The eating was such as would astonish the +dwellers in cities. Wit flashed across the table in answer to wit. Mirth +rippled from end to end of the room. Laughter roared and rollicked adown +the hall. Jokes were cracked. Fun exploded. Plates rattled. Cups and +glasses touched and rang. Even the waiters, as they came and went in +their happy service, caught the infection of the surrounding happiness, +and their laughter mingled with that of the guests.</p> + +<p>The great pine branches and the evergreens nailed against the corner +posts and wreathed into festoons along the walls shook and trembled in +the uproar as to the passage of winds along their native hills. And the +huge buck's heads, whose antlers were tied with rosettes and streaming +ribbons, lost the staring look of their great artificial eyes and seemed +as they gazed out through the interlacing boughs of cedar and balsam as +if life had returned to them, and they once more were animate.</p> + +<p>In about an hour the company streamed back into the parlor, with a mood +even livelier than that which had characterized the early hours of the +occasion. Their minds were in the state of highest action, and their +bodies needed but the opportunity for rapid motion. Even the Lad had +caught the infection of the surrounding liveliness, for his eyes and +face glowed with the light of quickened animation.</p> + +<p>"Have ye got any jigs in that fiddle, Lad?" said the Trapper; "Can ye +twist any thing out of yer instrument that will set the feet travellin'? +It seems to me that the young folks here want shakin' up a leetle; and a +leetle of the old-fashioned dancin' will help 'em settle the vittles. +Can ye liven up, Lad, and give 'em a tune that will set 'em whirlin'?"</p> + +<p>The only reply of the Lad was a motion of the bow; but the motion was +effective, for it sent a torrent of notes into the air, which thrilled +through the body and tingled along the nerves like successive electric +shocks. The old Trapper fairly bounded into the air; and when he struck +the floor his feet were flying. Nor was he alone; the jig had started a +dozen on the instant; and the floor rattled and rang with the tap of toe +and heel.</p> + +<p>"Henry," said the old Trapper, "hold on to me or I shall sartinly make a +fool of myself. The Lad is ticklin' me from head to foot, and my toes +are snappin' inside of the moccasins. Lord, who'd a thought that the +blood in the veins of a man whose head is whitenin' could be sot leapin' +as mine is doin' at this minit by the scrapin' of a fiddle!"</p> + +<p>The Lad was a picture to see. His bow flew like lightning. His long +fingers drummed and slid along the strings of the violin with +bewildering swiftness. The little instrument jetted and effervesced its +melody. The continuous and resounding noise poured out of it in tuneful +bubbles. The air was filled with tinkling fragments of sound. The Lad's +body swayed to and fro. His face glowed. His eyes flashed. The sweat +stood in drops on his forehead, but still the bow snapped and crinkled, +and the instrument continued to burst in musical explosions, while the +floor shook, the windows rattled, and the lamps flared and fluttered, as +the dancers chased the music on.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image24" name="image24"> + <img src="images/24.jpg" + alt=""The music stopped with a snap."" + title=""The music stopped with a snap."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>The music stopped with a snap.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Heavens and arth!" said the Trapper. "I can't stand this," and breaking +from the hold that Herbert had on him, whirled himself out to the +centre of the floor and, with his face aflame with excitement and his +white hair flying abroad, led the jig men off with a lightness of foot +and quickness of stroke that forced the music by half a beat. The effect +was electric. The room burst into applause, and the Lad fetched a stroke +that seemed to rip the violin asunder. It was now a race between the +violin and the dancers. One after another fell out of the circle as the +moments passed, until the Trapper was left alone and was cutting it down +in a fashion that both astonished and convulsed the company. More than +one of the spectators went on to the floor in paroxysms of laughter. +Herbert, bent over with his hands on his knees, was watching the Trapper +with mouth stretched to its utmost and streaming eyes.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to say which would have triumphed, had not an accident +decided the contest and brought the jig to an abrupt termination. For +even while the Lad was in the midst of the swiftest execution, the hind +legs of the chair in which he was sitting were whipped from their +fastenings, his heels went into the air, he turned half a somersault +backward and the music stopped with a snap.</p> + +<p>It was minutes before a word could be heard. Roars and shrieks and +screams of irrepressible and uncontrollable merriment shook the house +from foundation to garret. The Lad picked himself up and for the first +time since they met Herbert saw his placid countenance wrinkled and +seamed with the contortions of uproarious mirth. The sluggishness of his +temperament for once was thoroughly agitated and the manhood which never +before had come to the surface found in hilarity a visible and adequate +expression. The Trapper had spun to his side and the two had joined +their hands and, looking into each other's faces, were laughing with a +boisterousness that fairly shook their frames and exploded in resounding +peals.</p> + +<p>Gradually the uproar subsided and the company settled by easy transition +to a quieter mood. The hours of the night were passing and the moment +drawing nigh when those who had mingled their merriment must part. The +old Trapper had regained his gravity and his countenance had settled to +its customary repose. It seemed the general wish that the Lad would +favor them with a farewell piece, and in compliance with the request of +many, the old man turned to him and said:</p> + +<p>"The hours be drawing on, Lad, and it's reasonable that we should break +up; but afore we go the folks wish to hear ye play a quiet sort of a +piece that may be cheerful and pleasant like for them to remember ye by +when we be gone. So, Lad, if ye have got anything in yer head that's +soft and teching, somethin' that will sort o' stay in the heart as the +seasons come and go, I sartinly hope ye will play it for them. And as ye +say ye was born by the sea, and as ye say the instrument ye hold in yer +hand was gin ye by yer mother, it may be ye can play us something out of +yer memory that shall tell us of her goodness to ye. Something I mean, +that shall tell us of the shore where ye was born and the love that ye +had afore ye laid her to rest and came to the woods seekin' me. Can ye +play us somethin' like that, Lad?"</p> + +<p>"I can play you anything that has mother in it," said he, and a wistful, +yearning, hungry look came into his eyes and the edges of his lips +quivered.</p> + +<p>The company seated themselves and the boy drew his bow across the +instrument. The brush of a painter could not have made the picture more +perfect than the vision the Lad brought forth as the bow played on the +strings. The picture of a sea, sunlighted and level, stretching far out; +the picture of a curved shore: the shore of a quiet bay, rimmed with its +beach of shining sand and noisy with the gurgle and splash of lapsing +waves; the picture of a home quiet and orderly and filled with the +tenderness of a gentle spirit; and then a heavier chord told of the +coming of a darker hour when the mother lay dying. The violin fairly +sobbed and groaned and wailed, as if the spirit of unconsolable grief +were tugging heavily at the strings. Anon, a bell tolled solemnly out of +it and its heavy knell clanged through the room. And then the music +rested for a minute; and in the silence it seemed as if the grave came +into sight as plainly as if the eyes of all were actually looking at its +open mouth. Again the music sounded, and the sods, one after another, +fell on the coffin, dull and heavy, changing to a gravelly, smothered +sound as the grave filled. Once more it paused, and then a clear, sweet +strain arose, sad, but pure and fine and hopeful, as voice of angels +could have sung it, trustful and resigned. The bow stopped again; for a +moment the violin was silent. And then the Lad lifted his face and, +laying the bow softly upon the strings, began to play what all +instinctively felt was a hymn to the spirit of his mother. Slowly, +softly, sweetly, as the strains which the dying sometimes hear, the +pure, clear, smooth notes stole out into the hushed air. It was playing, +not such as mortal plays to mortal, but such as spirit plays to spirit +and soul to soul, to-night, across the street of heaven. The Lad still +used an earthly instrument and touched its strings with mortal fingers; +but never, while they live, will those who heard that hymn believe that +anything less than the spirit of the boy drew from the instrument the +notes that filled the room with their divine sweetness. Indeed, the Lad +did not act as if he were conscious of his body or of bodily presences +around him. His face was lifted and his eyes, from which the tears were +streaming, were gazing upward, not as if into vacancy, but as if they +saw the bright being that had passed within the veil, standing in all +the beauty of her transfiguration before them. For a smile was on the +boy's lips, even while the tears were rolling down his cheeks. And when, +at last, the arm suspended its motion; when the sweet notes ceased to +sound and the last chord had died away, the Lad still kept his uplifted +posture and his features held the same rapt expression.</p> + +<p>The company sat motionless, their gaze fastened on the Lad. Not an eye +was without its tear. The cheeks of the old Trapper were wet; and +Herbert, touched by some memory or overcome by the pathos of the music, +was actually sobbing. The old man, with a tread as light as a moccasined +foot could make, stepped softly to the side of the Lad and taking him by +the arm—while the company rose as one man—motioned to Henry with his +hand, and then, without a word, the Trapper and Herbert and "The Man Who +Didn't Know Much" passed out of the room, and taking boat, shoved off +and glided from sight in the blue darkness of the overhanging night, +amid whose eastern gloom the great, luminous, mellow-hearted stars of +the morning were already aflame.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image25" name="image25"> + <img src="images/25.jpg" + alt="Tail piece" + title="Tail piece" /></a> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Who_Was_He" id="Who_Was_He">Who Was He?</a></h2> + +<h4>I</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> + <a id="image26" name="image26"> + <img src="images/26.jpg" + alt=" Vignette Initial AT" + title=" Vignette Initial AT" /></a> +</div> + +<p>the head of a stretch of swiftly running water the river widened into +a broad and deep pool. From the western bank a huge ledge of rock sloped +downward and outward into the water. On it stood the trapper, John +Norton, with a look of both expectation and anxiety on his face. For a +moment he lifted his troubled eyes and gazed steadily through the +tree-tops; and as his eyes fell to the level of the river, while the +look of anxiety deepened on his countenance, he said:</p> + +<p>"Yis, the wind has changed and the fire be comin' this way; and ef it +gits into the balsam thickets this side of the mountain and the wind +holds where it is, a buck in full jump could hardly outrun it. Yis, the +smoke thickens; ef I didn't know that the boy would act with jedgment, +and that he's onusually sarcumspect, I would sartinly feel worried about +him. I hope he won't do anything resky for the sake of the pups. Ef he +can't git 'em, he can't; and I trust he won't resk the life of a man for +a couple of dogs."</p> + +<p>With these words the trapper relapsed into silence. But every minute +added to his anxiety, for the smoke thickened in the air and even a few +cinders began to pass him as they were blown onward with the smoke by +the wind.</p> + +<p>"The fire is comin' down the river," he said, "and the boy has it behind +him. Lord-a-massy! hear it roar! I know the boy is comin', for I never +knowed him to do a foolish thing in the woods; and it would be downright +madness for him to stay in the shanty, or even go to the shanty, ef the +fire had struck the balsam thicket afore he made the landin'. Lord, ef +an oar-blade should break,—but it won't break. The Lord of marcy won't +let an oar that the boy is handlin' break, when the fire is racin' +behind him, and he's comin' back from an arrand of marcy. I never seed +a man desarted in a time like"—</p> + +<p>A report of a rifle rang out quick and sharp through the smoke.</p> + +<p>"God be praised!" said the trapper, "it's the boy's own piece, and he +let it off as he shot the rift the fourth bend above. Yis, the boy knows +his danger and he took the vantage of the rift to signal me with his +piece, for oars couldn't help him in the rift and the missin' of a +single stroke wouldn't count. I trust the boy got the pups, arter all," +added the old trapper, his mind instantly reverting to his loved +companions the moment it was relieved from anxiety touching his comrade.</p> + +<p>It couldn't have been over five minutes after the report of a rifle had +sounded, before a boat swept suddenly around the bend above the rock and +shot like an arrow through the haze toward the trapper. Herbert was at +the oars and the two hounds were sitting on their haunches at the stern. +The stroke the oarsman was pulling was such as a man pulls when, in +answer to some emergency, he is putting forth his whole strength. But +though the stroke was an earnest one, there was no apparent hurry in it; +for it was long and evenly pulled, from dip to finish, and the recovery +seemed a trifle leisurely done. The face of the trapper fairly shone +with delight as he saw the boat and the occupants. Indeed, his happiness +was too great to be enjoyed silently, and, in accordance with his habit +when greatly interested, he broke into speech.</p> + +<p>"Look at that now!" he exclaimed, as if speaking to some one at his +side; "look at that now! There's a stroke that's worth notin', and is a +kind of edication in itself. Ye might almost think that there wasn't +quite enough snap in it; but the boy knows that he's pullin' for his +life and the life of another man somewhere below him—not to speak of +the pups—and he knows it's good seven miles to the rapids, and he's +pullin' every ounce that's in him to pull, and keep his stroke. Now, +he's come five miles, ef he's come a rod, and I warrant he hasn't missed +a stroke, save when in shootin' the rift he let off his piece. And he +knows he's got seven miles more to pull and he's set himself a +twelve-mile stroke; and there aint many men that could do it, with the +roar of the fire a leetle way behind him. Yis, the boy has acted with +jedgment and is sartinly comin' along like a buck in full jump. I guess +I'd better let him know where I be."</p> + +<p>"Hillow there, boy! Hi, hi, pups! Here I be on the p'int of the rock, as +fresh as a buck arter a mornin' drink. Ease away a leetle, Herbert, in +yer stroke and move the pups forad a leetle and make room for a man and +a paddle, for the fire is arter ye and the time has come to jine works."</p> + +<p>The young man did as the trapper requested. He intermitted a stroke and +the hounds, at a word, moved into the middle of the boat and crouched +obediently in the bottom, but whimpering in their gladness at hearing +their master's voice again. The boat was under good headway when it +passed the point of the ledge on which the trapper was standing, but as +it glanced by, the old man leaped with practised agility to his place in +the stern and had given a full and strong stroke to his paddle before he +had fairly settled to his seat.</p> + +<p>"Now, Herbert," he began, "ease yerself a bit, for ye have had a tough +pull and it's good seven miles to the rapids. The fire is sartinly +comin' in arnest, but the river runs nigh onto straight till ye git +within sight of 'em, and I think we will beat it. I didn't feel sartin +that ye had got the pups, Herbert, for I could see by the signs that ye +wouldn't have any time to spare. Was it a tech and a go, boy?"</p> + +<p>"The fire was in the pines west of the shanty when I entered it," +answered the young man, "and the smoke was so thick that I couldn't see +it from the river as I landed."</p> + +<p>"I conceited as much," replied the trapper, "I conceited as much. Yis, I +knowed 'twould be a close shave ef ye got 'em, and I feared ye would run +a resk that ye oughtn't to run, in yer love for the dogs."</p> + +<p>"I didn't propose to leave the dogs to die," responded the young man; "I +think I should have heard their cries in my ears for a year, had they +been burned to death in the shanty where we left them."</p> + +<p>"Ye speak with right feelin', Herbert," replied the trapper. "No, a +hunter has no right to desart his dog when danger be nigh; for the +Creator has made 'em in their loves and their dangers, alike. Did ye +save the powder and the bullits, boy?"</p> + +<p>"I did not," responded Herbert; "the sparks were all around me and the +shanty was smoking while I was feeling around for the dogs' leash. I +heard the canister explode before I reached the first bend."</p> + +<p>"'Twas a narrer rub, boy," rejoined the trapper. "Yis, I can see 'twas a +narrer rub ye had of it, and the holes in yer shirt show that the sparks +was fallin' pritty thick and pritty hot, too, when ye come out of the +shanty. How does the stroke tell on ye, boy?" continued the old man, +interrogatively. "Ye be pullin' a slashin' stroke, ye see, and there's +five mile more of it, ef there's a rod."</p> + +<p>"The stroke begins to tell on my left side," answered Herbert; "but if +you were sitting where you could see what's coming down upon us as I +can, you would see it wasn't any time for us to take things leisurely."</p> + +<p>"Lord, boy," rejoined the trapper, "do ye think I haven't any ears? The +fire's at the fourth bend above us and the pines on the ridge we passed +five minutes ago ought to be blazin' by this time. Ah me, boy, this +isn't the fust time I've run a race with a fire of the devil's own +kindlin', alone and in company, both. And my ears have measured the roar +and the cracklin' ontil I can tell to a rod, eenamost, how fur the red +line be behind me."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of our chances?" queried his companion; "shall we +get over the carry in time? for I suppose we are making for the big +pool, are we not?"</p> + +<p>"Yis, we be makin' for the pool," replied the trapper, "for it's the +only safe spot on the river; and as for the chances, I sartinly doubt ef +we can fetch the carry in time. Ef the fire isn't there ahead of us, it +will be on us afore we could git to the pool at the other eend."</p> + +<p>"Why can't we run the rapids?" asked Herbert promptly.</p> + +<p>"The rapids can be run, as you and me know," responded the old man, "for +we have both did it, although they be onusually swift, and there be +spots where good jedgment and a quick paddle is needed."</p> + +<p>"Why," exclaimed Herbert, "the last time we went down we never took in a +drop of water."</p> + +<p>"It's true, as ye say, boy," responded the trapper; "yis, we sartinly +did as ye say, though few be the men that know the waters that would +believe it."</p> + +<p>"Why, then," exclaimed the young man, "can't we do it again?"</p> + +<p>"The smoke, boy, the smoke," was the answer. "The smoke will be there +ahead of us. And who can run a stretch of water like the one ahead +yender, with his eyes blinded? No, boy, we must git there ahead of the +fire, for we can't run the rapids in the smoke. Here," he added, "ye be +pullin' a murderin' stroke, and it's best that I spell ye. Down with ye, +pups, down with ye, and lie still as a frozen otter while the boy comes +over ye."</p> + +<p>With the celerity of long practice in boating, the two men changed +places, and with such quickness was the change in position effected, +that the onrushing shell scarcely lessened its headway. The trapper +seized the oars on the instant, while Herbert supported him with equal +swiftness with the paddle and the light craft raced along like a feather +blown by the gale.</p> + +<p>For several moments the trapper, who, by the change in his position was +brought face to face with the pursuing fire, said not a word. His stroke +was long and sweeping and pulled with an energy which only perfect skill +and tremendous strength can put into action. He looked at the rolling +flames with a face undisturbed in its calmness and with eyes that noted +knowingly every sign of its progress.</p> + +<p>"The fire is a hot un," he said at length, "and it runs three feet to +our two. We may git there ahead of it, for there isn't more than a mile +furder to go; but—Lord!" exclaimed the trapper, "how it roars! and it +makes its own wind as it comes on. Don't break yer paddle shaft, boy; +but the shaft is a good un and ye may put all the strength into it that +ye think it will stand."</p> + +<p>The spectacle on which the trapper was gazing was, indeed, a terrible +one; and the peril of the two men was getting to be extreme. The valley, +through the centre of which the river ran, was perhaps a mile in width, +at which distance a range of lofty hills on either side walled it in. +Down this enclosed stretch the fire was being driven by a wind which +sent the blazing evidences of its approach in advance of its terrible +progress. The spectacle was indescribable. The dreadful line of flame +moved onward like a line of battle, when it moves at a charge against a +flying enemy. The hungry flames ate up the woods as a monster might eat +food when starving. Grasses, shrubs, bushes, thickets of undergrowth and +the great trees, which stood in groves over the level plain on either +side of the stream, disappeared at its touch as if swallowed up. The +evergreens crackled and flamed fiery hot. The smoke eddied up in rushing +volumes. Overhead, and far in advance of the on-rolling line of fire, +the air was darkened with black cinders, amid whose sombre masses fiery +sparks and blazing brands shone and flashed like falling stars.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image27" name="image27"> + <img src="images/27.jpg" + alt=""A deer suddenly sprang from the bank."" + title=""A deer suddenly sprang from the bank."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>A deer suddenly sprang from the bank.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>A deer suddenly sprang from the bank into the river ahead of the boat +and, frenzied with fear, swam boldly athwart its course. He was followed +by another and another. Birds flew shrieking through the air. Even the +river animals swam uneasily along the banks, or peered out of their +holes, as if nature had communicated to them, also, the terrible alarm; +while, like the roar of a cataract,—dull, heavy, portentous,—the wrath +of the flames rolled ominously through the air.</p> + +<p>Amid the sickening smoke which was already rolling in volumes over the +boat and the terrible uproar and confusion of nature, Herbert and the +trapper kept steadily to their task. But every moment the line of fire +gained on them. The smoke was already at intervals stifling and the heat +of the coming conflagration getting unbearable. Brands began to fall +hissing into the water. Twice had Herbert flung a blazing fragment out +of the boat. And so, in a race literally for life, with the flames +chasing them and their lives in jeopardy, they turned the last bend +above the carry which began at the head of the rapids. But it was too +late; the fiery fragments blown ahead by the high wind had fallen in +front of them, and the landing at the carry itself was actually +enveloped in smoke and flame.</p> + +<p>"The fire be ahead of us, boy!" exclaimed the trapper, "and death is +sartinly comin' behind. The odds be agin us to start with, for the smoke +is thick and the fire will be in the bends at least half the way down, +but it's our only chance; we must run the rapids."</p> + +<p>"What about the dogs?"</p> + +<p>"The pups must shirk for themselves," answered the old man. "I'm sorry, +but the rapids be swift and the waters shaller on the first half of the +stretch. And the pups settle the boat half an inch, ef they settle it a +hair. Yis, overboard with ye, pups! overboard with ye!" commanded the +trapper. "Ye must use the gifts the Lord has gin ye now, or git singed. +I advise ye to keep with the current and come down trailin' the boat; +for man's reason is better than dogs' reason, techin' currents and +eddies, not to speak of falls. But take yer own way; for yer lives be in +jeopardy with yer master's, and ye ought, for sartin, to have the chance +of dyin' as ye like to. But yer best chance is to foller the boat, as I +jedge."</p> + +<p>The trapper had continued to talk as if addressing members of the human +and not the canine species; and long before he had finished his remarks, +the hounds had taken to the water and were swimming with all their power +directly in the wake of the boat, as if they had actually understood +their master's injunction, and were, indeed, determined to shoot the +rapids in his wake.</p> + +<p>The conflagration was now at its fiercest heat. The smoke whirled upward +in mighty eddies or rolled along in huge convolutions. Through the +fleecy rolls here and there tongues of flame shot fiercely. The river +steamed. The roar of the rushing flames was deafening. The tops of the +huge pines that stood along the banks would wave and toss as the fiery +line reached them, and then burst into blaze, as if they were but the +mighty torches that lighted the path of the passing destruction. In all +his long and eventful life, passed amid peril, it is doubtful if the +trapper had ever been in a wilder scene. The rapids were ahead and the +fire behind and on either side. The great mass of flame had not yet +rolled abreast the boat, but the blazing brands were already falling in +advance. It was not a moment to hesitate; nor was he a man to falter +when action was called for.</p> + +<p>By this time the boat had come nigh the upper rift of the rapids, and +the motion of the downward suction was beginning to tell on its +progress. The trapper shipped his oars and, lifting his paddle, placed +himself in a kneeling posture, gazing down stream. The fire was almost +upon them, and the smoke too dense for sight. But pressing as was the +emergency, neither man touched his paddle to the water, but let the boat +go down with the quickening current to the verge of the rapids, where +the sharp dip of the decline would send it flying.</p> + +<p>"This be an onsartin ventur', Henry," cried the trapper, shouting to his +comrade from the smoke that now made it impossible for the young man, +even at only the boat's length, to see his person. "This be an onsartin +ventur', and the Lord only knows how it will eend. Ye know the waters as +well as I do; and ye know the p'ints where things must be did right. +We'll beat the smoke arter we make the fust dip and git out of the +thickest of it in the fust half of the distance, onless somethin' +happens. Let her go with the current, boy, ontil yer sight comes to ye, +for the current knows where it's goin', and that's more than a mortal +can tell in this infarnal smoke. Here we go, boy!" shouted the old man, +as the boat balanced in its perilous flight on the sharp edge of the +uppermost rift. "Here we go, boy!" he shouted out of the smoke and the +rush of waters, "it's hotter than Tophet where we be and it matters +mighty leetle what meets us below."</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>To those who have had no experience in running rapids, no adequate +conception can be given touching what can with truth be called one of +the most exciting experiences that man can pass through. The very +velocity with which the flight is made is enough of itself to make the +sensation startling. The skill which is required on the part of the +boatman is of the finest order. Eye and hand and readiest wit must work +in swift connection. Some who read these lines perhaps have—shall we +say—enjoyed the sensation which we have always found impossible to +describe in words? These, at least, will appreciate the difficulty of +our task, and also the peril which surrounded the trapper and his +companion.</p> + +<p>The first flight down which the boat glanced was a long one. The river +bed sloped away in a straight direction for nigh on to fifty rods, and +at an angle so steep that the water, although the bottom was rough, +fairly flattened itself as it ran; and the channel where the current +was the deepest gave forth a serpentine sound as it whizzed downward. +The smoke, which hung heavily over the stretch from shore to shore, was +too dense for the eye to penetrate a yard. Amid the smoke sparks +floated, and brands, crackling as they fell, plunged through it into the +steaming water. Guidance of the frail craft was, as the trapper had +predicted, out of the question; the two men could only keep their +position as they went streaming downward. They kept their seats like +statues, knowing well that their safety lay in allowing their light +shell to follow, without the least interruption, the pressure of the +swift current.</p> + +<p>Half down the flight the volume of smoke was parted, by some freak of +the wind, from shore to shore, and for a couple of rods they saw the +water, the blazing banks, the fiery tree-tops and each other. The +trapper turned his face, blackened and stained by the grimy cinders, +toward his companion and gave one glance, in which humor and excitement +were equally mingled. His mouth was open, but the words were lost in the +roar of the flame and the rush of the water. He had barely time to toss +a hand upward, as if by gesture he would make good the impossibility of +speech, before face and hand alike faded from Herbert's eyes as the boat +plunged again into the smoke.</p> + +<p>The next instant the boat launched down the final pitch of the declivity +and shot far out into the smooth water that eddied in a huge circle in +the pool below. The smoke was at this point less compact, for through it +the blazing pines on either flamed partially into view.</p> + +<p>"It's the devil's own work, boy, for sartin," cried the trapper, "and +the fool or the knave that started the fire oughter be toasted. I trust +the pups will be reasonable and come down with the current. Has the fire +touched ye anywhere?"</p> + +<p>"Not much," answered Herbert. "A brand struck me on the shoulder and +opened a hole in my shirt,—that's all. How do you feel?"</p> + +<p>"Fried, boy; yis, actally fried. Ef this infarnal heat lasts, I'll be +ready to turn afore we reach the second bend."</p> + +<p>"How goes the stream below?" asked Herbert.</p> + +<p>"All clear for a while," answered the trapper, "all clear for a while. +Put yer strength into the paddle till we come to the varge below, for +the fire be runnin' fast, and it's agin reason for a mortal to stand +this heat long."</p> + +<p>"Shall we run out of the smoke at the next flight?" asked Herbert.</p> + +<p>"I think so, boy; I think so," answered the trapper. "The maples grow to +the bank at the foot of the next dip, and it isn't in the natur' of hard +wood to make smoke like a balsam."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image28" name="image28"> + <img src="images/28.jpg" + alt=""Past mossy banks where great eddies whirled."" + title=""Past mossy banks where great eddies whirled."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Past mossy banks where great eddies whirled.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>He would have said more, but his companion had nodded to him as he had +ended the sentence, for they had come to the last flight of the rapids, +and the great pool lay glimmering through the branches of the trees +below.</p> + +<p>The old man knew what was meant and said: "I know it, boy, I know it. +Take the east run, for the water be deeper that way, and the boat sets +deep. I won't trouble ye, for ye know the way. Lord! how the water +biles! Now's yer time, boy,—to the right with ye! to the right! Sweep +her round and let her go!"</p> + +<p>Away and downward swept the boat. The strong eddies caught it, but the +controlling paddle was stronger than the eddies and kept it to the line +of its safest descent. Past rocks that stood in mid current, against +which the swift-going water beat and dashed—past mossy banks and +shadowed curves where the great eddies whirled—down over miniature +falls into bubbles and froth the light craft swept, and with a final +plunge and leap jumped the last cascade, and, darting out into the great +basin, ran shoreward.</p> + +<p>It touched the beach, and the trapper and Herbert rose to their feet; +but for a moment neither stirred, for in front of them, not thirty feet +away, at the line where the sand and the green mosses met, and looking +directly at them, <i>stood a man and a girl</i>!