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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/23006-0.txt b/23006-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7765a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/23006-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1512 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Five Hundred Dollars, by Heman White Chaplin + +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: Five Hundred Dollars + First published in the “Century Magazine” + +Author: Heman White Chaplin + +Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23006] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS + +By Heman White Chaplin + +1887 + +First published in the “Century Magazine.” + + + + +I. + +Captain Philo's sail-loft was a pleasant place to sit in, and it was +much frequented. At one end was a wide, sliding door, that opened on the +water, and through it you saw the little harbor and the low, glistening +sand-bar at its entrance, and whitecaps in the sea beyond, and shining +sails. At the other end another wide door led, by a gently descending +cleated platform, to the ground. + +It was a pleasant place to rest and refresh the mind in, whether you +chose to look in or out. You could rock in the hair-cloth chair by the +water door, and join in conversation with more active persons mending +seines upon the wharf; or you could dangle your heels from the +work-bench, and listen to stories and debates inside, and look on +Captain Philo sewing upon a mainsail. + +It was a summer afternoon: warm under the silver poplars, hot in the +store, and hotter in the open street; but in the sail-loft it was cool. + +“More than once,” Captain Bennett was remarking from the rocking-chair, +while his prunella shoes went up and down,--“more than once I've wished +that I could freight this loft to Calcutta on speculation, and let it +out, so much a head, for so long a time, to set in and cool off.” + +“How about them porious water-jars they hev there?” asked Uncle Silas, +who had never sailed beyond Cape Pogue; “how do they work?” + +“Well,” said the captain, “they 're so-so. But you set up this loft, +both doors slid open, air drawing through and all, right on Calcutta +main street, or what they call the Maiden's Esplanade, and fit it up +with settees like a conference-meeting, and advertise, and you could let +out chances to set for twenty cents an hour.” + +“You 'd hev to hev a man to take tickets, to the door,” said Uncle +Silas, who had been looking for an easy job for forty years. + +“That's Si all over.” said Captain Bennett, with a wink; “that berth +would be just his size.” + +“Well,” said Uncle Silas, faintly smiling, “'t is no use rubbin' the fur +the wrong way; stroke the world from head to tail is my rule.” + +“Speaking of folks being easy,” said Captain Bennett, “it seems there +'s quite a little story about David Prince's voyage on the 'Viola.'” “I +thought he went off whaling rather in a hurry,” said Captain Philo, +“and if it had been 'most anybody else, I should have thought there was +something up.” + +“It seems,” said Captain Bennett, “it was like this: You know, Delia was +n't much over ten years old when her mother died, along a piece after +her father, and she come to live with us. And you know how she was +almost like one of the family. Well, about eight years ago, when she +'d got to be towards nineteen, it was then that David first set out to +shine up to her; and when he begun to come home from singing-school with +her that winter, and got to coming to the house quite often the next +spring along, I begun to feel a little shaky. Finally, one Sunday +afternoon I was sitting out on the porch and she was singing hymns +inside,--you know she was always singing,--and I called to her to quit +and come out, and sit down alongside of me, and says I,--“'Delia, it +can't be you 're thinking of taking up with David Prince?' + +“Well, she flared a little, but finally says she: + +“'Why should n't I, or anybody that has the chance, take David Prince?' + +“'Well,' says I, 'I don't think you need to ask why; I should say that +a smart girl wouldn't want more than to travel once along the Lower Road +and see those two run-down houses,--one deserted, and the other, handy +by, about as bad,--and the barn across the road, that was raised and +boarded in over forty years ago, and never shingled, and stood so till +it's all rotted and sunk in.' + +“'What's that got to do with David?' says she. + +“'It's got this to do with David,' says I, 'that his father and his +Uncle Ezekiel and their father before 'em--good, kindly men--all seemed +to settle, settle, somehow; and it was all to-morrow, and to-morrow, +with 'em; 'and then I told Delia how they sold off their wood and +then their land, piecemeal, all but the spot where the old buildings +stand,--and that's worth nothing. + +“'And that's the way,' says I, 'it 'll be with David when he gets over +being a boy and settles down; it's in the blood; and I don't want to see +you, Delia, keel-hauled there--'” + +“Like David's mother,--Prudence Frost, that was,” said Uncle Silas; +“originally she was a good, smart girl, and full of jingle; but finally +she give up and come to it,--lef sweepin'-day out o' the almanic, washed +dishes in cold water, and made up beds at bedtime; and when she ironed a +shirt, jes' 's like's not she 'd iron a hoss-fly right into the bosom.” + +“And lived a dog's life generally,” said Captain Bennett. “So I laid the +whole thing out to Delia, the best way I knew how. + +“'Well,' says she, 'I know you mean my good, Captain Bennett,--but I +shall take my chances.' And so she did. Well--” + +“Speakin' o' the barn,” said Uncle Silas, “do you remember that high +shay that David's father hed? I was up to the Widow Pope's vendue the +day he bid it off. He managed to spunk up so fur's to hitch the shaffs +under his team and fetch the vehicle home, and then he hed n't no place +to put it up out o' the weather,--and so he druv it along under that big +Bald'n apple-tree that used to stand by the pantry window, on the north +side o' the house, and left it there, with the shaffs clawin' down in +the ground. Then the talk was, he was goin' to build him a sort of a +little tabernacle for it before winter set in; and he hed down a load +of lumber from Uncle Joe's mill and hed it dumped down alongside o' the +shay. But the shay was n't never once hitched up, nor the tabernacle +built; and the timber and the shay jes' set there, side by side, seein' +who 'd speak first, for twenty year, to my cer-ting knowledge; and you +go by there when it was blowin' fresh, and the old curtings would be +flappin' in and out, black and white, till finally the whole arrangement +sunk out o' sight. I guess there 's more or less wrack there now, 'f you +sh'd go poke in the grass.” + +“It was thirty-one year ago, come October, that he bought the shay,” + said Captain Philo; “it was the fall I was cast away on the Tombstones, +and lost every dollar I had. I remember it because the old man came down +to the house of his own accord, when I got home, and let me have two +hundred dollars. He 'd just been selling the West New Field; and when he +'d sold land and had money on hand, it was anybody's that wanted it. But +what was it about David's going off so sudden on the 'Viola'?” + +“Oh, yes, I forgot my errand,” said Captain Bennett; “and now I 've got +adrift in my story, and I shall have to take an observation; let's see, +where was I?” + +“Delia allowed she 'd take her chances,” said Uncle Silas. + +“Oh, yes,” said Captain Bennett. “Well, you know how it was when they +got married: David fixed the old house up a little, and mother put in +some furniture and things for her, and all went on first-rate awhile; +and then you know how David begun to settle, settle, just the old way; +could n't seem to keep up to the wind; appeared to carry a lee helm, +somehow; and Delia begun to take in work and go out to work, and quit +singing. She never said a word, even to my wife; but I could see 't it +cut her a good deal--” + +“But all this time,” said Uncle Silas, “she 's kep' up smart,--allers +hed a high crower's-feather 'n her bunnet, and kep' her little boys +a-lookin' like nine-shillin' dolls.” + +“I should n't have ever called David lazy,” said Captain Philo. “He +could n't seem to make up his mind what to do next, that 's all; but get +him going--you remember how he worked at Jason's fire; and I know of my +own knowledge he was in the surf for sixteen hours, when that Norwegian +bark was on the Bar.” + +“I think there's some folks,” said Uncle Silas, “that their mind works +all the time--runs a day gang and runs a night gang. You know how a hard +sum 'll shake itself out in your head overnight; and I think it's the +most natural thing that a man with a A No. I active mind always should +feel sort of tired and not know what ails him. George, won't you jes' +git up and hand me that pipe--you ain't doin' nothin'.” + +“However it was,” said Captain Bennett, “Delia saw that he was drifting +to leeward, and she was worried. Well, you know when the reformation set +in, that winter, and run crowded houses,--one night in the West Church +and the next in the other. One night David surprised his wife by going; +and he set in a back seat, and come away and said nothing; and the same +the next night; and the same for seven or eight nights right along. +Finally, one night, they had a pretty searching sermon,--'_Choose ye +this day_,' et cetera,--and I suppose the Deacon, here, was rather +expecting David to rise for prayers; but, instead of that, as soon +as Amen was said, he gets right up, and off he goes, and leaves Delia +there, without saying a word to her or to anybody, and goes right up to +Captain Westcott's house and agrees to ship. And glad enough Captain +W. was to have him, and next day off he went. Now here he is, gone two +years and over, and comes home night before last; his lay 'll figure +out five hundred dollars; and the biggest thing is”--here the Captain +brought down his heavy hand, for emphasis, on Uncle Silas's knee--“that +Delia 's kept herself and the children, and never drawn one cent against +the voyage; so they've got the whole clear, and they 've been up this +morning early and traded for the Callender place, and they 're going to +move in to-morrow. And I guess he means business now.” + +“But they don't git paid off till Monday,” said Uncle Silas. “They 're +all goin' up to town to be paid off then.” + +“Well, he moves in to-morrow, anyway,” said Captain Bennett. “Monday +night, I believe, he's going to pay down what he has, and take a deed, +and give a mortgage back for the balance.” + +But Uncle Silas gravely shook his head. + +“I can't indorse this runnin' in haste,” he said. “I never, in all my +experience, knew a man before to buy real estate without sort of goin' +up street and talkin' it over, and comparin' notes 'round generally. +Now, we could have given him points down here about the Callender +place.” + +“Oh, he's made a good trade there,” said Captain Bennett. + +“That all may be,” said Uncle Silas, “but it 's the principle, not the +five cents, I 'm lookin' at. I should have hed more faith in his holdin' +out if he hed n't jumped quite so quick. 'Slow bind, fast find,' I say.” + +Captain Bennett rose, and drew on a grass-cloth coat that showed his +suspenders through. + +“I must be on my winding way,” he said. “But did you hear how close he +came to never coming back? No? Well, it was like this: It was blowing +a gale, and considerable sea on, one night when they were rounding Cape +Horn on the home voyage, and she was pitching pretty bad, and David was +out on the jib-boom taking in jib, and somehow she pitched with a jerk, +so he lost his hold and went off, and, as he fell in the dark, naturally +he struck out both hands, blind, like this; and he just happened to +catch, by sheer accident, a gasket that was hanging from the jib-boom, +and so he saved himself by a hair's breadth. And when he came up they +thought it was his ghost.” + +“Well, I always make it a point to look on the bright side, without +exception,” said Uncle Silas; “nevertheless, I prophesy it won't be two +years before he 'll have the place all eat up, and sold out under the +mortgage. This jumpin' so quick,--looks as if he was sca't to trust +himself for a day.” + +“Well, we shall see,” said Captain Bennett; “time will tell.” + +***** + +There are many little farms along the New England sea-board, which the +currents of life, diverted from ancient channels, have left one side, +pleasant and homelike often, but of small money value. The Callender +place was such a farm. + +It lay a mile from the village, in a hamlet of half-a-dozen dwellings. +There was a substantial house, with four large rooms below, besides an +L kitchen, and above, two sunny chambers, each with a dormer and a gable +window. From the front fence projected, for a hitching-post, a Minerva, +carved from wood,--a figure-head washed up years before from the wreck +of a brig with the bodies of the crew. + +The house was on a little elevation, and looked across the road, near +which it stood, and over a sloping field or two, to sea. From the +windows you could count the sail in the North Channel, and look down the +coast and follow with the eye the long, low curving line of shore until +at Indian Point it vanished; or look up shore ten miles to where +the coast-line ended in a bold, wooded headland, which seemed, by a +perpetual mirage, to bear foliage so lofty as to show daylight through +beneath the branches. At night you could see the flash of the revolving +light on Windmill Rock, and the constant rays from the lightship on +the Rips. So that by day or night you could never be lonesome, unless, +perhaps, on some thick night, when you could see no light, and could +only hear a grating knell from the bell-buoy, and could seem to see, +through the white darkness, the waters washing over its swaying barrel. + +There was a good-sized boarded barn, well shingled on the roof, with +hay-mows, and with room for two or three cows and a horse and a wagon, +and with wide doors “fore and aft,” as the neighbors put it; through its +big front door you could look out to sea. Then there were twenty acres +of land, including a wood-lot which could be thinned out every year to +give one all his fire-wood, and what was cut would hardly be missed. + +Such was the place which, on the death of the Widow Callender, had been +offered for sale for eight hundred dollars. For months it had stood +empty, stormed by all the sea-winds, lit up by the sun, when at last an +unexpected buyer had turned up in David Prince. + +***** + +It was a happy Sunday that he passed with his little family at the new +home. They went all over the house again and again, and looked from +every window, and planned where flower-frames should be put, to take +the sun. Then, going out of doors, they inspected the revolving +clothes-dryer, which David, with a seaman's instinct, had already rigged +with four little sloops to sail about on the ends of the projecting +arms, on Mondays, tacking after shirts and stockings. Then they went +to the barn, and David showed how he was going to cover the sides with +spruce shingles, so that he could have a warm place to work in in the +winter. Then they went over the fields, and planned a garden for the +next spring; and then they went down to the shore, and, where a little +arm of the sea made in, David showed where he would haul up his dory, +and would keep his boat, when he could afford to get one together: in +the mean time he was going to fish on shares with Jacob Foster, who +lived a few rods up the road. Then they all strolled back to the house, +and dined on shore-birds shot on Saturday afternoon, and new potatoes +and turnips which Jacob Foster had brought in. + +After dinner, they all sat at the front windows, in the room which they +were pleased to call the parlor, David holding on his knees the two +oldest boys, delighted with the recovery of such a Sindbad of a father, +while the third, still a little shy of him, stood by his mother. David +told of the voyage, repeating, by request, full half-a-dozen times, the +story of the night when he was snapped off the end of the jib-boom; +to do which he had to set the boys down and stand, to make the swift, +sudden clutch, with his eyes shut, at the towing rope; at which the boys +screamed on every repetition. + +After supper, David and his wife, leaving the children with orders to go +to bed at the first flash from the Windmill, went to church. + +They took the same back seat which they had the night that David +shipped. There was much the same scene before them. There was +bald-headed Deacon Luce, in his usual Damocles' seat exactly beneath the +dangling chandelier, which children watched in morbid hope of a horror; +there was the president of the Dorcas Society, a gray-haired woman who +had navigated home a full-rigged ship from the Gold Coast; there were +grave-faced men who, among them, could have charted half the globe. In +the pulpit was the same old-fashioned, bookish man, who, having led +his college class, had passed his life in this unknown parish, lost +in delight, in his study, in the great Athenian's handling of the +presumptuous Glaucon, or simply unfolding parables in his pulpit. + +That former night came vividly back to Delia Prince. Through the opening +hymn, in which she did not join; through the story of the feast in +Simon's house, she was thinking of the time when David told her he had +shipped, and she had made up her mind to save a home. + +But in the second hymn she joined; and in her joy she forgot herself and +sang,--as she had been used to sing when she was the leader of all the +singing. In a moment they all knew that she was there. + + “Thus far the Lord hath led me on; + Thus far His power prolongs my days; + And every evening shall make known + Some fresh memorial of His grace.” + + + + +II. + +“M. Isaacs” was over the door; Mr. Isaacs was within. Without, three +golden balls were hanging, like apples of the Hesperides; within was an +array of goods which the three balls had brought in. + +Mr. Isaacs was walking to and fro behind the counter, and briskly +rubbing his hands. + +“My good wife Sarah,” he said, with a strong Semitic accent, “those +sudden, raw east winds! I am so frozen as if I was enjoying myself upon +the skating-rink,--and here it is the summer. Where is that long spring +overcoat that German man hypotecated with us last evening? Between the +saddle and the gold-lace uniform, you say?” + +And taking it down, by means of a long, hooked pole, he put it on. It +covered his ears and swept the ground: “It make me look like Aaron in +those pictures,” he said. + +It would have been a grasping disposition that could not be suited with +something from out Mr. Isaacs's stock. It would have been hard to name +a faculty of the human soul or a member of the human body to which it +could not lend aid and comfort. One musically inclined could draw the +wailing bow or sway the accordion; pucker at the pensive flute, or beat +the martial, soul-arousing drum. One stripped, as it were, on his way +to Jericho, could slink in here and select for himself a fig-leaf from +a whole Eden of cut-away coats and wide-checkered trousers, all fitting +“to surprise yourself,” and could be quite sure of finding a pair of +boots, of whatever size was needed, of the very finest custom hand +work,--a misfit, made for a gentleman in New York. A devout man, +according to his leanings, could pray from the prayer-book of an +impoverished Episcopalian, or sing from the hymn-book of an insolvent +Baptist. + +“So help me gracious!” Mr. Isaacs used to say, raising his shoulders +and opening wide his palms; “when you find a man so ungrateful that he +cannot be fitted out with somethings from my stock, I really suppose you +could not fit that man out in Paradise.” + +Mr. Isaacs was looking nervous. But it was not by the images which +his ordinary stock in trade would naturally cause to arise that he +was disturbed,--images though they were of folly, improvidence, and +distress. There was indeed hardly an article in the shop, except the new +plated jewelry in the window, that was not suggestive of misery or +of sin. But in Mr. Isaacs's well-poised mind no morbid fancies arose. +“Those hard winters makes me cheerful,” he was wont to say in the fall; +“they makes the business lifely.” + +Still, Mr. Isaacs was a little troubled this afternoon, and, singularly +enough, about a most happy purchase that he had just made, at ninety per +cent below value. There the articles lay upon the counter,--a silk hat, +a long surtout, a gold-headed cane and a pair of large rubbers; a young +man's Derby hat and overcoat and rattan cane, and a pair of arctics; +a lady's bonnet and dolman and arctics; a young girl's hat with a soft +bird's-breast, and her seal-skin sack and arctics; besides four small +boys' hats and coats and arctics. It seemed as if some modern Elijah, a +family man, expectant of translation, had made with thrifty forethought +an “arrangement” that Mr. Isaacs's shop should be the point of +departure, and flying off in joyous haste, with wife and children, had +left the general raiment on the counter. You would naturally have looked +for a sky-lit hole in the ceiling. + +“So help me gracious!” said Mr. Isaacs, turning the articles over; “I +suppose there 's some policemen just so wicked and soospicious to say I +must know those garments are stolen--scooped off some hat-tree, the last +winter, at one grab.” + +“Why do you enter dose on de book to-gedder?” said Mrs. Isaacs. “If +you put dose separate on de book, how de policeman know dey came in +togedder?” + +“That is a great danger, Sarah. That's just the way they fix our good +friend Greenbaum. When they caught the thief, and he tell them where he +sell some things, and Greenbaum had put down those earrings and those +bracelets and that Balmoral skirt for three different times, they say he +must know those things