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diff --git a/old/286.txt b/old/286.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d42caa --- /dev/null +++ b/old/286.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16601 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Laddie, by Gene Stratton Porter + +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: Laddie + +Author: Gene Stratton Porter + +Release Date: April 3, 2008 [EBook #286] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADDIE *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + +LADDIE + +A TRUE BLUE STORY + + +by + +GENE STRATTON PORTER + + + + +To + +LEANDER ELLIOT STRATTON + +"The Way to Be Happy Is to Be Good" + + + + +Contents + + +CHAPTER + + I. Little Sister + II. Our Angel Boy + III. Mr. Pryor's Door + IV. The Last Day in Eden + V. The First Day of School + VI. The Wedding Gown + VII. When Sally Married Peter + VIII. The Shropshire and the Crusader + IX. "Even So" + X. Laddie Takes the Plunge + XI. Keeping Christmas Our Way + XII. The Horn of the Hunter + XIII. The Garden of the Lord + XIV. The Crest of Eastbrooke + XV. Laddie, the Princess, and the Pie + XVI. The Homing Pigeon + XVII. In Faith Believing + XVIII. The Pryor Mystery + + + + +LADDIE + +CHARACTERS + + LADDIE, Who Loved and Asked No Questions. + THE PRINCESS, From the House of Mystery. + LEON, Our Angel Child. + LITTLE SISTER, Who Tells What Happened. + MR. and MRS. STANTON, Who Faced Life Shoulder to Shoulder. + SALLY and PETER, Who Married Each Other. + ELIZABETH, SHELLEY, MAY and Other Stanton Children. + MR. and MRS. PRYOR, Father and Mother of the Princess. + ROBERT PAGET, a Chicago Lawyer. + MRS. FRESHETT, Who Offered Her Life for Her Friend. + CANDACE, the Cook. + MISS AMELIA, the School Mistress. + Interested Relatives, Friends, and Neighbours. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Little Sister + + "And could another child-world be my share, + I'd be a Little Sister there." + + +"Have I got a Little Sister anywhere in this house?" inquired Laddie at +the door, in his most coaxing voice. + +"Yes sir," I answered, dropping the trousers I was making for Hezekiah, +my pet bluejay, and running as fast as I could. There was no telling +what minute May might take it into her head that she was a little +sister and reach him first. Maybe he wanted me to do something for +him, and I loved to wait on Laddie. + +"Ask mother if you may go with me a while." + +"Mother doesn't care where I am, if I come when the supper bell rings." + +"All right!" said Laddie. + +He led the way around the house, sat on the front step and took me +between his knees. + +"Oh, is it going to be a secret?" I cried. + +Secrets with Laddie were the greatest joy in life. He was so big and +so handsome. He was so much nicer than any one else in our family, or +among our friends, that to share his secrets, run his errands, and love +him blindly was the greatest happiness. Sometimes I disobeyed father +and mother; I minded Laddie like his right hand. + +"The biggest secret yet," he said gravely. + +"Tell quick!" I begged, holding my ear to his lips. + +"Not so fast!" said Laddie. "Not so fast! I have doubts about this. +I don't know that I should send you. Possibly you can't find the way. +You may be afraid. Above all, there is never to be a whisper. Not to +any one! Do you understand?" + +"What's the matter?" I asked. + +"Something serious," said Laddie. "You see, I expected to have an hour +or two for myself this afternoon, so I made an engagement to spend the +time with a Fairy Princess in our Big Woods. Father and I broke the +reaper taking it from the shed just now and you know how he is about +Fairies." + +I did know how he was about Fairies. He hadn't a particle of patience +with them. A Princess would be the Queen's daughter. My father's +people were English, and I had heard enough talk to understand that. I +was almost wild with excitement. + +"Tell me the secret, hurry!" I cried. + +"It's just this," he said. "It took me a long time to coax the +Princess into our Big Woods. I had to fix a throne for her to sit on; +spread a Magic Carpet for her feet, and build a wall to screen her. +Now, what is she going to think if I'm not there to welcome her when +she comes? She promised to show me how to make sunshine on dark days." + +"Tell father and he can have Leon help him." + +"But it is a secret with the Princess, and it's HERS as much as mine. +If I tell, she may not like it, and then she won't make me her Prince +and send me on her errands." + +"Then you don't dare tell a breath," I said. + +"Will you go in my place, and carry her a letter to explain why I'm not +coming, Little Sister?" + +"Of course!" I said stoutly, and then my heart turned right over; for I +never had been in our Big Woods alone, and neither mother nor father +wanted me to go. Passing Gypsies sometimes laid down the fence and +went there to camp. Father thought all the wolves and wildcats were +gone, he hadn't seen any in years, but every once in a while some one +said they had, and he was not quite sure yet. And that wasn't the +beginning of it. Paddy Ryan had come back from the war wrong in his +head. He wore his old army overcoat summer and winter, slept on the +ground, and ate whatever he could find. Once Laddie and Leon, hunting +squirrels to make broth for mother on one of her bad days, saw him in +our Big Woods and he was eating SNAKES. If I found Pat Ryan eating a +snake, it would frighten me so I would stand still and let him eat me, +if he wanted to, and perhaps he wasn't too crazy to see how plump I +was. I seemed to see swarthy, dark faces, big, sleek cats dropping +from limbs, and Paddy Ryan's matted gray hair, the flying rags of the +old blue coat, and a snake in his hands. Laddie was slipping the +letter into my apron pocket. My knees threatened to let me down. + +"Must I lift the leaves and hunt for her, or will she come to me?" I +wavered. + +"That's the biggest secret of all," said Laddie. "Since the Princess +entered them, our woods are Enchanted, and there is no telling what +wonderful things may happen any minute. One of them is this: whenever +the Princess comes there, she grows in size until she is as big as, say +our Sally, and she fills all the place with glory, until you are so +blinded you scarcely can see her face." + +"What is she like, Laddie?" I questioned, so filled with awe and +interest, that fear was forgotten. + +"She is taller than Sally," said Laddie. "Her face is oval, and her +cheeks are bright. Her eyes are big moonlit pools of darkness, and +silken curls fall over her shoulders. One hair is strong enough for a +lifeline that will draw a drowning man ashore, or strangle an unhappy +one. But you will not see her. I'm purposely sending you early, so +you can do what you are told and come back to me before she even +reaches the woods." + +"What am I to do, Laddie?" + +"You must put one hand in your apron pocket and take the letter in it, +and as long as you hold it tight, nothing in the world can hurt you. +Go out our lane to the Big Woods, climb the gate and walk straight back +the wagon road to the water. When you reach that, you must turn to +your right and go toward Hoods' until you come to the pawpaw thicket. +Go around that, look ahead, and you'll see the biggest beech tree you +ever saw. You know a beech, don't you?" + +"Of course I do," I said indignantly. "Father taught me beech with the +other trees." + +"Well then," said Laddie, "straight before you will be a purple beech, +and under it is the throne of the Princess, the Magic Carpet, and the +walls I made. Among the beech roots there is a stone hidden with moss. +Roll the stone back and there will be a piece of bark. Lift that, lay +the letter in the box you'll find, and scamper to me like flying. I'll +be at the barn with father." + +"Is that all?" + +"Not quite," said Laddie. "It's possible that the Fairy Queen may have +set the Princess spinning silk for the caterpillars to weave their +little houses with this winter; and if she has, she may have left a +letter there to tell me. If there is one, put it in your pocket, hold +it close every step of the way, and you'll be safe coming home as you +were going. But you mustn't let a soul see it; you must slip it into +my pocket when I'm not looking. If you let any one see, then the Magic +will be spoiled, and the Fairy won't come again." + +"No one shall see," I promised. + +"I knew you could be trusted," said Laddie, kissing and hugging me +hard. "Now go! If anything gets after you that such a big girl as you +really wouldn't be ashamed to be afraid of, climb on a fence and call. +I'll be listening, and I'll come flying. Now I must hurry. Father +will think it's going to take me the remainder of the day to find the +bolts he wants." + +We went down the front walk between the rows of hollyhocks and +tasselled lady-slippers, out the gate, and followed the road. Laddie +held one of my hands tight, and in the other I gripped the letter in my +pocket. So long as Laddie could see me, and the lane lay between open +fields, I wasn't afraid. I was thinking so deeply about our woods +being Enchanted, and a tiny Fairy growing big as our Sally, because she +was in them, that I stepped out bravely. + +Every few days I followed the lane as far back as the Big Gate. This +stood where four fields cornered, and opened into the road leading to +the woods. Beyond it, I had walked on Sunday afternoons with father +while he taught me all the flowers, vines, and bushes he knew, only he +didn't know some of the prettiest ones; I had to have books for them, +and I was studying to learn enough that I could find out. Or I had +ridden on the wagon with Laddie and Leon when they went to bring wood +for the cookstove, outoven, and big fireplace. But to walk! To go all +alone! Not that I didn't walk by myself over every other foot of the +acres and acres of beautiful land my father owned; but plowed fields, +grassy meadows, wood pasture, and the orchard were different. I played +in them without a thought of fear. + +The only things to be careful about were a little, shiny, slender +snake, with a head as bright as mother's copper kettle, and a big thick +one with patterns on its back like those in Laddie's geometry books, +and a whole rattlebox on its tail; not to eat any berry or fruit I +didn't know without first asking father; and always to be sure to +measure how deep the water was before I waded in alone. + +But our Big Woods! Leon said the wildcats would get me there. I sat +in our catalpa and watched the Gypsies drive past every summer. Mother +hated them as hard as ever she could hate any one, because once they +had stolen some fine shirts, with linen bosoms, that she had made by +hand for father, and was bleaching on the grass. If Gypsies should be +in our west woods to-day and steal me, she would hate them worse than +ever; because my mother loved me now, even if she didn't want me when I +was born. + +But you could excuse her for that. She had already bathed, spanked, +sewed for, and reared eleven babies so big and strong not one of them +ever even threatened to die. When you thought of that, you could see +she wouldn't be likely to implore the Almighty to send her another, +just to make her family even numbers. I never felt much hurt at her, +but some of the others I never have forgiven and maybe I never will. +As long as there had been eleven babies, they should have been so +accustomed to children that they needn't all of them have objected to +me, all except Laddie, of course. That was the reason I loved him so +and tried to do every single thing he wanted me to, just the way he +liked it done. That was why I was facing the only spot on our land +where I was in the slightest afraid; because he asked me to. + +If he had told me to dance a jig on the ridgepole of our barn, I would +have tried it. + +So I clasped the note, set my teeth, and climbed over the gate. I +walked fast and kept my eyes straight before me. If I looked on either +side, sure as life I would see something I never had before, and be +down digging up a strange flower, chasing a butterfly, or watching a +bird. Besides, if I didn't look in the fence corners that I passed, +maybe I wouldn't see anything to scare me. I was going along finely, +and feeling better every minute as I went down the bank of an old creek +that had gone dry, and started up the other side toward the sugar camp +not far from the Big Woods. The bed was full of weeds and as I passed +through, away! went Something among them. + +Beside the camp shed there was corded wood, and the first thing I knew, +I was on top of it. The next, my hand was on the note in my pocket. +My heart jumped until I could see my apron move, and my throat went all +stiff and dry. I gripped the note and waited. + +Father believed God would take care of him. I was only a little girl +and needed help much more than a man; maybe God would take care of me. +There was nothing wrong in carrying a letter to the Fairy Princess. I +thought perhaps it would help if I should kneel on the top of the +woodpile and ask God to not let anything get me. + +The more I thought about it, the less I felt like doing it, though, +because really you have no business to ask God to take care of you, +unless you KNOW you are doing right. This was right, but in my heart I +also knew that if Laddie had asked me, I would be shivering on top of +that cordwood on a hot August day, when it was wrong. On the whole, I +thought it would be more honest to leave God out of it, and take the +risk myself. That made me think of the Crusaders, and the little gold +trinket in father's chest till. There were four shells on it and each +one stood for a trip on foot or horseback to the Holy City when you had +to fight almost every step of the way. Those shells meant that my +father's people had gone four times, so he said; that, although it was +away far back, still each of us had a tiny share of the blood of the +Crusaders in our veins, and that it would make us brave and strong, and +whenever we were afraid, if we would think of them, we never could do a +cowardly thing or let any one else do one before us. He said any one +with Crusader blood had to be brave as Richard the Lion-hearted. +Thinking about that helped ever so much, so I gripped the note and +turned to take one last look at the house before I made a dash for the +gate that led into the Big Woods. + +Beyond our land lay the farm of Jacob Hood, and Mrs. Hood always teased +me because Laddie had gone racing after her when I was born. She was +in the middle of Monday's washing, and the bluing settled in the rinse +water and stained her white clothes in streaks it took months to bleach +out. I always liked Sarah Hood for coming and dressing me, though, +because our Sally, who was big enough to have done it, was upstairs +crying and wouldn't come down. I liked Laddie too, because he was the +only one of our family who went to my mother and kissed her, said he +was glad, and offered to help her. Maybe the reason he went was +because he had an awful scare, but anyway he WENT, and that was enough +for me. + +You see it was this way: no one wanted me; as there had been eleven of +us, every one felt that was enough. May was six years old and in +school, and my mother thought there never would be any more babies. +She had given away the cradle and divided the baby clothes among my big +married sisters and brothers, and was having a fine time and enjoying +herself the most she ever had in her life. The land was paid for long +ago; the house she had planned, builded as she wanted it; she had a big +team of matched grays and a carriage with side lamps and patent leather +trimmings; and sometimes there was money in the bank. I do not know +that there was very much, but any at all was a marvel, considering how +many of us there were to feed, clothe, and send to college. Mother was +forty-six and father was fifty; so they felt young enough yet to have a +fine time and enjoy life, and just when things were going best, I +announced that I was halfway over my journey to earth. + +You can't blame my mother so much. She must have been tired of babies +and disliked to go back and begin all over after resting six years. +And you mustn't be too hard on my father if he was not just overjoyed. +He felt sure the cook would leave, and she did. He knew Sally would +object to a baby, when she wanted to begin having beaus, so he and +mother talked it over and sent her away for a long visit to Ohio with +father's people, and never told her. They intended to leave her there +until I was over the colic, at least. They knew the big married +brothers and sisters would object, and they did. They said it would be +embarrassing for their children to be the nieces and nephews of an aunt +or uncle younger than themselves. They said it so often and so +emphatically that father was provoked and mother cried. Shelley didn't +like it because she was going to school in Groveville, where Lucy, one +of our married sisters, lived, and she was afraid I would make so much +work she would have to give up her books and friends and remain at +home. There never was a baby born who was any less wanted than I was. +I knew as much about it as any one else, because from the day I could +understand, all of them, father, mother, Shelley, Sarah Hood, every one +who knew, took turns telling me how badly I was not wanted, how much +trouble I made, and how Laddie was the only one who loved me at first. +Because of that I was on the cordwood trying to find courage to go +farther. Over and over Laddie had told me himself. He had been to +visit our big sister Elizabeth over Sunday and about eight o'clock +Monday morning he came riding down the road, and saw the most dreadful +thing. There was not a curl of smoke from the chimneys, not a +tablecloth or pillowslip on the line, not a blind raised. Laddie said +his heart went--just like mine did when the Something jumped in the +creek bed, no doubt. Then he laid on the whip and rode. + +He flung the rein over the hitching post, leaped the fence and reached +the back door. The young green girl, who was all father could get when +the cook left, was crying. So were Shelley and little May, although +she said afterward she had a boil on her heel and there was no one to +poultice it. Laddie leaned against the door casing, and it is easy +enough to understand what he thought. He told me he had to try twice +before he could speak, and then he could only ask: "What's the matter?" + +Probably May never thought she would have the chance, but the others +were so busy crying harder, now that they had an audience, that she was +first to tell him: "We have got a little sister." + +"Great Day!" cried Laddie. "You made me think we had a funeral! Where +is mother, and where is my Little Sister?" + +He went bolting right into mother's room and kissed her like the +gladdest boy alive; because he was only a boy then, and he told her how +happy he was that she was safe, and then he ASKED for me. + +He said I was the only living creature in that house who was not +shedding tears, and I didn't begin for about six months afterward. In +fact, not until Shelley taught me by pinching me if she had to rock the +cradle; then I would cry so hard mother would have to take me. He said +he didn't believe I'd ever have learned by myself. + +He took a pillow from the bed, fixed it in the rocking chair and laid +me on it. When he found that father was hitching the horses to send +Leon for Doctor Fenner, Laddie rode back after Sarah Hood and spoiled +her washing. It may be that the interest he always took in me had its +beginning in all of them scaring him with their weeping; even Sally, +whom father had to telegraph to come home, was upstairs crying, and she +was almost a woman. It may be that all the tears they shed over not +wanting me so scared Laddie that he went farther in his welcome than he +ever would have thought of going if he hadn't done it for joy when he +learned his mother was safe. I don't care about the reason. It is +enough for me that from the hour of my birth Laddie named me Little +Sister, seldom called me anything else, and cared for me all he +possibly could to rest mother. He took me to the fields with him in +the morning and brought me back on the horse before him at noon. He +could plow with me riding the horse, drive a reaper with me on his +knees, and hoe corn while I slept on his coat in a fence corner. The +winters he was away at college left me lonely, and when he came back +for a vacation I was too happy for words. Maybe it was wrong to love +him most. I knew my mother cared for and wanted me now. And all my +secrets were not with Laddie. I had one with father that I was never +to tell so long as he lived, but it was about the one he loved best, +next after mother. Perhaps I should never tell it, but I wouldn't be +surprised if the family knew. I followed Laddie like a faithful dog, +when I was not gripping his waving hair and riding in triumph on his +shoulders. He never had to go so fast he couldn't take me on his back. +He never was in too big a hurry to be kind. He always had patience to +explain every shell, leaf, bird, and flower I asked about. I was just +as much his when pretty young girls were around, and the house full of +company, as when we were alone. That was the reason I was shivering on +the cordwood, gripping his letter and thinking of all these things in +order to force myself to go farther. + +I was excited about the Fairies too. I often had close chances of +seeing them, but I always just missed. Now here was Laddie writing +letters and expecting answers; our Big Woods Enchanted, a Magic Carpet +and the Queen's daughter becoming our size so she could speak with him. +No doubt the Queen had her grow big as Shelley, when she sent her on an +errand to tell Laddie about how to make sunshine; because she was +afraid if she went her real size he would accidentally step on her, he +was so dreadfully big. + +Or maybe her voice was so fine he could not hear what she said. He had +told me I was to hurry, and I had gone as fast as I could until +Something jumped; since, I had been settled on that cordwood like +Robinson Crusoe on his desert island. I had to get down some time; I +might as well start. + +I gripped the letter, slid to the ground, and ran toward the big gate +straight before me. I climbed it, clutched the note again, and ran +blindly down the road through the forest toward the creek. I could +hurry there. On either side of it I could not have run ten steps at a +time. The big trees reached so high above me it seemed as if they +would push through the floor of Heaven. I tried to shut my ears and +run so fast I couldn't hear a sound, and so going, I soon came to the +creek bank. There I turned to my right and went slower, watching for +the pawpaw thicket. On leaving the road I thought I would have to +crawl over logs and make my way; but there seemed to be kind of a path +not very plain, but travelled enough to follow. It led straight to the +thicket. At the edge I stopped to look for the beech. It could be +reached in one breathless dash, but there seemed to be a green +enclosure, so I walked around until I found an entrance. Once there I +was so amazed I stood and stared. I was half indignant too. + +Laddie hadn't done a thing but make an exact copy of my playhouse under +the biggest maiden's-blush in our orchard. He used the immense beech +for one corner, where I had the apple tree. His Magic Carpet was +woolly-dog moss, and all the magic about it, was that on the damp woods +floor, in the deep shade, the moss had taken root and was growing as if +it always had been there. He had been able to cut and stick much +larger willow sprouts for his walls than I could, and in the wet black +mould they didn't look as if they ever had wilted. They were so fresh +and green, no doubt they had taken root and were growing. Where I had +a low bench under my tree, he had used a log; but he had hewed the top +flat, and made a moss cover. In each corner he had set a fern as high +as my head. On either side of the entrance he had planted a cluster of +cardinal flower that was in full bloom, and around the walls in a few +places thrifty bunches of Oswego tea and foxfire, that I would have +walked miles to secure for my wild garden under the Bartlett pear tree. +It was so beautiful it took my breath away. + +"If the Queen's daughter doesn't like this," I said softly, "she'll +have to go to Heaven before she finds anything better, for there can't +be another place on earth so pretty." + +It was wonderful how the sound of my own voice gave me courage, even if +it did seem a little strange. So I hurried to the beech, knelt and +slipped the letter in the box, and put back the bark and stone. Laddie +had said that nothing could hurt me while I had the letter, so my +protection was gone as soon as it left my hands. + +There was nothing but my feet to save me now. I thanked goodness I was +a fine runner, and started for the pawpaw thicket. Once there, I +paused only one minute to see whether the way to the stream was clear, +and while standing tense and gazing, I heard something. For an instant +it was every bit as bad as at the dry creek. Then I realized that this +was a soft voice singing, and I forgot everything else in a glow of +delight. The Princess was coming! + +Never in all my life was I so surprised, and astonished, and +bewildered. She was even larger than our Sally; her dress was pale +green, like I thought a Fairy's should be; her eyes were deep and dark +as Laddie had said, her hair hung from a part in the middle of her +forehead over her shoulders, and if she had been in the sun, it would +have gleamed like a blackbird's wing. She was just as Laddie said she +would be; she was so much more beautiful than you would suppose any +woman could be, I stood there dumbly staring. I wouldn't have asked +for any one more perfectly beautiful or more like Laddie had said the +Princess would be; but she was no more the daughter of the Fairy Queen +than I was. She was not any more of a Princess. If father ever would +tell all about the little bauble he kept in the till of his big chest, +maybe she was not as near! She was no one on earth but one of those +new English people who had moved on the land that cornered with ours on +the northwest. She had ridden over the roads, and been at our meeting +house. There could be no mistake. + +And neither father nor mother would want her on our place. They didn't +like her family at all. Mother called them the neighbourhood mystery, +and father spoke of them as the Infidels. They had dropped from +nowhere, mother said, bought that splendid big farm, moved on and shut +out every one. Before any one knew people were shut out, mother, +dressed in her finest, with Laddie driving, went in the carriage, all +shining, to make friends with them. This very girl opened the door and +said that her mother was "indisposed," and could not see callers. +"In-dis-posed!" That's a good word that fills your mouth, but our +mother didn't like having it used to her. She said the "saucy chit" +was insulting. Then the man came, and he said he was very sorry, but +his wife would see no one. He did invite mother in, but she wouldn't +go. She told us she could see past him into the house and there was +such finery as never in all her days had she laid eyes on. She said he +was mannerly as could be, but he had the coldest, severest face she +ever saw. + +They had two men and a woman servant, and no one could coax a word from +them, about why those people acted as they did. They said 'orse, and +'ouse, and Hengland. They talked so funny you couldn't have understood +them anyway. They never plowed or put in a crop. They made everything +into a meadow and had more horses, cattle, and sheep than a county +fair, and everything you ever knew with feathers, even peacocks. We +could hear them scream whenever it was going to rain. Father said they +sounded heathenish. I rather liked them. The man had stacks of money +or they couldn't have lived the way they did. He came to our house +twice on business: once to see about road laws, and again about tax +rates. Father was mightily pleased at first, because Mr. Pryor seemed +to have books, and to know everything, and father thought it would be +fine to be neighbours. But the minute Mr. Pryor finished business he +began to argue that every single thing father and mother believed was +wrong. He said right out in plain English that God was a myth. Father +told him pretty quickly that no man could say that in his house; so he +left suddenly and had not been back since, and father didn't want him +ever to come again. + +Then their neighbours often saw the woman around the house and garden. +She looked and acted quite as well as any one, so probably she was not +half so sick as my mother, who had nursed three of us through typhoid +fever, and then had it herself when she was all tired out. She +wouldn't let a soul know she had a pain until she dropped over and +couldn't take another step, and father or Laddie carried her to bed. +But she went everywhere, saw all her friends, and did more good from +her bed than any other woman in our neighbourhood could on her feet. +So we thought mighty little of those Pryor people. + +Every one said the girl was pretty. Then her clothes drove the other +women crazy. Some of our neighbourhood came from far down east, like +my mother. Our people back a little were from over the sea, and they +knew how things should be, to be right. Many of the others were from +Kentucky and Virginia, and they were well dressed, proud, handsome +women; none better looking anywhere. They followed the fashions and +spent much time and money on their clothes. When it was Quarterly +Meeting or the Bishop dedicated the church or they went to town on +court days, you should have seen them--until Pryors came. Then +something new happened, and not a woman in our neighbourhood liked it. +Pamela Pryor didn't follow the fashions. She set them. If every other +woman made long tight sleeves to their wrists, she let hers flow to the +elbow and filled them with silk lining, ruffled with lace. If they +wore high neckbands, she had none, and used a flat lace collar. If +they cut their waists straight around and gathered their skirts on six +yards full, she ran hers down to a little point front and back, that +made her look slenderer, and put only half as much goods in her skirt. +Maybe Laddie rode as well as she could; he couldn't manage a horse any +better, and aside from him there wasn't a man we knew who would have +tried to ride some of the animals she did. + +If she ever worked a stroke, no one knew it. All day long she sat in +the parlour, the very best one, every day; or on benches under the +trees with embroidery frames or books, some of them fearful, big, +difficult looking ones, or rode over the country. She rode in sunshine +and she rode in storm, until you would think she couldn't see her way +through her tangled black hair. She rode through snow and in pouring +rain, when she could have stayed out of it, if she had wanted to. She +didn't seem to be afraid of anything on earth or in Heaven. Every one +thought she was like her father and didn't believe there was any God; +so when she came among us at church or any public gathering, as she +sometimes did, people were in no hurry to be friendly, while she looked +straight ahead and never spoke until she was spoken to, and then she +was precise and cold, I tell you. + +Men took off their hats, got out of the road when she came pounding +along, and stared after her like "be-addled mummies," my mother said. +But that was all she, or any one else, could say. The young fellows +were wild about her, and if they tried to sidle up to her in the hope +that they might lead her horse or get to hold her foot when she +mounted, they always saw when they reached her, that she wasn't there. + +But she was here! I had seen her only a few times, but this was the +Pryor girl, just as sure as I would have known if it had been Sally. +What dazed me was that she answered in every particular the description +Laddie had given me of the Queen's daughter. And worst of all, from +the day she first came among us, moving so proud and cold, blabbing old +Hannah Dover said she carried herself like a Princess--as if Hannah +Dover knew HOW a Princess carried herself!--every living soul, my +father even, had called her the Princess. At first it was because she +was like they thought a Princess would be, but later they did it in +meanness, to make fun. After they knew her name, they were used to +calling her the Princess, so they kept it up, but some of them were +secretly proud of her; because she could look, and do, and be what they +would have given anything to, and knew they couldn't to save them. + +I was never in such a fix in all my life. She looked more as Laddie +had said the Princess would than you would have thought any woman +could, but she was Pamela Pryor, nevertheless. Every one called her +the Princess, but she couldn't make reality out of that. She just +couldn't be the Fairy Queen's daughter; so the letter couldn't possibly +be for her. + +She had no business in our woods; you could see that they had plenty of +their own. She went straight to the door of the willow room and walked +in as if she belonged there. What if she found the hollow and took +Laddie's letter! Fast as I could slip over the leaves, I went back. +She was on the moss carpet, on her knees, and the letter was in her +fingers. It's a good thing to have your manners soundly thrashed into +you. You've got to be scared stiff before you forget them. I wasn't +so afraid of her as I would have been if I had known she WAS the +princess, and have Laddies letter, she should not. What had the kind +of girl she was, from a home like hers, to teach any one from our house +about making sunshine? I was at the willow wall by that time peering +through, so I just parted it a little and said: "Please put back that +letter where you got it. It isn't for you." + +She knelt on the mosses, the letter in her hand, and her face, as she +turned to me, was rather startled; but when she saw me she laughed, and +said in the sweetest voice I ever heard: "Are you so very sure of +that?" + +"Well I ought to be," I said. "I put it there." + +"Might I inquire for whom you put it there?" + +"No ma'am! That's a secret." + +You should have seen the light flame in her eyes, the red deepen on her +cheeks, and the little curl of laughter that curved her lips. + +"How interesting!" she cried. "I wonder now if you are not Little +Sister." + +"I am to Laddie and our folks," I said. "You are a stranger." + +All the dancing lights went from her face. She looked as if she were +going to cry unless she hurried up and swallowed it down hard and fast. + +"That is quite true," she said. "I am a stranger. Do you know that +being a stranger is the hardest thing that can happen to any one in all +this world?" + +"Then why don't you open your doors, invite your neighbours in, go to +see them, and stop your father from saying such dreadful things?" + +"They are not my doors," she said, "and could you keep your father from +saying anything he chooses?" + +I stood and blinked at her. Of course I wouldn't even dare try that. + +"I'm so sorry," was all I could think to say. + +I couldn't ask her to come to our house. I knew no one wanted her. +But if I couldn't speak for the others, surely I might for myself. I +let go the willows and went to the door. The Princess arose and sat on +the seat Laddie had made for the Queen's daughter. It was an awful +pity to tell her she shouldn't sit there, for I had my doubts if the +real, true Princess would be half as lovely when she came--if she ever +did. Some way the Princess, who was not a Princess, appeared so real, +I couldn't keep from becoming confused and forgetting that she was only +just Pamela Pryor. Already the lovely lights had gone from her face +until it made me so sad I wanted to cry, and I was no easy cry-baby +either. If I couldn't offer friendship for my family I would for +myself. + +"You may call me Little Sister, if you like," I said. "I won't be a +stranger." + +"Why how lovely!" cried the Princess. + +You should have seen the dancing lights fly back to her eyes. Probably +you won't believe this, but the first thing I knew I was beside her on +the throne, her arm was around me, and it's the gospel truth that she +hugged me tight. I just had sense enough to reach over and pick +Laddie's letter from her fingers, and then I was on her side. I don't +know what she did to me, but all at once I knew that she was dreadfully +lonely; that she hated being a stranger; that she was sorry enough to +cry because their house was one of mystery, and that she would open the +door if she could. + +"I like you," I said, reaching up to touch her curls. + +I never had seen her that I did not want to. They were like I thought +they would be. Father and Laddie and some of us had wavy hair, but +hers was crisp--and it clung to your fingers, and wrapped around them +and seemed to tug at your heart like it does when a baby grips you. I +drew away my hand, and the hair stretched out until it was long as any +of ours, and then curled up again, and you could see that no tins had +stabbed into her head to make those curls. I began trying to single +out one hair. + +"What are you doing?" she asked. + +"I want to know if only one hair is strong enough to draw a drowning +man from the water or strangle an unhappy one," I said. + +"Believe me, no!" cried the Princess. "It would take all I have, woven +into a rope, to do that." + +"Laddie knows curls that just one hair of them is strong enough," I +boasted. + +"I wonder now!" said the Princess. "I think he must have been making +poetry or telling Fairy tales." + +"He was telling the truth," I assured her. "Father doesn't believe in +Fairies, and mother laughs, but Laddie and I know. Do you believe in +Fairies?" + +"Of course I do!" she said. + +"Then you know that this COULD be an Enchanted Wood?" + +"I have found it so," said the Princess. + +"And MAYBE this is a Magic Carpet?" + +"It surely is a Magic Carpet." + +"And you might be the daughter of the Queen? Your eyes are 'moonlit +pools of darkness.' If only your hair were stronger, and you knew +about making sunshine!" + +"Maybe it is stronger than I think. It never has been tested. Perhaps +I do know about making sunshine. Possibly I am as true as the wood and +the carpet." + +I drew away and stared at her. The longer I looked the more uncertain +I became. Maybe her mother was the Queen. Perhaps that was the +mystery. It might be the reason she didn't want the people to see her. +Maybe she was so busy making sunshine for the Princess to bring to +Laddie that she had no time to sew carpet rags, and to go to quiltings, +and funerals, and make visits. It was hard to know what to think. + +"I wish you'd tell me plain out if you are the Queen's daughter," I +said. "It's most important. You can't have this letter unless I KNOW. +It's the very first time Laddie ever trusted me with a letter, and I +just can't give it to the wrong person." + +"Then why don't you leave it where he told you?" + +"But you have gone and found the place. You started to take it once; +you would again, soon as I left." + +"Look me straight in the eyes, Little Sister," said the Princess +softly. "Am I like a person who would take anything that didn't belong +to her?" + +"No!" I said instantly. + +"How do you think I happened to come to this place?" + +"Maybe our woods are prettier than yours." + +"How do you think I knew where the letter was?" + +I shook my head. + +"If I show you some others exactly like the one you have there, then +will you believe that is for me?" + +"Yes," I answered. + +I believed it anyway. It just SEEMED so, the better you knew her. The +Princess slipped her hand among the folds of the trailing pale green +skirt, and from a hidden pocket drew other letters exactly like the one +I held. She opened one and ran her finger along the top line and I +read, "To the Princess," and then she pointed to the ending and it was +merely signed, "Laddie," but all the words written between were his +writing. Slowly I handed her the letter. + +"You don't want me to have it?" she asked. + +"Yes," I said. "I want you to have it if Laddie wrote it for you--but +mother and father won't, not at all." + +"What makes you think so?" she asked gently. + +"Don't you know what people say about you?" + +"Some of it, perhaps." + +"Well?" + +"Do you think it is true?" + +"Not that you're stuck up, and hateful and proud, not that you don't +want to be neighbourly with other people, no, I don't think that. But +your father said in our home that there was no God, and you wouldn't +let my mother in when she put on her best dress and went in the +carriage, and wanted to be friends. I have to believe that." + +"Yes, you can't help believing that," said the Princess. + +"Then can't you see why you'll be likely to show Laddie the way to find +trouble, instead of sunshine?" + +"I can see," said the Princess. + +"Oh Princess, you won't do it, will you?" I cried. + +"Don't you think such a big man as Laddie can take care of himself?" +she asked, and the dancing lights that had begun to fade came back. +"Over there," she pointed through our woods toward the southwest, +"lives a man you know. What do his neighbours call him?" + +"Stiff-necked Johnny," I answered promptly. + +"And the man who lives next him?" + +"Pinch-fist Williams." + +Her finger veered to another neighbour's. + +"The girls of that house?" + +"Giggle-head Smithsons." + +"What about the man who lives over there?" + +"He beats his wife." + +"And the house beyond?" + +"Mother whispers about them. I don't know." + +"And the woman on the hill?" + +"She doesn't do anything but gussip and make every one trouble." + +"Exactly!" said the Princess. "Yet most of these people come to your +house, and your family goes to theirs. Do you suppose people they know +nothing about are so much worse than these others?" + +"If your father will take it back about God, and your mother will let +people in--my mother and father both wanted to be friends, you know." + +"That I can't possibly do," she said, "but maybe I could change their +feelings toward me." + +"Do it!" I cried. "Oh, I'd just love you to do it! I wish you would +come to our house and be friends. Sally is pretty as you are, only a +different way, and I know she'd like you, and so would Shelley. If +Laddie writes you letters and comes here about sunshine, of course he'd +be delighted if mother knew you; because she loves him best of any of +us. She depends on him most as much as father." + +"Then will you keep the secret until I have time to try--say until this +time next year?" + +"I'll keep it just as long as Laddie wants me to." + +"Good!" said the Princess. "No wonder Laddie thinks you the finest +Little Sister any one ever had." + +"Does Laddie think that?" I asked + +"He does indeed!" said the Princess. + +"Then I'm not afraid to go home," I said. "And I'll bring his letter +the next time he can't come." + +"Were you scared this time?" + +I told her about that Something in the dry bed, the wolves, wildcats, +Paddy Ryan, and the Gypsies. + +"You little goosie," said the Princess. "I am afraid that brother Leon +of yours is the biggest rogue loose in this part of the country. +Didn't it ever occur to you that people named Wolfe live over there, +and they call that crowd next us 'wildcats,' because they just went on +some land and took it, and began living there without any more +permission than real wildcats ask to enter the woods? Do you suppose I +would be here, and everywhere else I want to go, if there were any +danger? Did anything really harm you coming?" + +"You're harmed when you're scared until you can't breathe," I said. +"Anyway, nothing could get me coming, because I held the letter tight +in my hand, like Laddie said. If you'd write me one to take back, I'd +be safe going home." + +"I see," said the Princess. "But I've no pencil, and no paper, unless +I use the back of one of Laddie's letters, and that wouldn't be polite." + +"You can make new fashions," I said, "but you don't know much about the +woods, do you? I could fix fifty ways to send a message to Laddie." + +"How would you?" asked the Princess. + +Running to the pawpaw bushes I pulled some big tender leaves. Then I +took the bark from the box and laid a leaf on it. + +"Press with one of your rings," I said, "and print what you want to +say. I write to the Fairies every day that way, only I use an old +knife handle." + +She tried. She spoiled two or three by bearing down so hard she cut +the leaves. She didn't even know enough to write on the frosty side, +until she was told. But pretty soon she got along so well she printed +all over two big ones. Then I took a stick and punched little holes +and stuck a piece of foxfire bloom through. + +"What makes you do that?" she asked. + +"That's the stamp," I explained. + +"But it's my letter, and I didn't put it there." + +"Has to be there or the Fairies won't like it," I said. + +"Well then, let it go," said the Princess. + +I put back the bark and replaced the stone, gathered up the scattered +leaves, and put the two with writing on between fresh ones. + +"Now I must run," I said, "or Laddie will think the Gypsies have got me +sure." + +"I'll go with you past the dry creek," she offered. + +"You better not," I said. "I'd love to have you, but it would be best +for you to change their opinion, before father or mother sees you on +their land." + +"Perhaps it would," said the Princess. "I'll wait here until you reach +the fence and then you call and I'll know you are in the open and feel +comfortable." + +"I am most all over being afraid now," I told her. + +Just to show her, I walked to the creek, climbed the gate and went down +the lane. Almost to the road I began wondering what I could do with +the letter, when looking ahead I saw Laddie coming. + +"I was just starting to find you. You've been an age, child," he said. + +I held up the letter. + +"No one is looking," I said, "and this won't go in your pocket." + +You should have seen his face. + +"Where did you get it?" he asked. + +I told him all about it. I told him everything--about the hair that +maybe was stronger than she thought, and that she was going to change +father's and mother's opinions, and that I put the red flower on, but +she left it; and when I was done Laddie almost hugged the life out of +me. I never did see him so happy. + +"If you be very, very careful never to breathe a whisper, I'll take you +with me some day," he promised. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Our Angel Boy + + "I had a brother once--a gracious boy, + Full of all gentleness, of calmest hope, + Of sweet and quiet joy,--there was the look + Of heaven upon his face." + + +It was supper time when we reached home, and Bobby was at the front +gate to meet me. He always hunted me all over the place when the big +bell in the yard rang at meal time, because if he crowed nicely when he +was told, he was allowed to stand on the back of my chair and every +little while I held up my plate and shared bites with him. I have seen +many white bantams, but never another like Bobby. My big brothers +bought him for me in Fort Wayne, and sent him in a box, alone on the +cars. Father and I drove to Groveville to meet him. The minute father +pried off the lid, Bobby hopped on the edge of the box and crowed--the +biggest crow you ever heard from such a mite of a body; he wasn't in +the least afraid of us and we were pleased about it. You scarcely +could see his beady black eyes for his bushy topknot, his wing tips +touched the ground, his tail had two beautiful plumy feathers much +longer than the others, his feet were covered with feathers, and his +knee tufts dragged. He was the sauciest, spunkiest little fellow, and +white as muslin. We went to supper together, but no one asked where I +had been, and because I was so bursting full of importance, I talked +only to Bobby, in order to be safe. + +After supper I finished Hezekiah's trousers, and May cut his coat for +me. School would begin in September and our clothes were being made, +so I used the scraps to dress him. His suit was done by the next +forenoon, and father never laughed harder than when Hezekiah hopped +down the walk to meet him dressed in pink trousers and coat. The coat +had flowing sleeves like the Princess wore, so Hezekiah could fly, and +he seemed to like them. + +His suit was such a success I began a sunbonnet, and when that was tied +on him, the folks almost had spasms. They said he wouldn't like being +dressed; that he would fly away to punish me, but he did no such thing. +He stayed around the house and was tame as ever. + +When I became tired sewing that afternoon, I went down the lane leading +to our meadow, where Leon was killing thistles with a grubbing hoe. I +thought he would be glad to see me, and he was. Every one had been +busy in the house, so I went to the cellar the outside way and ate all +I wanted from the cupboard. Then I spread two big slices of bread the +best I could with my fingers, putting apple butter on one, and mashed +potatoes on the other. Leon leaned on the hoe and watched me coming. +He was a hungry boy, and lonesome too, but he couldn't be forced to say +so. + +"Laddie is at work in the barn," he said. + +"I'm going to play in the creek," I answered. + +Crossing our meadow there was a stream that had grassy banks, big +trees, willows, bushes and vines for shade, a solid pebbly bed; it was +all turns and bends so that the water hurried until it bubbled and sang +as it went; in it lived tiny fish coloured brightly as flowers, beside +it ran killdeer, plover and solemn blue herons almost as tall as I was +came from the river to fish; for a place to play on an August +afternoon, it couldn't be beaten. The sheep had been put in the lower +pasture; so the cross old Shropshire ram was not there to bother us. + +"Come to the shade," I said to Leon, and when we were comfortably +seated under a big maple weighted down with trailing grapevines, I +offered the bread. Leon took a piece in each hand and began to eat as +if he were starving. Laddie would have kissed me and said: "What a +fine treat! Thank you, Little Sister." + +Leon was different. He ate so greedily you had to know he was glad to +get it, but he wouldn't say so, not if he never got any more. When you +knew him, you understood he wouldn't forget it, and he'd be certain to +do something nice for you before the day was over to pay back. We sat +there talking about everything we saw, and at last Leon said with a +grin: "Shelley isn't getting much grape sap is she?" + +"I didn't know she wanted grape sap." + +"She read about it in a paper. It said to cut the vine of a wild +grape, catch the drippings and moisten your hair. This would make it +glossy and grow faster." + +"What on earth does Shelley want with more hair than she has?" + +"Oh, she has heard it bragged on so much she thinks people would say +more if she could improve it." + +I looked and there was the vine, dry as could be, and a milk crock +beneath it. + +"Didn't the silly know she had to cut the vine in the spring when the +sap was running?" + +"Bear witness, O vine! that she did not," said Leon, "and speak, ye +voiceless pottery, and testify that she expected to find you +overflowing." + +"Too bad that she's going to be disappointed." + +"She isn't! She's going to find ample liquid to bathe her streaming +tresses. Keep quiet and watch me." + +He picked up the crock, carried it to the creek and dipped it full of +water. + +"That's too much," I objected. "She'll know she never got a crock full +from a dry vine." + +"She'll think the vine bled itself dry for her sake." + +"She isn't that silly." + +"Well then, how silly is she?" asked Leon, spilling out half. "About +so?" + +"Not so bad as that. Less yet!" + +"Anything to please the ladies," said Leon, pouring out more. Then we +sat and giggled a while. + +"What are you going to do now?" asked Leon. + +"Play in the creek," I answered. + +"All right! I'll work near you." + +He rolled his trousers above his knees and took the hoe, but he was in +the water most of the time. We had to climb on the bank when we came +to the deep curve, under the stump of the old oak that father cut +because Pete Billings would climb it and yowl like a wildcat on cold +winter nights. Pete was wrong in his head like Paddy Ryan, only worse. +As we passed we heard the faintest sounds, so we lay and looked, and +there in the dark place under the roots, where the water was deepest, +huddled some of the cunningest little downy wild ducks you ever saw. +We looked at each other and never said a word. Leon chased them out +with the hoe and they swam down stream faster than old ones. I stood +in the shallow water behind them and kept them from going back to the +deep place, while Leon worked to catch them. Every time he got one he +brought it to me, and I made a bag of my apron front to put them in. +The supper bell rang before we caught all of them. We were dripping +wet with creek water and perspiration, but we had the ducks, every one +of them, and proudly started home. I'll wager Leon was sorry he didn't +wear aprons so he could carry them. He did keep the last one in his +hands, and held its little fluffy body against his cheeks every few +minutes. + +"Couldn't anything be prettier than a young duck." + +"Except a little guinea," I said. + +"That's so!" said Leon. "They are most as pretty as quail. I guess +all young things that have down are about as cunning as they can be. I +don't believe I know which I like best, myself." + +"Baby killdeers." + +"I mean tame. Things we raise." + +"I'll take guineas." + +"I'll say white turkeys. They seem so innocent. Nothing of ours is +pretty as these." + +"But these are wild." + +"So they are," said Leon. "Twelve of them. Won't mother be pleased?" + +She was not in the least. She said we were a sight to behold; that she +was ashamed to be the mother of two children who didn't know tame ducks +from wild ones. She remembered instantly that Amanda Deam had set a +speckled Dorking hen on Mallard duck eggs, where she got the eggs, and +what she paid for them. She said the ducks had found the creek that +flowed beside Deams' barnyard before it entered our land, and they had +swum away from the hen, and both the hen and Amanda would be frantic. +She put the ducks into a basket and said to take them back soon as ever +we got our suppers, and we must hurry because we had to bathe and learn +our texts for Sunday-school in the morning. + +We went through the orchard, down the hill and across the meadow until +we came to the creek. By that time we were tired of the basket. It +was one father had woven himself of shaved and soaked hickory strips, +and it was heavy. The sight of water suggested the proper place for +ducks, anyway. We talked it over and decided that they would be much +more comfortable swimming than in the basket, and it was more fun to +wade than to walk, so we went above the deep place, I stood in the +creek to keep them from going down, and Leon poured them on the water. +Pigs couldn't have acted more contrary. Those ducks LIKED us. They +wouldn't go to Deams'. They just fought to swim back to us. Anyway, +we had the worst time you ever saw. Leon cut long switches to herd +them with, and both of us waded and tried to drive them, but they would +dart under embankments and roots, and dive and hide. + +Before we reached the Deams' I wished that we had carried them as +mother told us, for we had lost three, and if we stopped to hunt them, +more would hide. By the time we drove them under the floodgate +crossing the creek between our land and the Deams' four were gone. +Leon left me on the gate with both switches to keep them from going +back and he ran to call Mrs. Deam. She had red hair and a hot temper, +and we were not very anxious to see her, but we had to do it. While +Leon was gone I was thinking pretty fast and I knew exactly how things +would happen. First time mother saw Mrs. Deam she would ask her if the +ducks were all right, and she would tell that four were gone. Mother +would ask how many she had, and she would say twelve, then mother would +remember that she started us with twelve in the basket--Oh what's the +use! Something had to be done. It had to be done quickly too, for I +could hear Amanda Deam, her boy Sammy and Leon coming across the +barnyard. I looked around in despair, but when things are the very +worst, there is almost always some way out. + +On the dry straw worked between and pushing against the panels of the +floodgate, not far from me, I saw a big black water snake. I took one +good look at it: no coppery head, no geometry patterns, no rattlebox, +so I knew it wasn't poisonous and wouldn't bite until it was hurt, and +if it did, all you had to do was to suck the place, and it wouldn't +amount to more than two little pricks as if pins had stuck you; but a +big snake was a good excuse. I rolled from the floodgate among the +ducks, and cried, "Snake!" They scattered everywhere. The snake lazily +uncoiled and slid across the straw so slowly that--thank goodness! +Amanda Deam got a fair look at it. She immediately began to jump up +and down and scream. Leon grabbed a stick and came running to the +water. I cried so he had to help me out first. + +"Don't let her count them!" I whispered. + +Leon gave me one swift look and all the mischief in his blue eyes +peeped out. He was the funniest boy you ever knew, anyway. Mostly he +looked scowly and abused. He had a grievance against everybody and +everything. He said none of us liked him, and we imposed on him. +Father said that if he tanned Leon's jacket for anything, and set him +down to think it over, he would pout a while, then he would look +thoughtful, suddenly his face would light up and he would go away +sparkling; and you could depend upon it he would do the same thing +over, or something worse, inside an hour. When he wanted to, he could +smile the most winning smile, and he could coax you into anything. +Mother said she dreaded to have to borrow a dime from him, if a peddler +caught her without change, because she knew she'd be kept paying it +back for the next six months. Right now he was the busiest kind of a +boy. + +"Where is it? Let me get a good lick at it! Don't scare the ducks!" +he would cry, and chase them from one bank to the other, while Amanda +danced and fought imaginary snakes. For a woman who had seen as many +as she must have in her life, it was too funny. I don't think I could +laugh harder, or Leon and Sammy. We enjoyed ourselves so much that at +last she began to be angry. She quit dancing, and commenced hunting +ducks, for sure. She held her skirts high, poked along the banks, +jumped the creek and didn't always get clear across. Her hair shook +down, she lost a sidecomb, and she couldn't find half the ducks. + +"You younguns pack right out of here," she said. "Me and Sammy can get +them better ourselves, and if we don't find all of them, we'll know +where they are." + +"We haven't got any of your ducks," I said angrily, but Leon smiled his +most angelic smile, and it seemed as if he were going to cry. + +"Of course, if you want to accuse mother of stealing your ducks, you +can," he said plaintively, "but I should think you'd be ashamed to do +it, after all the trouble we took to catch them before they swam to the +river, where you never would have found one of them. Come on, Little +Sister, let's go home." + +He started and I followed. As soon as we got around the bend we sat on +the bank, hung our feet in the water, leaned against each other and +laughed. We just laughed ourselves almost sick. When Amanda's face +got fire red, and her hair came down, and she jumped and didn't go +quite over, she looked a perfect fright. + +"Will she ever find all of them?" I asked at last. + +"Of course," said Leon. "She will comb the grass and strain the water +until she gets every one." + +"Hoo-hoo!" + +I looked at Leon. He was so intently watching an old turkey buzzard +hanging in the air, he never heard the call that meant it was time for +us to be home and cleaning up for Sunday. It was difficult to hurry, +for after we had been soaped and scoured, we had to sit on the back +steps and commit to memory verses from the Bible. At last we waded +toward home. Two of the ducks we had lost swam before us all the way, +so we knew they were alive, and all they needed was finding. + +"If she hadn't accused mother of stealing her old ducks, I'd catch +those and carry them back to her," said Leon. "But since she thinks we +are so mean, I'll just let her and little Sammy find them." + +Then we heard their voices as they came down the creek, so Leon reached +me his hand and we scampered across the water and meadow, never +stopping until we sat on the top rail of our back orchard fence. There +we heard another call, but that was only two. We sat there, rested and +looked at the green apples above our heads, wishing they were ripe, and +talking about the ducks. We could see Mrs. Deam and Sammy coming down +the creek, one on each side. We slid from the fence and ran into a +queer hollow that was cut into the hill between the never-fail and the +Baldwin apple trees. + +That hollow was overgrown with weeds, and full of trimmings from trees, +stumps, everything that no one wanted any place else in the orchard. +It was the only unkept spot on our land, and I always wondered why +father didn't clean it out and make it look respectable. I said so to +Leon as we crouched there watching down the hill where Mrs. Deam and +Sammy hunted ducks with not such very grand success. They seemed to +have so many they couldn't decide whether to go back or go on, so they +must have found most of them. + +"You know I've always had my suspicions about this place," said Leon. +"There is somewhere on our land that people can be hidden for a long +time. I can remember well enough before the war ever so long, and +while it was going worst, we would find the wagon covered with more mud +in the morning than had been on it at night; and the horses would be +splashed and tired. Once I was awake in the night and heard voices. +It made me want a drink, so I went downstairs for it, and ran right +into the biggest, blackest man who ever grew. If father and mother +hadn't been there I'd have been scared into fits. Next morning he was +gone and there wasn't a whisper. Father said I'd had bad dreams. That +night the horses made another mysterious trip. Now where did they keep +the black man all that day?" + +"What did they have a black man for?" + +"They were helping him run away from slavery to be free in Canada. It +was all right. I'd have done the same thing. They helped a lot. +Father was a friend of the Governor. There were letters from him, and +there was some good reason why father stayed at home, when he was crazy +about the war. I think this farm was what they called an Underground +Station. What I want to know is where the station was." + +"Maybe it's here. Let's hunt," I said. "If the black men were here +some time, they would have to be fed, and this is not far from the +house." + +So we took long sticks and began poking into the weeds. Then we moved +the brush, and sure as you live, we found an old door with a big stone +against it. I looked at Leon and he looked at me. + +"Hoo-hoo!" came mother's voice, and that was the third call. + +"Hum! Must be for us," said Leon. "We better go as soon as we get a +little dryer." + +He slid down the bank on one side, and I on the other, and we pushed at +the stone. I thought we never would get it rolled away so we could +open the door a crack, but when we did what we saw was most surprising. +There was a little room, dreadfully small, but a room. There was +straw scattered over the floor, very deep on one side, where an old +blanket showed that it had been a bed. Across the end there was a +shelf. On it was a candlestick, with a half-burned candle in it, a pie +pan with some mouldy crumbs, crusts, bones in it, and a tin can. Leon +picked up the can and looked in. I could see too. + +It had been used for water or coffee, as the plate had for food, once, +but now it was stuffed full of money. I saw Leon pull some out and +then shove it back, and he came to the door white as could be, shut it +behind him and began to push at the stone. When we got it in place we +put the brush over it, and fixed everything like it had been. + +At last Leon said: "That's the time we got into something not intended +for us, and if father finds it out, we are in for a good thrashing. +Are you just a blubbering baby, or are you big enough to keep still?" + +"I am old enough that I could have gone to school two years ago, and I +won't tell!" I said stoutly. + +"All right! Come on then," said Leon. "I don't know but mother has +been calling us." + +We started up the orchard path at the fourth call. + +"Hoo-hoo!" answered Leon in a sick little voice to make it sound far +away. Must have made mother think we were on Deams' hill. Then we +went on side by side. + +"Say Leon, you found the Station, didn't you?" + +"Don't talk about it!" snapped Leon. + +I changed the subject + +"Whose money do you suppose that is?" + +"Oh crackey! You can depend on a girl to see everything," groaned +Leon. "Do you think you'll be able to stand the switching that job +will bring you, without getting sick in bed?" + +Now I never had been sick in bed, and from what I had seen of other +people who were, I never wanted to be. The idea of being switched +until it made me sick was too much for me. I shut my mouth tight and I +never opened it about the Station place. As we reached the +maiden's-blush apple tree came another call, and it sounded pretty +cross, I can tell you. Leon reached his hand. + +"Now, it's time to run. Let me do the talking." + +We were out of breath when we reached the back door. There stood the +tub on the kitchen floor, the boiler on the stove, soap, towels, and +clean clothing on chairs. Leon had his turn at having his ears washed +first, because he could bathe himself while mother did my hair. + +"Was Mrs. Deam glad to get her ducks back?" she asked as she +fine-combed Leon. + +"Aw, you never can tell whether she's glad about anything or not," +growled Leon. "You'd have thought from the way she acted, that we'd +been trying to steal her ducks. She said if she missed any she'd know +where to find them." + +"Well as I live!" cried mother. "Why I wouldn't have believed that of +Amanda Deam. You told her you thought they were wild, of course." + +"I didn't have a chance to tell her anything. The minute the ducks +struck the water they started right back down stream, and there was a +big snake, and we had an awful time. We got wet trying to head them +back, and then we didn't find all of them." + +"They are like little eels. You should have helped Amanda." + +"Well, you called so cross we thought you would come after us, so we +had to run." + +"One never knows," sighed mother. "I thought you were loitering. Of +course if I had known you were having trouble with the ducks! I think +you had better go back and help them." + +"Didn't I do enough to take them home? Can't Sammy Deam catch ducks as +fast as I can?" + +"I suppose so," said mother. "And I must get your bathing out of the +way of supper. You use the tub while I do Little Sister's hair." + +I almost hated Sunday, because of what had to be done to my hair on +Saturday, to get ready for it. All week it hung in two long braids +that were brushed and arranged each morning. But on Saturday it had to +be combed with a fine comb, oiled and rolled around strips of tin until +Sunday morning. Mother did everything thoroughly. She raked that fine +comb over our scalps until she almost raised the blood. She hadn't +time to fool with tangles, and we had so much hair she didn't know what +to do with all of it, anyway. When she was busy talking she reached +around too far and combed across our foreheads or raked the tip of an +ear. + +But on Sunday morning we forgot all that, when we walked down the aisle +with shining curls hanging below our waists. Mother was using the fine +comb, when she looked up, and there stood Mrs. Freshett. We could see +at a glance that she was out of breath. + +"Have I beat them?" she cried. + +"Whom are you trying to beat?" asked mother as she told May to set a +chair for Mrs. Freshett and bring her a drink. + +"The grave-kiver men," she said. "I wanted to get to you first." + +"Well, you have," said mother. "Rest a while and then tell me." + +But Mrs. Freshett was so excited she couldn't rest. + +"I thought they were coming straight on down," she said, "but they must +have turned off at the cross roads. I want to do what's right by my +children here or there," panted Mrs. Freshett, "and these men seemed to +think the contrivance they was sellin' perfectly grand, an' like to be +an aid to the soul's salvation. Nice as it seemed, an' convincin' as +they talked, I couldn't get the consent of my mind to order, until I +knowed if you was goin' to kiver your dead with the contraption. None +of the rest of the neighbours seem over friendly to me, an' I've told +Josiah many's the time, that I didn't care a rap if they wa'n't, so +long as I had you. Says I, 'Josiah, to my way of thinkin', she is top +crust in this neighbourhood, and I'm on the safe side apin' her ways +clost as possible.'" + +"I'll gladly help you all I can," said my mother. + +"Thanky!" said Mrs. Freshett. "I knowed you would. Josiah he says to +me, 'Don't you be apin' nobody.' 