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>WHO WAS HE? The two men asked this question a thousand times mentally in +the next two months, and once afterward they asked it aloud, as they +looked into each other's eyes across a grave. But to the question, +whether spoken or silent, no answer ever came.</p> + +<p>The world has its enigmas, and he was one.</p> + +<p>Amid the jabbering crowd we chaff and chatter with, we meet occasionally +a man who never chaffs nor chatters,—a man who sees all things; perhaps +because of this, suffers all things, but says nothing at all. The +sphinxes are still extant. The old time ones were of stone and bronze; +the modern ones are of flesh and blood; that's all the difference. Nay, +not quite all; for the secrets that the ancients held smothered within +the folds of their stony silence were only such as nature revealed to +them from her desert posts,—the secrets of sunrises and starry nights +and simoons that swept the sandy plain and of civilizations, the murmurs +of whose rising and the crash of whose sudden overthrow, they needs must +hear. But the secrets that men hear today, and by hearing of which are +made silent, are the secrets of lives being lived, of hearts being +broken, of intentions so noble and failures so bitter as to make men +sceptical whether God keeps watch over the passing events on the earth.</p> + +<p>Was he young? No. Was he old? No, again. How old was he? Forty, perhaps; +it may be fifty. The two men who stood looking at him never thought of +his age, neither then nor afterward; never thought whether he was old or +young. There are people who have no age to those who know them. Is it +because their bodies so little represent them? A friend has been +away—for years. He returns; enters your room; you shake his hand +heartily in welcome. And then you stand off and look at him. You look at +his hair and note the gray in it—at the wrinkles in his face—the dozen +and one marks that denote change—and say, "you've grown old, old boy;" +and so we judge most men, and so they should be judged. Why? Because +they are not great and strong and soul-large enough to dwarf their +bodies out of sight and dwindle them into insignificance.</p> + +<p>But now and then you meet one whose mind represents him, whose soul is +so gloriously finished that, as in the case of a great painting, you do +not think of the frame around it, nor take notice of it at all. He is +so strong vitally; so great in living force—in vital energies—in +moving and persuading power—that he is to you like an immense, endless, +all-conquering Life, wholly independent of his embodiment, who might +exist in any form,—angel, archangel, spirit, winged or wingless, +supernal or infernal, and still, in all forms, in all places, in all +moral states would remain true to himself and be the same. There are +some, I say, who are like this,—who are not of the earth, earthy, nor +of the body, but of the spirit, whether good or bad, spiritual: angel or +demon, always.</p> + +<p>Do you know one such? No? Perhaps not, for they are rare, very rare. But +some such there are, and if you do not know one, or one like to such a +one, I ask you if you do not think of him as I have said? Body! what is +body to such a man? what is a formation of clay deftly mingled in its +chemistry round about such an indomitable indwelling spirit? Does the +old rain-sodden nest photograph the bird, the swiftness and glory of +whose wings lived in it once? What is age to such a one? What has he to +do with the passing of years? Such a one is young and old both, from the +beginning of his career forever onward. He has the freshness of youth, +the strength of manhood, and the sagacity of age, fixed permanently in +his structure, as nature fixes her colors in the fibre of the ash and +the oak. Such have no age. How silly to ask how old he is. If you ask +me, I should answer, <i>Who can tell</i>? Their earthly parents say they were +born on such and such dates. Were they? Or had they lived as Mary's Son +had, ages before they took—for God's wise purpose—flesh? Who can tell?</p> + +<p>"<i>Heresy</i>?" I'm not writing a sermon, I am writing a story, and I seek +to make my readers think. That would not be essential if I were +sermonizing. Good people don't want that kind of preaching.</p> + +<p>But to return. Was he young? Was he old? Neither then nor ever after did +Herbert and the trapper think of him as having age; and yet he was with +them, and his body had all the marks which reveal to the noticing eye +the measure of man's days. This is the young man's description of him:</p> + +<p>"Tall, straight, and well-formed; large in size, but shapely, hair brown +with gray in it; in all the face a look of great power, reserved, but +ready to act; eyes of changeable color, that took the shade of the +emotion that chanced to come and look out of them; when unoccupied, +cold, gray, and meaningless as a window-pane behind which no face is; +and over all the countenance the look of great gravity, divided by but +the slightest line from sadness."</p> + +<p>So Herbert described him; but he always used to add: "Remember, this was +only his body, and <i>therefore no description at all</i>."</p> + +<p>The girl? Why, certainly, you shall know of her, and from the same +authority:</p> + +<p>"The girl that was with this strange man was not a girl merely, but both +girl and woman; for she was at that age when the sweet simplicity of the +one, and the full charm of the other, come into union, and a time, at +least, stand in attractive alliance. She was of medium height, and +perfectly formed. Her hair was brown, as were her eyes, that were large +and mild of look; and over all her face was such an expression of +gentleness and peace as I never saw on any other woman's face, and she +loved the man with so great a love that it made her life and took it +both."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>For a moment Herbert and the trapper stood looking at the man and girl, +who were standing on the edge of the beach, looking silently at them; +and then the trapper said, still standing in the boat:</p> + +<p>"We would not run agin ye so sudden-like had we seed ye, friend; and ef +our company be not pleasant to ye, we will move on, and camp on some +clump furder down," and the old man placed his paddle against the beach +as if he would breast the boat out into the pool.</p> + +<p>"I beg you not to do so," answered the man on the beach; "you have as +good a right to this camp-ground as we, and I dare say a better one, as +we are but strangers to the woods; while you, old man, look as if you +had made them your home for years."</p> + +<p>"Ye speak the truth, friend," replied the trapper. "Yis, the woods be my +home; and ef livin' in 'em gives man a right, few would gainsay my +claim. Yis, it's thirty years agone sence I hefted the fust trout from +this pool, and br'iled him on the bank there,—and a toothsome supper he +made for me, too. Lord-a-massy, boy," exclaimed the old man, half +turning toward his companion, "what a thing memory be! Thirty year!—and +I've seed some wanderin' sence then,—but I remember as though I'd eat +him last night jest how that trout tasted. You're sartin, friend, that +we won't distarb ye ef we come ashore?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, old man," answered the other, "come ashore, you and your +companion. Our camp is the other side of the balsam thicket there, and +after you have built your own, we will come down and pass an hour with +you, unless we should disturb you in your occupation or your pleasure."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image29" name="image29"> + <img src="images/29.jpg" + alt=""Come ashore, you and your companion."" + title=""Come ashore, you and your companion."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>Come ashore, you and your companion.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"I be a man of the woods, as ye see," replied the trapper, "and Henry, +here, be my companion; and though his home be in the city, he has +consorted with me so much that he's fallen into my habits,—though it +should be said to his credit that the Lord gin him nateral gifts in that +direction; and when we be roamin', we take but leetle with us, and our +camp be quickly made. No, no; we will have leetle to offer ye and the +lady, but ef, when the sun darkens back of the mountain there, ye will +honor an old man by yer comin', ye shall taste some venison that's +waited three days for the mouth and is tender, as it should be. And ef +the pool here will make its name good, ye shall have a trout cooked as +the hunter cooks it when the fire is hot and the wet moss plenty."</p> + +<p>"We will certainly come," answered the man. "I came into the woods to +avoid men, not to meet them; but your face is honest and open as the +day, old man; and your head is white as is the head of wisdom. I shall +be glad to talk with you, and I doubt not your companion is as educated +as you are knowing."</p> + +<p>"I've seed the comin' and goin' of seventy year sence I've been on the +arth," answered the trapper, stroking his head with the peculiar motion +of the aged when speaking of their age reflectively; "and much have I +seed of the passions of my kind, and many be the lessons that natur' has +larnt me; and ef the convarse of an old man who has lived leetle in the +clearin' would be pleasant to ye, yer comin' will be welcome.—Yis, +yis, boy, I seed it. Ye had better j'int yer rod, and I will start a +fire. Ye know the size ye want, and ye'll find 'em out there where the +bubbles make the letter S."</p> + +<p>The two strangers retired toward their own camp, and our friends set +about their several tasks. Herbert proceeded to joint his rod and the +trapper to make a rude fire-place from the stones that lined the bank at +the water's edge.</p> + +<p>The preparations for the forthcoming repast went forward rapidly. The +pool kept its reputation good and yielded abundantly to the solicitation +of Herbert's flies. The trout were large and in excellent condition and +were quickly made ready for the trapper's treatment. A large piece of +bark, peeled from a giant spruce standing near, and laid upon the +ground, served for the table,—against the dark bark of which the tin +dishes freshly scoured in the sand of the beach gleamed bright. The +venison and trout were cooked as only one accustomed to the woods can do +it, and the trapper contemplated the work of his skill with pleased +complacency. At each plate Herbert had placed a bunch of +checkerberries, and a small bouquet of small but exceedingly fragrant +flowers adorned the centre of the bark table.</p> + +<p>At this moment the man and girl drew near.</p> + +<p>"I trust," said the man, as they approached, "that we have not kept you +waiting by our tardiness?"</p> + +<p>"Yer comin' be true to a minit," answered the trapper, glancing up at +the western mountain, the top of whose pines the lower edge of the sun +had just touched. "The meat be ready. We sartinly can't boast of the +bark or the dishes," he continued, "but the victuals be as good as +natur' allows, and yer welcome be hearty."</p> + +<p>"We could ask no more," said the man, courteously, "and one might almost +think that the hand of woman had adorned the table."</p> + +<p>"The posies be the boy's doin'," replied the trapper, glancing at +Herbert; "he has a likin' for their color and smell, and I never knowed +him to eat without a green sprig or a bunch of bright moss or some sech +thing on the bark."</p> + +<p>"I am sure I do not like them any better than you do," answered Herbert, +smiling, and looking pleasantly into the old man's face.</p> + +<p>"They be of the Lord's makin'," responded the trapper. "They be of the +Lord's makin', and it be fit thet mortals should love 'em, as I conceit. +I've lived a good deal alone," he continued, "but I've never lived in a +cabin yit that didn't have a few leetle flowers, or a tuft of grass, or +a speck of green somewhere about it. They sort of make company for a man +in the winter evenin's, and keep his thoughts in cheerful directions."</p> + +<p>"Your sentiments do honor to your nature," responded the other, "and I +am glad to meet with one of your age, who, having lived among the +beauties of Nature, has not allowed them to become commonplace and +unworthy of notice. Many in the cities show less refinement."</p> + +<p>"I conceit it is a good deal in the breedin'," answered the trapper. +"There be some that don't know good from evil in natur',—leastwise, +they don't seem to have any eyes to note the difference; and what isn't +born in a man or a dog you can't edicate into him. The breedin' settles +more p'ints that the missioners dream, as I jedge. But come, friends, +the victuals be coolin', and the mouth loves a warm morsel."</p> + +<p>"I am certain," said the man, as they were partaking of the repast, +"that I never tasted a piece of venison so finely flavored before."</p> + +<p>"I've cooked the meat for nigh on to sixty year," answered the trapper, +"and have larnt not to spoil the sweetness of natur' by overdoin' it. +It's a quick aim that brings the buck to the camp, and a quick fire that +puts the steak on to the plate ready for the mouth.—trust, lady, that +ye enjoy the victuals?"</p> + +<p>"I do, indeed," answered the girl, "and if the cooking were less +perfect, I should count this as a feast."</p> + +<p>"Yis, yis; I understand ye," answered the old man. "The sound of the +tumblin' water be pleasant, and the eye eats with the mouth," and he +glanced at the green woods that stretched away, and the brightly-colored +clouds that hung like fleece of gold in the western sky.</p> + +<p>"The barbarian eats from a trough," remarked Herbert; "civilize him, and +he erects a table; and as you add to his refinement, he adorns that +table until the furniture of it magnifies the feast and the guests think +more of the beauty of the adornments than of the food they swallow."</p> + +<p>And so with pleasant converse the meal progressed. Soon the sun declined +and darkness began to thicken in the pines. The table was moved to one +side, the dishes cleansed and the fire lighted for the evening. With the +darkness silence had fallen upon the group,—not that silence which is +awkward and oppressive, or which comes from lack of thought, but that +fine silence, rather, which is only the thin shadow of the reflective +mood, and because the thought is inward and overfull.</p> + +<p>And so the four sat in silence by the fire. Above, a few great stars +shone warmly. Here and there the rapids flashed white through the gloom. +From a huge pine on the other side of the pool a horned owl challenged +the darkness with his ponderous call.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the man broke the silence,—broke it with a question which led +to a remarkable conversation, and a tragical result. And the question +was this:—</p> + +<p>"Friend, answer me this question: <i>If a man take a life, should he give +his own life in atonement for the dreadful deed?</i>"</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>"<i>If a man take a life, should he give his own life in atonement for the +dreadful deed?</i>"</p> + +<p>Such was the question that the man asked. He was looking at the trapper +at the time,—looking at him steadily; but the sound of his voice as he +put the question did not seem to give personal direction to the solemn +interrogation; it seemed rather the echo of a reflection, as if his own +mind in its communings had come upon the terrible question, and the +words, without volition of his own, which framed it into speech, had +passed out of his mouth.</p> + +<p>He was looking at the trapper, as we said, and the trapper was looking +into the fire,—the light of which, that came and went in flashes, +brought distinctly out the settled gravity of the features, and the +rugged but grand proportions of the head. There is no better light in +which to see an old man's face than the fitful firelight; and no better +background than that which the darkness makes.</p> + +<p>One would have thought that the interrogation was not heard, for on the +trapper's face there showed no line of change. The girl remained looking +steadfastly into the face of the questioner, and Herbert made no +response.</p> + +<p>"I asked you a question, old trapper," said the man; "a question which +reaches to the depths of human responsibility, and points to the heights +of human sacrifice. In the old days, the wisdom of the world was with +those who lived with Nature. Your head is white, and you tell me you +have lived in the woods since you were a boy. You have seen war; have +stood in battle; have slain your man, and made many graves of those you +have slain. Have you wisdom? Are you able to answer the question I have +asked you?"</p> + +<p>"I have, as ye say," answered the trapper, "ben in wars. I've stood in +battle; I've slain men; I've buried those I have slain; I know what it +is to take a human creeter's life, and I think I know where the right to +do the deed stops and where it begins."</p> + +<p>"Where does it begin?" asked the man; "where does the right to take +human life begin?"</p> + +<p>The words came forth slowly and heavy-weighted with meaning. It was +evident that the question which the man asked was not asked as one +interrogates, but as one puts a question that has personal application +to himself. The trapper felt this. He looked into the man's face, and +studied his countenance a moment; noted the breadth of brow, the large, +deep-set eyes, the fine curvature of the chin and cheek; saw the beauty +and splendor of it; saw what some might not have seen,—both the beauty +of its peaceful mood and the terribleness of the wrath that might surge +out of it,—saw all this, and without answering the question, said +simply,—</p> + +<p>"You have killed a man."</p> + +<p>The stranger looked steadily back into the trapper's face, and answered +as simply,—</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am a murderer."</p> + +<p>Herbert started a trifle. The girl gave a slight exclamation and lifted +her hand as if in protest. The trapper alone made reply,—</p> + +<p>"Ye sartinly don't look like a murderer, friend."</p> + +<p>"He is none! he is none!" exclaimed the girl. "He had provocation, old +man! he had provocation!" and then she turned toward the man, and said: +"Why will you say such things? Why will you condemn yourself wrongly? +Why do you brood over a deed done in wrath, and under the strain that +few might resist, as it had been done in cold blood, and with a +murderer's malice and forethought of evil?"</p> + +<p>The man listened to her gravely, with a kind of considerate patience in +the look of his face; waited a moment, when she had finished, as one +might wait from the habit of politeness, and then, without answering +her, said:</p> + +<p>"You have not answered my question, old trapper."</p> + +<p>"I can't answer it,—I sartinly can't answer it, friend, onless I know +the sarcumstances of the killin'; for there be killin' that be right and +there be killin' that be wrong, and onless I know the sarcumstances of +the killin', my words would be like the words of a boy that talks in +council without knowing what he is talkin'. Ef ye killed a man, how did +ye kill him?"</p> + +<p>"I killed him face to face," answered the man. He paused a moment, and +then repeated, "Face to face."</p> + +<p>"Why did ye kill him?" asked the trapper. "Had he done ye wrong?"</p> + +<p>"He was my friend," said the man, "my friend, true and tried."</p> + +<p>"Had he done ye a wrong?" persisted the trapper.</p> + +<p>"What is wrong?" asked the man. "I can't tell whether he had done me +wrong or nay. I only know he had crossed my purpose,—stopped me from +doing what I had set my heart on doing; and what I set my heart on +doing, old man, <i>I do</i>." And the man's eyes darkened under the abundant +brow and the face tightened and contracted, as a rope when a strain is +upon it. "The man came between me and my purpose," he added, "he stood +up and faced me, and said I should not do what I proposed to do, and +should not have what I had sworn to have; and I killed him where he +stood."</p> + +<p>It was astonishing how quietly the words were said, considering the +tremendous energy of will which was charged into and through their +quietness.</p> + +<p>"He had no right to do it," said the girl; "he had no right to do it. It +was none of his business, and you know it wasn't," And she spoke, +apparently to the man, "Oh, sir, why do you not tell them that he was an +intermeddler, and meddled with what was none of his business,—kindled +you to rage by his meddling, and that you slew him in your rage, +thoughtlessly, unintentionally? Why do you not tell them these things?"</p> + +<p>The man listened to her again, politely. There was a look of grave +courtesy in his eye as he half turned his face and looked upon her as +she was speaking; but beyond this there was no recognition that he heard +her. When she had finished, he turned his face again toward the trapper, +and said:</p> + +<p>"Old trapper, you have not answered my question. Has a man a right to +take life?"</p> + +<p>"Sartinly," answered the trapper.</p> + +<p>"How?" asked the man.</p> + +<p>"In war," answered the trapper.</p> + +<p>"In any other way?" queried the man.</p> + +<p>"Yis,—in self-defence."</p> + +<p>"Any other cause?" persisted the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Not as a rule," answered the trapper.</p> + +<p>After this there was a silence. The girl's head dropped into her two +palms and for an instant her frame shook, as one contesting the passage +of a strong feeling that insists on expression. The three men made no +motion, but sat silently gazing into the fire.</p> + +<p>For several minutes the silence lasted. There are two living that will +never forget that silence. Then the man lifted his face and said,—</p> + +<p>"Old trapper, have you ever known remorse?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say I ever did," answered the trapper; "though I've felt a +leetle oneasy arter dealin' with the thievin' vagabonds whose tracks +I've found on the line of my traps. It has seemed to me, sometimes, in +the evenin', in thinkin' the matter over, that perhaps a leetle less +bullet and a leetle more scriptur' might have did jest as well. But a +man is apt to be a leetle ha'sh in his anger; but I have an idee that +the Lord makes some allowance for a man's doin's when he's a good deal +r'iled. That's where the marcy comes in. Yis, that's where the marcy +comes in; isn't it, boy?" and the old man looked at Herbert.</p> + +<p>"There is certainly where we need the mercy to come in," answered +Herbert; "but it were better that we acted so that mercy need not be +shown."</p> + +<p>The man listened to Herbert's reply with an expression of strong assent +on his countenance, then he turned to the trapper.</p> + +<p>"You say, old man, that you never knew remorse. Happy has your life been +because of it; and happy shall your life be to its close. I have known +remorse. It is a fearful knowledge,—as fearful as the knowledge of +hell. Woe to the man that does an evil deed. That instant he is doomed; +doomed to anguish. His divinity punishes him. Within his bosom the great +tribunal is instantly set up. The judge takes his seat. The witnesses +are summoned; and the whole universe swarms to the trial. His memory is +a torment; and all the forces of his mind suddenly concentrate in +memory,—the memory of one deed, or of many deeds, even as his sin has +been sole or manifold. What torment, old man, is like the torment of one +whose memory is confined wholly to his evil deeds!"</p> + +<p>No one made any reply. The anguish of the man's speech made response +impossible.</p> + +<p>"Before I did the deed," he continued, after a pause, "my memory took +knowledge of all sweet things; of all dear faces I have ever seen; of +all generous and blessed deeds I had ever done. But after that I could +remember but one thing,—the murderer; only one face,—the face of him I +killed, and all my life, and the glory of it, was thrown into black +eclipse by that one terrible act. Before I did the deed Nature was a joy +to me, but now in every star I see his countenance looking down upon me. +In every flower I see his still, cold face. The winds bear to me his +voice. The water of those rapids"—and the man stretched his hand out +towards the flowing river—"sounds to me like the rattle in his throat +as he lay dying. How shall I find release, old man? How quit myself of +this terrible curse?" and the man's words ended in a groan.</p> + +<p>"The mercy of the Lord be great," replied the trapper; "greater than any +deed of guilt did by mortal; great enough to cover you, friend, and +your misdoin', as a mother covers the error of her child with her +forgiveness."</p> + +<p>"I know the mercy of the Lord is great," answered the man, "I know His +forgiveness covers all; but the old law—old as the world, old as guilt +and justice—the law of life for life and blood for blood,—has never +been repealed. And this is the one comfort left for the noble: that +however great the guilt, however wicked the deed, the atonement can be +as great as the sin. He who dies pays all debts. He who has sent one to +the grave and goes to the grave voluntarily, goes into the arms of +mercy. I know not where else, with all his searching, man may surely +find it."</p> + +<p>Again there was silence. Above, the stars shone warmly through the dusky +gloom. The rapids roared, falling hoarsely through the darkness. A +moaning ran along the pine-tops; the firelight flamed and flickered, and +the flames flashed the four faces into sight that were grouped around +the brands. At length the trapper said:</p> + +<p>"What is it ye have in yer heart to do, friend?"</p> + +<p>"I took a life," answered the man; "I must give one in return. I took a +life and my life is forfeited. This is my condemnation, and I pronounce +it on myself. My judge is not above; my judge is within. In this the +world finds protection, and in this the sinner finds release from sin. +There is no other way; at least, no other way so perfect. One man was +great enough to die for the sins of others. They who would rise to the +level of his life must be great enough to lay down their life for their +own sins. This is justice; and out of such true justice blooms the +perfect mercy." To this the man added thoughtfully, "There is but one +objection."</p> + +<p>"What is the objection?" asked Herbert. "What is the objection, if one +be great enough to make so great a sacrifice?"</p> + +<p>"The objection," answered the man, "is found in this: it is so deep a +sin to kill; it is so easy a thing to die—for what is death? The +ignorant dread it because they do not analyze it; their lack of +thoughtfulness makes them cowardly; for death is going out of bondage +into liberty. He who passes through the dark gate finds himself, when he +has passed, standing in the cloudless sunshine. In dying, the sorrowful +become glad; the small become greater; and if they die rightly, the +sinful become sinless. If a great motive prompts us to death, it is the +perfect regeneration. Entering thus the new life, man is born anew. And +so in punishment the great law of mercy stands revealed, and sin leads +up to sinlessness. In such travail of soul, he who suffers through +suffering is satisfied."</p> + +<p>"It is sublime philosophy," exclaimed Herbert, "but few are great enough +to practice it."</p> + +<p>"Rather, sir," exclaimed the man, "few are knowing enough to accept it. +The eyes of men, through their ignorance, are blinded by fear and they +see not the delivering gates though they stand facing the open passage."</p> + +<p>"Life is sweet."</p> + +<p>The words fell from the lips of Herbert as if they spoke themselves.</p> + +<p>"To the innocent, life is sweet," answered the man, "but to the guilty, +life is bitterness. The world was not made for the guilty. The beauties +and glories of it were not for them. The universe is not sustained for +them. Only for the good do things exist. The breasts of life are full; +but their nourishment is not for guilty lips to draw. I have seen the +time when life was sweet. I have lived to see the time when life is +bitter. Through death I go out of bitterness into sweetness. This is +the mercy that is unto all and which all can take—take freely. Some +get it through another—all might get it through themselves."</p> + +<p>"It is a violent deed to kill one's self," said the trapper.</p> + +<p>"You mistake," answered the man, "there is a coarse, rude way; there is +a fine and noble way. 'I have power,' said the Man, 'to lay down my life +and I have power to take it again.' Do you not think, old trapper, that +a man can die when he wills?"</p> + +<p>"I don't understand ye," answered the trapper.</p> + +<p>"The soul rules the body," replied the stranger. "The soul is not bound +to the body; it lives in it as a man lives in his house. My body is only +my environment. I can quit it at will. I can go out of it."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say," asked Herbert, "that we can leave our bodies +through determination of purpose and mental decision?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image30" name="image30"> + <img src="images/30.jpg" + alt=""The four sat in silence by the fire."" + title=""The four sat in silence by the fire."" /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">"<i>The four sat in silence by the fire.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<p>"There have been such cases," answered the man, "and such cases there +might be continually. If the relations between the soul and the body are +recognized and the supreme authority of the one over the other allowed +full action, the soul can do anything it pleases. It can come and it +can go. This is my faith."</p> + +<p>While the foregoing conversation was being conducted, the girl had +remained silent. Herbert sat opposite to her; and as the firelight +flamed her face into sight, he could not but note the expression of it. +The look of her face was that of one who was listening to what she had +heard before—perhaps many times before, and which, upon the hearing, +she had combated and was determined to continue to combat. And at this +point she suddenly spoke up.</p> + +<p>"I think, sir,"—and she lifted her eyes to the face of the man,—"that +the living should live for the living rather than die for the dead; for +the dead have no wants, neither of the body nor of the heart, neither of +the mind nor the soul; for, if they want, God feeds them. But the living +want and crave and have deep needs and God feeds not at all, unless +through us who live; and it is our duty to do, and not to die."</p> + +<p>The words were clearly and slowly spoken, spoken in a quiet but +determined tone. The old trapper raised his face and looked at the girl, +as if surprised at the wisdom of her speech. Herbert was already +looking at her. The man slowly turned his face towards her, and said:</p> + +<p>"Mary, we have argued that point before."</p> + +<p>The tone in which he spoke was not one of rebuke, and yet it conveyed +the idea that the point was settled and was not to be reopened. The girl +waited a moment respectfully, as if she felt profound deference for the +other's character and would not willingly oppose his wish, and then she +said:</p> + +<p>"I know, sir, we have discussed it before; but it is not settled, and +never can be settled; for it sets in comparison the value of two +lives—the one that was and the one that is; and I say that there are +lives—of which yours is one—that belong to others and cannot be +disposed of as if they were a selfish thing. And life is a truer +atonement for sin than death. You owe more than one debt, and you have +no right to pay the one, however great it is, if by the paying of that +you leave the others unpaid."</p> + +<p>"Friend," said the trapper, "the girl speaks wisdom; leastwise she +brings matter into the council which men of gravity should not +overlook. The livin' sartinly have claims. What can you say to her +speech?"</p> + +<p>For a moment the man made no reply, and then he said:</p> + +<p>"My philosophy is based upon a sentiment—a sentiment born of +conscience, and conscience makes duty for us all. There is no reasoning +against conscience. It is the voice of God—the only God we have. My +conscience tells me that there is but one atonement that I can make. +There is no election. I must do it."</p> + +<p>"What good," said Herbert, addressing the man, "what good will you do by +dying?"</p> + +<p>"I shall satisfy myself," said the man.</p> + +<p>"And what right have you to satisfy yourself in such a matter?" +exclaimed the girl. "What right have any of us to satisfy ourselves? +What right have we to be selfish in our death any more than in our life? +Oh, sir, if you saw rightly, you would see that you had no right to +satisfy yourself in this dreadful way. You should satisfy others. They +need you even as the poor need the rich; as the weak need the strong; as +those who are prone, because they cannot lift themselves, need one who +is strong enough to lift them. It is not heroic to die unless the full +object of life is met by the dying. It is heroic to live, because it is +harder than dying. Even death dedicated to atonement can be a greater +sin than the deed which one would atone."