was stolen,--if not, why did he put those things +down different from each other? + +“But so help me gracious!” he added, presently, “I have not the least +soospicions, like the babes unborn, those goods are stolen. The man that +brought them in was very frank, and very much of a gentleman; and he lay +his hand upon his bosom-pin, and swear he sell those things because +he has no more use for them,--his family all sick of tyvoid fever, and +cannot live the week out. But I suppose there's some policemen just so +soospicious to say I must know those things are stolen.” + +“And so cruel soospicions,” said Mrs. Isaacs,--“and your heart so pure +and white like your shirt-bosom.” She meant his ideal shirt-bosom. + +“Just like those evil-minded policemen,” he said. “You remember how they +lock up our old friend Abrahamson? So help me gracious! sent that good +old man to prison, just because he buy two gold watches and two pairs +of gold spectacles and an ivory-handled knife and two empty pocket-books +and two silk umbrellas and a seal ring and two bunches of keys and two +black wigs from a red-headed laboring man; they say he must know that +two old gentlemen were robbed of that personal property.” + +But here his attention was diverted by the sight of two men, seamen to +appearance, who were looking into the show-window. + +“I like so much,” he said, “to see the public enjoying themselves in my +window; it give them so happy pleasure to see those lovely things; and +often they comes in and buy somethings. This young man,” he added, after +a pause, “seem to admire those broad neck-wear; he look at both those +two,--the Four-in-hand and the Frolic.” + +“I think he look most at de Frolic,” said Mrs. Isaacs; “I think he would +come in if you go outside and take him by de arm like a true frient, and +bring him in. My broder Moses walk outside de whole day long, and take +each man when he go by and talk to him like his own broder, wid tears in +his eyes, and make dem come in and buy somedings.” + +But Mr. Isaacs only wrapped the long coat more closely about his linen +garments, and watched the younger man as he turned his eyes away from +the Four-in-hand and the Frolic and bent them on the trays in which +were glittering tiers of rings and pins, and rows of watches labelled +“Warranted genuine, $14;” “Dirt-cheap, $8.75;” “Doct's Watch, +Puls-counting, $19.50.” + +“He look like he had some money,” said Mrs. Isaacs. “Perhaps he would +come in and buy a watch if you go out and pull him in. How can he +buy someding through de glass? My broder Moses say, 'So many folks is +bashful.'” + +But at last the men, after talking awhile, apparently of the goods in +the window, came in. + +“What's the price of some of those ear-rings in the window?” said the +younger. “Let's see what you've got for a couple of dollars or so.” + +“So help me gracious!” said Mr. Isaacs, as he took from the show-window +three or four cards of plated ear-rings. “I knew you would come in to +buy somethings. When I saw you look in--the very first moment--I say +to my wife, 'There is a good young man that will give a present to some +lovely young lady.' Yes, sir, the very words I said to Sarah.” + +“What's the price of this pair? I haven't got any girl to treat, but +I 've just got paid off for a whaling voyage, and my lay figured up a +twenty-dollar bill above what I expected, and I don't care if I do lay +out a couple of dollars on my wife besides what I 've brought home for +her.” + +“Well, sir,” said Mr. Isaacs, “the good wife is the very best jewelry. +Those are two dollars. But only study this pair. Hold those up to the +light and take a bird's-eye view through those lovely stones, so round +and large like green peas. Now look. So! Now let your friend look!” + +“I 'm no judge,” said the other man, “I know what pleases me--that's +all. But them would make a great display, David, wouldn't they?” + +“You 're right, sir,” said Mr. Isaacs. “'Display' is the very word. My +wife wear just the twins of this pair to the congregation, every week.” + +Mrs. Isaacs raised her eyebrows: she wore nothing but diamonds. + +“What's the price of these green ones?” asked David. + +Mr. Isaacs shrugged his shoulders. + +“I suppose those are the finest articles of the kind in the whole +creation,” he said. “We can let you have those to-day,” and he lowered +his voice to a whisper, and put his hand up beside his mouth, “to close +out stock--for six dollars. They cost us only last week eight-fifty, but +we are obliged to reduce stock prior to removal. The building is to be +taken down.” + +“I would like those tip-top; but I don't know--it's a good deal of money +for gewgaws; my wife would take me to do for it; I guess I must keep +to the two-dollar ones. I come pretty hard by my dollars, and a dollar +means a good deal to me just now.” + +“But just once look again,” said Mr. Isaacs, and he stepped briskly +behind his wife and held up an ear-ring to each of her ears. “See them +on a chaste and lovely form. With these your wife will be still more +lovely. All those other men will say, 'Where did that graceful lady +find so rich ear-rings?' You will see they are a great success: her most +bosom friends will hate her; they will turn so green like the grass on +the ground with envy. It is a great pleasure when my wife wears those +kind: her very sisters cannot speak for anger, and her own mother looks +so rigid like the Cardiff Giant.” + +“Well, I guess I shall have to take them,” said David, “and you 'll have +to wrap them right up: we have n't got more than about time to get the +train, have we, Calvin?” + +“So help me gracious!” said Mr. Isaacs, “is there no time to sell our +friend Calvin a pair? He will repent not to secure those other pair, +until his dying day; so sorry like he lose his ship some day upon those +rocks. I suppose there is no others like those in the whole creation.” + +But he wrapped the purchase up in a bit of white paper and gave David +Prince four trade dollars in change for a ten-dollar bill, and the two +men went out, leaving Mr. Isaacs free to attend to a timid woman in +black who had just come in to raise fifty cents upon a ring, while Mrs. +Isaacs looked after a carpenter who proposed to pawn his edge-tools for +rent-money. + +Mr. Isaacs waved his hand and smiled as the men went out of the door. +“You will find they are a success, to surprise yourself,” he called out: +“her most bosom friends will writhe and scream with envy.” + +***** + +The winding line of the long New England coast faces the sea, in its +sweeping curves, in every direction. From the Callender place, the ocean +lay to the south. Though elsewhere east winds might be blowing harsh +upon the coast, here, almost every day, and all day long, in summer, +the southwest wind came pouring in from the expanse of waters, fresh and +cool, boisterous often, but never chill; and even winds from the east +lost edge in crossing miles of pitch-pine woods, of planted fields, of +sandy ponds, of pastures, and came in softened down and friendly. + +A gentle breeze was drifting in from sea. All day long it had been +blowing, salt and strong and riotous, tossing the pine-tops, bending the +corn, swaying the trees in the orchards, but now it was preparing to die +away, as was its wont, at sundown, to give to the woods, the cornfields +and the orchards a little space of rest and peace before it should rise +again in the early evening to toss them all night long. The blue of the +sky was blue in the water. Every object stood out sharp and clear. Down +the low, curving shore-line, curls of smoke rose from distant roofs, and +on the headland, up the coast, the fairy forest in the air was outlined +with precision. Distant ships were moving, like still pictures, on the +horizon, as if that spell were laid on them which hushed the enchanted +palace. There was just sea enough to roll the bell-buoy gently, and +now and then was rung an idle note of warning. Three fishing-boats lay +anchored off the Spindle, rising and falling, and every now and then a +sea broke on the rock. On the white sand beach, waves were rolling in, +dying softly away along the shore, or heavily breaking, with a long, +flying line of foam. + +The sun was fast descending. Delia Prince went out to the corner of the +house and shaded her eyes to look at the sunset. The white clouds turned +to a flaming red, and the reflection dyed to crimson the surface of the +creeks; the sun descended toward the wooded bluff that flanked the +bay, sent a thousand shattered, dazzling rays through the trees, and +disappeared. + +The red of the clouds and the red of the water gave place to gray. The +wind died down. The silence was intense,--all the more marked because +of the few sharp sounds that broke it now and then. Across the bay, near +shore, a man was raking oysters; he stood in the stern of his skiff, +and the bow was up in the air. Near by a girl was driving sluggish cows +along the beach, and her shrill cries came over the water; by a cottage +on the bank a boy was chopping brush upon a block, and Delia watched the +silent blows, and heard the sound come after. He smiled as she looked; +for every night she saw the boy's mother stand at the door to call him, +and saw him come reluctant to his task. + +There was a sense of friendly companionship in all these homely sights +and sounds. It was different from the old house, shut in close by a +second growth of birch and oak. + +The table was standing ready for a late supper. The children had gone +for berries to the Island, and they would soon come home, and David was +due, too, with his money. + +She smiled as he appeared. The ascent to the brow of the hill was so +sharp that first you saw a hat in movement, then a head, then shoulders, +body, legs, and feet. She ran quickly down the road to meet him, and +took his arm. + +“You couldn't catch the noon train?” she said. “Captain Wells stopped +at the door a little while ago to see what time we should be down to get +the deed, and luckily I told him that we might not be down until into +the evening. He said he 'd stay at home and wait till we came.” + +“Delia,” said David, when he had seated himself in the house, “I 've got +bad news to tell you, and I may as well out with it first as last.” + +“You have n't shipped for another whaling voyage?” + +“No; that would be nothing,” he said. + +Delia stood and looked at him. + +“Well,” she said, “didn't you get as much as you counted on?” + +“Yes,--twenty more.” + +“It isn't anything about the children? I expect them home every minute.” + +“No.” + +“Delia,” he said, “you was a great fool ever to have me. You ought to +have taken advice.” + +“What is the matter?” she said. “Why don't you tell me?” + +“I 've lost the money,” he said. “The Captain warned me how apt a +seafaring man is to lose money; but I did n't take any heed, and I went +off with Calvin Green--” + +“With Calvin Green! What did I tell you!” she said. + +“Wait a minute--and I stopped into a jewelry store and bought you a pair +of ear-rings, and I came off and left my wallet on the counter, the way +that fool Joe Bassett did, to Gloucester. When I went back, the rascal +claimed he never saw me before--said he didn't know me from the Prophet +Samuel, as if I was born that minute. And now they'll all say--and it's +true--that I'm a chip of the old block, and that I 'm bound to come out +at the little end. There!” he said, as he opened a little parcel and +took out the earrings. “There 's what 's left of five hundred and twenty +dollars, and you must make the most of 'em. Hold 'em up to the light and +see how handsome they are. I don't know, after all, but they are worth +while for a man to pitch overboard off Cape Horn and harpoon whales two +years for. All is, just tell folks they cost five hundred dollars, and +they 'll be just as good as hen's-egg diamonds. + +“In fact, I don't know but I sort o' like the situation,” he went on, +in a moment. “It seems sort of natural and home-like. I should have felt +homesick if I 'd really succeeded in getting this place paid for. +'T would have seemed like getting proud, and going back on my own +relations. And then it 'll please everybody to say, 'I told you so.' +There 'll be high sport round town, when it gets out, and we back water +down to the old place. + +“Come, say something, Delia!” he said, in a moment. “Why don't you say +something about it? Don't you care that the money's lost, that you stand +there and don't say a word, and look at nothing?” + +“I don't want to say anything now,” she said, “I want to think.” + +***** + +“Well!” said Captain Bennett, the next day, to his wife, “Delia 's got +more spunk! I should have felt like laying right down in the shafts, +in her place; but instead of that, to actually go and talk them into +letting her keep the Cal-lender place and pay for it so much a month! +And David's signed a paper to do it.” + +“I guess if the truth was known,” said Mrs. Bennett, knitting on, “that, +come to think it over, she was more scared of David's settling back than +she was for losing the money.” + +“She 's got a pull on him now,” said the Captain, “anyway, for if he +once agrees to a thing he always does it.” + + + + +III. + +No one fully knows the New England autumn who has not seen its colors on +the extreme Old Colony sea-board. There are no mountain ranges, opening +out far reaches of burning maples; but there are miles of salt-marsh, +spreading as far as the eye can reach, cut by countless creeks, +displaying a vast expanse of soft, rich shades of brown; there are +cranberry-meadows of twenty, thirty, or fifty level acres, covered with +matted vines and crimson with berries; there are deserted pastures, +bright with golden-rod and asters. And everywhere along the shores, +against the dark pine woods, are the varied reds of oaks, of blackberry +vines, of woodbine, and of sumach. + +It was a bright fall afternoon; most of the boats were in, and lay near, +shore before the sail-loft door; the sails were up to dry,--for it had +been wet outside,--looking doubly white against the colors of the shore. + +In the sail-loft they were telling stories. + +“No, I don't think myself,” said Deacon Luce, from the rocking-chair, +“that ministers always show what we call horse sense. They used to tell +a story of Parson Allen, that preached in the Old Town, in my father's +time, that pleased me. One spring the parson took a notion to raise a +pig. So he went down to Jim Barrows, that lived there handy by, and says +he, 'Mr. Barrows, I hear you have a litter of young pigs, and I should +like to have one to raise.' So Jim he got his stilyards and weighed him +out one, and the minister paid him, and Jim he sent it up. Well, the +minister kep' it some three months, and he used to go out every day and +put on his spectacles and take his scythe down from the apple-tree and +mow pig-weed for him, and he bought corn-meal to feed him up with, and +one way and another he laid out a good deal on him. The pig fattened +well, but the whole incessant time he was either rooting out and gitting +into the garden, or he'd ketch his foot in behind the trough and squeal +like mad, or something else, so that the minister had to keep leaving +his sermon-writing to straighten him out, and the minister's wife +complained of the squealing when she had company. And so the parson +decided to heave the enterprise up, and Jim sent up and took the pig +back. Come to settle, 'How do we stand?' says the minister. 'Oh, just as +you say,' says Jim, 'I'll leave it to you.' 'Well,' says the minister, +'on the one hand you've got back a pig that you've been paid for; but, +on the other hand, I 've had the use of him for some three months,--and +so I guess we 're square.'” “Talking of preachers,” said Caleb Parker, +“reminds me of a story they tell of Uncle Cephas Bascom, of Northhaven. +Uncle Cephas was a shoemaker, and he never went to sea much, only to +anchor his skift in the Narrows abreast of his house, and catch a mess +of scup, or to pole a load of salt-hay from San-quitt Island. But he +used to visit his married daughter, in Vermont, and up there they knew +he come from the sea-board, and they used to call him 'Captain Bascom.' +So, one time when he was there, they had a Sabbath-school concert, and +nothing would do but 'Captain Bascom' must talk to the boys, and tell a +sea-yarn, and draw a moral, the way the Deacon, here, does.” The Deacon +gravely smiled, and stroked his beard. “Well, Uncle Cephas was ruther +pleased with his name of 'Captain Bascom,' and he did n't like to go +back on it, and so he flaxed round to git up something. It seems he had +heard a summer boarder talk in Sabbath-school, at Northhaven; he told +how a poor boy minded his mother, and then got to tend store, and then +kep' store himself, and then he jumped it on them. 'That poor boy,' says +he, 'now stands before you.' So Uncle Cephas thought him up a similar +yarn. Well, he had never spoke in meeting before, and he hemmed and +hawed some, but he got on quite well while he was telling about a +certain poor boy, and all that, and how the boy when he grew up was out +at sea, in an open boat, and saw a great sword-fish making for the boat +Hail Columbia, and bound to stave right through her and sink her,--and +how this man he took an oar, and give it a swing, and broke the +critter's sword square off; and then Uncle Cephas--he 'd begun to git +a little flustered--he stops short, and waves his arms, and says he, +'Boys, what do you think! That sword-fish now stands before you!' I +cal'late that brought the house down.” Captain Philo, who had laid +down his three-cornered sail-needle, to listen to this exciting story, +readjusted the leather thimble that covered his palm, and began to sew +again. Uncle Silas, sitting near the water door, in his brown overalls +made with a breast-apron and suspender-straps, looked out at the boats. +A silence fell on the company. + +It was broken by Calvin Green. + +“A man was telling me rather a curious story, the other night,” he said. +“I was just explaining to him exactly how 't was that David Prince lost +his money, and so he told this:-- + +“There was a boy that was clerk in a store, and one day they sent him +over to the bank to git some money. It was before the war, and the bank +gave him twenty ten-dollar gold pieces. But when he got back to the +store there was one short. The boy hadn't nothin' to say. He admitted +he had n't dropped none, because he 'd put 'em in a leather bag where +he could n't lose one without he lost all, and the cashier knew _he_ had +n't made any mistake. The storekeeper he heard the story, and then he +put his hand on the boy's shoulder, and says he, 'I don't know what to +make o' this; but I believe this boy,' says he, 'and we 'll just drop +it, and say no more about it.' So it run along, and the next day that it +rained, one of the clerks in the store took down an old umberella, and, +come to unfurl it, out falls a ten-dollar gold piece. Seems that the boy +had that umberella that day, and hooked it on to the counter in the +bank, by the handle, and one of the coins must have slid off into it +when he was countin' 'em, and then he probably did n't spread the +umberella coming back. And, as this man said that was telling me, it +don't do to bet too much on suspicion. Now, only for that Jew's being +such a hard character, according to the newspapers, I should be loath to +charge him with taking David's money; I should say David might have lost +it somewhere else.” + +Nobody spoke. Captain Bennett whistled softly. + +“I never felt so bad in my life,” continued Green, “as I did when he +missed his money. When we come up into the depot he was telling me a +kind of a comical story about old Jim Torrey, how he wanted to find out +if all his hens was laying, or if any of 'em was disposed to shirk, and +he got him a pass-book ruled in columns, and opened a ledger +account with every hen, by a name he give her; and we got up to the +ticket-window, and he put his hand into his breast-pocket for his +wallet--by George! I 've seen him chaff and joke, sort of quiet, when we +was going to ride under every minute; but he turned as white then as +that new mainsail, and off he went, like a shot But 't was no use. Of +course, the jewelry feller would n't disgorge on David's say-so, without +no proof.” + +“It was like this,” he went on; “the counter was here,--and David +stood here,--and I was here,--and we both come off together. But I tell +you,--the way David looked when he put in his hand for his wallet! He +stopped laughing, as if he see a ghost; I can't get it out of my head. +And how the man that stole the money can stand it I can't figure out.” + +“Perhaps he 's calloused,” said the Deacon, “by what the paper said +the other night about his buying a parcel of clothes hooked out of some +man's entry. We concluded 'twas the same man--by the name.” + +“Can't believe all that's in the paper,” said Perez Todd; “you know the +paper had me to be married, once; the boys put it in for fun; they made +up the name for the female, I guess, for I 've been kind of shyin' round +for her this ten year, and have n't seen no such woman.” + +“Yes, sir, he's a hard ticket,” said Green; “that's so, every time. +Well, I must be going; I agreed to go and help Elbridge over at half +flood.” + +“Half flood about five,” said Captain Bennett; “you have n't any great +time to spare.” + +Green went to the shore, rattled a skiff down over the beach to the +water, and pulled away, with quick, short strokes. First the skiff was +cut off from sight by the marsh-bank; then the rower's head alone was +seen above the tall brown grasses; and then he pulled around the bend +and was lost to view behind a mass of flaming woodbine; and still, in +the distance, could be heard across the water the rattle of his oars in +the thole-pins. + +“Well, Silas?” said Captain Bennett. + +“Well?” said Uncle Silas. + +“Oh! I 've nothing to say,” said Captain Bennett + +“Nor I,” said Uncle Silas. + +“Calvin's always seemed to be a good-hearted fellow,” said Captain +Philo, “since