'Josiah,' says I, 'it takes a pretty +smart woman in this world to realize what she doesn't know. Now I know +what I know, well enough, but all I know is like to keep me an' my +children in a log cabin an' on log cabin ways to the end of our time. +You ain't even got the remains of the cabin you started in for a cow +shed.' Says I, 'Josiah, Miss Stanton knows how to get out of a cabin +an' into a grand big palace, fit fur a queen woman. She's a ridin' in +a shinin' kerridge, 'stid of a spring wagon. She goes abroad dressed +so's you men all stand starin' like cabbage heads. All hern go to +church, an' Sunday-school, an' college, an' come out on the top of the +heap. She does jest what I'd like to if I knowed how. An' she ain't +come-uppety one morsel.' If I was to strike acrost fields to them +stuck-up Pryors, I'd get the door slammed in my face if 'twas the +missus, a sneer if 'twas the man, an' at best a nod cold as an iceberg +if 'twas the girl. Them as want to call her kind 'Princess,' and +encourage her in being more stuck up 'an she was born to be, can, but +to my mind a Princess is a person who thinks of some one besides +herself once in a while." + +"I don't find the Pryors easy to become acquainted with," said mother. +"I have never met the woman; I know the man very slightly; he has been +here on business once or twice, but the girl seems as if she would be +nice, if one knew her." + +"Well, I wouldn't have s'posed she was your kind," said Mrs. Freshett. +"If she is, I won't open my head against her any more. Anyway, it was +the grave-kivers I come about." + +"Just what is it, Mrs. Freshett?" asked mother. + +"It's two men sellin' a patent iron kiver for to protect the graves of +your dead from the sun an' the rain." + +"Who wants the graves of their dead protected from the sun and the +rain?" demanded my mother sharply. + +"I said to Josiah, 'I don't know how she'll feel about it, but I can't +do more than ask.'" + +"Do they carry a sample? What is it like?" + +"Jest the len'th an' width of a grave. They got from baby to +six-footer sizes. They are cast iron like the bottom of a cook stove +on the under side, but atop they are polished so they shine somethin' +beautiful. You can get them in a solid piece, or with a hole in the +centre about the size of a milk crock to set flowers through. They +come ten to the grave, an' they are mighty stylish lookin' things. I +have been savin' all I could skimp from butter, an' eggs, to get +Samantha a organ; but says I to her: 'You are gettin' all I can do for +you every day; there lays your poor brother 'at ain't had a finger +lifted for him since he was took so sudden he was gone before I knowed +he was goin'.' I never can get over Henry bein' took the way he was, +so I says: 'If this would be a nice thing to have for Henry's grave, +and the neighbours are goin' to have them for theirn, looks to me like +some of the organ money will have to go, an' we'll make it up later.' +I don't 'low for Henry to be slighted bekase he rid himself to death +trying to make a president out of his pa's gin'ral." + +"You never told me how you lost your son," said mother, feeling so +badly she wiped one of my eyes full of oil. + +"Law now, didn't I?" inquired Mrs. Freshett. "Well mebby that is +bekase I ain't had a chance to tell you much of anythin', your bein' +always so busy like, an' me not wantin' to wear out my welcome. It was +like this: All endurin' the war Henry an' me did the best we could +without pa at home, but by the time it was over, Henry was most a man. +Seemed as if when he got home, his pa was all tired out and glad to set +down an' rest, but Henry was afire to be up an' goin'. His pa filled +him so full o' Grant, it was runnin' out of his ears. Come the second +run the Gin'ral made, peered like Henry set out to 'lect him all by +hisself. He wore every horse on the place out, ridin' to rallies. +Sometimes he was gone three days at a stretch. He'd git one place an' +hear of a rally on ten miles or so furder, an' blest if he didn't ride +plum acrost the state 'fore he got through with one trip. He set out +in July, and he rid right straight through to November, nigh onto every +day of his life. He got white, an' thin, an' narvous, from loss of +sleep an' lack of food, an' his pa got restless, said Henry was takin' +the 'lection more serious 'an he ever took the war. Last few days +before votin' was cold an' raw an' Henry rid constant. 'Lection day he +couldn't vote, for he lacked a year of bein' o' age, an' he rid in with +a hard chill, an' white as a ghost, an' he says: 'Ma,' says he, 'I've +'lected Grant, but I'm all tuckered out. Put me to bed an' kiver me +warm.'" + +I forgot the sting in my eyes watching Mrs. Freshett. She was the +largest woman I knew, and strong as most men. Her hair was black and +glisteny, her eyes black, her cheeks red, her skin a clear, even dark +tint. She was handsome, she was honest, and she was in earnest over +everything. There was something about her, or her family, that had to +be told in whispers, and some of the neighbours would have nothing to +do with her. But mother said Mrs. Freshett was doing the very best she +knew, and for the sake of that, and of her children, anyone who +wouldn't help her was not a Christian, and not to be a Christian was +the very worst thing that could happen to you. I stared at her +steadily. She talked straight along, so rapidly you scarcely could +keep up with the words; you couldn't if you wanted to think about them +any between. There was not a quiver in her voice, but from her eyes +there rolled, steadily, the biggest, roundest tears I ever saw. They +ran down her cheeks, formed a stream in the first groove of her double +chin, overflowed it, and dripped drop, drop, a drop at a time, on the +breast of her stiffly starched calico dress, and from there shot to her +knees. + +"'Twa'n't no time at all 'til he was chokin' an' burnin' red with +fever, an' his pa and me, stout as we be, couldn't hold him down nor +keep him kivered. He was speechifyin' to beat anythin' you ever heard. +His pa said he was repeatin' what he'd heard said by every big stump +speaker from Greeley to Logan. When he got so hoarse we couldn't tell +what he said any more, he jest mouthed it, an' at last he dropped back +and laid like he was pinned to the sheets, an' I thought he was +restin', but 'twa'n't an hour 'til he was gone." + +Suddenly Mrs. Freshett lifted her apron, covered her face and sobbed +until her broad shoulders shook. + +"Oh you poor soul!" said my mother. "I'm so sorry for you!" + +"I never knowed he was a-goin' until he was gone," she said. "He was +the only one of mine I ever lost, an' I thought it would jest lay me +out. I couldn't 'a' stood it at all if I hadn't 'a' knowed he was +saved. I well know my Henry went straight to Heaven. Why Miss +Stanton, he riz right up in bed at the last, and clear and strong he +jest yelled it: 'Hurrah fur Grant!'" + +My mother's fingers tightened in my hair until I thought she would pull +out a lot, and I could feel her knees stiffen. Leon just whooped. +Mother sprang up and ran to the door. + +"Leon!" she cried. Then there was a slam. "What in the world is the +matter?" she asked. + +"Stepped out of the tub right on the soap, and it threw me down," +explained Leon. + +"For mercy sake, be careful!" said my mother, and shut the door. + +It wasn't a minute before the knob turned and it opened again a little. + +I never saw mother's face look so queer, but at last she said softly: +"You were thinking of the grave cover for him?" + +"Yes, but I wanted to ask you before I bound myself. I heard you lost +two when the scarlet fever was ragin' an' I'm goin' to do jest what you +do. If you have kivers, I will. If you don't like them when you see +how bright and shiny they are, I won't get any either." + +"I can tell you without seeing them, Mrs. Freshett," said my mother, +wrapping a strand of hair around the tin so tight I slipped up my +fingers to feel whether my neck wasn't like a buck-eye hull looks, and +it was. "I don't want any cover for the graves of my dead but grass +and flowers, and sky and clouds. I like the rain to fall on them, and +the sun to shine, so that the grass and flowers will grow. If you are +satisfied that the soul of Henry is safe in Heaven, that is all that is +necessary. Laying a slab of iron on top of earth six feet above his +body will make no difference to him. If he is singing with the angels, +by all means save your money for the organ." + +"I don't know about the singin', but I'd stake my last red cent he's +still hollerin' fur Grant. I was kind o' took with the idea; the +things was so shiny and scilloped at the edges, peered like it was +payin' considerable respect to the dead to kiver them that-a-way." + +"What good would it do?" asked mother. "The sun shining on the iron +would make it so hot it would burn any flower you tried to plant in the +opening; the water couldn't reach the roots, and all that fell on the +slab would run off and make it that much wetter at the edges. The iron +would soon rust and grow dreadfully ugly lying under winter snow. +There is nothing at all in it, save a method to work on the feelings of +the living, and get them to pay their money for something that wouldn't +affect their dead a particle." + +"'Twould be a poor idea for me," said Mrs. Freshett. "I said to the +men that I wanted to honour Henry all I could, but with my bulk, I'd +hev all I could do, come Jedgment Day, to bust my box, an' heave up the +clods, without havin' to hist up a piece of iron an' klim from under +it." + +Mother stiffened and Leon slipped again. He could have more accidents +than any boy I ever knew. But it was only a few minutes until he came +to mother and gave her a Bible to mark the verses he had to learn to +recite at Sunday-school next day. Mother couldn't take the time when +she had company, so she asked if he weren't big enough to pick out ten +proper verses and learn them by himself, and he said of course he was. +He took his Bible and he and May and I sat on the back steps and +studied our verses. He and May were so big they had ten; but I had +only two, and mine were not very long. Leon giggled half the time he +was studying. I haven't found anything so very funny in the Bible. +Every few minutes he would whisper to himself: "THAT'S A GOOD ONE!" + +He took the book and heard May do hers until she had them perfectly, +then he went and sat on the back fence with his book and studied as I +never before had seen him. Mrs. Freshett stayed so long mother had no +time to hear him, but he told her he had them all learned so he could +repeat them without a mistake. + +Next morning mother was busy, so she had no time then. Father, +Shelley, and I rode on the front seat, mother, May, and Sally on the +back, while the boys started early and walked. + +When we reached the top of the hill, the road was lined with carriages, +wagons, spring wagons, and saddle horses. Father found a place for our +team and we went down the walk between the hitching rack and the +cemetery fence. Mother opened the gate and knelt beside two small +graves covered with grass, shaded by yellow rose bushes, and marked +with little white stones. She laid some flowers on each and wiped the +dust from the carved letters with her handkerchief. The little sisters +who had scarlet fever and whooping cough lay there. Mother was still a +minute and then she said softly: "'The Lord has given and the Lord has +taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.'" + +She was very pale when she came to us, but her eyes were bright and she +smiled as she put her arms around as many of us as she could reach. + +"What a beautiful horse!" said Sally. "Look at that saddle and bridle! +The Pryor girl is here." + +"Why should she come?" asked Shelley. + +"To show her fine clothes and queen it over us!" + +"Children, children!" said mother. "'Judge not!' This is a house of +worship. The Lord may be drawing her in His own way. It is for us to +help Him by being kind and making her welcome." + +At the church door we parted and sat with our teachers, but for the +first time as I went down the aisle I was not thinking of my linen +dress, my patent leather slippers, and my pretty curls. It suddenly +seemed cheap to me to twist my hair when it was straight as a shingle, +and cut my head on tin. If the Lord had wanted me to have curls, my +hair would have been like Sally's. Seemed to me hers tried to see into +what big soft curls it could roll. May said ours was so straight it +bent back the other way. Anyway, I made up my mind to talk it over +with father and always wear braids after that, if I could get him to +coax mother to let me. + +Our church was quite new and it was beautiful. All the casings were +oiled wood, and the walls had just a little yellow in the last skin +coating used to make them smooth, so they were a creamy colour, and the +blinds were yellow. The windows were wide open and the wind drifted +through, while the birds sang as much as they ever do in August, among +the trees and bushes of the cemetery. Every one had planted so many +flowers of all kinds on the graves you could scent sweet odours. Often +a big, black-striped, brown butterfly came sailing in through one of +the windows, followed the draft across the room, and out of another. I +was thinking something funny: it was about what the Princess had said +of other people, and whether hers were worse. I looked at my father +sitting in calm dignity in his Sunday suit and thought him quite as +fine and handsome as mother did. Every Sabbath he wore the same suit, +he sat in the same spot, he worshipped the Lord in his calm, earnest +way. The ministers changed, but father was as much a part of the +service as the Bible on the desk or the communion table. I wondered if +people said things about him, and if they did, what they were. I never +had heard. Twisting in my seat, one by one I studied the faces on the +men's side, and then the women. It was a mighty good-looking crowd. +Some had finer clothes than others--that is always the way--but as a +rule every one was clean, neat, and good to see. From some you +scarcely could turn away. There was Widow Fall. She was French, from +Virginia, and she talked like little tinkly notes of music. I just +loved to hear her, and she walked like high-up royalty. Her dress was +always black, with white bands at the neck and sleeves, black rustly +silk, and her eyes and hair were like the dress. There was a little +red on her cheeks and lips, and her face was always grave until she saw +you directly before her, and then she smiled the sweetest smile. + +Maybe Sarah Hood was not pretty, but there was something about her lean +face and shining eyes that made you look twice before you were sure of +it, and by that time you had got so used to her, you liked her better +as she was, and wouldn't have changed her for anything. Mrs. Fritz had +a pretty face and dresses and manners, and so did Hannah Dover, only +she talked too much. So I studied them and remembered what the +Princess had said, and I wondered if she heard some one say that Peter +Justice beat his wife, or if she showed it in her face and manner. She +reminded me of a scared cowslip that had been cut and laid in the sun +an hour. I don't know as that expresses it. Perhaps a flower couldn't +look scared, but it could be wilted and faded. I wondered if she ever +had bright hair, laughing eyes, and red in her lips and cheeks. She +must have been pretty if she had. + +At last I reached my mother. There was nothing scared or faded about +her, and she was dreadfully sick too, once in a while since she had the +fever. She was a little bit of a woman, coloured like a wild rose +petal, face and body--a piece of pink porcelain Dutch, father said. +She had brown eyes, hair like silk, and she always had three best +dresses. There was one of alpaca or woollen, of black, gray or brown, +and two silks. Always there was a fine rustly black one with a bonnet +and mantle to match, and then a softer, finer one of either gold brown, +like her hair, or dainty gray, like a dove's wing. When these grew too +old for fine use, she wore them to Sunday-school and had a fresh one +for best. There was a new gray in her closet at home, so she put on +the old brown to-day, and she was lovely in it. + +Usually the minister didn't come for church services until +Sunday-school was half over, so the superintendent read a chapter, +Daddy Debs prayed, and all of us stood up and sang: "Ring Out the Joy +Bells." Then the superintendent read the lesson over as impressively +as he could. The secretary made his report, we sang another song, +gathered the pennies, and each teacher took a class and talked over the +lesson a few minutes. Then we repeated the verses we had committed to +memory to our teachers; the member of each class who had learned the +nicest texts, and knew them best, was selected to recite before the +school. Beginning with the littlest people, we came to the big folks. +Each one recited two texts until they reached the class above mine. We +walked to the front, stood inside the altar, made a little bow, and the +superintendent kept score. I could see that mother appeared worried +when Leon's name was called for his class, for she hadn't heard him, +and she was afraid he would forget. + +Among the funny things about Leon was this: while you had to drive +other boys of his age to recite, you almost had to hold him to keep him +from it. Father said he was born for a politician or a preacher, if he +would be good, and grow into the right kind of a man to do such +responsible work. + +"I forgot several last Sabbath, so I have thirteen to-day," he said +politely. + +Of course no one expected anything like that. You never knew what +might happen when Leon did anything. He must have been about sixteen. +He was a slender lad, having almost sandy hair, like his English +grandfather. He wore a white ruffled shirt with a broad collar, and +cuffs turning back over his black jacket, and his trousers fitted his +slight legs closely. The wind whipped his soft black tie a little and +ruffled the light hair where it was longest and wavy above his +forehead. Such a perfect picture of innocence you never saw. There +was one part of him that couldn't be described any better than the way +Mr. Rienzi told about his brother in his "Address to the Romans," in +McGuffey's Sixth. "The look of heaven on his face" stayed most of the +time; again, there was a dealish twinkle that sparkled and flashed +while he was thinking up something mischievous to do. When he was +fighting angry, and going to thrash Absalom Saunders or die trying, he +was plain white and his eyes were like steel. Mother called him +"Weiscope," half the time. I can only spell the way that sounds, but +it means "white-head," and she always used that name when she loved him +most. "The look of heaven" was strong on his face now. + +"One," said the recording secretary. + +"Jesus wept," answered Leon promptly. + +There was not a sound in the church. You could almost hear the +butterflies pass. Father looked down and laid his lower lip in folds +with his fingers, like he did sometimes when it wouldn't behave to suit +him. + +"Two," said the secretary after just a breath of pause. + +Leon looked over the congregation easily and then fastened his eyes on +Abram Saunders, the father of Absalom, and said reprovingly: "Give not +sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids." + +Abram straightened up suddenly and blinked in astonishment, while +father held fast to his lip. + +"Three," called the secretary hurriedly. + +Leon shifted his gaze to Betsy Alton, who hadn't spoken to her next +door neighbour in five years. + +"Hatred stirreth up strife," he told her softly, "but love covereth all +sins." + +Things were so quiet it seemed as if the air would snap. + +"Four." + +The mild blue eyes travelled back to the men's side and settled on +Isaac Thomas, a man too lazy to plow and sow land his father had left +him. They were not so mild, and the voice was touched with command: +"Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise." + +Still that silence. + +"Five," said the secretary hurriedly, as if he wished it were over. +Back came the eyes to the women's side and past all question looked +straight at Hannah Dover. + +"As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman without +discretion." + +"Six," said the secretary and looked appealingly at father, whose face +was filled with dismay. + +Again Leon's eyes crossed the aisle and he looked directly at the man +whom everybody in the community called "Stiff-necked Johnny." + +I think he was rather proud of it, he worked so hard to keep them doing +it. + +"Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck," Leon +commanded him. + +Toward the door some one tittered. + +"Seven," called the secretary hastily. + +Leon glanced around the room. + +"But how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in +unity," he announced in delighted tones as if he had found it out by +himself. + +"Eight," called the secretary with something like a breath of relief. + +Our angel boy never had looked so angelic, and he was beaming on the +Princess. + +"Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee," he told her. + +Laddie would thrash him for that. + +Instantly after, "Nine," he recited straight at Laddie: "I made a +covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" + +More than one giggled that time. + +"Ten!" came almost sharply. + +Leon looked scared for the first time. He actually seemed to shiver. +Maybe he realized at last that it was a pretty serious thing he was +doing. When he spoke he said these words in the most surprised voice +you ever heard: "I was almost in all evil in the midst of the +congregation and assembly." + +"Eleven." + +Perhaps these words are in the Bible. They are not there to read the +way Leon repeated them, for he put a short pause after the first name, +and he glanced toward our father: "Jesus Christ, the SAME, yesterday, +and to-day, and forever!" + +Sure as you live my mother's shoulders shook. + +"Twelve." + +Suddenly Leon seemed to be forsaken. He surely shrank in size and +appeared abused. + +"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me +up," he announced, and looked as happy over the ending as he had seemed +forlorn at the beginning. + +"Thirteen." + +"The Lord is on my side; I will not fear; what can man do unto me?" +inquired Leon of every one in the church. Then he soberly made a bow +and walked to his seat. + +Father's voice broke that silence. "Let us kneel in prayer," he said. + +He took a step forward, knelt, laid his hands on the altar, closed his +eyes and turned his face upward. + +"Our Heavenly Father, we come before Thee in a trying situation," he +said. "Thy word of truth has been spoken to us by a thoughtless boy, +whether in a spirit of helpfulness or of jest, Thou knowest. Since we +are reasoning creatures, it little matters in what form Thy truth comes +to us; the essential thing is that we soften our hearts for its +entrance, and grow in grace by its application. Tears of compassion +such as our dear Saviour wept are in our eyes this morning as we plead +with Thee to help us to apply these words to the betterment of this +community." + +Then father began to pray. If the Lord had been standing six feet in +front of him, and his life had depended on what he said, he could have +prayed no harder. Goodness knows how fathers remember. He began at +"Jesus wept" and told about this sinful world and why He wept over it; +then one at a time he took those other twelve verses and hammered them +down where they belonged much harder than Leon ever could by merely +looking at people. After that he prayed all around each one so +fervently that those who had been hit the very worst cried aloud and +said: "Amen!" You wouldn't think any one could do a thing like that; +but I heard and saw my father do it. + +When he arose the tears were running down his cheeks, and before him +stood Leon. He was white as could be, but he spoke out loudly and +clearly. + +"Please forgive me, sir; I didn't intend to hurt your feelings. Please +every one forgive me. I didn't mean to offend any one. It happened +through hunting short verses. All the short ones seemed to be like +that, and they made me think----" + +He got no farther. Father must have been afraid of what he might say +next. He threw his arms around Leon's shoulders, drew him to the seat, +and with the tears still rolling, he laughed as happily as you ever +heard, and he cried: "'Sweeping through the Gates!' All join in!" + +You never heard such singing in your life. That was another wonderful +thing. My father didn't know the notes. He couldn't sing; he said so +himself. Neither could half the people there, yet all of them were +singing at the tops of their voices, and I don't believe the angels in +Heaven could make grander music. My father was leading: + +"These, these are they, who in the conflict dire----" + + +You could tell Emanuel Ripley had been in the war from the way he +roared: + +"Boldly have stood amidst the hottest fire----" + + +The Widow Fall soared above all of them on the next line; her man was +there, and maybe she was lonely and would have been glad to go to him: + +"Jesus now says, 'Come up higher----'" + + +Then my little mother: + +"Washed in the blood of the Lamb----" + + +Like thunder all of them rolled into the chorus: + +"Sweepin, through the gates to the New Jerusalem----" + + +You wouldn't have been left out of that company for anything in all +this world, and nothing else ever could make you want to go so badly as +to hear every one sing, straight from the heart, a grand old song like +that. It is no right way to have to sit and keep still, and pay other +people money to sing about Heaven to you. No matter if you can't sing +by note, if your heart and soul are full, until they are running over, +so that you are forced to sing as those people did, whether you can or +not, you are sure to be straight on the way to the Gates. + +Before three lines were finished my father was keeping time like a +choirmaster, his face all beaming with shining light; mother was +rocking on her toes like a wood robin on a twig at twilight, and at the +end of the chorus she cried "Glory!" right out loud, and turned and +started down the aisle, shaking hands with every one, singing as she +went. When she reached Betsy Alton she held her hand and led her down +the aisle straight toward Rachel Brown. + +When Rachel saw them coming she hurried to meet them, and they shook +hands and were glad to make up as any two people you ever saw. It must +have been perfectly dreadful to see a woman every day for five years, +and not to give her a pie, when you felt sure yours were better than +she could make, or loan her a new pattern, or tell her first who had a +baby, or was married, or dead, or anything like that. It was no wonder +they felt glad. Mother came on, and as she passed me the verses were +all finished and every one began talking and moving. Johnny Dover +forgot his neck and shook hands too, and father pronounced the +benediction. He always had to when the minister wasn't there, because +he was ordained himself, and you didn't dare pronounce the benediction +unless you were. + +Every one began talking again, and wondering if the minister wouldn't +come soon, and some one went out to see. There was mother standing +only a few feet from the Princess, and I thought of something. I had +seen it done often enough, but I never had tried it myself, yet I +wanted to so badly, there was no time to think how scared I would be. +I took mother's hand and led her a few steps farther and said: +"Mother, this is my friend, Pamela Pryor." + +I believe I did it fairly well. Mother must have been surprised, but +she put out her hand. + +"I didn't know Miss Pryor and you were acquainted." + +"It's only been a little while," I told her. "I met her when I was on +some business with the Fairies. They know everything and they told me +her father was busy"--I thought she wouldn't want me to tell that he +was plain CROSS, where every one could hear, so I said "busy" for +politeness--"and her mother not very strong, and that she was a good +girl, and dreadfully lonesome. Can't you do something, mother?" + +"Well, I should think so!" said mother, for her heart was soft as rose +leaves. Maybe you won't believe this, but it's quite true. My mother +took the Princess' arm and led her to Sally and Shelley, and introduced +her to all the girls. By the time the minister came and mother went +back to her seat, she had forgotten all about the "indisposed" word she +disliked, and as you live! she invited the Princess to go home with us +to dinner. She stood tall and straight, her eyes very bright, and her +cheeks a little redder than usual, as she shook hands and said a few +pleasant words that were like from a book, they fitted and were so +right. When mother asked her to dinner she said: "Thank you kindly. +I should be glad to go, but my people expect me at home and they would +be uneasy. Perhaps you would allow me to ride over some week day and +become acquainted?" + +Mother said she would be happy to have her, and Shelley said so too, +but Sally was none too cordial. She had dark curls and pink cheeks +herself, and every one had said she was the prettiest girl in the +county before Shelley began to blossom out and show what she was going +to be. Sally never minded that, but when the Princess came she was a +little taller, and her hair was a trifle longer, and heavier, and +blacker, and her eyes were a little larger and darker, and where Sally +had pink skin and red lips, the Princess was dark as olive, and her +lips and cheeks were like red velvet. Anyway, the Princess had said +she would come over; mother and Shelley had been decent to her, and +Sally hadn't been exactly insulting. It would be a little more than +you could expect for her to be wild about the Princess. I believe she +was pleased over having been invited to dinner, and as she was a +stranger she couldn't know that mother had what we called the +"invitation habit." + +I have seen her ask from fifteen to twenty in one trip down the aisle +on Sunday morning. She wanted them to come too; the more who came, the +better she liked it. If the hitching rack and barnyard were full on +Sunday she just beamed. If the sermon pleased her, she invited more. +That morning she was feeling so good she asked seventeen; and as she +only had dressed six chickens--third table, backs and ham, for me as +usual; but when the prospects were as now, I always managed to coax a +few gizzards from Candace; she didn't dare give me livers--they were +counted. Almost everyone in the church was the happiest that morning +they had been in years. When the preacher came, he breathed it from +the air, and it worked on him so he preached the best sermon he ever +had, and never knew that Leon made him do it. + +Maybe after all it's a good thing to tell people about their meanness +and give them a stirring up once in a while. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Mr. Pryor's Door + + "Grief will be joy if on its edge + Fall soft that holiest ray, + Joy will be grief if no faint pledge + Be there of heavenly day." + + +"Have Sally and Peter said anything about getting married yet?" asked +my big sister Lucy of mother. Lucy was home on a visit. She was +bathing her baby and mother was sewing. + +"Not a word!" + +"Are they engaged?" + +"Sally hasn't mentioned it." + +"Well, can't you find out?" + +"How could I?" asked mother. + +"Why, watch them a little and see how they act when they are together. +If he kisses her when he leaves, of course they are engaged." + +"It would be best to wait until Sally tells me," laughed mother. + +I heard this from the back steps. Neither mother nor Lucy knew I was +there. I went in to see if they would let me take the baby. Of course +they wouldn't! Mother took it herself. She was rocking, and softly +singing my Dutch song that I loved best; I can't spell it, but it +sounds like this: + + "Trus, trus, trill; + Der power rid der fill, + Fill sphring aveck, + Plodschlicter power in der dreck." + + +Once I asked mother to sing it in English, and she couldn't because it +didn't rhyme that way and the words wouldn't fit the notes; it was +just, "Trot, trot, trot, a boy rode a colt. The colt sprang aside; +down went the boy in the dirt." + +"Aw, don't sing my song to that little red, pug-nosed bald-head!" I +said. + +Really, it was a very nice baby; I only said that because I wanted to +hold it, and mother wouldn't give it up. I tried to coax May to the +dam snake hunting, but she couldn't go, so I had to amuse myself. I +had a doll, but I never played with it except when I was dressed up on +Sunday. Anyway, what's the use of a doll when there's a live baby in +the house? I didn't care much for my playhouse since I had seen one so +much finer that Laddie had made for the Princess. Of course I knew +moss wouldn't take root in our orchard as it did in the woods, neither +would willow cuttings or the red flowers. Finally, I decided to go +hunting. I went into the garden and gathered every ripe touch-me-not +pod I could find, and all the portulaca. Then I stripped the tiger +lilies of each little black ball at the bases of the leaves, and took +all the four o'clock seed there was. Then I got my biggest alder +popgun and started up the road toward Sarah Hood's. + +I was going along singing a little verse; it wasn't Dutch either; the +old baby could have that if it wanted it. Soon as I got from sight of +the house I made a powderhorn of a curled leaf, loaded my gun with +portulaca powder, rammed in a tiger lily bullet, laid the weapon across +my shoulder, and stepped high and lightly as Laddie does when he's in +the Big Woods hunting for squirrel. It must have been my own +singing--I am rather good at hearing things, but I never noticed a +sound that time, until a voice like a rusty saw said: "Good morning, +Nimrod!" + +I sprang from the soft dust and landed among the dog fennel of a fence +corner, in a flying leap. Then I looked. It was the Princess' father, +tall, and gray, and grim, riding a big black horse that seemed as if it +had been curried with the fine comb and brushed with the grease rag. + +"Good morning!" I said when I could speak. + +"Am I correct in the surmise that you are on the chase with a popgun?" +he asked politely. + +"Yes sir," I answered, getting my breath the best I could. + +It came easier after I noticed he didn't seem to be angry about +anything. + +"Where is your hunting ground, and what game are you after?" he asked +gravely. + +"You can see the great African jungle over there. I am going to hunt +for lions and tigers." + +You always must answer politely any one who speaks to you; and you get +soundly thrashed, at least at our house, if you don't be politest of +all to an older person especially with white hair. Father is extremely +particular about white hair. It is a "crown of glory," when it is +found in the way of the Lord. Mahlon Pryor had enough crown of glory +for three men, but maybe his wasn't exactly glory, because he wasn't in +the way of the Lord. He was in a way of his own. He must have had +much confidence in himself. At our house we would rather trust in the +Lord. I only told him about the lions and tigers because he asked me, +and that was the way I played. But you should have heard him laugh. +You wouldn't have supposed to see him that he could. + +"Umph!" he said at last. "I am a little curious about your ammunition. +Just how to you bring down your prey?" + +"I use portulaca powder and tiger lily bullets on the tigers, and four +o'clocks on the lions," I said. + +You could have heard him a mile, dried up as he was. + +"I used to wear a red coat and ride to the hounds fox hunting," he +said. "It's great sport. Won't you take me with you to the jungle?" + +I didn't want him in the least, but if any one older asks right out to +go with you, what can you do? I am going to tell several things you +won't believe, and this is one of them: He got off his horse, tied it +to the fence, and climbed over after me. He went on asking questions +and of course I had to tell him. Most of what he wanted to know, his +people should have taught him before he was ten years old, but father +says they do things differently in England. + +"There doesn't seem to be many trees in the jungle." + +"Well, there's one, and it's about the most important on our land," I +told him. "Father wouldn't cut it down for a farm. You see that +little dark bag nearly as big as your fist, swinging out there on that +limb? Well, every spring one of these birds, yellow as orange peel, +with velvet black wings, weaves a nest like that, and over on that big +branch, high up, one just as bright red as the other is yellow, and the +same black wings, builds a cradle for his babies. Father says a red +bird and a yellow one keeping house in the same tree is the biggest +thing that ever happened in our family. They come every year and that +is their tree. I believe father would shoot any one who drove them +away." + +"Your father is a gunner also?" he asked, and I thought he was laughing +to himself. + +"He's enough of a gunner to bring mother in a wagon from Pennsylvania +all the way here, and he kept wolves, bears, Indians, and Gypsies from +her, and shot things for food. Yes sir, my father can shoot if he +wants to, better than any of our family except Laddie." + +"And does Laddie shoot well?" + +"Laddie does everything well," I answered proudly. "He won't try to do +anything at all, until he practises so he can do it well." + +"Score one for Laddie," he said in a queer voice. + +"Are you in a hurry about the lions and tigers?" + +"Not at all," he answered. + +"Well, here I always stop and let Governor Oglesby go swimming," I said. + +Mr. Mahlon Pryor sat on the bank of our Little Creek, took off his hat +and shook back his hair as if the wind felt good on his forehead. I +fished Dick Oglesby from the ammunition in my apron pocket, and held +him toward the cross old man, and he wasn't cross at all. It's funny +how you come to get such wrong ideas about people. + +"My big married sister who lives in Westchester sent him to me last +Christmas," I explained. "I have another doll, great big, with a +Scotch plaid dress made from pieces of mine, but I only play with her +on Sunday when I dare not do much else. I like Dick the best because +he fits my apron pocket. Father wanted me to change his name and call +him Oliver P. Morton, after a friend of his, but I told him this doll +had to be called by the name he came with, and if he wanted me to have +one named for his friend, to get it, and I'd play with it." + +"What did he do?" + +"He didn't want one named Morton that much." + +Mr. Pryor took Dick Oglesby in his fingers and looked at his curly +black hair and blue eyes, his chubby outstretched arms, like a baby +when it wants you to take it, and his plump little feet and the white +shirt with red stripes all a piece of him as he was made, and said: +"The honourable governor of our sister state seems a little weighty; I +am at a loss to understand how he swims." + +"It's a new way," I said. "He just stands still and the water swims +around him. It's very easy for him." + +Then I carried Dick to the water, waded in and stood him against a +stone. Something funny happened instantly. It always did. I found it +out one day when I got some apple butter on the governor giving him a +bite of my bread, and put him in the wash bowl to soak. He was two and +a half inches tall; but the minute you stood him in water he went down +to about half that height and spread out to twice his size around. You +should have heard Mr. Pryor. + +"If you will lie on the bank and watch you'll have more to laugh at +than that," I promised. + +He lay down and never paid the least attention to his clothes. Pretty +soon a little chub fish came swimming around to make friends with +Governor Oglesby, and then a shiner and some more chub. They nibbled +at his hands and toes, and then went flashing away, and from under the +stone came backing a big crayfish and seized the governor by the leg +and started dragging him, so I had to jump in and stop it. I took a +shot at the crayfish with the tiger ammunition and then loaded for +lions. + +We went on until the marsh became a thicket of cattails, bulrushes, +willow bushes, and blue flags; then I found a path where the lions left +the jungle, hid Mr. Pryor and told him he must be very still or they +wouldn't come. At last I heard one. I touched Mr. Pryor's sleeve to +warn him to keep his eyes on the trail. Pretty soon the lion came in +sight. Really it was only a little gray rabbit hopping along, but when +it was opposite us, I pinged it in the side, it jumped up and turned a +somersault with surprise, and squealed a funny little squeal,--well, I +wondered if Mr. Pryor's people didn't hear him, and think he had gone +crazy as Paddy Ryan. I never did hear any one laugh so. I thought if +he enjoyed it like that, I'd let him shoot one. I do May sometimes; so +we went to another place I knew where there was a tiger's den, and I +loaded with tiger lily bullets, gave him the gun and showed him where +to aim. After we had waited a long time out came a muskrat, and +started for the river. I looked to see why Mr. Pryor didn't shoot, and +there he was gazing at it as if a snake had charmed him; his hands +shaking a little, his cheeks almost red, his eyes very bright. + +"Shoot!" I whispered. "It won't stay all day!" + +He forgot how to push the ramrod like I showed him, so he reached out +and tried to hit it with the gun. + +"Don't do that!" I said. + +"But it's getting away! It's getting away!" he cried. + +"Well, what if it is?" I asked, half provoked. "Do you suppose I +really would hurt a poor little muskrat? Maybe it has six hungry +babies in its home." + +"Oh THAT way," he said, but he kept looking at it, so he made me think +if I hadn't been there, he would have thrown a stone or hit it with a +stick. It is perfectly wonderful about how some men can't get along +without killing things, such little bits of helpless creatures too. I +thought he'd better be got from the jungle, so I invited him to see the +place at the foot of the hill below our orchard where some men thought +they had discovered gold before the war. They had been to California +in '49, and although they didn't come home with millions, or anything +else except sick and tired, they thought they had learned enough about +gold to know it when they saw it. + +I told him about it and he was interested and anxious to see the place. +If there had been a shovel, I am quite sure he would have gone to +digging. He kept poking around with his boot toe, and he said maybe +the yokels didn't look good. + +He said our meadow was a beautiful place, and when he praised the creek +I told him about the wild ducks, and he laughed again. He didn't seem +to be the same man when we went back to the road. I pulled some sweet +marsh grass and gave his horse bites, so Mr. Pryor asked if I liked +animals. I said I loved horses, Laddie's best of all. He asked about +it and I told him. + +"Hasn't your father but one thoroughbred?" + +"Father hasn't any," I said. "Flos really belongs to Laddie, and we +are mighty glad he has her." + +"You should have one soon, yourself," he said. + +"Well, if the rest of them will hurry up and marry off, so the expenses +won't be so heavy, maybe I can." + +"How many of you are there?" he asked. + +"Only twelve," I said. + +He looked down the road at our house. + +"Do you mean to tell me you have twelve children there?" he inquired. + +"Oh no!" I answered. "Some of the big boys have gone into business in +the cities around, and some of the girls are married. Mother says she +has only to show her girls in the cities to have them snapped up like +hot cakes." + +"I fancy that is the truth," he said. "I've passed the one who rides +the little black pony and she is a picture. A fine, healthy, +sensible-appearing young woman!" + +"I don't think she's as pretty as your girl," I said. + +"Perhaps I don't either," he replied, smiling at me. + +Then he mounted his horse. + +"I don't remember that I ever have passed that house," he said, +"without hearing some one singing. Does it go on all the time?" + +"Yes, unless mother is sick." + +"And what is it all about?" + +"Oh just joy! Gladness that we are alive, that we have things to do +that we like, and praising the Lord." + +"Umph!" said Mr. Pryor. + +"It's just letting out what our hearts are full of," I told him. +"Don't you know that song: + + "'Tis the old time religion + And you cannot keep it still?'" + + +He shook his head. + +"It's an awful nice song," I explained. "After it sings about all the +other things religion is good for, there is one line that says: 'IT'S +GOOD FOR THOSE IN TROUBLE.'" + +I looked at him straight and hard, but he only turned white and seemed +sick. + +"So?" said Mr. Pryor. "Well, thank you for the most interesting +morning I've had this side England. I should be delighted if you would +come and hunt lions in my woods with me some time." + +"Oh, do you open the door to children?" + +"Certainly we open the door to children," he said, and as I live, he +looked so sad I couldn't help thinking he was sorry to close it against +any one. A mystery is the dreadfulest thing. + +"Then if children don't matter, maybe I can come lion-hunting some time +with the Princess, after she has made the visit at our house she said +she would." + +"Indeed! I hadn't been informed that my daughter contemplated visiting +your house," he said. "When was it arranged?" + +"My mother invited her last Sunday." + +I didn't like the way he said: "O-o-o-h!" Some way it seemed +insulting to my mother. + +"She did it to please me," I said. "There was a Fairy Princess told me +the other day that your girl felt like a stranger, and that to be a +stranger was the hardest thing in all the world. She sat a little way +from the others, and she looked so lonely. I pulled my mother's sleeve +and led her to your girl and made them shake hands, and then mother HAD +to ask her to come to dinner with us. She always invites every one she +meets coming down the aisle; she couldn't help asking your girl, too. +She said she was expected at home, but she'd come some day and get +acquainted. She needn't if you object. My mother only asked her +because she thought she was lonely, and maybe she wanted to come." + +He sat there staring straight ahead and he seemed to grow whiter, and +older, and colder every minute. + +"Possibly she is lonely," he said at last. "This isn't much like the +life she left. Perhaps she does feel herself a stranger. It was very +kind of your mother to invite her. If she wants to come, I shall make +no objections." + +"No, but my father will," I said. + +He straightened up as if something had hit him. "Why will he object?" + +"On account of what you said about God at our house," I told him. "And +then, too, father's people were from England, and he says real +Englishmen have their doors wide open, and welcome people who offer +friendliness." + +Mr. Pryor hit his horse an awful blow. It reared and went racing up +the road until I thought it was running away. I could see I had made +him angry enough to burst. Mother always tells me not to repeat +things; but I'm not smart enough to know what to say, so I don't see +what is left but to tell what mother, or father, or Laddie says when +grown people ask me questions. + +I went home, but every one was too busy even to look at me, so I took +Bobby under my arm, hunted father, and told him all about the morning. +I wondered what he would think. I never found out. + +He wouldn't say anything, so Bobby and I went across the lane, and +climbed the gate into the orchard to see if Hezekiah were there and +wanted to fight. He hadn't time to fight Bobby because he was busy +chasing every wild jay from our orchard. By the time he got that done, +he was tired, so he came hopping along on branches above us as Bobby +and I went down the west fence beside the lane. + +If I had been compelled to choose the side of our orchard I liked best, +I don't know which I would have selected. The west side--that is, the +one behind the dooryard--was running over with interesting things. Two +gates opened into it, one from near each corner of the yard. Between +these there was quite a wide level space, where mother fed the big +chickens and kept the hens in coops with little ones. She had to have +them close enough that the big hawks were afraid to come to earth, or +they would take more chickens than they could pay for, by cleaning +rabbits, snakes, and mice from the fields. Then came a double row of +prize peach trees; rare fruit that mother canned to take to county +fairs. One bore big, white freestones, and around the seed they were +pink as a rose. One was a white cling, and one was yellow. There was +a yellow freestone as big as a young sun, and as golden, and the +queerest of all was a cling purple as a beet. + +Sometimes father read about the hairs of the head being numbered, +because we were so precious in the sight of the Almighty. Mother was +just as particular with her purple tree; every peach on it was counted, +and if we found one on the ground, we had to carry it to her, because +it MIGHT be sound enough to can or spice for a fair, or she had +promised the seed to some one halfway across the state. At each end of +the peach row was an enormous big pear tree; not far from one the +chicken house stood on the path to the barn, and beside the other the +smoke house with the dog kennel a yard away. Father said there was a +distinct relationship between a smoke house and a dog kennel, and +bulldogs were best. Just at present we were out of bulldogs, but +Jones, Jenkins and Co. could make as much noise as any dog you ever +heard. On the left grew the plum trees all the way to the south fence, +and I think there was one of every kind in the fruit catalogues. +Father spent hours pruning, grafting, and fertilizing them. He said +they required twice as much work as peaches. + +Around the other sides of the orchard were two rows of peach trees of +every variety; but one cling on the north was just a little the best of +any, and we might eat all we wanted from any tree we liked, after +father tested them and said: "Peaches are ripe!" In the middle were +the apple; selected trees, planted, trimmed, and cultivated like human +beings. The apples were so big and fine they were picked by hand, +wrapped in paper, packed in barrels, and all we could not use at home +went to J. B. White in Fort Wayne for the biggest fruit house in the +state. My! but father was proud! He always packed especially fine +ones for Mr. White's family. He said he liked him, because he was a +real sandy Scotchman, who knew when an apple was right, and wasn't +afraid to say so. + +On the south side of the orchard there was the earliest June apple +tree. The apples were small, bright red with yellow stripes, crisp, +juicy and sweet enough to be just right. The tree was very large, and +so heavy it leaned far to the northeast. + +This sounds like make-believe, but it's gospel truth. Almost two feet +from the ground there was a big round growth, the size of a hash bowl. +The tree must have been hurt when very small and the place enlarged +with the trunk. Now it made a grand step. If you understood that no +one could keep from running the last few rods from the tree, then +figured on the help to be had from this step, you could see how we went +up it like squirrels. All the bark on the south side was worn away and +the trunk was smooth and shiny. The birds loved to nest among the +branches, and under the peach tree in the fence corner opposite was a +big bed of my mother's favourite wild flowers, blue-eyed Marys. They +had dainty stems from six to eight inches high and delicate heads of +bloom made up of little flowers, two petals up, blue, two turning down, +white. Perhaps you don't know about anything prettier than that. +There were maiden-hair ferns among them too! and the biggest lichens +you ever saw on the fence, while in the hollow of a rotten rail a +little chippy bird always built a hair nest. She got the hairs at our +barn, for most of them were gray from our carriage horses, Ned and Jo. +All down that side of the orchard the fence corners were filled with +long grass and wild flowers, a few alder bushes left to furnish berries +for the birds, and wild roses for us, to keep their beauty impressed on +us, father said. + +The east end ran along the brow of a hill so steep we coasted down it +on the big meat board all winter. The board was six inches thick, two +and a half feet wide, and six long. Father said slipping over ice and +snow gave it the good scouring it needed, and it was thick enough to +last all our lives, so we might play with it as we pleased. At least +seven of us could go skimming down that hill and halfway across the +meadow on it. In the very place we slid across, in summer lay the +cowslip bed. The world is full of beautiful spots, but I doubt if any +of them ever were prettier than that. Father called it swale. We +didn't sink deep, but all summer there was water standing there. The +grass was long and very sweet, there were ferns and a few calamus +flowers, and there must have been an acre of cowslips--cowslips with +big-veined, heartshaped, green leaves, and large pale gold flowers. I +used to sit on the top rail of that orchard fence and look down at +them, and try to figure out what God was thinking when He created them, +and I wished that I might have been where I could watch His face as He +worked. + +Halfway across the east side was a gully where Leon and I found the +Underground Station, and from any place along the north you looked, you +saw the Little Creek and the marsh. At the same time the cowslips were +most golden, the marsh was blue with flags, pink with smart weed, white +and yellow with dodder, yellow with marsh buttercups having ragged +frosty leaves, while the yellow and the red birds flashed above it, the +red crying, "Chip," "Chip," in short, sharp notes, the yellow spilling +music all over the marsh while on wing. + +It would take a whole book to describe the butterflies; once in a while +you scared up a big, wonderful moth, large as a sparrow; and the +orchard was alive with doves, thrushes, catbirds, bluebirds, vireos, +and orioles. When you climbed the fence, or a tree, and kept quiet, +and heard the music and studied the pictures, it made you feel as if +you had to put it into words. I often had meeting all by myself, +unless Bobby and Hezekiah were along, and I tried to tell God what I +thought about things. Probably He was so busy making more birds and +flowers for other worlds, He never heard me; but I didn't say anything +disrespectful at all, so it made no difference if He did listen. It +just seemed as if I must tell what I thought, and I felt better, not so +full and restless after I had finished. + +All of us were alike about that. At that minute I knew mother was +humming, as she did a dozen times a day: + + "I think when I read that sweet story of old, + When Jesus was here among men + How He called little children as lambs to His fold, + I should like to have been with Him then." + + +Lucy would be rocking her baby and singing, "Hush, my dear, lie still +and slumber." Candace's favourite she made up about her man who had +been killed in the war, when they had been married only six weeks, +which hadn't given her time to grow tired of him if he hadn't been "all +her fancy painted." She arranged the words like "Ben Battle was a +soldier bold," and she sang them to suit herself, and cried every +single minute: + + "They wrapped him in his uniform, + They laid him in the tomb, + My aching heart I thought 'twould break, + But such was my sad doom." + + +Candace just loved that song. She sang it all the time. Leon said our +pie always tasted salty from her tears, and he'd take a bite and smile +at her sweetly and say: "How UNIFORM you get your pie, Candace!" + +May's favourite was "Joy Bells." Father would be whispering over to +himself the speech he was preparing to make at the next prayer-meeting. +We never could learn his speeches, because he read and studied so much +it kept his head so full, he made a new one every time. You could hear +Laddie's deep bass booming the "Bedouin Love Song" for a mile; this +minute it came rolling across the corn: + + "Open the door of thy heart, + And open thy chamber door, + And my kisses shall teach thy lips + The love that shall fade no more + Till the sun grows cold, + And the Stars are old, + And the leaves of the Judgment + Book unfold!" + + +I don't know how the Princess stood it. If he had been singing that +song where I could hear it and I had known it was about me, as she must +have known he meant her, I couldn't have kept my arms from around his +neck. Over in the barn Leon was singing: + + "A life on the ocean wave, + A home on the rolling deep, + Where codfish waggle their tails + 'Mid tadpoles two feet deep." + + +The minute he finished, he would begin reciting "Marco Bozzaris," and +you could be sure that he would reach the last line only to commence on +the speech of "Logan, Chief of the Mingoes," or any one of the fifty +others. He could make your hair stand a little straighter than any one +else; the best teachers we ever had, or even Laddie, couldn't make you +shivery and creepy as he could. Because all of us kept going like that +every day, people couldn't pass without hearing, so THAT was what Mr. +Pryor meant. + +I had a pulpit in the southeast corner of the orchard. I liked that +place best of all because from it you could see two sides at once. The +very first little, old log cabin that had been on our land, the one my +father and mother moved into, had stood in that corner. It was all +gone now; but a flowerbed of tiny, purple iris, not so tall as the +grass, spread there, and some striped grass in the shadiest places, and +among the flowers a lark brooded every spring. In the fence corner +mother's big white turkey hen always nested. To protect her from rain +and too hot sun, father had slipped some boards between the rails about +three feet from the ground. After the turkey left, that was my pulpit. + +I stood there and used the top of the fence for my railing. + +The little flags and all the orchard and birds were behind me; on one +hand was the broad, grassy meadow with the creek running so swiftly, I +could hear it, and the breath of the cowslips came up the hill. +Straight in front was the lane running down from the barn, crossing the +creek and spreading into the woods pasture, where the water ran wider +and yet swifter, big forest trees grew, and bushes of berries, pawpaws, +willow, everything ever found in an Indiana thicket; grass under foot, +and many wild flowers and ferns wherever the cattle and horses didn't +trample them, and bigger, wilder birds, many having names I didn't +know. On the left, across the lane, was a large cornfield, with trees +here and there, and down the valley I could see the Big Creek coming +from the west, the Big Hill with the church on top, and always the +white gravestones around it. Always too there was the sky overhead, +often with clouds banked until you felt if you only could reach them, +you could climb straight to the gates that father was so fond of +singing about sweeping through. Mostly there was a big hawk or a +turkey buzzard hanging among them, just to show us that we were not so +much, and that we couldn't shoot them, unless they chose to come down +and give us a chance. + +I set Bobby and Hezekiah on the fence and stood between them. "We will +open service this morning by singing the thirty-fifth hymn," I said. +"Sister Dover, will you pitch the tune?" + +Then I made my voice high and squeally like hers and sang: + + "Come ye that love the Lord, + And let your joys be known, + Join in a song of sweet accord, + And thus surround the throne." + + +I sang all of it and then said: "Brother Hastings, will you lead us in +prayer?" + +Then I knelt down, and prayed Brother Hastings' prayer. I could have +repeated any one of a dozen of the prayers the men of our church +prayed, but I liked Brother Hastings' best, because it had the biggest +words in it. I loved words that filled your mouth, and sounded as if +you were used to books. It began sort of sing-songy and measured in +stops, like a poetry piece: + + "Our Heavenly Father: We come before Thee this morning, + Humble worms of the dust, imploring thy blessing. + We beseech Thee to forgive our transgressions, + Heal our backsliding, and love us freely." + + +Sometimes from there on it changed a little, but it always began and +ended exactly the same way. Father said Brother Hastings was powerful +in prayer, but he did wish he'd leave out the "worms of the dust." He +said we were not "worms of the dust"; we were reasoning, progressive, +inventive men and women. He said a worm would never be anything except +a worm, but we could study and improve ourselves, help others, make +great machines, paint pictures, write books, and go to an extent that +must almost amaze the Almighty Himself. He said that if Brother +Hastings had done more plowing in his time, and had a little closer +acquaintance with worms, he wouldn't be so ready to call himself and +every one else a worm. Now if you are talking about cutworms or +fishworms, father is right. But there is that place where--"Charles +his heel had raised, upon the humble worm to tread," and the worm +lifted up its voice and spake thus to Charles: + + "I know I'm now among the things + Uncomely to your sight, + But, by and by, on splendid wings, + You'll see me high and bright." + + +Now I'll bet a cent THAT is the kind of worm Brother Hastings said we +were. I must speak to father about it. I don't want him to be +mistaken; and I really think he is about worms. Of course he knows the +kind that have wings and fly. Brother Hastings mixed him up by saying +"worms of the dust" when he should have said worms of the leaves. +Those that go into little round cases in earth or spin cocoons on trees +always live on leaves, and many of them rear the head, having large +horns, and wave it in a manner far from humble. So father and Brother +Hastings were both partly right, and partly wrong. + +When the prayer came to a close, where every one always said "Amen," I +punched Bobby and whispered, "Crow, Bobby, crow!" and he stood up and +brought it out strong, like he always did when I told him. I had to +stop the service to feed him a little wheat, to pay him for crowing; +but as no one was there except us, that didn't matter. Then Hezekiah +crowded over for some, so I had to pretend I was Mrs. Daniels feeding +her children caraway cake, like she always did in meeting. If I had +been the mother of children who couldn't have gone without things to +eat in church I'd have kept them at home. Mrs. Daniels always had the +carpet greasy with cake crumbs wherever she sat, and mother didn't +think the Lord liked a dirty church any more than we would have wanted +a mussy house. When I had Bobby and Hezekiah settled I took my text +from my head, because I didn't know the meeting feeling was coming on +me when I started, and I had brought no Bible along. + +"Blessed are all men, but most blessed are they who hold their +tempers." I had to stroke Bobby a little and pat Hezekiah once in a +while, to keep them from flying down and fighting, but mostly I could +give my attention to my sermon. + +"We have only to look around us this morning to see that all men are +blessed," I said. "The sky is big enough to cover every one. If the +sun gets too hot, there are trees for shade or the clouds come up for a +while. If the earth becomes too dry, it always rains before it is +everlastingly too late. There are birds enough to sing for every one, +butterflies enough to go around, and so many flowers we can't always +keep the cattle and horses from tramping down and even devouring +beautiful ones, like Daniel thought the lions would devour him--but +they didn't. Wouldn't it be a good idea, O Lord, for You to shut the +cows' mouths and save the cowslips also; they may not be worth as much +as a man, but they are lots better looking, and they make fine greens. +It doesn't seem right for cows to eat flowers; but maybe it is as right +for them as it is for us. The best way would be for our cattle to do +like that piece about the cow in the meadow exactly the same as ours: + + "'And through it ran a little brook, + Where oft the cows would drink, + And then lie down among the flowers, + That grew upon the brink.' + + +"You notice, O Lord, the cows did not eat the flowers in this instance; +they merely rested among them, and goodness knows, that's enough for +any cow. They had better done like the next verse, where it says: + + "'They like to lie beneath the trees, + All shaded by the boughs, + Whene'er the noontide heat came on: + Sure, they were happy cows!' + + +"Now, O Lord, this plainly teaches that if cows are happy, men should +be much more so, for like the cows, they have all Thou canst do for +them, and all they can do for themselves, besides. So every man is +blessed, because Thy bounty has provided all these things for him, +without money and without price. If some men are not so blessed as +others, it is their own fault, and not Yours. You made the earth, and +all that is therein, and You made the men. Of course You had to make +men different, so each woman can tell which one belongs to her; but I +believe it would have been a good idea while You were at it, if You +would have made all of them enough alike that they would all work. +Perhaps it isn't polite of me to ask more of You than You saw fit to +do; and then, again, it may be that there are some things impossible, +even to You. If there is anything at all, seems as if making Isaac +Thomas work would be it. Father says that man would rather starve and +see his wife and children hungry than to take off his coat, roll up his +sleeves, and plow corn; so it was good enough for him when Leon said, +'Go to the ant, thou sluggard,' right at him. So, of course, Isaac is +not so blessed as some men, because he won't work, and thus he never +knows whether he's going to have a big dinner on Sunday, until after +some one asks him, because he looks so empty. Mother thinks it isn't +fair to feed Isaac and send him home with his stomach full, while Mandy +and the babies are sick and hungry. But Isaac is some blessed, because +he has religion and gets real happy, and sings, and shouts, and he's +going to Heaven when he dies. He must wish he'd go soon, especially in +winter. + +"There are men who do not have even this blessing, and to make things +worse, O Lord, they get mad as fire and hit their horses, and look like +all possessed. The words of my text this morning apply especially to a +man who has all the blessings Thou hast showered and flowered upon men +who work, or whose people worked and left them so much money they don't +need to, and yet a sadder face I never saw, or a crosser one. He looks +like he was going to hit people, and he does hit his horse an awful +crack. It's no way to hit a horse, not even if it balks, because it +can't hit back, and it's a cowardly thing to do. If you rub their ears +and talk to them, they come quicker, O our Heavenly Father, and if you +hit them just because you are mad, it's a bigger sin yet. + +"No man is nearly so blessed as he might be who goes around looking +killed with grief when he should cheer up, no matter what ails him; and +who shuts up his door and says his wife is sick when she isn't, and who +scowls at every one, when he can be real pleasant if he likes, as some +in Divine Presence can testify. So we are going to beseech Thee, O +Lord, to lay Thy mighty hand upon the man who got mad this beautiful +morning and make him feel Thy might, until he will know for himself and +not another, that You are not a myth. Teach him to have a pleasant +countenance, an open door, and to hold his temper. Help him to come +over to our house and be friendly with all his neighbours, and get all +the blessings You have provided for every one; but please don't make +him have any more trouble than he has now, for if You do, You'll surely +kill him. Have patience with him, and have mercy on him, O Lord! Let +us pray." + +That time I prayed myself. I looked into the sky just as straight and +as far as I could see, and if I had any influence at all, I used it +then. Right out loud, I just begged the Lord to get after Mr. Pryor +and make him behave like other people, and let the Princess come to our +house, and for him to come too; because I liked him heaps when he was +lion hunting, and I wanted to go with him again the worst way. I had +seen him sail right over the fences on his big black horse, and when he +did it in England, wearing a red coat, and the dogs flew over thick +around him, it must have looked grand, but it was mighty hard on the +fox. I do hope it got away. Anyway, I prayed as hard as I could, and +every time I said the strongest thing I knew, I punched Bobby to crow, +and he never came out stronger. Then I was Sister Dover and started: +"Oh come let us gather at the fountain, the fountain that never goes +dry." + +Just as I was going to pronounce the benediction like father, I heard +something, so I looked around, and there went he and Dr. Fenner. They +were going toward the house, and