</p> + +<p>"I know not how the girl has such wisdom," said the trapper, "for she be +young, and yit she sartinly seems to me to have the right of it. I know +not who ye be, nor how many look to ye for help; but ef ye be one that +can help, and there be many that need yer help, I sartinly conceit that +ye should live—live to help 'em."</p> + +<p>"You say right! You say right, old man!" exclaimed the girl. "His life +is not a common life. It represents such power and faculty and +opportunity, and I may say such devotion to the many, that it does not +belong to him, and may not therefore be disposed of as if he owned it +himself and had the right to do with it as he pleased."</p> + +<p>"I do not say," answered the man, "that I own my life. I say rather that +I do not own it. I owe it. There are debts you cannot pay by life. The +laws of the whole world recognize this; nor do we do by living the +greatest service. He who dies to uphold a righteous principle fulfils +all righteousness. He who gives away a life in atonement for a life +taken makes all life more sacred; and so he serves the living beyond all +other service he might do. She looks at individuals; I observe +principles. She contemplates only the present; I forecast the future +needs of man. Moreover, the highest service one can do man is to serve +himself in the highest manner. He who ministers to his own sense of +justice strengthens the judicial sense of the world. Men overvalue life +when they suppose that there is nothing better. To teach them that there +is something better, to impress them by some signal event that there is +something higher and nobler than mere living, is to fulfill all +benevolence to their souls. How many the Saviour could feed and heal and +bless by avoiding Calvary! And yet he did not avoid it. He showed the +object of life, which is service. I trust I have not wholly failed to +show men that. He then showed the highest object of dying, which is +service. Why should I not imitate him? Why should I not be a law unto +myself and bear the penalty voluntarily?"</p> + +<p>The man rose to his feet as he concluded, and looking at the trapper and +Herbert, said:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, I thank you for your hospitality and courtesy," and turning +to the girl he said, "Mary, we will talk this matter over more fully by +ourselves."</p> + +<p>And then he bowed to the group and turned away.</p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>Long after the man and the girl had departed, the trapper and Herbert +sat by their campfire discussing the question which their guest had +propounded. Their conversation was grave and deliberate, as became the +theme; and they united in the opinion that if the deed had been done in +anger elicited by a provocation, the man should give himself the favor +which the law even would allow under similar circumstances.</p> + +<p>"I tell ye, Herbert," said the trapper, "the girl said the man had +cause; leastwise, that the man whom he struck worried him to it and that +the blow was given in anger. Now, hot blood is hot blood, and cold blood +is cold blood, and ef a man kill another man in cold blood it be +murder,—the law says so, and what is better, natur' says so; but ef a +man kill another man in his anger, when his blood is up and he is +strongly provoked to it, the law says there be a difference, and it +isn't murder. And I conceit that the girl be right, and that the man +has no right, in natur' or law either, to murder himself because in his +anger he murdered another man. And besides," continued the old man, +after a moment's pause, during which he had evidently made an effort at +memory, "ef there be any wrath in the case it belongs to the Lord and +not to man. Ye may recall the varse, Henry."</p> + +<p>"<i>'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.'</i>" Such was the +quotation Herbert made.</p> + +<p>"Sartinly, sartinly," answered the trapper, "that is it. Vengeance is +the Lord's, and he is the only one that can handle it rightly; and the +man had better leave it to the Lord."</p> + +<p>For several moments Herbert made no reply; and then, as if speaking to +himself more than his companion, he said:</p> + +<p>"How the girl loves him!"</p> + +<p>"Ye've hit it, Henry," answered the trapper, promptly. "Yis, ye've hit +it in the centre. I noted her face, the look in her eyes and the +arnestness of her voice; and there is no doubt about the matter of the +lovin'. She is one of the quiet kind, boy; and she has got the faculty +of listenin' a long time, which isn't nateral to a woman. But when she +speaks, ye can see what she is. She has a quiet face but a detarmined +sperit. I've seed several of the same sort,—seed them afore the battle +and arter the battle; and I know what's in the heart of the girl. Yis, I +know what's in the heart of the girl," and the old man looked at his +companion across the camp fire.</p> + +<p>The young man returned his gaze, and then said quietly:</p> + +<p>"What is in the heart of the girl, John Norton?"</p> + +<p>"Ef the man dies, the girl dies, too," answered the trapper, and +stooping, he pushed a brand into the centre of the fire.</p> + +<p>"It is awful to think so," replied the young man, "it is awful to think +that one so lovely should die so miserable."</p> + +<p>"She belongs to the kind that does seen things," answered the trapper. +"But whether ye can call her dyin' miserable, I sartinly doubt; for +there be some that can't die miserable owin' to their feelin's. And I've +noted that them who die feelin' a sartin way die happy whenever they +die; for death means one thing to one and another thing to another; and +the heart that has lost all, is happy to go in sarch of it, even ef it +be along the trail that the sun never shines on."</p> + +<p>And so the two men sat and talked, feeding the camp fire with sticks +occasionally as they talked. They wondered who the man was and whence +he came, wondered if he would change his views and if the girl could win +him over to a rational way of looking at the deed that had been done and +the true way to atone for it; wondered if they could not assist her in +her loving task when the morning came; talked and wondered and planned, +and at last, wrapping their blankets around them, they laid down to +sleep. The last words spoken were by the Trapper, and were these:</p> + +<p>"We will go over in the mornin', Herbert, and help the girl."</p> + +<p>And then they slept.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Beyond the balsam thicket, by another camp fire, the girl and the man +sat talking, talking of the deed that had been done and the atonement +demanded, and of the great future beyond this present life; the future +that stretches away endlessly, the future of peace to some, perhaps to +all, who knows? For there be some who think that this life has in it +such forces of education, such enlightenment to the understanding, such +quickening to the conscience, such ripening of character; and that +through its experiences, its trials, and its griefs, come such graces to +the souls of those that leave it, that when they pass they leave their +worse self behind them, even as the germ leaves the shuck out of which +it sprouted,—leaves the dull, clamp ground forever while it groweth up +into the sunlight in which it finds perfection.</p> + +<p>"Mary," said the man, "I have done with the past. My mind turns wholly +toward the future. I see it as the shipwrecked sailor sees the land, +which, if he can but reach, he will not only be beyond the storm that +wrecks him, but beyond all storms forever. Companion of my joys and +companion of my grief,—companion in everything but in my sin,—counsel +with me, with your eyes turned ahead. You are innocent and innocence is +prophetic. What lies beyond this world and the life men live in it? What +of good waits for him who gives up this life bravely and penitently, and +trusts himself to the decisions and the certainties of the great +hereafter?"</p> + +<p>"My master," said the girl, "it is not for me to teach you, you who are +so much greater than I, you who have been gifted with faculties and +powers that have lifted you above men. What can I say to you save to +repeat what you have said to me?"</p> + +<p>"Mary," he replied, "talk to me from out your heart and not from out +your mind. The prophecies that come to men from Heaven, Heaven has +communicated through the emotions of the just and the pure, and not +through the perceptions. Tell me of the faith of your heart, the heart +which I know has been free of guile. Tell me of the great Hereafter and +what awaits me there."</p> + +<p>"The Hereafter?" said the girl, and she lifted her eyes lovingly to the +face of the man. "The Hereafter is the same as Here, only larger; as +things grown are larger than things ungrown. The Future is to the +Present what the river is to the stream, what the stream is to the +fountain,—it is the flowing out and the flowing on,—the widening and +the deepening of what is."</p> + +<p>"Is there no gap, no breakage, no chasm or gulf between the Here and the +Hereafter?" asked the man.</p> + +<p>"No," said the girl, "there is no gap, nor chasm, nor gulf, but +continuity of progress and perfect sequence. The connections between +the Known and the Unknown are perfect. The one does not end and the +other begin. Time is the beginning of eternity; and the brief time that +men call a day is only a fraction of endlessness."</p> + +<p>"There is no end to life, then?" queried the man.</p> + +<p>"End to life!" exclaimed the girl. "How can life end? Life changes its +form, its embodiment, the location of its residence; but life is the +breath of God and when once breathed into the universe and it has taken +form and made for itself expression, who may annihilate it? Who may take +it out of existence? No, master, there is no end to life."</p> + +<p>"It is a sublime faith," said the man, "and I have proclaimed it unto +many; but few have been great enough to receive the doctrine as a +verity. In theory they have received it; but their superstition has +robbed them of its mighty consolations. But if we do not die, but only +pass forward as men go out of a city's gate along a road that has no +end, what fate befalls them? Does a change of nature come to them?"</p> + +<p>"Only such as comes through growth," answered the girl.</p> + +<p>"Shall I be just as I am when I have passed into the great future?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"You will be the same," answered the girl, "only more abundantly +yourself. We are all our life looking for ourselves," continued the +girl, "and few, if any, find themselves until they die."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," said the man. "I know the Lord is speaking through +you, for you are uttering truths so great that at the utterance they +seem mysteries. Explain as the teacher explains to the child she is +trying to teach."</p> + +<p>"I mean," answered the girl, "that death is an enlightenment and a +discovery. It will give us revelations of ourselves; for never do we +find Him save as we find Him in His, and we are His. You will not know +who and what you are until you get far enough ahead, my master, to look +back upon yourself. We must go up and go on a long way before we know +what we are now."</p> + +<p>Here the conversation paused for a while and nothing disturbed the +profound silence but the roar of the rapids whose ceaseless sound +swelled and sank in the silence like the waves of the sea. At length the +man said, "Have you thought of the land ahead? Is it real? And where is +it, and what the life lived there?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask me such questions," answered the girl, "when you know +that I have thought only as you have taught me to think, am but +repeating the faith I learned from your lips? Surely, there is a land +ahead, or rather many lands,—lands and seas and blessed islands in the +seas where the blessed live; and loves and lovers and homes exquisitely +and endlessly peaceful are there; and men who have grown nobler than +they were here; and women, far sweeter than their short life here might +make them, live and love in the lands ahead."</p> + +<p>The girl spoke low but earnestly, and her words sounded on the silent +air like softly-breathed music, so much did her sweet self possess her +words. And the man listened as men listen to music when it comes softly +and sweetly to their ears.</p> + +<p>"Mary," said the man, "you make the life ahead seem so sweet that I +shrink from entering it, lest by so doing I escape the punishment for my +sin I would fain inflict upon myself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, master!" exclaimed the girl, "you do mistake; for though I do +believe all I have said and would trust myself to the far future as +young eagles trust themselves to the warm air when they have grown equal +to the joy of flight, yet the life of this earth is sweet, so sweet when +the heart is satisfied that one might fear to exchange it for another as +one fears to part with what fully satisfies, even though the promise of +more abundant things is sure as God. It is sweet to breathe the airs of +the earth as health receives them. 'Tis sweet to live and love and serve +in loving and find your happiness in giving it. 'Tis sweet to teach and +guide men up and on to wider knowledge and nobler living,—to make them +gentler and finer in their thoughts and happier-hearted; and oh, my +master, 'tis sweet to live with one you love; be unto him a new life +daily, and see him grow in your growth, matching it, and so go on in +that perfect companionship that the future may give to us as the highest +fortune, and, having given, has given its best and all."</p> + +<p>"You shall live," answered the man, "you shall live and have as you +deserve, dear girl; and if I have taught you aught which, being known, +has made or shall make your life on earth sweeter, take it as my legacy +to you. I had thought to leave you something more, perhaps something +better, but that is past."</p> + +<p>"I will not take your legacy and stay," answered the girl, "I will +rather take it and go with you, that where you are I may be with you. +You have promised nothing and I want no promise. I have only asked one +thing and only one thing now do I ask, and that you will not hold from +me, for I have earned it, earned it by patient serving and by growth +that you know came from you."</p> + +<p>"What is it that you ask? Tell me," replied the man, "for you shall have +it if it be in the power of my giving."</p> + +<p>"Companionship," answered the girl,—"the companionship of service. My +mind must serve your mind; for only so may it find its growth for which +it longs. You have led me from darkness to light; and into what future +light you advance I must enter too. I love you as women love men; but I +love you more than that. I love you for what you are separate from what +you can ever be to me. I love you as a mind; I love you as a soul; I +love you as a spirit; I love you with a purity, with an ambition, with a +longing that men cannot interpret and earthly relations cannot express; +but which God understands and which in his Heaven I know there must be a +name for, and a connection that is known through all the social life of +Heaven."</p> + +<p>"It must not be," answered the man. "I admit your claim; but it must not +be."</p> + +<p>"Why must it not be?" asked the girl.</p> + +<p>The man hesitated a moment, and then he said:</p> + +<p>"Because my future is uncertain; I dare not say what it will be."</p> + +<p>"I care not what it is," answered the girl. "Whatever it is, that I +share, share because I cannot help it. It is not a question of +condition, but of presence. With you I could bear all misery; yea, in +the misery find happiness. Without you my heart could feel no joy +throughout eternity. Master, my master, I love you so!" And as she +looked into the face of the man there came to her countenance the +expression of utter devotion; and in her large eyes tears gathered, and, +having formed, from them slowly fell.</p> + +<p>The man groaned aloud, and said:</p> + +<p>"Alas! alas! My curse is doubled, being brought on thee."</p> + +<p>"There is no curse on thee or me," she answered. "You were but mortal, +and, being sorely tempted, did a wicked deed. But no single deed can +change the nature. You are the same great man; great in your goodness as +you are great in power, and my love, too, remains the same; nay, master, +it is greater. You should stay and live and make atonement by living; +for you cannot live and not better men. You can do deeds that would wipe +out the deadliest guilt. But if you will not stay,—if to you it seems +right to die, and if only—through death your sense of justice can be +met and yourself find peace, then neither will I stay, but go—go where +thou goest. Yea, I will sink or rise with thee; go to this world or +that, I care not which or where, if only I may go with thee. And I pray +thee not to think it hard for me to share thy journey. Why should I be +left behind? And what might I have, thou being gone? What pleasure in +all the world could I find, with thee out of it! I have no home,—thy +presence is my home. I have no kindred and no loves await me anywhere. +How could I have, loving thee? For in thee I have found father and +mother, brother and sister and all sweet relationships. And so whither +thou goest, let me go; and where thou stayest, let me stay. Do not +resist me, but be persuaded, and let me die with thee. So shall we, +passing out of these mortal bodies in the self-same hour, be together +still."</p> + +<p>The man made no response; but sat silently gazing at her face. In a +moment the girl moved softly to his side and took his hand in hers; and +so they sat together while the firelight died away and the darkness +enveloped them. But through the darkness the stars beamed mildly, as if +they expressed the sweet mercy which the imaginations of men picture as +throned above the azure in whose blue field they stand suspended.</p> + +<p>What happened farther is known only to Him whose eyes see through all +darkness and to whom the night is as the day.</p> + +<p>During the night the trapper started suddenly from his sleep. Was it a +woman's cry he heard? Was it only such a sound as comes to us at times +in dreams? He listened but heard nothing save the monotonous murmur of +the rapids and the equally steady movement of the night breeze stirring +through the pine tops. He listened and, hearing nothing, lay down again +and slept.</p> + +<p>The morning came,—came as brightly and cheerfully as if the world knew +no sorrow and the men and women in it had no griefs. The morning came; +but before it came, a wing darker than the shadow of the night had +passed over the world; for when the trapper and his companion visited +the camp beyond the balsam thicket, they found the two lying side by +side,—the girl's head on the bosom of the man and her right hand lying +gently in his; no mark of violence on their bodies; no instrument of +death near,—lying as if they had fallen asleep, the man's countenance +in grave repose, the girl's blessedly peaceful; no name on either; no +scrap of paper that might tell who they might be. Perhaps the man's +faith was true. Perhaps the will has power to will itself and all of +life there is in us, out of the body. Be this as it may, the trapper and +his companion only saw this: the unknown man in the prime of his +strength lying dead under the pines and the girl in her loveliness lying +dead by his side.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image31" name="image31"> + <img src="images/31.jpg" + alt="Tail piece" + title="Tail piece" /></a> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney +Kept New Year's, by W. H. H. 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Gutenberg EBook of How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept +New Year's, by W. H. H. Murray + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's + And Other Stories + +Author: W. H. H. Murray + +Release Date: July 16, 2005 [EBook #16308] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW DEACON TUBMAN AND PARSON *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +How Deacon Tubman and + +Parson Whitney Kept New Year's + +_And Other Stories_ + +BY + +W.H.H. MURRAY + +_Illustrated_ + +BOSTON + +CUPPLES & HURD + +_94 Boylston Street_ + +1888 + + + + + +CONTENTS + +How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's + +The Old Beggar's Dog + +The Ball + +Who Was He? + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +I + +HOW DEACON TUBMAN AND PARSON WHITNEY KEPT NEW YEAR'S + +(Illustrated by THOMAS WORTH) + + +Vignette Initial--"New Year's, eh?" + +"What's the matter with the pesky thing?" + +"Miranda belonged to that sisterhood commonly known as spinsters" + +Miranda's chirography--"A Happy New Year" + +"Ha, none of that, you woolly-coated rogue, you" + +"I want to talk with you about the church" + +"Tell the folks that you won't be back till night" + +"It was found that the parson could steer a sled" + +"Little Alice Dorchester begged him to stay" + +"Old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character" + +"Hillow, Deacon, ain't you going to shake out old shamble-heels to-day?" + +"Jack was going nigh to a thirty clip" + +"Go it, old boy!" + +Tail piece + + +II + +THE OLD BEGGAR'S DOG + +(Illustrated by A.B. SHUTE) + + +Vignette Initial--"Trusty" + +"The old man and his dog were constant companions" + +"He was teaching the dog a new trick" + +"It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the officer roundly" + +Tail piece + + +III + +THE BALL + +(Illustrated by A.B. SHUTE) + + +Vignette Initial--"It was evening" + +"The Lad began to play" + +"The God of Music was there" + +"Even the waiters caught the infection" + +"The music stopped with a snap" + +Tail piece + + +IV + +WHO WAS HE? + +(Illustrated by J.H. Snow) + + +Vignette Initial--"John Norton watched the approaching fire" + +"A deer suddenly sprang from the bank" + +"Past mossy banks where the great eddies whirled" + +"Come ashore--you and your companion" + +"The four sat in silence by the fire" + +Tail piece + + + + + +How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's + +I + + +[Illustration: Vignette Initial N] + +"New Year's, eh?" exclaimed Deacon Tubman, as he lifted himself to his +elbow and peered through the frosty window pane toward the east, where +the colorless morning was creeping shiveringly into sight. + +"New Year's, eh?" he repeated, as he hitched himself into an upright +position and straightened his night-cap, that had somehow gone askew in +his slumber. "Bless my soul, how the years fly! But that's all right; +yes, that's all right. No one can expect them to stay, and why should +we? there's better fish in the net than we've taken out yet," and with +this consolatory observation, the deacon rubbed his head energetically, +while the bright, happy look of his face grew brighter and happier as +the process proceeded. "Yes, there's better fish in the net than we've +taken out," he added, gayly, "and if there isn't, there's no use of +crying about it." With this philosophical observation, he bounced +merrily out of bed and into his trousers. + +I say Deacon Tubman bounced into his trousers, but, to be exact, I +should say that he bounced into half of them; and, with the other half +trailing behind him, he skipped to the window and, putting his little, +plump, round face almost against the pane, gazed out upon the world. +Everything was bright, sparkling and cold, for the earth was covered +with snow and the clear gray of the early morning spread its rayless +illumination over the great dome, in the fading blue of which a few +starry points still gleamed. + +"Bless me, what a morning!" he exclaimed. "Beautiful! beautiful!" he +repeated, as he stood with his eyes fastened upon the east and, +balancing himself on one foot, felt around with the other for that half +of the trousers not yet appropriated. "Bless me, what a day," he +ejaculated, as he saved himself by a quick, upward wrench, from falling +from a trip he had inadvertently given himself in an abortive effort to +insert his foot into the unfilled leg of his pantaloons. "Ha, ha, that's +a good un," he exclaimed; "trip yourself up in getting into your own +trousers, will you, Deacon Tubman?" and he laughed long and merrily to +himself over his little joke. + +"A happy New Year to everybody," cried the deacon, as he thrust his foot +into his stocking, for the floor of the good man's chamber was +carpetless and so cleanly white that its cleanliness itself was enough +to freeze one. "Yes, a happy New Year to everybody, high, low, rich, +poor, south, north, east and west, where'er they are, the world over, at +home and abroad--Amen!" And the deacon, partly at the sweeping character +of his benediction and partly because he was feeling so jolly inside he +couldn't help it, laughed merrily, as he seized a boot and thrust his +foot vigorously into it. + +"What's this? what's this?" cried the deacon, as he tugged away at the +straps until he was red in the face. "This boot never went on hard +before. What's the matter with the pesky thing?" And he arose from his +chair, and, standing on one foot, turned and twisted about, tugging all +the while at the straps. + +"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the deacon, disgusted with its strange +behavior, "what is the matter with the pesky boot?" + +[Illustration: "_What's the matter with the pesky thing?_"] + +Then he sat down upon the chair again, wrenched his foot out of the +offending article and held it up between both hands in front of him and +shook it violently, when, with a bump and a bound, out rattled a package +upon the floor and rolled half way across the room. The deacon was after +it in a jiffy and, seizing it in his little fat hands, held it up +before his eyes and read: "A New Year's gift from Miranda." + +Now Miranda was the deacon's housekeeper,--Mrs. Tubman having peacefully +departed this life some years before,--and, speaking appreciatively of +the sex, a more prim, prudent, particular member of it never existed. +She had been initiated, some ten years before, into that amiable +sisterhood commonly known as spinsters, and was, it might be added, a +typical representative. Industrious? You may well say so. Her floors, +stoves, dishes, linen,--- well, if they weren't clean, nowhere on earth +might you find clean ones. She hated dirt as she did original sin, and +I've no doubt but that in her own mind considered its existence in the +world as the one certain, damning and conclusive evidence of the Fall. +It was really an entertainment to see her looking about the house for a +speck of dirt; and the cold-blooded manner in which she would seize upon +it, bear it away in the dust pan, and, removing the lid of the stove, +consign it to the flames, was--well,--what should I say,--yes, that's +it--was most edifying. + +Amiable! Yes,--after her way. And a very noiseless sort of way it was, +too. For, though she had lived with the deacon for nearly a dozen +years, he had never known her to so far forget her propriety as to +indulge in anything more hearty and hilarious than the most decorous of +smiles, which smile was such a kind of illumination to her face as a +star of inconceivably small magnitude makes to the sky in trailing +across it. + +[Illustration: "_Miranda belonged to that sisterhood commonly known as +spinsters._"] + +Of her personal appearance I will say--nothing. Sacred let it be to +memory! If you ever saw her, or one like her, whether full front or +profile, whether sideways or edgewise, the vision, I am ready to swear, +remains with you vividly still. Let it suffice, then, when I observe +that Miss Miranda was not physically stout, and that the deacon's +standing joke was by no means a bad one when he described her as "not +actually burdened with fat." Yes, she was a very cleanly, very thin, +very prudent, very particular person, that never joined in any sports or +amusements; never joked or participated in any happy events in a happy, +joyous fashion, but lived unobtrusively, and, I may say, coldly, in her +own prim, cold, bloodless, little world. + +"Gracious me!" exclaimed the deacon, as he looked at the package. +"Gracious me! what has got into Mirandy?" And he looked scrutinizingly +at the little, fine, thin, faintly-traced inscription on the package, as +if the writer had begrudged the ink that must be expended on the +letters, or from a subtle and mystic self-sympathy had made the +chirography faint, delicate, and attenuated as her own self. + +"Gracious me!" reiterated Deacon Tubman, as he proceeded to untie the +knot in the pale blue ribbon smoothly bound around the package. "Who +ever knew Mirandy to make a present before?" and the deacon was so +surprised at what had taken place that, for a moment, he doubted the +evidence of his own senses. "And put it in my boot, too, ha, ha!" And +the deacon stopped undoing the parcel, and, lying back in the chair, +roared at the thought of the prim, modest, particular Miranda +perpetrating such a joke. And when the wrapping of the package was at +last undone, for every corner and crease of it was as carefully turned +and as sharply edged as if the smoothing iron had passed over +them,--will wonders ever cease in this startling world of ours?