he's lived here.” + +“Oh, yes,” said Captain Bennett; “seems to feel for David surprisingly. +Told me all about the losing of the money, told my wife, told my boy, +told Uncle Joe, told our minister, told the Doctor, told Zimri Cobb, +told Cyrus Bass, told Captain John Wells, told Patrick Coan; and proves +it out to 'em all that 't was the Jew that did it.” + +“Kind of zealous, like the Apostle Paul supplying the pulpit to the +Gentiles,” said the Deacon; “won't let alone of a man, till he gives in +'t the Hebrew's in the wrong.” + +“But I 've nothing to say,” said Captain Bennett. + +“Oh, no, nor I,” said Uncle Silas. + +From the distance, borne on the gentle breeze, a click as even as a +pulse-beat came faintly over the water. + +“He may be a good-hearted fellow,” said the Deacon, “but I don't know as +I hanker to be the man that's pulling that skiff. But then,--that may be +simply and solely because I prefer a hair-cloth rocker to a skiff.” + +“Delia,” said David Prince to his wife, one afternoon, “Calvin Green has +bought four tickets to that stereopticon show that's going to be in the +West Church to-night, and he gave me two, for you and me.” + +“I don't want his tickets,” she replied, ironing away at the sunny +window. + +“Now, what's the use of talking that way?” said her husband, “as much as +to say--” + +“I have my opinion,” she said. + +“Well,” said her husband, “I think it's a hard way to use a man, just +because he happened to be by when I lost my money.” + +“I 'll tell you,” said Delia, stopping her work; “we will go, and all I +'ll say is this--you see if after the lecture's over he does n't find a +text in it to talk about our money. Now, you just wait and see--that's +all.” + +***** + +“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the lecturer, standing by a great circle of +light thrown on the wall, behind the pulpit, “I have now, with a feeling +of awe befitting this sacred place, thus given you, in the first part of +my lecture, a succinct view of the origin, rise, and growth of the +globe on which, as the poet has justly said, 'we dwell.' I have shown +you--corroborating Scripture--the earth, without form and void, the +awful monsters of the Silurian age, and Man in the Garden of Eden. + +“I now invite you to journey with me--as one has said--'across the +continent.' + +“Travelling has ever been viewed as a means of education. Thus Athenian +sages sought the learning of the Orient. Thus may we this evening, +without toil or peril, or expense beyond the fifteen cents already +incurred for the admission-fee, journey in spirit from the wild Atlantic +to the sunset coast. In the words of the sacred lyrist, Edgar A. Poe, +'My country, 't is of thee,' that I shall now display some views. + +“Of course we start from Boston. On the way to New York, we will first +pause to view the scene where Putnam galloped down a flight of steps, +beneath the hostile fire. See both mane and coat-tails flying in the +wind, and the eyes of steed and rider wildly dilated with excitement. + +“Next we pause in Brooklyn. And from my immense variety of scenes in the +City of Churches, I choose the firemen's monument in Greenwood Cemetery. + + 'Here they lie low who raised their ladders high; + Here they still live,--for heroes cannot die!' + +[A voice: “How many are buried there?”] + +“I should say, at a venture, eighteen. [A rustle of sympathy among the +women.] + +“Passing on, and coming thence to the metropolis of New York, I am +greatly embarrassed, so vast is the richness and variety of views. But +I will show first the 'Five Points.' [Great eagerness, and cries, “Down +front!”] Of late, philanthropy and religion, walking in sweet converse, +hand in hand, have relieved the horrors of this region, and now one may +walk there comparatively safe. [Sudden cessation of interest] + +“I will give even another view of the metropolis: a charming scene +in Central Park. [Here wavered dimly on the screen five bushes, and a +nursery-maid with a baby-carriage.] From this exquisite picture you may +gain some faint idea of the charms of that Paradise raised by the wand +of taste and skill in a waste of arid sands. + +“Passing westward, I next present the Suspension Bridge at Niagara, +erected by drawing over the majestic stream a cord, a small rope, then +a wire, until the whole vast framework was complete. The idea was taken +from the spider's web. Thus the humblest may guide the highest; and +I love to recall, in this connection, that the lamented Lincoln, some +years before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, heard me lecture on +slavery, in Peoria. + +“Next we come to Cleveland; and our attention is seized by three cannons +taken in the famous naval battle on the lake. Every visitor pauses +here, and with uncovered head and eyes suffused with tears recalls the +sacrifices of the Fathers. + +“Next we view Chicago the morning after the fire; on every hand are +blackened ruins,--painful proofs of the vicissitudes of human fortune! +[A voice: “I was there at the time.”] I am delighted to know it Such +spontaneous corroboration from the audience is to the lecturer's heart +as a draught from the well of Baca. [Laughter, and a voice: “What +Baker?”] + +“But, in order to cross so broad a continent, we must not dally, and +next I show you the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, the seat of a +defiant system of sin. All things, however, have their uses, and I can +recommend this religion to any young lady present who does not find it +easy to secure a helpmeet. [Appreciative laughter.] + +“And now, for a view of the Pacific States, I choose two of the famed +Big Trees. Judge of them by the two men who stand, like the Widow's +mites, beside them. These trees are called 'Father and Daughter.' [A +voice: “Which is Father, and which is Daughter?”] I am not informed, but +from their appearance I judge that the nearer is the Father. [Derisive +laughter.] + +“And now we approach a climax. + +“When the Ten Thousand, in their storied march, reached at last the blue +waters of the Euxine, thrilled with joy they loudly cried: 'The Sea! The +Sea!' So we, travellers likewise, reach at last the Western Ocean; and +for a striking scene upon its waters, I present a Pacific Mail steamer +at her dock in the harbor of San Francisco. In the left foreground is a +Chinese laundry. And now I can hardly restrain myself from passing on +to Asia; for imagination, taking fire, beckons to Niphon and the Flowery +Kingdom. But remorseless Time says no, and we pause at the Golden Gate. + +“In closing, now, I will, as is usual, give one or two moral views, +relieved by others of a somewhat playful character. + +“First is Napoleon's grave. He who held Europe struggling in his hand, +died a prisoner in solitudes remote, far from home endearments. + +“Next you see Daniel Lambert, whose greatness was of a more solid cast. +Less grasping in his pretensions than Napoleon, he lived an honored +life, and died, I understand, among his relatives. + +“Next is a picture of the guillotine, calling up thoughts of severed +heads from memory's cloisters. On the left you see a ghastly head; on +the right the decapitated trunk. By the victim stand the bloody actors +in the tragedy. Ladies and gentlemen! When I review the awful guilt of +Marat and Robespierre, humbly do I give thanks that I have been kept +from yielding, like them, to fierce ambition and lust of power, and that +I can lay my head upon a peaceful pillow at my home in Fall River. + +“Next is the Serenade. Part one: The Spanish lover with bow-knot shoes, +pointed hat, and mantle over shoulder, stands, with his lute, on the +covered water-butt, while at the casement above is his lady's charming +face. Part two: The head of the water-butt has given way, and the angry +father, from his window, beholds a scene of luckless misery. + +“I turn now to a more pleasing view,--the Village Blacksmith. The mighty +man is at his work, and by a triumph of art I am enabled to show his +fine physique in action: now you see his arm uplifted,--and now the +hammer is on the iron. Up--down--up--down. [A voice: “There are two +right arms!”] That arises from some slight defect in the arrangement of +the light; the uplifted arm does not entirely vanish when the lowered +arm appears. But to the thoughtful observer, such slight contrasts only +heighten enjoyment. + +“Ladies and gentlemen! A single word in closing. Our transcontinental +journey this evening ended at the Golden Gate. When life's journey ends, +may we not so pause, but, as the poet Judson Backus sweetly sings:-- + + 'May we find an angel wait + To lead us through the “golden gate.”' + +“Meanwhile, adieu.” + +***** + +David Prince and his wife walked slowly home in the clear, cold +moonlight. + +“Did you notice,” said Delia, “how the man kept saying that he didn't +know just what to pick out, to show? Well, I heard the Kelley boy, that +helped at the lamps, say that they showed every identical picture +there was. I suppose they are a lot of odds and ends he picked up at an +auction.” + +“I think he was a kind of a humbug,” said Calvin Green, who, with his +wife, had come up close behind. “See how he kept dragging in his morals, +jes like overhauling a trawl and taking off a haddock, every once in so +often.” + +“What away to travel,” said his wife; “to go ker-jump from New York City +to Niagara, and from there to Cleveland. He must have thought we had +long stilts.” + +“The pictures were rather here and there and everywhere, to be sure,”, +said David; “but I have a good deal of charity for these men; I s'pose +they 're put to it for bread and butter.” + +“Well, I don't know,” said Green; “I don't think it has a good influence +on young people to show such a picture as that man that they murdered by +slicing his head off with that machine. I don't like such things to be +brought up.” + +“I should think the opposite,” said his wife, laughing, “by the way you +'ve told every man in town about David's money, and the way he blanched +when he missed it. I think you 'd better take a lesson yourself about +bringing up dreadful things.” + +When they reached Green's house, a low, black cottage, they stopped a +moment for the women to finish a discussion about croup. + +“How did that look to you now, David?” said Green. “Did n't you think it +would have been a good deal better to have left that picture out?” + +“Which one?” said David. + +“Why, the one where they'd chopped the man's head off with that machine, +and were standing by, looking at the corpse. I don't like to see such +things, for my part.” + +“I don't know,” said David. “I did n't think about it particularly. I +understood it was in the French Revolution.” + +“Well, see all that flummer-diddle he got off about it,” said Green; +“just as if any fool did n't know that a man could n't sleep that was +haunted by a thing like that.” + +“Well, some can stomach anything, and I suppose some can sleep on +anything,” said David. “I guess it would take more than slicing one +man's head off to make that Jew lie awake nights. If he 'd only admitted +that I 'd been there! But as soon as I said I 'd left something, then +for him and his wife to claim they never saw me! They 're cool ones!” + +“Well, right here,--about what my wife flung out,” said Green, glancing +over his shoulder to where the women were talking, both at once, +woman-fashion; “you know my wife's way,--you haven't ever heard any such +talk going round, have you, as that I was hounding folks about your bad +luck? I say an honest man speaks right out,--no fear, no favor. Ain't +that so?” + +***** + +It was a bitterly cold, clear night, a few weeks later. Runners squeaked +and boot-heels crunched in the road. David had passed Green's house at +seven o'clock, going to the store; he always went by there at that time, +Saturdays, and passed again, returning home, at about eight. + +When he reached the gate, on his return, Green was standing there, +apparently waiting. + +“Come into the house a minute, David,” he said; “I want to see you.” + +He led him into the kitchen. + +“My wife's gone over to Aunt Nathan's for the evening,” he said. + +He shut the door, and locked it. + +“There!” he said; “I can't stand it any longer;” and he laid upon a +table at David's side a wallet. David took it up and opened it; it held +a great roll of bills. + +“What does this mean?” he said; “why--this is mine! You don't mean--” + +“I mean I stole it,” said Green. + +David sat down. “I wish you had put it in the fire,” he said, “and never +told me.” + +“There 's just one thing I want to say,” said Green. “I picked it +up, first, to give it to you, and when I saw that you 'd forgot it, I +thought I 'd have a little joke on you for a while; and then, when I saw +how things was going, I kind o' drifted into keeping it. You know how I +come home,--all my voyage eat up, and a hundred dollars' debts besides, +and children sick. But every dollar 's there. + +“Now, what I ask,” he added, “is four days' time to ship and get away. +What are you going to do?” + +“Nothing,” said David; “settle your debts and pay me when you can.” And +taking five twenty-dollar bills from the wallet, he left them on the +table and went away. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Five Hundred Dollars, by Heman White Chaplin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS *** + +***** This file should be named 23006-0.txt or 23006-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/0/23006/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Five Hundred Dollars + First published in the "Century Magazine" + +Author: Heman White Chaplin + +Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23006] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS + </h1> + <h2> + By Heman White Chaplin <br /><br /> 1887 <br /> + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + First published in the “Century Magazine.” + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + Captain Philo's sail-loft was a pleasant place to sit in, and it was much + frequented. At one end was a wide, sliding door, that opened on the water, + and through it you saw the little harbor and the low, glistening sand-bar + at its entrance, and whitecaps in the sea beyond, and shining sails. At + the other end another wide door led, by a gently descending cleated + platform, to the ground. + </p> + <p> + It was a pleasant place to rest and refresh the mind in, whether you chose + to look in or out. You could rock in the hair-cloth chair by the water + door, and join in conversation with more active persons mending seines + upon the wharf; or you could dangle your heels from the work-bench, and + listen to stories and debates inside, and look on Captain Philo sewing + upon a mainsail. + </p> + <p> + It was a summer afternoon: warm under the silver poplars, hot in the + store, and hotter in the open street; but in the sail-loft it was cool. + </p> + <p> + “More than once,” Captain Bennett was remarking from the rocking-chair, + while his prunella shoes went up and down,—“more than once I've + wished that I could freight this loft to Calcutta on speculation, and let + it out, so much a head, for so long a time, to set in and cool off.” + </p> + <p> + “How about them porious water-jars they hev there?” asked Uncle Silas, who + had never sailed beyond Cape Pogue; “how do they work?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the captain, “they 're so-so. But you set up this loft, both + doors slid open, air drawing through and all, right on Calcutta main + street, or what they call the Maiden's Esplanade, and fit it up with + settees like a conference-meeting, and advertise, and you could let out + chances to set for twenty cents an hour.” + </p> + <p> + “You 'd hev to hev a man to take tickets, to the door,” said Uncle Silas, + who had been looking for an easy job for forty years. + </p> + <p> + “That's Si all over.” said Captain Bennett, with a wink; “that berth would + be just his size.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Uncle Silas, faintly smiling, “'t is no use rubbin' the fur + the wrong way; stroke the world from head to tail is my rule.” + </p> + <p> + “Speaking of folks being easy,” said Captain Bennett, “it seems there 's + quite a little story about David Prince's voyage on the 'Viola.'” “I + thought he went off whaling rather in a hurry,” said Captain Philo, “and + if it had been 'most anybody else, I should have thought there was + something up.” + </p> + <p> + “It seems,” said Captain Bennett, “it was like this: You know, Delia was + n't much over ten years old when her mother died, along a piece after her + father, and she come to live with us. And you know how she was almost like + one of the family. Well, about eight years ago, when she 'd got to be + towards nineteen, it was then that David first set out to shine up to her; + and when he begun to come home from singing-school with her that winter, + and got to coming to the house quite often the next spring along, I begun + to feel a little shaky. Finally, one Sunday afternoon I was sitting out on + the porch and she was singing hymns inside,—you know she was always + singing,—and I called to her to quit and come out, and sit down + alongside of me, and says I,—“'Delia, it can't be you 're thinking + of taking up with David Prince?' + </p> + <p> + “Well, she flared a little, but finally says she: + </p> + <p> + “'Why should n't I, or anybody that has the chance, take David Prince?' + </p> + <p> + “'Well,' says I, 'I don't think you need to ask why; I should say that a + smart girl wouldn't want more than to travel once along the Lower Road and + see those two run-down houses,—one deserted, and the other, handy + by, about as bad,—and the barn across the road, that was raised and + boarded in over forty years ago, and never shingled, and stood so till + it's all rotted and sunk in.' + </p> + <p> + “'What's that got to do with David?' says she. + </p> + <p> + “'It's got this to do with David,' says I, 'that his father and his Uncle + Ezekiel and their father before 'em—good, kindly men—all + seemed to settle, settle, somehow; and it was all to-morrow, and + to-morrow, with 'em; 'and then I told Delia how they sold off their wood + and then their land, piecemeal, all but the spot where the old buildings + stand,—and that's worth nothing. + </p> + <p> + “'And that's the way,' says I, 'it 'll be with David when he gets over + being a boy and settles down; it's in the blood; and I don't want to see + you, Delia, keel-hauled there—'” + </p> + <p> + “Like David's mother,—Prudence Frost, that was,” said Uncle Silas; + “originally she was a good, smart girl, and full of jingle; but finally + she give up and come to it,—lef sweepin'-day out o' the almanic, + washed dishes in cold water, and made up beds at bedtime; and when she + ironed a shirt, jes' 's like's not she 'd iron a hoss-fly right into the + bosom.” + </p> + <p> + “And lived a dog's life generally,” said Captain Bennett. “So I laid the + whole thing out to Delia, the best way I knew how. + </p> + <p> + “'Well,' says she, 'I know you mean my good, Captain Bennett,—but I + shall take my chances.' And so she did. Well—” + </p> + <p> + “Speakin' o' the barn,” said Uncle Silas, “do you remember that high shay + that David's father hed? I was up to the Widow Pope's vendue the day he + bid it off. He managed to spunk up so fur's to hitch the shaffs under his + team and fetch the vehicle home, and then he hed n't no place to put it up + out o' the weather,—and so he druv it along under that big Bald'n + apple-tree that used to stand by the pantry window, on the north side o' + the house, and left it there, with the shaffs clawin' down in the ground. + Then the talk was, he was goin' to build him a sort of a little tabernacle + for it before winter set in; and he hed down a load of lumber from Uncle + Joe's mill and hed it dumped down alongside o' the shay. But the shay was + n't never once hitched up, nor the tabernacle built; and the timber and + the shay jes' set there, side by side, seein' who 'd speak first, for + twenty year, to my cer-ting knowledge; and you go by there when it was + blowin' fresh, and the old curtings would be flappin' in and out, black + and white, till finally the whole arrangement sunk out o' sight. I guess + there 's more or less wrack there now, 'f you sh'd go poke in the grass.” + </p> + <p> + “It was thirty-one year ago, come October, that he bought the shay,” said + Captain Philo; “it was the fall I was cast away on the Tombstones, and + lost every dollar I had. I remember it because the old man came down to + the house of his own accord, when I got home, and let me have two hundred + dollars. He 'd just been selling the West New Field; and when he 'd sold + land and had money on hand, it was anybody's that wanted it. But what was + it about David's going off so sudden on the 'Viola'?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I forgot my errand,” said Captain Bennett; “and now I 've got + adrift in my story, and I shall have to take an observation; let's see, + where was I?” + </p> + <p> + “Delia allowed she 'd take her chances,” said Uncle Silas. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” said Captain Bennett. “Well, you know how it was when they got + married: David fixed the old house up a little, and mother put in some + furniture and things for her, and all went on first-rate awhile; and then + you know how David begun to settle, settle, just the old way; could n't + seem to keep up to the wind; appeared to carry a lee helm, somehow; and + Delia begun to take in work and go out to work, and quit singing. She + never said a word, even to my wife; but I could see 't it cut her a good + deal—” + </p> + <p> + “But all this time,” said Uncle Silas, “she 's kep' up smart,—allers + hed a high crower's-feather 'n her bunnet, and kep' her little boys + a-lookin' like nine-shillin' dolls.” + </p> + <p> + “I should n't have ever called David lazy,” said Captain Philo. “He could + n't seem to make up his mind what to do next, that 's all; but get him + going—you remember how he worked at Jason's fire; and I know of my + own knowledge he was in the surf for sixteen hours, when that Norwegian + bark was on the Bar.” + </p> + <p> + “I think there's some folks,” said Uncle Silas, “that their mind works all + the time—runs a day gang and runs a night gang. You know how a hard + sum 'll shake itself out in your head overnight; and I think it's the most + natural thing that a man with a A No. I active mind always should feel + sort of tired and not know what ails him. George, won't you jes' git up + and hand me that pipe—you ain't doin' nothin'.” + </p> + <p> + “However it was,” said Captain Bennett, “Delia saw that he was drifting to + leeward, and she was worried. Well, you know when the reformation set in, + that winter, and run crowded houses,—one night in the West Church + and the next in the other. One night David surprised his wife by going; + and he set in a back seat, and come away and said nothing; and the same + the next night; and the same for seven or eight nights right along. + Finally, one night, they had a pretty searching sermon,—'<i>Choose + ye this day</i>,' et cetera,—and I suppose the Deacon, here, was + rather expecting David to rise for prayers; but, instead of that, as soon + as Amen was said, he gets right up, and off he goes, and leaves Delia + there, without saying a word to her or to anybody, and goes right up to + Captain Westcott's house and agrees to ship. And glad enough Captain W. + was to have him, and next day off he went. Now here he is, gone two years + and over, and comes home night before last; his lay 'll figure out five + hundred dollars; and the biggest thing is”—here the Captain brought + down his heavy hand, for emphasis, on Uncle Silas's knee—“that Delia + 's kept herself and the children, and never drawn one cent against the + voyage; so they've got the whole clear, and they 've been up this morning + early and traded for the Callender place, and they 're going to move in + to-morrow. And I guess he means business now.” + </p> + <p> + “But they don't git paid off till Monday,” said Uncle Silas. “They 're all + goin' up to town to be paid off then.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he moves in to-morrow, anyway,” said Captain Bennett. “Monday + night, I believe, he's going to pay down what he has, and take a deed, and + give a mortgage back for the balance.” + </p> + <p> + But Uncle Silas gravely shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “I can't indorse this runnin' in haste,” he said. “I never, in all my + experience, knew a man before to buy real estate without sort of goin' up + street and talkin' it over, and comparin' notes 'round generally. Now, we + could have given him points down here about the Callender place.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he's made a good trade there,” said Captain Bennett. + </p> + <p> + “That all may be,” said Uncle Silas, “but it 's the principle, not the + five cents, I 'm lookin' at. I should have hed more faith in his holdin' + out if he hed n't jumped quite so quick. 'Slow bind, fast find,' I say.” + </p> + <p> + Captain Bennett rose, and drew on a grass-cloth coat that showed his + suspenders through. + </p> + <p> + “I must be on my winding way,” he said. “But did you hear how close he + came to never coming back? No? Well, it was like this: It was blowing a + gale, and considerable sea on, one night when they were rounding Cape Horn + on the home voyage, and she was pitching pretty bad, and David was out on + the jib-boom taking in jib, and somehow she pitched with a jerk, so he + lost his hold and went off, and, as he fell in the dark, naturally he + struck out both hands, blind, like this; and he just happened to catch, by + sheer accident, a gasket that was hanging from the jib-boom, and so he + saved himself by a hair's breadth. And when he came up they thought it was + his ghost.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I always make it a point to look on the bright side, without + exception,” said Uncle Silas; “nevertheless, I prophesy it won't be two + years before he 'll have the place all eat up, and sold out under the + mortgage. This jumpin' so quick,—looks as if he was sca't to trust + himself for a day.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, we shall see,” said Captain Bennett; “time will tell.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + There are many little farms along the New England sea-board, which the + currents of life, diverted from ancient channels, have left one side, + pleasant and homelike often, but of small money value. The Callender place + was such a farm. + </p> + <p> + It lay a mile from the village, in a hamlet of half-a-dozen dwellings. + There was a substantial house, with four large rooms below, besides an L + kitchen, and above, two sunny chambers, each with a dormer and a gable + window. From the front fence projected, for a hitching-post, a Minerva, + carved from wood,—a figure-head washed up years before from the + wreck of a brig with the bodies of the crew. + </p> + <p> + The house was on a little elevation, and looked across the road, near + which it stood, and over a sloping field or two, to sea. From the windows + you could count the sail in the North Channel, and look down the coast and + follow with the eye the long, low curving line of shore until at Indian + Point it vanished; or look up shore ten miles to where the coast-line + ended in a bold, wooded headland, which seemed, by a perpetual mirage, to + bear foliage so lofty as to show daylight through beneath the branches. At + night you could see the flash of the revolving light on Windmill Rock, and + the constant rays from the lightship on the Rips. So that by day or night + you could never be lonesome, unless, perhaps, on some thick night, when + you could see no light, and could only hear a grating knell from the + bell-buoy, and could seem to see, through the white darkness, the waters + washing over its swaying barrel. + </p> + <p> + There was a good-sized boarded barn, well shingled on the roof, with + hay-mows, and with room for two or three cows and a horse and a wagon, and + with wide doors “fore and aft,” as the neighbors put it; through its big + front door you could look out to sea. Then there were twenty acres of + land, including a wood-lot which could be thinned out every year to give + one all his fire-wood, and what was cut would hardly be missed. + </p> + <p> + Such was the place which, on the death of the Widow Callender, had been + offered for sale for eight hundred dollars. For months it had stood empty, + stormed by all the sea-winds, lit up by the sun, when at last an + unexpected buyer had turned up in David Prince. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + It was a happy Sunday that he passed with his little family at the new + home. They went all over the house again and again, and looked from every + window, and planned where flower-frames should be put, to take the sun. + Then, going out of doors, they inspected the revolving clothes-dryer, + which David, with a seaman's instinct, had already rigged with four little + sloops to sail about on the ends of the projecting arms, on Mondays, + tacking after shirts and stockings. Then they went to the barn, and David + showed how he was going to cover the sides with spruce shingles, so that + he could have a warm place to work in in the winter. Then they went over + the fields, and planned a garden for the next spring; and then they went + down to the shore, and, where a little arm of the sea made in, David + showed where he would haul up his dory, and would keep his boat, when he + could afford to get one together: in the mean time he was going to fish on + shares with Jacob Foster, who lived a few rods up the road. Then they all + strolled back to the house, and dined on shore-birds shot on Saturday + afternoon, and new potatoes and turnips which Jacob Foster had brought in. + </p> + <p> + After dinner, they all sat at the front windows, in the room which they + were pleased to call the parlor, David holding on his knees the two oldest + boys, delighted with the recovery of such a Sindbad of a father, while the + third, still a little shy of him, stood by his mother. David told of the + voyage, repeating, by request, full half-a-dozen times, the story of the + night when he was snapped off the end of the jib-boom; to do which he had + to set the boys down and stand, to make the swift, sudden clutch, with his + eyes shut, at the towing rope; at which the boys screamed on every + repetition. + </p> + <p> + After supper, David and his wife, leaving the children with orders to go + to bed at the first flash from the Windmill, went to church. + </p> + <p> + They took the same back seat which they had the night that David shipped. + There was much the same scene before them. There was bald-headed Deacon + Luce, in his usual Damocles' seat exactly beneath the dangling chandelier, + which children watched in morbid hope of a horror; there was the president + of the Dorcas Society, a gray-haired woman who had navigated home a + full-rigged ship from the Gold Coast; there were grave-faced men who, + among them, could have charted half the globe. In the pulpit was the same + old-fashioned, bookish man, who, having led his college class, had passed + his life in this unknown parish, lost in delight, in his study, in the + great Athenian's handling of the presumptuous Glaucon, or simply unfolding + parables in his pulpit. + </p> + <p> + That former night came vividly back to Delia Prince. Through the opening + hymn, in which she did not join; through the story of the feast in Simon's + house, she was thinking of the time when David told her he had shipped, + and she had made up her mind to save a home. + </p> + <p> + But in the second hymn she joined; and in her joy she forgot herself and + sang,—as she had been used to sing when she was the leader of all + the singing. In a moment they all knew that she was there. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Thus far the Lord hath led me on; + Thus far His power prolongs my days; + And every evening shall make known + Some fresh memorial of His grace.” + </pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + “M. Isaacs” was over the door; Mr. Isaacs was within. Without, three + golden balls were hanging, like apples of the Hesperides; within was an + array of goods which the three balls had brought in. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Isaacs was walking to and fro behind the counter, and briskly rubbing + his hands. + </p> + <p> + “My good wife Sarah,” he said, with a strong Semitic accent, “those + sudden, raw east winds! I am so frozen as if I was enjoying myself upon + the skating-rink,—and here it is the summer. Where is that long + spring overcoat that German man hypotecated with us last evening? Between + the saddle and the gold-lace uniform, you say?” + </p> + <p> + And taking it down, by means of a long, hooked pole, he put it on. It + covered his ears and swept the ground: “It make me look like Aaron in + those pictures,” he said. + </p> + <p> + It would have been a grasping disposition that could not be suited with + something from out Mr. Isaacs's stock. It would have been hard to name a + faculty of the human soul or a member of the human body to which it could + not lend aid and comfort. One musically inclined could draw the wailing + bow or sway the accordion; pucker at the pensive flute, or beat the + martial, soul-arousing drum. One stripped, as it were, on his way to + Jericho, could slink in here and select for himself a fig-leaf from a + whole Eden of cut-away coats and wide-checkered trousers, all fitting “to + surprise yourself,” and could be quite sure of finding a pair of boots, of + whatever size was needed, of the very finest custom hand work,—a + misfit, made for a gentleman in New York. A devout man, according to his + leanings, could pray from the prayer-book of an impoverished Episcopalian, + or sing from the hymn-book of an insolvent Baptist. + </p> + <p> + “So help me gracious!” Mr. Isaacs used to say, raising his shoulders and + opening wide his palms; “when you find a man so ungrateful that he cannot + be fitted out with somethings from my stock, I really suppose you could + not fit that man out in Paradise.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Isaacs was looking nervous. But it was not by the images which his + ordinary stock in trade would naturally cause to arise that he was + disturbed,—images though they were of folly, improvidence, and + distress. There was indeed hardly an article in the shop, except the new + plated jewelry in the window, that was not suggestive of misery or of sin. + But in Mr. Isaacs's well-poised mind no morbid fancies arose. “Those hard + winters makes me cheerful,” he was wont to say in the fall; “they makes + the business lifely.” + </p> + <p> + Still, Mr. Isaacs was a little troubled this afternoon, and, singularly + enough, about a most happy purchase that he had just made, at ninety per + cent below value. There the articles lay upon the counter,—a silk + hat, a long surtout, a gold-headed cane and a pair of large rubbers; a + young man's Derby hat and overcoat and rattan cane, and a pair of arctics; + a lady's bonnet and dolman and arctics; a young girl's hat with a soft + bird's-breast, and her seal-skin sack and arctics; besides four small + boys' hats and coats and arctics. It seemed as if some modern Elijah, a + family man, expectant of translation, had made with thrifty forethought an + “arrangement” that Mr. Isaacs's shop should be the point of departure, and + flying off in joyous haste, with wife and children, had left the general + raiment on the counter. You would naturally have looked for a sky-lit hole + in the ceiling. + </p> + <p> + “So help me gracious!” said Mr. Isaacs, turning the articles over; “I + suppose there 's some policemen just so wicked and soospicious to say I + must know those garments are stolen—scooped off some hat-tree, the + last winter, at one grab.” + </p> + <p> + “Why do you enter dose on de book to-gedder?” said Mrs. Isaacs. “If you + put dose separate on de book, how de policeman know dey came in togedder?” + </p> + <p> + “That is a great danger, Sarah. That's just the way they fix our good + friend Greenbaum. When they caught the thief, and he tell them where he + sell some things, and Greenbaum had put down those earrings and those + bracelets and that Balmoral skirt for three different times, they say he + must know those things was stolen,—if not, why did he put those + things down different from each other? + </p> + <p> + “But so help me gracious!” he added, presently, “I have not the least + soospicions, like the babes unborn, those goods are stolen. The man that + brought them in was very frank, and very much of a gentleman; and he lay + his hand upon his bosom-pin, and swear he sell those things because he has + no more use for them,—his family all sick of tyvoid fever, and + cannot live the week out. But I suppose there's some policemen just so + soospicious to say I must know those things are stolen.” + </p> + <p> + “And so cruel soospicions,” said Mrs. Isaacs,—“and your heart so + pure and white like your shirt-bosom.” She meant his ideal shirt-bosom. + </p> + <p> + “Just like those evil-minded policemen,” he said. “You remember how they + lock up our old friend Abrahamson? So help me gracious! sent that good old + man to prison, just because he buy two gold watches and two pairs of gold + spectacles and an ivory-handled knife and two empty pocket-books and two + silk umbrellas and a seal ring and two bunches of keys and two black wigs + from a red-headed laboring man; they say he must know that two old + gentlemen were robbed of that personal property.” + </p> + <p> + But here his attention was diverted by the sight of two men, seamen to + appearance, who were looking into the show-window. + </p> + <p> + “I like so much,” he said, “to see the public enjoying themselves in my + window; it give them so happy pleasure to see those lovely things; and + often they comes in and buy somethings. This young man,” he added, after a + pause, “seem to admire those broad neck-wear; he look at both those two,—the + Four-in-hand and the Frolic.” + </p> + <p> + “I think he look most at de Frolic,” said Mrs. Isaacs; “I think he would + come in if you go outside and take him by de arm like a true frient, and + bring him in. My broder Moses walk outside de whole day long, and take + each man when he go by and talk to him like his own broder, wid tears in + his eyes, and make dem come in and buy somedings.” + </p> + <p> + But Mr. Isaacs only wrapped the long coat more closely about his linen + garments, and watched the younger man as he turned his eyes away from the + Four-in-hand and the Frolic and bent them on the trays in which were + glittering tiers of rings and pins, and rows of watches labelled + “Warranted genuine, $14;” “Dirt-cheap, $8.75;” “Doct's Watch, + Puls-counting, $19.50.” + </p> + <p> + “He look like he had some money,” said Mrs. Isaacs. “Perhaps he would come + in and buy a watch if you go out and pull him in. How can he buy someding + through de glass? My broder Moses say, 'So many folks is bashful.'” + </p> + <p> + But at last the men, after talking awhile, apparently of the goods in the + window, came in. + </p> + <p> + “What's the price of some of those ear-rings in the window?” said the + younger. “Let's see what you've got for a couple of dollars or so.” + </p> + <p> + “So help me gracious!” said Mr. Isaacs, as he took from the show-window + three or four cards of plated ear-rings. “I knew you would come in to buy + somethings. When I saw you look in—the very first moment—I say + to my wife, 'There is a good young man that will give a present to some + lovely young lady.' Yes, sir, the very words I said to Sarah.” + </p> + <p> + “What's the price of this pair? I haven't got any girl to treat, but I 've + just got paid off for a whaling voyage, and my lay figured up a + twenty-dollar bill above what I expected, and I don't care if I do lay out + a couple of dollars on my wife besides what I 've brought home for her.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” said Mr. Isaacs, “the good wife is the very best jewelry. + Those are two dollars. But only study this pair. Hold those up to the + light and take a bird's-eye view through those lovely stones, so round and + large like green peas. Now look. So! Now let your friend look!” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm no judge,” said the other man, “I know what pleases me—that's + all. But them would make a great display, David, wouldn't they?” + </p> + <p> + “You 're right, sir,” said Mr. Isaacs. “'Display' is the very word. My + wife wear just the twins of this pair to the congregation, every week.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Isaacs raised her eyebrows: she wore nothing but diamonds. + </p> + <p> + “What's the price of these green ones?” asked David. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Isaacs shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose those are the finest articles of the kind in the whole + creation,” he said. “We can let you have those to-day,” and he lowered his + voice to a whisper, and put his hand up beside his mouth, “to close out + stock—for six dollars. They cost us only last week eight-fifty, but + we are obliged to reduce stock prior to removal. The building is to be + taken down.” + </p> + <p> + “I would like those tip-top; but I don't know—it's a good deal of + money for gewgaws; my wife would take me to do for it; I guess I must keep + to the two-dollar ones. I come pretty hard by my dollars, and a dollar + means a good deal to me just now.” + </p> + <p> + “But just once look again,” said Mr. Isaacs, and he stepped briskly behind + his wife and held up an ear-ring to each of her ears. “See them on a + chaste and lovely form. With these your wife will be still more lovely. + All those other men will say, 'Where did that graceful lady find so rich + ear-rings?' You will see they are a great success: her most bosom friends + will hate her; they will turn so green like the grass on the ground with + envy. It is a great pleasure when my wife wears those kind: her very + sisters cannot speak for anger, and her own mother looks so rigid like the + Cardiff Giant.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I guess I shall have to take them,” said David, “and you 'll have + to wrap them right up: we have n't got more than about time to get the + train, have we, Calvin?” + </p> + <p> + “So help me gracious!” said Mr. Isaacs, “is there no time to sell our + friend Calvin a pair? He will repent not to secure those other pair, until + his dying day; so sorry like he lose his ship some day upon those rocks. I + suppose there is no others like those in the whole creation.” + </p> + <p> + But he wrapped the purchase up in a bit of white paper and gave David + Prince four trade dollars in change for a ten-dollar bill, and the two men + went out, leaving Mr. Isaacs free to attend to a timid woman in black who + had just come in to raise fifty cents upon a ring, while Mrs. Isaacs + looked after a carpenter who proposed to pawn his edge-tools for + rent-money. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Isaacs waved his hand and smiled as the men went out of the door. “You + will find they are a success, to surprise yourself,” he called out: “her + most bosom friends will writhe and scream with envy.