yet, they hadn't passed me. I was not +scared, because I knew no one was sick. Dr. Fenner always stopped when +he passed, if he had a minute, and if he hadn't, mother sent some one +to the gate with buttermilk and slices of bread and butter, and jelly +an inch thick. When a meal was almost cooked she heaped some on a +plate and he ate as he drove and left the plate next time he passed. +Often he was so dead tired, he was asleep in his buggy, and his old +gray horse always stopped at our gate. + +I ended with "Amen," because I wanted to know if they had been +listening; so I climbed the fence, ran down the lane behind the bushes, +and hid a minute. Sure enough they had! I suppose I had been so in +earnest I hadn't heard a sound, but it's a wonder Hezekiah hadn't told +me. He was always seeing something to make danger signals about. He +never let me run on a snake, or a hawk get one of the chickens, or +Paddy Ryan come too close. I only wanted to know if they had gone and +listened, and then I intended to run straight back to Bobby and +Hezekiah; but they stopped under the greening apple tree, and what they +said was so interesting I waited longer than I should, because it's +about the worst thing you can do to listen when older people don't +know. They were talking about me. + +"I can't account for her," said father. + +"I can!" said Dr. Fenner. "She is the only child I ever have had in my +practice who managed to reach earth as all children should. During the +impressionable stage, no one expected her, so there was no time spent +in worrying, fretting, and discontent. I don't mean that these things +were customary with Ruth. No woman ever accepted motherhood in a more +beautiful spirit; but if she would have protested at any time, it would +have been then. Instead, she lived happily, naturally, and enjoyed +herself as she never had before. She was in the fields, the woods, and +the garden constantly, which accounts for this child's outdoor +tendencies. Then you must remember that both of you were at top notch +intellectually, and physically, fully matured. She had the benefit of +ripened minds, and at a time when every faculty recently had been +stirred by the excitement and suffering of the war. Oh, you can +account for her easily enough, but I don't know what on earth you are +going to do with her. You'll have to go careful, Paul. I warn you she +will not be like the others." + +"We realize that. Mother says she doubts if she can ever teach her to +sew and become a housewife." + +"She isn't cut out for a seamstress or a housewife, Paul. Tell Ruth +not to try to force those things on her. Turn her loose out of doors; +give her good books, and leave her alone. You won't be disappointed in +the woman who evolves." + +Right there I realized what I was doing, and I turned and ran for the +pulpit with all my might. I could always repeat things, but I couldn't +see much sense to the first part of that; the last was as plain as the +nose on your face. Dr. Fenner said they mustn't force me to sew, and +do housework; and mother didn't mind the Almighty any better than she +did the doctor. There was nothing in this world I disliked so much as +being kept indoors, and made to hem cap and apron strings so +particularly that I had to count the number of threads between every +stitch, and in each stitch, so that I got all of them just exactly +even. I liked carpet rags a little better, because I didn't have to be +so particular about stitches, and I always picked out all the bright, +pretty colours. + +Mother said she could follow my work all over the floor by the bright +spots. Perhaps if I were not to be kept in the house I wouldn't have +to sew any more. That made me so happy I wondered if I couldn't +stretch out my arms and wave them and fly. I sat on the pulpit wishing +I had feathers. It made me pretty blue to have to stay on the ground +all the time, when I wanted to be sailing up among the clouds with the +turkey buzzards. It called to my mind that place in McGuffey's Fifth +where it says: + + "Sweet bird, thy bower is ever green, + Thy sky is ever clear; + Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, + No winter in thy year." + + +Of course, I never heard a turkey buzzard sing. Laddie said they +couldn't; but that didn't prove it. He said half the members of our +church couldn't sing, but they DID; and when all of them were going at +the tops of their voices, it was just grand. So maybe the turkey +buzzard could sing if it wanted to; seemed as if it should, if Isaac +Thomas could; and anyway, it was the next verse I was thinking most +about: + + "Oh, could I fly, I'd fly with thee! + We'd make with joyful wing, + Our annual visit o'er the globe, + Companions of the spring." + + +That was so exciting I thought I'd just try it, so I stood on the top +rail, spread my arms, waved them, and started. I was bumped in fifty +places when I rolled into the cowslip bed at the foot of the steep +hill, for stones stuck out all over the side of it, and I felt pretty +mean as I climbed back to the pulpit. + +The only consolation I had was what Dr. Fenner had said. That would be +the greatest possible help in managing father or mother. + +I was undecided about whether I would go to school, or not. Must be +perfectly dreadful to dress like for church, and sit still in a stuffy +little room, and do your "abs," and "bes," and "bis," and "bos," all +day long. I could spell quite well without looking at a schoolhouse, +and read too. I was wondering if I ever would go at all, when I +thought of something else. Dr. Fenner had said to give me plenty of +good books. I was wild for some that were already promised me. Well, +what would they amount to if I couldn't understand them when I got +them? THAT seemed to make it sure I would be compelled to go to school +until I learned enough to understand what the books contained about +birds, flowers, and moths, anyway; and perhaps there would be some +having Fairies in them. Of course those would be interesting. + +I never hated doing anything so badly, in all my life, but I could see, +with no one to tell me, that I had put it off as long as I dared. I +would just have to start school when Leon and May went in September. +Tilly Baher, who lived across the swamp near Sarah Hood, had gone two +winters already, and she was only a year older, and not half my size. +I stood on the pulpit and looked a long time in every direction, into +the sky the longest of all. It was settled. I must go; I might as +well start and have it over. I couldn't look anywhere, right there at +home, and not see more things I didn't know about than I did. When +mother showed me in the city, I wouldn't be snapped up like hot cakes; +I'd be a blockhead no one would have. It made me so vexed to think I +had to go, I set Hezekiah on my shoulder, took Bobby under my arm, and +went to the house. On the way, I made up my mind that I would ask +again, very politely, to hold the little baby, and if the rest of them +went and pigged it up straight along, I'd pinch it, if I got a chance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Last Day in Eden + + "'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, + And coming events cast their shadows before." + + +Of course the baby was asleep and couldn't be touched; but there was +some excitement, anyway. Father had come from town with a letter from +the new school teacher, that said she would expect him to meet her at +the station next Saturday. Mother thought she might as well get the +room ready and let her stay at our house, because we were most +convenient, and it would be the best place for her. She said that +every time, and the teacher always stayed with us. Really it was +because father and mother wanted the teacher where they could know as +much as possible about what was going on. Sally didn't like having her +at all; she said with the wedding coming, the teacher would be a +nuisance. Shelley had finished our school, and the Groveville high +school, and instead of attending college she was going to Chicago to +study music. She was so anxious over her dresses and getting started, +she didn't seem to think much about what was going to happen to us at +home; so she didn't care if Miss Amelia stayed at our house. May said +it would be best to have the teacher with us, because she could help us +with our lessons at home, and we could get ahead of the others. May +already had decided that she would be at the head of her class when she +finished school, and every time you wanted her and couldn't find her, +if you would look across the foot of mother's bed, May would be there +with a spelling book. Once she had spelled down our school, when +Laddie was not there. + + +Father had met Peter Dover in town, and he had said that he was coming +to see Sally, because he had something of especial importance to tell +her. + +"Did he say what it was?" asked Sally. + +"Only what I have told you," replied father. + +Sally wanted to take the broom and sweep the parlour. + +"It's clean as a ribbon," said mother. + +"If you go in there, you'll wake the baby," said Lucy. + +"Will it kill it if I do?" asked Sally. + +"No, but it will make it cross as fire, so it will cry all the time +Peter is here," said Lucy. + +"I'll be surprised if it doesn't scream every minute anyway," said +Sally. + +"I hope it will," said Lucy. "That will make Peter think a while +before he comes so often." + +That made Sally so angry she couldn't speak, so she went out and began +killing chickens. I helped her catch them. They were so used to me +they would come right to my feet when I shelled corn. + +"I'm going to kill three," said Sally. "I'm going to be sure we have +enough, but don't you tell until their heads are off." + +While she was working on them mother came out and asked how many she +had, so Sally said three. Mother counted us and said that wasn't +enough; there would have to be four at least. + +After she was gone Sally looked at me and said: "Well, for land's +sake!" + +It was so funny she had to laugh, and by the time I caught the fourth +one, and began helping pick them, she was over being provoked and we +had lots of fun. + +The minute I saw Peter Dover he made me think of something. I rode his +horse to the barn with Leon leading it. There we saw Laddie. + +"Guess what!" I cried. + +"Never could!" laughed Laddie, giving Peter Dover's horse a slap as it +passed him on the way to a stall. + +"Four chickens, ham, biscuit, and cake!" I announced. + +"Is it a barbecue?" asked Laddie. + +"No, the extra one is for the baby," said Leon. "Squally little runt, +I call it." + +"It's a nice baby!" said Laddie. + +"What do you know about it?" demanded Leon. + +"Well, considering that I started with you, and have brought up two +others since, I am schooled in all there is to know," said Laddie. + +"Guess what else!" I cried. + +"More?" said Laddie. "Out with it! Don't kill me with suspense." + +"Father is going to town Saturday to meet the new teacher and she will +stay at our house as usual." + +Leon yelled and fell back in a manger, while Laddie held harness oil to +his nose. + +"More!" cried Leon, grabbing the bottle. + +"Are you sure?" asked Laddie of me earnestly. + +"It's decided. Mother said so," I told him. + +"Name of a black cat, why?" demanded Laddie. + +"Mother said we were most convenient for the teacher." + +"Aren't there enough of us?" asked Leon, straightening up sniffing +harness oil as if his life depended on it. + +"Any unprejudiced person would probably say so to look in," said Laddie. + +"I'll bet she'll be sixty and a cat," said Leon. "Won't I have fun +with her?" + +"Maybe so, maybe not!" said Laddie. "You can't always tell, for sure. +Remember your Alamo! You were going to have fun with the teacher last +year, but she had it with you." + +Leon threw the oil bottle at him. Laddie caught it and set it on the +shelf. + +"I don't understand," said Leon. + +"I do," said Laddie dryly. "THIS is one reason." He hit Peter Dover's +horse another slap. + +"Maybe yes," said Leon. + +"Shelley to music school, two." + +"Yes," said Leon. "Peter Dovers are the greatest expense, and Peter +won't happen but once. Shelley will have at least two years in school +before it is her turn, and you come next, anyway." + +"Shut up!" cried Laddie. + +"Thanky! Your orders shall be obeyed gladly." + +He laid down the pitchfork, went outside, closed the door, and latched +it. Laddie called to him, but he ran to the house. When Laddie and I +finished our work, and his, and wanted to go, we had to climb the +stairs and leave through the front door on the embankment. + +"The monkey!" said Laddie, but he didn't get mad; he just laughed. + +The minute I stepped into the house and saw the parlour door closed, I +thought of that "something" again. I walked past it, but couldn't hear +anything. Of course mother wanted to know; and she would be very +thankful to me if I could tell her. I went out the front door, and +thought deeply on the situation. The windows were wide open, but I was +far below them and I could only hear a sort of murmur. Why can't +people speak up loud and plain, anyway? Of course they would sit on +the big haircloth sofa. Didn't Leon call it the "sparking bench"? The +hemlock tree would be best. I climbed quieter than a cat, for they +break bark and make an awful scratching with their claws sometimes; my +bare feet were soundless. Up and up I went, slowly, for it was +dreadfully rough. They were not on the sofa. I could see plainly +through the needles. Then I saw the spruce would have been better, for +they were standing in front of the parlour door and Peter had one hand +on the knob. His other arm was around my sister Sally. Breathlessly I +leaned as far as I could, and watched. + +"Father said he'd give me the money to buy a half interest, and furnish +a house nicely, if you said 'yes,' Sally," said Peter. + +Sally leaned back all pinksome and blushful, and while she laughed at +him she + + "Carelessly tossed off a curl + That played on her delicate brow." + +exactly like Mary Dow in McGuffey's Third. + +"Well, what did I SAY?" she asked. + +"Come to think of it, you didn't say anything." + +Sally's face was all afire with dancing lights, and she laughed the +gayest little laugh. + +"Are you so very sure of that, Peter?" she said. + +"I'm not sure of anything," said Peter, "except that I am so happy I +could fly." + +"Try it, fool!" I said to myself, deep in my throat. + +Sally laughed again, and Peter took his other hand from the door and +put that arm around Sally too, and he drew her to him and kissed her, +the longest, hardest kiss I ever saw. I let go and rolled, tumbled, +slid, and scratched down the hemlock tree, dropped from the last branch +to the ground, and scampered around the house. I reached the +dining-room door when every one was gathering for supper. + +"Mother!" I cried. "Mother! Yes! They're engaged! He's kissing her, +mother! Yes, Lucy, they're engaged!" + +I rushed in to tell all of them what they would be glad to know, and if +there didn't stand Peter and Sally! How they ever got through that +door, and across the sitting-room before me, I don't understand. Sally +made a dive at me, and I was so astonished I forgot to run, so she +caught me. She started for the wood house with me, and mother +followed. Sally turned at the door and she was the whitest of anything +you ever saw. + +"This is my affair," she said. "I'll attend to this young lady." + +"Very well," said mother, and as I live she turned and left me to my +sad fate, as it says in a story book we have. I wish when people are +going to punish me, they'd take a switch and strike respectably, like +mother does. This thing of having some one get all over me, and not +having an idea where I'm going to be hit, is the worst punishment that +I ever had. I'd been down the hill and up the hemlock that day, +anyway. I'd always been told Sally didn't want me. She PROVED it +right then. Finally she quit, because she was too tired to strike +again, so I crept among the shavings on the work bench and went to +sleep. I THOUGHT they would like to know, and that I was going to +please them. + +Anyway, they found out, for by the time Sally got back Peter had told +them about the store, and the furnished house, and asked father for +Sally right before all of them, which father said was pretty brave; but +Peter knew it was all right or he couldn't have come like he'd been +doing. + +After that, you couldn't hear anything at our house but wedding. +Sally's share of linen and bedding was all finished long ago. Father +took her to Fort Wayne on the cars to buy her wedding, travelling, and +working dresses, and her hat, cloak, and linen, like you have when you +marry. + +It was strange that Sally didn't want mother to go, but she said the +trip would tire her too much. Mother said it was because Sally could +coax more dresses from father. Anyway, mother told him to set a limit +and stick to it. She said she knew he hadn't done it as she got the +first glimpse of Sally's face when they came back, but the child looked +so beautiful and happy she hadn't the heart to spoil her pleasure. + +The next day a sewing woman came; and all of them were shut up in the +sitting-room, while the sewing machine just whizzed on the working +dresses. Sally said the wedding dress had to be made by hand. She +kept the room locked, and every new thing that they made was laid away +on the bed in the parlour bedroom, and none of us had a peep until +everything was finished. It was awfully exciting, but I wouldn't +pretend I cared, because I was huffy at her. I told her I wouldn't +kiss her goodbye, and I'd be GLAD when she was gone. + +Sally said the school-ma'am simply had to go to Winters', or some place +else, but mother said possibly a stranger would have some ideas, and +know some new styles, so Sally then thought maybe they had better try +it a few days, and she could have her place and be company when she and +Shelley left. Shelley was rather silent and blue, and before long I +found her crying, because mother had told her she couldn't start for +Chicago until after the wedding, and that would make her miss six weeks +at the start. + +Next day word was sent around that school was to begin the coming +Monday; so Saturday afternoon the people who had children large enough +to go sent the biggest of them to clean the schoolhouse. May, Leon, +and I went to do our share. Just when there were about a bushel of nut +shells, and withered apple cores, and inky paper on the floor, the +blackboard half cleaned, and ashes trailed deep between the stove and +the window Billy Wilson was throwing them from, some one shouted: +"There comes Mr. Stanton with Her." + +All of us dropped everything and ran to the south windows. I tell you +I was proud of our big white team as it came prancing down the hill, +and the gleaming patent leather trimmings, and the brass side lamps +shining in the sun. Father sat very straight, driving rather fast, as +if he would as lief get it over with, and instead of riding on the back +seat, where mother always sat, the teacher was in front beside him, and +she seemed to be talking constantly. We looked at each other and +groaned when father stopped at the hitching post and got out. If we +had tried to see what a dreadful muss we could make, things could have +looked no worse. I think father told her to wait in the carriage, but +we heard her cry: "Oh Mr. Stanton, let me see the dear children I'm to +teach, and where I'm to work." + +Hopped is the word. She hopped from the carriage and came hopping +after father. She was as tall as a clothes prop and scarcely as fat. +There were gray hairs coming on her temples. Her face was sallow and +wrinkled, and she had faded, pale-blue eyes. Her dress was like my +mother had worn several years before, in style, and of stiff gray +stuff. She made me feel that no one wanted her at home, and probably +that was the reason she had come so far away. + +Every one stood dumb. Mother always went to meet people and May was +old enough to know it. She went, but she looked exactly as she does +when the wafer bursts and the quinine gets in her mouth, and she +doesn't dare spit it out, because it costs five dollars a bottle, and +it's going to do her good. Father introduced May and some of the older +children, and May helped him with the others, and then he told us to +"dig in and work like troopers," and he would take Miss Pollard on home. + +"Oh do let me remain and help the dear children!" she cried. + +"We can finish!" we answered in full chorus. + +"How lovely of you!" she chirped. + +Chirp makes you think of a bird; and in speech and manner Miss Amelia +Pollard was the most birdlike of any human being I ever have seen. She +hopped from the step to the walk, turned to us, her head on one side, +playfulness in the air around her, and shook her finger at us. + +"Be extremely particular that you leave things immaculate at the +consummation of your labour," she said. "'Remember that cleanliness is +next to Godliness!'" + +"Two terms of that!" gasped Leon, sinking on the stove hearth. "Behold +Job mourning as close the ashes as he can." + +Billy Wilson had the top lid off, so he reached down and got a big +handful of ashes and sifted them over Leon. But it's no fun to do +anything like that to him; he only sank in a more dejected heap, and +moaned: "Send for Bildad and Zophar to comfort me, and more ashes, +please." + +"Why does the little feathered dear touch earth at all? Why doesn't +she fly?" demanded Silas Shaw. + +"I'm going to get a hundred wads ready for Monday," said Jimmy Hood. +"We can shoot them when we please." + +"Bet ten cents you can't hit her," said Billy Wilson. "There ain't +enough of her for a decent mark." + +"Let's quit and go home," proposed Leon. "This will look worse than it +does now by Monday night." + +Then every one began talking at once. Suddenly May seized the poker +and began pounding on the top of the stove for order. + +"We must clean this up," she said. "We might as well finish. Maybe +you'll shoot wads and do what you please, and maybe you won't. Her +eyes went around like a cat that smells mice. If she can spell the +language she uses, she is the best we've ever had." + +That made us blink, and I never forgot it. Many times afterward while +listening to people talk, I wondered if they could spell the words they +used. + +"Well, come on, then!" said Leon. He seized the broom and handed it to +Billy Wilson, quoting as he did so, "Work, work, my boy, be not +afraid"; and he told Silas Shaw as he gave him the mop, to "Look labour +boldly in the face!" but he never did a thing himself, except to keep +every one laughing. + +So we cleaned up as well as we could, and Leon strutted like Bobby, +because he locked the door and carried the key. When we reached home I +was sorry I hadn't gone with father, so I could have seen mother, +Sally, Candace, and Laddie when first they met the new teacher. The +shock showed yet! Miss Amelia had taken off her smothery woollen dress +and put on a black calico, but it wasn't any more cheerful. She didn't +know what to do, and you could see plainly that no one knew what to do +with her, so they united in sending me to show her the place. I asked +her what she would like most to see, and she said everything was so +charming she couldn't decide. I thought if she had no more choice than +that, one place would do as well as another, so I started for the +orchard. Quick as we got there, I knew what to do. I led her straight +to our best cling peach tree, told her to climb on the fence so she +could reach easily, and eat all she chose. We didn't dare shake the +tree, because the pigs ran on the other side of the fence, and they +chanked up every peach that fell there. Those peaches were too good to +feed even father's finest Berkshires. + +By the time Miss Amelia had eaten nine or ten, she was so happy to +think she was there, she quit tilting her head and using big words. Of +course she couldn't know how I loved to hear them, and maybe she +thought I wouldn't know what they meant, and that they would be wasted +on me. If she had understood how much spelling and defining I'd heard +in my life, I guess she might have talked up as big as she could, and +still I'd have got most of it. When she reached the place where she +ate more slowly, she began to talk. She must have asked me most a +hundred questions. What all our names were, how old we were, if our +girls had lots of beaus, and if there were many men in the +neighbourhood, and dozens of things my mother never asked any one. She +always inquired if people were well, if their crops were growing, how +much fruit they had, and how near their quilts were finished. + +I told her all about Sally and the wedding, because no one cared who +knew it, after I had been pounded to mince-meat for telling. She asked +if Shelley had any beaus, and I said there wasn't any one who came like +Peter, but every man in the neighbourhood wanted to be her beau. Then +she asked about Laddie, and I was taking no risks, so I said: "I only +see him at home. I don't know where he goes when he's away. You'll +have to ask him." + +"Oh, I never would dare," she said. "But he must. He is so handsome! +The girls would just compel him to go to see them." + +"Not if he didn't want to go," I said. + +"You must never, never tell him I said so, but I do think he is the +handsomest man I ever saw." + +"So do I," I said, "and it wouldn't make any difference if I told him." + +"Then do you mean you're going to tell him my foolish remark?" she +giggled. + +"No use," I said. "He knows it now. Every time he parts his hair he +sees how good looking he is. He doesn't care. He says the only thing +that counts with a man is to be big, strong, manly, and well educated." + +"Is he well educated?" + +"Yes, I think so, as far as he's gone," I answered. "Of course he will +go on being educated every day of his life, same as father. He says it +is all rot about 'finishing' your education. You never do. You learn +more important things each day, and by the time you are old enough to +die, you have almost enough sense to know how to live comfortably. +Pity, isn't it?" + +"Yes," said Miss Amelia, "it's an awful pity, but it's the truth. Is +your mother being educated too?" + +"Whole family," I said. "We learn all the time, mother most of any, +because father always looks out for her. You see, it takes so much of +her time to manage the house, and sew, and knit, and darn, that she +can't study so much as the others; so father reads all the books to +her, and tells her about everything he finds out, and so do all of us. +Just ask her if you think she doesn't know things." + +"I wouldn't know what to ask," said Miss Amelia. + +"Ask how long it took to make this world, who invented printing, where +English was first spoken, why Greeley changed his politics, how to make +bluebell perfumery, cut out a dress, or cure a baby of worms. Just ask +her!" + +Miss Amelia threw a peach stone through a fence crack and hit a pig. +It was a pretty neat shot. + +"I don't need ask any of that," she said scornfully. "I know all of it +now." + +"All right! What is best for worms?" I asked. + +"Jayne's vermifuge," said Miss Amelia. + +"Wrong!" I cried. "That's a patent medicine. Tea made from male fern +root is best, because there's no morphine in it!" + +The supper bell rang and I was glad of it. Peaches are not very +filling after all, for I couldn't see but that Miss Amelia ate as much +as any of us. For a few minutes every one was slow in speaking, then +mother asked about cleaning the schoolhouse, Laddie had something to +explain to father about corn mould, Sally and the dressmaker talked +about pipings--not a bird--a new way to fold goods to make trimmings, +and soon everything was going on the same as if the new teacher were +not there. I noticed that she kept her head straight, and was not +nearly so glib-tongued and birdlike before mother and Sally as she had +been at the schoolhouse. Maybe that was why father told mother that +night that the new teacher would bear acquaintance. + +Sunday was like every other Sabbath, except that I felt so sad all day +I could have cried, but I was not going to do it. Seemed as if I never +could put on shoes, and so many clothes Monday morning, quite like +church, and be shut in a room for hours, to try to learn what was in +books, when the world was running over with things to find out where +you could have your feet in water, leaves in your hair, and little +living creatures in your hands. In the afternoon Miss Amelia asked +Laddie to take her for a walk to see the creek, and the barn, and he +couldn't escape. + +I suppose our barn was exactly like hundreds of others. It was built +against an embankment so that on one side you could drive right on the +threshing floor with big loads of grain. On the sunny side in the +lower part were the sheep pens, cattle stalls, and horse mangers. It +was always half bursting with overflowing grain bins and haylofts in +the fall; the swallows twittered under the roof until time to go south +for winter, as they sailed from the ventilators to their nests +plastered against the rafters or eaves. The big swinging doors front +and back could be opened to let the wind blow through in a strong +draft. From the east doors you could see for miles across the country. + +I said our barn was like others, but it was not. There was not another +like it in the whole world. Father, the boys, and the hired men always +kept it cleaned and in proper shape every day. The upper floor was as +neat as some women's houses. It was swept, the sun shone in, the winds +drifted through, the odours of drying hay and grain were heavy, and +from the top of the natural little hill against which it stood you +could see for miles in all directions. + +The barn was our great playhouse on Sundays. It was clean there, we +were where we could be called when wanted, and we liked to climb the +ladders to the top of the haymows, walk the beams to the granaries, and +jump to the hay. One day May came down on a snake that had been +brought in with a load. I can hear her yell now, and it made her so +frantic she's been killing them ever since. It was only a harmless +little garter snake, but she was so surprised. + +Miss Amelia held her head very much on one side all the time she walked +with Laddie, and she was so birdlike Leon slipped him a brick and told +him to have her hold it to keep her down. Seemed as if she might fly +any minute. She thought our barn was the nicest she ever had seen and +the cleanest. When Laddie opened the doors on the east side, and she +could see the big, red, yellow, and green apples thick as leaves on the +trees in the orchard, the lane, the woods pasture, and the meadow with +scattering trees, two running springs, and the meeting of the creeks, +she said it was the loveliest sight she ever saw--I mean beheld. +Laddie liked that, so he told her about the beautiful town, and the +lake, and the Wabash River, that our creek emptied into, and how people +came from other states and big cities and stayed all summer to fish, +row, swim, and have good times. + +She asked him to take her to the meadow, but he excused himself, +because he had an engagement. So she stood in the door, and watched +him saddle Flos and start to the house to dress in his riding clothes. +After that she didn't care a thing about the meadow, so we went back. + +Our house looked as if we had a party. We were all dressed in our best, +and every one was out in the yard, garden, or orchard. Peter and Sally +were under the big pearmain apple tree at the foot of the orchard, +Shelley and a half dozen beaus were everywhere. May had her spelling +book in one hand and was in my big catalpa talking to Billy Stevens, +who was going to be her beau as soon as mother said she was old enough. +Father was reading a wonderful new book to mother and some of the +neighbours. Leon was perfectly happy because no one wanted him, so he +could tease all of them by saying things they didn't like to hear. +When Laddie came out and mounted, Leon asked him where he was going, +and Laddie said he hadn't fully decided: he might ride to Elizabeth's, +and not come back until Monday morning. + +"You think you're pretty slick," said Leon. "But if we could see north +to the cross road we could watch you turn west, and go past Pryors to +show yourself off, or try to find the Princess on the road walking or +riding. I know something I'm saving to tell next time you get smart, +Mr. Laddie." + +Laddie seemed annoyed and no one was quicker to see it than Leon. + +Instantly he jumped on the horse block, pulled down his face long as he +could, stretched his hands toward Laddie, and making his voice all +wavery and tremulous, he began reciting from "Lochiel's Warning," in +tones of agonizing pleading: + + "Laddie, Laddie, beware of the day! + For, dark and despairing, my sight, I may seal, + But man cannot cover what God would reveal; + 'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, + And coming events cast their shadows before." + + +That scared me. I begged Leon to tell, but he wouldn't say a word +more. He went and talked to Miss Amelia as friendly as you please, and +asked her to take a walk in the orchard and get some peaches, and she +went flying. He got her all she could carry and guided her to Peter +and Sally, introduced her to Peter, and then slipped away and left her. +Then he and Sally couldn't talk about their wedding, and Peter couldn't +squeeze her hand, and she couldn't fix his tie, and it was awful. +Shelley and her boys almost laughed themselves sick over it, and then +she cried, "To the rescue!" and started, so they followed. They +captured Miss Amelia and brought her back, and left her with father and +the wonderful book, but I'm sure she liked the orchard better. + +I took Grace Greenwood under my arm, Hezekiah on my shoulder, and with +Bobby at my heels went away. I didn't want my hair pulled, or to be +teased that day. There was such a hardness around my heart, and such a +lump in my throat, that I didn't care what happened to me one minute, +and the next I knew I'd slap any one who teased me, if I were sent to +bed for it. As I went down the lane Peter called to me to come and see +him, but I knew exactly how he looked, and didn't propose to make up. +There was not any sense in Sally clawing me all over, when I only tried +to help mother and Lucy find out what they wanted to know so badly. I +went down the hill, crossed the creek on the stepping-stones, and +followed the cowpath into the woods pasture. It ran beside the creek +bank through the spice thicket and blackberry patches, under pawpaw +groves, and beneath giant oaks and elms. Just where the creek turned +at the open pasture, below the church and cemetery, right at the deep +bend, stood the biggest white oak father owned. It was about a tree +exactly like this that an Englishman wrote a beautiful poem in +McGuffey's Sixth, that begins: + + "A song to the oak, the brave old oak, + Who hath ruled in the greenwood long; + Here's health and renown to his broad green crown, + And his fifty arms so strong." + + +I knew it was the same, because I counted the arms time and again, and +there were exactly fifty. There was a pawpaw and spice hedge around +three sides of this one, and water on the other. Wild grapes climbed +from the bushes to the lower branches and trailed back to earth again. +Here, I had two secrets I didn't propose to tell. One was that in the +crotch of some tiptop branches the biggest chicken hawks you ever saw +had their nest, and if they took too many chickens father said they'd +have to be frightened a little with a gun. I can't begin to tell how I +loved those hawks. They did the one thing I wanted to most, and never +could. When I saw them serenely soar above the lowest of the soft +fleecy September clouds, I was wild with envy. I would have gone +without chicken myself rather than have seen one of those splendid big +brown birds dropped from the skies. I was so careful to shield them, +that I selected this for my especial retreat when I wanted most to be +alone, and I carefully gathered up any offal from the nest that might +point out their location, and threw it into the water where it ran the +swiftest. + +I parted the vines and crept where the roots of the big oak stretched +like bony fingers over the water, that was slowly eating under it and +baring its roots. I sat on them above the water and thought. I had +decided the day before about my going to school, and the day before +that, and many, many times before that, and here I was having to settle +it all over again. Doubled on the sak roots, a troubled little soul, I +settled it once more. + +No books or teachers were needed to tell me about flowing water and +fish, how hawks raised their broods and kept house, about the softly +cooing doves of the spice thickets, the cuckoos slipping snakelike in +and out of the wild crab-apple bushes, or the brown thrush's weird call +from the thorn bush. I knew what they said and did, but their names, +where they came from, where they went when the wind blew and the snow +fell--how was I going to find out that? Worse yet were the flowers, +butterflies, and moths; they were mysteries past learning alone, and +while the names I made up for them were pretty and suitable, I knew in +all reason they wouldn't be the same in the books. I had to go, but no +one will ever know what it cost. When the supper bell rang, I sat +still. I'd have to wait until at least two tables had been served, +anyway, so I sat there and nursed my misery, looked and listened, and +by and by I felt better. I couldn't see or hear a thing that was +standing still. Father said even the rocks grew larger year by year. +The trees were getting bigger, the birds were busy, and the creek was +in a dreadful hurry to reach the river. It was like that poetry piece +that says: + + "When a playful brook, you gambolled," + +(Mostly that gambolled word is said about lambs) + + "And the sunshine o'er you smiled, + On your banks did children loiter, + Looking for the spring flowers wild?" + + +The creek was more in earnest and working harder at pushing steadily +ahead without ever stopping than anything else; and like the poetry +piece again, it really did "seem to smile upon us as it quickly passed +us by." I had to quit playing, and go to work some time; it made me +sorry to think how behind I was, because I had not started two years +before, when I should. But that couldn't be helped now. All there was +left was to go this time, for sure. I got up heavily and slowly as an +old person, and then slipped out and ran down the path to the meadow, +because I could hear Leon whistle as he came to bring the cows. + +By fast running I could start them home for him: Rose, Brindle, Bess, +and Pidy, Sukey and Muley; they had eaten all day, but they still +snatched bites as they went toward the gate. I wanted to surprise Leon +and I did. + +"Getting good, ain't you?" he asked. "What do you want?" + +"Nothing!" I said. "I just heard you coming and I thought I'd help +you." + +"Where were you?" + +"Playing." + +"You don't look as if you'd been having much fun." + +"I don't expect ever to have any, after I begin school." + +"Oh!" said Leon. "It is kind of tough the first day or two, but you'll +soon get over it. You should have behaved yourself, and gone when they +started you two years ago." + +"Think I don't know it?" + +Leon stopped and looked at me sharply. + +"I'll help you nights, if you want me to," he offered. + +"Can I ever learn?" I asked, almost ready to cry. + +"Of course you can," said Leon. "You're smart as the others, I +suppose. The sevens and nines of the multiplication table are the +stickers, but you ought to do them if other girls can. You needn't +feel bad because you are behind a little to start on; you are just that +much better prepared to work, and you can soon overtake them. You know +a lot none of the rest of us do, and some day it will come your turn to +show off. Cheer up, you'll be all right." + +Men are such a comfort. I pressed closer for more. + +"Do you suppose I will?" I asked. + +"Of course," said Leon. "Any minute the woods, or birds, or flowers +are mentioned your time will come; and all of us will hear you read and +help nights. I'd just as soon as not." + +That was the most surprising thing. He never offered to help me +before. He never acted as if he cared what became of me. Maybe it was +because Laddie always had taken such good care of me, Leon had no +chance. He seemed willing enough now. I looked at him closely. + +"You'll find out I'll learn things if I try," I boasted. "And you will +find out I don't tell secrets either." + +"I've been waiting for you to pipe up about----" + +"Well, I haven't piped, have I?" + +"Not yet." + +"I am not going to either." + +"I almost believe you. A girl you could trust would be a funny thing +to see." + +"Tell me what you know about Laddie, and see if I'm funny." + +"You'd telltale sure as life!" + +"Well, if you know it, he knows it anyway." + +"He doesn't know WHAT I know." + +"Well, be careful and don't worry mother. You know how she is since +the fever, and father says all of us must think of her. If it's +anything that would bother her, don't tell before her." + +"Say, looky here," said Leon, turning on me sharply, "is all this +sudden consideration for mother or are you legging for Laddie?" + +"For both," I answered stoutly. + +"Mostly for Laddie, just the same. You can't fool me, missy. I won't +tell you one word." + +"You needn't!" I answered, "I don't care!" + +"Yes you do," he said. "You'd give anything to find out what I know, +and then run to Laddie with it, but you can't fool me. I'm too smart +for you." + +"All right," I said. "You go and tell anything on Laddie, and I'll +watch you, and first trick I catch you at, I'll do some telling myself, +Smarty." + +"That's a game more than one can play at," said Leon. "Go ahead!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The First Day of School + + "Birds in their little nests agree. + And why can't we?" + + +"B-i-r-d-s, birds, i-n, in, t-h-e-i-r, their, l-i-t-t-l-e, little, +n-e-s-t-s, nests, a-g-r-e-e, agree." + +My feet burned in my new shoes, but most of my body was chilling as I +stood beside Miss Amelia on the platform, before the whole school, and +followed the point of her pencil, while, a letter at a time, I spelled +aloud my first sentence. Nothing ever had happened to me as bad as +that. I was not used to so much clothing. It was like taking a colt +from the woods pasture and putting it into harness for the first time. +That lovely September morning I followed Leon and May down the dusty +road, my heart sick with dread. + +May was so much smaller that I could have picked her up and carried +her. She was a gentle, loving little thing, until some one went too +far, and then they got what they deserved, all at once and right away. + +Many of the pupils were waiting before the church. Leon climbed the +steps, made a deep bow, waved toward the school building across the +way, and what he intended to say was, "Still sits the schoolhouse by +the road," but he was a little excited and the s's doubled his tongue, +so that we heard: "Shill stits the schoolhouse by the road." We just +yelled and I forgot a little about myself. + +When Miss Amelia came to the door and rang the bell, May must have +remembered something of how her first day felt, for as we reached the +steps she waited for me, took me in with her, and found me a seat. If +she had not, I'm quite sure I'd have run away and fought until they +left me in freedom, as I had two years before. All forenoon I had +shivered in my seat, while classes were arranged, and the elder pupils +were started on their work; then Miss Amelia called me to her on the +platform and tried to find out how much schooling I had. I was ashamed +that I knew so little, but there was no sense in her making me spell +after a pencil, like a baby. I'd never seen the book she picked up. I +could read the line she pointed to, and I told her so, but she said to +spell the words; so I thought she had to be obeyed, for one poetry +piece I know says: + + "Quickly speed your steps to school + And there mind your teacher's rule." + + +I can see Miss Amelia to-day. Her pale face was lined deeper than +ever, her drab hair was dragged back tighter. She wore a black calico +dress with white huckleberries, and a white calico apron figured in +large black apples, each having a stem and two leaves. In dress she +was a fruitful person. She had been a surprise to all of us. Chipper +as a sparrow, she had hopped, and chattered, and darted here and there, +until the hour of opening. Then in the stress of arranging classes and +getting started, all her birdlike ways slipped from her. Stern and +bony she stood before us, and with a cold light in her pale eyes, she +began business in a manner that made Johnny Hood forget all about his +paper wads, and Leon commenced studying like a good boy, and never even +tried to have fun with her. Every one was so surprised you could +notice it, except May, and she looked, "I told you so!" even in the +back. She had a way of doing that very thing as I never saw any one +else. From the set of her head, how she carried her shoulders, the +stiffness of her spine, and her manner of walking, if you knew her +well, you could tell what she thought, the same as if you saw her face. + +I followed that pencil point and in a husky voice repeated the letters. +I could see Tillie Baher laughing at me from behind her geography, and +every one else had stopped what they were doing to watch and listen, so +I forgot to be thankful that I even knew my a b c's. I spelled through +the sentence, pronounced the words and repeated them without much +thought as to the meaning; at that moment it didn't occur to me that +she had chosen the lesson because father had told her how I made +friends with the birds. The night before he had been putting me +through memory tests, and I had recited poem after poem, even long ones +in the Sixth Reader, and never made one mistake when the piece was +about birds. At our house, we heard next day's lessons for all ages +gone over every night so often, that we couldn't help knowing them by +heart, if we had any brains at all, and I just loved to get the big +folk's readers and learn the bird pieces. Father had been telling her +about it, so for that reason she thought she would start me on the +birds, but I'm sure she made me spell after a pencil point, like a +baby, on purpose to shame me, because I was two years behind the others +who were near my age. As I repeated the line Miss Amelia thought she +saw her chance. She sprang to her feet, tripped a few steps toward the +centre of the platform, and cried: "Classes, attention! Our Youngest +Pupil has just completed her first sentence. This sentence contains a +Thought. It is a wonderfully beautiful Thought. A Thought that +suggests a great moral lesson for each of us. 'Birrrds--in their +little nests--agreeee.'" + +Never have I heard cooing sweetness to equal the melting tones in which +Miss Amelia drawled those words. Then she continued, after a good long +pause in order to give us time to allow the "Thought" to sink in: +"There is a lesson in this for all of us. We are here in our +schoolroom, like little birds in their nest. Now how charming it would +be if all of us would follow the example of the birds, and at our work, +and in our play, agreeee--be kind, loving, and considerate of each +other. Let us all remember always this wonderful truth: 'Birrrrds--in +their little nests--agreeeee!'" + +In three steps I laid hold of her apron. Only last night Leon had said +it would come, yet whoever would have thought that I'd get a chance +like this, so soon. + +"Ho but they don't!" I cried. "They fight like anything! Every day +they make the feathers fly!" + +In a backward stroke Miss Amelia's fingers, big and bony, struck my +cheek a blow that nearly upset me. A red wave crossed her face, and +her eyes snapped. I never had been so surprised in all my life. I was +only going to tell her the truth. What she had said was altogether +false. Ever since I could remember I had watched courting male birds +fight all over the farm. After a couple had paired, and were nest +building, the father always drove every other bird from his location. +In building I had seen him pecked for trying to place a twig. I had +seen that happen again for merely offering food to the mother, if she +didn't happen to be hungry, or for trying to make love to her when she +was brooding. If a young bird failed to get the bite it wanted, it +sometimes grabbed one of its nestmates by the bill, or the eye even, +and tried to swallow it whole. Always the oldest and strongest climbed +on top of the youngest and fooled his mammy into feeding him most by +having his head highest, his mouth widest, and begging loudest. There +could be no mistake. I was so amazed I forgot the blow, as I stared at +the fool woman. + +"I don't see why you slap me!" I cried. "It's the truth! Lots of +times old birds pull out bunches of feathers fighting, and young ones +in the nests bite each other until they squeal." + +Miss Amelia caught my shoulders and shook me as hard as she could; and +she proved to be stronger than you ever would have thought to look at +her. + +"Take your seat!" she cried. "You are a rude, untrained child!" + +"They do fight!" I insisted, as I held my head high and walked to my +desk. + +Leon laughed out loud, and that made everyone else. Miss Amelia had so +much to do for a few minutes that she forgot me, and I know now why +Leon started it, at least partly. He said afterward it was the +funniest sight he ever saw. My cheek smarted and burned. I could +scarcely keep from feeling to learn whether it were swelling, but I +wouldn't have shed a tear or raised my hand for anything you could +offer. + +Recess was coming and I didn't know what to do. If I went to the +playground, all of them would tease me; and if I sat at my desk Miss +Amelia would have another chance at me. That was too much to risk, so +I followed the others outdoors, and oh joy! there came Laddie down the +road. He set me on one of the posts of the hitching rack before the +church, and with my arms around his neck, I sobbed out the whole story. + +"She didn't understand," said Laddie quietly. "You stay here until I +come back. I'll go explain to her about the birds. Perhaps she hasn't +watched them as closely as you have." + +Recess was over before he returned. He had wet his handkerchief at the +water bucket, and now he bathed my face and eyes, straightened my hair +with his pocket comb, and began unlacing my shoes. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked. "I must wear them. All the girls +do. Only the boys are barefoot." + +"You are excused," answered Laddie. "Three-fourths of the day is +enough to begin on. Miss Amelia says you may come with me." + +"Where are you going?" + +Laddie was stripping off my stockings as he looked into my eyes, and +smiled a peculiar little smile. + +"Oh Laddie!" I cried. "Will you take me? Honest!" + +He laughed again and then he rubbed my feet. + +"Poor abused feet," he said. "Sometimes I wish shoes had never been +invented." + +"They feel pretty good when there's ice." + +"So they do!" said Laddie. + +He swung me to the ground, and we crossed the road, climbed the fence, +and in a minute our redbird swamp shut the schoolhouse and cross old +Miss Amelia from sight. Then we turned and started straight toward our +Big Woods. I could scarcely keep on the ground. + +"How are the others getting along?" asked Laddie. + +"She's cross as two sticks," I told him. "Johnny Hood hasn't shot one +paper wad, and Leon hadn't done a thing until he laughed about the +birds, and I guess he did that to make her forget me." + +"Good!" cried Laddie. "I didn't suppose the boy thought that far." + +"Oh, you never can tell by looking at him, how far Leon is thinking," I +said. + +"That's so, too," said Laddie. "Are your feet comfortable now?" + +"Yes, but Laddie, isn't my face marked?" + +"I'm afraid it is a little," said Laddie. "We'll bathe it again at the +creek. We must get it fixed so mother won't notice." + +"What will the Princess think?" + +"That you fell, perhaps," said Laddie. + +"Do the tears show?" + +"Not at all. We washed them all away." + +"Did I do wrong, Laddie?" + +"Yes, I think you did." + +"But it wasn't true, what she said." + +"That's not the point." + +We had reached the fence of the Big Woods. He lifted me to the top +rail and explained, while I combed his waving hair with my fingers. + +"She didn't strike you because what you said was not so, for it was. +She knew instantly you were right, if she knows anything at all about +outdoors. This is what made her angry: it is her first day. She +wanted to make a good impression on her pupils, to arouse their +interest, and awaken their respect. When you spoke, all of them knew +you were right, and she was wrong; that made her ridiculous. Can't you +see how it made her look and feel?" + +"I didn't notice how she looked, but from the way she hit me, you could +tell she felt bad enough." + +"She surely did," said Laddie, kissing my cheek softly. "Poor little +woman! What a world of things you have to learn!" + +"Shouldn't I have told her how mistaken she was?" + +"If you had gone to her alone, at recess or noon, or to-night, probably +she would have thanked you. Then she could have corrected herself at +some convenient time and kept her dignity." + +"Must I ask her pardon?" + +"What you should do, is to put yourself in Miss Amelia's place and try +to understand how she felt. Then if you think you wouldn't have liked +any one to do to you what you did to her, you'll know." + +I hugged Laddie tight and thought fast--there was no need to think long +to see how it was. + +"I got to tell her I was wrong," I said. "Now let's go to the +Enchanted Wood and see if we can find the Queen's daughter." + +"All right!" said Laddie. + +He leaped the fence, swung me over, and started toward the pawpaw +thicket. He didn't do much going around. He crashed through and over; +and soon he began whistling the loveliest little dancy tune. It made +your head whirl, and your toes tingle, and you knew it was singing that +way in his heart, and he was just letting out the music. That was why +it made you want to dance and whirl; it was so alive. But that wasn't +the way in an Enchanted Wood. I pulled his hand. + +"Laddie!" I cautioned, "keep in the path! You'll step on the Fairies +and crush a whole band with one foot. No wonder the Queen makes her +daughter grow big when she sends her to you. If you make so much +noise, some one will hear you, then this won't be a secret any more." + +Laddie laughed, but he stepped carefully in the path after that, and he +said: "There are times, Little Sister, when I don't care whether this +secret is secret another minute or not. Secrets don't agree with me. +I'm too big, and broad, and too much of a man, to go creeping through +the woods with a secret. I prefer to print it on a banner and ride up +the road waving it." + +"Like,--'A youth who bore mid snow and ice, A banner with a strange +device,'" I said. + +"That would be 'a banner with a strange device,'" laughest Laddie. +"But, yes--something like!" + +"Have you told the Princess?" + +"I have!" Laddie fairly shouted it. + +"Docs SHE like secrets?" + +"No more than I do!" + +"Then why----?" + +"There you go!" said Laddie. "Zeus, but the woman is beginning to +measle out all over you! You know as well as any one that there's +something wrong at her house. I don't know what it is; I can't even +make a sensible guess as yet, but it's worse than the neighbours think. +It's a thing that has driven a family from their home country, under a +name that I have doubts about being theirs, and sent them across an +ocean, 'strangers in a strange land,' as it says in the Bible. It's +something that keeps a cultured gentleman and scholar raging up and +down the roads and over the country like a madman. It shuts a +white-faced, lovely, little woman from her neighbours, but I have +passed her walking the road at night with both hands pressed against +her heart. Sometimes it tries the Princess past endurance and control; +and it has her so worn and tired struggling with it that she is willing +to carry another secret, rather than try to find strength to do +anything that would make more trouble for her father and mother." + +"Would it trouble them for her to know you, Laddie?" + +"So long as they don't and won't become acquainted with me, or any one, +of course it would." + +"Can't you force them to know you?" + +"That I can!" said Laddie. "But you see, I only met the Princess a +short time ago, and there would be no use in raising trouble, unless +she will make me her Knight!" + +"But hasn't she, Laddie?" + +"Not in the very littlest least," said Laddie. "For all I know, she is +merely using me to help pass a lonely hour. You see, people reared in +England have ideas of class, that two or three generations spent here +wash out. The Princess and her family are of the unwashed British. +Father's people have been here long enough to judge a man on his own +merits." + +"You mean the Princess' family would think you're not good enough to be +her Knight?" + +"Exactly!" + +"And we know that our family thinks they are infidels, and wicked +people; and that if she would have you, mother would be sick in bed +over it. Oh Laddie!" + +"Precisely!" + +"What are you going to do?" + +"That I must find out." + +"When it will make so much trouble, why not forget her, and go on like +you did before she came? Then, all of us were happy. Now, it makes me +shiver to think what will happen." + +"Me too," said Laddie. "But look here, Little Sister, right in my +face. Will you ever forget the Princess?" + +"Never!" + +"Then how can you ask me to?" + +"I didn't mean forget her, exactly. I meant not come here and do +things that will make every one unhappy." + +"One minute, Chick-a-Biddy," said Laddie. Sometimes he called me that, +when he loved me the very most of all. I don't believe any one except +me ever heard him do it. "Let me ask you this: does our father love +our mother?" + +"Love her?" I cried. "Why he just loves her to death! He turns so +white, and he suffers so, when her pain is the worst. Love her? And +she him? Why, don't you remember the other day when he tipped her head +against him and kissed her throat as he left the table; that he asked +her if she 'loved him yet,' and she said right before all of us, 'Why +Paul, I love you, until I scarcely can keep my fingers off you!' +Laddie, is it like that with you and the Princess?" + +"It is with me," said Laddie. "Not with the Princess! Now, can I +forget her? Can I keep away from even the chance to pass her on the +road?" + +"No," I said. "No, you can't, Laddie. But can you ever make her love +you?" + +"It takes time to find that out," said Laddie. "I have got to try; so +you be a woman and keep my secret a little while longer, until I find a +way out, but don't bother your head about it!" + +"I can't help bothering my head, Laddie. Can't you make her understand +that God is not a myth?" + +"I'm none too sure what I believe myself," said Laddie. "Not that +there is no God--I don't mean that--but I surely don't believe all +father's teachings." + +"If you believe God, do other little things matter, Laddie?" + +"I think not," said Laddie, "else Heaven would be all Methodists. As +for the Princess, all she has heard in her life has been against there +being a God. Now, she is learning something on the other side. After +a while she can judge for herself. It is for us, who profess to be a +Christian family, to prove to her why we believe in God, and what He +does for us." + +"Well, she would think He could do a good deal, if she knew how mother +hated asking her to come to our house; and yet she did it, beautifully +too, just to give her a chance to see that very thing. But I almost +made her do it. I don't believe she ever would alone, Laddie, or at +least not for a long time yet." + +"I saw that, and understood it perfectly," said Laddie. "Thank you, +Little Sister." He picked me up and hugged me tight. "If I could only +make you see!" + +"But Laddie, I do! I'm not a baby! I know how people love and make +homes for themselves, like Sally and Peter are going to. If it is with +you about the Princess as it is with father and mother, why I do know." + +"All right! Here we are!" said Laddie. + +He parted the willows and we stepped on the Magic Carpet, and that +minute the Magic worked. I forgot every awful, solemn, troublous thing +we had been talking about, and looked around while Laddie knelt and +hunted for a letter, and there was none. That meant the Princess was +coming, so we sat on the throne to wait. We hadn't remembered to bathe +my cheek, we had been so busy when we passed the water, and I doubt if +we were thinking much then. We just waited. The willow walls waved +gently, the moss carpet was spotted with little gold patches of +sunlight, in the shade a few of the red flowers still bloomed, and big, +lazy bumblebees hummed around them, or a hummingbird stood on air +before them. A sort of golden throbbing filled the woods, and my heart +began to leap, why, I don't know; but I'm sure Laddie's did too, for I +looked at him and his eyes were shining as I never had seen them +before, while his cheeks were a little red, and he was breathing like +when you've been running; then suddenly his body grew tense against +mine, and that meant she was coming. + +Like that first day, she came slowly through the woods, stopping here +and there to touch the trunk of a tree, put back a branch, or bend over +a flower face. Brown as the wood floor was her dress, and cardinal +flowers blazed on her breast, and the same colour showed on her cheeks +and lips. Her eyes were like Laddie's for brightness, and she was +breathing the same way. I thought sure there was going to be something +to remember a lifetime--I was so excited I couldn't stand still. +Before it could happen Laddie went and said it was a "beautiful day," +and she said "it didn't show in the woods, but the pastures needed +rain." Then she kissed me. Well if I ever! I sank on the throne and +sat there. They went on talking like that, until it was too dull to +bear, so I slipped out and wandered away to see what I could find. +When I grew tired and went back, Laddie was sitting on the Magic Carpet +with his back against the beech, and the Princess was on the throne +reading from a little book, reading such interesting things that I +decided to listen. After a while she came to this: + + "Thou are mated with a clown, + And the grossness of his nature, will have weight to bear thee + down." + +Laddie threw back his head, and how he laughed! The Princess put down +the book and looked at him so surprised. + +"Are you reading that to me because you think it appropriate?" asked +Laddie. + +"I am reading it because it is conceded to be one of the most beautiful +poems ever written," said the Princess. + +"You knew when you began that you would come to those lines." + +"I never even thought of such a thing." + +"But you knew that is how your father would regard any relationship, +friendly or deeper, with me!" + +"I cannot possibly be held responsible for what my father thinks." + +"It is natural that you should think alike." + +"Not necessarily! You told me recently that you didn't agree with your +father on many subjects." + +"Kindly answer me this," said Laddie: "Do you feel that I'm a 'clown' +because I'm not schooled to the point on all questions of good manners? +Do you find me gross because I plow and sow?" + +"You surprise me," said the Princess. "My consenting to know and to +spend a friendly hour with you here is sufficient answer. I have not +found the slightest fault with your manners. I have seen no suspicion +of 'grossness' about you." + +"Will you tell me, frankly, exactly what you do think of me?" + +"Surely! I think you are a clean, decent man, who occasionally kindly +consents to put a touch of human interest into an hour, for a very +lonely girl. What has happened, Laddie? This is not like you." + +Laddie sat straight and studied the beech branches. Father said beech +trees didn't amount to much; but I first learned all about them from +that one, and what it taught me made me almost worship them always. +There were the big trunk with great rough spreading roots, the bark in +little ridges in places, smooth purple gray between, big lichens for +ornament, the low flat branches, the waxy, wavy-edged leaves, with +clear veins, and the delicious nuts in their little brown burrs. The +Princess and I both stared at the branches and waited while a little +breath of air stirred the leaves, the sunshine flickered, and a cricket +sang a sort of lonesome song. Laddie leaned against the tree again, +and he was thinking so hard, to look at him made me begin to repeat to +myself the beech part of that beautiful churchyard poem our big folks +recite: + + "There, at the foot of yonder nodding beech, + That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, + His listless length at noontide he would stretch, + And pore upon the brook that babbles by." + + +Only he was studying so deeply you could almost feel what was in his +mind, and it was not about the brook at all, even if one ran close. +Soon he began talking. + +"Not so bad!" he said. "You might think worse. I admit the +cleanliness, I strive for decency, I delight in being humanely +interesting, even for an hour; you might think worse, much worse! You +might consider me a 'clown.' 'A country clod.' Rather a lowdown, +common thing, a 'clod,' don't you think? And a 'clown'! And 'gross' +on top of that!" + +"What can you mean?" asked the Princess. + +"Since you don't seem to share the estimate of me, I believe I'll tell +you," said Laddie. "The other day I was driving from the gravel pit +with a very heavy load. The road was wide and level on either side. A +man came toward me on horseback. Now the law of the road is to give +half to a vehicle similar to the one you are driving, but to keep all +of it when you are heavily loaded, if you are passing people afoot or +horseback. The man took half the road, and kept it until the nose of +his horse touched one of the team I was driving. I stopped and said: +'Good morning, sir! Do you wish to speak with me?' He called angrily: +'Get out of my way, you clod!' 'Sorry sir, but I can't,' I said. 'The +law gives me this road when I am heavily loaded, and you are on foot or +horseback.'" + +"What did he do?" asked the Princess. + +And from the way she looked I just knew she guessed the man was the +same one I thought of. + +"He raised his whip to strike my horse," said Laddie. + +"Ah, surely!" said the Princess. "Always an arm raised to strike. And +you, Man? What did you do?" she cried eagerly. + +"I stood on my load, suddenly," said Laddie, "and I called: 'Hold one +minute!'" + +"And he?" breathed the Princess. + +"Something made him pause with his arm still raised. I said to him: +'You must not strike my horse. It never has been struck, and it can't +defend itself. If you want to come a few steps farther and tackle me, +come ahead! I can take it or return it, as I choose.'" + +"Go on!" said the Princess. + +"That's all," said Laddie, "or at least almost all." + +"Did he strike?" + +"He did not. He stared at me a second, and then he rode around me; but +he was making forceful remarks as he passed about 'country clods,' and +there was an interesting one about a 'gross clown.' What you read made +me think of it, that is all." + +The Princess stared into the beech branches for a time and then she +said: "I will ask your pardon for him. He always had a domineering +temper, and trouble he had lately has almost driven him mad; he is +scarcely responsible at times. I hesitate about making him angry." + +"I think perhaps," said Laddie, "I would have done myself credit if I +had recognized that, and given him the road, when he made a point of +claiming it." + +"Indeed no!" cried the Princess. "To be beaten at the game he started +was exactly what he needed. If you had turned from his way, he would +have considered you a clod all his life. Since you made him go around, +it may possibly dawn on him that you are a man. You did the very best +thing." + +Then she began to laugh, and how she did laugh. + +"I would give my allowance for a quarter to have seen it," she cried. +"I must hurry home and tell mother." + +"Does your mother know about me?" he demanded. "Does she know that you +come here?" + +The Princess arose and stood very tall and straight. + +"You may beg my pardon or cease to know me," she said. "Whatever led +you to suppose that I would know or meet you without my mother's +knowledge?" + +Then she started toward the entrance. + +"One minute!" cried Laddie. + +A leap carried him to her side. He caught her hands and held them +tight, and looked straight into her eyes. Then he kissed her hands +over and over. I thought from the look on her face he might have +kissed her cheek if he had dared risk it; but he didn't seem to notice. +Then she stooped and kissed me, and turned toward home, while Laddie +and I crossed the woods to the west road, and went back past the +schoolhouse. I was so tired Laddie tied the strings together and hung +my shoes across his shoulders and took me by the arm the last mile. + +All of them were at home when we got there, and Miss Amelia came to the +gate to meet us. She was mealy-mouthed and good as pie, not at all as +I had supposed she would be. I wonder what Laddie said to her. But +then he always could manage things for every one. That set me to +wondering if by any possible means he could fix them for himself. I +climbed to the catalpa to think, and the more I thought, the more I +feared he couldn't; but still mother always says one never can tell +until they try, and I knew he would try with every ounce of brain and +muscle in him. I sat there until the supper bell rang, and then I +washed and reached the table last. The very first thing, mother asked +how I bruised my face, and before I could think what to tell her, Leon +said just as careless like: "Oh she must have run against something +hard, playing tag at recess." Laddie began talking about Peter coming +that night, and every one forgot me, but pretty soon I slipped a glance +at Miss Amelia, and saw that her face was redder than mine. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Wedding Gown + + "The gay belles of fashion may boast of excelling + In waltz or cotillon, at whist or quadrille; + And seek admiration by vauntingly telling + Of drawing and painting, and musical skill; + But give me the fair one, in country or city, + Whose home and its duties are dear to her heart, + Who cheerfully warbles some rustical ditty, + While plying the needle with exquisite art: + The bright little needle, the swift-flying needle, + The needle directed by beauty and art." + + +The next morning Miss Amelia finished the chapter--that made two for +our family. Father always read one before breakfast--no wonder I knew +the Bible quite well--then we sang a song, and she made a stiff, little +prayer. I had my doubts about her prayers; she was on no such terms +with the Lord as my father. He got right at Him and talked like a +doctor, and you felt he had some influence, and there was at least a +possibility that he might get what he asked for; but Miss Amelia prayed +as if the Lord were ten million miles away, and she would be surprised +to pieces if she got anything she wanted. When she asked the Almighty +to make us good, obedient children, there was not a word she said that +showed she trusted either the Lord or us, or thought there was anything +between us and heaven that might make us good because we wanted to be. +You couldn't keep your eyes from the big gad and ruler on her desk; she +often fingered them as she prayed, and you knew from her stiff, little, +sawed-out petition that her faith was in implements, and she'd hit you +a crack the minute she was the least angry, same as she had me the day +before. I didn't feel any too good toward her, but when the blood of +the Crusaders was in the veins, right must be done even if it took a +struggle. I had to live up to those little gold shells on the trinket. +Father said they knew I was coming down the line, so they put on a bird +for me; but I told him I would be worthy of the shells too. This took +about as hard a fight for me as any Crusade would for a big, trained +soldier. I had been wrong, Laddie had made me see that. So I held up +my hand, and Miss Amelia saw me as she picked up Ray's arithmetic. + +"What is it?" + +I held to the desk to brace myself, and tried twice before I could +raise my voice so that she heard. + +"Please, Miss Amelia," I said, "I was wrong about the birds yesterday. +Not that they don't fight--they do! But I was wrong to contradict you +before every one, and on your first day, and if you'll only excuse me, +the next time you make a mistake, I'll tell you after school or at +recess." + +The room was so still you could hear the others breathing. Miss Amelia +picked up the ruler and started toward me. Possibly I raised my hands. +That would be no Crusader way, but you might do it before you had time +to think, when the ruler was big and your head was the only place that +would be hit. The last glimpse I had of her in the midst of all my +trouble made me think of Sabethany Perkins. + +Sabethany died, and they buried her at the foot of the hill in our +graveyard before I could remember. But her people thought heaps of +her, and spent much money on the biggest tombstone in the cemetery, and +planted pinies and purple phlox on her, and went every Sunday to visit +her. When they moved away, they missed her so, they decided to come +back and take her along. The men were at work, and Leon and I went to +see what was going on. They told us, and said we had better go away, +because possibly things might happen that children would sleep better +not to see. Strange how a thing like that makes you bound you will +see. We went and sat on the fence and waited. Soon they reached +Sabethany, but they could not seem to get her out. They tried, and +tried, and at last they sent for more men. It took nine of them to +bring her to the surface. What little wood was left, they laid back to +see what made her so fearfully heavy, and there she was turned to solid +stone. They couldn't chip a piece off her with the shovel. Mother +always said, "For goodness sake, don't let your mouth hang open," and +as a rule we kept ours shut; but you should have seen Leon's when he +saw Sabethany wouldn't chip off, and no doubt mine was as bad. + +"When Gabriel blows his trumpet, and the dead arise and come forth, +what on earth will they do with Sabethany?" I gasped. "Why, she +couldn't fly to Heaven with wings a mile wide, and what use could they +make of her if she got there?" + +"I can't see a thing she'd be good for except a hitching post," said +Leon, "and I guess they don't let horses in. Let's go home." + +He acted sick and I felt that way; so we went, but the last glimpse of +Sabethany remained with me. + +As my head went down that day, I saw that Miss Amelia looked exactly +like her. You would have needed a pick-ax or a crowbar to flake off +even a tiny speck of her. When I had waited for my head to be cracked, +until I had time to remember that a Crusader didn't dodge and hide, I +looked up, and there she stood with the ruler lifted; but now she had +turned just the shade of the wattles on our fightingest turkey gobbler. + +"Won't you please forgive me?" + +I never knew I had said it until I heard it, and then the only way to +be sure was because no one else would have been likely to speak at that +time. + +Miss Amelia's arm dropped and she glared at me. I wondered whether I +ever would understand grown people; I doubted if they understood +themselves, for after turning to stone in a second--father said it had +taken Sabethany seven years--and changing to gobbler red, Miss Amelia +suddenly began to laugh. To laugh, of all things! And then, of +course, every one else just yelled. I was so mortified I dropped my +head again and began to cry as I never would if she'd hit me. + +"Don't feel badly!" said Miss Amelia. "Certainly, I'll forgive you. I +see you had no intention of giving offense, so none is taken. Get out +your book and study hard on another lesson." + +That was surprising. I supposed I'd have to do the same one over, but +I might take a new one. I was either getting along fast, or Miss +Amelia had her fill of birds. I wiped my eyes as straight in front of +me as I could slip up my handkerchief, and began studying the first +lesson in my reader: "Pretty bee, pray tell me why, thus from flower +to flower you fly, culling sweets the livelong day, never leaving off +to play?" That was a poetry piece, and it was quite cheery, although +it was all strung together like prose, but you couldn't fool me on +poetry; I knew it every time. As I studied I felt better, and when +Miss Amelia came to hear me she was good as gold. She asked if I liked +honey, and I started to tell her about the queen bee, but she had no +time to listen, so she said I should wait until after school. Then we +both forgot it, for when we reached home, the Princess' horse was +hitched to our rack, and I fairly ran in, I was so anxious to know what +was happening. + +I was just perfectly amazed at grown people! After all the things our +folks had said! You'd have supposed that Laddie would have been locked +in the barn; father reading the thirty second Psalm to the Princess, +and mother on her knees asking God to open her eyes like Saul's when he +tried to kick against the pricks, and make her to see, as he did, that +God was not a myth, Well, there was no one in the sitting-room or the +parlour, but there were voices farther on; so I slipped in. I really +had to slip, for there was no other place they could be except the +parlour bedroom, and Sally's wedding things were locked up there, and +we were not to see until everything was finished, like I told you. + +Well, this was what I saw: our bedroom had been a porch once, and when +we had been crowded on account of all of us coming, father enclosed it +and made a room. But he never had taken out the window in the wall. +So all I had to do when I wanted to know how fast the dresses were +being made, was to shove up the window above my bed, push back the +blind, and look in. I didn't care what she had. I just wanted to get +ahead of her and see before she was ready, to pay her for beating me. +I knew what she had, and I meant to tell her, and walk away with my +nose in the air when she offered to show me; but this was different. I +was wild to see what was going on because the Princess was there. The +room was small, and the big cherry four-poster was very large, and all +of them were talking, so no one paid the slightest attention to me. + +Mother sat in the big rocking chair, with Sally on one of its arms, +leaning against her shoulder. Shelley and May and the sewing woman +were crowded between the wall and the footboard, and the others lined +against the wall. The bed was heaped in a tumble of everything a woman +ever wore. Seemed to me there was more stuff there than all the rest +of us had, put together. The working dresses and aprons had been made +on the machine, but there were heaps and stacks of hand-made +underclothes. I could see the lovely chemise mother embroidered lying +on top of a pile of bedding, and over and over Sally had said that +every stitch in the wedding gown must be taken by hand. The Princess +stood beside the bed. A funny little tight hat like a man's and a +riding whip lay on a chair close by. I couldn't see what she wore--her +usual riding clothes probably--for she had a nip in each shoulder of a +dress she was holding to her chin and looking down at. After all, I +hadn't seen everything! Never before or since have I seen a lovelier +dress than that. It was what always had been wrapped in the sheet on +the foot of the bed and I hadn't got a peep at it. The pale green silk +with tiny pink moss roses in it, that I had been thinking was the +wedding dress, looked about right to wash the dishes in, compared with +this. + +This was a wedding dress. You didn't need any one to tell you. The +Princess had as much red as I ever had seen in her cheeks, her eyes +were bright, and she was half-laughing and half-crying. + +"Oh you lucky, lucky girl!" she was saying. "What a perfectly +beautiful bride you will be! Never have I seen a more wonderful dress! +Where did you get the material?" + +Now we had been trained always to wait for mother to answer a visitor +as she thought suitable, or at least to speak one at a time and not +interrupt; but about six of those grown people told the Princess all at +the same time how our oldest sister Elizabeth was married to a merchant +who had a store at Westchester and how he got the dress in New York, +and gave it to Sally for her wedding present, or she never could have +had it. + +The Princess lifted it and set it down softly. "Oh look!" she cried. +"Look! It will stand alone!" + +There it stood! Silk stiff enough to stand by itself, made into a +little round waist, cut with a round neck and sleeves elbow length and +flowing almost to where Sally's knees would come. It was a pale +pearl-gray silk crossed in bars four inches square, made up of a dim +yellow line almost as wide as a wheat straw, with a thread of black on +each side of it, and all over, very wide apart, were little faint +splashes of black as if they had been lightly painted on. The skirt +was so wide it almost filled the room. Every inch of that dress was +lined with soft, white silk. There was exquisite lace made into a flat +collar around the neck, and ruffled from sight up the inside of the +wide sleeves. That was the beginning. The finish was something you +never saw anything like before. It was a trimming made of white and +yellow beads. There was a little heading of white beads sewed into a +pattern, then a lacy fringe that was pale yellow beads, white inside, +each an inch long, that dangled, and every bead ended with three tiny +white ones. That went around the neck, the outside of the sleeves, and +in a pattern like a big letter V all the way around the skirt. And +there it stood--alone! + +The Princess, graceful as a bird and glowing like fire, danced around +it, and touched it, and lifted the sleeves, and made the bead fringe +swing, and laughed, and talked every second. Sally, and mother, and +all of them had smiled such wide smiles for so long, their faces looked +almost as set as Sabethany's, but of course far different. Being dead +was one thing, getting ready for a wedding another. + +And it looked too as if God might be a myth, for all they cared, so +long as the Princess could make the wedding dress stand alone, and talk +a blue streak of things that pleased them. It was not put on either, +for there stood the dress, shimmering like the inside of a pearl-lined +shell, white as a lily, and the tinkly gold fringe. No one COULD have +said enough about it, so no matter what the Princess said, it had to be +all right. She kept straight on showing all of them how lovely it was, +exactly as if they hadn't seen it before, and she had to make them +understand about it, as if she felt afraid they might have missed some +elegant touch she had seen. + +"Do look how the lace falls when I raise this sleeve! Oh how will you +wear this and think of a man enough to say the right words in the right +place?" + +Mother laughed, and so did all of them. + +"Do please show me the rest," begged the Princess. "I know there are +slippers and a bonnet!" + +Sally just oozed pride. She untied the strings and pushed the +prettiest striped bag from a lovely pink bandbox and took out a dear +little gray bonnet with white ribbons, and the yellow bead fringe, and +a bunch of white roses with a few green leaves. These she touched +softly, "I'm not quite sure about the leaves," she said. + +The Princess had the bonnet, turning and tilting it. + +"Perfect!" she cried. "Quite perfect! You need that touch of colour, +and it blends with everything. How I envy you! Oh why doesn't some +one ask me, so I can have things like these? I think your brother is a +genius. I'm going to ride to Westchester tomorrow and give him an +order to fill for me the next time he goes to the city. No one shows +me such fabrics when I go, and Aunt Beatrice sends nothing from London +I like nearly so well. Oh! Oh!" + +She was on her knees now, lifting the skirt to set under little white +satin slippers with gold buckles, and white bead buttons. When she had +them arranged to suit her, she sat on the floor and kept straight on +saying the things my mother and sisters seemed crazy to hear. When +Sally showed her the long white silk mitts that went with the bonnet, +the Princess cried: "Oh do ride home with me and let me give you a +handkerchief Aunt Beatrice sent me, to carry in your hand!" + +Then her face flushed and she added without giving Sally time to say +what she would do: "Or I can bring it the next time I come past. It +belongs with these things and I have no use for it. May I?" + +"Please do! I'll use it for the thing I borrow." + +"But I mean it to be a gift," said the Princess. "It was made to go +with these lace mitts and satin slippers. You must take it!" + +"Thank you very much," said Sally. "If you really want me to have it, +of course I'd love to." + +"I'll bring it to-morrow," promised the Princess. "And I wish you'd +let me try a way I know to dress hair for a wedding. Yours is so +beautiful." + +"You're kind, I'm sure," said Sally. "I had intended to wear it as I +always do, so I would appear perfectly natural to the folks; but if you +know a more becoming way, I could begin it now, and they would be +familiar with it by that time." + +"I shan't touch it," said the Princess, studying Sally's face. "Your +idea is right. You don't want to commence any new, unfamiliar style +that would make you seem different, just at a time when every one +should see how lovely you are, as you always have been. But don't +forget to wear something blue, and something borrowed for luck, and oh +do please put on one of my garters!" + +"Well for mercy sake!" cried my mother. "Why?" + +"So some one will propose to me before the year is out," laughed the +Princess. "I think it must be the most fun of all, to make beautiful +things for your very own home, and lovely dresses, and be surrounded by +friends all eager to help you, and to arrange a house and live with a +man you love well enough to marry, and fix for little people who might +come----" + +"You know perfectly there isn't a single man in the county who wouldn't +propose to you, if you'd let him come within a mile of you," said +Shelley. + +"When the right man comes I'll go half the mile to meet him? you may be +sure of that; won't I, Mrs. Stanton?" the Princess turned to mother. + +"I have known girls who went even farther," said my mother rather dryly. + +"I draw the line at half," laughed the Princess. "Now I must go; I +have been so long my people will be wondering what I'm doing." + +Standing in the middle of the room she put on her hat, picked up her +whip and gloves, and led the way to the hitching rack, while all of us +followed. At the gate stood Laddie as he had come from the field. His +old hat was on the back of his head, his face flushed, his collar +loosened so that his strong white neck showed, and his sleeves were +rolled to the elbow, as they had been all summer, and his arms were +burned almost to blisters. When he heard us coming he opened the gate, +went to the rack, untied the Princess' horse and led it beside the +mounting block. As she came toward him, he took off his hat and +pitched it over the fence on the grass. + +"Miss Pryor, allow me to make you acquainted with my son," said mother. + +I felt as if I would blow up. I couldn't keep my eyes from turning +toward the Princess. Gee! I could have saved my feelings. She made +mother the prettiest little courtsey I ever set eyes on, and then +turned and made a deeper one to Laddie. + +"I met your son in one of the village stores some time ago," she said. +"Back her one step farther, please!" + +Laddie backed the horse, and quicker than you could see how it was +done, she flashed up the steps and sat the saddle; but as she leaned +over the horse's neck to take the rein from Laddie, he got one level +look straight in the eyes that I was sure none of the others saw, +because they were not watching for it, and I was. Laddie bowed from +the waist, and put the reins in her fingers all in one movement. He +caught the glance she gave him too; I could almost feel it like a band +passing between them. Then she called a laughing good-bye to all of us +at once, and showed us how to ride right, as she flashed toward the +Little Hill. That was riding, you may believe, and mother sighed as +she watched her. + +"If I were a girl again," she said, "I would ride as well as that, or +I'd never mount a horse." + +"She's been trained from her cradle, and her father deals in horses. +Half the battle in riding is a thoroughbred," said Laddie. "No such +horse as that ever stepped these roads before." + +"And no such girl ever travelled them," said my mother, folding her +hands one over the other on top of a post of the hitching rack. "I +must say I don't know how this is coming out, and it troubles me." + +"Why, what's up?" asked Laddie, covering her hands with his and looking +her in the eyes. + +"Just this," said my mother. "She's more beautiful of face and form +than God ought to allow any woman to be, in mercy to the men who will +be forced to meet her. Her speech is highly cultured. Her manners are +perfect, and that is a big and unusual thing in a girl of her age. +Every word she said, every move she made to-day, was exactly as I would +have been proud to hear, and to see a daughter of mine speak and move. +If I had only myself to consider, I would make her my friend, because +I'm seasoned in the ways of the world, and she could influence me only +as I chose to allow her. With you youngsters it is different. You'll +find her captivating, and you may let her ways sway you without even +knowing it. All these outward things are not essential; they are +pleasing, I grant, but they have nothing to do with the one big, +elemental fact that a Godless life is not even half a life. I never +yet have known any man or woman who attempted it who did not waste +life's grandest opportunities, and then come crawling and defeated to +the foot of the cross in the end, asking God's mercy where none was +deserved or earned. It seems to me a craven way. I know all about the +forgiveness on the cross! I know God is big enough and merciful enough +to accept even death-bed repentance, but what is that to compare with +laying out your course and running it a lifetime without swerving? I +detest and distrust this infidel business. I want no child of mine +under its influence, or in contact with it." + +"But when your time comes, if you said just those things to hers and +won her, what a triumph, little mother!" + +"'If!'" answered mother. "That's always the trouble! One can't be +sure! 'If' I knew I could accomplish that, I would get on my knees and +wrestle with the Lord for the salvation of the soul of a girl like +that, not to mention her poor, housebound mother, and that man with the +unhappiest face I ever have seen, her father. It's worth trying, but +suppose I try and fail, and at the same time find that in bringing her +among us she has influenced some of mine to the loss of their immortal +souls then, what will I have done?" + +"Mother," said Laddie; "mother, have you such a poor opinion of the +things you and father have taught us, and the lives you've lived before +us, that you're really afraid of a slip of a girl, almost a stranger?" + +"The most attractive girl I ever have seen, and mighty willing to be no +longer a stranger, Lad." + +"Well, I can't promise for the others," said Laddie, "but for myself I +will give you my word of honour that I won't be influenced the breadth +of one hair by her, in a doctrinal way." + +"Humph!" said my mother. "And it is for you I fear. If a young man is +given the slightest encouragement by a girl like that, even his God +can't always hold him; and you never have made a confession of faith, +Laddie. It is you she will be most likely to captivate." + +"If you think I have any chance, I'll go straight over and ask her +father for her this very evening," said Laddie, and even mother +laughed; then all of us started to the house, for it was almost supper +time. I got ready and thought I'd take one more peep at the dress +before Sally pinned it in the sheet again, and when I went back, there +all huddled in a bunch before it stood Miss Amelia, the tears running +down her cheeks. + +"Did Sally say you might come here?" I asked. + +"No," said Miss Amelia, "but I've been so crazy to see I just slipped +in to take a peep when I noticed the open door. I'll go this minute. +Please don't tell her." + +I didn't say what I would do, but I didn't intend to. + +"What are you crying about?" I inquired. + +"Ah, I too have known love," sobbed Miss Amelia. "Once I made a +wedding dress, and expected to be a happy bride." + +"Well, wasn't you?" I asked, and knew at once it was a silly question, +for of course she would not be a miss, if she had not missed marrying. + +"He died!" sobbed Miss Amelia. + +If he could have seen her then, I believe he'd have been glad of it; +but maybe he looked as bony and dejected as she did before he went; and +he may have turned to stone afterward, as sometimes happens. Right +then I heard Sally coming, so I grabbed Miss Amelia and dragged her +under the fourposter, where I always hid when caught doing something I +shouldn't. But Sally had so much stuff she couldn't keep all of it on +the bed, and when she stooped and lifted the ruffle to shove a box +under, she pushed it right against us, and knelt to look, and there we +were. + +"Well upon my soul!" she cried, and sat flat on the floor, holding the +ruffle, peering in. "Miss Amelia! And in tears! Whatever is the +trouble?" + +Miss Amelia's face was redder than any crying ever made it, and I saw +she wanted to kill me for getting her into such a fix, and if she +became too angry probably she'd take it out on me in school the next +day, so I thought I'd better keep her at work shedding tears. + +"'HE DIED!'" I told Sally as pathetically as ever I could. + +Sally dropped the ruffle instantly, but I saw her knees shake against +the floor. After a while she lifted the curtain and offered Miss +Amelia her hand. + +"I was leaving my dress to show you before putting it away," she said. + +I didn't believe it; but that was what she said. Maybe it was an +impulse. Mother always said Sally was a creature of impulse. When she +took off her flannel petticoat and gave it to poor little half-frozen +Annie Hasty, that was a good impulse, but it sent Sally to bed for a +week. And when she threw a shovel of coals on Bill Ramsdell's dog, +because Bill was a shiftless lout, and the dog was so starved it all +the time came over and sucked our eggs, that was a bad impulse, because +it didn't do Bill a particle of good, and it hurt the dog, which would +have been glad to suck eggs at home, no doubt, if Bill hadn't been too +worthless to keep hens. + +That was a good impulse she had then, for she asked Miss Amelia to help +her straighten the room, and of course that meant to fold and put away +wedding things. Any woman would have been wild to do that. Then she +told Miss Amelia that she was going to ask father to dismiss school for +half a day, and allow her to see the wedding, and she asked her if she +would help serve the breakfast. + +Miss Amelia wiped her eyes, and soon laughed and was just beaming. I +would have been willing to bet my three cents for lead pencils the next +time the huckster came, that Sally never thought of wanting her until +that minute; and then she arranged for her to wait on table to keep her +from trying to eat with the wedding party, because Miss Amelia had no +pretty clothes for one thing, and for another, you shouldn't act as if +you were hungry out in company, and she ate every meal as if she were +breaking a forty days' fast. I wondered what her folks cooked at home. + +After supper Peter came, and the instant I saw him I thought of +something, and it was such a teasing thought I followed around and +watched him harder every minute. At last he noticed me, and put his +arms around me. + +"Well, what is it, Little Sister?" he asked. + +I did wish he would quit that. No one really had a right to call me +that, except Laddie. Maybe I had to put up with Peter doing it when I +was his sister by law, but before, the old name the preacher baptized +on me was good enough for Peter. I was thinking about that so hard, I +didn't answer, and he asked again. + +"I have seen Sally's wedding dress," I told him. + +"But that's no reason why you should stare at me." + +"That's just exactly the reason," I answered. "I was trying to see +what in the world there is about you to be worth a dress like that." + +Peter laughed and laughed. At last he said that he was not really +worth even a calico dress; and he was so little worthy of Sally that he +would button her shoes, if she would let him. He got that mixed. The +buttons were on her slippers: her shoes laced. But it showed a humble +spirit in Peter. Not that I care for humble spirits. I am sure the +Crusaders didn't have them. I don't believe Laddie would lace even the +Princess' shoes, at least not to make a steady business of it. But +maybe Peter and Sally had an agreement to help each other. She was +always fixing his tie, and straightening his hair. Maybe that was an +impulse, though, and mother said Sally would get over being so +impulsive when she cut her eye teeth. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +When Sally Married Peter + + "Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, + Be it ever so humble there's no place like home! + A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, + Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere." + + +When they began arranging the house for the wedding, it could be seen +that they had been expecting it, and getting ready for a long time. +From all the closets, shelves and chests poured heaps of new things. +First, the walls were cleaned and some of them freshly papered, then +the windows were all washed long before regular housecleaning time, the +floors were scrubbed and new carpet put down. Mother had some window +blinds that Winfield had brought her from New York in the spring, and +she had laid them away; no one knew why, then. We all knew now. When +mother was ready to put them up, father had a busy day and couldn't +help her, and she was really provoked. She almost cried about it, when +Leon rode in bringing the mail, and said Hannah Dover had some exactly +like ours at her windows, that her son had sent from Illinois. Father +felt badly enough then, for he always did everything he could to help +mother to be first with everything; but so she wouldn't blame him, he +said crosslike that if she had let him put them up when they came, as +he wanted to, she'd have been six months ahead. + +When they finally got ready to hang the blinds no one knew how they +went. They were a beautiful shiny green, plain on one side, and on the +other there was a silver border across the bottom and one pink rose as +big as a pie plate. Mother had neglected to ask Winfield on which side +the rose belonged. Father said from the way the roll ran, it went +inside. Mother said they were rolled that way to protect the roses, +and that didn't prove anything. Laddie said he would jump on a horse +and ride round the section, and see how Hannah Dover had hers, and +exactly opposite would be right. Everyone laughed, but no one thought +he meant it. Mother had father hold one against the window, and she +stepped outside to see if she could tell from there. When she came in +she said the flower looked mighty pretty, and she guessed that was the +way, so father started hanging them. He had only two up when Laddie +came racing down the Big Hill bareback, calling for him to stop. + +"I tell you that's not right, mother!" he said as he hurried in. + +"But I went outside and father held one, and it looked real pretty," +said mother. + +"One! Yes!" said Laddie. "But have you stopped to consider how two +rows across the house are going to look? Nine big pink roses, with the +sun shining on them! Anything funnier than Dovers' front I never saw. +And look here!" + +Laddie picked up a blind. "See this plain back? It's double coated +like a glaze. That is so the sun shining through glass won't fade it. +The flowers would be gone in a week. They belong inside, mother, sure +as you live." + +"Then when the blinds are rolled to the middle sash in the daytime no +one can see them," wailed mother, who was wild about pink roses. + +"But at night, when they are down, you can put the curtains back enough +to let the roses show, and think how pretty they will look then." + +"Laddie is right!" said father, climbing on the barrel to take down the +ones he had fixed. + +"What do you think, girls?" asked mother. + +"I think the Princess is coming down the Little Hill," said Shelley. +"Hurry, father! Take them down before she sees! I'm sure they're +wrong." + +Father got one all right, but tore the corner of the other. Mother +scolded him dreadfully cross, and he was so flustered he forgot about +being on the barrel, so he stepped back the same as on the floor, and +fell crashing. He might have broken some of his bones, if Laddie +hadn't seen and caught him. + +"If you are SURE the flowers go inside, fix one before she comes!" +cried mother. + +Father stepped too close the edge of the chair, and by that time he +didn't know how to hang anything, so Laddie climbed up and had one +nailed before the Princess stopped. She came to bring Sally the +handkerchief, and it was the loveliest one any of us ever had seen. +There was a little patch in the middle about four inches square, and +around it a wide ruffle of dainty lace. It was made to carry in a hand +covered with white lace mitts, when you were wearing a wedding gown of +silver silk, lined with white. Of course it wouldn't have been the +slightest use for a funeral or with a cold in your head. And it had +come from across the sea! From the minute she took it by a pinch in +the middle, Sally carried her head so much higher than she ever had +before, that you could notice the difference. + +Laddie went straight on nailing up the blinds, and every one he fixed +he let down full length so the Princess could see the roses were +inside; he was so sure he was right. After she had talked a few +minutes she noticed the blinds going up. Laddie, in a front window, +waved to her from the barrel. She laughed and answered with her whip, +and then she laughed again. + +"Do you know," she said, "there is the funniest thing at Dovers'. I +rode past on the way to Groveville this morning and they have some +blinds like those you are putting up." + +"Indeed?" inquired my mother. "Winfield sent us these from New York in +the spring, but I thought the hot summer sun would fade them, so I +saved them until the fall cleaning. The wedding coming on makes us a +little early but----" + +"Well, they may not be exactly the same," said the Princess. "I only +saw from the highway." She meant road; there were many things she said +differently. "Have yours big pink roses and silver scrolls inside?" + +"Yes," said mother. + +The Princess bubbled until it made you think one of those yellow oriole +birds had perched on her saddle. "That poor woman has gone and put +hers up wrong side out. The effect of all those big pink roses on her +white house front is most amusing. It looks as if the house were +covered with a particularly gaudy piece of comfort calico. Only fancy!" + +She laughed again and rode away. Mother came in just gasping. + +"Well, for all His mercies, large and small, the Lord be praised!" she +cried piously, as she dropped into the big rocking chair. "THAT is +what I consider escaping by the skin of your teeth!" + +Then father and Laddie laughed, and said they thought so too. When the +blinds were up, the outside looked well, and you should have seen the +inside! The woodwork was enamelled white, and the wall paper was +striped in white and silver. Every so far on the silver there was a +little pink moss rose having green leaves. The carpet was plum red and +green in wide stripes, and the lace curtains were freshly washed, +snowy, and touched the floor. The big rocker, the straight-backed +chairs, and the sofa were beautiful red mahogany wood, and the seats +shining haircloth. If no one happened to be looking, you could sit on +a sofa arm, stick your feet out and shoot off like riding down a +haystack; the landing was much better. On the sofa you bounced two +feet high the first time; one, the second; and a little way the third. +On the haystack, maybe you hit a soft spot, and maybe you struck a +rock. Sometimes if you got smart, and tried a new place, and your feet +caught in a tangle of weeds and stuck, you came up straight, pitched +over, and landed on your head. THEN if you struck a rock, you were +still, quite a while. I was once. But you never dared let mother see +you--on the sofa, I mean; she didn't care about the haystack. + +There were pictures in oval black frames having fancy edges, and a +whatnot where all our Christmas and birthday gifts, almost too dainty +to handle, were kept. You fairly held your breath when you looked at +the nest of spun green glass, with the white dove in it, that George +Washington Mitchell gave to Shelley. Of course a dove's nest was never +deep, and round, and green, and the bird didn't have red eyes and a +black bill. I thought whoever could blow glass as beautifully as that, +might just as easy have made it right while he was at it; but anyway, +it was pretty. There were pitchers, mugs, and vases, almost too +delicate to touch, and the cloth-covered box with braids of hair coiled +in wreaths from the heads of the little fever and whooping cough +sisters. + +Laddie asked Sally if she and Peter were going to have the ceremony +performed while they sat on the sofa. Seemed the right place. They +had done all their courting there, even on hot summer days; but I +supposed that was because Sally didn't want to be seen fixing Peter's +tie until she was ready. She made no bones about it then. She fixed +it whenever she pleased; likewise he held her hand. Shelley said that +was disgusting, and you wouldn't catch her. Leon said he bet a dollar +he would; and I said if he knew he'd get beaten as I did, I bet two +dollars he wouldn't tell what he saw. The mantel was white, with vases +of the lovely grasses that grew beside the stream at the foot of the +Big Hill. Mother gathered the fanciest every fall, dried them, and +dipped them in melted alum coloured with copperas, aniline, and indigo. +Then she took bunches of the colours that went together best and made +bouquets for the big vases. They were pretty in the daytime, but at +night you could watch them sparkle and shimmer forever. + +I always thought the sitting-room was nicer than the parlour. The +woodwork was white enamel there too, but the bureau and chairs were +just cherry and not too precious to use. They were every bit as +pretty. The mantel was much larger. I could stand up in the +fireplace, and it took two men to put on an everyday log, four the +Christmas one. On each side were the book shelves above, and the linen +closets below. The mantel set between these, and mother always used +the biggest, most gorgeous bouquets there, because she had so much +room. The hearth was a slab of stone that came far into the room. We +could sit on it and crack nuts, roast apples, chestnuts, and warm our +cider, then sweep all the muss we made into the fire. The wall paper +was white and pale pink in stripes, and on the pink were little handled +baskets filled with tiny flowers of different colours. We sewed the +rags for the carpet ourselves, and it was the prettiest thing. One +stripe was wide, all gray, brown, and dull colours, and the other was +pink. There were green blinds and lace curtains here also, and nice +braided rugs that all of us worked on of winter evenings. Everything +got spicker and spanner each day. + +Mother said there was no use in putting down a carpet in a dining-room +where you constantly fed a host, and the boys didn't clean their feet +as carefully as they should in winter; but there were useful rags where +they belonged, and in our bedroom opening from it also. The +dining-room wall paper had a broad stripe of rich cream with pink +cabbage roses scattered over it and a narrow pink stripe, while the +woodwork was something perfectly marvellous. I didn't know what kind +of wood it was, but a man who could turn his hand to anything, painted +it. First, he put on a pale yellow coat and let it dry. Then he added +wood brown, and while it was wet, with a coarse toothed comb, a rag, +and his fingers, he imitated the grain, the even wood, and knotholes of +dressed lumber, until many a time I found myself staring steadily at a +knot to see if a worm wouldn't really come working out. You have to +see a thing like that to understand how wonderful it is. You couldn't +see why they washed the bedding, and took the feathers from the pillows +and steamed them in mosquito netting bags and dried them in the shade, +when Sally's was to be a morning wedding, but they did. I even had to +take a bucket and gather from around the walls all the little heaps of +rocks and shells that Uncle Abraham had sent mother from California, +take them out and wash and wipe them, and stack them back, with the +fanciest ones on top. He sent her a ring made of gold he dug himself. +She always kept the ring in a bottle in her bureau, and she meant to +wear it at the wedding, with her new silk dress. I had a new dress +too. I don't know how they got everything done. All of them worked, +until the last few days they were perfect cross patches. + +When they couldn't find another thing indoors to scour, they began on +the yard, orchard, barn and road. Mother even had Leon stack the wood +pile straighter. She said when corded wood leaned at an angle, it made +people seem shiftless; and she never passed a place where it looked +that way that her fingers didn't just itch to get at it. He had to +pull every ragweed on each side of the road as far as our land reached, +and lay every rail straight in the fences. Father had to take spikes +and our biggest maul and go to the bridges at the foot of the Big and +the Little Hill, and see that every plank was fast, so none of them +would rattle when important guests drove across. She said she just +simply wouldn't have them in such a condition that Judge Pettis +couldn't hear himself think when he crossed; for you could tell from +his looks that it was very important that none of the things he thought +should be lost. There wasn't a single spot about the place inside or +out that wasn't gone over; and to lots of it you never would have known +anything had been done if you hadn't seen, because the place was always +in proper shape anyway; but father said mother acted just like that, +even when her sons were married at other people's houses; and if she +kept on getting worse, every girl she married off, by the time she +reached me, we'd all be scoured threadbare and she'd be on the verge of +the grave. May and I weeded the flowerbeds, picked all the ripe seed, +and pulled up and burned all the stalks that were done blooming. +Father and Laddie went over the garden carefully; they scraped the +walks and even shook the palings to see if one were going to come loose +right at the last minute, when every one would be so flustrated there +would be no time to fix it. + +Then they began to talk about arrangements for the ceremony, whether we +should have our regular minister, or Presiding Elder Lemon, and what +people they were going to invite. Just when we had planned to ask +every one, have the wedding in the church, and the breakfast at the +house, and all drive in a joyous procession to Groveville to give them +a good send-off in walked Sally. She had been visiting Peter's people, +and we planned a lot while she was away. + +"What's going on here?" she asked, standing in the doorway, dangling +her bonnet by the ties. + +She never looked prettier. Her hair had blown out in little curls +around her face from riding, her cheeks were so pink, and her eyes so +bright. + +"We were talking about having the ceremony in the church, so every one +can be comfortably seated, and see and hear well," answered mother. + +Sally straightened up and began jerking the roses on her bonnet far too +roughly for artificial flowers. Perhaps I surprised you with that +artificial word, but I can spell and define it; it's easy divided into +syllables. Goodness knows, I have seen enough flowers made from the +hair of the dead, wax, and paper, where you get the shape, but the +colour never is right. These of Sally's were much too bright, but they +were better than the ones made at our house. Hers were of cloth and +bought at a store. You couldn't tell why, but Sally jerked her roses; +I wished she wouldn't, because I very well knew they would be used to +trim my hat the next summer, and she said: "Well, people don't have to +be comfortable during a wedding ceremony; they can stand up if I can, +and as for seeing and hearing, I'm asking a good many that I don't +intend to have see or hear either one!" + +"My soul!" cried mother, and she dropped her hands and her mouth fell +open, like she always told us we never should let ours, while she +stared at Sally. + +"I don't care!" said Sally, straightening taller yet; her eyes began to +shine and her lips to quiver, as if she would cry in a minute; "I don't +care----!" + +"Which means, my child, that you DO care, very much," said father. +"Suppose you cease such reckless talk, and explain to us exactly what +it is that you do want." + +Sally gave her bonnet an awful jerk. Those roses would look like sin +before my turn to wear them came, and she said: "Well then, I do care! +I care with all my might! The church is all right, of course; but I +want to be married in my very own home! Every one can think whatever +they please about their home, and so can I, and what I think is, that +this is the nicest and the prettiest place in all the world, and I +belong here----" + + +Father lifted his head, his face began to shine, and his eyes to grow +teary; while mother started toward Sally. She put out her hand and +held mother from her at arm's length, and she turned and looked behind +her through the sitting-room and parlour, and then at us, and she +talked so fast you never could have understood what she said if you +hadn't known all of it anyway, and thought exactly the same thing +yourself. + +"I have just loved this house ever since it was built," she said, "and +I've had as good times here as any girl ever had. If any one thinks +I'm so very anxious to leave it, and you, and mother, and all the +others, why it's a big mistake. Seems as if a girl is expected to +marry and go to a home of her own; it's drummed into her and things +fixed for her from the day of her birth; and of course I do like Peter, +but no home in the world, not even the one he provides for me, will +ever be any dearer to me than my own home; and as I've always lived in +it, I want to be married in it, and I want to stay here until the very +last second----" + +"You shall, my child, you shall!" sobbed mother. + +"And as for having a crowd of men that father is planning to ask, +staring at me, because he changes harvest help and wood chopping with +them, or being criticised and clawed over by some women simply because +they'll be angry if they don't get the chance, I just won't--so there! +Not if I have to stand the minister against the wall, and turn our +backs to every one. I think----" + +"That will do!" said father, wiping his eyes. "That will do, Sally! +Your mother and I have got a pretty clear understanding of how you +feel, now. Don't excite yourself! Your wedding shan't be used to pay +off our scores. You may ask exactly whom you please, want, and feel +quite comfortable to have around you----" + +Then Sally fell on mother's neck and every one cried a while; then we +wiped up, Leon gave Sally his slate, and she came and sat beside the +table and began to make out a list of those she really wanted to +invite. First she put down all of our family, even many away in Ohio, +and all of Peter's, and then his friends, and hers. Once in the list +of girls she stopped and said: "If I take that beautiful imported +handkerchief from Pamela Pryor, I have just got to invite her." + +"And she will outdress and outshine you at your own wedding," put in +Shelley. + +"Let her, if she can!" said Sally calmly. "She'll have to hump herself +if she beats that dress of mine; and as for looks, I know lots of +people who think gray eyes, pink cheeks, and brown curls far daintier +and prettier than red cheeks and black eyes and curls. If she really +is better looking than I am, it isn't her fault; God made her that way, +and He wouldn't like us to punish her for it; and it would, because any +one can see she wants to be friends; don't you think, mother?"--mother +nodded--"and besides, I think she's better looking than I am, myself!" + +Sally said that, and wrote down the Princess' name in big letters, and +no one cheeped. + +Then she began on our neighbourhood, thinking out loud and writing what +she thought. So all of us were as still, and held our breath in softly +and waited, and Sally said slow and musing like, "Of course we couldn't +have anything at THIS house without Sarah Hood. She dressed most of us +when we were born, nursed us when we were sick, helped with threshing, +company, and parties, and she's just splendid anyway; we better ask all +the Hoods"; so she wrote them down. "And it will be lonely for Widow +Willis and the girls to see every one else here--we must have them; and +of course Deams--Amanda is always such splendid help; and the Widow +Fall is so perfectly lovely, we want her for decorative purposes; and +we could scarcely leave out Shaws; they always have all of us +everything they do; and Dr. Fenner of course; and we'll want Flo and +Agnes Kuntz to wait on table, so their folks might as well come too----" + +So she went on taking up each family we knew, and telling what they had +done for us, or what we had done for them; and she found some good +reason for inviting them, and pretty soon father settled back in his +chair and never took his eyes from Sally's shining head as she bent +over the slate, and then he began pulling his lower lip, like when it +won't behave, and his eyes danced exactly as I've seen Leon's. I never +had noticed that before. + +Sally went straight on and at last she came to Freshetts. "I am going +to have all of them, too," she said. "The children are good children, +and it will help them along to see how things are done when they are +right; and I don't care what any one says, I LIKE Mrs. Freshett. I'll +ask her to help work, and that will keep her from talking, and give the +other women a chance to see that she's clean, and human, and would be a +good neighbour if they'd be friendly. If we ask her, then the others +will." + +When she finished--as you live--there wasn't a soul she had left out +except Bill Ramsdell, who starved his dog until it sucked our eggs, and +Isaac Thomas, who was so lazy he wouldn't work enough to keep his wife +and children dressed so they ever could go anywhere, but he always +went, even with rags flying, and got his stomach full just by talking +about how he loved the Lord. To save me I couldn't see Isaac Thomas +without beginning to myself: + + "'Tis the voice of the sluggard; I hear him complain, + You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again. + I passed by his garden, I saw the wild brier, + The thorn, and the thistle, grow broader and higher; + The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags; + And his money he wastes, till he starves or he begs." + + +That described Isaac to the last tatter, only he couldn't waste money; +he never had any. Once I asked father what he thought Isaac would do +with it, if by some unforeseen working of Divine Providence, he got ten +dollars. Father said he could tell me exactly, because Isaac once sold +some timber and had a hundred all at once. He went straight to town +and bought Mandy a red silk dress and a brass breastpin, when she had +no shoes. He got the children an organ, when they were hungry; and +himself a plug hat. Mandy and the children cried because he forgot +candy and oranges until the last cent was gone. Father said the only +time Isaac ever worked since he knew him was when he saw how the hat +looked with his rags. He actually helped the men fell the trees until +he got enough to buy a suit, the remains of which he still wore on +Sunday. I asked father why he didn't wear the hat too, and father said +the loss of that hat was a blow, from which Isaac never had recovered. +Once at camp-meeting he laid it aside to pray his longest, most +impressive prayer, and an affectionate cow strayed up and licked the +nap all off before Isaac finished, so he never could wear it again. + +Sally said: "I'll be switched if I'll have that disgusting creature +around stuffing himself on my wedding day; but if you're not in bed, +when it's all over, mother, I do wish you'd send Mandy and the children +a basket." + +Mother promised, and father sat and looked on and pulled his lower lip +until his ears almost wiggled. Then Sally said she wanted Laddie and +Shelley to stand at the parlour door and keep it tight shut, and seat +every one in the sitting-room except a special list she had made out to +send in there. She wanted all our family and Peter's, and only a few +very close friends, but it was enough to fill the room. She said when +she and Peter came downstairs every one could see how they looked when +they crossed the sitting-room, and for all the difference the door +would make, it could be left open then; she would be walled in by +people she wanted around her, and the others could have the fun of +being there, seeing what they could, and getting all they wanted to +eat. Father and mother said that was all right, only to say nothing +about the plan to shut the door; but when the time came just to close +it and everything would be satisfactory. + +Then Sally took the slate upstairs to copy the list with ink, so every +one went about something, while mother crossed to father and he took +her on his lap, and they looked at each other the longest and the +hardest, and neither of them said a word. After a while they cried and +laughed, and cried some more, and it was about as sensible as what a +flock of geese say when they are let out of the barn and start for the +meadow in the morning. Then father, all laughy and criey, said: +"Thank God! Oh, thank God, the girl loves the home we have made for +her!" + +Just said it over and over, and mother kept putting in: "It pays, +Paul! It pays!" + +Next day Sally put on her riding habit and fixed herself as pretty as +ever she could, and went around to have a last little visit with every +one, and invited them herself, and then she wrote letters to people +away. Elizabeth and Lucy came home, and every one began to work. +Father and mother went to the village in the carriage and brought home +the bed full of things to eat, and all we had was added, and mother +began to pack butter, and save eggs for cakes, and the day before, I +thought there wouldn't be a chicken left on the place. They killed and +killed, and Sarah Hood, Amanda Deam, and Mrs. Freshett picked and +picked. + +"I'll bet a dollar we get something this time besides ribs and neck," +said Leon. "How do you suppose thigh and breast would taste?" + +"I was always crazy to try the tail," I said. + +"Much chance you got," sniggered Leon. "'Member the time that father +asked the Presiding Elder, 'Brother Lemon, what piece of the fowl do +you prefer?' and he up and said: 'I'm partial to the rump, Brother +Stanton.' There sat father bound he wouldn't give him mother's piece, +so he pretended he couldn't find it, and forked all over the platter +and then gave him the ribs and the thigh. Gee, how mother scolded him +after the preacher had gone! You notice father hasn't asked that +since. Now, he always says: 'Do you prefer light or dark meat?' Much +chance you have of ever tasting a tail, if father won't even give one +to the Presiding Elder!" + +"But as many as they are killing----" + +"Oh THIS time," said Leon with a flourish, "this time we are going to +have livers, and breast, and thighs, AND tails, if you are beholden to +tail." + +"I'd like to know how we are?" + +"Well, since you have proved that you can keep your mouth shut, for a +little while, anyway, I'm going to take you in on this," said Leon. +"You keep your eyes on me. When the wedding gets going good, you watch +me, and slip out. That's all! I'll be fixed to do the rest. But mind +this, get out when I do." + +"All right," I promised. + +They must have wakened about four o'clock on the wedding day; it wasn't +really light when I got up. I had some breakfast in my night dress, +and then I was all fixed up in my new clothes, and made to sit on a +chair, and never move for fear I would soil my dress, for no one had +time to do me over, and there was only one dress anyway. There was so +much to see you could keep interested just watching, and I was as +anxious to look nice before the boys and girls, and the big people, as +any one. + +Every mantel and table and bureau was covered with flowers, and you +could have smelled the kitchen a mile away, I know. The dining table +was set for the wedding party, our father and mother, and Peter's, and +the others had to wait. You couldn't have laid the flat of your hand +on that table anywhere, it was so covered with things to eat. Miss +Amelia, in a dress none of us ever had seen before, a real nice white +dress, pranced around it and smirked at every one, and waved the +peacock feather brush to keep the flies from the jelly, preserves, jam, +butter, and things that were not cooked. + +For hours Mrs. Freshett had stood in the kitchen on one side of the +stove frying chicken and heaping it in baking pans in the oven, and +Amanda Deam on the other, frying ham, while Sarah Hood cooked other +things, and made a wash boiler of coffee. Everything was ready by the +time it should have been. I had watched them until I was tired, when +Sally came through the room where I was, and she said I might come +along upstairs and see her dressed. When we reached the door I +wondered where she would put me, but she pushed clothing together on a +bed, and helped me up, and that was great fun. + +She had been bathed and had on her beautiful new linen underclothing +that mother punched full of holes and embroidered in flowers and vines, +and Shelley was brushing her hair when some one called out: "The +Princess is coming!" + +I jumped for the window, and all of them, even Sally, crowded behind. +Well, talk about carriages! No one ever had seen THAT one before. It +WAS a carriage. And such horses! The funny "'orse, 'ouse" man who +made the Pryor garden was driving. He stopped at the gate, got out and +opened a door, and the Princess' father stepped down, tall and +straight, all in shiny black. He turned around and held out his hand, +bowing double, and the Princess laid her hand in his and stepped out +too. He walked with her to the gate, made another bow, kissed her +hand, and stepped back, and she came down the walk alone. He got in +the carriage, the man closed the door, and they drove away. + +Sally must have arranged before that the Princess was to come early, +for she came straight upstairs. She wore a soft white silk dress with +big faded pink roses in it, and her hair was fastened at each ear with +a bunch of little pink roses. She was lovely, but she didn't "outdress +or outshine" Sally one bit, and she never even glanced at the mirror to +see how she looked; she began helping with Sally's hair, and to dress +her. When Bess Kuntz prinked so long she made every one disgusted, the +Princess said: "Oh save your trouble. No one will look at you when +there's a bride in the house." + +There was a roll almost as thick as your arm of garters that all the +other girls wanted Sally to wear for them so they would get a chance to +marry that year, and Agnes Kuntz's was so large it went twice around, +and they just laughed about it. They put a blue ribbon on Sally's +stays for luck, and she borrowed Peter's sister Mary's comb to hold her +back hair. They had the most fun, and when she was all ready except +her dress they went away, and Sally stood in the middle of the room +trembling a little. Outside you could hear carriage wheels rolling, +the beat of horses' hoofs, and voices crying greetings. "There was a +sound of revelry," by day. Mother came in hurriedly. She wore her new +brown silk, with a lace collar pinned at the throat with the pin that +had a brown goldstone setting in it, and her precious ring was on her +finger. She was dainty and pretty enough to have been a bride herself. +She turned Sally around slowly, touching her hair a little and her +skirts; then she went to the closet, took out the wedding dress, put +the skirt over Sally's head, and she came up through the whiteness, +pink and glowing. She slipped her arms into the sleeves, and mother +fastened it, shook out the skirt, saw that the bead fringe hung right, +and the lace collar lay flat, then she took Sally in her arms, held her +tight and said: "God bless you, dear, and keep you always. Amen." + +Then she stepped to the door, and Peter, all shining and new, came in. +He hugged Sally and kissed her like it didn't make the least difference +whether she had on calico or a wedding dress, and he just stared, and +stared at her, and never said a word, so at last she asked: "Well +Peter, do you like my dress?" + +And the idiot said: "Why Sally, I hadn't even seen it!" + +Then both of them laughed, and the Presiding Elder came. + +I never liked to look at him very well because something had happened, +and he had only one eye. I always wondered if he had "plucked it out" +because it had "offended" him; but if you could forget his eye, and +just listen to his voice, it was like the sweetest music. He married +those two people right there in the bedroom, all but about three words +at the end. I heard and saw every bit of it. Then Sally said it was +time for me to go to mother, but she followed me into the boys' room +and shut the door. Then she knelt in her beautiful silver dress, and +put her arms around me and said: "Honest, Little Sister, aren't you +going to kiss me goodbye?" + +"Oh I can if you want me to," I said, but I didn't look at her; I +looked out of the window. + +She laughed a breathless little catchy sort of laugh and said: "That's +exactly what I do want." + +"You didn't even want me, to begin with," I reminded her. + +"There isn't a doubt but whoever told you that, could have been in +better business," said Sally, angry-like. "I was much younger then, +and there were many things I didn't understand, and it wasn't you I +didn't want; it was just no baby at all. I wouldn't have wanted a boy, +or any other girl a bit more. I foolishly thought we had children +enough in this house. I see now very plainly that we didn't, for this +family never could get along without you, and I'm sorry I ever thought +so, and I'd give anything if I hadn't struck you and----" + +"Oh be still, and go on and get married!" I said. I could just feel a +regular beller coming in my throat. "I was only fooling to pay you up. +I meant all the time to kiss you good-bye when the others did. I'll +nearly die being lonesome when you're gone----" + +Then I ran for downstairs, and when I reached the door, where the steps +went into the sitting-room, I stopped, scared at all the people. It +was like camp-meeting. You could see the yard full through the +windows. Just as I was thinking I'd go back to the boys' room, and +from there into the garret, and down the back stairway, Laddie went and +saw me. He came over, led me to the parlour door, put me inside, and +there mother took my hand and held me tight, and I couldn't see Leon +anywhere. + +I was caught, but they didn't have him. Mother never hung on as she +did that day. I tried and tried to pull away, and she held tight. It +was only a minute until the door opened, people crowded back, and the +Presiding Elder, followed by Sally and Peter, came into the room, and +they began being married all over again. + +If it hadn't grown so solemn my mother sprung a tear, I never would +have made it. She just had to let me go to sop her face, because tears +are salty, and they would turn her new brown silk front yellow. The +minute my hand was free, I slipped between the people and looked at the +parlour door. It was wedged full and more standing on chairs behind +them. No one could get out there. + +I thought I would fail Leon sure, and then I remembered the parlour +bedroom. I got through that door easy as anything, and it was no trick +at all to slip behind the blind, raise the window, and drop into +mother's room from the sill. From there I reached the back dining-room +door easy enough, went around to the kitchen, and called Leon softly. +He opened the door at once and I slipped in. He had just got there. +We looked all around and couldn't see where to begin at first. There +was enough cooked food there to load two wagons. + +An old pillow-case that had dried sage in it was lying across a chair +and Leon picked it up and poured the sage into the wood-box, and handed +the case to me. He went over and knelt before the oven, while I +followed and held open the case. Leon rolled his eyes to the ceiling +and said so exactly like father when he is serving company that not one +of us could have told the difference: "Which part of the fowl do you +prefer, Brother Lemon?" + +It was so funny it made me snigger, but I straightened up and answered +as well as I could: "I'm especially fond of the rump, Brother Stanton." + +Leon stirred the heap and piled four or five tails in the case. I +thought that was all I could manage before they would spoil, so I said: +"Do you prefer light or dark meat, Sister Abigail?" + +"I wish to choose breast," said Leon, simpering just like that silly +Abigail Webster. He put in six breasts. Then we found them hidden +away back in the oven in a pie pan, for the bride's table, I bet, and +we took two livers apiece; we didn't dare take more for fear they had +been counted. Then he threw in whatever he came to that was a first +choice big piece, until I was really scared, and begged him to stop; +but he repeated what the fox said in the story of the "Quarrelsome +Cocks"--"Poco was very good, but I have not had enough yet," so he +piled in pieces until I ran away with the pillow-case; then he slid in +a whole plateful of bread, another of cake, and put the plates in a tub +of dishes under the table. Then we took some of everything that wasn't +too runny. Just then the silence broke in the front part of the house, +and we scooted from the back door, closing it behind us, ran to the +wood house and climbed the ladder to the loft over the front part. +There we were safe as could be, we could see to the road, hear almost +everything said in the kitchen, and "eat our bites in peace," like +Peter Justice told the Presiding Elder at the church trial that he +wanted his wife to, the time he slapped her. Before very long, they +began calling us, and called, and called. We hadn't an idea what they +wanted, so we ate away. We heard them first while I was holding over a +back to let Leon taste kidney, and it made him blink when he got it +good. + +"Well my soul!" he said. "No wonder father didn't want to feed that to +another man when mother isn't very well, and likes it! No wonder!" + +Then he gave me a big bite of breast. It was sort of dry and +tasteless; I didn't like it. + +"Why, I think neck or back beats that all to pieces!" I said in +surprise. + +"Fact is, they do!" said Leon. "I guess the people who 'wish to choose +breast,' do it to get the biggest piece." + +I never had thought of it before, but of course that would be the +reason. + +"Allow me, Sister Stanton," said Leon, holding out a piece of thigh. + +That was really chicken! Then we went over the backs and picked out +all the kidneys, and ate the little crusty places, and all the cake we +could swallow; then Leon fixed up the bag the best he could, and set it +inside an old cracked churn and put on the lid. + +He said that would do almost as well as the cellar, and the food would +keep until to-morrow. I wanted to slip down and put it in the +Underground Station; but Leon said father must be spending a lot of +money right now, and he might go there to get some, so that wouldn't be +safe. Then he cleaned my face, and I told him when he got his right, +and we slipped from the back door, crossed the Lawton blackberry patch, +and went to the house from the orchard. Leon took an apple and broke +it in two, and we went in eating as if we were starving. When father +asked us where in this world we had been, Leon told him we thought it +would be so awful long before the fourth or fifth table, and we hadn't +had much breakfast, and we were so hungry we went and hunted something +to eat. + +"If you'd only held your horses a minute," said father; "they were +calling you to take places at the bride's table." + +Well for land's sake! Our mouths dropped open until it's a wonder the +cake and chicken didn't show, and we never said a word. There didn't +seem to be anything to say, for Leon loved to be with grown folks, and +to have eaten at the bride's table would have been the biggest thing +that ever happened to me. At last, when I could speak, I asked who had +taken our places, and bless your heart if it wasn't that mealy-faced +little sister of Peter's, and one of the aunts from Ohio. They had +finished, and Sally was upstairs putting on her travelling dress, while +the guests were eating, when I heard Laddie ask the Princess to ride +with him and Sally's other friends, who were going to escort her to the +depot. + +"You'll want all your horses. What could I ride?" + +"If I find you a good horse and saddle will you go?" + +"I will. I think it would be fine sport." + +Laddie turned and went from sight that minute. The Princess laughed +and kept on making friends with every one, helping wait on people, +thinking of nice things to do, and just as the carriage was at the gate +for father and mother, and Sally and Peter, and every one else was +untying their horses to ride in the procession to the village, from +where I was standing on the mounting block I saw something coming down +the Little Hill. I took one look, ran to the Princess, and almost +dragged her. + +Up raced Laddie, his face bright, his eyes snapping with fun. He rode +Flos, was leading the Princess' horse Maud, and carrying a big bundle +under his arm. He leaped from the saddle and fastened both horses. + +"Gracious Heaven! What have you done?" gasped the Princess. + +"Brought your mount," said Laddie, quite as if he were used to going to +Pryors' after the sausage grinder or the grain sacks. But the Princess +was pale and trembling. She stepped so close she touched him, and he +immediately got a little closer. You couldn't get ahead of Laddie, and +he didn't seem to care who saw, and neither did she. + +"Tell me exactly what occurred," she said, just as father does when he +means to whale us completely. + +"I rapped at the front door," said Laddie. + +"And who opened it?" cried the Princess. + +"Your father!" + +"My father?" + +"Yes, your father!" said Laddie. "And because I was in such a hurry, I +didn't wait for him to speak. I said: 'Good morning, Mr. Pryor. I'm +one of the Stanton boys, and I came for Miss Pryor's mount and habit. +All the young people who are on horseback are going to ride an escort +to the village, around my sister's bridal carriage, and Miss Pryor +thinks she would enjoy going. Please excuse such haste, but we only +this minute made the plan, and the train won't wait.'" + +"And he?" + +"He said: 'Surely! Hold one minute.' I stood on the step and waited, +and I could hear him give the order to some one to get your riding +habit quickly, and then he blew a shrill whistle, and your horse was at +the gate the fastest of anything I ever saw." + +"Did he do or say----" + +"Nothing about 'clods, and clowns, and grossness!' Every other word he +spoke was when I said, 'Thank you, and good morning,' and was turning +away. He asked: 'Did Miss Pryor say whether she preferred to ride +home, or shall I escort her in the carriage?'" + +"'She did not,' I answered. 