--out +dropped a night-cap! Yes, a night-cap, delicately and deftly crocheted +in warm, woolen stuff of a rich cardinal color. + +"Ha, ha," laughed the deacon, as he held the cap between his thumb and +forefinger of one hand up before his eyes, while he rubbed his bald +crown with the other. "Good for Mirandy." And then, as a small slip of +white paper fluttered to the floor, he seized it, and read: + +[Handwritten: A happy New Year + to Deacon Tubman + from Miranda.] + +"A good girl, a good girl," said the deacon, "not overburdened with fat, +but a good girl!" and with this rather equivocal compliment to the +donor, with his boot in one hand and the cap in the other, he rushed +impulsively to the stairway and shouted: + +"A happy New Year to you, Mirandy. God bless you; God bless you," and he +swung the boot, instead of the cap, vigorously over his head, while his +round, rosy face beamed down the stairway into the cold hall below, like +a warm harvest moon over the autumnal stubble. + +In response to the deacon's hearty, and, I may say, somewhat uproarious +greeting, the kitchen door timidly opened, and Miranda, who had been +astir for nearly an hour and had the table already laid for breakfast, +stepped into view, and, with a smile on her face that actually broadened +its thinness dangerously near to the proportions of a genial and happy +reciprocation of the jovial greeting, dropped a courtesy, and said: + +"Thank you, Deacon Tubman, I hope you may have many happy returns." + +"A thousand to you, Mirandy," shouted the deacon in response, "a +thousand to you and your--children!" and the little man swung his boot +vehemently over his head and laughed like a boy at his own joke, while +poor, frightened, scandalized Miranda turned and scudded, like a patch +of thin vapor blown by an unexpected gust of wind, through the door into +the kitchen, with a face colored scarlet from an actual, unmistakable +blush, though whence the blood came that reddened the clean cold-white +of her thin face is a physiological mystery. + +In a moment the deacon was fully dressed and he scuttled as merrily and +noisily down the resounding stairway as a gust of autumn wind running +through a patch of russet leaves. Through the hall and kitchen he +bustled and out into the woodshed, where he ran against old Towser, the +big Newfoundland watch-dog, who stood in the passage expectantly +watching his coming. + +[Illustration: "_Ha, none of that, you woolly-coated rogue, you._"] + +"A happy New Year to you, Towser, old boy," he cried, and, seizing the +huge dog by his shaggy coat, he wrestled with him like a merry-hearted +boy. "A happy New Year to you, old fellow," he repeated, as the dog +broke into a series of joyful barks; "speak it right out, Towser. God +made you as full of fun as he has the rest of us, and a good deal +fuller than many of your kind, and mine, too," and with this backhanded +hit at the vinegar-visaged and acidulous-hearted of his own species, the +deacon shuffled along the crisp, icy path toward the barn, while Towser +gamboled through the deep snow and plunged into the huge, fleecy drifts +in as merry a mood as his merry master. + +"A happy New Year to you, old Jack," he called out to his horse, as he +entered the barn, and Jack neighed a happy return, more expectant, +perhaps, of his breakfast of oats than appreciative of the greeting. +"And a happy New Year to you, you youngster," he shouted to the colt, +who, being at liberty to roam at will, had already appropriated a +section of the hay-mow to his own satisfaction. "Ha, none of that, you +woolly-coated rogue, you," he cried, as he jumped aside to escape a kick +that the bunch of equine mischief anticly snapped at him. "None of that, +you little unconverted sinner, you. I verily believe the parson is +right, and that + + 'In Adam's fall + We sinned all--' + +men and beasts, colts and children, all in one lot." + +And so, talking to himself and his cattle, the jolly little man, whose +good-heartedness represented more genuine orthodoxy than the whole +Westminster catechism, bustled merrily about the barn and did his +chores, while the cockerels crowed noisily from their perches overhead, +the fat white pigs grunted in lazy contentment from their warm beds of +straw, and the oxen, with their large, luminous eyes, gazed benevolently +at him as he crammed their mangers generously full with the fragrant hay +that smelled sweetly of the flowers and odorous meadow lands, where in +the warm summer sunshine it had ripened for the welcome scythe. + +How happy is life, in whatever part of this great fragrant world of ours +it is lived, when men live it happily; and how gloomy seems its +sunshine, even, when seen through the shadows and darkness of our surly +moods. + +What happy-hearted fairy was it that possessed the deacon's heart and +home, on this bright New Year's morn, I wonder? Surely, some angel of +fun and frolic had flown into the deacon's house with the opening of the +year and was filling it, and the hearts within it, too, with mirthful +moods. For the deacon laughed and joked as he buttered his cakes and +fired off his funny sayings at Miranda, as he had never joked and +laughed before, until Miranda herself smiled and giggled; yes, actually +giggled, behind the coffee-urn, at his merry squibs, as if the little +imp above mentioned was mischievously tickling her--yes, I will say +it,--her spinster ribs. + +"Mirandy, I'm going up to see the parson," exclaimed the deacon, when +the morning devotions were over, "and see if I can thaw him out a +little. I've heard there used to be a lot of fun in him in his younger +days, but he's sort of frozen all up latterly, and I can see that the +young folks are afraid of him and the church, too, but that won't +do--no, that won't do," repeated the good man emphatically, "for the +minister ought to be loved by young and old, rich and poor, and +everybody; and a church without young folks in it is like a family with +no children in it. Yes, I'll go up and wish him a happy New Year, +anyway. Perhaps I can get him out for a ride to make some calls on the +people and see the young folks at their fun. It'll do him good and them +good and me good, and do everybody good." Saying which the deacon got +inside his warm fur coat and started towards the barn to harness Jack +into the worn, old-fashioned sleigh; which sleigh was built high in the +back and had a curved dasher of monstrous proportions, ornamented with a +prancing horse in an impossible attitude, done in bright vermilion on a +blue-black ground. + + +II + +"Happy New Year to you, Parson Whitney; happy New Year to you," cried +the deacon, from his sleigh to the parson, who stood curled up and +shivering in the doorway of the parsonage, "and may you live to enjoy a +hundred." + +"Come in; come in," cried Parson Whitney, in response, "I'm glad you've +come; I'm glad you've come. I've been wanting to see you all the +morning," and in the cordiality of his greeting, he literally pulled the +little man through the doorway into the hall and hurried him up the +stairway to his study in the chamber overhead. + +"Thinking of me! Well, now, I never," exclaimed the deacon, as, assisted +by the parson, he twisted and wriggled himself out of the coat that he a +little too snugly filled for an easy exit. "Thinking of me, and among +all these books, too; bibles, catechisms, tracts, theologies, sermons; +well, well, that's funny! What made you think of me?" + +"Deacon Tubman," responded the parson, as he seated himself in his +arm-chair, "I want to talk with you about the church." + +[Illustration: "_I want to talk with you about the church._"] + +"The church!" ejaculated the deacon, in response, "nothing going wrong, +I hope?" + +"Yes, things are going wrong, deacon," responded the parson; "the +congregation is growing smaller and smaller, and yet I preach good, +strong, biblical, soul-satisfying sermons, I think." + +"Good ones! good ones!" answered the deacon, promptly; "never better; +never better in the world." + +"And yet the people are deserting the sanctuary," rejoined the parson, +solemnly, "and the young people won't come to the sociables and the +little children seem actually afraid of me. What shall I do, deacon?" +and the good man put the question with pathetic emphasis. + +"You have hit the nail on the head, square's a hatchet, parson," +responded the deacon. "The congregation is thinning; the young people +don't come to the meetings, and the little children are afraid of you." + +"What's the matter, deacon?" cried the parson, in return. "What is it?" +he repeated, earnestly; "speak it right out; don't try to spare my +feelings. I will listen to--I will do anything to win back my people's +love," and the strong, old-fashioned, Calvinistic preacher said it in a +voice that actually trembled. + +"You can do it; you can do it in a week!" exclaimed the deacon, +encouragingly. "Don't worry about it, parson, it'll be all right; it'll +be all right. Your books are the trouble." + +"Eh? eh? books?" ejaculated the parson. "What have they to do with it?" + +"Everything," replied the beacon, stoutly; "you pore over them day in +and day out; they keep you in this room here, when you should be out +among the people. Not making pastoral visits, I don't mean that, but +going around among them, chatting and joking and having a good time. +They would like it, and you would like it, and as for the young +folks,--how old are you, parson?" + +"Sixty, next month," answered the parson, solemnly, "sixty next month." + +"Thirty! thirty! that's all you are, parson, or all you ought to be," +cried the deacon. "Thirty, twenty, sixteen. Let the figures slide down +and up, according to circumstances, but never let them go higher than +thirty, when you are dealing with young folks. I'm sixty myself, +counting years, but I'm only sixteen; sixteen this morning, that's all, +parson," and he rubbed his little, round, plump hands together, looked +at the parson and winked. + +"Bless my soul, Deacon Tubman, I don't know but that you are right!" +answered the parson. "Sixty? I don't know as I am sixty." And he began +to rub his own hands, and came within an ace of executing a wink at the +deacon himself. + +"Not a day over twenty, if I am any judge of age," responded the deacon, +deliberately, as he looked the white-headed old minister over with a +most comic imitation of seriousness. "Not a day over twenty, on my +honor," and the deacon leaned forward toward the parson and gave him a +punch with his thumb, as one boy might deliver a punch at another, and +then he lay back in his chair and laughed so heartily that the parson +caught the infectious mirth and roared away as heartily as the deacon. + +Yes, it was impossible to sit hobnobbing with the jolly little deacon on +that bright New Year's morning and not be affected by the happiness of +his mood, for he was actually bubbling over with fun and as full of +frolic as if the finger on the dial had, in truth, gone back forty years +and he was only sixteen. "Only sixteen, parson, on my honor." + +"But what can I do," queried the good man, sobering down. "I make my +pastoral visits"-- + +"Pastoral visits!" responded Deacon Tubman, "oh, yes, and they are all +well enough for the old folks, but they ar'n't the kind of biscuit the +young folks like--too heavy in the centre, and over-hard in the crust, +for young teeth, eh, parson?" + +"But what shall I do? what shall I do?" reiterated the parson, somewhat +despondently. + +"Oh, put on your hat and gloves and warmest coat and come along with me. +We will see what the young folks are doing and will make a day of it. +Come, come; let the old books and catechisms and sermons and tracts have +a respite for once, and we'll spend the day out of doors with the boys +and girls and the people." + +"I'll do it!" exclaimed the parson. "Deacon Tubman, you are right. I +keep to my study too closely. I don't see enough of the world and what's +going on in it. I was reading the Testament this morning and I was +impressed with the Master's manner of living and teaching. It is not +certain that he ever preached more than twice in a church during all his +ministry on the earth. And the children! how much he loved the children +and how the little ones loved him! And why shouldn't they love me, too? +Why shouldn't they? I'll make them do it. The lambs of my flock shall +love me." And with these brave words, Parson Whitney bundled himself up +in his warmest garment and followed the deacon down stairs. + +[Illustration: "_Tell the folks that you won't be back till night._"] + +"Tell the folks that you won't be back till night," called the deacon +from the sleigh, "for this is New Year's and we're going to make a day +of it." And he laughed away as heartily as might be--so heartily, +indeed, that the parson joined in the laughter himself as he came +shuffling down the icy path toward him. + +"Bless me, how much younger I feel already," said the good man, as he +stood up in the sleigh, and with a long, strong breath, breathed the +cool, pure air into his lungs. "Bless me, how much younger I feel +already," he repeated, as he settled down into the roomy seat of the old +sleigh. "Only sixteen to-day, eh, deacon," and he nudged him with his +elbow. + +"That's all; that's all, parson," answered the deacon, gayly, as he +nudged him vigorously back, "that's all we are, either of us," and, +laughing as merrily as boys, the two glided away in the sleigh. + +[Illustration: "_It was found that the parson could steer a sled._"] + +Well, perhaps they didn't have fun that day--those two old boys that had +started out with the feeling that they were "only sixteen," and bound to +make "a day of it." And they did make a day of it, in fact, and such a +day as neither had had for forty years. For, first, they went to +Bartlett's hill, where the boys and girls were coasting, and coasted +with them for a full hour; and then it was discovered by the younger +portion of his flock that the parson was not an old, stiff, solemn, +surly poke, as they had thought, but a pleasant, good-natured, kindly +soul, who could take and give a joke and steer a sled as well as the +smartest boy in the crowd; and when it came to snow-balling, he could +send a ball further than Bill Sykes himself, who could out-throw any boy +in town, and roll up a bigger block to the new snow fort they were +building than any three boys among them. And how the parson enjoyed +being a boy again! How exhilarating the slide down the steep hill; how +invigorating the pure, cool air; how pleasant the noise of the chatting +and joking going on around him; how bright and sweet the boys and girls +looked, with their rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes; how the old parson's +heart thrilled as they crowded around him when he would go, and urged +him to stay; and how little Alice Dorchester begged him, with her little +arms around his neck, to "jes stay and gib me one more slide." + +[Illustration: "_Little Alice Dorchester begged him to stay._"] + +"You never made such a pastoral call as that, parson," said the deacon, +as they drove away amid the cheers of the boys and the good-byes of the +girls, while the former fired off a volley of snowballs in his honor and +the latter waved their muffs and handkerchiefs after them. + +"God bless them! God bless them!" said the parson. "They have lifted a +great load from my heart and taught me the sweetness of life, of youth +and the wisdom of Him who took the little ones in His arms and blessed +them. Ah, deacon," he added, "I've been a great fool, but I'll be so, +thank God, no more." + + +III + +Now, old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character, and had a great +history, but of this none in that section, save the little deacon, knew +a word. Dick Tubman, the deacon's youngest, wildest, and, I might add, +favorite son, had purchased him of an impecunious jockey at the close of +a, to him, disastrous campaign, that cleaned him completely out and left +him in a strange city, a thousand miles from home, with nothing but the +horse, harness and sulky, and a list of unpaid bills that must be met +before he could leave the scene of his disastrous fortunes. Under such +circumstances it was that Dick Tubman ran across the horse and, partly +out of pity for its owner and partly out of admiration of the horse, +whose failure to win at the races was due more to his lack of condition +and the bad management of his jockey than lack of speed, bought him +off-hand and, having no use for him himself, shipped him as a present to +the deacon, with whom he had now been for four years, with no harder +work than plowing out the good old man's corn in the summer, and jogging +along the country roads on the deacon's errands. Having said this much +of the horse, perhaps I should more particularly describe him. + +[Illustration: "_Old Jack was a horse of a great deal of character._"] + +He was, in sooth, an animal of most unique and extraordinary appearance. +For, in the first place, he was quite seventeen hands in height and long +in proportion. He was also the reverse of shapely in the fashion of his +build, for his head was long and bony and his hip bones sharp and +protuberant; his tail was what is known among horsemen as a "rat tail," +being but scantily covered with hair, and his neck was even more +scantily supplied with a mane; while in color he could easily have taken +any premium put up for homeliness, being an ashen roan, mottled with +black and patches of divers hue. But his legs were flat and corded like +a racer's, his neck long and thin as a thoroughbred's, his nostrils +large, his ears sharply pointed and lively, while the white rings around +his eyes hinted at a cross, somewhere in his pedigree, with Arabian +blood. A huge, bony, homely-looking horse he was as he drew the deacon +and Miranda into the village on market days and Sundays, with a loose, +shambling gait, making altogether an appearance so homely and peculiar +that the smart village chaps, riding along in their jaunty turn-outs, +used to chaff the good deacon on the character of the steed, and +satirically challenge him to a brush. The deacon always took the +badinage in good part, although he inwardly said, more than once, "If I +ever get a good chance, when there ain't too many around, I'll go up to +the turn of the road beyond the church and let Jack out on them;" for +Dick had given him a hint of the horse's history, and told him "he could +knock the spots out of thirty," and wickedly urged the deacon to take +the shine out of them airy chaps some of these days. + +Such was the horse, then, that the deacon had ahead of him and the +old-fashioned sleigh when, with the parson alongside, he struck into +the principal street of the village. + +New Year's day is a lively day in many country villages, and on this +bright one especially, as the sleighing was perfect, everybody was out. +Indeed, it had got noised abroad that certain trotters of local fame +were to be on the street that afternoon and, as the boys worded it, +"There would be heaps of fun going on." So it happened that everybody in +town, and many who lived out of it, were on that particular street, and +just at the hour, too, when the deacon came to the foot of it, so that +the walk on either side was lined darkly with lookers-on and the smooth +snow path between the two lines looked like a veritable home-stretch on +a race day. + +[Illustration: "_Hillow, Deacon, aren't you going to shake out Old +Shamble-Heels, to-day?_"] + +Now, when the deacon had reached the corner of the main street and +turned into it, it was at that point where the course terminated and the +"brushes" were ended, and at the precise moment when the dozen or twenty +horses that had come flying down were being pulled up preparatory to +returning at a slow gait to the customary starting point at the head of +the street a half mile away. So the old-fashioned sleigh was quickly +surrounded by the light, fancy cutters of the rival racers and Old +Jack was shambling along in the midst of the high-spirited and smoking +nags that had just come down the stretch. + +"Hillow, deacon," shouted one of the boys, who was driving a +trim-looking bay, and who had crossed the line at the ending of the +course second only to the pacer that could "speed like lightning," as +the boys said; "Hillow, deacon, ain't you going to shake out old +shamble-heels and show us fellows what speed is, to-day?" And the +merry-hearted chap, son of the principal lawyer of the place, laughed +heartily at his challenge, while the other drivers looked at the great +angular steed that, without check, was walking carelessly along, with +his head held down, ahead of the old sleigh and its churchly occupants. + +"I don't know but what I will," answered the deacon, good-naturedly; "I +don't know but what I will, if the parson don't object, and you won't +start off too quick to begin with; for this is New Year's and a little +extra fun won't hurt any of us, I reckon." + +"Do it! do it! we'll hold up for you," answered a dozen merry voices. +"Do it, deacon, it'll do old shamble-heels good to go a +ten-mile-an-hour gait for once in his life, and the parson needn't fear +of being scandalized by any speed you'll get out of him, either," and +the merry-hearted chaps haw-hawed as men and boys will when everyone is +jolly and fun flows fast. + +And so, with any amount of good-natured chaffing from the drivers of the +"fast uns," and from many that lined the roads, too,--for the day gave +greater liberty than usual to bantering speech,--the speedy ones paced +slowly up to the head of the street with Old Jack shambling demurely in +the midst of them. + +But the horse was a knowing old fellow and had "scored" at too many +races not to know that the "return" was to be leisurely taken; and, +indeed, he was a horse of independence and of too even, perhaps of too +sluggish a temperament to waste himself in needless action; but he had +the right stuff in him and hadn't forgotten his early training, either, +for when he came to the "turn," his head and tail came up, his eyes +brightened, and, with a playful movement of his huge body, without the +least hint from the deacon, he swung himself and the cumbrous old +sleigh into line and began to straighten himself for the coming brush. + +Now, Jack was, as I have said, a horse of huge proportions, and needed +"steadying" at the start, but the good deacon had no experience with the +"ribbons," and was, therefore, utterly unskilled in the matter of +driving. And so it came about that Old Jack was so confused at the start +that he made a most awkward and wretched appearance in his effort to get +off, being all "mixed up," as the saying is, so much so that the crowd +roared at his ungainly efforts and his flying rivals were twenty rods +away before he had even got started. But at last he got his huge body in +a straight line and, leaving his miserable shuffle, squared away to his +work, and with head and tail up went off at so slashing a gait that it +fairly took the deacon's breath away and caused the crowd that had been +hooting him to roar their applause, while the parson grabbed the edge of +the old sleigh with one hand and the rim of his tall black hat with the +other. + +What a pity, Mr. Longface, that God made horses as they are, and gave +them such grandeur of appearance and action, and put such an eaglelike +spirit between their ribs, so that, quitting the plodding motions of the +ox, they can fly like that noble bird and come sweeping down the course +as on wings of the wind. + +It was not my fault, nor the deacon's, nor the parson's, either, please +remember, then, that awkward, shuffling, homely-looking Old Jack was +thus suddenly transformed by the royalty of blood, of pride and of speed +given him by his Creator from what he ordinarily was into a magnificent +spectacle of energetic velocity. + +With muzzle lifted well up, tail erect, the few hairs in it streaming +straight behind, one ear pricked forward and the other turned sharply +back, the great horse swept grandly along at a pace that was rapidly +bringing him even with the rear line of the flying group. And yet so +little was the pace to him that he fairly gamboled in playfulness as he +went slashing along, until the deacon verily began to fear that the +honest old chap would break through all the bounds of propriety and send +his heels anticly through his treasured dashboard. Indeed, the spectacle +that the huge horse presented was so magnificent and his action so free, +spirited and playful, as he came sweeping onward that the cheers, such +as "Good heavens! see the deacon's old horse!" "Look at him! look at +him!" "What a stride!" ran ahead of him; and old Bill Sykes, a trainer +in his day, but now a hanger-on at the village tavern, or that section +of it known as the bar, wiped his watery eyes with his tremulous fist, +as he saw Jack come swinging down, and, as he swept past, with his open +gait, powerful stroke and stifles playing well out, brought his hand +down with a mighty slap against his thigh, and said: "I'll be blowed if +he isn't a regular old timer!" + +It was fortunate for the deacon and the parson that the noise and +cheering of the crowd drew the attention of the drivers ahead, or there +would surely have been more than one collision, for the old sleigh was +of such size and strength, the good deacon so unskilled at the reins, +and Jack, who was adding to his momentum with every stride, going at so +determined a pace, that had he struck the rear line with no gap for him +to go through, something serious would surely have happened. But as it +was, the drivers saw the huge horse, with the cumbrous old sleigh behind +him, bearing down on them at such a gait as made their own speed, sharp +as it was, seem slow, and "pulled out" in time to save themselves; and +so, without any mishap, the big horse and heavy sleigh swept through the +rear row of racers like an autumn gust through a cluster of leaves. + +[Illustration: "_Jack was going nigh to a thirty clip!_"] + +But by this time the deacon had become somewhat alarmed, for Old Jack +was going nigh to a thirty clip--a frightful pace for an inexperienced +driver to ride--and began to put a good strong pressure upon the bit, +not doubting that Old Jack, ordinarily the easiest horse in the world to +manage, would take the hint and immediately slow up. But though the huge +horse took the hint, it was in exactly the opposite manner that the +deacon intended he should, for he interpreted the little man's steady +pull as an intimation that his driver was getting over his flurry and +beginning to treat him as a horse ought to be treated in a race, and +that he could now, having got settled to his work, go ahead. And go +ahead he did. The more the deacon pulled the more the great animal felt +himself steadied and assisted. And so, the harder the good man tugged at +the reins, the more powerfully the machinery of the big animal ahead of +him worked, until the deacon got alarmed and began to call upon the +horse to stop, crying, "Whoa, Jack, whoa, old boy, I say! whoa, will +you, now? that's a good fellow!" and many other coaxing calls, while he +pulled away steadily at the reins. But the horse misunderstood the +deacon's calls as he had his pressure upon the reins, for the crowds on +either side were yelling and hooting and swinging their caps so that the +deacon's voice came indistinctly to his ears at best and he interpreted +his calls for him to stop as only so many encouragements and signals for +him to go ahead. And so, with the memory of a hundred races stirring his +blood, the crowds cheering him to the echo, the steadying pull, the +encouraging cries of his driver in his ears and his only rival, the +pacer, whirling along only a few rods ahead of him, the monstrous +animal, with a desperate plunge that half lifted the old sleigh from the +snow, let out another link, and, with such a burst of speed as was never +seen in the village before, tore along after the pacer at such a +terrific pace that, within the distance of a dozen lengths, he lay +lapped upon him and the two were going it nose and nose. + +What is that feeling in human hearts which makes us sympathetic with man +or animal, who has unexpectedly developed courage and capacity when +engaged in a struggle in which the odds are against him? And why do we +enter so spiritedly into the contest and lose ourselves in the +excitement of the moment? Is it pride? Is it the comradeship of courage? +Or is it the rising of the indomitable in us that loves nothing so much +as victory and hates nothing so much as defeat? Be that as it may, no +sooner was Old Jack fairly lapped on the pacer, whose driver was urging +him along with rein and voice alike, and the contest seemed doubtful, +than the spirit of old Adam himself entered into the deacon and the +parson both, so that, carried away by the excitement of the race, they +fairly forgot themselves and entered as wildly into the contest as +two ungodly jockeys. + +[Illustration: "_Go it, old boy!_"] + +"Deacon Tubman," said the parson, as he clutched more stoutly the rim of +his tall hat, against which, as the horse tore along, the snow chips +were pelting in showers, "Deacon Tubman, do you think the pacer will +beat us?" + +"Not if I can help it! not if I can help it!" yelled the deacon, in +reply, as, with something like a reinsman's skill, he lifted Jack to +another spurt. "Go it, old boy!" he shouted, encouragingly, "go along +with you, I say!" And the parson, also, carried away by the whirl of the +moment, cried, "Go along, old boy! Go along with you, I say!" + +This was the very thing, and the only thing, that the huge horse, whose +blood was now fairly aflame, wanted to rally him for the final effort; +and, in response to the encouraging cries of the two behind him, he +gathered himself together for another burst of speed and put forth his +collected strength with such tremendous energy and suddenness of +movement that the little deacon, who had risen and was standing erect in +the sleigh, fell back into the arms of the parson, while the great horse +rushed over the line amid such cheers and roars of laughter as were +never heard in that village before. Nor was the horse any more the +object of public interest and remark,--I may say favoring remark,--than +the parson, who suddenly found himself the centre of a crowd of his own +parishioners, many of whom would scarcely have been expected to +participate in such a scene, but who, thawed out of their iciness by the +genial temper of the day and vastly excited over Jack's contest, +thronged upon the good man, laughing as heartily as any jolly sinner in +the crowd. + +So everybody shook hands with the parson and wished him a happy New +Year, and the parson shook hands with everybody and wished them all many +happy returns; and everybody praised Old Jack and rallied the deacon on +his driving, and then everybody went home good-natured and happy, +laughing and talking about the wonderful race and the change that had +come over Parson Whitney. + +And as for Parson Whitney himself, the day and its fun had taken twenty +years from his age. And nothing would answer but the deacon must go with +him and help eat the New Year's pudding at the parsonage. And he did. + +At the table they laughed and talked over the funny incidents of the day +and joked each other as merrily as two boys. Then Parson Whitney told +some reminiscences of his college days and the scrapes he got into, and +about a riot between town and gown when he carried the "Bully's Club"; +and the deacon returned by narrating his experiences with a certain +Deacon Jones's watermelon patch, when he was a boy. + +And over their tales and their nuts they laughed till they cried, and +roared so lustily at the remembered frolics of their youthful days that +the old parsonage rang, the books on the library shelves rattled and +several of the theological volumes actually gaped with horror. + +But at last the stories were all told, the jokes all cracked, the +laughter all laughed, and the little deacon wished the parson good-bye +and jogged happily homeward. But more than once he laughed to himself +and said, "Bless my soul, I didn't know the parson had so much fun in +him." + +And long the parson sat by the glowing grate, after the deacon had left +him, musing of other days and the happy, pleasant things that were in +them, and many times he smiled, and once he laughed outright at some +remembered folly, for he said: "What a wild boy I was, and yet I meant +no wrong, and the dear old days were very happy." + +Aye, aye, Parson Whitney, the dear old days were very happy, not only to +thee, but to all of us, who, following our sun, have faced westward so +long that the light of the morning shows through the dim haze of memory. +But happier than even the old days will be the young ones, I ween, when, +following still westward, we suddenly come to the gates of the east and +the morning once more; and there, in the dawn of a day which is endless, +we find our lost youth and its loves, to lose them and it no more +forever, thank God. + +[Illustration: Tail piece] + + + + +The Old Beggar's Dog + + +[Illustration: Vignette Initial H] + +He was a tramp--that is all he was--at least when I knew him. What he +had been before, I cannot say, as he never told me his history. Of +course every tramp has a history, even as every leaf that the winds blow +over the fields has its history, and my old tramp doubtless had his, and +God knows it must have been sad enough, judging by his looks, for he had +the saddest face I ever looked at, and I've seen a good many sad faces +in my day. + +No, he was nothing but a tramp, old and gray-headed, and nearly worn out +with his tramping. How long he had been going the rounds I cannot say, +but for nearly a dozen years, once each year, hi made his appearance in +the city, tarried a month, perhaps, and then quietly disappeared, and we +saw him no more for a twelvemonth. Inoffensive? Decidedly--as +mild-mannered a man as ever asked grace at a poorhouse table. + +Indeed, the children were his best patrons, for he had a most winning +way with them, and he could scarcely be seen on the street without the +accompaniment of a dozen, tagging at his heels and holding on to his +hands and the skirts of his long coat. There's Dick there, six feet if +he's an inch and gone twenty last month. Well, many and many a time have +I seen the strapping fellow when he was a little chap sitting astride +the old vagabond's neck, with his little feet crooked in under his +armpits, laughing and screaming uproariously as his human horse +underneath him pranced and curvetted along the pavement, and charged +through the flock of childish admirers around him, as if they were a +hostile soldiery and Dick was a very Henry of Navarre, whose white plume +must always be found in the path to glory. + +God bless the youngsters! Who of us with the burden of life's toil and +care weighing us down, ever saw a frolicsome group of them, happy in +their freedom from trouble and care, and did not wish he might slip his +shoulders from under the load of his fifty years and be a boy again? +What a pity it is that we must age and die in our wrinkles, leaving +nothing better to gaze upon than a shrunken face, colorless of bloom and +written all over with the scraggy record of our griefs, our errors, and +our pains! Why cannot death charm back the boyish vigor and girlish +grace to our faces, when, with the invisible and fatal gesture, he +sweeps his hand swiftly across them? + +The dog? Oh! certainly; but don't hurry me. I'm too old to tell a story +in a straight line and at express speed. I will get to the dog all in +good time, and, in order to feel as I do about the terrible thing that +happened to him, you must know something about his master, for in an odd +sort of way they supplemented each other. Indeed, they seemed to have +entered into a kind of partnership to share each other's moods as they +shared each other's fortune. And it was a strange, and, I may say, a +very touching sight, to see two creatures, of different species, so +intimately attached to each other; and often, as I have looked at the +dog when he was gazing at his master, have I said to myself, "Surely, +something or some one has blundered, and a human soul was put, by +mistake, into that dog's body," for never--no, sir, I will not qualify +it--never have I seen a greater love look from human into human eyes +than I have seen gazing devotedly up into the old man's face from the +eyes of that dog. How did he look? Queer enough, I assure you, for his +cross, while an admirable one to yield wit and affection both, was the +worst possible one for beauty, for his father was a full-blooded +shepherd and his mother a Scotch terrier, without a taint in her blood. + +How well I remember the dog and his peculiar looks! I remember him now +as plainly as if he were lying on the rug there this very minute. He had +the size of his father and the bristly coat of his mother. His ears were +like a terrier's, and naturally pricked forward. His color was a dirty +gray--a miserable color; his tail had been cropped and the remnant that +remained--some four inches in length--stood stiffly up, with scarce a +suggestion of a curve; he was homely, but not inferior looking, for his +head was such an one as Landseer would have loved to have translated +from time and death to the immortality of his canvas; what a matchless +front, and room enough in the cranium to hold the brains of any two +common dogs. But his eyes were the impressive and magnificent feature +of his face--large, round and warmly hazel in color, and so liquid clear +that, looking into them, you seemed to be gazing into transparent +depths, not of water, but of intelligent being. What eyes they were! I +remember what a young lady said once apropos to them. She was a belle +herself, and nature spoke through her speech. She came into the office +here one day when the dog was performing, for he was a great trick dog, +and, after watching him a moment, she exclaimed, "Ah! if a woman only +had those eyes, what might she not do!" More fun could look out of that +dog's head than of any other I ever saw, whether of dog or man. And +though you may not credit it, yet, as true as I sit here, I have seen +those eyes weep as large and honest tears as ever fell in sorrow from +human orbs. "Laugh, too?" You put that question incredulously, do you? +Well, you needn't, for the dog could laugh. "With his tail?" No, any dog +can do that, but he could laugh with his mouth. Why, sir, I have seen +him sit bolt upright on his haunches there by that post, lean his back +against it, and laugh so heartily that his mouth would open and shut +like a man's when guffawing, and you could see every tooth in his head, +and he did it intelligently, too, and laughed because he was tickled and +couldn't help it. + +Alas! poor dog, he came to a sad end at last, and died in so wretched a +way that the recollection of his death puts a dark eclipse upon the +unhappy memory of his life. + +[Illustration: _The old man and his dog were constant companions._] + +Comfort to his master? You may well say that; and no man ever loved his +child more fondly than the old beggar loved his dog. And well he might, +for he was his companion by day, his guard by night, and the means by +which he eked out the sometime scant living that the fickle charity of +the world flung to him. How often have I seen the old man take him in +his arms and hug him to his breast, that had, I fancy, so many bitter +memories in it; and how often have I seen the dog lap with gentle and +caressing tongue the tears as they rolled down the furrowed cheeks, when +the fountain of grief within was stirred by the angel of recollection. +But it was from the sympathy of his faithful and loving companion, and +not from the moving of the bitter waters, that his aching heart found +consolation. + +Tell you about the man? Why, certainly; but there isn't much to tell. +You see, no one knew much of him, for he seldom if ever spoke of +himself. I suppose I knew him better than anyone on his beat here, for I +fell in love with his dog, and with himself, too, for that matter, for, +in the first place, he was old, and whoever saw a white head and didn't +love it, and whoever looked upon a wrinkled face and didn't wish to kiss +it, if it was peaceful, and the old man's head was as white as snow is, +and the peacefulness of a sleeping child hovered over the sadness of his +face, albeit the shadow of a sorrowful past lay darkly resting upon it. +But though I saw much of him as he swung around on his annual visit, and +though he looked upon me as his friend--as, indeed, I was, and proved +myself to be such more than once, thank God!