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + The winding line of the long New England coast faces the sea, in its + sweeping curves, in every direction. From the Callender place, the ocean + lay to the south. Though elsewhere east winds might be blowing harsh upon + the coast, here, almost every day, and all day long, in summer, the + southwest wind came pouring in from the expanse of waters, fresh and cool, + boisterous often, but never chill; and even winds from the east lost edge + in crossing miles of pitch-pine woods, of planted fields, of sandy ponds, + of pastures, and came in softened down and friendly. + </p> + <p> + A gentle breeze was drifting in from sea. All day long it had been + blowing, salt and strong and riotous, tossing the pine-tops, bending the + corn, swaying the trees in the orchards, but now it was preparing to die + away, as was its wont, at sundown, to give to the woods, the cornfields + and the orchards a little space of rest and peace before it should rise + again in the early evening to toss them all night long. The blue of the + sky was blue in the water. Every object stood out sharp and clear. Down + the low, curving shore-line, curls of smoke rose from distant roofs, and + on the headland, up the coast, the fairy forest in the air was outlined + with precision. Distant ships were moving, like still pictures, on the + horizon, as if that spell were laid on them which hushed the enchanted + palace. There was just sea enough to roll the bell-buoy gently, and now + and then was rung an idle note of warning. Three fishing-boats lay + anchored off the Spindle, rising and falling, and every now and then a sea + broke on the rock. On the white sand beach, waves were rolling in, dying + softly away along the shore, or heavily breaking, with a long, flying line + of foam. + </p> + <p> + The sun was fast descending. Delia Prince went out to the corner of the + house and shaded her eyes to look at the sunset. The white clouds turned + to a flaming red, and the reflection dyed to crimson the surface of the + creeks; the sun descended toward the wooded bluff that flanked the bay, + sent a thousand shattered, dazzling rays through the trees, and + disappeared. + </p> + <p> + The red of the clouds and the red of the water gave place to gray. The + wind died down. The silence was intense,—all the more marked because + of the few sharp sounds that broke it now and then. Across the bay, near + shore, a man was raking oysters; he stood in the stern of his skiff, and + the bow was up in the air. Near by a girl was driving sluggish cows along + the beach, and her shrill cries came over the water; by a cottage on the + bank a boy was chopping brush upon a block, and Delia watched the silent + blows, and heard the sound come after. He smiled as she looked; for every + night she saw the boy's mother stand at the door to call him, and saw him + come reluctant to his task. + </p> + <p> + There was a sense of friendly companionship in all these homely sights and + sounds. It was different from the old house, shut in close by a second + growth of birch and oak. + </p> + <p> + The table was standing ready for a late supper. The children had gone for + berries to the Island, and they would soon come home, and David was due, + too, with his money. + </p> + <p> + She smiled as he appeared. The ascent to the brow of the hill was so sharp + that first you saw a hat in movement, then a head, then shoulders, body, + legs, and feet. She ran quickly down the road to meet him, and took his + arm. + </p> + <p> + “You couldn't catch the noon train?” she said. “Captain Wells stopped at + the door a little while ago to see what time we should be down to get the + deed, and luckily I told him that we might not be down until into the + evening. He said he 'd stay at home and wait till we came.” + </p> + <p> + “Delia,” said David, when he had seated himself in the house, “I 've got + bad news to tell you, and I may as well out with it first as last.” + </p> + <p> + “You have n't shipped for another whaling voyage?” + </p> + <p> + “No; that would be nothing,” he said. + </p> + <p> + Delia stood and looked at him. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said, “didn't you get as much as you counted on?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—twenty more.” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't anything about the children? I expect them home every minute.” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Delia,” he said, “you was a great fool ever to have me. You ought to have + taken advice.” + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter?” she said. “Why don't you tell me?” + </p> + <p> + “I 've lost the money,” he said. “The Captain warned me how apt a + seafaring man is to lose money; but I did n't take any heed, and I went + off with Calvin Green—” + </p> + <p> + “With Calvin Green! What did I tell you!” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Wait a minute—and I stopped into a jewelry store and bought you a + pair of ear-rings, and I came off and left my wallet on the counter, the + way that fool Joe Bassett did, to Gloucester. When I went back, the rascal + claimed he never saw me before—said he didn't know me from the + Prophet Samuel, as if I was born that minute. And now they'll all say—and + it's true—that I'm a chip of the old block, and that I 'm bound to + come out at the little end. There!” he said, as he opened a little parcel + and took out the earrings. “There 's what 's left of five hundred and + twenty dollars, and you must make the most of 'em. Hold 'em up to the + light and see how handsome they are. I don't know, after all, but they are + worth while for a man to pitch overboard off Cape Horn and harpoon whales + two years for. All is, just tell folks they cost five hundred dollars, and + they 'll be just as good as hen's-egg diamonds. + </p> + <p> + “In fact, I don't know but I sort o' like the situation,” he went on, in a + moment. “It seems sort of natural and home-like. I should have felt + homesick if I 'd really succeeded in getting this place paid for. 'T would + have seemed like getting proud, and going back on my own relations. And + then it 'll please everybody to say, 'I told you so.' There 'll be high + sport round town, when it gets out, and we back water down to the old + place. + </p> + <p> + “Come, say something, Delia!” he said, in a moment. “Why don't you say + something about it? Don't you care that the money's lost, that you stand + there and don't say a word, and look at nothing?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't want to say anything now,” she said, “I want to think.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + “Well!” said Captain Bennett, the next day, to his wife, “Delia 's got + more spunk! I should have felt like laying right down in the shafts, in + her place; but instead of that, to actually go and talk them into letting + her keep the Cal-lender place and pay for it so much a month! And David's + signed a paper to do it.” + </p> + <p> + “I guess if the truth was known,” said Mrs. Bennett, knitting on, “that, + come to think it over, she was more scared of David's settling back than + she was for losing the money.” + </p> + <p> + “She 's got a pull on him now,” said the Captain, “anyway, for if he once + agrees to a thing he always does it.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + No one fully knows the New England autumn who has not seen its colors on + the extreme Old Colony sea-board. There are no mountain ranges, opening + out far reaches of burning maples; but there are miles of salt-marsh, + spreading as far as the eye can reach, cut by countless creeks, displaying + a vast expanse of soft, rich shades of brown; there are cranberry-meadows + of twenty, thirty, or fifty level acres, covered with matted vines and + crimson with berries; there are deserted pastures, bright with golden-rod + and asters. And everywhere along the shores, against the dark pine woods, + are the varied reds of oaks, of blackberry vines, of woodbine, and of + sumach. + </p> + <p> + It was a bright fall afternoon; most of the boats were in, and lay near, + shore before the sail-loft door; the sails were up to dry,—for it + had been wet outside,—looking doubly white against the colors of the + shore. + </p> + <p> + In the sail-loft they were telling stories. + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't think myself,” said Deacon Luce, from the rocking-chair, + “that ministers always show what we call horse sense. They used to tell a + story of Parson Allen, that preached in the Old Town, in my father's time, + that pleased me. One spring the parson took a notion to raise a pig. So he + went down to Jim Barrows, that lived there handy by, and says he, 'Mr. + Barrows, I hear you have a litter of young pigs, and I should like to have + one to raise.' So Jim he got his stilyards and weighed him out one, and + the minister paid him, and Jim he sent it up. Well, the minister kep' it + some three months, and he used to go out every day and put on his + spectacles and take his scythe down from the apple-tree and mow pig-weed + for him, and he bought corn-meal to feed him up with, and one way and + another he laid out a good deal on him. The pig fattened well, but the + whole incessant time he was either rooting out and gitting into the + garden, or he'd ketch his foot in behind the trough and squeal like mad, + or something else, so that the minister had to keep leaving his + sermon-writing to straighten him out, and the minister's wife complained + of the squealing when she had company. And so the parson decided to heave + the enterprise up, and Jim sent up and took the pig back. Come to settle, + 'How do we stand?' says the minister. 'Oh, just as you say,' says Jim, + 'I'll leave it to you.' 'Well,' says the minister, 'on the one hand you've + got back a pig that you've been paid for; but, on the other hand, I 've + had the use of him for some three months,—and so I guess we 're + square.'” “Talking of preachers,” said Caleb Parker, “reminds me of a + story they tell of Uncle Cephas Bascom, of Northhaven. Uncle Cephas was a + shoemaker, and he never went to sea much, only to anchor his skift in the + Narrows abreast of his house, and catch a mess of scup, or to pole a load + of salt-hay from San-quitt Island. But he used to visit his married + daughter, in Vermont, and up there they knew he come from the sea-board, + and they used to call him 'Captain Bascom.' So, one time when he was + there, they had a Sabbath-school concert, and nothing would do but + 'Captain Bascom' must talk to the boys, and tell a sea-yarn, and draw a + moral, the way the Deacon, here, does.” The Deacon gravely smiled, and + stroked his beard. “Well, Uncle Cephas was ruther pleased with his name of + 'Captain Bascom,' and he did n't like to go back on it, and so he flaxed + round to git up something. It seems he had heard a summer boarder talk in + Sabbath-school, at Northhaven; he told how a poor boy minded his mother, + and then got to tend store, and then kep' store himself, and then he + jumped it on them. 'That poor boy,' says he, 'now stands before you.' So + Uncle Cephas thought him up a similar yarn. Well, he had never spoke in + meeting before, and he hemmed and hawed some, but he got on quite well + while he was telling about a certain poor boy, and all that, and how the + boy when he grew up was out at sea, in an open boat, and saw a great + sword-fish making for the boat Hail Columbia, and bound to stave right + through her and sink her,—and how this man he took an oar, and give + it a swing, and broke the critter's sword square off; and then Uncle + Cephas—he 'd begun to git a little flustered—he stops short, + and waves his arms, and says he, 'Boys, what do you think! That sword-fish + now stands before you!' I cal'late that brought the house down.” Captain + Philo, who had laid down his three-cornered sail-needle, to listen to this + exciting story, readjusted the leather thimble that covered his palm, and + began to sew again. Uncle Silas, sitting near the water door, in his brown + overalls made with a breast-apron and suspender-straps, looked out at the + boats. A silence fell on the company. + </p> + <p> + It was broken by Calvin Green. + </p> + <p> + “A man was telling me rather a curious story, the other night,” he said. + “I was just explaining to him exactly how 't was that David Prince lost + his money, and so he told this:— + </p> + <p> + “There was a boy that was clerk in a store, and one day they sent him over + to the bank to git some money. It was before the war, and the bank gave + him twenty ten-dollar gold pieces. But when he got back to the store there + was one short. The boy hadn't nothin' to say. He admitted he had n't + dropped none, because he 'd put 'em in a leather bag where he could n't + lose one without he lost all, and the cashier knew <i>he</i> had n't made + any mistake. The storekeeper he heard the story, and then he put his hand + on the boy's shoulder, and says he, 'I don't know what to make o' this; + but I believe this boy,' says he, 'and we 'll just drop it, and say no + more about it.' So it run along, and the next day that it rained, one of + the clerks in the store took down an old umberella, and, come to unfurl + it, out falls a ten-dollar gold piece. Seems that the boy had that + umberella that day, and hooked it on to the counter in the bank, by the + handle, and one of the coins must have slid off into it when he was + countin' 'em, and then he probably did n't spread the umberella coming + back. And, as this man said that was telling me, it don't do to bet too + much on suspicion. Now, only for that Jew's being such a hard character, + according to the newspapers, I should be loath to charge him with taking + David's money; I should say David might have lost it somewhere else.” + </p> + <p> + Nobody spoke. Captain Bennett whistled softly. + </p> + <p> + “I never felt so bad in my life,” continued Green, “as I did when he + missed his money. When we come up into the depot he was telling me a kind + of a comical story about old Jim Torrey, how he wanted to find out if all + his hens was laying, or if any of 'em was disposed to shirk, and he got + him a pass-book ruled in columns, and opened a ledger account with every + hen, by a name he give her; and we got up to the ticket-window, and he put + his hand into his breast-pocket for his wallet—by George! I 've seen + him chaff and joke, sort of quiet, when we was going to ride under every + minute; but he turned as white then as that new mainsail, and off he went, + like a shot But 't was no use. Of course, the jewelry feller would n't + disgorge on David's say-so, without no proof.” + </p> + <p> + “It was like this,” he went on; “the counter was here,—and David + stood here,—and I was here,—and we both come off together. But + I tell you,—the way David looked when he put in his hand for his + wallet! He stopped laughing, as if he see a ghost; I can't get it out of + my head. And how the man that stole the money can stand it I can't figure + out.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he 's calloused,” said the Deacon, “by what the paper said the + other night about his buying a parcel of clothes hooked out of some man's + entry. We concluded 'twas the same man—by the name.” + </p> + <p> + “Can't believe all that's in the paper,” said Perez Todd; “you know the + paper had me to be married, once; the boys put it in for fun; they made up + the name for the female, I guess, for I 've been kind of shyin' round for + her this ten year, and have n't seen no such woman.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir, he's a hard ticket,” said Green; “that's so, every time. Well, + I must be going; I agreed to go and help Elbridge over at half flood.” + </p> + <p> + “Half flood about five,” said Captain Bennett; “you have n't any great + time to spare.” + </p> + <p> + Green went to the shore, rattled a skiff down over the beach to the water, + and pulled away, with quick, short strokes. First the skiff was cut off + from sight by the marsh-bank; then the rower's head alone was seen above + the tall brown grasses; and then he pulled around the bend and was lost to + view behind a mass of flaming woodbine; and still, in the distance, could + be heard across the water the rattle of his oars in the thole-pins. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Silas?” said Captain Bennett. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” said Uncle Silas. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I 've nothing to say,” said Captain Bennett + </p> + <p> + “Nor I,” said Uncle Silas. + </p> + <p> + “Calvin's always seemed to be a good-hearted fellow,” said Captain Philo, + “since he's lived here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” said Captain Bennett; “seems to feel for David surprisingly. + Told me all about the losing of the money, told my wife, told my boy, told + Uncle Joe, told our minister, told the Doctor, told Zimri Cobb, told Cyrus + Bass, told Captain John Wells, told Patrick Coan; and proves it out to 'em + all that 't was the Jew that did it.” + </p> + <p> + “Kind of zealous, like the Apostle Paul supplying the pulpit to the + Gentiles,” said the Deacon; “won't let alone of a man, till he gives in 't + the Hebrew's in the wrong.” + </p> + <p> + “But I 've nothing to say,” said Captain Bennett. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, nor I,” said Uncle Silas. + </p> + <p> + From the distance, borne on the gentle breeze, a click as even as a + pulse-beat came faintly over the water. + </p> + <p> + “He may be a good-hearted fellow,” said the Deacon, “but I don't know as I + hanker to be the man that's pulling that skiff. But then,—that may + be simply and solely because I prefer a hair-cloth rocker to a skiff.” + </p> + <p> + “Delia,” said David Prince to his wife, one afternoon, “Calvin Green has + bought four tickets to that stereopticon show that's going to be in the + West Church to-night, and he gave me two, for you and me.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't want his tickets,” she replied, ironing away at the sunny window. + </p> + <p> + “Now, what's the use of talking that way?” said her husband, “as much as + to say—” + </p> + <p> + “I have my opinion,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said her husband, “I think it's a hard way to use a man, just + because he happened to be by when I lost my money.” + </p> + <p> + “I 'll tell you,” said Delia, stopping her work; “we will go, and all I + 'll say is this—you see if after the lecture's over he does n't find + a text in it to talk about our money. Now, you just wait and see—that's + all.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + “Ladies and gentlemen,” said the lecturer, standing by a great circle of + light thrown on the wall, behind the pulpit, “I have now, with a feeling + of awe befitting this sacred place, thus given you, in the first part of + my lecture, a succinct view of the origin, rise, and growth of the globe + on which, as the poet has justly said, 'we dwell.' I have shown you—corroborating + Scripture—the earth, without form and void, the awful monsters of + the Silurian age, and Man in the Garden of Eden. + </p> + <p> + “I now invite you to journey with me—as one has said—'across + the continent.' + </p> + <p> + “Travelling has ever been viewed as a means of education. Thus Athenian + sages sought the learning of the Orient. Thus may we this evening, without + toil or peril, or expense beyond the fifteen cents already incurred for + the admission-fee, journey in spirit from the wild Atlantic to the sunset + coast. In the words of the sacred lyrist, Edgar A. Poe, 'My country, 't is + of thee,' that I shall now display some views. + </p> + <p> + “Of course we start from Boston. On the way to New York, we will first + pause to view the scene where Putnam galloped down a flight of steps, + beneath the hostile fire. See both mane and coat-tails flying in the wind, + and the eyes of steed and rider wildly dilated with excitement. + </p> + <p> + “Next we pause in Brooklyn. And from my immense variety of scenes in the + City of Churches, I choose the firemen's monument in Greenwood Cemetery. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Here they lie low who raised their ladders high; + Here they still live,—for heroes cannot die!' +</pre> + <p> + [A voice: “How many are buried there?”] + </p> + <p> + “I should say, at a venture, eighteen. [A rustle of sympathy among the + women.] + </p> + <p> + “Passing on, and coming thence to the metropolis of New York, I am greatly + embarrassed, so vast is the richness and variety of views. But I will show + first the 'Five Points.' [Great eagerness, and cries, “Down front!”] Of + late, philanthropy and religion, walking in sweet converse, hand in hand, + have relieved the horrors of this region, and now one may walk there + comparatively safe. [Sudden cessation of interest] + </p> + <p> + “I will give even another view of the metropolis: a charming scene in + Central Park. [Here wavered dimly on the screen five bushes, and a + nursery-maid with a baby-carriage.] From this exquisite picture you may + gain some faint idea of the charms of that Paradise raised by the wand of + taste and skill in a waste of arid sands. + </p> + <p> + “Passing westward, I next present the Suspension Bridge at Niagara, + erected by drawing over the majestic stream a cord, a small rope, then a + wire, until the whole vast framework was complete. The idea was taken from + the spider's web. Thus the humblest may guide the highest; and I love to + recall, in this connection, that the lamented Lincoln, some years before + signing the Emancipation Proclamation, heard me lecture on slavery, in + Peoria. + </p> + <p> + “Next we come to Cleveland; and our attention is seized by three cannons + taken in the famous naval battle on the lake. Every visitor pauses here, + and with uncovered head and eyes suffused with tears recalls the + sacrifices of the Fathers. + </p> + <p> + “Next we view Chicago the morning after the fire; on every hand are + blackened ruins,—painful proofs of the vicissitudes of human + fortune! [A voice: “I was there at the time.”] I am delighted to know it + Such spontaneous corroboration from the audience is to the lecturer's + heart as a draught from the well of Baca. [Laughter, and a voice: “What + Baker?”] + </p> + <p> + “But, in order to cross so broad a continent, we must not dally, and next + I show you the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, the seat of a defiant + system of sin. All things, however, have their uses, and I can recommend + this religion to any young lady present who does not find it easy to + secure a helpmeet. [Appreciative laughter.] + </p> + <p> + “And now, for a view of the Pacific States, I choose two of the famed Big + Trees. Judge of them by the two men who stand, like the Widow's mites, + beside them. These trees are called 'Father and Daughter.' [A voice: + “Which is Father, and which is Daughter?”] I am not informed, but from + their appearance I judge that the nearer is the Father. [Derisive + laughter.] + </p> + <p> + “And now we approach a climax. + </p> + <p> + “When the Ten Thousand, in their storied march, reached at last the blue + waters of the Euxine, thrilled with joy they loudly cried: 'The Sea! The + Sea!' So we, travellers likewise, reach at last the Western Ocean; and for + a striking scene upon its waters, I present a Pacific Mail steamer at her + dock in the harbor of San Francisco. In the left foreground is a Chinese + laundry. And now I can hardly restrain myself from passing on to Asia; for + imagination, taking fire, beckons to Niphon and the Flowery Kingdom. But + remorseless Time says no, and we pause at the Golden Gate. + </p> + <p> + “In closing, now, I will, as is usual, give one or two moral views, + relieved by others of a somewhat playful character. + </p> + <p> + “First is Napoleon's grave. He who held Europe struggling in his hand, + died a prisoner in solitudes remote, far from home endearments. + </p> + <p> + “Next you see Daniel Lambert, whose greatness was of a more solid cast. + Less grasping in his pretensions than Napoleon, he lived an honored life, + and died, I understand, among his relatives. + </p> + <p> + “Next is a picture of the guillotine, calling up thoughts of severed heads + from memory's cloisters. On the left you see a ghastly head; on the right + the decapitated trunk. By the victim stand the bloody actors in the + tragedy. Ladies and gentlemen! When I review the awful guilt of Marat and + Robespierre, humbly do I give thanks that I have been kept from yielding, + like them, to fierce ambition and lust of power, and that I can lay my + head upon a peaceful pillow at my home in Fall River. + </p> + <p> + “Next is the Serenade. Part one: The Spanish lover with bow-knot shoes, + pointed hat, and mantle over shoulder, stands, with his lute, on the + covered water-butt, while at the casement above is his lady's charming + face. Part two: The head of the water-butt has given way, and the angry + father, from his window, beholds a scene of luckless misery. + </p> + <p> + “I turn now to a more pleasing view,—the Village Blacksmith. The + mighty man is at his work, and by a triumph of art I am enabled to show + his fine physique in action: now you see his arm uplifted,—and now + the hammer is on the iron. Up—down—up—down. [A voice: + “There are two right arms!”] That arises from some slight defect in the + arrangement of the light; the uplifted arm does not entirely vanish when + the lowered arm appears. But to the thoughtful observer, such slight + contrasts only heighten enjoyment. + </p> + <p> + “Ladies and gentlemen! A single word in closing. Our transcontinental + journey this evening ended at the Golden Gate. When life's journey ends, + may we not so pause, but, as the poet Judson Backus sweetly sings:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'May we find an angel wait + To lead us through the “golden gate.”' +</pre> + <p> + “Meanwhile, adieu.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + David Prince and his wife walked slowly home in the clear, cold moonlight. + </p> + <p> + “Did you notice,” said Delia, “how the man kept saying that he didn't know + just what to pick out, to show? Well, I heard the Kelley boy, that helped + at the lamps, say that they showed every identical picture there was. I + suppose they are a lot of odds and ends he picked up at an auction.” + </p> + <p> + “I think he was a kind of a humbug,” said Calvin Green, who, with his + wife, had come up close behind. “See how he kept dragging in his morals, + jes like overhauling a trawl and taking off a haddock, every once in so + often.” + </p> + <p> + “What away to travel,” said his wife; “to go ker-jump from New York City + to Niagara, and from there to Cleveland. He must have thought we had long + stilts.” + </p> + <p> + “The pictures were rather here and there and everywhere, to be sure,”, + said David; “but I have a good deal of charity for these men; I s'pose + they 're put to it for bread and butter.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know,” said Green; “I don't think it has a good influence + on young people to show such a picture as that man that they murdered by + slicing his head off with that machine. I don't like such things to be + brought up.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think the opposite,” said his wife, laughing, “by the way you + 've told every man in town about David's money, and the way he blanched + when he missed it. I think you 'd better take a lesson yourself about + bringing up dreadful things.” + </p> + <p> + When they reached Green's house, a low, black cottage, they stopped a + moment for the women to finish a discussion about croup. + </p> + <p> + “How did that look to you now, David?” said Green. “Did n't you think it + would have been a good deal better to have left that picture out?” + </p> + <p> + “Which one?” said David. + </p> + <p> + “Why, the one where they'd chopped the man's head off with that machine, + and were standing by, looking at the corpse. I don't like to see such + things, for my part.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said David. “I did n't think about it particularly. I + understood it was in the French Revolution.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, see all that flummer-diddle he got off about it,” said Green; “just + as if any fool did n't know that a man could n't sleep that was haunted by + a thing like that.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, some can stomach anything, and I suppose some can sleep on + anything,” said David. “I guess it would take more than slicing one man's + head off to make that Jew lie awake nights. If he 'd only admitted that I + 'd been there! But as soon as I said I 'd left something, then for him and + his wife to claim they never saw me! They 're cool ones!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, right here,—about what my wife flung out,” said Green, + glancing over his shoulder to where the women were talking, both at once, + woman-fashion; “you know my wife's way,—you haven't ever heard any + such talk going round, have you, as that I was hounding folks about your + bad luck? I say an honest man speaks right out,—no fear, no favor. + Ain't that so?” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + It was a bitterly cold, clear night, a few weeks later. Runners squeaked + and boot-heels crunched in the road. David had passed Green's house at + seven o'clock, going to the store; he always went by there at that time, + Saturdays, and passed again, returning home, at about eight. + </p> + <p> + When he reached the gate, on his return, Green was standing there, + apparently waiting. + </p> + <p> + “Come into the house a minute, David,” he said; “I want to see you.” + </p> + <p> + He led him into the kitchen. + </p> + <p> + “My wife's gone over to Aunt Nathan's for the evening,” he said. + </p> + <p> + He shut the door, and locked it. + </p> + <p> + “There!” he said; “I can't stand it any longer;” and he laid upon a table + at David's side a wallet. David took it up and opened it; it held a great + roll of bills. + </p> + <p> + “What does this mean?” he said; “why—this is mine! You don't mean—” + </p> + <p> + “I mean I stole it,” said Green. + </p> + <p> + David sat down. “I wish you had put it in the fire,” he said, “and never + told me.” + </p> + <p> + “There 's just one thing I want to say,” said Green. “I picked it up, + first, to give it to you, and when I saw that you 'd forgot it, I thought + I 'd have a little joke on you for a while; and then, when I saw how + things was going, I kind o' drifted into keeping it. You know how I come + home,—all my voyage eat up, and a hundred dollars' debts besides, + and children sick. But every dollar 's there. + </p> + <p> + “Now, what I ask,” he added, “is four days' time to ship and get away. + What are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” said David; “settle your debts and pay me when you can.” And + taking five twenty-dollar bills from the wallet, he left them on the table + and went away. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Five Hundred Dollars, by Heman White Chaplin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS *** + +***** This file should be named 23006-h.htm or 23006-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/0/23006/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Five Hundred Dollars + First published in the "Century Magazine" + +Author: Heman White Chaplin + +Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS + +By Heman White Chaplin + +1887 + +First published in the "Century Magazine." + + + + +I. + +Captain Philo's sail-loft was a pleasant place to sit in, and it was +much frequented. At one end was a wide, sliding door, that opened on the +water, and through it you saw the little harbor and the low, glistening +sand-bar at its entrance, and whitecaps in the sea beyond, and shining +sails. At the other end another wide door led, by a gently descending +cleated platform, to the ground. + +It was a pleasant place to rest and refresh the mind in, whether you +chose to look in or out. You could rock in the hair-cloth chair by the +water door, and join in conversation with more active persons mending +seines upon the wharf; or you could dangle your heels from the +work-bench, and listen to stories and debates inside, and look on +Captain Philo sewing upon a mainsail. + +It was a summer afternoon: warm under the silver poplars, hot in the +store, and hotter in the open street; but in the sail-loft it was cool. + +"More than once," Captain Bennett was remarking from the rocking-chair, +while his prunella shoes went up and down,--"more than once I've wished +that I could freight this loft to Calcutta on speculation, and let it +out, so much a head, for so long a time, to set in and cool off." + +"How about them porious water-jars they hev there?" asked Uncle Silas, +who had never sailed beyond Cape Pogue; "how do they work?" + +"Well," said the captain, "they 're so-so. But you set up this loft, +both doors slid open, air drawing through and all, right on Calcutta +main street, or what they call the Maiden's Esplanade, and fit it up +with settees like a conference-meeting, and advertise, and you could let +out chances to set for twenty cents an hour." + +"You 'd hev to hev a man to take tickets, to the door," said Uncle +Silas, who had been looking for an easy job for forty years. + +"That's Si all over." said Captain Bennett, with a wink; "that berth +would be just his size." + +"Well," said Uncle Silas, faintly smiling, "'t is no use rubbin' the fur +the wrong way; stroke the world from head to tail is my rule." + +"Speaking of folks being easy," said Captain Bennett, "it seems there +'s quite a little story about David Prince's voyage on the 'Viola.'" "I +thought he went off whaling rather in a hurry," said Captain Philo, +"and if it had been 'most anybody else, I should have thought there was +something up." + +"It seems," said Captain Bennett, "it was like this: You know, Delia was +n't much over ten years old when her mother died, along a piece after +her father, and she come to live with us. And you know how she was +almost like one of the family. Well, about eight years ago, when she +'d got to be towards nineteen, it was then that David first set out to +shine up to her; and when he begun to come home from singing-school with +her that winter, and got to coming to the house quite often the next +spring along, I begun to feel a little shaky. Finally, one Sunday +afternoon I was sitting out on the porch and she was singing hymns +inside,--you know she was always singing,--and I called to her to quit +and come out, and sit down alongside of me, and says I,--"'Delia, it +can't be you 're thinking of taking up with David Prince?' + +"Well, she flared a little, but finally says she: + +"'Why should n't I, or anybody that has the chance, take David Prince?' + +"'Well,' says I, 'I don't think you need to ask why; I should say that +a smart girl wouldn't want more than to travel once along the Lower Road +and see those two run-down houses,--one deserted, and the other, handy +by, about as bad,--and the barn across the road, that was raised and +boarded in over forty years ago, and never shingled, and stood so till +it's all rotted and sunk in.' + +"'What's that got to do with David?' says she. + +"'It's got this to do with David,' says I, 'that his father and his +Uncle Ezekiel and their father before 'em--good, kindly men--all seemed +to settle, settle, somehow; and it was all to-morrow, and to-morrow, +with 'em; 'and then I told Delia how they sold off their wood and +then their land, piecemeal, all but the spot where the old buildings +stand,--and that's worth nothing. + +"'And that's the way,' says I, 'it 'll be with David when he gets over +being a boy and settles down; it's in the blood; and I don't want to see +you, Delia, keel-hauled there--'" + +"Like David's mother,--Prudence Frost, that was," said Uncle Silas; +"originally she was a good, smart girl, and full of jingle; but finally +she give up and come to it,--lef sweepin'-day out o' the almanic, washed +dishes in cold water, and made up beds at bedtime; and when she ironed a +shirt, jes' 's like's not she 'd iron a hoss-fly right into the bosom." + +"And lived a dog's life generally," said Captain Bennett. "So I laid the +whole thing out to Delia, the best way I knew how. + +"'Well,' says she, 'I know you mean my good, Captain Bennett,--but I +shall take my chances.' And so she did. Well--" + +"Speakin' o' the barn," said Uncle Silas, "do you remember that high +shay that David's father hed? I was up to the Widow Pope's vendue the +day he bid it off. He managed to spunk up so fur's to hitch the shaffs +under his team and fetch the vehicle home, and then he hed n't no place +to put it up out o' the weather,--and so he druv it along under that big +Bald'n apple-tree that used to stand by the pantry window, on the north +side o' the house, and left it there, with the shaffs clawin' down in +the ground. Then the talk was, he was goin' to build him a sort of a +little tabernacle for it before winter set in; and he hed down a load +of lumber from Uncle Joe's mill and hed it dumped down alongside o' the +shay. But the shay was n't never once hitched up, nor the tabernacle +built; and the timber and the shay jes' set there, side by side, seein' +who 'd speak first, for twenty year, to my cer-ting knowledge; and you +go by there when it was blowin' fresh, and the old curtings would be +flappin' in and out, black and white, till finally the whole arrangement +sunk out o' sight. I guess there 's more or less wrack there now, 'f you +sh'd go poke in the grass." + +"It was thirty-one year ago, come October, that he bought the shay," +said Captain Philo; "it was the fall I was cast away on the Tombstones, +and lost every dollar I had. I remember it because the old man came down +to the house of his own accord, when I got home, and let me have two +hundred dollars. He 'd just been selling the West New Field; and when he +'d sold land and had money on hand, it was anybody's that wanted it. But +what was it about David's going off so sudden on the 'Viola'?" + +"Oh, yes, I forgot my errand," said Captain Bennett; "and now I 've got +adrift in my story, and I shall have to take an observation; let's see, +where was I?" + +"Delia allowed she 'd take her chances," said Uncle Silas. + +"Oh, yes," said Captain Bennett. "Well, you know how it was when they +got married: David fixed the old house up a little, and mother put in +some furniture and things for her, and all went on first-rate awhile; +and then you know how David begun to settle, settle, just the old way; +could n't seem to keep up to the wind; appeared to carry a lee helm, +somehow; and Delia begun to take in work and go out to work, and quit +singing. She never said a word, even to my wife; but I could see 't it +cut her a good deal--" + +"But all this time," said Uncle Silas, "she 's kep' up smart,--allers +hed a high crower's-feather 'n her bunnet, and kep' her little boys +a-lookin' like nine-shillin' dolls." + +"I should n't have ever called David lazy," said Captain Philo. "He +could n't seem to make up his mind what to do next, that 's all; but get +him going--you remember how he worked at Jason's fire; and I know of my +own knowledge he was in the surf for sixteen hours, when that Norwegian +bark was on the Bar." + +"I think there's some folks," said Uncle Silas, "that their mind works +all the time--runs a day gang and runs a night gang. You know how a hard +sum 'll shake itself out in your head overnight; and I think it's the +most natural thing that a man with a A No. I active mind always should +feel sort of tired and not know what ails him. George, won't you jes' +git up and hand me that pipe--you ain't doin' nothin'." + +"However it was," said Captain Bennett, "Delia saw that he was drifting +to leeward, and she was worried. Well, you know when the reformation set +in, that winter, and run crowded houses,--one night in the West Church +and the next in the other. One night David surprised his wife by going; +and he set in a back seat, and come away and said nothing; and the same +the next night; and the same for seven or eight nights right along. +Finally, one night, they had a pretty searching sermon,--'_Choose ye +this day_,' et cetera,--and I suppose the Deacon, here, was rather +expecting David to rise for prayers; but, instead of that, as soon +as Amen was said, he gets right up, and off he goes, and leaves Delia +there, without saying a word to her or to anybody, and goes right up to +Captain Westcott's house and agrees to ship. And glad enough Captain +W. was to have him, and next day off he went. Now here he is, gone two +years and over, and comes home night before last; his lay 'll figure +out five hundred dollars; and the biggest thing is"--here the Captain +brought down his heavy hand, for emphasis, on Uncle Silas's knee--"that +Delia 's kept herself and the children, and never drawn one cent against +the voyage; so they've got the whole clear, and they 've been up this +morning early and traded for the Callender place, and they 're going to +move in to-morrow. And I guess he means business now." + +"But they don't git paid off till Monday," said Uncle Silas. "They 're +all goin' up to town to be paid off then." + +"Well, he moves in to-morrow, anyway," said Captain Bennett. "Monday +night, I believe, he's going to pay down what he has, and take a deed, +and give a mortgage back for the balance." + +But Uncle Silas gravely shook his head. + +"I can't indorse this runnin' in haste," he said. "I never, in all my +experience, knew a man before to buy real estate without sort of goin' +up street and talkin' it over, and comparin' notes 'round generally. +Now, we could have given him points down here about the Callender +place." + +"Oh, he's made a good trade there," said Captain Bennett. + +"That all may be," said Uncle Silas, "but it 's the principle, not the +five cents, I 'm lookin' at. I should have hed more faith in his holdin' +out if he hed n't jumped quite so quick. 