'The plan was so sudden she had no time to +think that far. But since she will have her horse and habit, why not +allow my father to escort her?' So you see, I'm going to take you +home," exulted Laddie. + +"But you told him your FATHER," said the Princess. + +"And thereby created the urgent necessity," said Laddie with a +flourish, "for speaking to him again, and telling him that my father +had visitors from Ohio, and couldn't leave them. We will get all the +fun from the day that we can; but before dusk, too early for them to +have any cause for cavil, 'the gross country clod' is going to take you +home!" + +One at a time, Laddie pounded those last words into the hitching post, +with his doubled fist. + +"Suppose he sets the dogs on you! You know he keeps two dreadful ones." + +Laddie just roared. He leaned closer. + +"Beaucheous Lady," he said, "I have fed those same dogs and rubbed +their ears so many nights lately, he'll get the surprise of his life if +he tries that." + +The Princess drew away and stared at Laddie the funniest. + +"On my life!" she said at last. "Well for a country clod----!" + +Then she turned with the habit bundle, and ran into the house. Father +and mother came from the front door arm in arm and walked to the +carriage, and Sally and Peter followed. My, but they looked fine! The +Princess had gone to the garden and gathered flowers and lined all the +children in rows down each side of the walk. They were loaded with +blooms to throw at Sally; but when she came out, in her beautiful gray +poplin travelling dress, trimmed in brown ribbon, the same shade as her +curls, her face all pink, her eyes shining, and the ties of her little +brown bonnet waving to her waist, she was so perfectly beautiful, every +single child watched her open mouthed, gripped its flowers, and forgot +to throw them at all. + +And this you scarcely will believe after what she had said the day she +made her list, and when all of us knew her heart was all torn up, Sally +just swept along smiling at every one and calling "good-bye" to those +who had no way to ride to the village, as if leaving didn't amount to +much. At the carriage, a little white, but still smiling, she turned +and took one long look at everything, and then she got in and called +for me, right out loud before every one, so I got to hold up my head as +high as it would go, and step in too, and ride all the way to +Groveville between her and Peter, and instead of holding his hand, she +held mine, just gripped it tight. She gripped so hard she squeezed all +the soreness at her from my heart, and when she kissed me good-bye the +very last of all, I whispered in her ear that I wouldn't ever be angry +any more, and I wasn't, because after she had explained I saw how it +had been. It wasn't ME she didn't want; it was just no baby. + +After our carriage came Peter's people, then one father borrowed for +the Ohio relatives, then the other children, and all the neighbours +followed, and when we reached the high hill where you turn beside the +woods, I saw father gather up the lines and brace himself, for Ned and +Jo were what he called "mettlesome." "Then came a burst of thunder +sound," as it says in "Casablanca," and the horseback riders came +sweeping around us, Laddie and the Princess leading. These two rode +ahead of us, and the others lined three deep on either side, and the +next carriage dropped back and let them close in behind, so Sally and +Peter were "in the midst thereof." Instead of throwing old shoes, as +always had been done, the Princess coaxed them to throw rice and roses, +and every other flower pulled from the bouquets at home, and from the +gardens we had passed. Every one was out watching us go by, and when +William Justus rode beside the fences crying, "Flowers for the bride! +Give us flowers for the bride!" some of the women were so excited they +pulled things up by the roots and gave him armloads, and he rode ahead +and supplied Laddie and the Princess, and they kept scattering them in +the road until every foot of the way to Groveville was covered with +flowers, "the fair young flowers that lately sprang and stood." He +even made side-cuts into swampy places and gathered armloads of those +perfectly lovely, fringy blue gentians, caught up, and filled the +carriage and scattered them in a wicked way, because you should only +take a few of those rare, late flowers that only grow from seed. + +Sally looked just as if she had come into her own and was made for it; +I never did see her look so pretty, but Peter sweated and acted awful +silly. Father had a time with the team. Ned and Jo became excited and +just ranted. They simply danced. Laddie had braided their manes and +tails, and they waved like silken floss in the sunshine, and the +carriage was freshly washed and the patent leather and brass shone, and +we rode flower-covered. Ahead, Laddie and the Princess fairly tried +themselves. She hadn't put on her hat or habit after all. When Laddie +told her they were going to lead, she said: "Very well! Then I shall +go as I am. The dress makes no difference. It's the first time I've +had a chance to spoil one since I left England." + +When the other girls saw what she was going to do, nearly every one of +them left off their hats and riding skirts. Every family had saddle +horses those days, and when the riders came racing up they looked like +flying flowers, they were all laughing, bloom ladened, singing and +calling jokes. Ahead, Laddie and the Princess just plain showed off. +Her horse came from England with them, and Laddie said it had Arab +blood in it, like the one in the Fourth Reader poem, "Fret not to roam +the desert now, With all thy winged speed," and the Princess loved her +horse more than that man did his. She said she'd starve before she'd +sell it, and if her family were starving, she'd go to work and earn +food for them, and keep her horse. Laddie's was a Kentucky +thoroughbred he'd saved money for years to buy; and he took a young one +and trained it himself, almost like a circus horse. Both of them COULD +ride; so that day they did. They ran those horses neck and neck, right +up the hill approaching Groveville, until they were almost from sight, +then they whirled and came sweeping back fast as the wind. The +Princess' eyes were like dead coals, and her black curls streamed, the +thin silk dress wrapped tight around her and waved back like a gossamer +web such as spiders spin in October. Laddie's hair was blowing, his +cheeks and eyes were bright, and with one eye on the Princess--she +didn't need it--and one on the road, he cut curves, turned, wheeled, +and raced, and as he rode, so did she. + +"Will they break their foolish necks?" wailed mother. + +"They are the handsomest couple I ever have seen in my life!" said +father. + +"Yes, and you two watch out, or you'll strike trouble right there," +said Sally, leaning forward. + +I gave her an awful nudge. It made me so happy I could have screamed +to see them flying away together like that. + +"Well, if that girl represents trouble," said father, "God knows it +never before came in such charming guise." + +"You can trust a man to forget his God and his immortal soul if a +sufficiently beautiful woman comes along," said my mother dryly, and +all of them laughed. + +She didn't mean that to be funny, though. You could always tell by the +set of her lips and the light in her eyes. + +Just this side of Groveville we passed a man on horseback. He took off +his hat and drew his horse to one side when Laddie and the Princess +rode toward him. He had a big roll of papers under his arm, to show +that he had been for his mail. But I knew, so did Laddie and the +Princess, that he had been compelled to saddle and ride like mad, to +reach town and come that far back in time to watch us pass; for it was +the Princess' father, and WATCH was exactly what he was doing; he +wanted to see for himself. Laddie and the Princess rode straight at +him, neck and neck, and then both of them made their horses drop on +their knees and they waved a salute, and then they were up and away. +Of course father and mother saw, so mother bowed, and father waved his +whip as we passed. He sat there like he'd turned the same on horseback +as Sabethany had in her coffin; but he had to see almost a mile of us +driving our best horses and carriages, wearing our wedding garments and +fine raiment, and all that "cavalcade," father called it, of young, +reckless riders. You'd have thought if there were a hint of a smile in +his whole being it would have shown when Sally leaned from the carriage +to let him see that her face and clothes were as good as need be and +smiled a lovely smile on him, and threw him a rose. He did leave his +hat off and bow low, and then Shelley, always the very dickens for +daring, rode right up to him and laughed in his face, and she leaned +and thrust a flower into his bony hands; you would have thought he +would have been simply forced to smile then, but he looked far more as +if he would tumble over and roll from the saddle. My heart ached for a +man in trouble like that. I asked the Lord to preserve us from secrets +we couldn't tell the neighbours! + +At the station there wasn't a thing those young people didn't do. + +They tied flowers and ribbons all over Sally's satchel and trunk. + +They sowed rice as if it were seeding time in a wheatfield. They +formed a circle around Sally and Peter and as mushy as ever they could +they sang, "As sure as the grass grows around the stump, You are my +darling sugar lump," while they danced. They just smiled all the time +no matter what was done to them. Some of it made me angry, but I +suppose to be pleasant was the right way. Sally was strong on always +doing the right thing, so she just laughed, and so did all of us. +Going home it was wilder yet, for all of them raced and showed how they +could ride. + +At the house people were hungry again, so the table was set and they +ate up every scrap in sight, and Leon and I ate with them that time and +saved ours. Then one by one the carriages, spring wagons, and +horseback riders went away, all the people saying Sally was the +loveliest bride, and hers had been the prettiest wedding they'd ever +seen, and the most good things to eat, and Laddie and the Princess went +with them. When the last one was gone, and only the relatives from +Ohio were left, mother pitched on the bed, gripped her hands and cried +as if she'd go to pieces, and father cried too, and all of us, even +Mrs. Freshett, who stayed to wash up the dishes. She was so tickled to +be there, and see, and help, that mother had hard work to keep her from +washing the linen that same night. She did finish the last dish, scrub +the kitchen floor, black the stove, and pack all the borrowed china in +tubs, ready to be taken home, and things like that. Mother said it was +a burning shame for any neighbourhood to let a woman get so starved out +and lonesome she'd act that way. She said enough was enough, and when +Mrs. Freshett had cooked all day, and washed dishes until the last +skillet was in place, she had done as much as any neighbour ought to +do, and the other things she went on and did were a rebuke to us. + +I felt sore, weepy, and tired out. It made me sick to think of the +sage bag in the cracked churn, so I climbed my very own catalpa tree in +the corner, watched up the road for Laddie, and thought things over. +If I ever get married I want a dress, and a wedding exactly like that, +but I would like a man quite different from Peter; like Laddie would +suit me better. When he rode under the tree, I dropped from a limb +into his arms, and went with him to the barn. He asked me what was +going on at the house, and I told him about Mrs. Freshett being a +rebuke to us; and Laddie said she was, and he didn't believe one word +against her. When I told him mother was in bed crying like anything, +he said: "I knew that had to come when she kept up so bravely at the +station. Thank the Lord, she showed her breeding by holding in until +she got where she had a right to cry if she pleased." + +Then I whispered for fear Leon might be around: "Did he set the dogs +on you?" + +"He did not," said Laddie, laughing softly. + +"Did he call you names again?" + +"He did!" said Laddie, "but I started it. You see, when we got there, +Thomas was raking the grass and he came to take the Princess' horse. +Her father was reading on a bench under a tree. I helped her down, and +walked with her to the door and said good-bye, and thanked her for the +pleasure she had added to the day for us, loudly enough that he could +hear; then I went over to him and said: 'Good evening, Mr. Pryor. If +my father knew anything about it, he would very much regret that +company from Ohio detained him and compelled me to escort your daughter +home. He would greatly have enjoyed the privilege, but I honestly +believe that I appreciated it far more than he could.'" + +"Oh Laddie, what did he say?" + +"He arose and glared at me, and choked on it, and he tried several +times, until I thought the clods were going to fly again, but at last +he just spluttered: 'You blathering rascal, you!' That was such a +compliment compared with what I thought he was going to say that I had +to laugh. He tried, but he couldn't keep from smiling himself, and +then I said: 'Please think it over, Mr. Pryor, and if you find that +Miss Pryor has had an agreeable, entertaining day, won't you give your +consent for her to come among us again? Won't you allow me to come +here, if it can be arranged in such a way that I intrude on no one?'" + +"Oh Laddie!" + +"He exploded in a kind of a snarl that meant, I'll see you in the Bad +Place first. So I said to him: 'Thank you very much for to-day, +anyway. I'm sure Miss Pryor has enjoyed this day, and it has been the +happiest of my life--one to be remembered always. Of course I won't +come here if I am unwelcome, but I am in honour bound to tell you that +I intend to meet your daughter elsewhere, whenever I possibly can. I +thought it would be a better way for you to know and have us where you +could see what was going on, if you chose, than for us to meet without +your knowledge." + +"Oh Laddie," I wailed, "now you've gone and ruined everything!" + +"Not so bad as that, Little Sister," laughed Laddie. "Not half so bad! +He exploded in another growl, and he shook his walking stick at me, and +he said--guess what he said." + +"That he would kill you," I panted, clinging to him. + +"Right!" said Laddie. "You have it exactly. He said: 'Young man, +I'll brain you with my walking stick if ever I meet you anywhere with +my daughter, when you have not come to her home and taken her with my +permission.'" + +"What!" I stammered. "What! Oh Laddie, say it over! Does it +mean----?" + +"It means," said Laddie, squeezing me until I was near losing my +breath, "it means, Little Sister, that I shall march to his door and +ask him squarely, and if it is anywhere the Princess wants to go, I +shall take her." + +"Like, 'See the conquering hero comes?'" + +"Exactly!" laughed Laddie. + +"What will mother say?" + +"She hasn't made up her mind yet," answered Laddie. + +"Do you mean----?" I gasped again. + +"Of course!" said Laddie. "I wasn't going to let a girl get far ahead +of me. The minute I knew she had told her mother, I told mine the very +first chance." + +"Mother knows that you feel about the Princess as father does about +her?" + +"Mother knows," answered Laddie, "and so does father. I told both of +them." + +Both of them knew! And it hadn't made enough difference that any one +living right with them every day could have told it. Time and work +will be needed to understand grown people. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Shropshire and the Crusader + + "For, among the rich and gay, + Fine, and grand, and decked in laces, + None appear more glad then they, + With happier hearts, or happier faces." + + +Every one told mother for a week before the wedding that she would be +sick when it was over, and sure enough she was. She had been on her +feet too much, and had so many things to think about, and there had +been such a dreadful amount of work for her and Candace, even after all +the neighbours helped, that she was sick in bed and we couldn't find a +thing she could eat, until she was almost wild with hunger and father +seemed as if he couldn't possibly bear it a day longer. + +After Candace had tried everything she could think of, I went up and +talked it over with Sarah Hood, and she came down, pretending she +happened in, and she tried thickened milk, toast and mulled buttermilk; +she kept trying for two days before she gave up. Candace thought of +new things, and Mrs. Freshett came and made all the sick dishes she +knew, but mother couldn't even taste them; so we were pretty blue, and +we nearly starved ourselves, for how could we sit and eat everything +you could mention, and mother lying there, almost crying with hunger? + +Saturday morning I was hanging around her room hoping maybe she could +think of some least little thing I could do for her, even if no more +than to bring a glass of water, or a late rose to lay on her pillow; it +would be better than not being able to do anything at all. After a +while she opened her eyes and looked at me, and I scarcely knew her. +She smiled the bravest she could and said: "Sorry for mother, dear?" + +I nodded. I couldn't say much, and she tried harder than ever to be +cheerful and asked: "What are you planning to do to-day?" + +"If you can't think of one thing I can do for you, guess I'll go +fishing," I said. + +Her eyes grew brighter and she seemed half interested. + +"Why, Little Sister," she said, "if you can catch some of those fish +like you do sometimes, I believe I could eat one of them." + +I never had such a be-hanged time getting started. I slipped from the +room, and never told a soul even where I was going. I fell over the +shovel and couldn't find anything quick enough but my pocket to put the +worms in, and I forgot my stringer. At last, when I raced down the +hill to the creek and climbed over the water of the deep place, on the +roots of the Pete Billings yowling tree, I had only six worms, my apple +sucker pole, my cotton cord line, and bent pin hook. I put the first +worm on carefully, and if ever I prayed! Sometimes it was hard to +understand about this praying business. My mother was the best and +most beautiful woman who ever lived. She was clean, and good, and +always helped "the poor and needy who cluster round your door," like it +says in the poetry piece, and there never could have been a reason why +God would want a woman to suffer herself, when she went flying on +horseback even dark nights through rain or snow, to doctor other +people's pain, and when she gave away things like she did--why, I've +seen her take a big piece of meat from the barrel, and a sack of meal, +and heaps of apples and potatoes to carry to Mandy Thomas--when she +gave away food by the wagonload at a time, God couldn't have WANTED her +to be hungry, and yet she WAS that very minute almost crying for food; +and I prayed, oh how I did pray! and a sneaking old back-ended crayfish +took my very first worm. I just looked at the sky and said: "Well, +when it's for a sick woman, can't You do any better than that?" + +I suppose I shouldn't have said it, but if it had been your mother, how +would you have felt? I pinched the next worm in two, so if a crayfish +took that, it wouldn't get but half. I lay down across the roots and +pulled my bonnet far over my face and tried to see to the bottom. I +read in school the other day: + + "And by those little rings on the water I know + The fishes are merrily swimming below." + + +There were no rings on the water, but after a while I saw some fish +darting around, only they didn't seem to be hungry; for they would come +right up and nibble a tiny bit at my worm, but they wouldn't swallow +it. Then one did, so I jerked with all my might, jerked so hard the +fish and worm both flew off, and I had only the hook left. I put on +the other half and tried again. I prayed straight along, but the tears +would come that time, and the prayer was no powerful effort like +Brother Hastings would have made; it was little torn up pieces mostly: +"O Lord, please do make only one fish bite!" At last one did bite +good, so I swung carefully that time, and landed it on the grass, but +it was so little and it hit a stone and was killed. I had no stringer +to put it back in the water to keep cool, and the sun was hot that day, +like times in the fall. Stretched on the roots, with it shining on my +back, and striking the water and coming up from below, I dripped with +heat and excitement. + +I threw that one away, put on another worm, and a big turtle took it, +the hook, and broke my line, and almost pulled me in. I wouldn't have +let go if it had, for I just had to have a fish. There was no help +from the Lord in that, so I quit praying, only what I said when I +didn't know it. Father said man was born a praying animal, and no +matter how wicked he was, if he had an accident, or saw he had just got +to die, he cried aloud to the Lord for help and mercy before he knew +what he was doing. + +I could hear the roosters in the barnyard, the turkey gobbler, and the +old ganders screamed once in a while, and sometimes a bird sang a +skimpy little fall song; nothing like spring, except the killdeers and +larks; they were always good to hear--and then the dinner bell rang. I +wished I had been where I couldn't have heard that, because I didn't +intend going home until I had a fish that would do for mother if I +stayed until night. If the best one in the family had to starve, we +might as well all go together; but I wouldn't have known how hungry I +was, if the bell hadn't rung and told me the others were eating. So I +bent another pin and tried again. I lost the next worm without knowing +how, and then I turned baby and cried right out loud. I was so +thirsty, the salty tears running down my cheeks tasted good, and doing +something besides fishing sort of rested me; so I looked around and up +at the sky, wiped my face on the skirt of my sunbonnet, and put on +another worm. I had only one more left, and I began to wonder if I +could wade in and catch a fish by hand; I did teeny ones sometimes, but +I knew the water there was far above my head, for I had measured it +often with the pole; it wouldn't do to try that; instead of helping +mother any, a funeral would kill her, too, so I fell back on the +Crusaders, and tried again. + +Strange how thinking about them helped. I pretended I was fighting my +way to the Holy City, and this was the Jordan just where it met the +sea, and I had to catch enough fish to last me during the pilgrimage +west or I'd never reach Jerusalem to bring home a shell for the Stanton +crest. I pretended so hard, that I got braver and stronger, and asked +the Lord more like there was some chance of being heard. All at once +there was a jerk that almost pulled me in, so I jerked too, and a big +fish flew over my head and hit the bank behind me with a thump. Of +course by a big fish I don't mean a red horse so long as my arm, like +the boys bring from the river; I mean the biggest fish I ever caught +with a pin in our creek. It looked like the whale that swallowed +Jonah, as it went over my head. I laid the pole across the roots, +jumped up and turned, and I had to grab the stump to keep from falling +in the water and dying. There lay the fish, the biggest one I ever had +seen, but it was flopping wildly, and it wasn't a foot from a hole in +the grass where a muskrat had burrowed through. If it gave one flop +that way, it would slide down the hole straight back into the water; +and between me and the fish stood our cross old Shropshire ram. I +always looked to see if the sheep were in the meadow before I went to +the creek, but that morning I had been so crazy to get something for +mother to eat, I never once thought of them--and there it stood! + +That ram hadn't been cross at first, and father said it never would be +if treated right, and not teased, and if it were, there would be +trouble for all of us. I was having more than my share that minute, +and it bothered me a lot almost every day. I never dared enter a field +any more if it were there, and now it was stamping up and down the +bank, shaking its head, and trying to get me; with one flop the fish +went ALMOST in the hole, and the next a little away from it. +Everything put together, I thought I couldn't stand it. I never wanted +anything as I wanted that fish, and I never hated anything as I hated +that sheep. It wasn't the sheep's fault either; Leon teased it on +purpose, just to see it chase Polly Martin; but that was more her +doings than his. + +She was a widow and she crossed our front meadow going to her sister's. +She had two boys big as Laddie, and three girls, and father said they +lived like "the lilies of the field; they toiled not, neither did they +spin." They never looked really hungry or freezing, but they never +plowed, or planted, they had no cattle or pigs or chickens, only a +little corn for meal, and some cabbage, and wild things they shot for +meat, and coons to trade the skins for more powder and lead--bet they +ate the coons--never any new clothes, never clean, they or their house. +Once when father and mother were driving past, they saw Polly at the +well and they stopped for politeness sake to ask how she was, like they +always did with every one. Polly had a tin cup of water and was +sopping at her neck with a carpet rag, and when mother asked, "How are +you, Mrs. Martin?" she answered: "Oh I ain't very well this spring; I +gest I got the go-backs!" + +Mother said Polly looked as if she'd been born with the "go-backs," and +had given them to all her children, her home, garden, fields, and even +the FENCES. We hadn't a particle of patience with such people. When +you are lazy like that it is very probable that you'll live to see the +day when your children will peep through the fence cracks and cry for +bread. I have seen those Martin children come mighty near doing it +when the rest of us opened our dinner baskets at school; and if mother +hadn't always put in enough so that we could divide, I bet they would. +If Polly Martin had walked up as if she were alive, and had been washed +and neat, and going somewhere to do some one good, Leon never would +have dreamed of such a thing as training the Shropshire to bunt her. +She was so long and skinny, always wore a ragged shawl over her head, a +floppy old dress that the wind whipped out behind, and when she came to +the creek, she sat astride the foot log, and hunched along with her +hands; that tickled the boys so, Leon began teasing the sheep on +purpose to make it get her. But inasmuch as she saw fit to go abroad +looking so funny, that any one could see she'd be a perfect circus if +she were chased, I didn't feel that it was Leon's fault. If, like the +little busy bee, she had "improved each shining hour," he never would +have done it. Seems to me, she brought the trouble on her own head. + +First, Leon ran at the Shropshire and then jumped aside; but soon it +grew so strong and quick he couldn't manage that, so he put his hat on +a stick and poked it back and forth through a fence crack, and that +made the ram raving mad. At last it would butt the fence until it +would knock itself down, and if he dangled the hat again, get right up +and do it over. Father never caught Leon, so he couldn't understand +what made the sheep so dreadfully cross, because he had thought it was +quite peaceable when he bought it. The first time it got after Polly, +she threw her shawl over its head, pulled up her skirts, and Leon said +she hit just eleven high places crossing an eighty-acre field; she came +to the house crying, and father had to go after her shawl, and mother +gave her a roll of butter and a cherry pie to comfort her. + +The Shropshire never really got Polly, but any one could easily see +what it would do to me if I dared step around that stump, and it was +dancing and panting to begin. If whoever wrote that "Gentle Sheep, +pray tell me why," piece ever had seen a sheep acting like that, it +wouldn't have been in the books; at least I think it wouldn't, but one +can't be sure. He proved that he didn't know much about anything +outdoors or he wouldn't have said that sheep were "eating grass and +daisies white, from the morning till the night," when daisies are +bitter as gall. + +Flop! went the fish, and its tail touched the edge of the hole. Then I +turned around and picked up the pole. I put my sunbonnet over the big +end of it, and poked it at the ram, and drew it back as Leon did his +hat. One more jump and mother's fish would be gone. I stood on the +roots and waved my bonnet. The sheep lowered its head and came at it +with a rush. I drew back the pole, and the sheep's forefeet slid over +the edge, and it braced and began to work to keep from going in. The +fish gave a big flop and went down the hole. Then I turned Crusader +and began to fight, and I didn't care if I were whipped black and blue, +I meant to finish that old black-faced Shropshire. I set the pole on +the back of its neck and pushed with all my might, and I got it in, +too. My, but it made a splash! It wasn't much good at swimming +either, and it had no chance, for I stood on the roots and pushed it +down, and hit it over the nose with all my might, and I didn't care how +far it came on the cars, or how much money it cost, it never would +chase me, and make me lose my fish again. + +I didn't hear him until he splashed under the roots and then I was so +mad I didn't see that it was Laddie; I only knew that it was someone +who was going to help out that miserable ram, so I struck with all my +might, the sheep when I could hit it, if not, the man. + +"You little demon, stop!" cried Laddie. + +I got in a good one right on the ram's nose. Then Laddie dropped the +sheep and twisted the fish pole from my fingers, and I pushed him as +hard as I could, but he was too strong. He lifted the sheep, pulled it +to the bank, and rolled it, worked its jaws, and squeezed water from +it, and worked and worked. + +"I guess you've killed it!" he said at last. + +"Goody!" I shouted. "Goody! Oh but I am glad it's dead!" + +"What on earth has turned you to a fiend?" asked Laddie, beginning work +on the sheep again. + +"That ram!" I said. "Ever since Leon made it cross so it would chase +Polly Martin, it's got me oftener than her. I can't go anywhere for +it, and to-day it made me lose a big fish, and mother is waiting. She +thought maybe she could eat some." + +Then I roared; bet I sounded like Bashan's bull. + +"Dear Lord!" said Laddie dropping the sheep and taking me in his wet +arms. "Tell me, Biddy! Tell me how it is." + +Then I forgot I was a Crusader, and told him all about it as well as I +could for choking, and when I finished he bathed my hot face, and +helped me from the roots. Then he went and looked down the hole I +showed him and he cried out quicklike, and threw himself on the grass, +and in a second up came the fish. Some one had rolled a big stone in +the hole, so the fish was all right, not even dead yet, and Laddie said +it was the biggest one he ever had seen taken from the creek. Then he +said if I'd forgive him and all our family, for spoiling the kind of a +life I had a perfect right to lead, and if I'd run to the house and get +a big bottle from the medicine case quick, he would see to it that some +place was fixed for that sheep where it would never bother me again. +So I took the fish and ran as fast as I could, but I sent May back with +the bottle, and did the scaling myself. No one at our house could do +it better, for Laddie taught me the right way long ago, when I was +small, and I'd done it hundreds of times. + +Then I went to Candace and she put a little bit of butter and a speck +of lard in a skillet, and cooked the fish brown. She made a slice of +toast and boiled a cup of water and carried it to the door; then she +went in and set the table beside the bed, and I took in the tray, and +didn't spill a drop. Mother never said a word; she just reached out +and broke off a tiny speck and nibbled it, and it stayed; she tried a +little bigger piece, and another, and she said: "Take out the bones, +Candace!" She ate every scrap of that fish like the hungriest +traveller who ever came to our door, and the toast, and drank the hot +water. Then she went into a long sleep and all of us walked tiptoe, +and when she waked up she was better, and in a few days she could sit +in her chair again, and she began getting Shelley ready to go to music +school. + +I have to tell you the rest, too. Laddie made the ram come alive, and +father sold it the next day for more than he paid for it. He said he +hoped I'd forgive him for not having seen how it had been bothering me, +and that he never would have had it on the place a day if he'd known. +The next time he went to town he bought me a truly little cane rod, a +real fishing line, several hooks, and a red bobber too lovely to put +into the water. I thought I was a great person from the fuss all of +them made over me, until I noticed Laddie shrug his shoulders, and +reach back and rub one, and then I remembered. + +I went flying, and thank goodness! he held out his arms. + +"Oh Laddie! I never did it!" I cried. "I never, never did! I +couldn't! Laddie, I love you best of any one; you know I do!" + +"Of course you didn't!" said Laddie. "My Little Sister wasn't anywhere +around when that happened. That was a poor little girl I never saw +before, and she was in such trouble she didn't know WHAT she was doing. +And I hope I'll never see her again," he ended, twisting his shoulder. +But he kissed me and made it all right, and really I didn't do that; I +just simply couldn't have struck Laddie. + +Marrying off Sally was little worse than getting Shelley ready for +school. She had to have three suits of everything, and a new dress of +each kind, and three hats; her trunk wouldn't hold all there was to put +in it; and father said he never could pay the bills. He had promised +her to go, and he didn't know what in this world to do; because he +never had borrowed money in his life, and he couldn't begin; for if he +died suddenly, that would leave mother in debt, and they might take the +land from her. That meant he'd spent what he had in the bank on +Sally's wedding, and all that was in the Underground Station, or maybe +the Station money wasn't his. + +Just when he was awfully bothered, mother said to never mind, she +believed she could fix it. She sent all of us into the orchard to pick +the fine apples that didn't keep well, and father made three trips to +town to sell them. She had big jars of lard she wouldn't need before +butchering time came again, and she sold dried apples, peaches, and +raspberries from last year. She got lots of money for barrels of +feathers she'd saved to improve her feather beds and pillows; she said +she would see to that later. Father was so tickled to get the money to +help him out that he said he'd get her a pair of those wonderful new +blue geese like Pryors had, that every one stopped to look at. When +there was not quite enough yet, from somewhere mother brought out money +that she'd saved for a long time, from butter and eggs, and chickens, +and turkeys, and fruit and lard, and things that belonged to her. +Father hated to use it the worst way, but she said she'd saved it for +an emergency, and now seemed to be the time. + +She said if the child really had talent, she should be about developing +it, and while there would be many who would have far finer things than +Shelley, still she meant her to have enough that she wouldn't be the +worst looking one, and so ashamed she couldn't keep her mind on her +work. Father said, with her face it didn't make any difference what +she wore, and mother said that was just like a man; it made all the +difference in the world what a girl wore. Father said maybe it did to +the girl, and other women; what he meant was that it made none to a +man. Mother said the chief aim and end of a girl's life was not +wrapped up in a man; and father said maybe not with some girls, but it +would be with Shelley: she was too pretty to escape. I do wonder if +I'm going to be too pretty to escape, when I put on long dresses. +Sometimes I look in the glass to see if it's coming, but I don't +suppose it's any use. Mother says you can't tell a thing at the +growing age about how a girl is going to look at eighteen. + +When everything was almost ready, Leon came in one day and said: +"Shelley, what about improving your hair? Have you tried your wild +grape sap yet?" + +Shelley said: "Why, goodness me! We've been so busy getting Sally +married, and my clothes made, I forgot all about that. Have you +noticed the crock in passing? Is there anything in it?" + +"It was about half full, once when I went by," said Leon. "I haven't +seen it lately." + +"Do please be a dear and look, when you go after the cows this +evening," said Shelley. "If there's anything in it, bring it up." + + + "Do it yourself for want of me, + The boy replied quite manfully," + +quoted Leon from "The Little Lord and the Farmer." He was always +teasing. + +"I think you're mean as dirt if you don t bring it," said Shelley. + +Leon grinned and you should have heard the nasty, teasing way he said +more of that same piece: + + "Anger and pride are both unwise, + Vinegar never catches flies----" + + +I wondered she didn't slap him. You could see she wanted to. "I can +get it myself," she said angrily. + +"What will you give me to bring it?" asked Leon, who never missed a +chance to make a bargain. + +"My grateful thanks. Are they not a proper reward?" asked Shelley. + +"Thanks your foot!" said Leon. "Will you bring something pretty from +Chicago for Susie Fall's Christmas present?" + +Every one laughed, but Leon never cared. He liked Susie best of any of +the girls, and he wanted every one to know it. He went straight to her +whenever he had a chance, and he'd already told her mother to keep all +the other boys away, because he meant to marry her when he grew up, and +Widow Fall said that was fair enough, and she'd save her for him. So +Shelley said she would get him something for Susie, and Leon brought +the crock. Shelley looked at it sort of dubious-like, tipped it, and +stared at the dirt settled in the bottom, and then stuck in her finger +and tasted it. She looked at Leon with a queer grin and said: "Smarty, +smarty, think you're smart!" She threw the creek water into the swill +bucket. No one said a word, but Leon looked much sillier than she did. +After he was gone I asked her if she would bring him a Christmas +present for Susie NOW, and she said she ought to bring him a pretty +glass bottle labelled perfume, with hartshorn in it, and she would, if +she thought he'd smell it first. + +Shelley felt badly about leaving mother when she wasn't very well; but +mother said it was all right, she had Candace to keep house and May and +me, and father, and all of us to take care of her, and it would be best +for Shelley to go now and work hard as she could, while she had the +chance. So one afternoon father took her trunk to the depot and bought +the tickets and got the checks, and the next day Laddie drove to +Groveville with father and Shelley, and she was gone. Right at the +last, she didn't seem to want to leave so badly, but all of them said +she must. Peter's cousin, who had gone last year, was to meet her, and +have a room ready where she boarded if she could, and if she couldn't +right away, then the first one who left, Shelley was to have the place, +so they'd be together. + +There were eight of us left, counting Candace and Miss Amelia, and you +wouldn't think a house with eight people living in it would be empty, +but ours was. Everything seemed to wilt. The roses on the window +blinds didn't look so bright as they had; mother said the only way she +could get along was to keep right on working. She helped Candace all +she could, but she couldn't be on her feet very much, so she sat all +day long and peeled peaches to dry, showed Candace how to jelly, +preserve, and spice them, and peeled apples for butter and to dry, +quantities more than we could use, but she said she always could sell +such things, and with the bunch of us to educate yet, we'd need the +money. + +When it grew cold enough to shut the doors, and have fire at night, +first thing after supper all of us helped clear the table, then we took +our slates and books and learned our lessons for the next day, and then +father lined us against the wall, all in a row from Laddie down, and he +pronounced words--easy ones that divided into syllables nicely, for me, +harder for May, and so up until I might sit down. For Laddie, May and +Leon he used the geography, the Bible, Roland's history, the Christian +Advocate, and the Agriculturist. My, but he had them so they could +spell! After that, as memory tests, all of us recited our reading +lesson for the next day, especially the poetry pieces. I knew most of +them, from hearing the big folks repeat them so often and practise the +proper way to read them. I could do "Rienzi's Address to the Romans," +"Casablanca," "Gray's Elegy," or "Mark Antony's Speech," but best of +all, I liked "Lines to a Water-fowl." When he was tired, if it were +not bedtime yet, all of us, boys too, sewed rags for carpet and rugs. +Laddie braided corn husks for the kitchen and outside door mats, and +they were pretty, and "very useful too," like the dog that got his head +patted in McGuffey's Second. + +Then they picked the apples. These had to be picked by hand, wrapped +in soft paper, packed in barrels, and shipped to Fort Wayne. Where +they couldn't reach by hand, they stood on barrels or ladders, and used +a long handled picker, so as not to bruise the fruit. Laddie helped +with everything through the day, worked at his books at night, and +whenever he stepped outside he looked in the direction of Pryors'. He +climbed to the topmost limbs of the trees with a big basket, picked it +full and let it down with a long piece of clothesline. I loved to be +in the orchard when they were working; there were plenty of summer +apples to eat yet; it was fun to watch the men, and sometimes I could +be useful by handing baskets or heaping up apples to be buried for us. + +One night father read about a man who had been hanged for killing +another man, and they cut him down too soon, so he came alive, and they +had to hang him over; and father got all worked up about it. He said +the man had suffered death the first time to "all intents and +purposes," so that fulfilled the requirements of the law, and they were +wrong when they hanged him again. Laddie said it was a piece of +bungling sure enough, but the law said a man must be "hanged by his +neck until he was dead," and if he weren't dead, why, it was plain he +hadn't fulfilled the requirements of the law, so they were forced to +hang him again. Father said that law was wrong; the man never should +have been hanged in the first place. They talked and argued until we +were all excited about it, and the next evening after school Leon and I +were helping pick apples, and when father and Laddie went to the barn +with a load we sat down to rest and we thought about what they said. + +"Gee, that was tough on the man!" said Leon, "but I guess the law is +all right. Of course he wouldn't want to die, and twice over at that, +but I don't suppose the man he killed liked to die either. I think if +you take a life, it's all right to give your own to pay for it." + +"Leon," I said, "some time when you are fighting Absalom Saunders or +Lou Wicks, just awful, if you hit them too hard on some tender spot and +kill them, would you want to die to pay for it?" + +"I wouldn't want to, but I guess I'd have to," said Leon. "That's the +law, and it's as good a way to make it as any. But I'm not going to +kill any one. I've studied my physiology hard to find all the spots +that will kill. I never hit them behind the ear, or in the pit of the +stomach; I just black their eyes, bloody their snoots, and swat them on +the chin to finish off with." + +"Well, suppose they don't study their physiologies like you do, and hit +YOU in the wrong place, and kill you, would you want THEM hanged by the +neck until they were dead, to pay for it?" + +"I don't think I'd want anything if I were dead," he said. "I wonder +how it feels to die. Now THAT man knew. I'd like to be hanged enough +to find out how it goes, and then come back, and brag about it. I +don't think it hurts much; I believe I'll try it." + +So Leon took the rope Laddie lowered the baskets with, and threw it +over a big limb. Then he rolled up a barrel and stood on it and put my +sunbonnet on with the crown over his face, for a black cap, and made +the rope into a slip noose over his head, and told me to stand back by +the apple tree and hold the rope tight, until he said he was hanged +enough. Then he stepped from the barrel. It jerked me toward him +about a yard, as he came down smash! on his feet. I held with all my +might, but he was too heavy--and falling that way. So he went to +trying to fix some other plan, and I told him the sensible thing to do +would be for him to hang me, because he'd be strong enough to hold me +and I could tell him how it felt just as well. So we fixed me up like +we had him, and when Leon got the rope stretched, he wrapped it twice +around the apple tree so it wouldn't jerk him as it had me, and when he +said "Ready," I stepped from the barrel. The last thing I heard was +Leon telling me to say when I was hanged enough. I was so heavy, the +rope stretched, and I went down until it almost tore off my head, and I +couldn't get a single breath, so of course I didn't tell him, and I +couldn't get on the barrel, and my tongue went out, and my chest +swelled up, and my ears roared, and I kicked and struggled, and all the +time I could hear Leon laughing, and shouting to keep it up, that I was +dying fine; only he didn't know that I really was, and at last I didn't +feel or know anything more. + +When I came to, I was lying on the grass, while father was pumping my +arms, and Laddie was pouring creek water on my face from his hat, and +Leon was running around in circles, clear crazy. I heard father tell +him he'd give him a scutching he'd remember to the day of his death; +but inasmuch as I had told Leon to do it, I had to grab father and hold +to him tight as I could, until I got breath enough to explain how it +happened. Even then I wasn't sure what he was going to do. + +After all that, when I tried to tell Leon how it felt, he just cried +like a baby, and he wouldn't listen to a word, even when he'd wanted to +know so badly. He said if I hadn't come back, he'd have gone to the +barn and used the swing rope on himself, so it was a good thing I did, +for one funeral would have cost enough, when we needed money so badly, +not to mention how mother would have felt to have two of us go at once, +like she had before. And anyway, it didn't amount to so awful much. +It was pretty bad at first, but it didn't last long, and the next day +my neck was only a little blue and stiff, and in three days it was all +over, only a rough place where the rope grained the skin as I went +down; but I never got to tell Leon how it felt; I just couldn't talk +him into hearing, and it was quite interesting too; but still I easily +saw why the man in the paper would object to dying twice, to pay for +killing another man once. + +When the apples were picked and the cabbage, beets, turnips, and +potatoes were buried, some corn dried in the garret for new meal, +pumpkins put in the cellar, the field corn all husked, and the +butchering done, father said the work was in such fine shape, with +Laddie to help, and there was so much more corn than he needed for us, +and the price was so high, and the turkeys did so well, and everything, +that he could pay back what mother helped him, and have quite a sum +over. + +It was Thanksgiving by that time, and all of Winfield's, Lucy's, Sally +and Peter, and our boys came home. We had a big time, all but Shelley; +it was too expensive for her to come so far for one day, but mother +sent her a box with a whole turkey for herself and her friends; and +cake, popcorn, nuts, and just everything that wasn't too drippy. +Shelley wrote such lovely letters that mother saved them and after we +had eaten as much dinner as we could, she read them before we left the +table. + +I had heard most of them, but I liked to listen again, because they +sounded so happy. You could hear Shelley laugh on every page. She +told about how Peter's cousin was waiting when the train stopped. They +couldn't room together right away, but they were going to the first +chance they had. Shelley felt badly because they were so far apart, +but she was in a nice place, where she could go with other girls of the +school until she learned the way. She told about her room and the +woman she boarded with and what she had to eat; she wrote mother not to +worry about clothes, because most of the others were from the country, +or small towns, and getting ready to teach, and lots of them didn't +have NEARLY as many or as pretty dresses as she did. She told about +the big building, the classes, the professors, and of going to public +recitals where some of the pupils who knew enough played; and she was +working her fingers almost to the bone, so she could next year. She +told of people she met, and how one of the teachers took a number of +girls in his class to see a great picture gallery. She wrote pages +about a young Chicago lawyer she met there, and only a few lines about +the pictures, so father said as that was the best collection of art +work in Chicago, it was easy enough to see that Shelley had been far +more impressed with the man than she had been with the pictures. +Mother said she didn't see how he could say a thing like that about the +child. Of course she couldn't tell in a letter about hundreds of +pictures, but it was easy enough to tell all about a man. + +Father got sort of spunky at that, and he said it was mighty little +that mattered most, that could be told about a Chicago lawyer; and +mother had better caution Shelley to think more about her work, and +write less of the man. Mother said that would stop the child's +confidences completely and she'd think all the time about the man, and +never mention him again, so she wouldn't know what WAS going on. She +said she was glad Shelley had found pleasing, refined friends, and +she'd encourage her all she could in cultivating them; but of course +she'd caution her to be careful, and she'd tell her what the danger +was, and after that Shelley wrote and wrote. Mother didn't always read +the letters to us, but she answered every one she got that same night. +Sometimes she pushed the pen so she jabbed the paper, and often she +smiled or laughed softly. + +I liked Thanksgiving. We always had a house full of company, and they +didn't stay until we were tired of them, as they did at Christmas, and +there was as much to eat; the only difference was that there were no +presents. It wasn't nearly so much work to fix for one day as it was +for a week; so it wasn't so hard on mother and Candace, and father +didn't have to spend much money. We were wearing all our clothes from +last fall that we could, and our coats from last winter to help out, +but we didn't care. We had a lot of fun, and we wanted Sally and +Shelley to have fine dresses, because they were in big cities where +they needed them, and in due season, no doubt, we would have much more +than they, because, as May figured it, there would be only a few of us +by that time, so we could have more to spend. That looked sensible, +and I thought it would be that way, too. We were talking it over +coming from school one evening, and when we had settled it, we began to +play "Dip and Fade." That was a game we made up from being at church, +and fall and spring were the only times we could play it, because then +the rains filled all the ditches beside the road where the dirt was +plowed up to make the bed higher, and we had to have the water to dip +in and fade over. + +We played it like that, because it was as near as we could come to +working out a song Isaac Thomas sang every time he got happy. He had a +lot of children at home, and more who had died, from being half-fed and +frozen, mother thought; and he was always talking about meeting the +"pore innocents" in Heaven, and singing that one song. Every time he +made exactly the same speech in meeting. It began like reciting +poetry, only it didn't rhyme, but it sort of cut off in lines, and +Isaac waved back and forth on his feet, and half sung it, and the rags +waved too, but you just couldn't feel any thrills of earnestness about +what he said, because he needed washing, and to go to work and get him +some clothes and food to fill out his frame. He only looked funny, and +made you want to laugh. It took Emanuel Ripley to raise your hair. I +don't know why men like my father, and the minister, and John Dover +stood it; they talked over asking Isaac to keep quiet numbers of times, +but the minister said there were people like that in every church, they +always came among the Lord's anointed, and it was better to pluck out +your right eye than to offend one of them, and he was doubtful about +doing it. So we children all knew that the grown people scarcely could +stand Isaac's speech, and prayer, and song, and that they were afraid +to tell him plain out that he did more harm than good. Every meeting +about the third man up was Isaac, and we had to watch him wave, and +rant, and go sing-songy: + + "Oh brethering and sistering--ah, + It delights my heart--ah to gather with you, + In this holy house of worship--ah. + In his sacred word--ah, + The Lord--ah tells us, + That we are all his childring--ah. + And now, lemme exhort you to-night--ah, + As one that loves you--ah, + To choose that good part, that Mary chose--ah, + That the worrrr-uld kin neither give ner take away--ah." + +That went on until he was hoarse, then he prayed, and arose and sang +his song. Other men spoke where they stood. Isaac always walked to +the altar, faced the people, and he was tired out when he finished, but +so proud of himself, so happy, and he felt so sure that his efforts +were worth a warm bed, sausage, pancakes, maple syrup, and coffee for +breakfast, that it was mighty seldom he failed to fool some one else +into thinking so too, and if he could, he wouldn't have to walk four +miles home on cold nights, with no overcoat. In summer, mostly, they +let him go. Isaac always was fattest in winter, especially during +revivals, but at any time mother said he looked like a sheep's carcass +after the buzzards had picked it. It could be seen that he was +perfectly strong, and could have fed and clothed himself, and Mandy and +the children, quite as well as our father did us, if he had wanted to +work, for we had the biggest family of the neighbourhood. So we +children made fun of him and we had to hold our mouths shut when he got +up all tired and teary-like, and began to quaver: + + "Many dear childurn we know dew stan' + Un toon ther harps in the better lan', + Ther little hans frum each soundin' string, + Bring music sweet, wile the Anguls sing, + Bring music sweet, wile the Anguls sing,-- + + We shell meet them agin on that shore, + We shell meet them agin on that shore, + With fairer face, un angel grace, + Each loved un ull welcome us ther. + + "They uster mourn when the childurn died, + Un said goo-bye at the river side, + They dipped ther feet in the glidin' stream, + Un faded away, like a loveli dream, + Un faded away like a loveli dream." + + +Then the chorus again, and then Isaac dropped on the front seat +exhausted, and stayed there until some good-hearted woman, mostly my +mother, felt so sorry about his shiftlessness she asked him to go home +with us and warmed and fed him, and put him in the traveller's bed to +sleep. The way we played it was this: we stood together at the edge of +a roadside puddle and sang the first verse and the chorus exactly as +Isaac did. Then I sang the second verse, and May was one of the "many +dear childurn," and as I came to the lines she dipped her feet in the +"glidin' stream," and for "fading away," she jumped across. + +Now May was a careful little soul, and always watched what she was +doing, so she walked up a short way, chose a good place, and when I +sang the line, she was almost birdlike, she dipped and faded so +gracefully. Then we laughed like dunces, and then May began to sway +and swing, and drone through her nose for me, and I was so excited I +never looked. I just dipped and faded on the spot. I faded all right +too, for I couldn't jump nearly across, and when I landed in pure clay +that had been covered with water for three weeks, I went down to my +knees in mud, to my waist in water, and lost my balance and fell +backward. + +A man passing on horseback pried me out with a rail and helped me home. +Of course he didn't know how I happened to fall in, and I was too +chilled to talk. I noticed May only said I fell, so I went to bed +scorched inside with red pepper tea, and never told a word about +dipping and fading. Leon whispered and said he bet it was the last +time I would play that, so as soon as my coat and dress were washed and +dried, and I could go back to school, I did it again, just to show him +I was no cowardy-calf; but I had learned from May to choose a puddle I +could manage before I faded. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"Even So" + + "All things whatsoever ye would + That men should do to you, + Do ye even so to them." + + +Our big girls and boys always made a dreadful fuss and said we would +catch every disease you could mention, but mother and father were set +about it, just like the big rocks in the hills. They said they, +themselves, once had been at the mercy of the people, and they knew how +it felt. Mother said when they were coming here in a wagon, and she +had ridden until she had to walk to rest her feet, and held a big baby +until her arms became so tired she drove while father took it, and when +at last they saw a house and stopped, she said if the woman hadn't +invited her in, and let her cook on the stove, given her milk and eggs, +and furnished her a bed to sleep in once in a while, she couldn't have +reached here at all; and she never had been refused once. Then she +always quoted: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to +you, do ye EVEN SO to them." + +Father said there were men who made a business of splitting hairs, and +of finding different meanings in almost everything in the Bible. I +would like to have seen any one split hairs about that, or it made to +mean something else. Of all the things in the Bible that you had to do +because it said to, whether you liked it or not, that was the one you +struck oftenest in life and it took the hardest pull to obey. It was +just the hatefulest text of any, and made you squirm most. There was +no possible way to get around it. It meant, that if you liked a +splinter new slate, and a sharp pencil all covered with gold paper, to +make pictures and write your lessons, when Clarissa Polk sat next you +and sang so low the teacher couldn't hear until she put herself to +sleep on it, "I WISHT I had a slate! I wisht I HAD a slate! I wisht I +had a SLATE! Oh I WISHT I HAD A SLATE!"