--still he never offered to +tell me his history, and I certainly never questioned him about it. For +life is a secret thing, and each man holds the key to his own; and only +once, if at all, may it be opened, and even then only the Father is +gentle and forgiving enough to look upon the wheat and the chaff which +we in our grief or joy keep closely locked from human eyes. + +No, I knew little of him; but occasionally, sitting by the fire here +when a storm was heavy outside, for the coming of storms was always the +prelude of these moods in him, he would begin to mutter to himself, and +to talk to his dog of days long gone; of men and women he had once hated +or loved, or who loved or hated him--God knows which--and of deeds he +had once done, but which were now deeply buried under the years. + +Perhaps he did not know that he was talking. Perhaps his soul, busy with +the past, forgot the motion of the lips and ceased to keep its watch +over the movements of that member which, unless ceaselessly guarded, +betrays us all so often. What did he mutter about? Well, the man is dead +and gone, and what little there is to tell cannot pain him now. Death +makes us indifferent to disclosure, and little do we care what the world +says about us when we lie sleeping in the grave, I ween. Yes, the man is +dead and gone this many a year; God rest his soul, and I heartily hope +he has found riches and rest and his dog ere now, as I feel certain he +has, and what little I know can do no harm, if told, to any. + +Well, as I was saying, when storms were brewing in the air and the sea, +the uneasiness of the elements themselves seemed to take possession of +his soul and agitate it,--for his very body would rock to and fro and +sway in the chair when the fit was on him, and he would talk to his dog, +and to men and women, too, whom no one could see save himself, and if +what he said might be taken as the words of a sane man, he certainly had +been rich and powerful one day--and loved and hated, too, for that +matter. For from his speech one could but learn that all that makes life +worth the living was once his, and that he had lost it all--but +whatever may have been his other losses, one there must have been in +truth, for as to it his words were always the same: "_Gone, gone_," he +would say, "_gone_--and the winds I hear coming blow over her grave--but +winds cannot reach her, for she lies warm and well covered, deep down in +her grave." And so he would sit muttering and swaying his body in the +chair, as the winds blew stormily out of the east, and the boom of the +waves rolled up from the bluff, as they pounded heavily against the +rocks and the shore. + +Why did I not make him settle down? Because he wouldn't. I tried time +and again to persuade him to it, but he never would consent. Perhaps he +was right in his impulse to roam, and loved the careless freedom of it, +and the solitude it gave him. For if a man would hide himself from man +he must keep on the move. If he stops he becomes known. But in travel he +loses his identity, and passes from place to place unknown and unnoted. + +But it seemed pitiful to me that one so old and feeble should have no +home, and so I persuaded him to settle down for one winter, at least, +and hired him a little house in a pleasant street and started him in +his housekeeping experiment. But alas! evil came of it, and I never did +a deed I more profoundly regretted, for it led to the calamity I am +about to tell you of, and brought upon the poor man the greatest grief +that might befall him, even the death of his dog, and in a most cruel +and painful fashion at that. Ah, me! could we but see the end of things +from their beginning, how little of our doing would be done at times; +for the benevolent blundering of our lives is as often fruitful of harm +as the evil we do in our malice and passion. + +It all happened in this way, and I will tell you as it was told me, +partly by the old man himself, and partly by those who had knowledge of +the dreadful event at the time, for I was out of the city the morning +the occurrence took place, or it never would have happened. I don't +think anything of the kind ever before made so much talk, or excited so +much indignation. + +The legislature at its last session, not having wit or honesty enough to +exercise itself over one of a dozen crying evils that were then vexing +the people, got greatly excited over--_dogs_! + +Some miserable curs--many affirmed they were wolves, and no dogs at +all--in a remote corner of the state, had killed a few sheep, and the +farmers of that region got up a great scare, and raised a hue and cry +against the whole canine family. It is incredible how much noise was +made over the killing of a few half-starved sheep that were browsing on +those northern mountains! You would have thought, judging by the clamor, +that the fundamental interests of the commonwealth were attacked, and +that the stately structure of government itself was on the point of +falling to the ground. + +Well, when the legislature met the excitement was at its height and the +gust of popular foolishness converged all its forces at the capitol. In +due time a bill was reported, and an outrageous bill it was, too, for it +not only put a heavy tax upon dogs in every section of the state, city +as well as country, but provided that certain officers should be +appointed to enforce the law, whose duty it should be to kill every dog +not duly registered on a certain date. Even this was not all; for it +stimulated the enforcement of the law by enlisting the cupidity of men +and boys alike, especially of the lower and hardened classes, by +providing that whoever killed an unregistered dog should be paid three +dollars from the state treasury. + +It was a bad law, in truth, for it was the outgrowth of senseless +excitement, and an attempt to tax the affections. Property, of course, +can be taxed, but we all know that a dog is not property, any more than +is a boy's pet rabbit, or a child, for that matter. A dog is a member of +his master's family. He has connection with his heart, not with his +pocket. He is a creature to love and be loved by, and not to be bought +and sold like a bit of land or a yoke of oxen, and any law aimed at the +affections is an offence to the holiest impulses of the bosom, and as +such should be resented. + +Yes, the law was a bad one. I did what I could to defeat it in its +passage, and I broke it all I could after its passage, and that was some +satisfaction to my feelings, which were in fact outraged by it; for I +saw not only the injustice of it, as viewed in the light of correct +principle, but that it would bear heavily upon the poor, and bring +sorrow like the sorrow of death itself into families. I saw, moreover, +that it was a cruel law in its relation to children, whose pretty and +harmless pets and playmates could be murdered before their very eyes. +Many a sad case did I hear of, the winter after the law was passed, but +the saddest of all was that of my old friend, who was living peacefully +and happily with his dog in the little house I had hired for him. + +[Illustration: _He was teaching the dog a new trick._] + +He was sitting one evening in the comfortable quarters I had provided +for him, playing with his companion and teaching him some new tricks to +practise against my return, happy as he might be, when a loud rap was +delivered upon his door, and at the same instant it was pushed rudely +open, and a man walked into the room and, without pausing to give or +receive a greeting, pointed to the dog, and said: + +"Is that your property, sir?" + +"I never think of him in that way," answered the old man, mildly. "He +has been my companion--I may say my only companion--these many years, +and I love him as property is not loved. No, sir, _Trusty_ is not +property--he is my companion and my friend." + +"I didn't come here to listen to any of your crazy nonsense, but as an +officer of the law, to see if you have registered your dog, and paid +your tax as it commands, and, if you hadn't, to see that the penalty was +put upon you as you deserve, you old begging loafer, you." + +"I've broken no law that I know of," replied the beggar, "I love my dog, +that is all. I hope it breaks no law for a man to love his dog in this +city, does it, friend?" + +"If you don't know what the law is, you'd better find out," answered the +fellow, roughly. "What right have you to own a dog, anyway? It strikes +me that it is about enough for you to sponge your own living out of the +community, without sponging another for a miserable whelp of a dog like +that." + +"Trusty eats very little," replied the old man, respectfully, "and he +amuses people a great deal, especially the children; and, besides, he is +a great comfort to me, and God knows that I have nothing else to +comfort me in all the world--wealth, home, friends, and one dearer than +all,--all lost, and thou'rt all I have left, Trusty, to comfort me," and +he looked affectionately at his companion, whose head was resting +lovingly on his knee. + +"Oh, I've heard the whining of your class before to-night," replied the +fellow, "and am not to be taken in by any of your sniffling, so you +needn't try that trick on me. Law is law, and I shall see it enforced, +and on you, too, in spite of your shuffling, you miserable old sneak of +a beggar, you." + +"Friend," answered the old man with dignity, as he rose from the chair +and looked the fellow calmly in the face, "better men than you or I have +begged their daily bread before now, and eaten it, too, with an honest +conscience and a grateful heart, and more than once when night has +overtaken me, weary of journeying along inhospitable roads, and I have +been compelled to make my bed on the leaves under some hedge, I've +remembered that the Son of God when on the earth to teach us the sweet +lesson of charity, 'had not where to lay his head.' The lesson he came +to teach, you certainly have not learned, or you would never have made +my poverty and my misfortunes the butt of your scoffings." + +The old man spoke with dignity, but the coarseness of the fellow's +nature and the hardening influence of the business he was engaged in +prevented him from feeling either shame or sympathy, for he turned +toward the door with an oath, saying: "You'll hear from me in the +morning, old chap, but I'll tell you this to chew on over night; that if +your tax money isn't ready when I come again, I'll teach you what it is +to break the laws in this city, and insult the officers whose duty it is +to see them enforced against just such white-headed old dead-beats as +you!" and with another oath, he passed out of the door and shut it with +a slam. + +I don't know how the old man passed the night. But little sleep, I +warrant, came to his old eyes, for he was as timid as a child, and +easily frightened, and a threat against his own life would have +disturbed him less than one against the life of his dog. But whether he +slept or not, the hours of the night wheeled along their dark courses +without stopping, and speedily brought the dreaded morning. I know not +when he died, or where, but well I know that the memory of that +dreadful morning and the woe that came to him on it haunted him to the +close of his life, and embittered the last hours of it. + +The morning came as all mornings, whether they bring joy or grief to us, +do come. The threat the fellow had uttered against his dog the evening +before had naturally disturbed him and the old man was nervous and +excited, but he managed to cook his frugal breakfast and eat it with his +companion. I can well imagine his thoughts and his worriment. "Law! what +law?" I can hear him say. "I've broken no law. I've only loved and been +loved by my dog. That's not wicked, surely. He said he'd come again, and +if I didn't have the money ready. Money! what money? He knows I've no +money. Tax! what tax? Do they tax a man's heart in this city? Can't a +man love anything here unless he's rich? Kill my dog! I don't believe +it. There isn't a man on the earth wicked enough to kill an old man's +dog, an old man's harmless dog; no, he didn't, he couldn't mean that! he +just said it to scare me. Yes, yes, I see now; he'd been drinking and he +said it just to scare me." Thus, as I fancy, the poor old man sat +muttering to himself, listening with dread to every passing step, +listening and muttering to himself, while his old heart, quaked in his +bosom, and his soul, which had so little to cheer it, as it journeyed +along its lonely path, was sorely tried and disquieted within him. + +The clock in a neighboring steeple was striking the ninth hour, and the +old man paused in his muttering and sat counting the strokes as the iron +tongue pealed them forth; counting them in his fear as if each stroke +was a knell, and so indeed to him it was, and many of the chimes we +listen carelessly to, would be knells to us, if we knew what would +happen twixt them and their next chiming. + +The vibration of the last stroke was swelling and sinking in the air, +when a heavy step sounded on the stair, and without even the ceremony of +knocking, the door was pushed suddenly open, and the fellow, who had +intruded upon him the evening before, entered the room. In one hand he +held a rope and in the other a club. + +"Well, old chap," he said, "you see I am here as I told you I would be. +I've given you a whole night to study up the law." + +"Law! what law?" exclaimed the old man, interrupting him, "I don't know +that I broken"-- + +"Come, come, old shuffler, none of your blarney, if you please," broke +in the fellow; "you know well enough what law I mean. I mean the +dog-law." + +"Dog-law! dog-law!" answered the old man, "what law is that?" + +"Oh, you don't pull the wool over my eyes," sneered the other; "you know +what law I mean well enough, but, to jog your memory, I'll say that the +law I mean makes the owner of a dog pay a tax of three dollars, and if +the tax isn't paid"-- + +"Three dollars!" ejaculated the poor man. "Three dollars! when have I +had so much money as that? Three dollars! you might as well have asked +me to pay three thousand as three." + +"Very well, very well," exclaimed the other; "the law covers just such +cases as yours--covers them perfectly," and he laughed a coarse, cruel +laugh. "Out with the money, or I take the dog." + +"Take my dog!" screamed the old man, "take Trusty! What should you take +him for? You can't want him." + +"Oh, yes, I do, old fellow," retorted the other; "I want him very much +indeed, I know just what to do with him, I'll see to that." + +"Do with him?" cried the other, whose mind, perhaps because paralyzed by +fear, perhaps because of the enormity of the deed, would not receive the +horrible suggestion, "what would you do with Trusty?" + +"Kill him, damn you!" shouted the other; "kill him as I have a hundred +other curs this fall and pocket the money the law gives me for doing it. +Do you understand that, you old dead-beat?" + +For a moment the wretched man never spoke, his lips paled to the color +of ashes, and shrivelled as if suddenly parched against the teeth, and +he clutched the back of a chair for support. Twice he essayed to speak, +his lips moved, but his tongue in its dryness clove to the roof of his +mouth. At last he gasped forth in the hoarse whisper of mortal terror: + +"Kill my dog! kill Trusty!" + +It was a sorry sight, truly, and might well touch the hardest heart. But +the officer of the law--God save the mark!--remained unmoved. What was +one dog more or less to him? had he not already killed hundreds, as he +said? The sportsman's favorite hunter, astray without his collar, the +lady's pet, crying pitifully in the street, unable to find its +mistress's door, the children's playmate, waiting in front of the school +house for school to close, the poor man's help and comfort, his +household's joy, guardian and friend, caught in the street on his return +from his humble master, to whom he carried his homely dinner. What was +one dog more or less to him, hardened by the murderous habit of his +office and eager to earn his wretched fee,--what was one dog more or +less to _him_? + +"Come, come," he cried, as he uncoiled the rope he held in his hand, +"out with the money or I take the dog." + +"How much is it? how much is it?" cried the old man, fumbling in his +pockets and bringing forth a few small pieces of silver and some +pennies. "Here take it, take it, it's all I have--there's a ten-cent +piece, isn't it? and there's two fives, and here, yes, God be praised, +here's a quarter of a dollar; Trusty earned that yesterday. Let's see, +twenty-five, that's the quarter, and ten is thirty-five, and two fives, +that makes forty-five, and eight pennies, that makes fifty-three cents; +won't that do? It's every cent I have, as God is my witness--it will do, +won't it?" And the old man seized one of the hands of the fellow, and +strove to put his little hoarding into it. + +But the hard-hearted wretch drew his hand back with a jerk, and, seizing +the dog by the neck, slipped the rope over his head and saying, "The law +allows me four times that for killing him," opened the door and pulled +the poor dog out after him into the street. + +"God of heaven!" screamed the poor old man, as he rushed, bareheaded as +he was, out of the door, and hurried in pursuit of the man, who was +pulling the dog along and walking as fast as he could, while Trusty +struggled and cried and did all he could to get rid of the rope. "Where +is thy justice or thy mercy? Oh, sir; oh, sir;" he shouted, running +after the man, "give me back my dog; oh, give him back to me, good +people;" he cried, for his own cries and those of the dog, too, had +already drawn a crowd to the scene, "good people, tell him not to kill +my dog." + +[Illustration: "_It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the +officer roundly._"] + +It was to the honor of the crowd that they hooted the officer roundly, +and called on him and shouted, "Give the old man back his dog," and +greater honor yet to them that some of the boys pelted him with +snowballs and junks of ice as he hurried on, and one brawny chap, +sitting on the seat of his cart, struck him a stinging blow with his +black whip as he scuttled past, with, "Damn you, take that, for killing +_my_ dog." The officer shook his club at the honest fellow and said, +"I'll pay you for that, see if I don't," but he dared not stop to make +the arrest, for the crowd was thickening and the air getting fuller of +missiles, and every door and window was hooting him as he passed them, +with the poor dog crying and moaning pitifully at his heels. Even the +women, God bless them (for the feeling against the law ran high in the +city), opened the doors and lifted the windows of their houses, the +ladies crying, "Shame on you, shame on you!" and the cooks and chamber +maids from the nadir and zenith of their household worlds, with homelier +and more piquant phrase and saucier tongues, scoffed him for the +miserable work he was doing; but in spite of the popular uprising, now +almost swelled to the dimensions of a mob, and the verbal uproar, +through the hoarse murmur of which the boy's gibe, the woman's taunt and +the strong man's curse, came and smote upon him in volleys, still he +clutched the rope and rushed along, threatening the crowd that was +closing in ahead of him with his club, and so making headway on his +dreadful errand, while the poor old man, unable to keep up with him, was +filling the air with his cries, and, without knowing what he was saying, +perhaps, kept calling on the people, saying, "Oh, good people, good +people, don't let him kill my dog." + +Indeed, his grief was piteous to see, for he was half distraught with +fear, and like as a mother whose child had been snatched from her and +was being hurried to death, so he, with tears, sobs and screams, kept +entreating one moment the crowd and the next beseeching heaven, saying, +"Don't let him kill my dog," and being an old man and white-headed, and +as his countenance and gestures were eloquent with the eloquence of true +grief, the people were filled with pity for him and their hearts melted +with sympathy at the piteous spectacle they beheld. + +Then up spake the honest carter, saying, "Friends, let's give the old +man a lift, for it's a shame that one so old should lose his dog. How +much is it you lack of the tax?" he asked of the poor old gentleman as +he came panting up. But he was so confused and tremulous with terror +that he could not answer, and so being unable to do more he stretched +his old shaken hands in which the money was still, tightly clutched, up +to him, but the old hands shook so that the carter could not count it, +until he had taken it into his own steady palm. + +"Here's fifty cents and a few odd pennies," he shouted, "and the law +demands three dollars; two dollars and a half is wanted; who'll help +make up the three dollars and save the old man's dog? Here's fifty +cents," he added as he took a silver half-dollar from his pocket and +dropped it into the hat, "it's half I earnt yesterday, and more than +I'll earn to-day, perhaps, for times be dull, but the old man shall have +it, if Mary and I go without sugar and tea for a week." + +'Twas a good speech and bravely said, and the crowd responded to it as +bravely, for it fairly rained dimes and quarters and pennies, not only +into the carter's hat until it sagged, but into his cart, too, until the +bottom of it was speckled all over with copper and silver coin, and the +honest fellow held up his hands for the crowd to give no more, crying: + +"Hold, hold! Here's enough, and more than enough." + +But he could scarcely make himself heard, because of the cheering and +the laughing and the rattling of the pieces as the crowd continued to +rain them all the faster into his cart. Ah, me, what is that sweet +something in human hearts, which, in its response to human want, +translates us like a flash from low to highest mood; aye, which breaketh +through all barriers of selfish habit, and even the adamantine of +foreign tongues and poureth out its rich largess in a common tide to +meet a brother's need, where'er that brother is or whatever he may be? + +But the old man did not wait to gather up the offerings of the generous +and sympathetic crowd, but snatching a handful of silver from the +carter's hat pushed his way out of the jam, and, holding the hand in +which he clutched the silver high above his head, hurried on after the +officer, crying at the top of his voice: "Here's the money, here's the +money; oh, good people," for the street was nearly blocked with those +that swarmed thickly in the wake of the officer and he could make but +slow progress through it, "tell him I have the money and am coming; +don't let him go any farther; I shall never catch him; stop him, stop +him, for the love of heaven, stop him; here's the money." And thus +crying aloud and calling, with his thin, tremulous voice, upon the +officer to stop, he ran frantically along the street, as fast as he +could, in pursuit. + +But it is certain that the old man would not have caught up with the +officer had the latter been uninterrupted in his progress, for the +street was filled with people and he could not push his way with much +speed because of his feebleness, but fortune, or perhaps I should say +misfortune, favored him, so that he shortly overtook the object of his +pursuit and came up with the officer and the dog. But, alas! his old +heart got little gain thereby, but a grievous loss, rather, for when he +came to the spot both lay stretched senseless on the ground, the man +knocked flat to the earth by the fist of an indignant citizen, and the +dog lying with his skull broken in by a brutal blow from the fellow's +club. + +When the old man came to the spot where the dog and the officer lay, he +stopped, and when he saw what had happened, the money he had brought +with which to deliver his dog, fell rattling, unheeded to the ground, +and then he raised his palms toward heaven, as if entreating the +vengeance or the benignity of the skies, and with tears streaming down +his cheeks, he lifted up his voice and wept, saying: "Oh, God, he's +killed my dog!" And then he sank down all in a heap, as if he would die +beside his dying dog, for the dog was not yet dead, but dying. + +This his master soon perceived, and heedless of the multitude who +thronged the street from side to side, he lifted the dying dog into his +lap and laid his poor crushed head against his breast and mourned over +him as a mother, deserted by husband and friends, might mourn for an +only babe when, alone in a foreign land, it lay on her bosom dying; and +the multitude, who, by this, had knowledge of the dreadful deed, stood +in silence while he mourned. + +"Trusty, Trusty," he said, "do you know me, Trusty?" and his tears fell +fast into the dog's bristly coat. The poor creature, now far gone in +that unconsciousness which deafens the ear to the voice of love itself, +still faintly heard the familiar tones, for he lifted his eyes to his +master's face and nestled closer into his bosom. It was a touching +sight, in truth, and those who stood close enough to see the moving +spectacle, wiped their own eyes, divinely moist with the mist of +sympathy. + +It was evident to all, and to the old man himself, that above and around +and closing in upon them was the mystery which men call death--a mystery +as inscrutable as it hovers over the kennel and stable as when it enters +the habitations of men--and that in a few moments the life still within +the body of the poor animal, with all its powers of doing, of thinking, +and of loving, would depart the structure in which it had found so +pleasant an abode and so facile a medium of expression. + +For a few moments nothing more was said; the old man continued to sob +and the life of his companion continued to ebb away. The brutal blow +that caused his death had mercifully numbed the power of feeling, so +that whatever the gloomy journey he was about to take might mean to him, +whether the same life he was leaving, or a larger, or none at all, he +would move on through the darkness toward the one or the other at least +without pain. + +"You and I have fared in company for many a year," said the old man at +last, "and bread, whether scant or plenty, and bed, whether hard or +soft, we have shared together. Thou hast made the days brighter, and the +nights shorter, by thy presence as I suffered through them, and dark +will the one be, and long the other, when I see thee no more; would to +God I could die with thee, my dog, my dog!" + +Did the dog indeed understand what he said or did he merely sense the +sorrow in the tones and seek once more, as he had done so many times +before, to comfort his disconsolate master? I know not; I only know that +the poor animal, with dying strength, lifted his muzzle to his master's +face, and twice he lapped it with his tongue. Aye, lapped the salt tears +tenderly from his master's wrinkled and pallid cheeks with his tongue; +only this, for no more could he do. "My dog," cried the old man once +more, amid his tears. "My dog, the God who made thee so loving and +worthy to be loved, and filled thee with such sweet feeling and the wish +to comfort human woe, will not surely let thee perish. In his great +universe there is, there must be, room for thee. I will not mourn thee +as wholly lost. I cannot do it. For amid the false thou hast been true, +and surely falsehood shall hot live on and sweet truth die. Tell me, my +dog, give me some sign that we shall meet in the great hereafter?" + +But in response to this appeal the dog gave no motion, for, indeed, his +strength, like a tide ebbing in the night, was gliding silently and +swiftly outward in the gloom, gliding outward and beyond all questioning +and answering, but he opened wide his glorious eyes and fixed them +steadily on his master's face with such a great love in their depths +that mortal might not doubt that in that love was hope and its +sustaining evidence; and then the fatal dimness crept along their edges, +the pure, sweet light faded away in their clear depths, and the +impenetrable shadow settled forever over the lustrous orbs. The lids at +last gradually closed as in sleep, and the beggar's dog, with his head +on his master's neck and his body resting on his bosom, lay dead. + +[Illustration: Tail piece] + + + + + +The Ball + + +[Illustration: Vignette Initial IT] + +It was evening--dark, cool and starry. The earth and water lay hidden in +the dusky gloom. Above, the stars were at their brightest. They gleamed +and glowed, flashed and scintillated, like jewels fresh from the case. +Their fires were many-colored--orange, yellow, and red; and here and +there a great diamond, fastened into the zone of night, sent out its +intense, colorless brilliancy. Through all the air silence reigned. The +winds had died away, and the waters had settled to repose. No gurgle +along the shore: no splash against the great logs that made the wharf; +no bird of night calling to its mate. Outside all was still. Nature had +drawn the curtains around her couch, and, screened from sight, lay in +profound repose. + +Within, all was light, and bustle, and gayety. From every window lights +streamed and flashed. The large parlors were alive with moving forms. +The piano, whose white keys were swept by whiter hands, tinkled and rang +in liveliest measure. The dance was at its height; and the very floor +seemed vibrant with the pressure of lively feet. The dancers advanced, +retired, wheeled and swayed in easy circles, swept up and down, and +across the floor in graceful lines. + +Amid the happy scene the Old Trapper stood, his stalwart frame erect as +in his prime; while his great, strong face fairly beamed in benediction +upon the dancers. For his nature had within its depths that fine +capacity which enabled it to receive the brightness of surrounding +happiness and reflect it again. + +It was a study to watch his face and mark the passage of changeful +moods; surprise, delight, and broad, warm-hearted humor, as they came to +and played across the responsive features. The man of the woods, of the +lonely shore, and of silence, seemed perfectly at home amid the noise +and commotion of human merry-making. + +At last the music died away. The dancers checked their feet. The lady +who had been playing the piano rose wearily from the instrument and +joined a group of friends. The music was not adequate. The notes were +too sharp; too isolate; they did not flow together. There was no sweep +and swing, nor suavity of connected progress in the strains. The +instrument could not lift the dancers up and swing them onward through +the mazy motions. + +"I tell ye, Henry," said the Old Trapper, as he turned to Herbert who +was standing by his side, "the pianner isn't the thing to dance by, for +sartin. It tinkles and chippers too much; it rattles and clicks. It +don't git hold of the feelin's, Henry;--it don't start the blood in yer +veins, nor set yer skin tinglin', nor make the feet dance agin yer will. +It's good enough in its way, no doubt; but it sartinly isn't the thing +to lift the young folks up and swing 'em round. The fiddle is the +thing;--yis, the fiddle is sartinly the thing. I would give a good deal +if we had a fiddle here to-night, for I see the boys and girls miss it. +Lord-a-massy! how it would set 'em a-goin' if we only had a fiddle +here." + +"John Norton," said the Lad, who was sitting on a chair hidden away +behind the Trapper, "John Norton," and the Lad took hold of the sleeve +of his jacket and pulled the Trapper's head down towards him, "would you +like to hear a violin to-night?" + +"Like to hear a fiddle? Lord bless ye, Lad, I guess I would like to hear +a fiddle. I never seed a time I wouldn't give the best beaver hide in +the lodge to hear the squeak of the bow on the strings. What's the +matter with ye, Lad?" and he drew the old man's head still closer to +him, until his ear was within a few inches of his mouth. "I love to play +the violin better than I love any thing in the world, and I've got one +of the best ones you ever heard, out there in the bow of the boat." + +"Heavens and 'arth, Lad!" ejaculated the Trapper, "Did ye say ye could +play the fiddle, and that ye had a good one out there in the boat? +Lord-a-massy! how the young folks will hop. Scoot out there and git it, +boy, and Henry and me will let the folks know what ye've got and what ye +can do." + +The Lad fairly flashed out of the room. He was gone in an instant; and +in a few minutes he had returned, bearing in his hands a bundle which he +carried as carefully as a mother would carry her babe; but brief as had +been his absence it had allowed sufficient time for Herbert to +communicate with the master of ceremonies and for him to announce to the +company present that the great lack of the occasion had fortunately and +unexpectedly been supplied; for the young man who was with Mr. Herbert +and John Norton not only knew how to play the violin, but actually had +one in his boat, and had gone to get it, and would be back in a moment. +The announcement was received with applause. White hands clapped, and a +hundred ejaculations of wonderment sounded forth the surprise and +pleasure of the eager throng. And when the Lad came stealing in, bearing +his precious burden, he was received with a positive ovation. + +It was amusing to see the change which had come over the looks and +actions of the company at the mention and appearance of the violin. The +faces that had shown indifference and the look of languid weariness +freshened and became tense in all their lines; and on their heads again +animation sat crowned. Those who were seated jumped to their feet. The +conversationalists broke their circle and swung suddenly into line. Eyes +sparkled. Little happy screams and miniature war-whoops from the +boisterous youngsters rang through the parlor. In eye, and look, and +voice, the popular tribute spoke in honor of the popular instrument,--an +instrument whose strings can sound almost every passion forth: The quip +and quirk of merriment, the mourner's wail, the measured praise of +solemn psalms, the lively beat of joy, the subtle charm of indolent +moods, and the sweet ecstacy of youthful pleasure, when with flying feet +and in the abandon of delight she swings, circles, and floats through +the measures of the voluptuous waltz. + +In one corner of the parlor there was a platform, from which charades +and private theatricals had been acted on some previous evening, and to +this the Lad was escorted; and strange to say his awkwardness had +departed from him. His form was straight. His head was lifted. His +shambling gait steadied itself with firmest confidence. His long arms +sought no longer feebly to hide themselves, but held the package that he +carried in fond authority of gesture, as a proud mother, whose pride had +banished bashfulness, might carry a beautiful child. So the Lad went +toward the dais, and, seating himself in the chair, proceeded with +deliberate tenderness to uncover the instrument. + +An old, dark-looking one it was. The gloom of centuries darkened it. +Their dusk had penetrated the very fibre of the wood. Its look suggested +ancient times; far climes; and hands long mouldering in dust. It was an +instrument to quicken curiosity and elicit mental interrogation. What +was its story? Where was it made? By whom, and when? The Lad did not +know. It was his mother's gift, he said. And an old sea-captain had +given it to his mother. The old sea-captain had found it on a wreck in +the far-off Indian Ocean. He found it in a trunk--a great sea chest made +of scented wood and banded with brazen ribs. And in the chest, with it, +it was rumored the old mariner had found silks, and costly fabrics, and +gold, and eastern gems,--gems that never had been cut, but lay in all +their barbaric beauty, dull and swarth as Cleopatra's face. Thus the +violin had been found on the far seas--at the end of the world, as it +were, and in companionship of gems and fabrics rich and rare; and in a +chest whose mouth breathed odors. This was all the Lad knew. + +"Henry," said the old Trapper, "the Lad says the fiddle is so old that +no one knows how old it is; and I conceit the boy speaks the truth. It +sartinly looks as old as a squaw whose teeth has dropped out and whose +face is the color of tanned buckskin. I tell ye, Henry, I believe it +will bust if the Lad draws the bow with any 'arnestness across it, for +there never was a glue made that would hold wood together for a thousand +year. And if that fiddle isn't a thousand year old, then John Norton is +no jedge of appearances, and can't count the prongs on the horns of a +buck." + +[Illustration: "_The Lad began to play._"] + +At this instant the Lad dropped the bow upon the strings. Strong and +round, mellow and sweet, the note swelled forth. Starting with the least +filament of sound, it wove itself into a compact chord of sonorous +resonance; filled the great parlors; passed through the doorway into the +receptive stillness outside; charged it with throbbings--thus held the +air a moment; reigned in it--then, calling its powers back to itself, +drew in its vibrating tones; checked its undulating force; and leaving +the air by easy retirement, came back like a bird to its nest and died +away within the recesses of the dark, melodious shell from whence it +started. + +When the bow first began its course across the strings the old Trapper's +eyes were on it; and as the note grew and swelled he seemed to grow with +it. His great fingers shut into their palms as if an unseen power was +pulling at the chords. His breast heaved. His mouth actually opened. It +was as if the rising, swelling, pulsating sounds actually lifted him +from off the floor on which he stood, and when the magnificent note +ebbed and finally died away within the violin, not only he, but all the +company stood breathless: charmed, surprised, astonished into silence at +the wondrous note they had heard. + +The old Trapper was the first to move. He brought his brawny hand down +heavily upon Herbert's shoulder, and, with a face actually on fire with +the fervor stirred within him, exclaimed: + +"Lord-a-massy! Henry, did ye ever hear a noise like that? I say, boy, +did ye ever hear a noise like that? Where on arth did it all come from? +Why, boy, 'twas as long and as solemn as a funeral, as arnest as the cry +of a panther, and roared like a nest of hornets when ye poke 'em with a +stick. If that's a fiddle, I wonder what the other things be that I have +heerd the half-breeds and the Frenchers play in the clearin's." + +Well might the old Trapper be astonished. The violin of unknown age and +make was one among ten thousand. It was a concert to hear the Lad tune +it; which he did with a bold and skilful touch, and the exactness of an +ear which nature had made exquisitely true to time and chord. His +bashfulness was gone. His timidity had departed. His awkwardness, even, +went out of body and arm and fingers, with the initial note. His soul +had found its life with his mother's gift; and he who was so weak and +hesitating in ordinary moments, found courage and strength, and the +dignity of a master, when he touched the strings. At last the instrument +was ready. And with a flourish bold and free he struck into the measures +of a waltz that filled the parlor with circling noise, and made the air +throb and beat--swing and swell, as if it were liquid, and unseen +hands were moving it with measured undulations. + +[Illustration: "_The God of Music was actually in the room._"] + +There was no resisting an influence so sweet, subtle, and pervasive, as +flowed from that easy-going bow, as it came and went over the resounding +strings. Couple after couple swung off into the open space, until the +entire company were swinging and floating through the dreamy and +bewitching measures. The god of music was actually in the room, and his +strong, passionate touch was on the souls of those who were floated +hither and thither as if blown by his invisible breath. The music took +possession of the dancers. It banished the mortal heaviness from their +frames, and made them buoyant, so that their feet scarce touched the +floor. Up and down and across from side to side and end to end they +whirled and floated. They moved as if a power which took the place of +wings was in them. They did not seem to know that they were dancing. +They did not dance; they floated, flowing like a current moved by easy +undulations. Their hands were clasped. Their faces nearly touched. Their +eyes were closed or glowing. And still the long bow came and went, and +still the music rose and sank, swelled and ebbed, as easy waves +advance, retreat and flood again, breaking in white and lazy murmurs at +twilight on the dusky beach. + +Herbert stood still; his eyes were lifted, the gaze in them far away, +and one foot beat the measure. Beside him stood the Trapper. His arms +were crossed; his eyes were on the bow that the Lad was drawing, and his +body swayed, lifted and sank in perfect harmony with the motions and the +accompanying sound, with a grace which nature only reaches when the will +is utterly surrendered to a power that has charmed the stiffness and +tension out of the frame and made it yielding and responsive. + +At last the music stopped; and with it stopped each form. Each foot was +arrested at the point to which the sound had carried it when it paused. +Each couple stood in perfect pose. The motive power which moved them was +withdrawn, and the limbs stood motionless as if the soul that gave them +animation had retired. They had been lifted to another world--a world of +impulse and movement more airy and spirit-like than the gross +earth,--and it took a moment for them to struggle back to ordinary life. +But in a moment thought recalled them to themselves, and they realized +the mastery of the power that had held them at its will and the applause +broke out in showers of happy tumult. They crowded around the +Lad--strong men and beautiful women,--gazing at him in wonder; then +broke up into knots talking and marvelling. To the old Trapper's face, +as he gazed at the Lad, a strange look came,--the look of a man to whose +soul has come a revelation so pure and sweet that he is unable at first +to compass it with his understanding. He came close to the Lad, and, +sitting down on the edge of the platform, put his hand on the knee of +the youth, and said: + +"I have heerd most of the sweet and terrible noises that natur' makes, +boy: I have heered the thunder among the hills, when the Lord was +knockin' ag'in the 'arth until it jarred; and I have heered the wind in +the pines and the waves on the beaches when the darkness of night was on +the woods, and Natur' was singin' her evenin' psalm; and there be no +bird or beast the Lord has made whose cry, be it lively or solemn, I +have not heerd; and I have said that man had never made an instrument +that could make so sweet a noise as Natur' makes when the Sperit of the +universe speaks through her stillness: but ye have made sounds +to-night, Lad, sweeter than my ears have ever heerd on hill or +lake-shore, at noon or in the night season, and I sartinly believe that +the Sperit of the Lord has been with ye, boy, and gi'n ye the power to +bring out sech music as the Book says the angels make in their happiness +in the world above. I trust ye be grateful, Lad, for the gift the Lord +has gi'n ye; for, though yer tongue knows leetle of speech, yit yer +fingers can bring sech sounds out of that fiddle as a man might wish to +have in his ears when his body lies stiffenin' in his cabin, and his +sperit is standin' on the edge of the Great Clearin'. Yis, Lad, ye must +sartinly play for me when my eyes grow dim, and my feet strike the trail +that no man strikes but once, nor travels both ways." + +At this point the announcement of supper was made; and the company +streamed towards the tables. The repast was of that bounteous character +customary to the houses located in the woods, in which the hearty +provisions of the forest were brought into conjunction with and +re-enforced by the more light and fanciful _cuisine_ of the cities. +Among the substantiate, fish and venison predominated. There was +venison roast, and venison spitted, and venison broiled; venison steak +and venison pie; trout broiled, and baked, and boiled; pancakes and +rolls; ices and cream; pies and puddings; pickles and sauces of every +conceivable character and make; ducks and partridges; coffee and tea +whose nature, I regret to say, was discernible only to the eye of faith. +In the midst of this abundance, the Old Trapper was entirely at home. He +ate with the relish and heartiness of a man whose appetite was of the +highest order, and whose courage mounted to the occasion. + +[Illustration: "_Even the waiters, as they came and went, caught the +infection._"] + +"I tell ye, Henry," said the old man, as he transferred a duck to his +plate and proceeded to carve it with the aptness of one who had +practical knowledge of its anatomy, "I tell ye, Henry, the birds be +gittin' fat; and I sartinly hope the flight this fall will be a good un. +Don't be bashful, Lad, in yer eatin'," he continued, as he transferred +half of the bird to his companion's plate, "ye haven't got the size of +some about the waist, but yer length is in yer favor, and if ye will +only straighten up, and Henry don't gin' out, there'll be leetle left on +this eend of the table when we have satisfied our hunger. I don't know +when the cravin' of natur' has been stronger within me then it is this +minit; and if nothin' happens, and ye stand by me, the Saranacers will +remember our visit for days after we be gone. It isn't often that I feed +in the settlements, or get a taste of their cookin', but the man who +basted these birds knowed what he was doin', and the fire has given +them jest the right tech; and the morsels actilly melt in yer mouth." + +The Trapper's feelings were evidently not peculiar to himself. And the +spirit of feasting was abroad. The eating was such as would astonish the +dwellers in cities. Wit flashed across the table in answer to wit. Mirth +rippled from end to end of the room. Laughter roared and rollicked adown +the hall. Jokes were cracked. Fun exploded. Plates rattled. Cups and +glasses touched and rang. Even the waiters, as they came and went in +their happy service, caught the infection of the surrounding happiness, +and their laughter mingled with that of the guests. + +The great pine branches and the evergreens nailed against the corner +posts and wreathed into festoons along the walls shook and trembled in +the uproar as to the passage of winds along their native hills. And the +huge buck's heads, whose antlers were tied with rosettes and streaming +ribbons, lost the staring look of their great artificial eyes and seemed +as they gazed out through the interlacing boughs of cedar and balsam as +if life had returned to them, and they once more were animate. + +In about an hour the company streamed back into the parlor, with a mood +even livelier than that which had characterized the early hours of the +occasion. Their minds were in the state of highest action, and their +bodies needed but the opportunity for rapid motion. Even the Lad had +caught the infection of the surrounding liveliness, for his eyes and +face glowed with the light of quickened animation. + +"Have ye got any jigs in that fiddle, Lad?" said the Trapper; "Can ye +twist any thing out of yer instrument that will set the feet travellin'? +It seems to me that the young folks here want shakin' up a leetle; and a +leetle of the old-fashioned dancin' will help 'em settle the vittles. +Can ye liven up, Lad, and give 'em a tune that will set 'em whirlin'?" + +The only reply of the Lad was a motion of the bow; but the motion was +effective, for it sent a torrent of notes into the air, which thrilled +through the body and tingled along the nerves like successive electric +shocks. The old Trapper fairly bounded into the air; and when he struck +the floor his feet were flying. Nor was he alone; the jig had started a +dozen on the instant; and the floor rattled and rang with the tap of toe +and heel. + +"Henry," said the old Trapper, "hold on to me or I shall sartinly make a +fool of myself. The Lad is ticklin' me from head to foot, and my toes +are snappin' inside of the moccasins. Lord, who'd a thought that the +blood in the veins of a man whose head is whitenin' could be sot leapin' +as mine is doin' at this minit by the scrapin' of a fiddle!" + +The Lad was a picture to see. His bow flew like lightning. His long +fingers drummed and slid along the strings of the violin with +bewildering swiftness. The little instrument jetted and effervesced its +melody. The continuous and resounding noise poured out of it in tuneful +bubbles. The air was filled with tinkling fragments of sound. The Lad's +body swayed to and fro. His face glowed. His eyes flashed. The sweat +stood in drops on his forehead, but still the bow snapped and crinkled, +and the instrument continued to burst in musical explosions, while the +floor shook, the windows rattled, and the lamps flared and fluttered, as +the dancers chased the music on. + +[Illustration: "_The music stopped with a snap._"] + +"Heavens and arth!" said the Trapper. "I can't stand this," and breaking +from the hold that Herbert had on him, whirled himself out to the +centre of the floor and, with his face aflame with excitement and his +white hair flying abroad, led the jig men off with a lightness of foot +and quickness of stroke that forced the music by half a beat. The effect +was electric. The room burst into applause, and the Lad fetched a stroke +that seemed to rip the violin asunder. It was now a race between the +violin and the dancers. One after another fell out of the circle as the +moments passed, until the Trapper was left alone and was cutting it down +in a fashion that both astonished and convulsed the company. More than +one of the spectators went on to the floor in paroxysms of laughter. +Herbert, bent over with his hands on his knees, was watching the Trapper +with mouth stretched to its utmost and streaming eyes. + +It is impossible to say which would have triumphed, had not an accident +decided the contest and brought the jig to an abrupt termination. For +even while the Lad was in the midst of the swiftest execution, the hind +legs of the chair in which he was sitting were whipped from their +fastenings, his heels went into the air, he turned half a somersault +backward and the music stopped with a snap. + +It was minutes before a word could be heard. Roars and shrieks and +screams of irrepressible and uncontrollable merriment shook the house +from foundation to garret. The Lad picked himself up and for the first +time since they met Herbert saw his placid countenance wrinkled and +seamed with the contortions of uproarious mirth. The sluggishness of his +temperament for once was thoroughly agitated and the manhood which never +before had come to the surface found in hilarity a visible and adequate +expression. The Trapper had spun to his side and the two had joined +their hands and, looking into each other's faces, were laughing with a +boisterousness that fairly shook their frames and exploded in resounding +peals. + +Gradually the uproar subsided and the company settled by easy transition +to a quieter mood. The hours of the night were passing and the moment +drawing nigh when those who had mingled their merriment must part. The +old Trapper had regained his gravity and his countenance had settled to +its customary repose. It seemed the general wish that the Lad would +favor them with a farewell piece, and in compliance with the request of +many, the old man turned to him and said: + +"The hours be drawing on, Lad, and it's reasonable that we should break +up; but afore we go the folks wish to hear ye play a quiet sort of a +piece that may be cheerful and pleasant like for them to remember ye by +when we be gone. So, Lad, if ye have got anything in yer head that's +soft and teching, somethin' that will sort o' stay in the heart as the +seasons come and go, I sartinly hope ye will play it for them. And as ye +say ye was born by the sea, and as ye say the instrument ye hold in yer +hand was gin ye by yer mother, it may be ye can play us something out of +yer memory that shall tell us of her goodness to ye. Something I mean, +that shall tell us of the shore where ye was born and the love that ye +had afore ye laid her to rest and came to the woods seekin' me. Can ye +play us somethin' like that, Lad?" + +"I can play you anything that has mother in it," said he, and a wistful, +yearning, hungry look came into his eyes and the edges of his lips +quivered. + +The company seated themselves and the boy drew his bow across the +instrument. The brush of a painter could not have made the picture more +perfect than the vision the Lad brought forth as the bow played on the +strings. The picture of a sea, sunlighted and level, stretching far out; +the picture of a curved shore: the shore of a quiet bay, rimmed with its +beach of shining sand and noisy with the gurgle and splash of lapsing +waves; the picture of a home quiet and orderly and filled with the +tenderness of a gentle spirit; and then a heavier chord told of the +coming of a darker hour when the mother lay dying. The violin fairly +sobbed and groaned and wailed, as if the spirit of unconsolable grief +were tugging heavily at the strings. Anon, a bell tolled solemnly out of +it and its heavy knell clanged through the room. And then the music +rested for a minute; and in the silence it seemed as if the grave came +into sight as plainly as if the eyes of all were actually looking at its +open mouth. Again the music sounded, and the sods, one after another, +fell on the coffin, dull and heavy, changing to a gravelly, smothered +sound as the grave filled. Once more it paused, and then a clear, sweet +strain arose, sad, but pure and fine and hopeful, as voice of angels +could have sung it, trustful and resigned. The bow stopped again; for a +moment the violin was silent. And then the Lad lifted his face and, +laying the bow softly upon the strings, began to play what all +instinctively felt was a hymn to the spirit of his mother. Slowly, +softly, sweetly, as the strains which the dying sometimes hear, the +pure, clear, smooth notes stole out into the hushed air. It was playing, +not such as mortal plays to mortal, but such as spirit plays to spirit +and soul to soul, to-night, across the street of heaven. The Lad still +used an earthly instrument and touched its strings with mortal fingers; +but never, while they live, will those who heard that hymn believe that +anything less than the spirit of the boy drew from the instrument the +notes that filled the room with their divine sweetness. Indeed, the Lad +did not act as if he were conscious of his body or of bodily presences +around him. His face was lifted and his eyes, from which the tears were +streaming, were gazing upward, not as if into vacancy, but as if they +saw the bright being that had passed within the veil, standing in all +the beauty of her transfiguration before them. For a smile was on the +boy's lips, even while the tears were rolling down his cheeks. And when, +at last, the arm suspended its motion; when the sweet notes ceased to +sound and the last chord had died away, the Lad still kept his uplifted +posture and his features held the same rapt expression. + +The company sat motionless, their gaze fastened on the Lad. Not an eye +was without its tear. The cheeks of the old Trapper were wet; and +Herbert, touched by some memory or overcome by the pathos of the music, +was actually sobbing. The old man, with a tread as light as a moccasined +foot could make, stepped softly to the side of the Lad and taking him by +the arm--while the company rose as one man--motioned to Henry with his +hand, and then, without a word, the Trapper and Herbert and "The Man Who +Didn't Know Much" passed out of the room, and taking boat, shoved off +and glided from sight in the blue darkness of the overhanging night, +amid whose eastern gloom the great, luminous, mellow-hearted stars of +the morning were already aflame. + +[Illustration: Tail piece] + + + + + +Who Was He? + +I + + +[Illustration: Vignette Initial AT] + +At the head of a stretch of swiftly running water the river widened into +a broad and deep pool. From the western bank a huge ledge of rock sloped +downward and outward into the water. On it stood the trapper, John +Norton, with a look of both expectation and anxiety on his face. For a +moment he lifted his troubled eyes and gazed steadily through the +tree-tops; and as his eyes fell to the level of the river, while the +look of anxiety deepened on his countenance, he said: + +"Yis, the wind has changed and the fire be comin' this way; and ef it +gits into the balsam thickets this side of the mountain and the wind +holds where it is, a buck in full jump could hardly outrun it. Yis, the +smoke thickens; ef I didn't know that the boy would act with jedgment, +and that he's onusually sarcumspect, I would sartinly feel worried about +him. I hope he won't do anything resky for the sake of the pups. Ef he +can't git 'em, he can't; and I trust he won't resk the life of a man for +a couple of dogs." + +With these words the trapper relapsed into silence. But every minute +added to his anxiety, for the smoke thickened in the air and even a few +cinders began to pass him as they were blown onward with the smoke by +the wind. + +"The fire is comin' down the river," he said, "and the boy has it behind +him. Lord-a-massy! hear it roar! I know the boy is comin', for I never +knowed him to do a foolish thing in the woods; and it would be downright +madness for him to stay in the shanty, or even go to the shanty, ef the +fire had struck the balsam thicket afore he made the landin'. Lord, ef +an oar-blade should break,--but it won't break. The Lord of marcy won't +let an oar that the boy is handlin' break, when the fire is racin' +behind him, and he's comin' back from an arrand of marcy. I never seed +a man desarted in a time like"-- + +A report of a rifle rang out quick and sharp through the smoke. + +"God be praised!" said the trapper, "it's the boy's own piece, and he +let it off as he shot the rift the fourth bend above. Yis, the boy knows +his danger and he took the vantage of the rift to signal me with his +piece, for oars couldn't help him in the rift and the missin' of a +single stroke wouldn't count. I trust the boy got the pups, arter all," +added the old trapper, his mind instantly reverting to his loved +companions the moment it was relieved from anxiety touching his comrade. + +It couldn't have been over five minutes after the report of a rifle had +sounded, before a boat swept suddenly around the bend above the rock and +shot like an arrow through the haze toward the trapper. Herbert was at +the oars and the two hounds were sitting on their haunches at the stern. +The stroke the oarsman was pulling was such as a man pulls when, in +answer to some emergency, he is putting forth his whole strength. But +though the stroke was an earnest one, there was no apparent hurry in it; +for it was long and evenly pulled, from dip to finish, and the recovery +seemed a trifle leisurely done. The face of the trapper fairly shone +with delight as he saw the boat and the occupants. Indeed, his happiness +was too great to be enjoyed silently, and, in accordance with his habit +when greatly interested, he broke into speech. + +"Look at that now!" he exclaimed, as if speaking to some one at his +side; "look at that now! There's a stroke that's worth notin', and is a +kind of edication in itself. Ye might almost think that there wasn't +quite enough snap in it; but the boy knows that he's pullin' for his +life and the life of another man somewhere below him--not to speak of +the pups--and he knows it's good seven miles to the rapids, and he's +pullin' every ounce that's in him to pull, and keep his stroke. Now, +he's come five miles, ef he's come a rod, and I warrant he hasn't missed +a stroke, save when in shootin' the rift he let off his piece. And he +knows he's got seven miles more to pull and he's set himself a +twelve-mile stroke; and there aint many men that could do it, with the +roar of the fire a leetle way behind him. Yis, the boy has acted with +jedgment and is sartinly comin' along like a buck in full jump. I guess +I'd better let him know where I be." + +"Hillow there, boy! Hi, hi, pups! Here I be on the p'int of the rock, as +fresh as a buck arter a mornin' drink. Ease away a leetle, Herbert, in +yer stroke and move the pups forad a leetle and make room for a man and +a paddle, for the fire is arter ye and the time has come to jine works." + +The young man did as the trapper requested. He intermitted a stroke and +the hounds, at a word, moved into the middle of the boat and crouched +obediently in the bottom, but whimpering in their gladness at hearing +their master's voice again. The boat was under good headway when it +passed the point of the ledge on which the trapper was standing, but as +it glanced by, the old man leaped with practised agility to his place in +the stern and had given a full and strong stroke to his paddle before he +had fairly settled to his seat. + +"Now, Herbert," he began, "ease yerself a bit, for ye have had a tough +pull and it's good seven miles to the rapids. The fire is sartinly +comin' in arnest, but the river runs nigh onto straight till ye git +within sight of 'em, and I think we will beat it. I didn't feel sartin +that ye had got the pups, Herbert, for I could see by the signs that ye +wouldn't have any time to spare. Was it a tech and a go, boy?" + +"The fire was in the pines west of the shanty when I entered it," +answered the young man, "and the smoke was so thick that I couldn't see +it from the river as I landed." + +"I conceited as much," replied the trapper, "I conceited as much. Yis, I +knowed 'twould be a close shave ef ye got 'em, and I feared ye would run +a resk that ye oughtn't to run, in yer love for the dogs." + +"I didn't propose to leave the dogs to die," responded the young man; "I +think I should have heard their cries in my ears