'Slow bind, fast find,' I say." + +Captain Bennett rose, and drew on a grass-cloth coat that showed his +suspenders through. + +"I must be on my winding way," he said. "But did you hear how close he +came to never coming back? No? Well, it was like this: It was blowing +a gale, and considerable sea on, one night when they were rounding Cape +Horn on the home voyage, and she was pitching pretty bad, and David was +out on the jib-boom taking in jib, and somehow she pitched with a jerk, +so he lost his hold and went off, and, as he fell in the dark, naturally +he struck out both hands, blind, like this; and he just happened to +catch, by sheer accident, a gasket that was hanging from the jib-boom, +and so he saved himself by a hair's breadth. And when he came up they +thought it was his ghost." + +"Well, I always make it a point to look on the bright side, without +exception," said Uncle Silas; "nevertheless, I prophesy it won't be two +years before he 'll have the place all eat up, and sold out under the +mortgage. This jumpin' so quick,--looks as if he was sca't to trust +himself for a day." + +"Well, we shall see," said Captain Bennett; "time will tell." + +***** + +There are many little farms along the New England sea-board, which the +currents of life, diverted from ancient channels, have left one side, +pleasant and homelike often, but of small money value. The Callender +place was such a farm. + +It lay a mile from the village, in a hamlet of half-a-dozen dwellings. +There was a substantial house, with four large rooms below, besides an +L kitchen, and above, two sunny chambers, each with a dormer and a gable +window. From the front fence projected, for a hitching-post, a Minerva, +carved from wood,--a figure-head washed up years before from the wreck +of a brig with the bodies of the crew. + +The house was on a little elevation, and looked across the road, near +which it stood, and over a sloping field or two, to sea. From the +windows you could count the sail in the North Channel, and look down the +coast and follow with the eye the long, low curving line of shore until +at Indian Point it vanished; or look up shore ten miles to where +the coast-line ended in a bold, wooded headland, which seemed, by a +perpetual mirage, to bear foliage so lofty as to show daylight through +beneath the branches. At night you could see the flash of the revolving +light on Windmill Rock, and the constant rays from the lightship on +the Rips. So that by day or night you could never be lonesome, unless, +perhaps, on some thick night, when you could see no light, and could +only hear a grating knell from the bell-buoy, and could seem to see, +through the white darkness, the waters washing over its swaying barrel. + +There was a good-sized boarded barn, well shingled on the roof, with +hay-mows, and with room for two or three cows and a horse and a wagon, +and with wide doors "fore and aft," as the neighbors put it; through its +big front door you could look out to sea. Then there were twenty acres +of land, including a wood-lot which could be thinned out every year to +give one all his fire-wood, and what was cut would hardly be missed. + +Such was the place which, on the death of the Widow Callender, had been +offered for sale for eight hundred dollars. For months it had stood +empty, stormed by all the sea-winds, lit up by the sun, when at last an +unexpected buyer had turned up in David Prince. + +***** + +It was a happy Sunday that he passed with his little family at the new +home. They went all over the house again and again, and looked from +every window, and planned where flower-frames should be put, to take +the sun. Then, going out of doors, they inspected the revolving +clothes-dryer, which David, with a seaman's instinct, had already rigged +with four little sloops to sail about on the ends of the projecting +arms, on Mondays, tacking after shirts and stockings. Then they went +to the barn, and David showed how he was going to cover the sides with +spruce shingles, so that he could have a warm place to work in in the +winter. Then they went over the fields, and planned a garden for the +next spring; and then they went down to the shore, and, where a little +arm of the sea made in, David showed where he would haul up his dory, +and would keep his boat, when he could afford to get one together: in +the mean time he was going to fish on shares with Jacob Foster, who +lived a few rods up the road. Then they all strolled back to the house, +and dined on shore-birds shot on Saturday afternoon, and new potatoes +and turnips which Jacob Foster had brought in. + +After dinner, they all sat at the front windows, in the room which they +were pleased to call the parlor, David holding on his knees the two +oldest boys, delighted with the recovery of such a Sindbad of a father, +while the third, still a little shy of him, stood by his mother. David +told of the voyage, repeating, by request, full half-a-dozen times, the +story of the night when he was snapped off the end of the jib-boom; +to do which he had to set the boys down and stand, to make the swift, +sudden clutch, with his eyes shut, at the towing rope; at which the boys +screamed on every repetition. + +After supper, David and his wife, leaving the children with orders to go +to bed at the first flash from the Windmill, went to church. + +They took the same back seat which they had the night that David +shipped. There was much the same scene before them. There was +bald-headed Deacon Luce, in his usual Damocles' seat exactly beneath the +dangling chandelier, which children watched in morbid hope of a horror; +there was the president of the Dorcas Society, a gray-haired woman who +had navigated home a full-rigged ship from the Gold Coast; there were +grave-faced men who, among them, could have charted half the globe. In +the pulpit was the same old-fashioned, bookish man, who, having led +his college class, had passed his life in this unknown parish, lost +in delight, in his study, in the great Athenian's handling of the +presumptuous Glaucon, or simply unfolding parables in his pulpit. + +That former night came vividly back to Delia Prince. Through the opening +hymn, in which she did not join; through the story of the feast in +Simon's house, she was thinking of the time when David told her he had +shipped, and she had made up her mind to save a home. + +But in the second hymn she joined; and in her joy she forgot herself and +sang,--as she had been used to sing when she was the leader of all the +singing. In a moment they all knew that she was there. + + "Thus far the Lord hath led me on; + Thus far His power prolongs my days; + And every evening shall make known + Some fresh memorial of His grace." + + + + +II. + +"M. Isaacs" was over the door; Mr. Isaacs was within. Without, three +golden balls were hanging, like apples of the Hesperides; within was an +array of goods which the three balls had brought in. + +Mr. Isaacs was walking to and fro behind the counter, and briskly +rubbing his hands. + +"My good wife Sarah," he said, with a strong Semitic accent, "those +sudden, raw east winds! I am so frozen as if I was enjoying myself upon +the skating-rink,--and here it is the summer. Where is that long spring +overcoat that German man hypotecated with us last evening? Between the +saddle and the gold-lace uniform, you say?" + +And taking it down, by means of a long, hooked pole, he put it on. It +covered his ears and swept the ground: "It make me look like Aaron in +those pictures," he said. + +It would have been a grasping disposition that could not be suited with +something from out Mr. Isaacs's stock. It would have been hard to name +a faculty of the human soul or a member of the human body to which it +could not lend aid and comfort. One musically inclined could draw the +wailing bow or sway the accordion; pucker at the pensive flute, or beat +the martial, soul-arousing drum. One stripped, as it were, on his way +to Jericho, could slink in here and select for himself a fig-leaf from +a whole Eden of cut-away coats and wide-checkered trousers, all fitting +"to surprise yourself," and could be quite sure of finding a pair of +boots, of whatever size was needed, of the very finest custom hand +work,--a misfit, made for a gentleman in New York. A devout man, +according to his leanings, could pray from the prayer-book of an +impoverished Episcopalian, or sing from the hymn-book of an insolvent +Baptist. + +"So help me gracious!" Mr. Isaacs used to say, raising his shoulders +and opening wide his palms; "when you find a man so ungrateful that he +cannot be fitted out with somethings from my stock, I really suppose you +could not fit that man out in Paradise." + +Mr. Isaacs was looking nervous. But it was not by the images which +his ordinary stock in trade would naturally cause to arise that he +was disturbed,--images though they were of folly, improvidence, and +distress. There was indeed hardly an article in the shop, except the new +plated jewelry in the window, that was not suggestive of misery or +of sin. But in Mr. Isaacs's well-poised mind no morbid fancies arose. +"Those hard winters makes me cheerful," he was wont to say in the fall; +"they makes the business lifely." + +Still, Mr. Isaacs was a little troubled this afternoon, and, singularly +enough, about a most happy purchase that he had just made, at ninety per +cent below value. There the articles lay upon the counter,--a silk hat, +a long surtout, a gold-headed cane and a pair of large rubbers; a young +man's Derby hat and overcoat and rattan cane, and a pair of arctics; +a lady's bonnet and dolman and arctics; a young girl's hat with a soft +bird's-breast, and her seal-skin sack and arctics; besides four small +boys' hats and coats and arctics. It seemed as if some modern Elijah, a +family man, expectant of translation, had made with thrifty forethought +an "arrangement" that Mr. Isaacs's shop should be the point of +departure, and flying off in joyous haste, with wife and children, had +left the general raiment on the counter. You would naturally have looked +for a sky-lit hole in the ceiling. + +"So help me gracious!" said Mr. Isaacs, turning the articles over; "I +suppose there 's some policemen just so wicked and soospicious to say I +must know those garments are stolen--scooped off some hat-tree, the last +winter, at one grab." + +"Why do you enter dose on de book to-gedder?" said Mrs. Isaacs. "If +you put dose separate on de book, how de policeman know dey came in +togedder?" + +"That is a great danger, Sarah. That's just the way they fix our good +friend Greenbaum. When they caught the thief, and he tell them where he +sell some things, and Greenbaum had put down those earrings and those +bracelets and that Balmoral skirt for three different times, they say he +must know those things was stolen,--if not, why did he put those things +down different from each other? + +"But so help me gracious!" he added, presently, "I have not the least +soospicions, like the babes unborn, those goods are stolen. The man that +brought them in was very frank, and very much of a gentleman; and he lay +his hand upon his bosom-pin, and swear he sell those things because +he has no more use for them,--his family all sick of tyvoid fever, and +cannot live the week out. But I suppose there's some policemen just so +soospicious to say I must know those things are stolen." + +"And so cruel soospicions," said Mrs. Isaacs,--"and your heart so pure +and white like your shirt-bosom." She meant his ideal shirt-bosom. + +"Just like those evil-minded policemen," he said. "You remember how they +lock up our old friend Abrahamson? So help me gracious! sent that good +old man to prison, just because he buy two gold watches and two pairs +of gold spectacles and an ivory-handled knife and two empty pocket-books +and two silk umbrellas and a seal ring and two bunches of keys and two +black wigs from a red-headed laboring man; they say he must know that +two old gentlemen were robbed of that personal property." + +But here his attention was diverted by the sight of two men, seamen to +appearance, who were looking into the show-window. + +"I like so much," he said, "to see the public enjoying themselves in my +window; it give them so happy pleasure to see those lovely things; and +often they comes in and buy somethings. This young man," he added, after +a pause, "seem to admire those broad neck-wear; he look at both those +two,--the Four-in-hand and the Frolic." + +"I think he look most at de Frolic," said Mrs. Isaacs; "I think he would +come in if you go outside and take him by de arm like a true frient, and +bring him in. My broder Moses walk outside de whole day long, and take +each man when he go by and talk to him like his own broder, wid tears in +his eyes, and make dem come in and buy somedings." + +But Mr. Isaacs only wrapped the long coat more closely about his linen +garments, and watched the younger man as he turned his eyes away from +the Four-in-hand and the Frolic and bent them on the trays in which +were glittering tiers of rings and pins, and rows of watches labelled +"Warranted genuine, $14;" "Dirt-cheap, $8.75;" "Doct's Watch, +Puls-counting, $19.50." + +"He look like he had some money," said Mrs. Isaacs. "Perhaps he would +come in and buy a watch if you go out and pull him in. How can he +buy someding through de glass? My broder Moses say, 'So many folks is +bashful.'" + +But at last the men, after talking awhile, apparently of the goods in +the window, came in. + +"What's the price of some of those ear-rings in the window?" said the +younger. "Let's see what you've got for a couple of dollars or so." + +"So help me gracious!" said Mr. Isaacs, as he took from the show-window +three or four cards of plated ear-rings. "I knew you would come in to +buy somethings. When I saw you look in--the very first moment--I say +to my wife, 'There is a good young man that will give a present to some +lovely young lady.' Yes, sir, the very words I said to Sarah." + +"What's the price of this pair? I haven't got any girl to treat, but +I 've just got paid off for a whaling voyage, and my lay figured up a +twenty-dollar bill above what I expected, and I don't care if I do lay +out a couple of dollars on my wife besides what I 've brought home for +her." + +"Well, sir," said Mr. Isaacs, "the good wife is the very best jewelry. +Those are two dollars. But only study this pair. Hold those up to the +light and take a bird's-eye view through those lovely stones, so round +and large like green peas. Now look. So! Now let your friend look!" + +"I 'm no judge," said the other man, "I know what pleases me--that's +all. But them would make a great display, David, wouldn't they?" + +"You 're right, sir," said Mr. Isaacs. "'Display' is the very word. My +wife wear just the twins of this pair to the congregation, every week." + +Mrs. Isaacs raised her eyebrows: she wore nothing but diamonds. + +"What's the price of these green ones?" asked David. + +Mr. Isaacs shrugged his shoulders. + +"I suppose those are the finest articles of the kind in the whole +creation," he said. "We can let you have those to-day," and he lowered +his voice to a whisper, and put his hand up beside his mouth, "to close +out stock--for six dollars. They cost us only last week eight-fifty, but +we are obliged to reduce stock prior to removal. The building is to be +taken down." + +"I would like those tip-top; but I don't know--it's a good deal of money +for gewgaws; my wife would take me to do for it; I guess I must keep +to the two-dollar ones. I come pretty hard by my dollars, and a dollar +means a good deal to me just now." + +"But just once look again," said Mr. Isaacs, and he stepped briskly +behind his wife and held up an ear-ring to each of her ears. "See them +on a chaste and lovely form. With these your wife will be still more +lovely. All those other men will say, 'Where did that graceful lady +find so rich ear-rings?' You will see they are a great success: her most +bosom friends will hate her; they will turn so green like the grass on +the ground with envy. It is a great pleasure when my wife wears those +kind: her very sisters cannot speak for anger, and her own mother looks +so rigid like the Cardiff Giant." + +"Well, I guess I shall have to take them," said David, "and you 'll have +to wrap them right up: we have n't got more than about time to get the +train, have we, Calvin?" + +"So help me gracious!" said Mr. Isaacs, "is there no time to sell our +friend Calvin a pair? He will repent not to secure those other pair, +until his dying day; so sorry like he lose his ship some day upon those +rocks. I suppose there is no others like those in the whole creation." + +But he wrapped the purchase up in a bit of white paper and gave David +Prince four trade dollars in change for a ten-dollar bill, and the two +men went out, leaving Mr. Isaacs free to attend to a timid woman in +black who had just come in to raise fifty cents upon a ring, while Mrs. +Isaacs looked after a carpenter who proposed to pawn his edge-tools for +rent-money. + +Mr. Isaacs waved his hand and smiled as the men went out of the door. +"You will find they are a success, to surprise yourself," he called out: +"her most bosom friends will writhe and scream with envy." + +***** + +The winding line of the long New England coast faces the sea, in its +sweeping curves, in every direction. From the Callender place, the ocean +lay to the south. Though elsewhere east winds might be blowing harsh +upon the coast, here, almost every day, and all day long, in summer, +the southwest wind came pouring in from the expanse of waters, fresh and +cool, boisterous often, but never chill; and even winds from the east +lost edge in crossing miles of pitch-pine woods, of planted fields, of +sandy ponds, of pastures, and came in softened down and friendly. + +A gentle breeze was drifting in from sea. All day long it had been +blowing, salt and strong and riotous, tossing the pine-tops, bending the +corn, swaying the trees in the orchards, but now it was preparing to die +away, as was its wont, at sundown, to give to the woods, the cornfields +and the orchards a little space of rest and peace before it should rise +again in the early evening to toss them all night long. The blue of the +sky was blue in the water. Every object stood out sharp and clear. Down +the low, curving shore-line, curls of smoke rose from distant roofs, and +on the headland, up the coast, the fairy forest in the air was outlined +with precision. Distant ships were moving, like still pictures, on the +horizon, as if that spell were laid on them which hushed the enchanted +palace. There was just sea enough to roll the bell-buoy gently, and +now and then was rung an idle note of warning. Three fishing-boats lay +anchored off the Spindle, rising and falling, and every now and then a +sea broke on the rock. On the white sand beach, waves were rolling in, +dying softly away along the shore, or heavily breaking, with a long, +flying line of foam. + +The sun was fast descending. Delia Prince went out to the corner of the +house and shaded her eyes to look at the sunset. The white clouds turned +to a flaming red, and the reflection dyed to crimson the surface of the +creeks; the sun descended toward the wooded bluff that flanked the +bay, sent a thousand shattered, dazzling rays through the trees, and +disappeared. + +The red of the clouds and the red of the water gave place to gray. The +wind died down. The silence was intense,--all the more marked because +of the few sharp sounds that broke it now and then. Across the bay, near +shore, a man was raking oysters; he stood in the stern of his skiff, +and the bow was up in the air. Near by a girl was driving sluggish cows +along the beach, and her shrill cries came over the water; by a cottage +on the bank a boy was chopping brush upon a block, and Delia watched the +silent blows, and heard the sound come after. He smiled as she looked; +for every night she saw the boy's mother stand at the door to call him, +and saw him come reluctant to his task. + +There was a sense of friendly companionship in all these homely sights +and sounds. It was different from the old house, shut in close by a +second growth of birch and oak. + +The table was standing ready for a late supper. The children had gone +for berries to the Island, and they would soon come home, and David was +due, too, with his money. + +She smiled as he appeared. The ascent to the brow of the hill was so +sharp that first you saw a hat in movement, then a head, then shoulders, +body, legs, and feet. She ran quickly down the road to meet him, and +took his arm. + +"You couldn't catch the noon train?" she said. "Captain Wells stopped +at the door a little while ago to see what time we should be down to get +the deed, and luckily I told him that we might not be down until into +the evening. He said he 'd stay at home and wait till we came." + +"Delia," said David, when he had seated himself in the house, "I 've got +bad news to tell you, and I may as well out with it first as last." + +"You have n't shipped for another whaling voyage?" + +"No; that would be nothing," he said. + +Delia stood and looked at him. + +"Well," she said, "didn't you get as much as you counted on?" + +"Yes,--twenty more." + +"It isn't anything about the children? I expect them home every minute." + +"No." + +"Delia," he said, "you was a great fool ever to have me. You ought to +have taken advice." + +"What is the matter?" she said. "Why don't you tell me?" + +"I 've lost the money," he said. "The Captain warned me how apt a +seafaring man is to lose money; but I did n't take any heed, and I went +off with Calvin Green--" + +"With Calvin Green! What did I tell you!" she said. + +"Wait a minute--and I stopped into a jewelry store and bought you a pair +of ear-rings, and I came off and left my wallet on the counter, the way +that fool Joe Bassett did, to Gloucester. When I went back, the rascal +claimed he never saw me before--said he didn't know me from the Prophet +Samuel, as if I was born that minute. And now they'll all say--and it's +true--that I'm a chip of the old block, and that I 'm bound to come out +at the little end. There!" he said, as he opened a little parcel and +took out the earrings. "There 's what 's left of five hundred and twenty +dollars, and you must make the most of 'em. Hold 'em up to the light and +see how handsome they are. I don't know, after all, but they are worth +while for a man to pitch overboard off Cape Horn and harpoon whales two +years for. All is, just tell folks they cost five hundred dollars, and +they 'll be just as good as hen's-egg diamonds. + +"In fact, I don't know but I sort o' like the situation," he went on, +in a moment. "It seems sort of natural and home-like. I should have felt +homesick if I 'd really succeeded in getting this place paid for. +'T would have seemed like getting proud, and going back on my own +relations. And then it 'll please everybody to say, 'I told you so.' +There 'll be high sport round town, when it gets out, and we back water +down to the old place. + +"Come, say something, Delia!" he said, in a moment. "Why don't you say +something about it? Don't you care that the money's lost, that you stand +there and don't say a word, and look at nothing?" + +"I don't want to say anything now," she said, "I want to think." + +***** + +"Well!" said Captain Bennett, the next day, to his wife, "Delia 's got +more spunk! I should have felt like laying right down in the shafts, +in her place; but instead of that, to actually go and talk them into +letting her keep the Cal-lender place and pay for it so much a month! +And David's signed a paper to do it." + +"I guess if the truth was known," said Mrs. Bennett, knitting on, "that, +come to think it over, she was more scared of David's settling back than +she was for losing the money." + +"She 's got a pull on him now," said the Captain, "anyway, for if he +once agrees to a thing he always does it." + + + + +III. + +No one fully knows the New England autumn who has not seen its colors on +the extreme Old Colony sea-board. There are no mountain ranges, opening +out far reaches of burning maples; but there are miles of salt-marsh, +spreading as far as the eye can reach, cut by countless creeks, +displaying a vast expanse of soft, rich shades of brown; there are +cranberry-meadows of twenty, thirty, or fifty level acres, covered with +matted vines and crimson with berries; there are deserted pastures, +bright with golden-rod and asters. And everywhere along the shores, +against the dark pine woods, are the varied reds of oaks, of blackberry +vines, of woodbine, and of sumach. + +It was a bright fall afternoon; most of the boats were in, and lay near, +shore before the sail-loft door; the sails were up to dry,--for it had +been wet outside,--looking doubly white against the colors of the shore. + +In the sail-loft they were telling stories. + +"No, I don't think myself," said Deacon Luce, from the rocking-chair, +"that ministers always show what we call horse sense. They used to tell +a story of Parson Allen, that preached in the Old Town, in my father's +time, that pleased me. One spring the parson took a notion to raise a +pig. So he went down to Jim Barrows, that lived there handy by, and says +he, 'Mr. Barrows, I hear you have a litter of young pigs, and I should +like to have one to raise.' So Jim he got his stilyards and weighed him +out one, and the minister paid him, and Jim he sent it up. Well, the +minister kep' it some three months, and he used to go out every day and +put on his spectacles and take his scythe down from the apple-tree and +mow pig-weed for him, and he bought corn-meal to feed him up with, and +one way and another he laid out a good deal on him. The pig fattened +well, but the whole incessant time he was either rooting out and gitting +into the garden, or he'd ketch his foot in behind the trough and squeal +like mad, or something else, so that the minister had to keep leaving +his sermon-writing to straighten him out, and the minister's wife +complained of the squealing when she had company. And so the parson +decided to heave the enterprise up, and Jim sent up and took the pig +back. Come to settle, 'How do we stand?' says the minister. 