--it meant that you just had to +wash up yours and stop making pictures yourself, and pass it over; you +even had to smile when you offered it, if you did it right. I seldom +got through it as the Lord would, for any one who loaned Clarissa a +slate knew that it would come back with greasy, sweaty finger marks on +it you almost had to dig a hole to wash off, and your pencil would be +wet. And if there were the least flaw of crystal in the pencil, she +found it, and bore down so hard that what she wrote never would come +off. + +The Lord always seemed bigger and more majestic to me, than at any +other time, when I remembered that He could have known all that, and +yet smiled as He loaned Clarissa His slate. And that old Bible thing +meant, too, that if you would like it if you were travelling a long +way, say to California to hunt gold, or even just to Indiana, to find a +farm fit to live on--it meant that if you were tired, hungry, and sore, +and would want to be taken in and fed and rested, you had to let in +other people when they reached your house. Father and mother had been +through it themselves, and they must have been tired as could be, +before they reached Sarah Hood's and she took them in, and rested and +fed them, even when they were only a short way from the top of the +Little Hill, where next morning they looked down and stopped the wagon, +until they chose the place to build their house. Sarah Hood came +along, and helped mother all day, so by night she was settled in the +old cabin that was on the land, and ready to go to work making money to +build a new one, and then a big house, and fix the farm all beautiful +like it was then. They knew so well how it felt, that they kept one +bed in the boys' room, and any man who came at dusk got his supper, to +sleep there, and his breakfast, and there never was anything to pay. +The girls always scolded dreadfully about the extra washing, but mother +said she slept on sheets when she came out, and some one washed them. + +One time Sally said: "Mother, have you ever figured out how many +hundred sheets you've washed since, to pay for that?" + +Mother said: "No, but I just hope it will make a stack high enough for +me to climb from into Heaven." + +Sally said: "The talk at the church always led me to think that you +flew to Heaven." + +Mother answered: "So I get there, I don't mind if I creep." + +Then Sally knew it was time to stop. We always knew. And we stopped, +too! + +We had heard that "All things" quotation, until the first two words +were as much as mother ever needed repeat of it any more, and we had +cooked, washed for, and waited on people travelling, until Leon got so +when he saw any one coming--of course we knew all the neighbours, and +their horses and wagons and carriages--he always said: "Here comes +another 'Even So!'" He said we had done "even so" to people until it +was about our share, but mother said our share was going to last until +the Lord said, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and took us +home. She had much more about the stranger at the gate and +entertaining angels unawares; why, she knew every single thing in the +Bible that meant it was her duty to feed and give a bed to any one, no +matter how dirty or miserable looking he was! So when Leon came in one +evening at dusk and said, "There's another 'Even So' coming down the +Little Hill!" all of us knew that we'd have company for the night, and +we had. + +I didn't like that man, but some of the others seemed to find him +amusing. Maybe it was because I had nothing to do but sit and watch +him, and so I saw more of him than the ones who came and went all the +time. As long as there was any one in the room, he complained +dreadfully about his sore foot, and then cheered up and talked, and he +could tell interesting things. He was young, but he must have been +most everywhere and seen everything. He was very brave and could stand +off three men who were going to take from him the money he was carrying +to buy a piece of land in Illinois. The minute the grown folks left +the room to milk, do the night feeding, and begin supper, he twisted in +his chair and looked at every door, and went and stood at the back +dining-room window, where he could see the barn and what was out there, +and coming back he took a peep into father's and mother's room, and +although he limped dreadfully when he came, he walked like any one when +he went over and picked up father's gun and looked to see if it were +loaded, and seemed mighty glad when he found it wasn't. Father said he +could load in a flash when it was necessary, but he was dubious about a +loaded gun in a house full of children. Not one of us ever touched it, +until the boys were big enough to have permission, like Laddie and Leon +had. He said a gun was such a great "moral persuader," that the sight +of one was mostly all that was needed, and nobody could tell by looking +at it whether it was loaded or not. This man could, for he examined +the lock and smiled in a pleased way over it, and he never limped a +step going back to his chair. He kept on complaining, until father +told him before bedtime that he had better rest a day or two, and +mother said that would be a good idea. + +He talked so much we couldn't do our lessons or spell very well, but it +was Friday and we'd have another chance Saturday, so it didn't make so +much difference. Father said the traveller must be tired and sleepy +and Leon should take a light and show him to bed. He stayed so long +father went to the foot of the stairway, and asked him why he didn't +come down and he said he was in bed too. The next morning he was +sleepy at breakfast and Laddie said it was no wonder, because Leon and +the traveller were talking when he went upstairs. The man turned to +father and said: "That's a mighty smart boy, Mr. Stanton." Father +frowned and said: "Praise to the face is open disgrace. I hope he +will be smart enough not to disgrace us, anyway." + +The traveller said he was sure he would be, and we could see that he +had taken a liking to Leon, for he went with him to the barn to help do +the morning feeding. They stayed so long mother sent me to call them, +and when I got there, the man was telling Leon how foolish it was for +boys to live on a farm; how they never would amount to anything unless +they went to cities, and about all the fun there was there, and how +nice it was to travel, even along the roads, because every one fed you, +and gave you a good bed. He forgot that walking had made his foot +lame, and I couldn't see, to save me, why he was going to spend his +money to buy a farm, if he thought a town the only place where it was +fit to live. + +He stayed all Saturday, and father said Sunday was no suitable time to +start on a journey again, and the man's foot was bad when father was +around, so it would be better to wait until Monday. The traveller +tagged Leon and told him what a fine fellow he was, how smart he was, +and to prove it, Leon boasted about everything he knew, and showed the +man all over the farm. + +I even saw them pass the Station in the orchard, and heard Leon brag +how father had been an agent for the Governor; but of course he didn't +really show him the place, and probably it would have made no +difference if he had, for all the money must have been spent on Sally's +wedding. Of course father might have put some there he had got since, +or that money might never have been his at all, but it seemed as if it +would be, because it was on his land. + +Sunday evening all of us attended church, but the traveller was too +tired, so when Leon said he'd stay with him, father thought it was all +right. I could see no one wanted to leave the man alone in the house. +He said they'd go to bed early, and we came in quite late. The lamp +was turned low, the door unlocked, and everything in place. Laddie +went to bed without a candle, and said he'd undress and slip in easy so +as not to waken them. + +In the morning when he got up the traveller's bed hadn't been slept in, +and neither had Leon's. The gun was gone, and father stared at mother, +and mother stared at Laddie, and he turned and ran straight toward the +Station, and in a minute he was back, whiter than a plate. He just +said: "All gone!" Father and mother both sat down suddenly and hard. +Then Laddie ran to the barn and came back and said none of the horses +had been taken. Soon they went into the parlour and shut the door, and +when they came out father staggered and mother looked exactly like +Sabethany. Laddie ran to the barn, saddled Flos and rode away. Father +wanted to ring an alarm on the dinner bell, like he had a call arranged +to get all the neighbours there quickly if we had sickness or trouble, +and mother said: "Paul, you shall not! He's so young! We've got to +keep this as long as we can, and maybe the Lord will help us find him, +and we can give him another chance." + +Father started to say something, and mother held up her hand and just +said, "Paul!" and he sank back in the chair and kept still. Mother +always had spoken of him as "the Head of the Family," and here he +wasn't at all! He minded her quickly as I would. + +When Miss Amelia came downstairs they let her start to school and never +told her a word, but mother said May and I were not to go. So I +slipped out and ran through the orchard to look at the Station, and +sure enough! the stone was rolled back, the door open and the can lying +on the floor. I slid down and picked it up, and there was one sheet of +paper money left in it stuck to the sides. It was all plain as a +pikestaff. Leon must have thought the money had been spent, and showed +the traveller the Station, just to brag, and he guessed there might be +something there, and had gone while we were at church and taken it. He +had all night the start of us, and he might have a horse waiting +somewhere, and be almost to Illinois by this time, and if the money +belonged to father, there would be no Christmas; and if it happened to +be the money the county gave him to pay the men who worked the roads +every fall, and Miss Amelia, or collections from the church, he'd have +to pay it back, even if it put him in debt; and if he died, they might +take the land, like he said; and where on earth was Leon? Knew what +he'd done and hiding, I bet! He needed the thrashing he would get that +time, and I started out to hunt him and have it over with, so mother +wouldn't be uneasy about him yet; and then I remembered Laddie had said +Leon hadn't been in bed all night. He was gone too! + +Maybe he wanted to try life in a city, where the traveller had said +everything was so grand; but he must have known that he'd kill his +mother if he went, and while he didn't kiss her so often, and talk so +much as some of us, I never could see that he didn't run quite as fast +to get her a chair or save her a step. He was so slim and light he +could race for the doctor faster than Laddie or father, either one. Of +course he loved his mother, just as all of us did; he never, never +could go away and not let her know about it. If he had gone, that +watchful-eyed man, who was lame only part of the time, had taken the +gun and made him go. I thought I might as well save the money he'd +overlooked, so I gripped it tight in my hand, and put it in my apron +pocket, the same as I had Laddie's note to the Princess, and started to +the barn, on the chance that Leon might be hiding. I knew precious +well I would, if I were in his place. So I hunted the granaries, the +haymow, the stalls, then I stood on the threshing floor and cried: +"Leon! If you're hiding come quick! Mother will be sick with worrying +and father will be so glad to see you, he won't do anything much. Do +please hurry!" + +Then I listened, and all I could hear was a rat gnawing at a corner of +the granary under the hay. Might as well have saved its teeth, it +would strike a strip of tin when it got through, but of course it +couldn't know that. Then I went to every hole around the haystack, +where the cattle had eaten; none were deep yet, like they would be +later in the season, and all the way I begged of Leon to come out. +Once a rooster screamed, flew in my face and scared me good, but no +Leon; so I tried the corn crib, the implement shed, and the wood house, +climbing the ladder with the money still gripped in one hand. Then I +slipped in the front door, up the stairs, and searched the garret, even +away back where I didn't like to very well. At last I went to the +dining-room, and I don't think either father or mother had moved, while +Sabethany turned to stone looked good compared with them. Seemed as if +it would have been better if they'd cried, or scolded, or anything but +just sit there as they did, when you could see by their moving once in +a while that they were alive. In the kitchen Candace and May finished +the morning work, and both of them cried steadily. I slipped to May, +"Whose money was it?" I whispered. "Father's, or the county's, or the +church's?" + +"All three," said May. + +"The traveller took it." + +"How would he find it? None of us knew there was such a place before." + +"Laddie seemed to know!" + +"Oh Laddie! Father trusts him about everything." + +"They don't think HE told?" + +"Of course not, silly. It's Leon who is gone!" + +"Leon may have told about the Station!" I cried. "He didn't touch the +money. He never touched it!" + +Then I went straight to father. Keeping a secret was one thing; seeing +the only father you had look like that, was another. I held out the +money. + +"There's one piece old Even So didn't get, anyway," I said. "Found it +on the floor of the Station, where it was stuck to the can. And I +thought Leon must be hiding for fear he'd be whipped for telling, but +I've hunted where we usually hide, and promised him everything under +the sun if he'd come out; but he didn't, so I guess that traveller man +must have used the gun to make him go along." + +Father sat and stared at me. He never offered to touch the money, not +even when I held it against his hand. So I saw that money wasn't the +trouble, else he'd have looked quick enough to see how much I had. +They were thinking about Leon being gone, at least father was. Mother +called me to her and asked: "You knew about the Station?" + +I nodded. + +"When?" + +"On the way back from taking Amanda Deam her ducks this summer." + +"Leon was with you?" + +"He found it." + +"What were you doing?" + +"Sitting on the fence eating apples. We were wondering why that ravine +place wasn't cleaned up, when everywhere else was, and then Leon said +there might be a reason. He told about having seen a black man, and +that he was hidden some place, and we hunted there and found it. We +rolled back the stone, and opened the door, and Leon went in, and both +of us saw a can full of money." + +"Go on." + +"We didn't touch it, mother! Truly we didn't! Leon said we'd found +something not intended for children, and we'd be whipped sick if we +ever went near or told, and we never did, not even once, unless Leon +wanted to boast to the traveller man, but if he showed him the place, +he thought sure the money had all been spent on the wedding and sending +Shelley away." + +Father's arms shot out, and his head pitched on the table. Mother got +up and began to walk the floor, and never went near or even touched +him. I couldn't bear it. I went and pulled his arm and put the bill +under his hand. + +"Leon didn't take your money! He didn't! He didn't! I just know he +didn't! He does tricks because they are so funny, or he thinks they'll +be, but he doesn't steal! He doesn't touch a single thing that is not +his, only melons, or chicken out of the skillet, or bread from the +cellar; but not money and things. I take gizzards and bread myself, +but I don't steal, and Leon or none of us do! Oh father, we don't! +Not one of us do! Don't you remember about 'Thou shalt not,' and the +Crusaders? Leon's the best fighter of any of us. I'm not sure that he +couldn't even whip Laddie, if he got mad enough! Maybe he can't whip +the traveller if he has the gun, but, father, Leon simply couldn't take +the money. Laddie will stay home and work, and all of us. We can help +get it back. We can sell a lot of things. Laddie will sell Flos +before he'll see you suffer so; and all of us will give up Christmas, +and we'll work! We'll work as hard as ever we can, and maybe you could +spare the little piece Joe Risdell wants to build his cabin on. We can +manage about the money, father, indeed we can. But you don't dare +think Leon took it! He never did! Why, he's yours! Yours and +mother's!" + +Father lifted his head and reached out his arms. + +"You blessing!" he said. "You blessing from the Lord!" + +Then he gave me a cold, stiff kiss on the forehead, went to mother, +took her arm, and said: "Come, mommy, let's go and tell the Lord about +it, and then we'll try to make some plan. Perhaps Laddie will be back +with word soon." + +But he almost had to carry her. Then we could hear him praying, and he +was so anxious, and he made it so earnest it sounded exactly like the +Lord was in our room and father was talking right to His face. I tried +to think, and this is what I thought: as father left the room, he +looked exactly as I had seen Mr. Pryor more than once, and my mother +had both hands gripped over her heart, and she said we must not let any +one know. Now if something could happen to us to make my father look +like the Princess' and my mother hold her heart with both hands, and if +no one were to know about it like they had said, how were we any +different from Pryors? We might be of the Lord's anointed, but we +could get into the same kind of trouble the infidels could, and have +secrets ourselves, or at least it seemed as if it might be very nearly +the same, when it made father and mother look and act the way they did. +I wondered if we'd have to leave our lovely, lovely home, cross a sea +and be strangers in a strange land, as Laddie said; and if people would +talk about us, and make us feel that being a stranger was the +loneliest, hardest thing in all the world. Well, if mysteries are like +this, and we have to live with one days and years, the Lord have mercy +on us! Then I saw the money lying on the table, so I took it and put +it in the Bible. Then I went out and climbed the catalpa tree to watch +for Laddie. + +Soon I saw a funny thing, such as I never before had seen. Coming +across the fields, straight toward our house, sailing over the fences +like a bird, came the Princess on one of her horses. Its legs +stretched out so far its body almost touched the ground, and it lifted +up and swept over the rails. She took our meadow fence lengthwiselike, +and at the hitching rack she threw the bridle over the post, +dismounted, and then I saw she had been riding astride, like a man. I +ran before her and opened the sitting-room door, but no one was there, +so I went on to the dining-room. Father had come in, and mother was +sitting in her chair. Both of them looked at the Princess and never +said a word. + +She stopped inside the dining-room door and spoke breathlessly, as if +she as well as the horse had raced. + +"I hope I'm not intruding," she said, "but a man north of us told our +Thomas in the village that robbers had taken quite a large sum of +hidden money you held for the county, and church, and of your own, and +your gun, and got away while you were at church last night. Is it +true?" + +"Practically," said my father. + +Then my mother motioned toward a chair. + +"You are kind to come," she said. "Won't you be seated?" + +The Princess stepped to the chair, but she gripped the back in both +hands and stood straight, breathing fast, her eyes shining with +excitement, her lips and cheeks red, so lovely you just had to look, +and look. + +"No," she said. "I'll tell you why I came, and then if there is +nothing I can do here, and no errand I can ride for you, I'll go. +Mother has heart trouble, the worst in all the world, the kind no +doctor can ever hope to cure, and sometimes, mostly at night, she is +driven to have outside air. Last night she was unusually ill, and I +heard her leave the house, after I'd gone to my room. I watched from +my window and saw her take a seat on a bench under the nearest tree. I +was moving around and often I looked to see if she were still there. +Then the dogs began to rave, and I hurried down. They used to run +free, but lately, on account of her going out, father has been forced +to tie them at night. They were straining at their chains, and barking +dreadfully. I met her at the door, but she would only say some one +passed and gave her a fright. When Thomas came in and told what he had +heard, she said instantly that she had seen the man. + +"She said he was about the size of Thomas, that he came from your +direction, that he ran when our dogs barked, but he kept beside the +fences, and climbed over where there were trees. He crossed our +barnyard and went toward the northwest. Mother saw him distinctly as +he reached the road, and she said he was not a large man, he stooped +when he ran, and she thought he moved like a slinking, city thief. She +is sure he's the man who took your money; she says he acted exactly as +if he were trying to escape pursuit; but I was to be SURE to tell you +that he didn't carry a gun. If your gun is gone, there must have been +two, and the other man took that and went a different way. Did two men +stop here?" + +"No," said father. "Only one." + +The Princess looked at him thoughtfully. + +"Do you think, Mr. Stanton," she said, "that the man who took the money +would burden himself with a gun? Isn't a rifle heavy for one in flight +to carry?" + +"It is," said father. "Your mother saw nothing of two men?" + +"Only one, and she knows he didn't carry a gun. Except the man you +took in, no stranger has been noticed around here lately?" + +"No one. We are quite careful. Even the gun was not loaded as it +stood; whoever took it carried the ammunition also, but he couldn't +fire until he loaded." + +Father turned to the corner where the gun always stood and then he +stooped and picked up two little white squares from the floor. + +They were bits of unbleached muslin in which he wrapped the bullets he +made. + +"The rifle was loaded before starting, and in a hurry," he said, as he +held up the squares of muslin. Then he scratched a match, bent, and +ran it back and forth over the floor, and at one place there was a +flash, and the flame went around in funny little fizzes as it caught a +grain of powder here and there. "You see the measure was overrun." + +"Wouldn't the man naturally think the gun was loaded, and take it as it +stood?" + +"That would be a reasonable conclusion," said father. + +"But he looked!" I cried. "That first night when you and the boys went +to the barn, and the girls were getting supper, he looked at the gun, +and he LIKED it when he saw it wasn't loaded. He smiled. And he +didn't limp a mite when I was the only one in the room. He and Leon +knew it wasn't loaded, and I guess he didn't load it, for he liked +having it empty so well." + +"Ummmm!" said father. "What it would save in this world if a child +only knew when to talk and when to keep still. Little Sister, the next +time you see a stranger examine my gun when I'm not in the room, +suppose you take father out alone and whisper to him about it." + +"Yes, sir," I said. + +The way I wished I had told that at the right time made me dizzy, but +then there were several good switchings I'd had for telling things, +besides what Sally did to me about her and Peter. I would have enjoyed +knowing how one could be sure. Hereafter, it will be all right about +the gun, anyway. + +"Could I take my horse and carry a message anywhere for you? Are both +your sons riding to tell the neighbours?" + +Father hesitated, but it seemed as if he stopped to think, so I just +told her: "Laddie is riding. Leon didn't take a horse." + +Father said there was nothing she could do, so she took my hand and we +started for the gate. + +"I do hope they will find him, and get back the money, and give him +what he deserves!" she cried. + +"Yes, father and mother are praying that they'll find him," I said. +"It doesn't seem to make the least difference to them about the money. +Father didn't even look at a big paper piece I found where it was +hidden. But they are anxious about the man. Mother says he is so +young, we just must find him, and keep this a secret, and give him +another chance. You won't tell, will you?" + +The Princess stood still on our walk, and then of all things! if she +didn't begin to go Sabethany-like. The colour left her cheeks and lips +and she shivered and shook and never said one word. I caught her arm. +"Say, what ails you?" I cried. "You haven't gone and got heart trouble +too, have you?" + +She stood there trembling, and then, wheeling suddenly, ran back into +the house, and went to my mother. On her knees, the Princess buried +her face in mother's breast and said: "Oh Mrs. Stanton! Oh, if I only +could help you!" + +She began to cry as if something inside her had broken, and she'd shake +to pieces. + +Mother stared above her head at father, with her eyebrows raised high, +and he waved his hand toward me. Mother turned to me, but already she +had put her arms around the Princess, and was trying to hold her +together. + +"What did you tell her that made her come back?" she asked sternlike. + +"You forgot to explain that the man was so young, and you wanted to +keep it a secret and give him another chance," I said. "I just asked +her not to tell." + +Mother looked at father and all the colour went from her face, and she +began to shake. He stared at her, then he opened her door and lifted +the Princess with one arm, and mother with the other, and helped them +into mother's room, stepped back and closed the door. After a while it +opened and they came out together, with both mother's arms around the +Princess, and she had cried until she staggered. Mother lifted her +face and kissed her, when they reached the door and said: "Tell your +mother I understand enough to sympathize. Carry her my love. I do +wish she would give herself the comfort of asking God to help her." + +"She does! Oh, I'm sure she does!" said the Princess. "It's father +who has lost all judgment and reason." + +Father went with her to the gate, and this time she needed help to +mount her horse, and she left it to choose its way and go where it +pleased on the road. When father came in he looked at mother, and she +said: "I haven't the details, but she understands too well. The Pryor +mystery isn't much of a mystery any more. God help their poor souls, +and save us from suffering like that!" + +She said so little and meant so much, I couldn't figure out exactly +what she did mean, but father seemed to understand. + +"I've often wondered," he said, but he didn't say what he wondered, and +he hurried to the barn and saddled our best horse and came in and began +getting ready to ride, and we knew he would go northwest. I went back +to the catalpa tree and wondered myself; but it was too much for me to +straighten out: just why my mother wanting to give the traveller man +another chance would make the Princess feel like that. If she had +known my mother as I did, she'd have known that she ALWAYS wanted to +give every man a second chance, no matter whether he was young or old. + +Then I saw Laddie coming down the Big Hill beside the church, but he +was riding so fast I thought he wouldn't want to bother with me, so I +slid from the tree, and ran to tell mother. She went to the door and +watched as he rode up, but you could see by his face he had not heard +of them. + +"Nothing, but I have some men out. I am going east now," he said. "I +wish, father, you would rub Flos down, blanket her, and if you can, +walk her slowly an hour while she cools off. I am afraid I've ruined +her. How much had you there?" + +"I haven't stopped to figure," said father. "I think I'd better take +the horse I have ready and go on one of the northwest roads. The Pryor +girl was here a few moments ago, and her mother saw a man cross their +place about the right time last evening. He ran and acted suspiciously +when the dogs barked. But he was alone and he didn't have a gun." + +"Was she sure?" + +"Positive." + +"Then it couldn't have been our man, but I'll ride in that direction +and start a search. They would keep to the woods, I think! You'd +better stay with mother. I'll ask Jacob Hood to take your place." + +So Laddie rode away again without even going into the house, and mother +said to father: "What can he be saying to people, that the neighbours +don't come?" + +Father answered: "I don't know, but if any one can save the situation, +Laddie will." + +Mother went to bed, while father sat beside her reading aloud little +scraps from the Bible, and they took turns praying. From the way they +talked to the Lord, you could plainly see that they were reminding Him +of all the promises He had made to take care of people, comfort those +in trouble, and heal the broken-hearted. + +One thing was so curious, I asked May if she noticed, and she had. +When they had made such a fuss about money only a short while before, +and worked so hard to get our share together, and when they would have +to pay back all that belonged to the county and church, neither of them +ever even mentioned money then. Every minute I expected father to ask +where I'd put the piece I found, and when he opened right at it, in the +Bible, he turned on past, exactly as if it were an obituary, or a piece +of Sally's wedding dress, or baby hair from some of our heads. He went +on hunting places where the Lord said sure and strong that He'd help +people who loved Him. When either of them prayed, they asked the Lord +to help those near them who were in trouble, as often and earnestly as +they begged Him to help them. There were no people near us who were in +trouble that we knew of, excepting Pryors. Hard as father and mother +worked, you'd have thought the Lord wouldn't have minded if they asked +only once to get the money back, or if they forgot the neighbours, but +they did neither one. + +May said because they were big like that was why all of us loved them +so. + +I would almost freeze in the catalpa, but as I could see far in all +directions there, I went back, and watched the roads, and when I +remembered what Laddie had said, I kept an eye on the fields too. At +almost dusk, and frozen so stiff I could scarcely hang to the limb, I +heard the bulldogs at Pryors' begin to rave. They kept on steadily, +and I thought Gypsies must be passing. Then from the woods came a +queer party that started across the cornfield toward the Big Meadow in +front of the house, and I thought they were hunters. I stood in the +tree and watched until they climbed the meadow fence, and by that time +I could see plainly. + +The traveller man got over first, then Leon and the dogs, and then Mr. +Pryor handed Leon the gun, leaped over, and took it. I looked again, +and then fell from the tree and almost bursted. As soon as I could get +up, and breathe, I ran to the front door, screaming: "Father! Father! +Come open the Big Gate. Leon's got him, but he's so tired Mr. Pryor is +carrying the gun, and helping him walk!" + +Just like one, all of us ran; father crossed the road, and opened the +gate. The traveller man wouldn't look up, he just slouched along. But +Leon's chin was up and his head high. He was scratched, torn, and +dirty. He was wheezing every breath most from his knees, and Mr. Pryor +half carried him and the gun. When they met us, Leon reached in his +trousers pocket and drew out a big roll of money that he held toward +father. "My fault!" he gasped. "But I got it back for you." + +Then he fell over and father caught him in his arms and carried him +into the house, and laid him on the couch in the dining-room. + +Mr. Pryor got down and gathered up the money from the road. He +followed into the house and set the gun in the corner. + +"Don't be frightened," he said to mother. "The boy has walked all +night, and all day, with no sleep or food, and the gun was a heavy load +for him. I gathered from what he said, when the dogs let us know they +were coming, that this hound took your money. Your dog barked and +awakened the boy and he loaded the gun and followed. The fellow had a +good start and he didn't get him until near daybreak. It's been a +stiff pull for the youngster and he seems to feel it was his fault that +this cowardly cur you sheltered learned where you kept your money. If +that is true, I hope you won't be hard on him!" + +Father was unfastening Leon's neckband, mother was rubbing his hands, +Candace was taking off his shoes, and May was spilling water father had +called for, all over the carpet, she shook so. When Leon drew a deep +breath and his head rolled on the pillow, father looked at Mr. Pryor. +I don't think he heard all of it, but he caught the last words. + +"'Hard on him! Hard on him!'" he said, the tears rolling down his +cheeks. "'This my son, who was lost, is found!'" + +"Oh!" shouted Mr. Pryor, slamming the money on the table. "Poor drivel +to fit the circumstances. If I stood in your boots, sir, I would rise +up in the mighty strength of my pride and pull out foundation stones +until I shook the nation! I never envied mortal man as I envy you +to-day!" + +Candace cried out: "Oh look, his poor feet! They are blistered and +bleeding!" + +Mother moved down a little, gathered them in her arms, and began +kissing them. Father wet Leon's lips and arose. He held out his hand, +and Mr. Pryor took it. + +"I will pray God," he said, "that it may happen 'even so' to you." + +Leon opened his eyes and caught only the last words. + +"You had better look out for the 'Even So's,' father," he said. + +And father had to laugh, but Mr. Pryor went out, and slammed the door, +until I looked to see if it had cracked from top to bottom; but we +didn't care if it had, we were so happy over having Leon back. + +I went and picked up the money and carried it to father to put away, +and that time he took it. But even then he didn't stop to see if he +had all of it. + +"You see!" I said, "I told you----" + +"You did indeed!" said father. "And you almost saved our reason. +There are times when things we have come to feel we can't live without, +so press us, that money seems of the greatest importance. This is our +lesson. Hereafter, I and all my family, who have been through this, +will know that money is not even worth thinking about when the life and +honour of one you love hangs in the balance. When he can understand, +your brother shall know of the wondrous faith his Little Sister had in +him." + +"Maybe he won't like what you and mother thought. Maybe we better not +tell him. I can keep secrets real well. I have several big ones I've +never told, and I didn't say a word about the Station when Leon said I +shouldn't." + +"After this there will be no money kept on the place," said father. +"It's saving time at too great cost. All we have goes into the bank, +and some of us will cheerfully ride for what we want, when we need it. +As for not telling Leon, that is as your mother decides. For myself, I +believe I'd feel better to make a clean breast of it." + +Mother heard, for she sobbed as she bathed Leon's feet, and when his +eyes came open so they'd stay a little while, he kept looking at her so +funny, between sips of hot milk. + +"Don't CRY, mammy!" he said. "I'M all right. Sorry such a rumpus! +Let him fool me. Be smart as the next fellow, after this! Know how +glad you are to get the money!" + +Mother sat back on her heels and roared as I do when I step in a +bumblebee's nest, and they get me. Leon was growing better every +minute, and he stared at her, and then his dealish, funny old grin +began to twist his lips and he cried: "Oh golly! You thought _I_ +helped take it and went with him, didn't you?" + +"Oh my son, my son!" wailed mother until she made me think of Absalom +under the oak. + +"Well, I be ding-busted!" said Leon, sort of slow and wondering-like, +and father never opened his head to tell him that was no way to talk. + +Mother cried more than ever, and between sobs she tried to explain that +I heard what the traveller man had said about how bad it was to live in +the country; and how Leon was now at an age where she'd known boys to +get wrong ideas, and how things looked, and in the middle of it he +raised on his elbow and took her in his arms and said: "Well of all +the geese! And I 'spose father was in it too! But since it's the +first time, and since it is you----! Go to bed now, and let me +sleep---- But see that you don't ever let this happen again." + +Then he kissed her over and over and clung to her tight and at last +dropped back and groaned: + + "My reputation, O my reputation! + I've lost my reputation!" + + +She had to laugh while the tears were still running, and father and +Laddie looked at each other and shouted. I guess they thought Leon was +about right after that. Laddie went and bent over him and took his +hand. + +"Don't be in quite such a hurry, old man," he said. "Before you wink +out I have got to tell you how proud I am of having a brother who is a +real Crusader. The Lord knows this took nerve! You're great, boy, +simply great!" + +Leon grabbed Laddie's hand with both of his and held tight and laughed. +You could see the big tears squeeze out, although he fought to wink +them back. He held to Laddie and said low-like, only for him to hear: +"It's all right if you stay by a while, old man." + +He began to talk slowly. + +"It was a long time before I caught up, and then I had to hide, and +follow until day, and he wasn't so very easy to handle. Once I thought +he had me sure! It was an awful load, but if it hadn't been for the +good old gun, I'd never have got him. When we mixed up, I had fine +luck getting that chin punch on him; good thing I worked it out so +slick on Absalom Saunders, and while old Even So was groggy I got the +money away from him, took the gun, and stood back some distance, before +he came out of it. Once we had it settled who walked ahead, and who +carried the money and gun, we got along better, but I had to keep an +eye on him every minute. To come through the woods was the shortest, +but I'm tired out, and so is he. Getting close I most felt sorry for +him, he was so forlorn, and so scared about what would be done to him. +He stopped and pulled out another roll, and offered me all of it, if +I'd let him go. I didn't know whether it was really his, or part of +father's, so I told him he could just drop it until I found out. Made +him sweat blood, but I had the gun, and he had to mind. I was master +then. So there may be more in the roll I gave father than Even So +took. Father can figure up and keep what belongs to him. Even So had +gone away past Flannigans' before I tackled him, and I was sleepy, +cold, and hungry; you'd have thought there'd have been a man out +hunting, or passing on the road, but not a soul did we see 'til +Pryors'! Say, the old man was bully! He helped me so, I almost +thought I belonged to him! My! he's fine, when you know him! After he +came on the job, you bet old Even So walked up. Say, where is he? +Have you fed him?" + +Laddie looked at father, who was listening, and we all rushed to the +door, but it must have been an hour, and Even So hadn't waited. Father +said it was a great pity, because a man like that shouldn't be left to +prey on the community; but mother said she didn't want to be mixed up +with a trial, or to be responsible for taking the liberty of a fellow +creature, and father said that was exactly like a woman. Leon went to +sleep, but none of us thought of going to bed; we just stood around and +looked at him, and smiled over him, and cried about him, until you +would have thought he had been shipped to us in a glass case, and cost, +maybe, a hundred dollars. + +Father got out his books and figured up his own and the road money, and +Miss Amelia's, and the church's. Laddie didn't want her around, so he +stopped at the schoolhouse and told her to stay at Justices' that +night, we'd need all our rooms; but she didn't like being sent away +when there was such excitement, but every one minded Laddie when he +said so for sure. + +When father had everything counted there was more than his, quite a lot +of it, stolen from other people who sheltered the traveller no doubt, +father said. We thought he wouldn't be likely to come back for it, and +father said he was at loss what to do with it, but Laddie said he +wasn't--it was Leon's--he had earned it; so father said he would try to +find out if anything else had been stolen, and he'd keep it a year, and +then if no one claimed it, he would put it on interest until Leon +decided what he wanted to do with it. + +When you watched Leon sleep you could tell a lot more about what had +happened to him than he could. He moaned, and muttered constantly, and +panted, and felt around for the gun, and breathed like he was running +again, and fought until Laddie had to hold him on the couch, and +finally awakened him. But it did no good; he went right off to sleep +again, and it happened all over. Then father began getting his +Crusader blood up, although he always said he was a man of peace. But +it was a lucky thing Even So got away; for after father had watched +Leon a while, he said if that man had been on the premises, his fingers +itched so to get at him, he was positive he'd have vented a little +righteous indignation on him that would have cost him within an inch of +his life. And he'd have done it too! He was like that. It took a +lot, and it was slow coming, but when he became angry enough, and felt +justified in it, why you'd be much safer to be some one else than the +man who provoked him. + +After ten o'clock the dog barked, some one tapped, and father went; he +always would open the door; you couldn't make him pretend he was +asleep, or not at home when he was, and there stood Mr. Pryor. He said +they could see the lights and they were afraid the boy was ill, and +could any of them help. Father said there was nothing they could do; +Leon was asleep. Then Mr. Pryor said: "If he is off sound, so it +won't disturb him, I would like to see him again." + +Father told him Leon was restless, but so exhausted a railroad train +wouldn't waken him, so Mr. Pryor came in and went to the couch. He +took off his hat, like you do beside a grave, while his face slowly +grew whiter than his hair, and that would be snow-white; then he turned +at last and stumbled toward the door. Laddie held it for him, but he +didn't seem to remember he was there. He muttered over and over: +"Why? Why? In the name of God, why?" Laddie followed to the gate to +help him on his horse, because he thought he was almost out of his +head, but he had walked across the fields, so Laddie kept far behind +and watched until he saw him go safely inside his own door. + +I think father and Laddie sat beside Leon all night. The others went +to sleep. A little after daybreak, just as Laddie was starting to +feed, there was an awful clamour, and here came a lot of neighbours +with Even So. Mr. Freshett had found him asleep in a cattle hole in +the straw stack, and searched him, and he had more money, and that made +Mr. Freshett sure; and as he was very strong, and had been for years a +soldier, and really loved to fight, he marched poor Even So back to our +house. Every few rods they met more men out searching who came with +them, until there were so many, our front yard and the road were +crowded. Of all the sights you ever saw, Even So looked the worst. +You could see that he'd drop over at much more. Those men kept crying +they were going to hang him; but mother went out and talked to them, +and said they mustn't kill a man for taking only money. She told them +how little it was worth compared with other things; she had Candace +bring Even So a cup of hot coffee, lots of bread, and sausage from the +skillet, and she said it was our money, and our lad, and we wanted +nothing done about it. The men didn't like it, but the traveller did. +He grabbed and gobbled like a beast at the hot food and cried, and +mother said she forgave him, and to let him go. + +Then Mr. Freshett looked awful disappointed, and he came up to father, +with his back toward mother, and asked: "That's your say too, Mr. +Stanton?" Father grinned sort of rueful-like, but he said to give Even +So his money and let him go. He told all about getting ours back, and +having had him at the house once before. He brought the money Leon +took from him, but the men said no doubt he had stolen that, and Leon +had earned it bringing him back, so the traveller shouldn't have it. +They took him away on a horse and said they'd let him go, but that +they'd escort him from the county. Father told Mr. Freshett that he +was a little suspicious of them, and he would hold him responsible for +the man's life. Mr. Freshett said that he'd give his word that the man +would be safe; they only wanted to make sure he wouldn't come back, and +that he'd be careful in the future how he abused hospitality, so they +went, and all of us were glad of it. + +I don't know what Mr. Freshett calls safe, for they took Even So to +Groveville and locked him up until night. Then they led him to the +railroad, and made him crawl back and forth through an old engine +beside the track, until he was blacker than any negro ever born; and +then they had him swallow a big dose of croton oil for his health. +That was the only KIND thing they did, for afterward they started him +down the track and told him to run, and all of them shot at his feet as +he went. Hannah Freshett told me at school the next day. Her father +said Even So just howled, and flew up in the air, and ducked, and +dodged and ran like he'd never walked a step, or was a bit tired. We +made a game of it, and after that one of the boys was Even So, and the +others were the mob, and the one who could howl nicest, jump highest, +and go fastest, could be "It" oftenest. + +Leon grew all right faster than you would think. He went to school day +after next, and the boys were sick with envy. They asked and asked, +but Leon wouldn't tell much. He didn't seem to like to talk about it, +and he wouldn't play the game or even watch us. He talked a blue +streak about the money. Father was going to write to every sheriff of +the counties along the way the man said he had come, and if he could +find no one before spring who had been robbed, he said Leon might do +what he liked with the money. I used to pretend it was coming to me, +and each day I thought of a new way to spend it. Leon was so sure he'd +get it he marched right over and asked Mr. Pryor about a nice young +thoroughbred horse, from his stables, and when he came back he could +get a coltlike one so very cheap that father and Laddie looked at each +other and gasped, and never said a word. They figured up, and if Leon +got the money, he could have the horse, and save some for college, and +from the start he never changed a mite about those two things he wanted +to do with it. He had the horse picked out and went to the field to +feed and pet it and make it gentle, so he could ride bareback, and +mother said he would be almost sick if the owner of the money turned up. + +Pulling his boots one night, father said so too, and that the thoughts +of it worried him. He said Mr. Pryor had shaded his price so that if +the money had to go, he would be tempted to see if we couldn't manage +it ourselves. I don't know how shading the price of a horse would make +her feel better, but it did, and maybe Leon is going to get it. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Laddie Takes the Plunge + + "This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth + The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms, + And bears his blushing honors thick upon him; + The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, + And, when he thinks, good, easy man, full surely + His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root, + And then he falls, as I do." + + +"Watch me take the plunge!" said Laddie. + +"'Mad frenzy fires him now,'" quoted Leon. + +It was Sunday after dinner. We had been to church and Sunday-school in +the forenoon, and we had a houseful of company for dinner. All of them +remained to spend the afternoon, because in our home it was perfectly +lovely. We had a big dinner with everything good to start on, and then +we talked and visited and told all the news. The women exchanged new +recipes for cooking, advised each other about how to get more work done +with less worry, to doctor their sick folks, and to make their dresses. +At last, when every thing was talked over, and there began to be a +quiet time, father would reach across the table, pick up a paper and +read all the interesting things that had happened in the country during +the past week; the jokes too, and they made people think of funny +stories to tell, and we just laughed. In the Agriculturist there were +new ways to farm easier, to make land bear more crops; so he divided +that with the neighbours, also how to make gardens, and prune trees. +Before he finished, he always managed to work in a lot about being +honest, kind, and loving God. + +He and mother felt so good over Leon, and by this time they were +beginning to see that they were mighty glad about the money too. It +wouldn't have been so easy to work, and earn, and pay back all that for +our school, roads, and the church; and every day you could see plainer +how happy they felt that they didn't have to do it. Because they were +so glad about these things, they invited every one they met that day; +but we knew Saturday mother felt that probably she would ask a crowd, +from the chickens, pie, and cake she got ready. When the reading part +was over, and the women were beginning to look at the clock, and you +knew they felt they should go home, and didn't want to, Laddie arose +and said that, and Leon piped up like he always does and made every one +laugh. Of course they looked at Laddie, and no one knew what he meant, +so all the women and a few of the men asked him. + +"Watch me, I said," laughed Laddie as he left the room. + +Soon Mrs. Dover, sitting beside the front window, cried: "Here he is +at the gate!" + +He was on his horse, but he hitched it and went around the house and up +the back way. Before long the stair door of the sitting-room opened, +and there he stood. We stared at him. Of course he was bathed, and in +clean clothing to start with, but he had washed and brushed some more, +until he shone. His cheeks were as smooth and as clear pink as any +girl's, his eyes blue-gray and big, with long lashes and heavy brows. +His hair was bright brown and wavy, and he was so big and broad. He +never had been sick a day in his life, and he didn't look as if he ever +would be. + +And clothes DO make a difference. He would have had exactly the same +hair, face, and body, wearing a hickory shirt and denim trousers; but +he wouldn't have looked as he did in the clothes he wore at college, +when it was Sunday there, or he was invited to a party at the +President's. I don't see how any man could possibly be handsomer or +look finer. His shirt, collar, and cuffs were snow-white, like +everything had to be before mother got through with it; his big loose +tie almost reached his shoulders; and our men could do a thing no other +man in the neighbourhood did: they could appear easier in the finest +suit they could put on than in their working clothes. + +Mother used to say one thing she dreaded about Sunday was the evident +tortures of the poor men squirming in boots she knew pinched them, +coats too tight, and collars too high. She said they acted like +half-broken colts fretting over restriction. Always she said to father +and the boys when they went to buy their new clothes: "Now, DON'T join +the harness fighters! Get your clothing big enough to set your bodies +with comfort and ease." + +I suppose those other men would have looked like ours if their mothers +had told them. You can always see that a man needs a woman to help him +out awful bad. + +Of course Laddie knew he was handsome; he had to know all of them were +looking at him curiously, but he stood there buttoning his glove and +laughing to himself until Sarah Hood asked: "Now what are you up to?" + +He took a step toward her, ran one hand under her lanternjawed chin, +pulled her head against his side and turned up her face. + +"Sarah," he said, "'member the day we spoiled the washing?" + +Every one laughed. They had made jokes about it until our friends knew +what they meant. + +"What are you going to spoil now?" asked Sarah. + +"The Egyptians! The 'furriners.' I'm going right after them!" + +"Well, you could be in better business," said Sarah Hood sharply. + +Laddie laughed and squeezed her chin, and hugged her head against him. + +"Listen to that, now!" he cried. "My best friend going back on me. +Sarah, I thought you, of all people, would wish me luck." + +"I do!" she said instantly. "And that's the very reason I don't want +you mixed up with that mysterious, offish, stuck-up mess." + +"Bless your dear heart!" said Laddie, giving her a harder squeeze than +ever. "You got that all wrong, Sarah. You'll live to see the day, +very shortly, when you'll change every word of it." + +"I haven't done anything but get surer about it every day for two +years, anyway," said Sarah Hood. + +"Exactly!" said Laddie, "but wait until I have taken the plunge! Let +me tell you how the Pryor family strikes me. I think he is a +high-tempered, domineering man, proud as Lucifer! For some cause, just +or not, he is ruining his life and that of his family because he so +firmly believes it just; he is hiding here from his home country, his +relatives, and friends. I think she is, barring you and mother, the +handsomest woman of her age I ever saw----" + +All of them laughed, because Sarah Hood was nearly as homely as a woman +could grow, and maybe other people didn't find our mother so lovely as +we thought her. I once heard one of her best friends say she was +"distinctly plain." I didn't see how she could; but she said that. + +"--and the most pitiful," Laddie went on. "Sarah, what do you suppose +sends a frail little woman pacing the yard, and up and down the road, +sometimes in storm and rain, gripping both hands over her heart?" + +"I suppose it's some shameful thing I don't want you mixed up with!" +said Sarah Hood promptly, and people just shouted. + +"Sarah," said Laddie, "I've seen her closely, watched her move, and +studied her expression. There's not one grain of possibility that you, +or mother, or Mrs. Fall, or any woman here, could be any closer +connected with SHAME. Shame there is," said Laddie, "and what a word! +How it stings, burns, withers, and causes heart trouble and hiding; but +shame in connection with that woman, more than shame thrust upon her, +which might come to any of us, at any time, shame that is her error, in +the life of a woman having a face like hers, Sarah, I am ashamed of +you! Your only excuse is that you haven't persisted as I have until +you got to see for yourself." + +"I am not much on persistence in the face of a locked door, a cast-iron +man with a big cane, and two raving bulldogs," said Mrs. Hood. "Wait, +young man! Just wait until he sets them on you." + +Laddie's head went back and how he laughed. + +"Hist! A word with you, Sarah!" he said. "'Member I have a sort of +knack with animals. I never yet have failed with one I undertook to +win. Now those bulldogs of Pryors' are as mild as kittens with a man +who knows the right word. Reason I know, Sarah, I've said the word to +them, separately and collectively, and it worked. There is a contrast, +Sarah, between what I say and do to those dogs, and the kicks and +curses they get from their owner. I'll wager you two to one that if +you can get Mr. Pryor to go into a 'sic-ing' contest with me, I can +have his own dogs at his throat, when he can't make them do more than +to lick my hands." + +They laughed as if that were funny. + +"Well, I didn't know about this," said Sarah. "How long have you lived +at Pryors'?" + +You couldn't have heard what Laddie said if he'd spoken; so he waited +until he could be heard, and it never worried him a speck. + +He only stood and laughed too; then, "Long enough," he said, "to know +that all of us are making a big and cruel mistake in taking them at +their word, and leaving them penned up there weltering in misery. What +we should do, is to go over there, one at a time, or in a body, and +batter at the door of their hearts, until we break down the wall of +pride they have built around them, ease their pain, and bring them with +us socially, if they are going to live among us. You people who talk +loudly and often about loving God, and 'doing unto others,' should have +gone long ago, for Jesus' sake; I'm going for the sake of a girl, with +a face as sweet, and a heart as pure, as any accepted angel at the foot +of the throne. Mother, I want a cup of peach jelly, and some of that +exceptionally fine cake you served at dinner, to take to our sick +neighbour." + +Mother left the room. + +"Father, I want permission to cut and carry a generous chestnut branch, +burred, and full fruited, to the young woman. There is none save ours +in this part of the country, and she may never have seen any, and be +interested. And I want that article about foot disease in horses, for +Mr. Pryor. I'll bring it back when he finishes." + +Father folded the paper and handed it to Laddie, who slipped it in his +pocket. + +"Take the finest branch you can select," father said, and I almost fell +over. + +He had carried those trees from Ohio, before I had been born, and +mother said for years he wrapped them in her shawl in winter and held +an umbrella over them in summer, and father always went red and grinned +when she told it. He was wild about trees, and bushes, so he made up +his mind he'd have chestnuts. He planted them one place, and if they +didn't like it, he dug them up and set them another where he thought +they could have what they needed and hadn't got the last place. +Finally, he put them, on the fourth move, on a little sandy ridge +across the road from the wood yard, and that was the spot. They shot +up, branched, spread, and one was a male and two were females, so the +pollen flew, the burrs filled right, and we had a bag of chestnuts to +send each child away from home, every Christmas. The brown leaves and +burrs were so lovely, mother cut one of the finest branches she could +select and hung it above the steel engraving of "Lincoln Freeing the +Slaves," in the boys' room, and nothing in the house was looked at +oftener, or thought prettier. That must have been what was in the back +of Laddie's head when he wanted a branch for the Princess. + +Mother came in with the cake and jelly in a little fancy basket, and +Laddie said: "Thank you! Now every one wish me luck! I'm going to +ride to Pryors', knock at the door, and present these offerings with my +compliments. If I'm invited in, I'm going to make the effort of my +life at driving the entering wedge toward social intercourse between +Pryors and their neighbours. If I'm not, I'll be back in thirty +minutes and tell you what happened to me. If they refuse my gifts, you +shall have the jelly, Sarah; I'll give Mrs. Fall the olive branch, +bring back the paper, and eat the cake to console my wounded spirits." + +Of course every one laughed; they couldn't help it. I watched father +and he laughed hardest of the men, but mother was more stiff-lipped +about it; she couldn't help a little, though. And I noticed some of +those women acted as if they had lost something. Maybe it was a chance +to gossip about Laddie, for he hadn't left them a thing to guess at, +and mother says the reason gossip is so dreadful is because it is +always GUESSWORK. Well, that was all fair and plain. He had told +those people, our very best friends, what he thought about everything, +the way they acted included. He was carrying something to each member +of the Pryor family, and he'd left a way to return joking and +unashamed, if they wouldn't let him in. He had fixed things so no one +had anything to guess at, and it would look much worse for the Pryors +than it would for him, if he did come back. + +I wondered if he had been born that smart, or if he learned it in +college. If he did, no wonder Leon was bound to go. Come to think of +it, though, mother said Laddie was always like that. She said he never +bit her when he nursed; he never mauled her as if she couldn't be hurt +when he was little, he never tore his clothes and made extra work as he +grew, and never in his life gave her an hour's uneasiness. But I guess +she couldn't have said that about uneasiness lately, for she couldn't +keep from looking troubled as all of us followed to the gate to see him +start. + +How they joked, and tried to tease him! But they couldn't get a breath +ahead. He shot back answers as fast as they could ask questions, while +he cut the branch and untied the horse. He gave the limb and basket to +mother to hold, kissed her good-bye, and me too, before he mounted. +With my arms around his neck--I never missed a chance to try to squeeze +into him how I loved him--I whispered: "Laddie, is it a secret any +more?" + +He threw back his head and laughed the happiest. + +"Not the ghost of a secret!" he said. "But you let me do the talking, +until I tell you." Then he went on right out loud: "I'm riding up the +road waving the banner of peace. If I suffer repulse, the same thing +has happened to better men before, so I'll get a different banner and +try again." + +Laddie mounted, swept a circle in the road, dropped Flos on her knees +in a bow, and waved the branch. Leon began to sing at the top of his +voice, "Nothing but leaves, nothing but leaves," while Laddie went +flashing up the road. + +The women went back to the house; the men stood around the gate, +watched him from sight, talked about his horse, how he rode, and made +wagers that he'd get shut out, like every one did, but they said if +that happened he wouldn't come back. Father was annoyed. + +"You heard Laddie say he'd return immediately if they wouldn't let him +in," he said. "He's a man of his word. He will either enter or come +home at once." + +It was pitch dark and we had supper before some of them left; they +never stayed so late. After we came from church, father read the +chapter and we were ready for bed; still Laddie hadn't come back. And +father liked it! He just plain liked it! He chuckled behind the +Advocate until you could see it shake; but mother had very little to +say, and her lips closed tight. + +At bedtime he said to mother: "Well, they don't seem in a hurry about +sending the boy back." + +"Did you really think he WOULD be sent back?" asked mother. + +"Not ordinarily," said father, "no! If he had no brain, no wit, no +culture, on an animal basis, a woman would look twice before she'd send +him away; but with such fanatics as Pryors, one can't always tell what +will happen." + +"In a case like this, one can be reasonably certain," said mother. + +"You don't know what social position they occupied at home. Their +earmarks are all good. We've no such notions here as they have." + +"Thank God for so much, at any rate," said mother. "How old England +would rise up and exult if she had a man in line with Laddie's body, +blood and brain, to set on her throne. This talk about class and +social position makes me sick. Men are men, and Laddie is as much +above the customary timber found in kings and princes, physically and +mentally, as the sky is above the earth. Talk me no talk about class! +If I catch it coming from any of mine, save you, I will beat it out of +them. He has admitted he's in love with the girl; the real question +is, whether she's fit to be his wife." + +"I should say she appears so," said father. + +"Drat appearances!" cried mother. "When it's a question of lifetime +misery, and the soul's salvation of my son, if things go wrong, I've no +time for appearances. I want to know!" + +He might have known he would make her angry when he laughed. She +punched the pillow, and wouldn't say another word; so I went to sleep, +and didn't miss anything that time. + +Next morning at breakfast Laddie was beaming, and father hardly waited +to ask the blessing before he inquired: "Well, how did you make it, +son?" + +Laddie laughed and answered: "Altogether, it might have been much +worse." + +That was all he would say until Miss Amelia started to school, then he +took me on his lap and talked as he buttoned my coat. + +"Thomas met me at the gate," he said, "and held my horse while I went +to the door. One of their women opened it, and I inquired for Mr. +Pryor. She said he was in the field looking at the horses, so I asked +for Miss Pryor. She came in a minute, so I gave her the branch, told +her about it, and offered the jelly and cake for her mother. The +Princess invited me to enter. I told her I couldn't without her +father's permission, so I went to the field to see him. The dogs were +with him and he had the surprise of his life when his man-eaters rolled +at my feet, and licked my hands." + +"What did he say?" chuckled father. + +"Told Thomas they'd been overfed and didn't amount to a brass farthing; +to take them to the woods and shoot them. Thomas said he'd see to it +the very first thing in the morning, and then Mr. Pryor told him he +would shoot him if he did." + +"Charming man to work for," said mother. + +"Then I told him I'd been at the house to carry a little gift to his +wife and daughter, and to inquire if I might visit an hour, and as he +was not there, I had come to the field to ask him. Then I looked him +in the eye and said: 'May I?' + +"'I'll warrant the women asked you to come in,' he said. + +"'Miss Pryor was so kind,' I answered, 'but I enter no man's house +without his permission. May I talk with your daughter an hour, and +your wife, if she cares to see me?' + +"'It makes no earthly difference to me,' he said, which was not +gracious, but might have been worse, so I thanked him, and went back to +the house. When I knocked the second time, the Princess came, and I +told her the word was that it made 'no difference to her father' if I +came in, so she opened the door widely, took my hat and offered me a +seat. Then she went to the next room and said: 'Mother, father has +given Mr. Stanton permission to pay us a call. Do you feel able to +meet him?' She came at once, offering her hand and saying: 'I have +already met Mr. Stanton so often, really, we should have the privilege +of speaking.'" + +"What did she mean by that?" asked mother. + +"She meant that I have haunted the road passing their place for two +years, and she'd seen me so frequently that she came to recognize me." + +"Umph!" said mother. + +"Laddie tell on!" I begged. + +"Well, I sharpened all the wits I had and went to work. I never tried +so hard in my life to be entertaining. Of course I had to feel my way. +I'd no idea what would interest a delicate, high-bred lady"--mother +sniffed again--"so I had to search and probe, and go by guess until I +saw a shade of interest, then I worked in more of the same. It was +easy enough to talk to the Princess--all young folks have a lot in +common, we could get along on fifty topics; it was different with the +housebound mother. I did my best, and after a while Mr. Pryor came in. +I asked him if any of his horses had been attacked with the trouble +some of the neighbours were having, and told him what it was. He had +the grace to thank me. He said he would tell Thomas not to tie his +horse at the public hitching rack when he went to town, and once he got +started, he was wild to talk with a man, and I'd no chance to say a +word to the women. He was interested in our colleges, state, and +national laws, in land development, and everything that all live men +are. When a maid announced dinner I apologized for having stayed so +long, and excused myself, because I had been so interested, but Mrs. +Pryor merely said: 'I'm waiting to be offered your arm.' + +"Well, you should have seen me drop my hat and step up. I did my best, +and while I talked to him a little, I made it most to the women. Any +one could see they were starved for company, so I took the job of +entertaining them. I told some college jokes, funny things that had +happened in the neighbourhood, and everything of interest I could think +up. I know we were at the table for two hours with things coming and +going on silver platters." + +Mother sat straight suddenly. + +"Just what did they have to eat, and how did they serve it?" she asked. + +"Couldn't tell if I were to be shot for it, mummy," said Laddie. +"Forgive me! Next time I'll take notes for you. This first plunge, I +had to use all my brains, not to be a bore to them; and to handle food +and cutlery as the women did. It's quite a process, but as they were +served first, I could do right by waiting. I never was where things +were done quite so elaborately before." + +"And they didn't know they would have company until you went to the +table?" + +"Well, they must have thought likely, there was a place for me." + +"Umph!" said mother. "Fine idea! Then any one who drops in can be +served, and see that they are not a mite of trouble. Candace, always +an extra place after this!" + +Father just shouted. + +"I thought you'd get something out of it!" he said. + +"Happy to have justified your faith!" replied mother calmly. "Go on, +son!" + +"That's all!" said Laddie. "We left the table and talked an hour more. +The women asked me to come again; he didn't say anything on that +subject; but when he ordered my horse, he asked the Princess if she +would enjoy a little exercise, and she said she would, so he told +Thomas to bring their horses, and we rode around the section, the +Princess and I ahead, Mr. Pryor following. Where the road was good and +the light fine enough that there was no danger of laming a horse, we +dropped back, one on either side of him, so we could talk. Mrs. Pryor +ate the cake and said it was fine; and the 'conserve,' she called it, +delicious as she ever had tasted. She said all our fruits here had +much more flavour than at home; she thought it was the dryer climate +and more sunshine. She sent her grateful thanks, and she wants your +recipe before next preserving time." + +Mother just beamed. My! but she did love to have the things she +cooked, bragged on. + +"Possibly she'd like my strawberries?" she said. + +"There isn't a doubt about it," said Laddie. "I've yet to see the +first person who doesn't." + +"Is that all?" asked mother. + +"I can think of nothing more at this minute," answered Laddie. "If +anything comes to my mind later, I won't forget to tell you. Oh yes, +there was one thing: You couldn't keep Mr. Pryor from talking about +Leon. He must have taken a great fancy to him. He talked until he +worried the Princess, and she tried to keep him away from the subject, +but his mind seemed to run on it constantly. When we were riding she +talked quite as much as he, and it will hustle us to think what the +little scamp did, any bigger than they do. Of course, father, you +understood the price Mr. Pryor made on one of his very finest colts was +a joke. There's a strain of Arab in the father--he showed me the +record--and the mother is bluegrass. There you get gentleness and +endurance combined with speed and nerve. I'd trade Flos for that colt +as it stands to-day. There's nothing better on earth in the way of +horse. His offer is practically giving it away. I know, with the +records to prove its pedigree, what that colt would bring him in any +city market." + +"I don't like it," said mother. "I want Leon to have a horse, but a +boy in a first experience, and reckless as he is, doesn't need a horse +like that, for one thing, and what is more important, I refuse to be +put under any obligations to Pryors." + +"That's the reason Mr. Pryor asked anything at all for the horse. It +is my opinion that he would be greatly pleased to give it to Leon, if +he could do what he liked." + +"Well, that's precisely the thing he can't do in this family," said +mother sternly. + +"What do you think, father?" asked Laddie. + +"I think Amen! to that proposition," said father; "but I would have to +take time to thresh it out completely. It appeals to me that Leon is +old enough to recognize the value of the animal; and that the care of +it would develop and strengthen his character. It would be a +responsibility that would steady him. You could teach him to tend and +break it." + +"Break it!" cried Laddie. "Break it! Why father, he's riding it +bareback all over the Pryor meadow now, and jumping it over logs. +Whenever he leaves, it follows him to the fence, and the Princess says +almost any hour of the day you look out you can see it pacing up and +down watching this way and whinnying for him to come." + +"And your best judgment is----?" + +Laddie laughed as he tied my hood strings. "Well I don't feel about +the Pryors as the rest of you do," he said. "If the money isn't +claimed inside the time you specified, I would let Leon and Mr. Pryor +make their own bargain. The boy won't know for years that it is +practically a gift, and it would please Mr. Pryor immensely. Now run, +or you'll be late!" + +I had to go, so I didn't know how they settled it, but if they wouldn't +let Leon have that horse, it was downright mean. What if we were under +obligations to Mr. Pryor? We were to Sarah Hood, and half the people +we knew, and what was more, we LIKED to be. + +When I came from school that night father had been to town. He had an +ax and was opening a big crate, containing two of the largest, bluest +geese you ever saw. Laddie said being boxed that way and seeing them +so close made them look so big; really, they were no finer than +Pryors', where he had got the address of the place that sold them. +Mother was so pleased. She said she had needed a new strain, for a +long time, to improve her feathers; now she would have pillows worth +while, in a few years. They put them in the barn where our geese +stayed over night, and how they did scream. That is, one of them did; +the other acted queerly and father said to Laddie that he was afraid +the trip was hard on it. Laddie said it might have been hurt, and +mother was worried too. Before she had them an hour, she had sold all +our ganders; spring had come, she had saved the blue goose eggs, set +them under a hen, raised the goslings with the little chickens, never +lost one, picked them and made a new pair of pillows too fine for any +one less important than a bishop, or a judge, or Dr. Fenner to sleep +on. Then she began saving for a featherbed. And still the goose +didn't act as spry or feel as good as the gander. He stuck up his +head, screamed, spread his wings and waved them, and the butts looked +so big and hard, I was not right certain whether it would be safe to +tease him or not. + +The first person who came to see them was Sarah Hood, and she left with +the promise of a pair as soon as mother could raise them. Father said +the only reason mother didn't divide her hair with Sarah Hood was +because it was fast, and she couldn't. Mother said gracious goodness! +she'd be glad to get rid of some of it if she could, and of course +Sarah should have first chance at it. Hadn't she kept her over night +so she could see her new home when she was rested, and didn't she come +with her, and help her get settled, and had she ever failed when we had +a baby, or sickness, or trouble, or thrashers, or a party? Of course +she'd gladly divide, even the hair of her head, with Sarah Hood. And +father said, "Yes, he guessed she would, and come to think of it, he'd +just as soon spare Sarah part of his," and then they both laughed, when +it was nothing so very funny that I could see. + +The next caller the geese had was Mrs. Freshett. My! she thought they +were big and fine. Mother promised her a couple of eggs to set under a +hen. Father said she was gradually coming down the scale of her +feelings, and before two weeks she'd give Isaac Thomas, at least, a +quill for a pen. Almost no one wrote with them any more, but often +father made a few, and showed us how to use them. He said they were +gone with candles, sand boxes, and snuff. Mother said she had no use +for snuff, but candles were not gone, she'd make and use them to the +day of her death, as they were the nicest light ever invented to carry +from room to room, or when you only wanted to sit and think. Father +said there was really no good pen except the quill you sharpened +yourself; and while he often used steel ones like we children had at +school to write to the brothers and sisters away, and his family, he +always kept a few choice quills in the till of his chest, and when he +wrote a deed, or any valuable paper, where there was a deal with money, +he used them. He said it lent the dignity of a past day to an +important occasion. + +After mother and Mrs. Freshett had talked over every single thing about +the geese, and that they were like Pryors' had been settled, Mrs. +Freshett said: "Since he told about it before all of us, and started +out the way he did, would it be amiss to ask how Laddie got on at +Pryors'?" + +"Just the way I thought he would," said mother. "He stayed until all +of us were in bed, and I'd never have known when he came in, if it were +not a habit of his always to come to my door to see if I'm sleeping. +Sometimes I'm wakeful, and if he pommels my pillow good, brings me a +drink, and rubs my head a few strokes with his strong, cool hands, I +can settle down and have a good night's rest. I was awake when he +came, or I'd never have known. It was almost midnight; but they sat +two hours at the table, and then all of them rode." + +"Not the Missus?" + +"Oh no! She's not strong enough. She really has incurable heart +trouble, the worst kind there is; her daughter told me so." + +"Then they better look out," said Mrs. Freshett. "She is likely to +keel over at a breath." + +"They must know it. That's why she keeps so quiet." + +"And they had him to supper?" + +"It was a dinner served at night. Yes. He took Mrs. Pryor in on his +arm, and it was like a grand party, just as they fixed for themselves, +alone. Waiters, and silver trays, and things carried in and out in +courses." + +"My land! Well, I s'pose he had enough schoolin' to get him through it +all right!" + +My mother's face grew red. She never left any one in doubt as to what +she meant. Father said that "was the Dutch of it." And mother always +answered that if any one living could put things plainer than the +English, she would like to hear them do it. + +"He certainly had," said mother, "or they wouldn't have invited him to +come again. And all mine, Mrs. Freshett, knew how to sit properly at +the table, and manage a knife, fork and napkin, before they ever took a +meal away from home." + +"No 'fence," laughed Mrs. Freshett. "I meant that maybe his years of +college schoolin' had give him ways more like theirs than most of us +have. For all the money it takes to send a boy to college, he ought to +get somethin' out of it more than jest fillin' his head with figgers, +an' stars, an' oratin'; an' most always you can see that he does." + +"It is contact with cultivated people," said mother. "You are always +influenced by it, without knowing it often." + +"Maybe you are, bein' so fine yourself," said Mrs. Freshett. "An' me +too, I never get among my betters that I don't carry home a lot I put +right into daily use, an' nobody knows it plainer. I come here +expectin' to learn things that help me, an' when I go home I know I +have." + +"Why, thank you," said mother. "I'm sure that is a very nice +compliment, and I wish I really could feel that it is well deserved." + +"Oh I guess you do!" said Mrs. Freshett laughing. "I often noticed you +makin' a special effort to teach puddin' heads like me somethin', an' I +always thank you for it. There's a world in right teachin'. I never +had any. So all I can pick up an' hammer into mine is a gain for me +an' them. If my Henry had lived, an' come out anything like that boy +o' yourn an' the show he made last Sunday, I'd do well if I didn't +swell up an' bust with pride. An' the little tow-haired strip, takin' +the gun an' startin' out alone after a robber, even if he wa'n't much +of a man, that was downright spunky. If my boys will come out anywhere +near like yourn, I'll be glad." + +"I don't know how my boys will come out," said mother. "But I work, +pray, hope, and hang to them; that's all I know to do." + +"Well, if they don't come out right, they ought to be bumped!" said +Mrs. Freshett. "After all the chances they've had! I don' know jest +how Freshett was brung up, but I'd no chance at all. My folks--well, I +guess the less said--little pitchers, you know! I can't see as I was +to blame. I was the youngest, an' I knew things was wrong. I fought +to go to school, an' pap let me enough that I saw how other people +lived. Come night I'd go to the garret, an' bar the trapdoor; but +there would be times when I couldn't help seein' what was goin' on. +How'd you like chances such as that for a girl of yourn?" + +"Dreadful!" said mother. "Mrs. Freshett, please do be careful!" + +"Sure!" laughed Mrs. Freshett. "I was jest goin' to tell you about me +an' Josiah. He come to our house one night, a stranger off the road. +He said he was sick, an' tired, an' could he have a bed. Mother said, +'No, for him to move on.' He tried an' he couldn't. They was +somethin' about him--well, you know how them things go! I wa'n't only +sixteen, but I felt so sorry for him, all fever burned and mumblin', I +helped pap put him to bed, an' doctored him all I could. Come mornin' +he was a sick man. Pap went for the county doctor, an' he took jest +one look an' says: 'Small pox! All of ye git!' + +"I was bound I wouldn't go, but pap made me, an' the doctor said he'd +send a man who'd had it; so I started, but I felt so bad, come a chanct +when they got to Groveville, I slipped out an' went back. The man +hadn't come, so I set to work the best I knowed. 