for a year, had they +been burned to death in the shanty where we left them." + +"Ye speak with right feelin', Herbert," replied the trapper. "No, a +hunter has no right to desart his dog when danger be nigh; for the +Creator has made 'em in their loves and their dangers, alike. Did ye +save the powder and the bullits, boy?" + +"I did not," responded Herbert; "the sparks were all around me and the +shanty was smoking while I was feeling around for the dogs' leash. I +heard the canister explode before I reached the first bend." + +"'Twas a narrer rub, boy," rejoined the trapper. "Yis, I can see 'twas a +narrer rub ye had of it, and the holes in yer shirt show that the sparks +was fallin' pritty thick and pritty hot, too, when ye come out of the +shanty. How does the stroke tell on ye, boy?" continued the old man, +interrogatively. "Ye be pullin' a slashin' stroke, ye see, and there's +five mile more of it, ef there's a rod." + +"The stroke begins to tell on my left side," answered Herbert; "but if +you were sitting where you could see what's coming down upon us as I +can, you would see it wasn't any time for us to take things leisurely." + +"Lord, boy," rejoined the trapper, "do ye think I haven't any ears? The +fire's at the fourth bend above us and the pines on the ridge we passed +five minutes ago ought to be blazin' by this time. Ah me, boy, this +isn't the fust time I've run a race with a fire of the devil's own +kindlin', alone and in company, both. And my ears have measured the roar +and the cracklin' ontil I can tell to a rod, eenamost, how fur the red +line be behind me." + +"What do you think of our chances?" queried his companion; "shall we +get over the carry in time? for I suppose we are making for the big +pool, are we not?" + +"Yis, we be makin' for the pool," replied the trapper, "for it's the +only safe spot on the river; and as for the chances, I sartinly doubt ef +we can fetch the carry in time. Ef the fire isn't there ahead of us, it +will be on us afore we could git to the pool at the other eend." + +"Why can't we run the rapids?" asked Herbert promptly. + +"The rapids can be run, as you and me know," responded the old man, "for +we have both did it, although they be onusually swift, and there be +spots where good jedgment and a quick paddle is needed." + +"Why," exclaimed Herbert, "the last time we went down we never took in a +drop of water." + +"It's true, as ye say, boy," responded the trapper; "yis, we sartinly +did as ye say, though few be the men that know the waters that would +believe it." + +"Why, then," exclaimed the young man, "can't we do it again?" + +"The smoke, boy, the smoke," was the answer. "The smoke will be there +ahead of us. And who can run a stretch of water like the one ahead +yender, with his eyes blinded? No, boy, we must git there ahead of the +fire, for we can't run the rapids in the smoke. Here," he added, "ye be +pullin' a murderin' stroke, and it's best that I spell ye. Down with ye, +pups, down with ye, and lie still as a frozen otter while the boy comes +over ye." + +With the celerity of long practice in boating, the two men changed +places, and with such quickness was the change in position effected, +that the onrushing shell scarcely lessened its headway. The trapper +seized the oars on the instant, while Herbert supported him with equal +swiftness with the paddle and the light craft raced along like a feather +blown by the gale. + +For several moments the trapper, who, by the change in his position was +brought face to face with the pursuing fire, said not a word. His stroke +was long and sweeping and pulled with an energy which only perfect skill +and tremendous strength can put into action. He looked at the rolling +flames with a face undisturbed in its calmness and with eyes that noted +knowingly every sign of its progress. + +"The fire is a hot un," he said at length, "and it runs three feet to +our two. We may git there ahead of it, for there isn't more than a mile +furder to go; but--Lord!" exclaimed the trapper, "how it roars! and it +makes its own wind as it comes on. Don't break yer paddle shaft, boy; +but the shaft is a good un and ye may put all the strength into it that +ye think it will stand." + +The spectacle on which the trapper was gazing was, indeed, a terrible +one; and the peril of the two men was getting to be extreme. The valley, +through the centre of which the river ran, was perhaps a mile in width, +at which distance a range of lofty hills on either side walled it in. +Down this enclosed stretch the fire was being driven by a wind which +sent the blazing evidences of its approach in advance of its terrible +progress. The spectacle was indescribable. The dreadful line of flame +moved onward like a line of battle, when it moves at a charge against a +flying enemy. The hungry flames ate up the woods as a monster might eat +food when starving. Grasses, shrubs, bushes, thickets of undergrowth and +the great trees, which stood in groves over the level plain on either +side of the stream, disappeared at its touch as if swallowed up. The +evergreens crackled and flamed fiery hot. The smoke eddied up in rushing +volumes. Overhead, and far in advance of the on-rolling line of fire, +the air was darkened with black cinders, amid whose sombre masses fiery +sparks and blazing brands shone and flashed like falling stars. + +[Illustration: "_A deer suddenly sprang from the bank._"] + +A deer suddenly sprang from the bank into the river ahead of the boat +and, frenzied with fear, swam boldly athwart its course. He was followed +by another and another. Birds flew shrieking through the air. Even the +river animals swam uneasily along the banks, or peered out of their +holes, as if nature had communicated to them, also, the terrible alarm; +while, like the roar of a cataract,--dull, heavy, portentous,--the wrath +of the flames rolled ominously through the air. + +Amid the sickening smoke which was already rolling in volumes over the +boat and the terrible uproar and confusion of nature, Herbert and the +trapper kept steadily to their task. But every moment the line of fire +gained on them. The smoke was already at intervals stifling and the heat +of the coming conflagration getting unbearable. Brands began to fall +hissing into the water. Twice had Herbert flung a blazing fragment out +of the boat. And so, in a race literally for life, with the flames +chasing them and their lives in jeopardy, they turned the last bend +above the carry which began at the head of the rapids. But it was too +late; the fiery fragments blown ahead by the high wind had fallen in +front of them, and the landing at the carry itself was actually +enveloped in smoke and flame. + +"The fire be ahead of us, boy!" exclaimed the trapper, "and death is +sartinly comin' behind. The odds be agin us to start with, for the smoke +is thick and the fire will be in the bends at least half the way down, +but it's our only chance; we must run the rapids." + +"What about the dogs?" + +"The pups must shirk for themselves," answered the old man. "I'm sorry, +but the rapids be swift and the waters shaller on the first half of the +stretch. And the pups settle the boat half an inch, ef they settle it a +hair. Yis, overboard with ye, pups! overboard with ye!" commanded the +trapper. "Ye must use the gifts the Lord has gin ye now, or git singed. +I advise ye to keep with the current and come down trailin' the boat; +for man's reason is better than dogs' reason, techin' currents and +eddies, not to speak of falls. But take yer own way; for yer lives be in +jeopardy with yer master's, and ye ought, for sartin, to have the chance +of dyin' as ye like to. But yer best chance is to foller the boat, as I +jedge." + +The trapper had continued to talk as if addressing members of the human +and not the canine species; and long before he had finished his remarks, +the hounds had taken to the water and were swimming with all their power +directly in the wake of the boat, as if they had actually understood +their master's injunction, and were, indeed, determined to shoot the +rapids in his wake. + +The conflagration was now at its fiercest heat. The smoke whirled upward +in mighty eddies or rolled along in huge convolutions. Through the +fleecy rolls here and there tongues of flame shot fiercely. The river +steamed. The roar of the rushing flames was deafening. The tops of the +huge pines that stood along the banks would wave and toss as the fiery +line reached them, and then burst into blaze, as if they were but the +mighty torches that lighted the path of the passing destruction. In all +his long and eventful life, passed amid peril, it is doubtful if the +trapper had ever been in a wilder scene. The rapids were ahead and the +fire behind and on either side. The great mass of flame had not yet +rolled abreast the boat, but the blazing brands were already falling in +advance. It was not a moment to hesitate; nor was he a man to falter +when action was called for. + +By this time the boat had come nigh the upper rift of the rapids, and +the motion of the downward suction was beginning to tell on its +progress. The trapper shipped his oars and, lifting his paddle, placed +himself in a kneeling posture, gazing down stream. The fire was almost +upon them, and the smoke too dense for sight. But pressing as was the +emergency, neither man touched his paddle to the water, but let the boat +go down with the quickening current to the verge of the rapids, where +the sharp dip of the decline would send it flying. + +"This be an onsartin ventur', Henry," cried the trapper, shouting to his +comrade from the smoke that now made it impossible for the young man, +even at only the boat's length, to see his person. "This be an onsartin +ventur', and the Lord only knows how it will eend. Ye know the waters as +well as I do; and ye know the p'ints where things must be did right. +We'll beat the smoke arter we make the fust dip and git out of the +thickest of it in the fust half of the distance, onless somethin' +happens. Let her go with the current, boy, ontil yer sight comes to ye, +for the current knows where it's goin', and that's more than a mortal +can tell in this infarnal smoke. Here we go, boy!" shouted the old man, +as the boat balanced in its perilous flight on the sharp edge of the +uppermost rift. "Here we go, boy!" he shouted out of the smoke and the +rush of waters, "it's hotter than Tophet where we be and it matters +mighty leetle what meets us below." + + +II + +To those who have had no experience in running rapids, no adequate +conception can be given touching what can with truth be called one of +the most exciting experiences that man can pass through. The very +velocity with which the flight is made is enough of itself to make the +sensation startling. The skill which is required on the part of the +boatman is of the finest order. Eye and hand and readiest wit must work +in swift connection. Some who read these lines perhaps have--shall we +say--enjoyed the sensation which we have always found impossible to +describe in words? These, at least, will appreciate the difficulty of +our task, and also the peril which surrounded the trapper and his +companion. + +The first flight down which the boat glanced was a long one. The river +bed sloped away in a straight direction for nigh on to fifty rods, and +at an angle so steep that the water, although the bottom was rough, +fairly flattened itself as it ran; and the channel where the current +was the deepest gave forth a serpentine sound as it whizzed downward. +The smoke, which hung heavily over the stretch from shore to shore, was +too dense for the eye to penetrate a yard. Amid the smoke sparks +floated, and brands, crackling as they fell, plunged through it into the +steaming water. Guidance of the frail craft was, as the trapper had +predicted, out of the question; the two men could only keep their +position as they went streaming downward. They kept their seats like +statues, knowing well that their safety lay in allowing their light +shell to follow, without the least interruption, the pressure of the +swift current. + +Half down the flight the volume of smoke was parted, by some freak of +the wind, from shore to shore, and for a couple of rods they saw the +water, the blazing banks, the fiery tree-tops and each other. The +trapper turned his face, blackened and stained by the grimy cinders, +toward his companion and gave one glance, in which humor and excitement +were equally mingled. His mouth was open, but the words were lost in the +roar of the flame and the rush of the water. He had barely time to toss +a hand upward, as if by gesture he would make good the impossibility of +speech, before face and hand alike faded from Herbert's eyes as the boat +plunged again into the smoke. + +The next instant the boat launched down the final pitch of the declivity +and shot far out into the smooth water that eddied in a huge circle in +the pool below. The smoke was at this point less compact, for through it +the blazing pines on either flamed partially into view. + +"It's the devil's own work, boy, for sartin," cried the trapper, "and +the fool or the knave that started the fire oughter be toasted. I trust +the pups will be reasonable and come down with the current. Has the fire +touched ye anywhere?" + +"Not much," answered Herbert. "A brand struck me on the shoulder and +opened a hole in my shirt,--that's all. How do you feel?" + +"Fried, boy; yis, actally fried. Ef this infarnal heat lasts, I'll be +ready to turn afore we reach the second bend." + +"How goes the stream below?" asked Herbert. + +"All clear for a while," answered the trapper, "all clear for a while. +Put yer strength into the paddle till we come to the varge below, for +the fire be runnin' fast, and it's agin reason for a mortal to stand +this heat long." + +"Shall we run out of the smoke at the next flight?" asked Herbert. + +"I think so, boy; I think so," answered the trapper. "The maples grow to +the bank at the foot of the next dip, and it isn't in the natur' of hard +wood to make smoke like a balsam." + +[Illustration: "_Past mossy banks where great eddies whirled._"] + +He would have said more, but his companion had nodded to him as he had +ended the sentence, for they had come to the last flight of the rapids, +and the great pool lay glimmering through the branches of the trees +below. + +The old man knew what was meant and said: "I know it, boy, I know it. +Take the east run, for the water be deeper that way, and the boat sets +deep. I won't trouble ye, for ye know the way. Lord! how the water +biles! Now's yer time, boy,--to the right with ye! to the right! Sweep +her round and let her go!" + +Away and downward swept the boat. The strong eddies caught it, but the +controlling paddle was stronger than the eddies and kept it to the line +of its safest descent. Past rocks that stood in mid current, against +which the swift-going water beat and dashed--past mossy banks and +shadowed curves where the great eddies whirled--down over miniature +falls into bubbles and froth the light craft swept, and with a final +plunge and leap jumped the last cascade, and, darting out into the great +basin, ran shoreward. + +It touched the beach, and the trapper and Herbert rose to their feet; +but for a moment neither stirred, for in front of them, not thirty feet +away, at the line where the sand and the green mosses met, and looking +directly at them, _stood a man and a girl_! + + * * * * * + +WHO WAS HE? The two men asked this question a thousand times mentally in +the next two months, and once afterward they asked it aloud, as they +looked into each other's eyes across a grave. But to the question, +whether spoken or silent, no answer ever came. + +The world has its enigmas, and he was one. + +Amid the jabbering crowd we chaff and chatter with, we meet occasionally +a man who never chaffs nor chatters,--a man who sees all things; perhaps +because of this, suffers all things, but says nothing at all. The +sphinxes are still extant. The old time ones were of stone and bronze; +the modern ones are of flesh and blood; that's all the difference. Nay, +not quite all; for the secrets that the ancients held smothered within +the folds of their stony silence were only such as nature revealed to +them from her desert posts,--the secrets of sunrises and starry nights +and simoons that swept the sandy plain and of civilizations, the murmurs +of whose rising and the crash of whose sudden overthrow, they needs must +hear. But the secrets that men hear today, and by hearing of which are +made silent, are the secrets of lives being lived, of hearts being +broken, of intentions so noble and failures so bitter as to make men +sceptical whether God keeps watch over the passing events on the earth. + +Was he young? No. Was he old? No, again. How old was he? Forty, perhaps; +it may be fifty. The two men who stood looking at him never thought of +his age, neither then nor afterward; never thought whether he was old or +young. There are people who have no age to those who know them. Is it +because their bodies so little represent them? A friend has been +away--for years. He returns; enters your room; you shake his hand +heartily in welcome. And then you stand off and look at him. You look at +his hair and note the gray in it--at the wrinkles in his face--the dozen +and one marks that denote change--and say, "you've grown old, old boy;" +and so we judge most men, and so they should be judged. Why? Because +they are not great and strong and soul-large enough to dwarf their +bodies out of sight and dwindle them into insignificance. + +But now and then you meet one whose mind represents him, whose soul is +so gloriously finished that, as in the case of a great painting, you do +not think of the frame around it, nor take notice of it at all. He is +so strong vitally; so great in living force--in vital energies--in +moving and persuading power--that he is to you like an immense, endless, +all-conquering Life, wholly independent of his embodiment, who might +exist in any form,--angel, archangel, spirit, winged or wingless, +supernal or infernal, and still, in all forms, in all places, in all +moral states would remain true to himself and be the same. There are +some, I say, who are like this,--who are not of the earth, earthy, nor +of the body, but of the spirit, whether good or bad, spiritual: angel or +demon, always. + +Do you know one such? No? Perhaps not, for they are rare, very rare. But +some such there are, and if you do not know one, or one like to such a +one, I ask you if you do not think of him as I have said? Body! what is +body to such a man? what is a formation of clay deftly mingled in its +chemistry round about such an indomitable indwelling spirit? Does the +old rain-sodden nest photograph the bird, the swiftness and glory of +whose wings lived in it once? What is age to such a one? What has he to +do with the passing of years? Such a one is young and old both, from the +beginning of his career forever onward. He has the freshness of youth, +the strength of manhood, and the sagacity of age, fixed permanently in +his structure, as nature fixes her colors in the fibre of the ash and +the oak. Such have no age. How silly to ask how old he is. If you ask +me, I should answer, _Who can tell_? Their earthly parents say they were +born on such and such dates. Were they? Or had they lived as Mary's Son +had, ages before they took--for God's wise purpose--flesh? Who can tell? + +"_Heresy_?" I'm not writing a sermon, I am writing a story, and I seek +to make my readers think. That would not be essential if I were +sermonizing. Good people don't want that kind of preaching. + +But to return. Was he young? Was he old? Neither then nor ever after did +Herbert and the trapper think of him as having age; and yet he was with +them, and his body had all the marks which reveal to the noticing eye +the measure of man's days. This is the young man's description of him: + +"Tall, straight, and well-formed; large in size, but shapely, hair brown +with gray in it; in all the face a look of great power, reserved, but +ready to act; eyes of changeable color, that took the shade of the +emotion that chanced to come and look out of them; when unoccupied, +cold, gray, and meaningless as a window-pane behind which no face is; +and over all the countenance the look of great gravity, divided by but +the slightest line from sadness." + +So Herbert described him; but he always used to add: "Remember, this was +only his body, and _therefore no description at all_." + +The girl? Why, certainly, you shall know of her, and from the same +authority: + +"The girl that was with this strange man was not a girl merely, but both +girl and woman; for she was at that age when the sweet simplicity of the +one, and the full charm of the other, come into union, and a time, at +least, stand in attractive alliance. She was of medium height, and +perfectly formed. Her hair was brown, as were her eyes, that were large +and mild of look; and over all her face was such an expression of +gentleness and peace as I never saw on any other woman's face, and she +loved the man with so great a love that it made her life and took it +both." + + * * * * * + +For a moment Herbert and the trapper stood looking at the man and girl, +who were standing on the edge of the beach, looking silently at them; +and then the trapper said, still standing in the boat: + +"We would not run agin ye so sudden-like had we seed ye, friend; and ef +our company be not pleasant to ye, we will move on, and camp on some +clump furder down," and the old man placed his paddle against the beach +as if he would breast the boat out into the pool. + +"I beg you not to do so," answered the man on the beach; "you have as +good a right to this camp-ground as we, and I dare say a better one, as +we are but strangers to the woods; while you, old man, look as if you +had made them your home for years." + +"Ye speak the truth, friend," replied the trapper. "Yis, the woods be my +home; and ef livin' in 'em gives man a right, few would gainsay my +claim. Yis, it's thirty years agone sence I hefted the fust trout from +this pool, and br'iled him on the bank there,--and a toothsome supper he +made for me, too. Lord-a-massy, boy," exclaimed the old man, half +turning toward his companion, "what a thing memory be! Thirty year!--and +I've seed some wanderin' sence then,--but I remember as though I'd eat +him last night jest how that trout tasted. You're sartin, friend, that +we won't distarb ye ef we come ashore?" + +"No, no, old man," answered the other, "come ashore, you and your +companion. Our camp is the other side of the balsam thicket there, and +after you have built your own, we will come down and pass an hour with +you, unless we should disturb you in your occupation or your pleasure." + +[Illustration: "_Come ashore, you and your companion._"] + +"I be a man of the woods, as ye see," replied the trapper, "and Henry, +here, be my companion; and though his home be in the city, he has +consorted with me so much that he's fallen into my habits,--though it +should be said to his credit that the Lord gin him nateral gifts in that +direction; and when we be roamin', we take but leetle with us, and our +camp be quickly made. No, no; we will have leetle to offer ye and the +lady, but ef, when the sun darkens back of the mountain there, ye will +honor an old man by yer comin', ye shall taste some venison that's +waited three days for the mouth and is tender, as it should be. And ef +the pool here will make its name good, ye shall have a trout cooked as +the hunter cooks it when the fire is hot and the wet moss plenty." + +"We will certainly come," answered the man. "I came into the woods to +avoid men, not to meet them; but your face is honest and open as the +day, old man; and your head is white as is the head of wisdom. I shall +be glad to talk with you, and I doubt not your companion is as educated +as you are knowing." + +"I've seed the comin' and goin' of seventy year sence I've been on the +arth," answered the trapper, stroking his head with the peculiar motion +of the aged when speaking of their age reflectively; "and much have I +seed of the passions of my kind, and many be the lessons that natur' has +larnt me; and ef the convarse of an old man who has lived leetle in the +clearin' would be pleasant to ye, yer comin' will be welcome.--Yis, +yis, boy, I seed it. Ye had better j'int yer rod, and I will start a +fire. Ye know the size ye want, and ye'll find 'em out there where the +bubbles make the letter S." + +The two strangers retired toward their own camp, and our friends set +about their several tasks. Herbert proceeded to joint his rod and the +trapper to make a rude fire-place from the stones that lined the bank at +the water's edge. + +The preparations for the forthcoming repast went forward rapidly. The +pool kept its reputation good and yielded abundantly to the solicitation +of Herbert's flies. The trout were large and in excellent condition and +were quickly made ready for the trapper's treatment. A large piece of +bark, peeled from a giant spruce standing near, and laid upon the +ground, served for the table,--against the dark bark of which the tin +dishes freshly scoured in the sand of the beach gleamed bright. The +venison and trout were cooked as only one accustomed to the woods can do +it, and the trapper contemplated the work of his skill with pleased +complacency. At each plate Herbert had placed a bunch of +checkerberries, and a small bouquet of small but exceedingly fragrant +flowers adorned the centre of the bark table. + +At this moment the man and girl drew near. + +"I trust," said the man, as they approached, "that we have not kept you +waiting by our tardiness?" + +"Yer comin' be true to a minit," answered the trapper, glancing up at +the western mountain, the top of whose pines the lower edge of the sun +had just touched. "The meat be ready. We sartinly can't boast of the +bark or the dishes," he continued, "but the victuals be as good as +natur' allows, and yer welcome be hearty." + +"We could ask no more," said the man, courteously, "and one might almost +think that the hand of woman had adorned the table." + +"The posies be the boy's doin'," replied the trapper, glancing at +Herbert; "he has a likin' for their color and smell, and I never knowed +him to eat without a green sprig or a bunch of bright moss or some sech +thing on the bark." + +"I am sure I do not like them any better than you do," answered Herbert, +smiling, and looking pleasantly into the old man's face. + +"They be of the Lord's makin'," responded the trapper. "They be of the +Lord's makin', and it be fit thet mortals should love 'em, as I conceit. +I've lived a good deal alone," he continued, "but I've never lived in a +cabin yit that didn't have a few leetle flowers, or a tuft of grass, or +a speck of green somewhere about it. They sort of make company for a man +in the winter evenin's, and keep his thoughts in cheerful directions." + +"Your sentiments do honor to your nature," responded the other, "and I +am glad to meet with one of your age, who, having lived among the +beauties of Nature, has not allowed them to become commonplace and +unworthy of notice. Many in the cities show less refinement." + +"I conceit it is a good deal in the breedin'," answered the trapper. +"There be some that don't know good from evil in natur',--leastwise, +they don't seem to have any eyes to note the difference; and what isn't +born in a man or a dog you can't edicate into him. The breedin' settles +more p'ints that the missioners dream, as I jedge. But come, friends, +the victuals be coolin', and the mouth loves a warm morsel." + +"I am certain," said the man, as they were partaking of the repast, +"that I never tasted a piece of venison so finely flavored before." + +"I've cooked the meat for nigh on to sixty year," answered the trapper, +"and have larnt not to spoil the sweetness of natur' by overdoin' it. +It's a quick aim that brings the buck to the camp, and a quick fire that +puts the steak on to the plate ready for the mouth.--trust, lady, that +ye enjoy the victuals?" + +"I do, indeed," answered the girl, "and if the cooking were less +perfect, I should count this as a feast." + +"Yis, yis; I understand ye," answered the old man. "The sound of the +tumblin' water be pleasant, and the eye eats with the mouth," and he +glanced at the green woods that stretched away, and the brightly-colored +clouds that hung like fleece of gold in the western sky. + +"The barbarian eats from a trough," remarked Herbert; "civilize him, and +he erects a table; and as you add to his refinement, he adorns that +table until the furniture of it magnifies the feast and the guests think +more of the beauty of the adornments than of the food they swallow." + +And so with pleasant converse the meal progressed. Soon the sun declined +and darkness began to thicken in the pines. The table was moved to one +side, the dishes cleansed and the fire lighted for the evening. With the +darkness silence had fallen upon the group,--not that silence which is +awkward and oppressive, or which comes from lack of thought, but that +fine silence, rather, which is only the thin shadow of the reflective +mood, and because the thought is inward and overfull. + +And so the four sat in silence by the fire. Above, a few great stars +shone warmly. Here and there the rapids flashed white through the gloom. +From a huge pine on the other side of the pool a horned owl challenged +the darkness with his ponderous call. + +Suddenly the man broke the silence,--broke it with a question which led +to a remarkable conversation, and a tragical result. And the question +was this:-- + +"Friend, answer me this question: _If a man take a life, should he give +his own life in atonement for the dreadful deed?_" + + +III + +"_If a man take a life, should he give his own life in atonement for the +dreadful deed?