'Oh, just as +you say,' says Jim, 'I'll leave it to you.' 'Well,' says the minister, +'on the one hand you've got back a pig that you've been paid for; but, +on the other hand, I 've had the use of him for some three months,--and +so I guess we 're square.'" "Talking of preachers," said Caleb Parker, +"reminds me of a story they tell of Uncle Cephas Bascom, of Northhaven. +Uncle Cephas was a shoemaker, and he never went to sea much, only to +anchor his skift in the Narrows abreast of his house, and catch a mess +of scup, or to pole a load of salt-hay from San-quitt Island. But he +used to visit his married daughter, in Vermont, and up there they knew +he come from the sea-board, and they used to call him 'Captain Bascom.' +So, one time when he was there, they had a Sabbath-school concert, and +nothing would do but 'Captain Bascom' must talk to the boys, and tell a +sea-yarn, and draw a moral, the way the Deacon, here, does." The Deacon +gravely smiled, and stroked his beard. "Well, Uncle Cephas was ruther +pleased with his name of 'Captain Bascom,' and he did n't like to go +back on it, and so he flaxed round to git up something. It seems he had +heard a summer boarder talk in Sabbath-school, at Northhaven; he told +how a poor boy minded his mother, and then got to tend store, and then +kep' store himself, and then he jumped it on them. 'That poor boy,' says +he, 'now stands before you.' So Uncle Cephas thought him up a similar +yarn. Well, he had never spoke in meeting before, and he hemmed and +hawed some, but he got on quite well while he was telling about a +certain poor boy, and all that, and how the boy when he grew up was out +at sea, in an open boat, and saw a great sword-fish making for the boat +Hail Columbia, and bound to stave right through her and sink her,--and +how this man he took an oar, and give it a swing, and broke the +critter's sword square off; and then Uncle Cephas--he 'd begun to git +a little flustered--he stops short, and waves his arms, and says he, +'Boys, what do you think! That sword-fish now stands before you!' I +cal'late that brought the house down." Captain Philo, who had laid +down his three-cornered sail-needle, to listen to this exciting story, +readjusted the leather thimble that covered his palm, and began to sew +again. Uncle Silas, sitting near the water door, in his brown overalls +made with a breast-apron and suspender-straps, looked out at the boats. +A silence fell on the company. + +It was broken by Calvin Green. + +"A man was telling me rather a curious story, the other night," he said. +"I was just explaining to him exactly how 't was that David Prince lost +his money, and so he told this:-- + +"There was a boy that was clerk in a store, and one day they sent him +over to the bank to git some money. It was before the war, and the bank +gave him twenty ten-dollar gold pieces. But when he got back to the +store there was one short. The boy hadn't nothin' to say. He admitted +he had n't dropped none, because he 'd put 'em in a leather bag where +he could n't lose one without he lost all, and the cashier knew _he_ had +n't made any mistake. The storekeeper he heard the story, and then he +put his hand on the boy's shoulder, and says he, 'I don't know what to +make o' this; but I believe this boy,' says he, 'and we 'll just drop +it, and say no more about it.' So it run along, and the next day that it +rained, one of the clerks in the store took down an old umberella, and, +come to unfurl it, out falls a ten-dollar gold piece. Seems that the boy +had that umberella that day, and hooked it on to the counter in the +bank, by the handle, and one of the coins must have slid off into it +when he was countin' 'em, and then he probably did n't spread the +umberella coming back. And, as this man said that was telling me, it +don't do to bet too much on suspicion. Now, only for that Jew's being +such a hard character, according to the newspapers, I should be loath to +charge him with taking David's money; I should say David might have lost +it somewhere else." + +Nobody spoke. Captain Bennett whistled softly. + +"I never felt so bad in my life," continued Green, "as I did when he +missed his money. When we come up into the depot he was telling me a +kind of a comical story about old Jim Torrey, how he wanted to find out +if all his hens was laying, or if any of 'em was disposed to shirk, and +he got him a pass-book ruled in columns, and opened a ledger +account with every hen, by a name he give her; and we got up to the +ticket-window, and he put his hand into his breast-pocket for his +wallet--by George! I 've seen him chaff and joke, sort of quiet, when we +was going to ride under every minute; but he turned as white then as +that new mainsail, and off he went, like a shot But 't was no use. Of +course, the jewelry feller would n't disgorge on David's say-so, without +no proof." + +"It was like this," he went on; "the counter was here,--and David +stood here,--and I was here,--and we both come off together. But I tell +you,--the way David looked when he put in his hand for his wallet! He +stopped laughing, as if he see a ghost; I can't get it out of my head. +And how the man that stole the money can stand it I can't figure out." + +"Perhaps he 's calloused," said the Deacon, "by what the paper said +the other night about his buying a parcel of clothes hooked out of some +man's entry. We concluded 'twas the same man--by the name." + +"Can't believe all that's in the paper," said Perez Todd; "you know the +paper had me to be married, once; the boys put it in for fun; they made +up the name for the female, I guess, for I 've been kind of shyin' round +for her this ten year, and have n't seen no such woman." + +"Yes, sir, he's a hard ticket," said Green; "that's so, every time. +Well, I must be going; I agreed to go and help Elbridge over at half +flood." + +"Half flood about five," said Captain Bennett; "you have n't any great +time to spare." + +Green went to the shore, rattled a skiff down over the beach to the +water, and pulled away, with quick, short strokes. First the skiff was +cut off from sight by the marsh-bank; then the rower's head alone was +seen above the tall brown grasses; and then he pulled around the bend +and was lost to view behind a mass of flaming woodbine; and still, in +the distance, could be heard across the water the rattle of his oars in +the thole-pins. + +"Well, Silas?" said Captain Bennett. + +"Well?" said Uncle Silas. + +"Oh! I 've nothing to say," said Captain Bennett + +"Nor I," said Uncle Silas. + +"Calvin's always seemed to be a good-hearted fellow," said Captain +Philo, "since he's lived here." + +"Oh, yes," said Captain Bennett; "seems to feel for David surprisingly. +Told me all about the losing of the money, told my wife, told my boy, +told Uncle Joe, told our minister, told the Doctor, told Zimri Cobb, +told Cyrus Bass, told Captain John Wells, told Patrick Coan; and proves +it out to 'em all that 't was the Jew that did it." + +"Kind of zealous, like the Apostle Paul supplying the pulpit to the +Gentiles," said the Deacon; "won't let alone of a man, till he gives in +'t the Hebrew's in the wrong." + +"But I 've nothing to say," said Captain Bennett. + +"Oh, no, nor I," said Uncle Silas. + +From the distance, borne on the gentle breeze, a click as even as a +pulse-beat came faintly over the water. + +"He may be a good-hearted fellow," said the Deacon, "but I don't know as +I hanker to be the man that's pulling that skiff. But then,--that may be +simply and solely because I prefer a hair-cloth rocker to a skiff." + +"Delia," said David Prince to his wife, one afternoon, "Calvin Green has +bought four tickets to that stereopticon show that's going to be in the +West Church to-night, and he gave me two, for you and me." + +"I don't want his tickets," she replied, ironing away at the sunny +window. + +"Now, what's the use of talking that way?" said her husband, "as much as +to say--" + +"I have my opinion," she said. + +"Well," said her husband, "I think it's a hard way to use a man, just +because he happened to be by when I lost my money." + +"I 'll tell you," said Delia, stopping her work; "we will go, and all I +'ll say is this--you see if after the lecture's over he does n't find a +text in it to talk about our money. Now, you just wait and see--that's +all." + +***** + +"Ladies and gentlemen," said the lecturer, standing by a great circle of +light thrown on the wall, behind the pulpit, "I have now, with a feeling +of awe befitting this sacred place, thus given you, in the first part of +my lecture, a succinct view of the origin, rise, and growth of the +globe on which, as the poet has justly said, 'we dwell.' I have shown +you--corroborating Scripture--the earth, without form and void, the +awful monsters of the Silurian age, and Man in the Garden of Eden. + +"I now invite you to journey with me--as one has said--'across the +continent.' + +"Travelling has ever been viewed as a means of education. Thus Athenian +sages sought the learning of the Orient. Thus may we this evening, +without toil or peril, or expense beyond the fifteen cents already +incurred for the admission-fee, journey in spirit from the wild Atlantic +to the sunset coast. In the words of the sacred lyrist, Edgar A. Poe, +'My country, 't is of thee,' that I shall now display some views. + +"Of course we start from Boston. On the way to New York, we will first +pause to view the scene where Putnam galloped down a flight of steps, +beneath the hostile fire. See both mane and coat-tails flying in the +wind, and the eyes of steed and rider wildly dilated with excitement. + +"Next we pause in Brooklyn. And from my immense variety of scenes in the +City of Churches, I choose the firemen's monument in Greenwood Cemetery. + + 'Here they lie low who raised their ladders high; + Here they still live,--for heroes cannot die!' + +[A voice: "How many are buried there?"] + +"I should say, at a venture, eighteen. [A rustle of sympathy among the +women.] + +"Passing on, and coming thence to the metropolis of New York, I am +greatly embarrassed, so vast is the richness and variety of views. But +I will show first the 'Five Points.' [Great eagerness, and cries, "Down +front!"] Of late, philanthropy and religion, walking in sweet converse, +hand in hand, have relieved the horrors of this region, and now one may +walk there comparatively safe. [Sudden cessation of interest] + +"I will give even another view of the metropolis: a charming scene +in Central Park. [Here wavered dimly on the screen five bushes, and a +nursery-maid with a baby-carriage.] From this exquisite picture you may +gain some faint idea of the charms of that Paradise raised by the wand +of taste and skill in a waste of arid sands. + +"Passing westward, I next present the Suspension Bridge at Niagara, +erected by drawing over the majestic stream a cord, a small rope, then +a wire, until the whole vast framework was complete. The idea was taken +from the spider's web. Thus the humblest may guide the highest; and +I love to recall, in this connection, that the lamented Lincoln, some +years before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, heard me lecture on +slavery, in Peoria. + +"Next we come to Cleveland; and our attention is seized by three cannons +taken in the famous naval battle on the lake. Every visitor pauses +here, and with uncovered head and eyes suffused with tears recalls the +sacrifices of the Fathers. + +"Next we view Chicago the morning after the fire; on every hand are +blackened ruins,--painful proofs of the vicissitudes of human fortune! +[A voice: "I was there at the time."] I am delighted to know it Such +spontaneous corroboration from the audience is to the lecturer's heart +as a draught from the well of Baca. [Laughter, and a voice: "What +Baker?"] + +"But, in order to cross so broad a continent, we must not dally, and +next I show you the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, the seat of a +defiant system of sin. All things, however, have their uses, and I can +recommend this religion to any young lady present who does not find it +easy to secure a helpmeet. [Appreciative laughter.] + +"And now, for a view of the Pacific States, I choose two of the famed +Big Trees. Judge of them by the two men who stand, like the Widow's +mites, beside them. These trees are called 'Father and Daughter.' [A +voice: "Which is Father, and which is Daughter?"] I am not informed, but +from their appearance I judge that the nearer is the Father. [Derisive +laughter.] + +"And now we approach a climax. + +"When the Ten Thousand, in their storied march, reached at last the blue +waters of the Euxine, thrilled with joy they loudly cried: 'The Sea! The +Sea!' So we, travellers likewise, reach at last the Western Ocean; and +for a striking scene upon its waters, I present a Pacific Mail steamer +at her dock in the harbor of San Francisco. In the left foreground is a +Chinese laundry. And now I can hardly restrain myself from passing on +to Asia; for imagination, taking fire, beckons to Niphon and the Flowery +Kingdom. But remorseless Time says no, and we pause at the Golden Gate. + +"In closing, now, I will, as is usual, give one or two moral views, +relieved by others of a somewhat playful character. + +"First is Napoleon's grave. He who held Europe struggling in his hand, +died a prisoner in solitudes remote, far from home endearments. + +"Next you see Daniel Lambert, whose greatness was of a more solid cast. +Less grasping in his pretensions than Napoleon, he lived an honored +life, and died, I understand, among his relatives. + +"Next is a picture of the guillotine, calling up thoughts of severed +heads from memory's cloisters. On the left you see a ghastly head; on +the right the decapitated trunk. By the victim stand the bloody actors +in the tragedy. Ladies and gentlemen! When I review the awful guilt of +Marat and Robespierre, humbly do I give thanks that I have been kept +from yielding, like them, to fierce ambition and lust of power, and that +I can lay my head upon a peaceful pillow at my home in Fall River. + +"Next is the Serenade. Part one: The Spanish lover with bow-knot shoes, +pointed hat, and mantle over shoulder, stands, with his lute, on the +covered water-butt, while at the casement above is his lady's charming +face. Part two: The head of the water-butt has given way, and the angry +father, from his window, beholds a scene of luckless misery. + +"I turn now to a more pleasing view,--the Village Blacksmith. The mighty +man is at his work, and by a triumph of art I am enabled to show his +fine physique in action: now you see his arm uplifted,--and now the +hammer is on the iron. Up--down--up--down. [A voice: "There are two +right arms!"] That arises from some slight defect in the arrangement of +the light; the uplifted arm does not entirely vanish when the lowered +arm appears. But to the thoughtful observer, such slight contrasts only +heighten enjoyment. + +"Ladies and gentlemen! A single word in closing. Our transcontinental +journey this evening ended at the Golden Gate. When life's journey ends, +may we not so pause, but, as the poet Judson Backus sweetly sings:-- + + 'May we find an angel wait + To lead us through the "golden gate."' + +"Meanwhile, adieu." + +***** + +David Prince and his wife walked slowly home in the clear, cold +moonlight. + +"Did you notice," said Delia, "how the man kept saying that he didn't +know just what to pick out, to show? Well, I heard the Kelley boy, that +helped at the lamps, say that they showed every identical picture +there was. I suppose they are a lot of odds and ends he picked up at an +auction." + +"I think he was a kind of a humbug," said Calvin Green, who, with his +wife, had come up close behind. "See how he kept dragging in his morals, +jes like overhauling a trawl and taking off a haddock, every once in so +often." + +"What away to travel," said his wife; "to go ker-jump from New York City +to Niagara, and from there to Cleveland. He must have thought we had +long stilts." + +"The pictures were rather here and there and everywhere, to be sure,", +said David; "but I have a good deal of charity for these men; I s'pose +they 're put to it for bread and butter." + +"Well, I don't know," said Green; "I don't think it has a good influence +on young people to show such a picture as that man that they murdered by +slicing his head off with that machine. I don't like such things to be +brought up." + +"I should think the opposite," said his wife, laughing, "by the way you +'ve told every man in town about David's money, and the way he blanched +when he missed it. I think you 'd better take a lesson yourself about +bringing up dreadful things." + +When they reached Green's house, a low, black cottage, they stopped a +moment for the women to finish a discussion about croup. + +"How did that look to you now, David?" said Green. "Did n't you think it +would have been a good deal better to have left that picture out?" + +"Which one?" said David. + +"Why, the one where they'd chopped the man's head off with that machine, +and were standing by, looking at the corpse. I don't like to see such +things, for my part." + +"I don't know," said David. "I did n't think about it particularly. I +understood it was in the French Revolution." + +"Well, see all that flummer-diddle he got off about it," said Green; +"just as if any fool did n't know that a man could n't sleep that was +haunted by a thing like that." + +"Well, some can stomach anything, and I suppose some can sleep on +anything," said David. "I guess it would take more than slicing one +man's head off to make that Jew lie awake nights. If he 'd only admitted +that I 'd been there! But as soon as I said I 'd left something, then +for him and his wife to claim they never saw me! They 're cool ones!" + +"Well, right here,--about what my wife flung out," said Green, glancing +over his shoulder to where the women were talking, both at once, +woman-fashion; "you know my wife's way,--you haven't ever heard any such +talk going round, have you, as that I was hounding folks about your bad +luck? I say an honest man speaks right out,--no fear, no favor. Ain't +that so?" + +***** + +It was a bitterly cold, clear night, a few weeks later. Runners squeaked +and boot-heels crunched in the road. David had passed Green's house at +seven o'clock, going to the store; he always went by there at that time, +Saturdays, and passed again, returning home, at about eight. + +When he reached the gate, on his return, Green was standing there, +apparently waiting. + +"Come into the house a minute, David," he said; "I want to see you." + +He led him into the kitchen. + +"My wife's gone over to Aunt Nathan's for the evening," he said. + +He shut the door, and locked it. + +"There!" he said; "I can't stand it any longer;" and he laid upon a +table at David's side a wallet. David took it up and opened it; it held +a great roll of bills. + +"What does this mean?" he said; "why--this is mine! You don't mean--" + +"I mean I stole it," said Green. + +David sat down. "I wish you had put it in the fire," he said, "and never +told me." + +"There 's just one thing I want to say," said Green. "I picked it +up, first, to give it to you, and when I saw that you 'd forgot it, I +thought I 'd have a little joke on you for a while; and then, when I saw +how things was going, I kind o' drifted into keeping it. You know how I +come home,--all my voyage eat up, and a hundred dollars' debts besides, +and children sick. But every dollar 's there. + +"Now, what I ask," he added, "is four days' time to ship and get away. +What are you going to do?" + +"Nothing," said David; "settle your debts and pay me when you can." And +taking five twenty-dollar bills from the wallet, he left them on the +table and went away. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Five Hundred Dollars, by Heman White Chaplin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS *** + +***** This file should be named 23006.txt or 23006.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/0/23006/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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