'Fore long Josiah was +a little better an' he asked who I was, an' where my folks went, an' I +told him, an' he asked WHY I came back an' I didn't know what to say, +so I jest hung my head an' couldn't face him. After a while he says, +'All right! I guess I got this sized up. If you'll stay an' nuss me +through, I'll be well enough to pull you out, by the time you get it, +an' soon as you're able we'll splice, if you say so.' + +"'Marry me, you mean?' says I. They wa'n't ever any talk about +marryin' at our house. 'Sure!' says he. 'You're a mighty likely +lookin' girl! I'll do fair by ye.' An' he always has, too! But I +didn't feel right to let him go it blind, so I jest up and says. 'You +wouldn't if you knowed my folks!' 'You look as decent as I do,' says +he; 'I'll chance it!' Then I tole him I was as good as I was born, an' +he believed me, an' he always has, an' I was too! So I nussed him, but +I didn't make the job of it he did. You 'member he is pitted +considerable. He was so strong I jest couldn't keep him from +disfigerin' himself, but he tied me. I begged to be loose, an' he +wouldn't listen, so I got a clean face, only three little scars, an' +they ain't deep to speak of. He says he looks like a piece of side +meat, but say! they ain't nothin' the matter with his looks to me! + +"The nuss man never did come, but the county doctor passed things in +the winder, till I was over the worst, an' Josiah sent for a preacher +an' he married us through the winder--I got the writin's to show, all +framed an' proper. Josiah said he'd see I got all they was in it long +that line, anyway. When I was well, hanged if he didn't perdooce a wad +from his clothes before they burnt 'em, an' he got us new things to +wear, an' a horse, an' wagon, an' we driv away here where we thought we +could start right, an' after we had the land, an' built the cabin, an' +jest as happy as heart could wish, long come a man I'd made mad once, +an' he tole everythin' up and down. Josiah was good about it. He +offered to sell the land, an' pull up an' go furder. 'What's the use?' +says I. 'Hundreds know it. We can't go so far it won't be like to +follow us; le's stay here an' fight it.' 'All right,' says Josiah, but +time an' ag'in he has offered to go, if I couldn't make it. 'Hang on a +little longer,' says I, every time he knew I was snubbed an' slighted. +I never tole what he didn't notice. I tried church, when my children +began to git a size I wanted 'em to have right teachin', an' you come +an' welcomed me an' you been my friend, an' now the others is comin' +over at last, an' visitin' me, an' they ain't a thing more I want in +life." + +"I am so glad!" said mother. "Oh my dear, I am so glad!" + +"Goin' right home an' tell that to Josiah," said Mrs. Freshett, jumping +up laughing and crying like, "an' mebby I'll jest spread wings and fly! +I never was so happy in all my life as I was Sunday, when you ast me +before all of them, so cordial like, an' says I to Josiah, 'We'll go +an' try it once,' an' we come an' nobody turned a cold shoulder on us, +an' I wa'n't wearin' specks to see if they did, for I never knowed him +so happy in all his days. Orter heard him whistle goin' home, an' he's +tryin' all them things he learned, on our place, an' you can see it +looks a heap better a'ready, an' now he's talkin' about buildin' in the +spring. I knowed he had money, but he never mentioned buildin' before, +an' I always thought it was bekase he 'sposed likely we'd have to move +on, some time. 'Pears now as if we can settle, an' live like other +folks, after all these years. I knowed ye didn't want me to talk, but +I had to tell you! When you ast us to the weddin', and others began +comin' round, says I to Josiah, 'Won't she be glad to know that my +skirts is clear, an' I did as well as I could?' An' he says, 'That she +will! An' more am I,' says he. 'I mighty proud of you,' says he. +Proud! Think of that! Miss Stanton, I'd jest wade fire and blood for +you!" + +"Oh my dear!" said mother. "What a dreadful thing to say!" + +"Gimme the chanct, an' watch if I don't," said Mrs. Freshett. "Now, +Josiah is proud I stuck it out! Now, I can have a house! Now, my +children can have all the show we can raise to give 'em! I'm done +cringin' an' dodgin'! I've always done my best; henceforth I mean to +hold up my head an' say so. I sure can't be held for what was done +'fore I was on earth, or since neither. You've given me my show, I'm +goin' to take it, but if you want to know what's in my heart about you, +gimme any kind of a chanct to prove, an' see if I don't pony right up +to it!" + +Mother laughed until the tears rolled, she couldn't help it. She took +Mrs. Freshett in her arms and hugged her tight, and kissed her mighty +near like she does Sarah Hood. Mrs. Freshett threw her arms around +mother, and looked over her shoulder, and said to me, "Sis, when you +grow up, always take a chanct on welcomin' the stranger, like your maw +does, an' heaven's bound to be your home! My, but your maw is a woman +to be proud of!" she said, hugging mother and patting her on the back. + +"All of us are proud of her!" I boasted. + +"I doubt if you are proud enough!" cried Mrs. Freshett. "I have my +doubts! I don't see how people livin' with her, an' seein' her every +day, are in a shape to know jest what she can do for a person in the +place I was in. I have my doubts!" + +That night when I went home from school mother was worrying over the +blue goose. When we went to feed, she told Leon that she was afraid it +was weak, and not getting enough to eat when it fed with the others. +She said after the work was finished, to take it out alone, and give it +all it would eat; so when the horses were tended, the cows milked, +everything watered, and the barn ready to close for the night, Laddie +took the milk to the house, while Leon and I caught the blue goose, +carried her to the well, and began to shell corn. She was starved to +death, almost. She ate a whole ear in no time and looked for more, so +Leon sent me after another. By the time that was most gone she began +to eat slower, and stick her bill in the air to help the grains slip +down, so I told Leon I thought she had enough. + +"No such thing!" said Leon. "You distinctly heard mother tell me to +give her 'all she would eat.' She's eating, isn't she? Go bring +another ear!" + +So she was, but I was doubtful about more. + +Leon said I better mind or he would tell mother, so I got it. She +didn't begin on it with any enthusiasm. She stuck her bill higher, +stretched her neck longer, and she looked so funny when she did it, +that we just shrieked. Then Leon reached over, took her by the bill, +and stripped her neck to help her swallow, and as soon as he let go, +she began to eat again. + +"You see!" said Leon, "she's been starved. She can't get enough. I +must help her!" + +So he did help her every little bit. By that time we were interested +in seeing how much she could hold; and she looked so funny that Leon +sent me for more corn; but I told him I thought what she needed now was +water, so we held her to the trough, and she tried to drink, but she +couldn't swallow much. We set her down beside the corn, and she went +to eating again. + +"Go it, old mill-hopper!" cried Leon. + +Right then there was an awful commotion in the barn, and from the +squealing we knew one of the horses was loose, and fighting the others. +We ran to fix them, and had a time to get Jo back into his stall, and +tied. Before we had everything safe, the supper bell rang, and I bet +Leon a penny I could reach the house while he shut the door and got +there. We forgot every single thing about the goose. + +At supper mother asked Leon if he fed the goose all she would eat, and +I looked at him guilty-like, for I remembered we hadn't put her back. +He frowned at me cross as a bear, and I knew that meant he had +remembered, and would slip back and put her inside when he finished his +supper, so I didn't say anything. + +"I didn't feed her ALL she would eat!" said Leon. "If I had, she'd be +at it yet. She was starved sure enough! You never saw anything like +the corn she downed." + +"Well I declare!" said mother. "Now after this, take her out alone, +for a few days, and give her as much as she wants." + +"All right!" chuckled Leon, because it was a lot of fun to see her run +her bill around, and gobble up the corn, and stick up her head. + +The next day was Saturday, so after breakfast I went with Leon to drive +the sheep and geese to the creek to water; the trough was so high it +was only for the horses and cattle; when we let out the geese, the blue +one wasn't there. + +"Oh Leon, did you forget to come back and put her in?" + +"Yes I did!" he said. "I meant to when I looked at you to keep still, +and I started to do it, but Sammy Deam whistled, so I went down in the +orchard to see what he wanted, and we got to planning how to get up a +fox chase, and I stayed until father called for night, and then I ran +and forgot all about the blame old goose." + +"Oh Leon! Where is she? What will mother say? 'Spose a fox got her!" + +"It wouldn't help me any if it had, after I was to blame for leaving +her outside. Blast a girl! If you ever amounted to anything, you +could have put her in while I fixed the horses. At least you could +have told me to." + +I stood there dumblike and stared at him. He has got the awfulest way +of telling the truth when he is scared or provoked. Of course I should +have thought of the goose when he was having such a hard fight with the +horses. If I'd been like he was, I'd have told him that he was older, +mother told HIM to do it, and it wasn't my fault; but in my heart I +knew he did have his hands full, and if you're your brother's keeper, +you ought to HELP your brother remember. So I stood gawking, while +Leon slowly turned whiter and whiter. + +"We might as well see if we can find her," he said at last, so slow and +hopeless like it made my heart ache. So he started around the straw +stack one way, and I the other, looking into all the holes, and before +I had gone far I had a glimpse of her, and it scared me so I screamed, +for her head was down, and she didn't look right. Leon came running +and pulled her out. The swelled corn rolled in a little trail after +her, and the pigs ran up and began to eat it. Pigs are named righter +than anything else I know. + +"Busted!" cried Leon in tones of awe; about the worst awe you ever +heard, and the worst bust you ever saw. + +From bill to breast she was wide open, and the hominy spilling. We +just stood staring at her, and then Leon began to kick the pigs; +because it would be no use to kick the goose; she would never know. +Then he took her up, carried her into the barn, and put her on the +floor where the other geese had stayed all night. We stood and looked +at her some more, as if looking and hoping would make her get up and be +alive again. But there's nothing in all this world so useless as +wishing dead things would come alive; we had to do something. + +"What are you going to tell mother?" + +"Shut up!" said Leon. "I'm trying to think." + +"I'll say it was as much my fault as yours. I'll go with you. I'll +take half whatever they do to you." + +"Little fool!" said Leon. "What good would that do me?" + +"Do you know what they cost? Could you get another with some of your +horse money?" + +I saw it coming and dodged again, before I remembered the Crusaders. + +"All right!" I said. "If that's the way you are going to act, Smarty, +I'll lay all the blame on you; I won't help you a bit, and I don't care +if you are whipped until the blood runs." + +Then I went out of the barn and slammed the door. For a minute I felt +better; but it was a short time. I SAID that to be mean, but I did +care. I cared dreadfully; I was partly to blame, and I knew it. +Coming around the barn, I met Laddie, and he saw in a flash I was in +trouble, so he stopped and asked: "What now, Chicken?" + +"Come into the barn where no one will hear us," I said. + +So we went around the outside, entered at the door on the embankment, +and he sat in the wheelbarrow on the threshing floor while I told him. +I thought I felt badly enough, but after I saw Laddie, it grew worse, +for I remembered we were short of money that fall, that the goose was a +fine, expensive one, and how proud mother was of her, and how she'd be +grieved, and that was trouble for sure. + +"Run along and play!" said Laddie, "and don't tell any one else if you +can help it. I'll hide the goose, and see if I can get another in time +to take the place of this one, so mother won't be worried." + +I walked to the house slowly, but I was afraid to enter. When you are +all choked up, people are sure to see it, and ask fool questions. So I +went around to the gate and stood there looking up and down the road, +and over the meadow toward the Big Woods; and all at once, in one of +those high, regular bugle calls, like they mostly scream in spring, one +of Pryors' ganders split the echoes for a mile; maybe farther. + +I was across the road and slinking down inside the meadow fence before +I knew it. There was no thought or plan. I started for Pryors' and +went straight ahead, only I kept out of line with our kitchen windows. +I tramped through the slush, ice, and crossed fields where I was afraid +of horses; but when I got to the top of the Pryor backyard fence, I +stuck there, for the bulldogs were loose, and came raving at me. I was +going to be eaten alive, for I didn't know the word Laddie did; and +those dogs climbed a fence like a person; I saw them the time Leon +brought back Even So. I was thinking what a pity it was, after every +one had grown accustomed to me, and had begun loving me, that I should +be wasted for dog feed, when Mr. Pryor came to the door, and called +them; they didn't mind, so he came to the fence, and crossest you ever +heard, every bit as bad as the dogs, he cried: "Whose brat are you, +and what are you doing here?" + +I meant to tell him; but you must have a minute after a thing like that. + +"God of my life!" he fairly frothed. "What did anybody send a dumb +child here for?" + +"Dumb child!" I didn't care if Mr. Pryor did wear a Crown of Glory. +It wasn't going to do him one particle of good, unless he was found in +the way of the Lord. "Dumb child!" I was no more dumb than he was, +until his bulldogs scared me so my heart got all tangled up with my +stomach, my lungs, and my liver. That made me mad, and there was +nothing that would help me to loosen up and talk fast, like losing my +temper. I wondered what kind of a father he had. If he'd been stood +against the wall and made to recite, "Speak gently," as often as all of +us, perhaps he'd have remembered the verse that says: + + "Speak gently to the little child; + Its love be sure to gain; + Teach it in accents soft and mild; + It may not long remain." + +I should think not, if it had any chance at all to get away! I was so +angry by that time I meant to tell him what I thought. Polite or not +polite, I'd take a switching if I had to, but I wasn't going to stand +that. + +"You haven't got any God in your life," I reminded him, "and no one +sent me here. I came to see the Princess, because I'm in awful trouble +and I hoped maybe she could fix up a way to help me." + +"Ye Gods!" he cried. He would stick to calling on God, whether he +believed in Him or not. "If it isn't Nimrod! I didn't recognize you +in all that bundling." + +Probably he didn't know it, but Nimrod was from the Bible too! By +bundling, he meant my hood and coat. He helped me from the fence, sent +the bulldogs rolling--sure enough he did kick them, and they didn't +like it either--took my hand and led me straight into the house, and +the Princess was there, and a woman who was her mother no doubt, and he +said: "Pamela, here is our little neighbour, and she says she's in +trouble, and she thinks you may be of some assistance to her. Of +course you will be glad if you can." + +"Surely!" said the Princess, and she introduced me to her mother, so I +bowed the best I knew, and took off my wet mitten, dirty with climbing +fences, to shake hands with her. She was so gracious and lovely I +forgot what I went after. The Princess brought a cloth and wiped the +wet from my shoes and stockings, and asked me if I wouldn't like a cup +of hot tea to keep me from taking a chill. + +"I've been much wetter than this," I told her, "and I never have taken +a chill, and anyway my throat's too full of trouble to drink." + +"Why, you poor child!" said the Princess. "Tell me quickly! Is your +mother ill again?" + +"Not now, but she's going to be as soon as she finds out," I said, and +then I told them. + +They all listened without a sound until I got where Leon helped the +goose eat, and from that on Mr. Pryor laughed until you could easily +see that he had very little feeling for suffering humanity. It was +funny enough when we fed her, but now that she was bursted wide open +there was nothing amusing about it; and to roar when a visitor plainly +told you she was in awful trouble, didn't seem very good manners to me. +The Princess and her mother never even smiled; and before I had told +nearly all of it, Thomas was called to hitch the Princess' driving +cart, and she took me to their barnyard to choose the goose that looked +most like mother's, and all of them seemed like hers, so we took the +first one Thomas could catch, put it into a bag in the back of the +cart, and then we got in and started for our barn. As we reached the +road, I said to her: "You'd better go past Dovers', for if we come +down our Little Hill they will see us sure; it's baking day." + +"All right!" said the Princess, so we went the long way round the +section, but goodness me! when she drove no way was far. + +When we were opposite our barn she stopped, hitched her horse to the +fence, and we climbed over, and slipping behind the barn, carried the +goose around to the pen and put it in with ours. She said she wanted +the broken one, because her father would enjoy seeing it. I didn't see +how he could! We were ready to slip out, when our geese began to run +at the new one, hiss and scream, and make such a racket that Laddie and +Leon both caught us. They looked at the goose, at me, the Princess, +and each other, and neither said a word. She looked back a little bit, +and then she laughed as hard as she could. Leon grew red, and he +grinned ashamed-like, so she laughed worse than ever. Laddie spoke to +me: "You went to Mr. Pryor's and asked for that goose?" + +"She did not!" said the Princess before I could answer. "She never +asked for anything. She was making a friendly morning call and in the +course of her visit she told about the pathetic end of the goose that +was expected to lay the golden egg--I mean stuff the Bishop's +pillow--and as we have a large flock of blue geese, father gave her +one, and he had the best time he's had in years doing it. I wouldn't +have had him miss the fun he got from it for any money. He laughed +like home again. Now I must slip away before any one sees me, and +spoils our secret. Leon, lad, you can go to the house and tell your +little mother that the feeding stopped every pain her goose had, and +hereafter it looks to you as if she'd be all right." + +"Miss Pryor," said Leon, "did you care about what I said at you in +church that day?" + +"'Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee.' Well, it was +a little pointed, but since you ask a plain question, I have survived +it." + +"I'm awfully sorry," said Leon. "Of course I never would, if I'd known +you could be this nice." + +The Princess looked at Laddie and almost gasped, and then both of them +laughed. Leon saw that he had told her he was sorry he said she was +"fair, and no spot in her." + +"Oh I don't mean that!" he said. "What I do mean is that I thank you +awful much for the goose, and helping me out like such a brick of a +good fellow, and what I wish is, that I was as old as Laddie, and he'd +hump himself if he got to be your beau." + +The Princess almost ran. Laddie and I followed to the road, where he +unhitched the horse and helped her in. Then he stood stroking its +neck, as he held the bridle. + +"I don't know what to say!" said Laddie. + +"In such case, I would counsel silence," advised the Princess. + +"I hope you understand how I thank you." + +"I fail to see what for. Father gave the goose to Little Sister. Her +thanks and Leon's are more than enough for him. We had great sport." + +"I insist on adding mine. Deep and fervent!" + +"You take everything so serious. Can't you see the fun of this?" + +"No," said Laddie. "But if you can, I am glad, and I'm thankful for +anything that gives me a glimpse of you." + +"Bye, Little Sister," said the Princess, and when she loosened the +lines the mud flew a rod high. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Keeping Christmas Our Way + + "I remember, I remember + How my childhood fleeted by,-- + The mirth of its December, + And the warmth of its July." + + +When dusk closed in it would be Christmas eve. All day I had three +points--a chair beside the kitchen table, a lookout melted through the +frost on the front window, and the big sitting-room fireplace. + +All the perfumes of Araby floated from our kitchen that day. There was +that delicious smell of baking flour from big snowy loaves of bread, +light biscuit, golden coffee cake, and cinnamon rolls dripping a waxy +mixture of sugar, butter, and spice, much better than the finest +butterscotch ever brought from the city. There was the tempting odour +of boiling ham and baking pies. The air was filled with the smell of +more herbs and spices than I knew the names of, that went into +mincemeat, fruit cake, plum pudding, and pies. There was a teasing +fragrance in the spiced vinegar heating for pickles, a reminder of +winesap and rambo in the boiling cider, while the newly opened bottles +of grape juice filled the house with the tang of Concord and muscadine. +It seemed to me I never got nicely fixed where I could take a sly dip +in the cake dough or snipe a fat raisin from the mincemeat but Candace +would say: "Don't you suppose the backlog is halfway down the lane?" + +Then I hurried to the front window, where I could see through my melted +outlook on the frosted pane, across the west eighty to the woods, where +father and Laddie were getting out the Christmas backlog. It was too +bitterly cold to keep me there while they worked, but Laddie said that +if I would watch, and come to meet them, he would take me up, and I +might ride home among the Christmas greens on the log. + +So I flattened my nose against the pane and danced and fidgeted until +those odours teased me back to the kitchen; and no more did I get +nicely located beside a jar of pudding sauce than Candace would object +to the place I had hung her stocking. It was my task, my delightful +all-day task, to hang the stockings. Father had made me a peg for each +one, and I had ten feet of mantel front along which to arrange them. +But it was no small job to do this to every one's satisfaction. No +matter what happened to any one else, Candace had to be pleased: for +did not she so manage that most fowls served on mother's table went +gizzardless to the carving? She knew and acknowledged the great +importance of trying cookies, pies, and cake while they were hot. She +was forever overworked and tired, yet she always found time to make +gingerbread women with currant buttons on their frocks, and pudgy +doughnut men with clove eyes and cigars of cinnamon. If my own +stocking lay on the hearth, Candace's had to go in a place that +satisfied her--that was one sure thing. Besides, I had to make up to +her for what Leon did, because she was crying into the corner of her +apron about that. + +He slipped in and stole her stocking, hung it over the broomstick, and +marched around the breakfast table singing to the tune of-- + + "Ha, ha, ha, who wouldn't go-- + Up on the housetop click, click, click? + Down through the chimney, + With good Saint Nick----" + +words he made up himself. He walked just fast enough that she couldn't +catch him, and sang as he went: + + "Ha, ha, ha, good Saint Nick, + Come and look at this stocking, quick! + + If you undertake its length to fill, + You'll have to bust a ten-dollar bill. + Who does it belong to? Candace Swartz. + Bring extra candy,--seven quarts----" + + +She got so angry she just roared, so father made Leon stop it, but I +couldn't help laughing myself. Then we had to pet her all day, so +she'd cheer up, and not salt the Christmas dinner with her tears. I +never saw such a monkey as Leon! I trotted out to comfort her, and +snipped bites, until I wore a triangle on the carpet between the +kitchen and the mantel, the mantel and the window, and the window and +the kitchen, while every hour things grew more exciting. + +There never had been such a flurry at our house since I could remember; +for to-morrow would be Christmas and bring home all the children, and a +house full of guests. My big brother, Jerry, who was a lawyer in the +city, was coming with his family, and so were Frank, Elizabeth, and +Lucy with theirs, and of course Sally and Peter--I wondered if she +would still be fixing his tie--and Shelley came yesterday, blushing +like a rose, and she laughed if you pointed your finger at her. + +Something had happened to her in Chicago. I wasn't so sure as I had +been about a city being such a dreadful place of noise, bad air, and +wicked people. Nothing had hurt Shelley. She had grown so much that +you could see she was larger. Her hair and face--all of Shelley just +shone. Her eyes danced, she talked and laughed all the time, and she +hugged every one who passed her. She never loved us so before. Leon +said she must have been homesick and coming back had given her a spell. +I did hope it would be a bad one, and last forever. I would have liked +for all our family to have had a spell if it would have made them act +and look like Shelley. The Princess was not a speck lovelier, and she +didn't act any nicer. + +If I could have painted, I'd have made a picture of Shelley with a +circle of light above her head like the one of the boy Jesus where He +talked with the wise men in the temple. I asked father if he noticed +how much prettier and nicer she was, and he said he did. Then I asked +him if he thought now, that a city was such a bad place to live in, and +he said where she was had nothing to do with it, the same thing would +happen here, or anywhere, when life's greatest experience came to a +girl. That was all he would say, but figuring it out was easy. The +greatest experience that happened to our girls was when they married, +like Sally, so it meant that Shelley had gone and fallen in love with +that lawyer man, and she liked sitting on the sofa with him, and no +doubt she fixed his ties. But if any one thought I would tell anything +I saw when he came they were badly mistaken. + +All of us rushed around like we were crazy. If father and mother +hadn't held steady and kept us down, we might have raised the roof. We +were all so glad about getting Leon and the money back; mother hadn't +been sick since the fish cured her; the new blue goose was so like the +one that had burst, even father never noticed any difference; all the +children were either home or coming, and after we had our gifts and the +biggest dinner we ever had, Christmas night all of us would go to the +schoolhouse to see our school try to spell down three others to whom +they had sent saucy invitations to come and be beaten. + +Mother sat in the dining-room beside the kitchen door, so that she +could watch the baking, brewing, pickling, and spicing. It took four +men to handle the backlog, which I noticed father pronounced every year +"just a little the finest we ever had," and Laddie strung the house +with bittersweet, evergreens, and the most beautiful sprays of myrtle +that he raked from under the snow. Father drove to town in the sleigh, +and the list of things to be purchased mother gave him as a reminder +was almost a yard long. + +The minute they finished the outdoor work Laddie and Leon began +bringing in baskets of apples, golden bellflowers, green pippins, white +winter pearmains, Rhode Island greenings, and striped rambos all +covered with hoarfrost, yet not frozen, and so full of juice you had to +bite into them carefully or they dripped and offended mother. These +they washed and carried to the cellar ready for use. + +Then they cracked big dishes of nuts; and popped corn that popped with +the most resounding pops in all my experience--popped a tubful, and +Laddie melted maple sugar and poured over it and made big balls of +fluff and sweetness. He took a pan and filled it with grains, selected +one at a time, the very largest and whitest, and made an especial ball, +in the middle of which he put a lovely pink candy heart on which was +printed in red letters: "How can this heart be mine, yet yours, unless +our hearts are one?" He wouldn't let any of them see it except me, and +he only let me because he knew I'd be delighted. + +It was almost dusk when father came through the kitchen loaded with +bundles and found Candace and the girls still cooking. + +We were so excited we could scarcely be gathered around the supper +table, and mother said we chattered until she couldn't hear herself +think. After a while Laddie laid down his fork and looked at our +father. + +"Have you any objection to my using the sleigh to-morrow night?" he +asked. + +Father looked at mother. + +"Had you planned to use it, mother?" + +Mother said: "No. If I go, I'll ride in the big sled with all of us. +It is such a little way, and the roads are like glass." + +So father said politely, as he always spoke to us: "Then it will give +me great pleasure for you to take it, my son." + +That made Leon bang his fork loudly as he dared and squirm in his +chair, for well he knew that if he had asked, the answer would have +been different. If Laddie took the sleigh he would harness carefully, +drive fast, but reasonably, blanket his horse, come home at the right +time, and put everything exactly where he found it. But Leon would +pitch the harness on some way, race every step, never think of his +steaming horse, come home when there was no one so wild as he left to +play pranks with, and scatter the harness everywhere. He knew our +father would love to trust him the same as he did Laddie. He wouldn't +always prove himself trustworthy, but he envied Laddie. + +"You think you'll take the Princess to the spelling bee, don't you?" he +sneered. + +"I mean to ask her," replied Laddie. + +"Maybe you think she'll ride in our old homemade, hickory cheesebox, +when she can sail all over the country like a bird in a velvet-lined +cutter with a real buffalo robe." + +There was a quick catch in mother's breath and I felt her hand on my +chair tremble. Father's lips tightened and a frown settled on his +face, while Laddie fairly jumped. He went white to the lips, and one +hand dropped on the table, palm up, the fingers closing and unclosing, +while his eyes turned first to mother, and then to father, in dumb +appeal. We all knew that he was suffering. No one spoke, and Leon +having shot his arrow straight home, saw as people so often do in this +world that the damage of unkind words could not easily be repaired; so +he grew red in the face and squirmed uncomfortably. + +At last Laddie drew a deep, quivering breath. "I never thought of +that," he said. "She has seemed happy to go with me several times when +I asked her, but of course she might not care to ride in ours, when she +has such a fine sleigh of her own." + +Father's voice fairly boomed down the length of the table. + +"Your mother always has found our sleigh suitable," he said. + +The fact was, father was rarely proud of it. He had selected the +hickory in our woods, cut it and hauled it to the mill, cured the +lumber, and used all his spare time for two winters making it. With +the exception of having the runners turned at a factory and iron-bound +at a smithy, he had completed it alone with great care, even to +staining it a beautiful cherry colour, and fitting white sheepskins +into the bed. We had all watched him and been so proud of it, and now +Leon was sneering at it. He might just as well have undertaken to +laugh at father's wedding suit or to make fun of "Clark's Commentaries." + +Laddie appealed to mother: "Do you think I'd better not ask her?" + +He spoke with an effort. + +"Laddie, that is the first time I ever heard you propose to do any one +an injustice," she said. + +"I don't see how," said Laddie. + +"It isn't giving the Princess any chance at all," replied mother +"You've just said that she has seemed pleased to accompany you before, +now you are proposing to cut her out of what promises to be the most +delightful evening of the winter, without even giving her the chance to +say whether she'd go with you or not. Has she ever made you feel that +anything you offered her or wanted to do for her was not good enough?" + +"Never!" exclaimed Laddie fervently. + +"Until she does, then, do you think it would be quite manly and +honourable to make decisions for her? You say you never thought of +anything except a pleasant time with her; possibly she feels the same. +Unless she changes, I would scarcely let a boy's foolish tongue disturb +her pleasure. Moreover, as to the matter of wealth, your father may be +as rich as hers; but they have one, we have many. If what we spend on +all our brood could be confined to one child, we could easily duplicate +all her luxuries, and I think she has the good sense to realize the +fact as quickly as any one. I've no doubt she would gladly exchange +half she has for the companionship of a sister or a brother in her +lonely life." + +Laddie turned to father, and father's smile was happy again. Mother +was little but she was mighty. With only a few words she had made Leon +feel how unkind and foolish he had been, quieted Laddie's alarm, and +soothed the hurt father's pride had felt in that he had not been able +to furnish her with so fine a turnout as Pryors had. + +Next morning when the excitement of gifts and greetings was over, and +Laddie's morning work was all finished, he took a beautiful volume of +poems and his popcorn ball and started across the fields due west; all +of us knew that he was going to call on and offer them to the Princess, +and ask to take her to the spelling bee. I suppose Laddie thought he +was taking that trip alone, but really he was surrounded. I watched +him from the window, and my heart went with him. Presently father went +and sat beside mother's chair, and stroking her hand, whispered softly: +"Please don't worry, little mother. It will be all right. Your boy +will come home happy." + +"I hope so," she answered, "but I can't help feeling dreadfully +nervous. If things go wrong with Laddie, it will spoil the day." + +"I have much faith in the Princess' good common sense," replied father, +"and considering what it means to Laddie, it would hurt me sore to lose +it." + +Mother sat still, but her lips moved so that I knew she was making soft +little whispered prayers for her best loved son. But Laddie, plowing +through the drift, never dreamed that all of us were with him. He was +always better looking than any other man I ever had seen, but when, two +hours later, he stamped into the kitchen he was so much handsomer than +usual, that I knew from the flush on his cheek and the light in his +eye, that the Princess had been kind, and by the package in his hand, +that she had made him a present. He really had two, a beautiful book +and a necktie. I wondered to my soul if she gave him that, so she +could fix it! I didn't believe she had begun on his ties at that time; +but of course when he loved her as he did, he wished she would. + +It was the very jolliest Christmas we ever had, but the day seemed +long. When night came we were in a precious bustle. The wagon bed on +bobs, filled with hay and covers, drawn by Ned and Jo, was brought up +for the family, and the sleigh made spick-and-span and drawn by +Laddie's thoroughbred, stood beside it. Laddie had filled the kitchen +oven with bricks and hung up a comfort at four o'clock to keep the +Princess warm. + +Because he had to drive out of the way to bring her, Laddie wanted to +start early; and when he came down dressed in his college clothes, and +looking the manliest of men, some of the folks thought it funny to see +him carefully rake his hot bricks from the oven, and pin them in an old +red breakfast shawl. I thought it was fine, and I whispered to mother: +"Do you suppose that if Laddie ever marries the Princess he will be +good to her as he is to you?" + +Mother nodded with tear-dimmed eyes, but Shelley said: "I'll wager a +strong young girl like the Princess will laugh at you for babying over +her." + +"Why?" inquired Laddie. "It is a long drive and a bitter night, and if +you fancy the Princess will laugh at anything I do, when I am doing the +best I know for her comfort, you are mistaken. At least, that is the +impression she gave me this morning." + +I saw the swift glance mother shot at father, and father laid down his +paper and said, while he pretended his glasses needed polishing: "Now +there is the right sort of a girl for you. No foolishness about her, +when she has every chance. Hurrah for the Princess!" + +It was easy to see that she wasn't going to have nearly so hard a time +changing father's opinion as she would mother's. It was not nearly a +year yet, and here he was changed already. Laddie said good-bye to +mother--he never forgot--gathered up his comfort and bricks, and +started for Pryors' downright happy. We went to the schoolhouse a +little later, all of us scoured, curled, starched, and wearing our very +best clothes. My! but it was fine. There were many lights in the room +and it was hung with greens. There was a crowd even though it was +early. On Miss Amelia's table was a volume of history that was the +prize, and every one was looking and acting the very best he knew how, +although there were cases where they didn't know so very much. + +Our Shelley was the handsomest girl there, until the Princess came, and +then they both were. Shelley wore one of her city frocks and a quilted +red silk hood that was one of her Christmas gifts, and she looked just +like a handsome doll. She made every male creature in that room feel +that she was pining for him alone. May had a gay plaid frock and curls +nearly a yard long, and so had I, but both our frocks and curls were +homemade; mother would have them once in a while; father and I couldn't +stop her. + +But there was not a soul there who didn't have some sort of gift to +rejoice over, and laughter and shouts of "Merry Christmas!" filled the +room. It was growing late and there was some talk of choosers, when +the door opened and in a rush of frosty air the Princess and Laddie +entered. Every one stopped short and stared. + +There was good reason. The Princess looked as if she had accidentally +stepped from a frame. She was always lovely and beautifully dressed, +but to-night she was prettier and finer than ever before. You could +fairly hear their teeth click as some of the most envious of those +girls caught sight of her, for she was wearing a new hat!--a black +velvet store hat, fitting closely over her crown, with a rim of twisted +velvet, a scarlet bird's wing, and a big silver buckle. Her dress was +of scarlet cloth cut in forms, and it fitted as if she had been melted +and poured into it. It was edged around the throat, wrists, and skirt +with narrow bands of fur, and she wore a loose, long, silk-lined coat +of the same material, and worst of all, furs--furs such as we had heard +wealthy and stylish city ladies were wearing. A golden brown cape that +reached to her elbows, with ends falling to the knees, finished in the +tails of some animal, and for her hands a muff as big as a nail keg. + +Now, there was not a girl in that room, except the Princess, an she had +those clothes, who wouldn't have flirted like a peacock, almost +bursting with pride; but because the Princess had them, and they +didn't, they sat stolid and sullen, and cast glances at each other as +if they were saying: "The stuck-up thing!" "Thinks she's smart, don't +she?" + +Many of them should have gone to meet her and made her welcome, for she +was not of our district and really their guest. Shelley did go, but I +noticed she didn't hurry. + +The choosers began at once, and Laddie was the first person called for +our side, and the Princess for the visitors'. Every one in the room +was chosen on one side or the other; even my name was called, but I +only sat still and shook my head, for I very well knew that no one +except father would remember to pronounce easy ones for me, and besides +I was so bitterly disappointed I could scarcely have stood up. They +had put me in a seat near the fire; the spellers lined either wall, and +a goodly number that refused to spell occupied the middle seats. I +couldn't get a glimpse of Laddie or the home folks, or worst of all, of +my idolized Princess. + +I never could bear to find a fault with Laddie, but I sadly reflected +that he might as well have left me at home, if I were to be buried +where I could neither hear nor see a thing. I was just wishing it was +summer so I could steal out to the cemetery, and have a good visit with +the butterflies that always swarmed around Georgiana Jane Titcomb's +grave at the corner of the church. I never knew Georgiana Jane, but +her people must have been very fond of her, for her grave was scarlet +with geraniums, and pink with roses from earliest spring until frost, +and the bright colours attracted swarms of butterflies. I had learned +that if I stuck a few blossoms in my hair, rubbed some sweet smelling +ones over my hands, and knelt and kept so quiet that I fitted into the +landscape, the butterflies would think me a flower too, and alight on +my hair, dress, and my hands, even. God never made anything more +beautiful than those butterflies, with their wings of brightly painted +velvet down, their bright eyes, their curious antennae, and their +queer, tickly feet. Laddie had promised me a book telling all about +every kind there was, the first time he went to a city, so I was +wishing I had it, and was among my pet beauties with it, when I +discovered him bending over me. + +He took my arm, and marching back to his place, helped me to the deep +window seat beside him, where with my head on a level, and within a +foot of his, I could see everything in the whole room. I don't know +why I ever spent any time pining for the beauties of Georgiana Jane +Titcomb's grave, even with its handsome headstone on which was carved a +lamb standing on three feet and holding a banner over its shoulder with +the fourth, and the geraniums, roses, and the weeping willow that grew +over it, thrown in. I might have trusted Laddie. He never had +forgotten me; until he did, I should have kept unwavering faith. + +Now, I had the best place of any one in the room, and I smoothed my new +plaid frock and shook my handmade curls just as near like Shelley as +ever I could. But it seems that most of the ointment in this world has +a fly in it, like in the Bible, for fine as my location was, I soon +knew that I should ask Laddie to put me down, because the window behind +me didn't fit its frame, and the night was bitter. Before half an hour +I was stiff with cold; but I doubt if I would have given up that +location if I had known I would freeze, because this was the most fun I +had ever seen. + +Miss Amelia began with McGuffey's spelling book, and whenever some poor +unfortunate made a bad break the crowd roared with laughter. Peter +Justice stood up to spell and before three rounds he was nodding on his +feet, so she pronounced "sleepy" to him. Some one nudged Pete and he +waked up and spelled it, s-l-e, sle, p-e, pe, and because he really was +so sleepy it made every one laugh. James Whittaker spelled compromise +with a k, and Isaac Thomas spelled soap, s-o-a-p-e, and it was all the +funnier that he couldn't spell it, for from his looks you could tell +that he had no acquaintance with it in any shape. Then Miss Amelia +gave out "marriage" to the spooniest young man in the district, and +"stepfather" to a man who was courting a widow with nine children; and +"coquette" to our Shelley, who had been making sheep's eyes at Johnny +Myers, so it took her by surprise and she joined the majority, which by +that time occupied seats. + +There was much laughing and clapping of hands for a time, but when Miss +Amelia had let them have their fun and thinned the lines to half a +dozen on each side who could really spell, she began business, and +pronounced the hardest words she could find in the book, and the +spellers caught them up and rattled them off like machines. + +"Incompatibility," she gave out, and before the sound of her voice died +away the Princess was spelling: "I-n, in, c-o-m, com, in com, p-a-t, +pat, incompat, i, incompati, b-i-l, bil, incompatibil, i, +incompatibili, t-y, ty, incompatibility." + +Then Laddie spelled "incomprehensibility," and they finished up the +"bilities" and the "alities" with a rush and changed McGuffey's for +Webster, with five on Laddie's side and three on the Princess', and +when they quit with it, the Princess was alone, and Laddie and our +little May facing her. + +From that on you could call it real spelling. They spelled from the +grammars, hyperbole, synecdoche, and epizeuxis. They spelled from the +physiology, chlorophyll, coccyx, arytenoid, and the names of the bones +and nerves, and all the hard words inside you. + +They tried the diseases and spelled jaundice, neurasthenia, and +tongue-tied. They tried all the occupations and professions, and went +through the stores and spelled all sorts of hardware, china and dry +goods. Each side kept cheering its own and urging them to do their +best, and every few minutes some man in the back of the house said +something that was too funny. When Miss Amelia pronounced "bombazine" +to Laddie our side cried, "Careful, Laddie, careful! you're out of your +element!" + +And when she gave "swivel-tree" to the Princess, her side whispered, +"Go easy! Do you know what it is? Make her define it." + +They branched over the country. May met her Jonah on the mountains. +Katahdin was too much for her, and Laddie and the Princess were left to +fight it out alone. I didn't think Laddie liked it. I'm sure he never +expected it to turn out that way. He must have been certain he could +beat her, for after he finished English there were two or three other +languages he knew, and every one in the district felt that he could +win, and expected him to do it. It was an awful place to put him in, I +could see that. He stood a little more erect than usual, with his eyes +toward the Princess, and when his side kept crying, "Keep the prize, +Laddie! Hold up the glory of the district!" he ground out the words as +if he had a spite at them for not being so hard that he would have an +excuse for going down. + +The Princess was poised lightly on her feet, her thick curls, just +touching her shoulders, shining in the light; her eyes like stars, her +perfect, dark oval face flushed a rich red, and her deep bosom rising +and falling with excitement. Many times in later years I have tried to +remember when the Princess was loveliest of all, and that night always +stands first. + +I was thinking fast. Laddie was a big man. Men were strong on purpose +so they could bear things. He loved the Princess so, and he didn't +know whether she loved him or not; and every marriageable man in three +counties was just aching for the chance to court her, and I didn't feel +that he dared risk hurting her feelings. + +Laddie said, to be the man who conquered the Princess and to whom she +lifted her lips for a first kiss was worth life itself. I made up my +mind that night that he knew just exactly what he was talking about. I +thought so too. And I seemed to understand why Laddie--Laddie in his +youth, strength, and manly beauty, Laddie, who boasted that there was +not a nerve in his body--trembled before the Princess. + +It looked as if she had set herself against him and was working for the +honours, and if she wanted them, I didn't feel that he should chance +beating her, and then, too, it was beginning to be plain that it was +none too sure he could. Laddie didn't seem to be the only one who had +been well drilled in spelling. + +I held my jaws set a minute, so that I could speak without Laddie +knowing how I was shivering, and then I whispered: "Except her eyes +are softer, she looks just like a cardinal." + +Laddie nodded emphatically and moving a step nearer laid his elbow +across my knees. Heavens, how they spelled! They finished all the +words I ever heard and spelled like lightning through a lot of others +the meaning of which I couldn't imagine. Father never gave them out at +home. They spelled epiphany, gaberdine, ichthyology, gewgaw, +kaleidoscope, and troubadour. Then Laddie spelled one word two +different ways; and the Princess went him one better, for she spelled +another three. + +They spelled from the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar, Potiphar, Peleg, +Belshazzar, Abimelech, and a host of others I never heard the minister +preach about. Then they did the most dreadful thing of all. "Broom," +pronounced the teacher, and I began mentally, b-r-o-o-m, but Laddie +spelled "b-r-o-u-g-h-a-m," and I stared at him in a daze. A second +later Miss Amelia gave out "Beecham" to the Princess, and again I tried +it, b-e-e-c-h, but the Princess was spelling "B-e-a-u-c-h-a-m-p," and I +almost fell from the window. + +They kept that up until I was nearly crazy with nervousness; I forgot I +was half frozen. I pulled Laddie's sleeve and whispered in his ear: +"Do you think she'll cry if you beat her?" + +I was half crying myself, the strain had been awful. I was torn +between these dearest loves of mine. + +"Seen me have any chance to beat her?" retorted Laddie. + +Miss Amelia seemed to have used most of her books, and at last picked +up an old geography and began giving out points around the coast, while +Laddie and the Princess took turns snatching the words from her mouth +and spelling them. Father often did that, so Laddie was safe there. +They were just going it when Miss Amelia pronounced, "Terra del Fuego," +to the Princess. "T-e-r-r-a, Terra, d-e-l, del, F-i-e-u-g-o," spelled +the Princess, and sat down suddenly in the midst of a mighty groan from +her side, swelled by a wail from one little home district deserter. + +"Next!" called Miss Amelia. + +"T-e-r-r-a, Terra, d-e-l, del, F-e-u-g-o," spelled Laddie. + +"Wrong!" wailed Miss Amelia, and our side breathed one big groan in +concert, and I lifted up my voice in that also. Then every one laughed +and pretended they didn't care, and the Princess came over and shook +hands with Laddie, and Laddie said to Miss Amelia: + +"Just let me take that book a minute until I see how the thing really +does go." It was well done and satisfied the crowd, which clapped and +cheered; but as I had heard him spell it many, many times for father, +he didn't fool me. + +Laddie and the Princess drew slips for the book and it fell to her. He +was so pleased he kissed me as he lifted me down and never noticed I +was so stiff I could scarcely stand--and I did fall twice going to the +sleigh. My bed was warm and my room was warm, but I chilled the night +through and until the next afternoon, when I grew so faint and sleepy I +crept to Miss Amelia's desk, half dead with fright--it was my first +trip to ask an excuse--and begged: "Oh teacher, I'm so sick. Please +let me go home." + +I think one glance must have satisfied her that it was true, for she +said very kindly that I might, and she would send Leon along to take +care of me. But my troubles were only half over when I had her +consent. It was very probable I would be called a baby and sent back +when I reached home, so I refused company and started alone. It seemed +a mile past the cemetery. I was so tired I stopped, and leaning +against the fence, peeped through at the white stones and the whiter +mounds they covered, and wondered how my mother would feel if she were +compelled to lay me beside the two little whooping cough and fever +sisters already sleeping there. I decided that it would be so very +dreadful, that the tears began to roll down my cheeks and freeze before +they fell. + +Down the Big Hill slowly I went. How bare it looked then! Only +leafless trees and dried seed pods rattling on the bushes, the sand +frozen, and not a rush to be seen for the thick blanket of snow. A few +rods above the bridge was a footpath, smooth and well worn, that led +down to the creek, beaten by the feet of children who raced it every +day and took a running slide across the ice. I struck into the path as +always; but I was too stiff to run, for I tried. I walked on the ice, +and being almost worn out, sat on the bridge and fell to watching the +water bubbling under the glassy crust. I was so dull a horse's feet +struck the bridge before I heard the bells--for I had bells in my ears +that day--and when I looked up it was the Princess--the Princess in her +red dress and furs, with a silk hood instead of her hat, her sleigh +like a picture, with a buffalo robe, that it was whispered about the +country, cost over a hundred dollars, and her thoroughbred mare Maud +dancing and prancing. "Bless me! Is it you, Little Sister?" she +asked. "Shall I give you a ride home?" + +Before I could scarcely realize she was there, I was beside her and she +was tucking the fine warm robe over me. I lifted a pair of dull eyes +to her face. + +"Oh Princess, I am so glad you came," I said. "I don't think I could +have gone another step if I had frozen on the bridge." + +The Princess bent to look in my face. "Why, you poor child!" She +exclaimed, "you're white as death! Where are you ill?" + +I leaned on her shoulder, though ordinarily I would not have offered to +touch her first, and murmured: "I am not ill, outdoors, only dull, +sleepy, and freezing with the cold." + +"It was that window!" she exclaimed. "I thought of it, but I trusted +Laddie." + +That roused me a little. + +"Oh Princess," I cried, "you mustn't blame Laddie! I knew it was too +cold, but I wouldn't tell him, because if he put me down I couldn't see +you, and we thought, but for your eyes being softer, you looked just +like a cardinal." + +The Princess hugged me close and laughed merrily. "You darling!" she +cried. + +Then she shook me up sharply: "Don't you dare go to sleep!" she said. +"I must take you home first." + +Once there she quieted my mother's alarm, put me to bed, drove three +miles for Dr. Fenner and had me started nicely on the road to a month +of lung fever, before she left. In my delirium I spelled volumes; and +the miracle of it was I never missed a word until I came to "Terra del +Fuego," and there I covered my lips and stoutly insisted that it was +the Princess' secret. + +To keep me from that danger sleep on the road, she shook me up and +asked about the spelling bee. I thought it was the grandest thing I +had ever seen in my life, and I told her so. She gathered me close and +whispered: "Tell me something, Little Sister, please." + +The minx! She knew I thought that a far finer title than hers. + +"Would Laddie care?" I questioned. + +"Not in the least!" + +"Well then, I will." + +"Can Laddie spell 'Terra del Fuego?'" she whispered. + +I nodded. + +"Are you sure?" + +"I have heard him do it over and over for father." + +The Princess forgot I was so sick, forgot her horse, forgot everything. +She threw her head back and her hands up, until her horse stopped in +answer to the loosened line, and she laughed and laughed. She laughed +until peal on peal re-echoed from our Big Woods clear across the west +eighty. She laughed until her ringing notes set my slow pulses on +fire, and started my numbed brain in one last effort. I stood up and +took her lovely face between my palms, turning it until I could see +whether the thought that had come to me showed in her eyes, and it did. + +"Oh you darling, splendid Princess!" I cried. "You missed it on +purpose to let Laddie beat! You can spell it too!