_" + +Such was the question that the man asked. He was looking at the trapper +at the time,--looking at him steadily; but the sound of his voice as he +put the question did not seem to give personal direction to the solemn +interrogation; it seemed rather the echo of a reflection, as if his own +mind in its communings had come upon the terrible question, and the +words, without volition of his own, which framed it into speech, had +passed out of his mouth. + +He was looking at the trapper, as we said, and the trapper was looking +into the fire,--the light of which, that came and went in flashes, +brought distinctly out the settled gravity of the features, and the +rugged but grand proportions of the head. There is no better light in +which to see an old man's face than the fitful firelight; and no better +background than that which the darkness makes. + +One would have thought that the interrogation was not heard, for on the +trapper's face there showed no line of change. The girl remained looking +steadfastly into the face of the questioner, and Herbert made no +response. + +"I asked you a question, old trapper," said the man; "a question which +reaches to the depths of human responsibility, and points to the heights +of human sacrifice. In the old days, the wisdom of the world was with +those who lived with Nature. Your head is white, and you tell me you +have lived in the woods since you were a boy. You have seen war; have +stood in battle; have slain your man, and made many graves of those you +have slain. Have you wisdom? Are you able to answer the question I have +asked you?" + +"I have, as ye say," answered the trapper, "ben in wars. I've stood in +battle; I've slain men; I've buried those I have slain; I know what it +is to take a human creeter's life, and I think I know where the right to +do the deed stops and where it begins." + +"Where does it begin?" asked the man; "where does the right to take +human life begin?" + +The words came forth slowly and heavy-weighted with meaning. It was +evident that the question which the man asked was not asked as one +interrogates, but as one puts a question that has personal application +to himself. The trapper felt this. He looked into the man's face, and +studied his countenance a moment; noted the breadth of brow, the large, +deep-set eyes, the fine curvature of the chin and cheek; saw the beauty +and splendor of it; saw what some might not have seen,--both the beauty +of its peaceful mood and the terribleness of the wrath that might surge +out of it,--saw all this, and without answering the question, said +simply,-- + +"You have killed a man." + +The stranger looked steadily back into the trapper's face, and answered +as simply,-- + +"Yes, I am a murderer." + +Herbert started a trifle. The girl gave a slight exclamation and lifted +her hand as if in protest. The trapper alone made reply,-- + +"Ye sartinly don't look like a murderer, friend." + +"He is none! he is none!" exclaimed the girl. "He had provocation, old +man! he had provocation!" and then she turned toward the man, and said: +"Why will you say such things? Why will you condemn yourself wrongly? +Why do you brood over a deed done in wrath, and under the strain that +few might resist, as it had been done in cold blood, and with a +murderer's malice and forethought of evil?" + +The man listened to her gravely, with a kind of considerate patience in +the look of his face; waited a moment, when she had finished, as one +might wait from the habit of politeness, and then, without answering +her, said: + +"You have not answered my question, old trapper." + +"I can't answer it,--I sartinly can't answer it, friend, onless I know +the sarcumstances of the killin'; for there be killin' that be right and +there be killin' that be wrong, and onless I know the sarcumstances of +the killin', my words would be like the words of a boy that talks in +council without knowing what he is talkin'. Ef ye killed a man, how did +ye kill him?" + +"I killed him face to face," answered the man. He paused a moment, and +then repeated, "Face to face." + +"Why did ye kill him?" asked the trapper. "Had he done ye wrong?" + +"He was my friend," said the man, "my friend, true and tried." + +"Had he done ye a wrong?" persisted the trapper. + +"What is wrong?" asked the man. "I can't tell whether he had done me +wrong or nay. I only know he had crossed my purpose,--stopped me from +doing what I had set my heart on doing; and what I set my heart on +doing, old man, _I do_." And the man's eyes darkened under the abundant +brow and the face tightened and contracted, as a rope when a strain is +upon it. "The man came between me and my purpose," he added, "he stood +up and faced me, and said I should not do what I proposed to do, and +should not have what I had sworn to have; and I killed him where he +stood." + +It was astonishing how quietly the words were said, considering the +tremendous energy of will which was charged into and through their +quietness. + +"He had no right to do it," said the girl; "he had no right to do it. It +was none of his business, and you know it wasn't," And she spoke, +apparently to the man, "Oh, sir, why do you not tell them that he was an +intermeddler, and meddled with what was none of his business,--kindled +you to rage by his meddling, and that you slew him in your rage, +thoughtlessly, unintentionally? Why do you not tell them these things?" + +The man listened to her again, politely. There was a look of grave +courtesy in his eye as he half turned his face and looked upon her as +she was speaking; but beyond this there was no recognition that he heard +her. When she had finished, he turned his face again toward the trapper, +and said: + +"Old trapper, you have not answered my question. Has a man a right to +take life?" + +"Sartinly," answered the trapper. + +"How?" asked the man. + +"In war," answered the trapper. + +"In any other way?" queried the man. + +"Yis,--in self-defence." + +"Any other cause?" persisted the stranger. + +"Not as a rule," answered the trapper. + +After this there was a silence. The girl's head dropped into her two +palms and for an instant her frame shook, as one contesting the passage +of a strong feeling that insists on expression. The three men made no +motion, but sat silently gazing into the fire. + +For several minutes the silence lasted. There are two living that will +never forget that silence. Then the man lifted his face and said,-- + +"Old trapper, have you ever known remorse?" + +"I can't say I ever did," answered the trapper; "though I've felt a +leetle oneasy arter dealin' with the thievin' vagabonds whose tracks +I've found on the line of my traps. It has seemed to me, sometimes, in +the evenin', in thinkin' the matter over, that perhaps a leetle less +bullet and a leetle more scriptur' might have did jest as well. But a +man is apt to be a leetle ha'sh in his anger; but I have an idee that +the Lord makes some allowance for a man's doin's when he's a good deal +r'iled. That's where the marcy comes in. Yis, that's where the marcy +comes in; isn't it, boy?" and the old man looked at Herbert. + +"There is certainly where we need the mercy to come in," answered +Herbert; "but it were better that we acted so that mercy need not be +shown." + +The man listened to Herbert's reply with an expression of strong assent +on his countenance, then he turned to the trapper. + +"You say, old man, that you never knew remorse. Happy has your life been +because of it; and happy shall your life be to its close. I have known +remorse. It is a fearful knowledge,--as fearful as the knowledge of +hell. Woe to the man that does an evil deed. That instant he is doomed; +doomed to anguish. His divinity punishes him. Within his bosom the great +tribunal is instantly set up. The judge takes his seat. The witnesses +are summoned; and the whole universe swarms to the trial. His memory is +a torment; and all the forces of his mind suddenly concentrate in +memory,--the memory of one deed, or of many deeds, even as his sin has +been sole or manifold. What torment, old man, is like the torment of one +whose memory is confined wholly to his evil deeds!" + +No one made any reply. The anguish of the man's speech made response +impossible. + +"Before I did the deed," he continued, after a pause, "my memory took +knowledge of all sweet things; of all dear faces I have ever seen; of +all generous and blessed deeds I had ever done. But after that I could +remember but one thing,--the murderer; only one face,--the face of him I +killed, and all my life, and the glory of it, was thrown into black +eclipse by that one terrible act. Before I did the deed Nature was a joy +to me, but now in every star I see his countenance looking down upon me. +In every flower I see his still, cold face. The winds bear to me his +voice. The water of those rapids"--and the man stretched his hand out +towards the flowing river--"sounds to me like the rattle in his throat +as he lay dying. How shall I find release, old man? How quit myself of +this terrible curse?" and the man's words ended in a groan. + +"The mercy of the Lord be great," replied the trapper; "greater than any +deed of guilt did by mortal; great enough to cover you, friend, and +your misdoin', as a mother covers the error of her child with her +forgiveness." + +"I know the mercy of the Lord is great," answered the man, "I know His +forgiveness covers all; but the old law--old as the world, old as guilt +and justice--the law of life for life and blood for blood,--has never +been repealed. And this is the one comfort left for the noble: that +however great the guilt, however wicked the deed, the atonement can be +as great as the sin. He who dies pays all debts. He who has sent one to +the grave and goes to the grave voluntarily, goes into the arms of +mercy. I know not where else, with all his searching, man may surely +find it." + +Again there was silence. Above, the stars shone warmly through the dusky +gloom. The rapids roared, falling hoarsely through the darkness. A +moaning ran along the pine-tops; the firelight flamed and flickered, and +the flames flashed the four faces into sight that were grouped around +the brands. At length the trapper said: + +"What is it ye have in yer heart to do, friend?" + +"I took a life," answered the man; "I must give one in return. I took a +life and my life is forfeited. This is my condemnation, and I pronounce +it on myself. My judge is not above; my judge is within. In this the +world finds protection, and in this the sinner finds release from sin. +There is no other way; at least, no other way so perfect. One man was +great enough to die for the sins of others. They who would rise to the +level of his life must be great enough to lay down their life for their +own sins. This is justice; and out of such true justice blooms the +perfect mercy." To this the man added thoughtfully, "There is but one +objection." + +"What is the objection?" asked Herbert. "What is the objection, if one +be great enough to make so great a sacrifice?" + +"The objection," answered the man, "is found in this: it is so deep a +sin to kill; it is so easy a thing to die--for what is death? The +ignorant dread it because they do not analyze it; their lack of +thoughtfulness makes them cowardly; for death is going out of bondage +into liberty. He who passes through the dark gate finds himself, when he +has passed, standing in the cloudless sunshine. In dying, the sorrowful +become glad; the small become greater; and if they die rightly, the +sinful become sinless. If a great motive prompts us to death, it is the +perfect regeneration. Entering thus the new life, man is born anew. And +so in punishment the great law of mercy stands revealed, and sin leads +up to sinlessness. In such travail of soul, he who suffers through +suffering is satisfied." + +"It is sublime philosophy," exclaimed Herbert, "but few are great enough +to practice it." + +"Rather, sir," exclaimed the man, "few are knowing enough to accept it. +The eyes of men, through their ignorance, are blinded by fear and they +see not the delivering gates though they stand facing the open passage." + +"Life is sweet." + +The words fell from the lips of Herbert as if they spoke themselves. + +"To the innocent, life is sweet," answered the man, "but to the guilty, +life is bitterness. The world was not made for the guilty. The beauties +and glories of it were not for them. The universe is not sustained for +them. Only for the good do things exist. The breasts of life are full; +but their nourishment is not for guilty lips to draw. I have seen the +time when life was sweet. I have lived to see the time when life is +bitter. Through death I go out of bitterness into sweetness. This is +the mercy that is unto all and which all can take--take freely. Some +get it through another--all might get it through themselves." + +"It is a violent deed to kill one's self," said the trapper. + +"You mistake," answered the man, "there is a coarse, rude way; there is +a fine and noble way. 'I have power,' said the Man, 'to lay down my life +and I have power to take it again.' Do you not think, old trapper, that +a man can die when he wills?" + +"I don't understand ye," answered the trapper. + +"The soul rules the body," replied the stranger. "The soul is not bound +to the body; it lives in it as a man lives in his house. My body is only +my environment. I can quit it at will. I can go out of it." + +"Do you mean to say," asked Herbert, "that we can leave our bodies +through determination of purpose and mental decision?" + +[Illustration: "_The four sat in silence by the fire._"] + +"There have been such cases," answered the man, "and such cases there +might be continually. If the relations between the soul and the body are +recognized and the supreme authority of the one over the other allowed +full action, the soul can do anything it pleases. It can come and it +can go. This is my faith." + +While the foregoing conversation was being conducted, the girl had +remained silent. Herbert sat opposite to her; and as the firelight +flamed her face into sight, he could not but note the expression of it. +The look of her face was that of one who was listening to what she had +heard before--perhaps many times before, and which, upon the hearing, +she had combated and was determined to continue to combat. And at this +point she suddenly spoke up. + +"I think, sir,"--and she lifted her eyes to the face of the man,--"that +the living should live for the living rather than die for the dead; for +the dead have no wants, neither of the body nor of the heart, neither of +the mind nor the soul; for, if they want, God feeds them. But the living +want and crave and have deep needs and God feeds not at all, unless +through us who live; and it is our duty to do, and not to die." + +The words were clearly and slowly spoken, spoken in a quiet but +determined tone. The old trapper raised his face and looked at the girl, +as if surprised at the wisdom of her speech. Herbert was already +looking at her. The man slowly turned his face towards her, and said: + +"Mary, we have argued that point before." + +The tone in which he spoke was not one of rebuke, and yet it conveyed +the idea that the point was settled and was not to be reopened. The girl +waited a moment respectfully, as if she felt profound deference for the +other's character and would not willingly oppose his wish, and then she +said: + +"I know, sir, we have discussed it before; but it is not settled, and +never can be settled; for it sets in comparison the value of two +lives--the one that was and the one that is; and I say that there are +lives--of which yours is one--that belong to others and cannot be +disposed of as if they were a selfish thing. And life is a truer +atonement for sin than death. You owe more than one debt, and you have +no right to pay the one, however great it is, if by the paying of that +you leave the others unpaid." + +"Friend," said the trapper, "the girl speaks wisdom; leastwise she +brings matter into the council which men of gravity should not +overlook. The livin' sartinly have claims. What can you say to her +speech?" + +For a moment the man made no reply, and then he said: + +"My philosophy is based upon a sentiment--a sentiment born of +conscience, and conscience makes duty for us all. There is no reasoning +against conscience. It is the voice of God--the only God we have. My +conscience tells me that there is but one atonement that I can make. +There is no election. I must do it." + +"What good," said Herbert, addressing the man, "what good will you do by +dying?" + +"I shall satisfy myself," said the man. + +"And what right have you to satisfy yourself in such a matter?" +exclaimed the girl. "What right have any of us to satisfy ourselves? +What right have we to be selfish in our death any more than in our life? +Oh, sir, if you saw rightly, you would see that you had no right to +satisfy yourself in this dreadful way. You should satisfy others. They +need you even as the poor need the rich; as the weak need the strong; as +those who are prone, because they cannot lift themselves, need one who +is strong enough to lift them. It is not heroic to die unless the full +object of life is met by the dying. It is heroic to live, because it is +harder than dying. Even death dedicated to atonement can be a greater +sin than the deed which one would atone." + +"I know not how the girl has such wisdom," said the trapper, "for she be +young, and yit she sartinly seems to me to have the right of it. I know +not who ye be, nor how many look to ye for help; but ef ye be one that +can help, and there be many that need yer help, I sartinly conceit that +ye should live--live to help 'em." + +"You say right! You say right, old man!" exclaimed the girl. "His life +is not a common life. It represents such power and faculty and +opportunity, and I may say such devotion to the many, that it does not +belong to him, and may not therefore be disposed of as if he owned it +himself and had the right to do with it as he pleased." + +"I do not say," answered the man, "that I own my life. I say rather that +I do not own it. I owe it. There are debts you cannot pay by life. The +laws of the whole world recognize this; nor do we do by living the +greatest service. He who dies to uphold a righteous principle fulfils +all righteousness. He who gives away a life in atonement for a life +taken makes all life more sacred; and so he serves the living beyond all +other service he might do. She looks at individuals; I observe +principles. She contemplates only the present; I forecast the future +needs of man. Moreover, the highest service one can do man is to serve +himself in the highest manner. He who ministers to his own sense of +justice strengthens the judicial sense of the world. Men overvalue life +when they suppose that there is nothing better. To teach them that there +is something better, to impress them by some signal event that there is +something higher and nobler than mere living, is to fulfill all +benevolence to their souls. How many the Saviour could feed and heal and +bless by avoiding Calvary! And yet he did not avoid it. He showed the +object of life, which is service. I trust I have not wholly failed to +show men that. He then showed the highest object of dying, which is +service. Why should I not imitate him? Why should I not be a law unto +myself and bear the penalty voluntarily?" + +The man rose to his feet as he concluded, and looking at the trapper and +Herbert, said: + +"Gentlemen, I thank you for your hospitality and courtesy," and turning +to the girl he said, "Mary, we will talk this matter over more fully by +ourselves." + +And then he bowed to the group and turned away. + + +IV + +Long after the man and the girl had departed, the trapper and Herbert +sat by their campfire discussing the question which their guest had +propounded. Their conversation was grave and deliberate, as became the +theme; and they united in the opinion that if the deed had been done in +anger elicited by a provocation, the man should give himself the favor +which the law even would allow under similar circumstances. + +"I tell ye, Herbert," said the trapper, "the girl said the man had +cause; leastwise, that the man whom he struck worried him to it and that +the blow was given in anger. Now, hot blood is hot blood, and cold blood +is cold blood, and ef a man kill another man in cold blood it be +murder,--the law says so, and what is better, natur' says so; but ef a +man kill another man in his anger, when his blood is up and he is +strongly provoked to it, the law says there be a difference, and it +isn't murder. And I conceit that the girl be right, and that the man +has no right, in natur' or law either, to murder himself because in his +anger he murdered another man. And besides," continued the old man, +after a moment's pause, during which he had evidently made an effort at +memory, "ef there be any wrath in the case it belongs to the Lord and +not to man. Ye may recall the varse, Henry." + +"_'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.'_" Such was the +quotation Herbert made. + +"Sartinly, sartinly," answered the trapper, "that is it. Vengeance is +the Lord's, and he is the only one that can handle it rightly; and the +man had better leave it to the Lord." + +For several moments Herbert made no reply; and then, as if speaking to +himself more than his companion, he said: + +"How the girl loves him!" + +"Ye've hit it, Henry," answered the trapper, promptly. "Yis, ye've hit +it in the centre. I noted her face, the look in her eyes and the +arnestness of her voice; and there is no doubt about the matter of the +lovin'. She is one of the quiet kind, boy; and she has got the faculty +of listenin' a long time, which isn't nateral to a woman. But when she +speaks, ye can see what she is. She has a quiet face but a detarmined +sperit. I've seed several of the same sort,--seed them afore the battle +and arter the battle; and I know what's in the heart of the girl. Yis, I +know what's in the heart of the girl," and the old man looked at his +companion across the camp fire. + +The young man returned his gaze, and then said quietly: + +"What is in the heart of the girl, John Norton?" + +"Ef the man dies, the girl dies, too," answered the trapper, and +stooping, he pushed a brand into the centre of the fire. + +"It is awful to think so," replied the young man, "it is awful to think +that one so lovely should die so miserable." + +"She belongs to the kind that does seen things," answered the trapper. +"But whether ye can call her dyin' miserable, I sartinly doubt; for +there be some that can't die miserable owin' to their feelin's. And I've +noted that them who die feelin' a sartin way die happy whenever they +die; for death means one thing to one and another thing to another; and +the heart that has lost all, is happy to go in sarch of it, even ef it +be along the trail that the sun never shines on." + +And so the two men sat and talked, feeding the camp fire with sticks +occasionally as they talked. They wondered who the man was and whence +he came, wondered if he would change his views and if the girl could win +him over to a rational way of looking at the deed that had been done and +the true way to atone for it; wondered if they could not assist her in +her loving task when the morning came; talked and wondered and planned, +and at last, wrapping their blankets around them, they laid down to +sleep. The last words spoken were by the Trapper, and were these: + +"We will go over in the mornin', Herbert, and help the girl." + +And then they slept. + + * * * * * + +Beyond the balsam thicket, by another camp fire, the girl and the man +sat talking, talking of the deed that had been done and the atonement +demanded, and of the great future beyond this present life; the future +that stretches away endlessly, the future of peace to some, perhaps to +all, who knows? For there be some who think that this life has in it +such forces of education, such enlightenment to the understanding, such +quickening to the conscience, such ripening of character; and that +through its experiences, its trials, and its griefs, come such graces to +the souls of those that leave it, that when they pass they leave their +worse self behind them, even as the germ leaves the shuck out of which +it sprouted,--leaves the dull, clamp ground forever while it groweth up +into the sunlight in which it finds perfection. + +"Mary," said the man, "I have done with the past. My mind turns wholly +toward the future. I see it as the shipwrecked sailor sees the land, +which, if he can but reach, he will not only be beyond the storm that +wrecks him, but beyond all storms forever. Companion of my joys and +companion of my grief,--companion in everything but in my sin,--counsel +with me, with your eyes turned ahead. You are innocent and innocence is +prophetic. What lies beyond this world and the life men live in it? What +of good waits for him who gives up this life bravely and penitently, and +trusts himself to the decisions and the certainties of the great +hereafter?" + +"My master," said the girl, "it is not for me to teach you, you who are +so much greater than I, you who have been gifted with faculties and +powers that have lifted you above men. What can I say to you save to +repeat what you have said to me?" + +"Mary," he replied, "talk to me from out your heart and not from out +your mind. The prophecies that come to men from Heaven, Heaven has +communicated through the emotions of the just and the pure, and not +through the perceptions. Tell me of the faith of your heart, the heart +which I know has been free of guile. Tell me of the great Hereafter and +what awaits me there." + +"The Hereafter?" said the girl, and she lifted her eyes lovingly to the +face of the man. "The Hereafter is the same as Here, only larger; as +things grown are larger than things ungrown. The Future is to the +Present what the river is to the stream, what the stream is to the +fountain,--it is the flowing out and the flowing on,--the widening and +the deepening of what is." + +"Is there no gap, no breakage, no chasm or gulf between the Here and the +Hereafter?" asked the man. + +"No," said the girl, "there is no gap, nor chasm, nor gulf, but +continuity of progress and perfect sequence. The connections between +the Known and the Unknown are perfect. The one does not end and the +other begin. Time is the beginning of eternity; and the brief time that +men call a day is only a fraction of endlessness." + +"There is no end to life, then?" queried the man. + +"End to life!" exclaimed the girl. "How can life end? Life changes its +form, its embodiment, the location of its residence; but life is the +breath of God and when once breathed into the universe and it has taken +form and made for itself expression, who may annihilate it? Who may take +it out of existence? No, master, there is no end to life." + +"It is a sublime faith," said the man, "and I have proclaimed it unto +many; but few have been great enough to receive the doctrine as a +verity. In theory they have received it; but their superstition has +robbed them of its mighty consolations. But if we do not die, but only +pass forward as men go out of a city's gate along a road that has no +end, what fate befalls them? Does a change of nature come to them?" + +"Only such as comes through growth," answered the girl. + +"Shall I be just as I am when I have passed into the great future?" he +asked. + +"You will be the same," answered the girl, "only more abundantly +yourself. We are all our life looking for ourselves," continued the +girl, "and few, if any, find themselves until they die." + +"I don't understand," said the man. "I know the Lord is speaking through +you, for you are uttering truths so great that at the utterance they +seem mysteries. Explain as the teacher explains to the child she is +trying to teach." + +"I mean," answered the girl, "that death is an enlightenment and a +discovery. It will give us revelations of ourselves; for never do we +find Him save as we find Him in His, and we are His. You will not know +who and what you are until you get far enough ahead, my master, to look +back upon yourself. We must go up and go on a long way before we know +what we are now." + +Here the conversation paused for a while and nothing disturbed the +profound silence but the roar of the rapids whose ceaseless sound +swelled and sank in the silence like the waves of the sea. At length the +man said, "Have you thought of the land ahead? Is it real? And where is +it, and what the life lived there?" + +"Why do you ask me such questions," answered the girl, "when you know +that I have thought only as you have taught me to think, am but +repeating the faith I learned from your lips? Surely, there is a land +ahead, or rather many lands,--lands and seas and blessed islands in the +seas where the blessed live; and loves and lovers and homes exquisitely +and endlessly peaceful are there; and men who have grown nobler than +they were here; and women, far sweeter than their short life here might +make them, live and love in the lands ahead." + +The girl spoke low but earnestly, and her words sounded on the silent +air like softly-breathed music, so much did her sweet self possess her +words. And the man listened as men listen to music when it comes softly +and sweetly to their ears. + +"Mary," said the man, "you make the life ahead seem so sweet that I +shrink from entering it, lest by so doing I escape the punishment for my +sin I would fain inflict upon myself." + +"Oh, master!" exclaimed the girl, "you do mistake; for though I do +believe all I have said and would trust myself to the far future as +young eagles trust themselves to the warm air when they have grown equal +to the joy of flight, yet the life of this earth is sweet, so sweet when +the heart is satisfied that one might fear to exchange it for another as +one fears to part with what fully satisfies, even though the promise of +more abundant things is sure as God. It is sweet to breathe the airs of +the earth as health receives them. 'Tis sweet to live and love and serve +in loving and find your happiness in giving it. 'Tis sweet to teach and +guide men up and on to wider knowledge and nobler living,--to make them +gentler and finer in their thoughts and happier-hearted; and oh, my +master, 'tis sweet to live with one you love; be unto him a new life +daily, and see him grow in your growth, matching it, and so go on in +that perfect companionship that the future may give to us as the highest +fortune, and, having given, has given its best and all." + +"You shall live," answered the man, "you shall live and have as you +deserve, dear girl; and if I have taught you aught which, being known, +has made or shall make your life on earth sweeter, take it as my legacy +to you. I had thought to leave you something more, perhaps something +better, but that is past." + +"I will not take your legacy and stay," answered the girl, "I will +rather take it and go with you, that where you are I may be with you. +You have promised nothing and I want no promise. I have only asked one +thing and only one thing now do I ask, and that you will not hold from +me, for I have earned it, earned it by patient serving and by growth +that you know came from you." + +"What is it that you ask? Tell me," replied the man, "for you shall have +it if it be in the power of my giving." + +"Companionship," answered the girl,--"the companionship of service. My +mind must serve your mind; for only so may it find its growth for which +it longs. You have led me from darkness to light; and into what future +light you advance I must enter too. I love you as women love men; but I +love you more than that. I love you for what you are separate from what +you can ever be to me. I love you as a mind; I love you as a soul; I +love you as a spirit; I love you with a purity, with an ambition, with a +longing that men cannot interpret and earthly relations cannot express; +but which God understands and which in his Heaven I know there must be a +name for, and a connection that is known through all the social life of +Heaven." + +"It must not be," answered the man. "I admit your claim; but it must not +be." + +"Why must it not be?" asked the girl. + +The man hesitated a moment, and then he said: + +"Because my future is uncertain; I dare not say what it will be." + +"I care not what it is," answered the girl. "Whatever it is, that I +share, share because I cannot help it. It is not a question of +condition, but of presence. With you I could bear all misery; yea, in +the misery find happiness. Without you my heart could feel no joy +throughout eternity. Master, my master, I love you so!" And as she +looked into the face of the man there came to her countenance the +expression of utter devotion; and in her large eyes tears gathered, and, +having formed, from them slowly fell. + +The man groaned aloud, and said: + +"Alas! alas! My curse is doubled, being brought on thee." + +"There is no curse on thee or me," she answered. "You were but mortal, +and, being sorely tempted, did a wicked deed. But no single deed can +change the nature. You are the same great man; great in your goodness as +you are great in power, and my love, too, remains the same; nay, master, +it is greater. You should stay and live and make atonement by living; +for you cannot live and not better men. You can do deeds that would wipe +out the deadliest guilt. But if you will not stay,--if to you it seems +right to die, and if only--through death your sense of justice can be +met and yourself find peace, then neither will I stay, but go--go where +thou goest. Yea, I will sink or rise with thee; go to this world or +that, I care not which or where, if only I may go with thee. And I pray +thee not to think it hard for me to share thy journey. Why should I be +left behind? And what might I have, thou being gone? What pleasure in +all the world could I find, with thee out of it! I have no home,--thy +presence is my home. I have no kindred and no loves await me anywhere. +How could I have, loving thee? For in thee I have found father and +mother, brother and sister and all sweet relationships. And so whither +thou goest, let me go; and where thou stayest, let me stay. Do not +resist me, but be persuaded, and let me die with thee. So shall we, +passing out of these mortal bodies in the self-same hour, be together +still." + +The man made no response; but sat silently gazing at her face. In a +moment the girl moved softly to his side and took his hand in hers; and +so they sat together while the firelight died away and the darkness +enveloped them. But through the darkness the stars beamed mildly, as if +they expressed the sweet mercy which the imaginations of men picture as +throned above the azure in whose blue field they stand suspended. + +What happened farther is known only to Him whose eyes see through all +darkness and to whom the night is as the day. + +During the night the trapper started suddenly from his sleep. Was it a +woman's cry he heard? Was it only such a sound as comes to us at times +in dreams? He listened but heard nothing save the monotonous murmur of +the rapids and the equally steady movement of the night breeze stirring +through the pine tops. He listened and, hearing nothing, lay down again +and slept. + +The morning came,--came as brightly and cheerfully as if the world knew +no sorrow and the men and women in it had no griefs. The morning came; +but before it came, a wing darker than the shadow of the night had +passed over the world; for when the trapper and his companion visited +the camp beyond the balsam thicket, they found the two lying side by +side,--the girl's head on the bosom of the man and her right hand lying +gently in his; no mark of violence on their bodies; no instrument of +death near,--lying as if they had fallen asleep, the man's countenance +in grave repose, the girl's blessedly peaceful; no name on either; no +scrap of paper that might tell who they might be. Perhaps the man's +faith was true. Perhaps the will has power to will itself and all of +life there is in us, out of the body. Be this as it may, the trapper and +his companion only saw this: the unknown man in the prime of his +strength lying dead under the pines and the girl in her loveliness lying +dead by his side. + +[Illustration: Tail piece] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney +Kept New Year's, by W. H. H. 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