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Horn of the Hunter + + "The dusky night rides down the sky, + And ushers in the morn: + The hounds all join in glorious cry, + The huntsman winds his horn." + + +Leon said our house reminded him of the mourners' bench before any one +had "come through." He said it was so deadly with Sally and Shelley +away, that he had a big notion to marry Susie Fall and bring her over +to liven things up a little. Mother said she thought that would be a +good idea, and Leon started in the direction of Falls', but he only +went as far as Deams'. When he came back he had a great story to tell +about dogs chasing their sheep, and foxes taking their geese. Father +said sheep were only safe behind securely closed doors, especially in +winter, and geese also. Leon said every one hadn't as big a barn as +ours, and father said there was nothing to prevent any man from +building the sized barn he needed to shelter his creatures in safety +and comfort, if he wanted to dig in and earn the money to put it up. +There was no answer to that, and Mr. Leon didn't try to make any. +Mostly, he said something to keep on talking, but sometimes he saw when +he had better quit. + +I was having a good time, myself. Of course when the fever was the +worst, and when I never had been sick before, it was pretty bad, but as +soon as I could breathe all right, there was no pain to speak of, and +every one was so good to me. I could have Bobby on the footboard of my +bed as long as I wanted him, and he would crow whenever I told him to. +I kept Grace Greenwood beside me, and spoiled her dress making her take +some of each dose of medicine I did, but Shelley wrote that she was +saving goods and she would make her another as soon as she came home. +I made mother put red flannel on Grace's chest and around her neck, +until I could hardly find her mouth when she had to take her medicine, +but she swallowed it down all right, or she got her nose held, until +she did. She was not nearly so sick as I was, though. We both grew +better together, and, when Dr. Fenner brought me candy, she had her +share. + +When I began to get well it was lovely. Such toast, chicken broth, and +squirrels, as mother always had. I even got the chicken liver, +oranges, and all of them gave me everything they had that I wanted--I +must almost have died to make them act like that! + +Laddie and father would take me up wrapped in blankets and hold me to +rest my back. Father would rock me and sing about "Young Johnny," just +as he had when I was little. We always laughed at it, we knew it was a +fool song, but we liked it. The tune was smooth and sleepy-like and +the words went: + + "One day young Johnny, he did go, + Way down in the meadow for to mow. + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-nan-incty, noddy O! + + He scarce had mowed twice round the field, + When a pesky sarpent bit him on the heel, + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-nan-incty, noddy O! + + He threw the scythe upon the ground, + An' shut his eyes, and looked all round, + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-nan-incty, noddy O! + + He took the sarpent in his hand, + And then ran home to Molly Bland, + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-nan-incty, noddy O! + + O Molly dear, and don't you see, + This pesky sarpent that bit me? + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-nan-incty, noddy O! + + O Johnny dear, why did you go, + Way down in the meadow fot to mow? + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-nan-incty, noddy O! + + O Molly dear, I thought you knowed + 'Twas daddy's grass, and it must be mowed, + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-n an-incty, noddy O! + + Now all young men a warning take, + And don't get bit by a rattlesnake. + Li-tu-di-nan-incty, tu-di-nan-incty, noddy O!" + + +All of them told me stories, read to me, and Frank, one of my big +gone-away brothers, sent me the prettiest little book. It had a green +cover with gold on the back, and it was full of stories and poems, not +so very hard, because I could read every one of them, with help on a +few words. The piece I liked best was poetry. If it hadn't been for +that, I'm afraid, I was having such a good time, I'd have lain there +until I forgot how to walk, with all of them trying to see who could be +nicest to me. The ones who really could, were Laddie and the Princess, +except mother. Laddie lifted me most carefully, the Princess told the +best stories, but after all, if the burning and choking grew so bad I +could scarcely stand it, mother could lay her hand on my head and say, +"Poor child," in a way that made me work to keep on breathing. Maybe I +only THOUGHT I loved Laddie best. I guess if I had been forced to take +my choice when I had the fever, I'd have stuck pretty tight to mother. +Even Dr. Fenner said if I pulled through she'd have to make me. I +might have been lying there yet, if it hadn't been for the book Frank +sent me, with the poetry piece in it. It began: + + "Somewhere on a sunny bank, buttercups are bright, + Somewhere 'mid the frozen grass, peeps the daisy white." + + +I read that so often I could repeat it quite as well with the book shut +as open, and every time I read it, I wanted outdoors worse. In one +place it ran: + + "Welcome, yellow buttercups, welcome daisies white, + Ye are in my spirit visioned a delight. + Coming in the springtime of sunny hours to tell, + Speaking to our hearts of Him who doeth all things well." + + +That piece helped me out of bed, and the blue gander screaming opened +the door. It was funny about it too. I don't know WHY it worked on me +that way; it just kept singing in my heart all day, and I could shut my +eyes and go to sleep seeing buttercups in a gold sheet all over our Big +Hill, although there never was a single one there; and meadows full of +daisies, which were things father said were a pest he couldn't +tolerate, because they spread so, and he grubbed up every one he found. +Yet that piece filled our meadow until I imagined I could roll on +daisies. They might be a pest to farmers, but sheets of them were +pretty good if you were burning with fever. Between the buttercups and +the daisies I left the bed with a light head and wobbly legs. + +Of course I wasn't an idiot. I knew when I looked from our south +window exactly what was to be seen. The person who wrote that piece +was the idiot. It sang and sounded pretty, and it pulled you up and +pushed you out, but really it was a fool thing, as I very well knew. I +couldn't imagine daisies peeping through frozen grass. Any baby should +have known they bloomed in July. Skunk cabbage always came first, and +hepatica. If I had looked from any of our windows and seen daisies and +buttercups in March, I'd have fallen over with the shock. I knew there +would be frozen brown earth, last year's dead leaves, caved-in apple +and potato holes, the cabbage row almost gone, puddles of water and mud +everywhere, and I would hear geese scream and hens sing. And yet that +poem kept pulling and pulling, and I was happy as a queen--I wondered +if they were for sure; mother had doubts--the day I was wrapped in +shawls and might sit an hour in the sun on the top board of the back +fence, where I could see the barn, orchard, the creek and the meadow, +as you never could in summer because of the leaves. I wasn't looking +for buttercups and daisies either. I mighty well knew there wouldn't +be any. + +But the sun was there. A little taste of willow, oak and maple was in +the air. You could see the buds growing fat too, and you could smell +them. If you opened your eyes and looked in any direction you could +see blue sky, big, ragged white clouds, bare trees, muddy earth with +grassy patches, and white spots on the shady sides where unmelted snow +made the icy feel in the air, even when the sun shone. You couldn't +hear yourself think for the clatter of the turkeys, ganders, roosters, +hens, and everything that had a voice. I was so crazy with it I could +scarcely hang to the fence; I wanted to get down and scrape my wings +like the gobbler, and scream louder than the gander, and crow oftener +than the rooster. There was everything all ice and mud. They would +have frozen, if they hadn't been put in a house at night, and starved, +if they hadn't been fed; they were not at the place where they could +hunt and scratch, and not pay any attention to feeding time, because of +being so bursting full. They had no nests and babies to rejoice over. +But there they were! And so was I! Buttercups and daisies be-hanged! +Ice and mud really! But if you breathed that air, and shut your eyes, +north, you could see blue flags, scarlet lilies, buttercups, cattails +and redbirds sailing over them; east, there would be apple bloom and +soft grass, cowslips, and bubbling water, robins, thrushes, and +bluebirds; and south, waving corn with wild rose and alder borders, and +sparrows, and larks on every fence rider. + +Right there I got that daisy thing figured out. It wasn't that there +were or ever would be daisies and buttercups among the frozen grass; +but it was forever and always that when this FEEL came into the air, +you knew they were COMING. THAT was what ailed the gander and the +gobbler. They hadn't a thing to be thankful for yet, but something +inside them was swelling and pushing because of what was coming. I +felt exactly as they did, because I wanted to act the same way, but I'd +been sick enough to know that I'd better be thankful for the chance to +sit on the fence, and think about buttercups and daisies. Really, one +old brown and purple skunk cabbage with a half-frozen bee buzzing over +it, or a few forlorn little spring beauties, would have set me wild, +and when a lark really did go over, away up high, and a dove began to +coo in the orchard, if Laddie hadn't come for me, I would have fallen +from the fence. + +I simply had to get well and quickly too, for the wonderful time was +beginning. It was all very well to lie in bed when there was nothing +else to do, and every one would pet me and give me things; but here was +maple syrup time right at the door, and the sugar camp most fun alive; +here was all the neighbourhood crazy mad at the foxes, and planning a +great chase covering a circuit of miles before the ground thawed; here +was Easter and all the children coming, except Shelley--again, it would +cost too much for only one day--and with everything beginning to hum, I +found out there would be more amusement outdoors than inside. That was +how I came to study out the daisy piece. There was nothing in the +silly, untrue lines: the pull and tug was in what they made you think +of. + +I was still so weak I had to take a nap every day, so I wasn't sleepy +as early at night, and I heard father and mother talk over a lot of +things before they went to bed. After they mentioned it, I remembered +that we hadn't received nearly so many letters from Shelley lately, and +mother seldom found time to read them aloud during the day and forgot, +or her eyes were tired, at night. + +"Are you worrying about Shelley?" asked father one night. + +"Yes, I am," answered mother. + +"What do you think is the trouble?" + +"I'm afraid things are not coming out with Mr. Paget as she hoped." + +"If they don't, she is going to be unhappy?" + +"That's putting it mildly." + +"Well, I was doubtful in the beginning." + +"Now hold on," said mother. "So was I; but what are you going to do? +I can't go through the world with my girls, and meet men for them. I +trained them just as carefully as possible before I started them out; +that was all I could do. Shelley knows when a man appears clean, +decent and likable. She knows when his calling is respectable. She +knows when his speech is proper, his manners correct, and his ways +attractive. She found this man all of these things, and she liked him +accordingly. At Christmas she told me about it freely." + +"Have you any idea how far the thing has gone?" + +"She said then that she had seen him twice a week for two months. He +seemed very fond of her. He had told her he cared more for her than +any girl he ever had met, and he had asked her to come here this summer +and pay us a visit, so she wanted to know if he might." + +"Of course you told her yes." + +"Certainly I told her yes. I wish now we'd saved money and you'd gone +to visit her and met him when she first wrote of him. You could have +found out who and what he was, and with your experience you might have +pointed out signs that would have helped her to see, before it was too +late." + +"What do you think is the trouble?" + +"I wish I knew! She simply is failing to mention him in her letters; +all the joy of living has dropped from them, she merely writes about +her work; and now she is beginning to complain of homesickness and to +say that she doesn't know how to endure the city any longer. There's +something wrong." + +"Had I better go now?" + +"Too late!" said mother, and I could hear her throat go wrong and the +choke come into her voice. "She is deeply in love with him; he hasn't +found in her what he desires; probably he is not coming any more; what +could you do?" + +"I could go and see if there is anything I could do?" + +"She may not want you. I'll write her to-morrow and suggest that you +or Laddie pay her a visit and learn what she thinks." + +"All right," said father. + +He kissed her and went to sleep, but mother was awake yet, and she got +up and stood looking down at the church and the two little white +gravestones she could see from her window, until I thought she would +freeze, and she did nearly, for her hands were cold and the tears +falling when she examined my covers, and felt my face and hands before +she went to bed. My, but the mother of a family like ours is never +short of a lot of things to think of! + +I had a new one myself. Now what do you suppose there was about that +man? + +Of course after having lived all her life with father and Laddie, +Shelley would know how a man should look, and act to be right; and this +one must have been right to make her bloom out in winter the way other +things do in spring; and now what could be wrong? Maybe city girls +were prettier than Shelley. But all women were made alike on the +outside, and that was as far as you could see. You couldn't find out +whether they had pure blood, true hearts, or clean souls. No girl +could be so very much prettier than Shelley; they simply were not made +that way. She knew how to behave; she had it beaten into her, like all +of us. And she knew her books, what our schools could teach her, and +Groveville, and Lucy, who had city chances for years, and there never +was a day at our house when books and papers were not read and +discussed, and your spelling was hammered into you standing in rows +against the wall, and memory tests--what on earth could be the matter +with Shelley that a man who could make her look and act as she did at +Christmas, would now make her unhappy? Sometimes I wanted to be grown +up dreadfully, and again, times like that, I wished my bed could stay +in mother's room, and I could creep behind father's paper and go to +sleep between his coat and vest, and have him warm my feet in his hands +forever. + +This world was too much for me. I never worked and worried in all my +life as I had over Laddie and the Princess, and Laddie said I, myself, +never would know how I had helped him. Of course nothing was settled; +he had to try to make her love him by teaching her how lovable he was. +We knew, because we always had known him, but she was a stranger and +had to learn. It was mighty fine for him that he could force his way +past the dogs, Thomas, the other men, her half-crazy father, and +through the locked door, and go there to try to make her see, on Sunday +nights, and week days, every single chance he could invent, and he +could think up more reasons for going to Pryors' than mother could for +putting out an extra wash. + +Now just as I got settled a little about him, and we could see they +really wanted him there, at least the Princess and her mother did, and +Mr. Pryor must have been fairly decent or Laddie never would have gone; +and the Princess came to our house to bring me things to eat, and ask +how mother was, and once to learn how she embroidered Sally's wedding +chemise, and social things like that; and when father acted as if he +liked her so much he hadn't a word to say, and mother seemed to begin +to feel as if Laddie and the Princess could be trusted to fix it up +about God; and the old mystery didn't matter after all; why, here +Shelley popped up with another mystery, and it belonged to us. But +whatever ailed that man I couldn't possibly think. It had got to be +him, for Shelley was so all right at Christmas, it made her look that +pretty we hardly knew her. + +I was thinking about her until I scarcely could study my lessons, so I +could recite to Laddie at night, and not fall so far behind at school. +Miss Amelia offered to hear me, but I just begged Laddie, and father +could see that he taught me fifty things in a lesson that you could +tell to look at Miss Amelia, she never knew. Why, he couldn't hear me +read: + + "We charged upon a flock of geese, + And put them all to flight + Except one sturdy gander + That thought to show us fight,"-- + +without teaching me that the oldest picture in all the world was made +of a row of geese, some of which were kinds we then had--the earth +didn't seem so old when you thought of that--and how a flock of geese +once wakened an army and saved a city, and how far wild geese could fly +without alighting in migration, and everything you could think of about +geese, only he didn't know why eating the same grass made feathers on +geese and wool on sheep. Anyway, Miss Amelia never told you a word but +what was in the book, and how to read and spell it. May said that +father was very much disappointed in her, and he was never going to +hire another teacher until he met and talked with her, no matter what +kind of letters she could send. He was not going to help her get a +summer school, and O my soul! I hope no one does, for if they do, I +have to go, and I'd rather die than go to school in the summer. + +Leon came in about that time with more fox stories. Been in Jacob +Hood's chicken house and taken his best Dorking rooster, and father +said it was time to do something. He never said a word so long as they +took Deams', except they should have barn room for their geese, but +when anything was the matter at Hoods' father and mother started doing +something the instant they heard of it. So father and Laddie rode +around the neighbourhood and talked it over, and the next night they +had a meeting at our schoolhouse; men for miles came, and they planned +a regular old-fashioned foxchase, and every one was wild about it. + +Laddie told it at Pryors' and the Princess wanted to go; she asked to +go with him, and if you please, Mr. Pryor wanted to go too, and their +Thomas. They attended the meeting to tell how people chase foxes in +England, where they seem to hunt them most of the time. Father said: +"Thank God for even a foxchase, if it will bring Mr. Pryor among his +neighbours and help him to act sensibly." They are going away fifteen +miles or farther, and form a big circle of men from all directions, +some walking in a line, and others riding to bring back any foxes that +escape, and with dogs, and guns, they are going to rout out every one +they can find, and kill them so they won't take the geese, little pigs, +lambs, and Hoods' Dorking rooster. Laddie had a horn that Mr. Pryor +gave him when he told him this country was showing signs of becoming +civilized at last; but Leon grinned and said he'd beat that. + +Then when you wanted him, he was in the wood house loft at work, but +father said he couldn't get into mischief there. He should have seen +that churn when it was full of wedding breakfast! We ate for a week +afterward, until things were all moulded, and we didn't dare anymore. +One night I begged so hard and promised so faithfully he trusted me; he +did often, after I didn't tell about the Station; and I went to the +loft with him, and watched him work an hour. He had a hollow limb +about six inches through and fourteen long. He had cut and burned it +to a mere shell, and then he had scraped it with glass inside and out, +until it shone like polished horn. He had shaved the wool from a piece +of sheepskin, soaked, stretched, and dried it, and then fitted it over +one end of the drumlike thing he had made, and tacked and bound it in a +little groove at the edge. He put the skin on damp so he could stretch +it tight. Then he punched a tiny hole in the middle, and pulled +through it, down inside the drum, a sheepskin thong rolled in resin, +with a knot big enough to hold it, and not tear the head. Then he took +it under his arm and we slipped across the orchard below the Station, +and went into the hollow and tried it. + +It worked! I almost fell dead with the first frightful sound. It just +bellowed and roared. In only a little while he found different ways to +make it sound by his manner of working the tongue. A long, steady, +even pull got that kind of a roar. A short, quick one made it bark. A +pull half the length of the thong, a pause, and another pull, made it +sound like a bark and a yelp. To pull hard and quick, made it go +louder, and soft and easy made it whine. Before he had tried it ten +minutes he could do fifty things with it that would almost scare the +livers out of those nasty old foxes that were taking every one's geese, +Dorking roosters, and even baby lambs and pigs. Of course people +couldn't stand that; something had to be done! + +Even in the Bible it says, "Beware of the little foxes that spoil the +vines," and geese, especially blue ones, Dorking roosters, lambs, and +pigs were much more valuable than mere vines; so Leon made that awful +thing to scare the foxes from their holes that's in the Bible too, +about the holes I mean, not the scaring. I wanted Leon to slip to the +back door and make the dumb-bell--that's what he called it; if I had +been naming it I would have called it the thunder-bell--go; but he +wouldn't. He said he didn't propose to work as he had, and then have +some one find out, and fix one like it. He said he wouldn't let it +make a sound until the night before the chase, and then he'd raise the +dead. I don't know about the dead; but it was true of the living. +Father went a foot above his chair and cried: "Whoo-pee!" All of us, +even I, when I was waiting for it, screamed as if Paddy Ryan raved at +the door. Then Leon came in and showed us, and every one wanted to +work the dumb-bell, even mother. Leon marched around and showed off; +he looked "See the conquering hero comes," all over. I never felt +worse about being made into a girl than I did that night. + +I couldn't sleep for excitement, and mother said I might as well, for +it would be at least one o'clock before they would round-up in our +meadow below the barn. All the neighbours were to shut up their stock, +tie their dogs, or lead them with chains, if they took them, so when +the foxes were surrounded, they could catch them alive, and save their +skins. I wondered how some of those chasing people, even Laddie, Leon, +and father--think of that! father was going too--I wondered how they +would have liked to have had something as much bigger than they were, +as they were bigger than the foxes, chase them with awful noises, guns +and dogs, and catch them alive--to save their skins. No wonder I +couldn't sleep! I guess the foxes wouldn't either, if they had known +what was coming. Maybe hereafter the mean old things would eat rabbits +and weasels, and leave the Dorking roosters alone. + +May, Candace, and Miss Amelia were going to Deams' to wait, and when +the round-up formed a solid line, they planned to stand outside, and +see the sport. If they had been the foxes, maybe they wouldn't have +thought it was so funny; but of course, people just couldn't have even +their pigs and lambs taken. We had to have wool to spin yarn for our +stockings, weave our blankets and coverlids, and our Sunday winter +dresses of white flannel with narrow black crossbars were from the +backs of our own sheep, and we had to have ham to fry with eggs, and +boil for Sunday night suppers, and bacon to cook the greens with--of +course it was all right. + +Before it was near daylight I heard Laddie making the kitchen fire, so +father got right up, Leon came down, and all of them went to the barn +to do the feeding. I wanted to get up too, but mother said I should +stay in bed until the house was warm, because if I took more cold I'd +be sick again. At breakfast May asked father about when they should +start for Deams' to be ahead of the chase, and he said by ten o'clock +at least; because a fox driven mad by pursuit, dogs, and noise, was a +very dangerous thing, and a bite might make hy----the same thing as a +mad dog. He said our back barn door opening from the threshing floor +would afford a fine view of the meet, but Candace, May, and Miss Amelia +wanted to be closer. I might go with them if they would take good care +of me, and they promised to; but when the time came to start, there was +such a queer feeling inside me, I thought maybe it was more fever, and +with mother would be the best place for me, so I said I wanted to watch +from the barn. Father thought that was a capital idea, because I would +be on the east side, where there would be no sun and wind, and it would +be perfectly safe; also, I really could see what was going on better +from that height than on the ground. + +The sun was going to shine, but it hadn't peeped above Deams' +strawstack when father on his best saddle horse, and Laddie on Flos, +rode away, their eyes shining, their faces red, their blood pounding so +it made their voices sound excited and different. Leon was to go on +foot. Father said he would ride a horse to death. He just grinned and +never made a word of complaint. Seemed funny for him. + +"I was over having a little confidential chat with my horse, last +night," he said, "and next year we'll be in the chase, and we'll show +you how to take fences, and cut curves; just you wait!" + +"Leon, DON'T build so on that horse," wailed mother. "I'm sure that +money was stolen like ours, and the owner will claim it! I feel it in +my bones!" + +"Aw, shucks!" said Leon. "That money is mine. He won't either!" + +When they started, father took Leon behind him to ride as far as the +county line. He said he would go slowly, and it wouldn't hurt the +horse, but Leon slipped off at Hoods', and said he'd go with their +boys, so father let him, because light as Leon was, both of them were +quite a load for one horse. Laddie went to ride with the Princess. We +could see people moving around in Pryors' barnyard when our men +started. Candace washed, Miss Amelia wiped the dishes, May swept, and +all of them made the beds, and then they went to Deams', while I stayed +with mother. When she thought it was time, she bundled me up warmly, +and I went to the barn. Father had the east doors standing open for +me, so I could sit in the sun, hang my feet against the warm boards, +and see every inch of our meadow where the meet was to be. I was +really too warm there, and had to take off the scarf, untie my hood, +and unbutton my coat. + +It was a trifle muddy, but the frost had not left the ground yet, the +sparrows were singing fit to burst, so were the hens. I didn't care +much for the music of the hen, but I could see she meant well. She +liked her nest quite as much as the red velvet bird with black wings, +or the bubbly yellow one, and as for baby chickens, from the first peep +they beat a little naked, blind, wobbly tree bird, so any hen had a +right to sing for joy because she was going to be the mother of a large +family of them. A hen had something was going to be the mother of a +large family of them. A hen had something to sing about all right, and +so had we, when we thought of poached eggs and fried chicken. When I +remembered them, I saw that it was no wonder the useful hen warbled so +proudlike; but that was all nonsense, for I don't suppose a hen ever +tasted poached eggs, and surely she wouldn't be happy over the prospect +of being fried. Maybe one reason she sang was because she didn't know +what was coming; I hardly think she'd be so tuneful if she did. + +Sometimes the geese, shut in the barn, raised an awful clatter, and the +horses and cattle complained about being kept from the sunshine and +fresh air. You couldn't blame them. It was a lovely day, and the big +upper door the pleasantest place. I didn't care if the fox hunters +never came, there was so much to see, hear, and smell. Everything was +busy making signs of spring, and one could become tired of ice and snow +after a while, and so hungry for summer that those first days which +were just hints of what was coming were almost better than the real +thing when it arrived. Bud perfume was stronger than last week, many +doves and bluebirds were calling, and three days more of such sunshine +would make cross-country riding too muddy to be pleasant. I sat there +thinking; grown people never know how much children do think, they have +so much time, and so many bothersome things to study out. I heard it +behind me, a long, wailing, bellowing roar, and my hood raised right up +with my hair. I was in the middle of the threshing floor in a second, +in another at the little west door, cut into the big one, opening it a +tiny crack to take a peep, and see how close they were. + +I could see nothing, but I heard a roar of dreadful sound steadily +closing in a circle around me. No doubt the mean old foxes wished then +they had let the Dorking roosters alone. Closer it came and more +dreadful. Never again did I want to hear such sounds coming at me; +even when I knew what was making them. And then away off, beyond +Pryors', and Hoods', and Dovers', I could see a line of tiny specks +coming toward me, and racing flying things that must have been people +on horses riding back and forth to give the foxes no chance to find a +hiding place. No chance! Laddie and the Princess, Mr. Pryor and +father, and all of them were after the bad old foxes; and they were +going to get them; because they'd have no chance--Not with a solid line +of men with raving dogs surrounding them, and people on horseback +racing after them, no! the foxes would wish now that they had left the +pigs and lambs alone. In that awful roaring din, they would wish, Oh +how they would wish, they were birds and could fly! Fly back to their +holes like the Bible said they had, where maybe they LIKED to live, and +no doubt they had little foxes there, that would starve when their +mammies were caught alive, to save their skins. + +To save their skins! I could hear myself breathe, and feel my teeth +click, and my knees knock together. And then! Oh dear! There they +came across our cornfield. Two of them! And they could fly, almost. +At least you could scarcely see that they touched the ground. The mean +old things were paying up for the pigs and lambs now. Through the +fence, across the road, straight toward me they came. Almost red +backs, nearly white beneath, long flying tails, beautiful pointed ears, +and long tongues, fire red, hanging from their open mouths; their sleek +sides pulsing, and that awful din coming through the woods behind them. +One second, the first paused to glance toward either side, and threw +back its head to listen. What it saw, and heard, showed it. I guess +then it was sorry it ever took people's ham, and their greens, and +their blankets; and it could see and hear that it had no chance--to +save its skin. + +"Oh Lord! Dear Lord! Help me!" I prayed. + +It had to be me, there was no one else. I never had opened the big +doors; I thought it took a man, but when I pushed with all my +might--and maybe if the hairs of our heads were numbered, and the +sparrows counted, there would be a little mercy for the foxes--I asked +for help; maybe I got it. The doors went back, and I climbed up the +ladder to the haymow a few steps and clung there, praying with all my +might: "Make them come in! Dear Lord, make them come in! Give them a +chance! Help them to save their skins, O Lord!" + +With a whizz and a flash one went past me, skimmed the cider press, and +rushed across the hay; then the other. I fell to the floor and the +next thing I knew the doors were shut, and I was back at my place. I +just went down in a heap and leaned against the wall and shook, and +then I laughed and said: "Thank you, Lord! Thank you for helping with +the door! And the foxes! The beautiful little red and white foxes! +They've got their chance! They'll save their skins! They'll get back +to their holes and their babies! Praise the Lord!" + +I knew when I heard that come out, that it was exactly like my father +said it when Amos Hurd was redeemed. I never knew father to say it so +impressively before, because Amos had been so bad, people really were +afraid of him, and father said if once he got started right, he would +go at it just as hard as he had gone at wrongdoing. I suppose I +shouldn't have said it about a fox, when there were the Dorkings, and +ham, and white wool dresses, and all that, but honestly, I couldn't +remember that I cared particularly whether Amos Hurd was redeemed or +not; he was always lovely to children; while I never in all my life had +wanted anything worse than I wanted those foxes to save their skins. I +could hear them pant like run out dogs; and I could hear myself, and I +hadn't been driven from my home and babies, maybe--and chased miles and +miles, either. + +Then I just shook. They came pounding, roaring and braying right +around the barn, and down the lane. The little door flew open and a +strange man stuck in his head. + +"Shut that door!" I screamed. "You'll let them in on me, and they +bite! They're poison! They'll kill me!" + +I hadn't even thought of it before. + +"See any foxes?" cried the man. + +"Two crossed our barnyard headed that way!" I cried back, pointing +east. "Shut the door!" + +The man closed it and ran calling as he went: "It's all right! They +crossed the barnyard. We've got them!" + +I began to dance and beat my hands, and then I stopped and held my +breath. They were passing, and the noise was dreadful. They struck +the sides of the barn, poked around the strawstack, and something made +me look up, and at the edge of the hay stood a fox ready to spring. If +it did, it would go from the door, right into the midst thereof. +Nothing but my red hood sailing straight at it, and a yell I have, +drove it back. No one hit the barn again, the line closed up, and went +on at a run now, they were so anxious to meet and see what they had. +Then came the beat of hoofs and I saw that all the riders had dropped +back, and were behind the line of people on foot. I watched Laddie as +he flew past waving to me, and I grabbed my scarf to wave at him. The +Princess flashed by so swiftly I couldn't see how she looked, and then +I heard a voice I knew cry: "Ep! Ep! Over Lad!" And I almost fell +dead where I stood. Mr. Pryor sailed right over the barnyard fence +into the cornfield, ripping that dumb-bell as he went, and neck and +neck, even with him, on one of his finest horses, was our Leon. His +feet were in the stirrups, he had the reins tight, he almost stood as +he arose, his face was crimson, his head bare, his white hair flying, +the grandest sight you ever saw. At the top of my voice I screamed +after them, "Ep! Ep! Over lad!" and then remembered and looked to see +if I had to chase back the foxes, but they didn't mind only me, after +what they had been through. Then I sat down suddenly again. + +Well! What would father think of that! Leon kill a horse of ours +indeed! There he was on one of Mr. Pryor's, worth as much as six of +father's no doubt, flying over fences, and the creek was coming, and +the bank was steep behind the barn. I was up again straining to see. + +"Ep! Ep! Over!" rang the cry. + +There they went! Laddie and the Princess too. I'll never spend +another cent on paper dolls, candy, raisins, or oranges. I'll give all +I have to help Leon buy his horse; then I'm going to begin saving for +mine. + +The line closed up, a solid wall of men with sticks, clubs and guns; +the dogs ranged outside, and those on horseback stopped where they +could see best; and inside, raced back and forth, and round and round, +living creatures. I couldn't count they moved so, but even at that +distance I could see that some were poor little cotton tails. The +scared things! A whack over the head, a backward toss, and the dogs +were mouthing them. The long tailed, sleek, gracefully moving ones, +they were foxes, the foxes driven from their holes, and nothing on +earth could save their skins for them now; those men meant to have them. + +I pulled the doors shut suddenly. I was so sick I could scarcely +stand. I had to work, but at last I pushed the west doors open again. +I don't think the Lord helped me any that time, for I knew what it +took--before, they just went. Or maybe He did help me quite as much, +but I had harder work to do my share, because I felt so dizzy and ill. +Anyway, they opened. Then I climbed the upright ladder to the top +beam, walked it to the granary, and there I danced, pounded and yelled +so that the foxes jumped from the hay, leaped lightly to the threshing +floor, and stood looking and listening. I gave them time to hear where +the dreadful racket was, and then I jumped to the hay and threw the +pitchfork at them. It came down smash! and both of them sprang from +the door. When I got down the ladder and where I could see, they were +so rested they were hiking across the cornfield like they never had +raced a step before; and as the clamour went up behind me, that +probably meant the first fox had lost its beautiful red and white skin, +they reached our woods in safety. The doors went shut easier, and I +started to the house crying like any blubbering baby; but when mother +turned from the east window, and I noticed her face, I forgot the foxes. + +"You saw Leon!" I cried. + +"That I did!" she exulted, rocking on her toes the same as she does at +the Meeting House when she is going to cry, "Glory!" any minute. "That +I did! Ah! the brave little chap! Ah! the fine fellow!" + +Her cheeks were the loveliest pink, and her eyes blazed. I scarcely +knew her. + +"What will father say?" + +"If his father isn't every particle as proud of him as I am this day, +I've a big disappointment coming," she answered. "If Mr. Pryor chose +to let him take that fine horse, and taught him how to ride it, father +should be glad." + +"If he'd gone into the creek, you wouldn't feel so fine." + +"Ah! but he didn't! He didn't! He stuck to the saddle and sailed over +in one grand, long sweep! It was fine! I hope--to my soul, I hope his +father saw it!" + +"He did!" I said. "He did! He was about halfway down the lane. He +was where he could see fine." + +"You didn't notice----?" + +"I was watching if Leon went under. What if he had, mother?" + +"They'd have taken him out, and brought him to me, and I'd have worked +with all the strength and skill God has given me, and if it were +possible to us, he would be saved, and if it were not, it would be a +proud moment for a woman to offer a boy like that to the God who gave +him. One would have nothing to be ashamed of!" + +"Could you do it, like you are now, and not cry, mother?" I asked +wonderingly. + +"Patience no!" said she. "Before long you will find out, child, that +the fountain head of tears and laughter lies in the same spot, deep in +a woman's heart. Men were made for big things! They must brave the +wild animals, the Indians, fight the battles, ride the races, till the +fields, build the homes. In the making of a new country men must have +the thing in their souls that carried Leon across the creek. If he had +checked that horse and gone to the ford, I would have fallen where I +stood!" + +"Father crossed the ford!" + +"True! But that's different. He never had a chance at a horse like +that! He never had time for fancy practice, and his nose would have +been between the pages of a book if he had. But remember this! Your +father's hand has never faltered, and his aim has never failed. All of +us are here, safe and comfortable, through him. It was your father who +led us across the wilderness, and fended from us the wildcat, wolf, and +Indian. He built this house, cleared this land, and gave to all of us +the thing we love. Get this in your head straight. Your father rode a +plow horse; he never tried flourishes in riding; but no man can stick +in the saddle longer, ride harder, and face any danger with calmer +front. If you think this is anything, you should have seen his face +the day he stood between me and a band of Indians, we had every reason +to think, I had angered to the fighting point." + +"Tell me! Please tell me!" I begged. + +All of us had been brought up on that story, but we were crazy to hear +it, and mother loved to tell it, so she dropped on a chair and began: + +"We were alone in a cabin in the backwoods of Ohio. Elizabeth was only +nine months old, and father always said a mite the prettiest of any +baby we ever had. Many of the others have looked quite as well to me, +but she was the first, and he was so proud of her he always wanted me +to wait in the wagon until he hitched the horses, so he would get to +take and to carry her himself. Well, she was in the cradle, cooing and +laughing, and I had my work all done, and cabin shining. I was heating +a big poker red-hot, and burning holes into the four corners of a board +so father could put legs in it to make me a bench. A greasy old squaw +came to the door with her papoose on her back. She wanted to trade +berries for bread. There were berries everywhere for the picking; I +had more dried than I could use in two years. We planted only a little +patch of wheat and father had to ride three days to carry to mill what +he could take on a horse. I baked in an outoven and when it was done, +a loaf of white bread was by far the most precious thing we had to eat. +Sometimes I was caught, and forced to let it go. Often I baked during +the night and hid the bread in the wheat at the barn. There was none +in the cabin that day and I said so. She didn't believe me. She set +her papoose on the floor beside the fireplace, and went to the +cupboard. There wasn't a crumb there except cornbread, and she didn't +want that. She said: 'Brod! Brod!' + +"She learned that from the Germans in the settlement. I shook my head. +Then she pulled out a big steel hunting knife, such as the whites +traded to the Indians so they would have no trouble in scalping us +neatly, and walked to the cradle. She took that knife loosely between +her thumb and second finger and holding it directly above my baby's +face, she swung it lightly back and forth and demanded: 'Brod! Brod!' + +"If the knife fell, it would go straight through my baby's head, and +Elizabeth was reaching her little hands and laughing. There was only +one thing to do, and I did it. I caught that red-hot poker from the +fire, and stuck it so close her baby's face, that the papoose drew back +and whimpered. I scarcely saw how she snatched it up and left. When +your father came, I told him, and we didn't know what to do. We knew +she would come back and bring her band. If we were not there, they +would burn the cabin, ruin our crops, kill our stock, take everything +we had, and we couldn't travel so far, or so fast, that on their ponies +they couldn't overtake us. We endangered any one with whom we sought +refuge, so we gripped hands, knelt down and told the Lord all about it, +and we felt the answer was to stay. Father cleaned the gun, and hours +and hours we waited. + +"About ten o'clock the next day they came, forty braves in war paint +and feathers. I counted until I was too sick to see, then I took the +baby in my arms and climbed to the loft, with our big steel knife in +one hand. If your father fell, I was to use it, first on Elizabeth, +then on myself. The Indians stopped at the woodyard, and the chief of +the band came to the door, alone. Your father met him with his gun in +reach, and for a whole eternity they stood searching each other's eyes. +I was at the trapdoor where I could see both of them. + +"To the depths of my soul I enjoyed seeing Leon take the fence and +creek: but what was that, child, to compare with the timber that stood +your father like a stone wall between me and forty half-naked, paint +besmeared, maddened Indians? Don't let any showing the men of to-day +can make set you to thinking that father isn't a king among men. Not +once, but again and again in earlier days, he fended danger from me +like that. I can shut my eyes and see his waving hair, his white brow, +his steel blue eyes, his unfaltering hand. I don't remember that I had +time or even thought to pray. I gripped the baby, and the knife, and +waited for the thing I must do if an arrow or a shot sailed past the +chief and felled father. They stood second after second, like two +wooden men, and then slowly and deliberately the chief lighted his big +pipe, drew a few puffs and handed it to father. He set down his gun, +took the pipe and quite as slowly and deliberately he looked at the +waiting band, at the chief, and then raised it to his lips. + +"'White squaw brave! Heap much brave!' said the chief. + +"'In the strength of the Lord. Amen!' said father. + +"Then he reached his hand and the chief took it, so I came down the +ladder and stood beside father, as the Indians began to file in the +front door and out the back. As they passed, every man of them made +the peace sign and piled in a heap, venison, fish, and game, while each +squaw played with the baby and gave me a gift of beads, a metal +trinket, or a blanket she had woven. After that they came often, and +brought gifts, and if prowling Gypsies were pilfering, I could look to +see a big Indian loom up and seat himself at my fireside until any +danger was past. I really got so I liked and depended on them, and +father left me in their care when he went to mill, and I was safe as +with him. You have heard the story over and over, but to-day is the +time to impress on you that an exhibition like THIS is the veriest +child's play compared with what I have seen your father do repeatedly!" + +"But it was you, the chief said was brave!" + +Mother laughed. + +"I had to be, baby," she said. "Mother had no choice. There's only +one way to deal with an Indian. I had lived among them all my life, +and I knew what must be done." + +"I think both of you were brave," I said, "you, the bravest!" + +"Quite the contrary," laughed mother. "I shall have to confess that +what I did happened so quickly I'd no time to think. I only realized +the coal red iron was menacing the papoose when it drew back and +whimpered. Father had all night to face what was coming to him, and it +was not one to one, but one to forty, with as many more squaws, as good +fighters as the braves, to back them. It was a terror but I never have +been sorry we went through it together. I have rested so securely in +your father ever since." + +"And he is as safe in you," I insisted. + +"As you will," said mother. "This world must have her women quite as +much as her men. It is shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, business." + +The clamour in the meadow arose above our voices and brought us back to +the foxes. + +"There goes another!" I said, the tears beginning to roll again. + +"It is heathenish business," said mother. "I don't blame you! If +people were not too shiftless to care for their stuff, the foxes +wouldn't take their chickens and geese. They never get ours!" + +"Hoods aren't shiftless!" I sobbed. + +"There are always exceptions," said mother, "and they are the exception +in this case." + +The door flew open and Leon ran in. He was white with excitement, and +trembling. + +"Mother, come and see me take a fence on Pryor's Rocket!" he cried. + +Mother had him in her arms. + +"You little whiffet!" she said. "You little tow-haired whiffet!" + +Both of them were laughing and crying at the same time, and so was I. + +"I saw you take one fence and the creek, Weiscope!" she said, holding +him tight, and stroking his hair. "That will do for to-day. Ride the +horse home slowly, rub it down if they will allow you, and be sure to +remember your manners when you leave. To trust such a child as you +with so valuable a horse, and for Mr. Pryor to personally ride with you +and help you, I think that was a big thing for a man like him to do." + +"But, mother, he's been showing me for weeks, or I couldn't have done +it to-day. It was our secret to surprise you. When I get my horse, +I'll be able to ride a little, as well as Mr. Laddie." + +"Leon, don't," said mother, gripping him tighter. + +"You must bear in mind, word about that money may come any day." + +"Aw, it won't either," said Leon, pulling away. "And say, mother, that +dumb-bell was like country boys make in England. He helped me hunt the +wood and showed me, and I couldn't ride and manage it, so he had it all +day, and you should have heard him make it rip. Say, mother, take my +word, he was some pumpkins in England. I bet he ordered the Queen +around, when he was there!" + +"No doubt!" laughed mother, kissing him and pushing him from the door. + +Some people are never satisfied. After that splendid riding and the +perfect day, father, Leon, and Laddie came home blaming every one, and +finding fault, and trying to explain how it happened, that the people +from the east side claimed two foxes, and there was only one left for +the west side, when they had seen and knew they had driven three for +miles. They said they lost them in our Big Woods. + +I didn't care one speck. I would as lief wear a calico dress, and let +the little foxes have their mammies to feed them; and I was willing to +bet all my money that we would have as much ham, and as many greens +next summer as we ever had. And if the foxes took Hoods' Dorkings +again, let them build a coop with safe foundations. The way was to use +stone and heap up dirt around it in the fall, to be perfectly sure, and +make it warmer. + +We took care of our chickens because we had to have them. All the year +we needed them, but most especially for Easter. Mother said that was +ordained chicken time. Turkeys for Thanksgiving, sucking pigs for +Christmas, chickens for Easter, goose, she couldn't abide. She thought +it was too strong. She said the egg was a symbol of life; of +awakening, of birth, and the chickens came from the eggs, first ones +about Easter, so that proved it was chicken time. + +I am going to quit praying about little things I can manage myself. +Father said no prayer would bring an answer unless you took hold and +pulled with all your being for what you wanted. I had been intending +for days to ask the Lord to help me find where Leon hid his Easter +eggs. It had been the law at our house from the very first, that for +the last month before Easter, aside from what mother had to have for +the house, all of us might gather every egg we could find and keep them +until Easter. If we could locate the hiding place of any one else, we +might take all theirs. The day before Easter they were brought in, +mother put aside what she required, and the one who had the most got to +sell all of them and take the money. Sometimes there were two washtubs +full, and what they brought was worth having, for sure. So we watched +all year for safe places, and when the time came we almost ran after +the hens with a basket. Because Laddie and Leon were bigger they could +outrun us, and lots of hens laid in the barn, so there the boys always +had first chance. Often during the month we would find and take each +other's eggs a dozen times. + +We divided them, and hid part in different places, so that if either +were found there would still be some left. + +Laddie had his in the hopper of the cider press right on the threshing +floor, and as he was sure to get more than I had anyway, I usually put +mine with his. May had hers some place, and where Leon had his, none +of us could find or imagine. I almost lay awake of nights trying to +think, and every time I thought of a new place, the next day I would +look, and they wouldn't be there. Three days before Easter, mother +began to cook and get the big dinner ready, and she ran short of eggs. +She told me to go to the barn and tell the boys that each of them must +send her a dozen as quickly as they could. Of course that was fair, if +she made both give up the same number. So I went to the barn. + +The lane was muddy, and as I had been sick, I wore my rubbers that +spring. I thought to keep out of the deep mud, where horses and cattle +trampled, I'd go up the front embankment, and enter the little door. +My feet made no sound, and it so happened that the door didn't either, +and as I started to open it. I saw Leon disappearing down the +stairway, with a big sack on his back. I thought it was corn for the +horses, and followed him, but he went to the cow stable door and +started toward the lane, and then I thought it was for the pigs, so I +called Laddie and told him about the eggs. He said he'd give me two +dozen of his, and Leon could pay him back. We went together to get +them, and there was only one there. + +Wasn't that exactly like Leon? Leave ONE for the nest egg! If he were +dying and saw a joke or a trick, he'd stop to play it before he +finished, if he possibly could. If he had no time at all, then he'd go +with his eyes twinkling over the thoughts of the fun it would have been +if he possibly could have managed it. Of course when we saw that one +lonely egg in the cider hopper, just exactly like the "Last Rose of +Summer, left to pine on the stem," I thought of the sack Leon carried, +and knew what had been in it. We hurried out and tried to find him, +but he was swallowed up. You couldn't see him or hear a sound of him +anywhere. + +Mother was as cross as she ever gets. Right there she made a new rule, +and it was that two dozen eggs must be brought to the house each day, +whether any were hidden or not. She had to stop baking until she got +eggs. She said a few times she had used a goose egg in custard. I +could fix that. I knew where one of our gray geese had a nest, and if +she'd cook any goose egg, it would be a gray one. Of course I had +sense enough not to take a blue one. So I slipped from the east door, +crossed the yard and orchard corner, climbed the fence and went down +the lane. There was the creek up and tearing. It was half over the +meadow, and the floodgate between the pasture and the lane rocked with +the rush of water; still, I believed I could make it. So I got on the +fence and with my feet on the third rail, and holding by the top one, I +walked sidewise, and so going reached the floodgate. It was pretty +wobbly, but I thought I could cross on the run. I knew I could if I +dared jump at the other end; but there the water was over the third +rail, and that meant above my head. + +It was right at that time of spring when you felt so good you thought +you could do most anything, except fly--I tried that once--so I went +on. The air was cold for all the sun shone, the smell of catkin +pollen, bursting buds, and the odour of earth steaming in the sun, was +in every breath; the blackbirds were calling, and the doves; the +ganders looked longingly at the sky and screamed a call to every +passing wild flock, and Deams' rooster wanted to fight all creation, if +you judged by the boasting he was doing from their barnyard gate. He +made me think of eggs, so I set my jaws, looked straight ahead, and +scooted across the floodgate to the post that held it and the rails of +the meadow fence. I made it too, and then the fence was easy, only I +had to double quite short, because the water was over the third rail +there, but at last it was all gone, and I went to the fence corner and +there was the goose on the nest, laying an egg. She had built on a +little high place, among puddles, wild rose bushes, and thorns, and the +old thing wouldn't get off. She just sat there and stuck out her head +and hissed and hissed. I never noticed before that geese were so big +and so aggravating. I wasn't going to give up, after that floodgate, +so I hunted a big stick, set it against her wing, pushed her off and +grabbed three eggs and ran. When I got to the fence, I was in a pickle +for sure. I didn't know what in the world to do with the eggs. + +At last I unbuttoned my coat, put them in my apron front, gathered it +up, and holding it between my teeth, started back. I had to double +more than ever on account of the eggs, and when I reached the floodgate +it rocked like a branch in the wind; but I had to get back, so I rested +and listened to the larks a while. That was a good plan. They were +calling for mates, and what they said was so perfectly lovely, you +couldn't think of anything else; and the less you thought about how +that gate rocked, and how deep and swift the water ran, the better for +you. At last one lark went almost from sight and he rang, twisted and +trilled his call, until my heart swelled so big it hurt. I crossed on +the jump with no time to think at all. That was a fine plan, for I +made it, but I hit the post so hard I broke the middle egg. I was +going to throw it away, but there was so much starch in my apron it +held like a dish, and it had been clean that morning, now the egg +soiled it anyway, so I ran and got home all right. + +Mother was so pleased about the eggs she changed the apron and never +said a word, except to brag on me. She said she couldn't keep house +without me, and I guess that was a fact. I came in handy a lot of +times. But at dinner when she scolded the boys about the eggs, and +told them I brought the goose eggs for her custard, else there would +have been no pie, father broke loose, and I thought he was going to +whip me sure. He told mother all about the water and the gate, and how +I had to cross, and he said, 'it was a dispensation of Providence that +we didn't have a funeral instead of celebrating Easter,' so I said: + +"Well, if you think I came so near drowning myself, when you rejoice +because Christ is risen from the dead, you can be glad I am too, and +that will make it all the better." + +The boys laughed, but father said it was no laughing matter. I think +that speech saved me from going on the threshing floor, for he took me +on his lap when I thought I'd have to go, and told me never, never to +do anything like that again, and then he hugged me until I almost +broke. Gracious! He should have seen us going to school some days. +Why, we even walked the top rail when it was the only one above water, +and we could cross the bridge if we wanted to. At least when Laddie or +Miss Amelia was not around, we did. + +Leon was so bursting full he scarcely could eat, and Laddie looked +pretty glum when he had to admit he had no eggs; so Laddie had to hand +over the whole two dozen. Leon didn't mind that, but he said if he +must, then all of us should stay in the dining-room until he brought +them, because of course he couldn't walk straight and get them in broad +daylight with us watching, and not show where they were. Father said +that was fair, so Leon went out and before so very long he came back +with the eggs. + +I thought until my skull almost cracked, about where he COULD have +gone, and I was almost to the place where the thing seemed serious +enough that I'd ask the Lord to help me find Laddie's eggs, when mother +sent me to the garret for red onion skins. She had an hour to rest, +and she was going to spend it fixing decorations for our eggs. Of +course there were always red and black aniline ones, and yellow and +blue, but none of us ever like them half so well as those mother +coloured, herself. + +She took the dark red skins and cut boys, girls, dogs, cats, stars, +flowers, butterflies, fish, and everything imaginable, and wet the +skins a little and laid them on very white eggs that had been soaked in +alum water to cut the grease, and then wrapped light yellow skins over, +and then darker ones, and at last layer after layer of cloth, and wet +that, and roasted them an hour in hot ashes and then let them cool and +dry, before unwrapping. When she took them out, rubbed on a little +grease and polished them--there they were! They would have our names, +flowers, birds, animals, all in pale yellow, deep rich brown, almost +red, and perfectly beautiful colours, while you could hunt and hunt +before you found everything on one egg. And sometimes the onion skins +slipped, and made things of themselves that she never put on. + +I was coming from the bin with an apron full of skins and I almost fell +over. I couldn't breathe for a long time. I danced on my toes, and +held my mouth to keep from screaming. On the garret floor before me +lay a little piece of wet mud, and the faintest outline of a boot, a +boot about Leon's size. That was all I needed to know. As soon as I +could hold steady, I took the skins to mother, slipped back and hunted +good; and of course I had to find them--grainsacks half full of +them--carried in the front door in the evening, and up the front +stairs, where no one went until bedtime, unless there were company. +Away back under the eaves, across the joists, behind the old clothing +waiting to be ripped, coloured and torn for carpet rangs and rugs, Mr. +Leon had almost every egg that had been laid on the place for a month. + +NOW he'd see what he'd get for taking Laddie's! + +Then I stopped short. What I thought most made me sick, but I didn't +propose to lie in bed again for a year at least, for it had its bad +parts as well as its good; so I went straight and whispered to Laddie. +He never looked pleased at all, so I knew I had been right. He kissed +me, and thanked me, and then said slowly: "It's mighty good of you, +Little Sister, but you see it wouldn't be FAIR. He found mine himself, +so he had a right to take them. But I don't dare touch his, when you +tell me where they are. I never in a month of Sundays would have +looked for them in the house. I was going to search the wood house and +smoke house this afternoon. I can't take them. But thank you just as +much." + +Then I went to father and he laughed. How he did laugh! + +"Laddie is right!" he said at last. "He didn't find them, and he +mustn't take them. But you may! They're yours! That front door +scheme of Leon's was fairly well, but it wasn't quite good enough. If +he'd cleaned his feet as he should, before he crossed mother's carpet +and climbed the stairs, he'd have made it all right. 'His tracks +betrayed him,' as tracks do all of us, if we are careless enough to +leave any. The eggs are yours, and to-night is the time to produce +them. Where do you want to hide them?" + +Well of all things! and after I had stumbled on them without pestering +the Lord, either! Just as slick as anything! Mine! I never ever +thought of it. But when I did think, I liked it. The more I thought, +the funnier it grew. + +"Under mother's bed," I whispered. "But I never can get them. They're +in wheat sacks, and full so high, and they'll have to be handled like +eggs." + +"I'll do the carrying," laughed father. "Come show me!" + +So we took all those eggs, and put them under mother's bed. + +Of course she and Candace saw us, but they didn't hunt eggs and they'd +never tell. If ever I thought I'd burst wide open! About dusk I saw +Leon coming from the barn carrying his hat at his side--more eggs--so I +ran like a streak and locked the front door, and then slipped back in +the dining-room and almost screamed, when I could hear him trying it, +and he couldn't get in. After a while he came in, fussed around, and +finally went into the sitting-room, and the key turned and he went +upstairs. I knew I wouldn't dare look at him when he came down, so I +got a reader and began on a piece I just love: + + "A nightingale made a mistake; + She sang a few notes out of tune: + Her heart was ready to break, + And she hid away from the moon." + + +When I did get a peep, gracious but he was black! Maybe it wasn't +going to be so much fun after all. But he had the money last year, and +the year before, and if he'd cleaned his feet well--I was not hunting +his eggs, when I found them. "His tracks betrayed him," as father +said. I was thankful supper was ready just then, and while it was +going on mother said: "As soon as you finish, all bring in your eggs. +I want to wrap the ones to colour to-night, and bury them in the +fireplace so they will colour, dry, and be ready to open in the +morning." + +No one said a word, but neither Laddie nor Leon looked very happy, and +I took awful bites to keep my face straight. When all of us finished +May brought a lot from the bran barrel in the smoke house, but Laddie +and Leon only sat there and looked silly; it really was funny. + +"I must have more eggs than this?" said mother. "Where are they to +come from?" + +Father nodded to me and I said: "From under your bed!" + +"Oh, it was you! And I never once caught you snooping!" cried Leon. + +"Easy son!" said father. "That will do. You lost through your own +carelessness. You left wet mud on the garret floor, and she saw it +when mother sent her for the onion skins. You robbed Laddie of his +last egg this morning; be a good loser yourself!" + +"Well, anyway, you didn't get 'em," said Leon to Laddie. + +"And she only found them by accident!" + +Then we had a big time counting all those eggs, and such another heap +as there was to sell, after mother filled baskets to cook with and +colour. When the table was cleared, Laddie and Leon made tallow +pencils from a candle and wrote all sorts of things over eggs that had +been prepared to colour. Then mother boiled them in copperas water, +and aniline, and all the dyes she had, and the boys polished them, and +they stood in shining black, red, blue and yellow heaps. The onion +ones would be done in the morning. Leon had a goose egg and mother let +him keep it, so he wrote and wrote on it, until Laddie said it would be +all writing, and no colour, and he boiled it in red, after mother +finished, and polished it himself. It came out real pretty with roses +on it and lots of words he wouldn't let any of us read; but of course +it was for Susie Fall. + +Next morning he slipped it to her at church. When we got home, all of +us were there except Shelley, and we had a big dinner and a fine time +and Laddie stayed until after supper, before he went to Pryors'. + +"How is he making it?" asked Sally. + +"You could see she was making it all right; she never looked lovelier, +and mother said Peter was letting her spend away too much money on her +clothes. She told him so, but Peter just laughed and said business was +good, and he could afford it, and she was a fine advertisement for his +store when she was dressed well." + +"All I know is," said mother, "that he goes there every whipstitch, and +the women, at least, seem glad to have him. He says Mr. Pryor treats +him decently, and that is more than he does his own family and +servants. He and the girl and her mother are divided about something. +She treats her father respectfully, but she's in sympathy with mother." + +"Laddie can't find out what the trouble is?" + +"I don't think that he tries." + +"Maybe he'd feel better not to know," said Peter. + +"Possibly!" said mother. + +"Nonsense!" said father. + +"You seem to be reconciled," said Elizabeth. + +"That girl would reconcile a man to anything," said father. + +"Not to the loss of his soul, I hope," said mother stiffly. + +"Souls are not so easy to lose," said father. "Besides, I am counting +on Laddie saving hers." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +The Garden of the Lord + + "With what content and merriment, + Their days are spent, whose minds are bent + To follow the useful plow." + + +That spring I decided if school didn't stop pretty soon, I'd run away +again, and I didn't in the least care what they did to me. A country +road was all right and it was good enough, if it had been heaped up, +leveled and plenty of gravel put on; and of course our road would be +fine, because father was one of the commissioners, and as long as he +filled that office, every road in the county would be just as fine as +the law would allow him to make it. I have even heard him tell mother +that he "stretched it a leetle mite," when he was forced to by people +who couldn't seem to be made to understand what was required to upbuild +a nation. He said our language was founded on the alphabet, and to +master it you had to begin with "a". And he said the nation was like +that; it was based on townships, and when a township was clean, had +good roads, bridges, schoolhouses, and churches, a county was in fine +shape, and when each county was in order, the state was right, and when +the state was prosperous, the nation could rejoice in its strength. + +He said Atlas in the geography book, carrying the world on his back, +was only a symbol, but it was a good one. He said when the county +elected him to fill an important office, it used his shoulder as a prop +for the nation, so it became his business to stand firmly, and use +every ounce of strength and brains he had, first of all to make his own +possessions a model, then his township, his county, and his state, and +if every one worked together doing that, no nation on earth had our +amount of territory and such fine weather, so none of them could beat +us. + +Our road was like the barn floor, where you drove: on each side was a +wide grassy strip, and not a weed the length of our land. All the +rails in the fences were laid straight, the gates were solid, sound, +and swung firmly on their beams, our fence corners were full of alders, +wild roses, sumac, blackberry vines, masses of wild flowers beneath +them, and a bird for every bush. Some of the neighbours thought that +to drive two rails every so often, lay up the fences straight, and grub +out the shrubs was the way, but father said they were vastly mistaken. +He said that was such a shortsighted proceeding, he would be ashamed to +indulge in it. You did get more land, but if you left no place for the +birds, the worms and insects devoured your crops, and you didn't raise +half so much as if you furnished the birds shelter and food. So he +left mulberries in the fields and fence corners and wild cherries, +raspberries, grapes, and every little scrub apple tree from seeds sown +by Johnny Appleseed when he crossed our land. + +Mother said those apples were so hard a crane couldn't dent them, but +she never watched the birds in winter when the snow was beginning to +come and other things were covered up. They swarmed over those trees +until spring, for the tiny sour apples stuck just like oak leaves +waiting for next year's crop to push them off. She never noticed us, +either. After a few frosts, we could almost get tipsy on those apples; +there was not a tree in our orchard that had the spicy, teasing tang of +Johnny Appleseed's apples. Then too, the limbs could be sawed off and +rambo and maiden's-blush grafted on, if you wanted to; father did on +some of them, so there would be good apples lying beside the road for +passers-by, and they needn't steal to get them. You could graft red +haws on them too, and grow great big, little haw-apples, that were the +prettiest things you ever saw, and the best to eat. Father said if it +didn't spoil the looks of the road, he wouldn't care how many of his +neighbours straightened their fences. If they did, the birds would +come to him, and the more he had, the fewer bugs and worms he would be +troubled with, so he would be sure of big crops, and sound fruit. He +said he would much rather have a few good apples picked by robins or +jays, than untouched trees, loaded with wormy falling ones he could +neither use nor sell. He always patted my head and liked every line of +it when I recited, sort of tearful-like and pathetic: + + "Don't kill the birds! the happy birds, + That bless the field and grove; + So innocent to look upon, + They claim our warmest love." + + +The roads crossing our land were all right, and most of the others near +us; and a road is wonderful, if it is taking you to the woods or a +creek or meadow; but when it is walking you straight to a stuffy little +schoolhouse where you must stand up to see from a window, where a +teacher is cross as fire, like Miss Amelia, and where you eternally +HEAR things you can't see, there comes a time about the middle of April +when you had quite as soon die as to go to school any longer; and what +you learn there doesn't amount to a hill of beans compared with what +you can find out for yourself outdoors. + +Schoolhouses are made wrong. If they must be, they should be built in +a woods pasture beside a stream, where you could wade, swim, and be +comfortable in summer, and slide and skate in winter. The windows +should be cut to the floor, and stand wide open, so the birds and +butterflies could pass through. You ought to learn your geography by +climbing a hill, walking through a valley, wading creeks, making +islands in them, and promontories, capes, and peninsulas along the +bank. You should do your arithmetic sitting under trees adding +hickory-nuts, subtracting walnuts, multiplying butternuts, and dividing +hazelnuts. You could use apples for fractions, and tin cups for liquid +measure. You could spell everything in sight and this would teach you +the words that are really used in the world. Every single one of us +could spell incompatibility, but I never heard father, or the judge, or +even the Bishop, put it in a speech. + +If you simply can't have school THAT way, then you should be shut in +black cells, deep under the ground, where you couldn't see, or hear a +sound, and then if they'd give you a book and candle and Miss Amelia, +and her right-hand man, Mister Ruler, why you might learn something. +This way, if you sat and watched the windows you could see a bird cross +our woods pasture to the redbird swamp every few minutes; once in a +while one of my big hawks took your breath as he swept, soared, sailed, +and circled, watching the ground below for rabbits, snakes, or +chickens. The skinny old blue herons crossing from the Wabash to hunt +frogs in the cowslip swale in our meadow, sailed so slow and so low, +that you could see their sharp bills stuck out in front, their uneven, +ragged looking feathers, and their long legs trailing out behind. I +bet if Polly Martin wore a blue calico dress so short her +spindle-shanks showed, and flew across our farm, you couldn't tell her +from a heron. + +There were so many songs you couldn't decide which was which to save +you; it was just a pouring jumble of robins, larks, doves, blackbirds, +sparrows, everything that came that early; the red and the yellow birds +had not come yet, or the catbirds or thrushes. You could hear the +thumping wings of the roosters in Sills' barnyard nearest the +schoolhouse, and couldn't tell which was whipping, so you had to sit +there and wonder; and worst of all you must stand Miss Amelia calmly +telling you to pay attention to your books or you would be kept in, and +all the time you were forced to bear torments, while you watched her +walk from window to window to see every speck of the fight. One day +they had thumped and fought for half an hour; she had looked from every +window in the room, and at last there was an awful whacking, and then +silence. It grew so exciting I raised my hand, and almost before she +nodded permission, "Which whipped?" I asked. + +Miss Amelia turned red as a beet. Gee, but she was mad! + +"I did!" she said. "Or at least I will. You may remain for it after +school is dismissed." + +Now if you are going to be switched, they never do it until they are +just so angry anyway, and then they always make it as hard as they dare +not to stripe you, so it isn't much difference HOW provoked they are, +it will be the same old thrashing, and it's sure to sting for an hour +at least, so you might as well be beaten for a little more as hardly +anything at all. At that instant from the fence not far from my window +came a triumphant crow that fairly ripped across the room. + +"Oh, it was the Dorking!" I said. "No wonder you followed clear around +the room to see him thrash a Shanghai three times his size! I bet a +dollar it was great!" + +Usually, I wouldn't have put up more than five cents, but at that time +I had over six dollars from my Easter eggs, and no girl of my age at +our school ever had half that much. Miss Amelia started toward me, and +I braced my feet so she'd get a good jolt herself, when she went to +shake me; she never struck us over the head since Laddie talked to her +that first day; but John Hood's foot was in the aisle. I thought maybe +I'd have him for my beau when we grew up, because I bet he knew she was +coming, and stuck out his foot on purpose; anyway, she pitched, and had +to catch a desk to keep off the floor, and that made her so mad at him, +that she forgot me, while he got his scolding; so when my turn came at +last, she had cooled down enough that she only marched past to her +desk, saying I was to remain after school. I had to be careful after +that to be mighty good to May and Leon. + +When school was out they sat on the steps before the door and waited. +Miss Amelia fussed around and there they sat. Then her face grew more +gobblerish than usual, and she went out and told them to go home. +Plain as anything I heard May say It: "She's been awful sick, you +know, and mother wouldn't allow it." And then Leon piped up: "You DID +watch the roosters, all the time they fought, and of course all of us +wanted to see just as badly as you did." + +She told them if they didn't go right home she'd bring them back and +whip them too; so they had to start, and leave me to my sad fate. I +was afraid they had made it sadder, instead of helping me; she was so +provoked when she came in she was crying, and over nothing but the +plain truth too; if we had storied on her, she'd have had some cause to +beller. She arranged her table, cleaned the board, emptied the water +bucket, and closed the windows. Then she told me I was a rude, +untrained child. I was rude, I suppose, but goodness knows, I wasn't +untrained; that was hard on father and mother; I had a big notion to +tell them; and then, she never whipped me at all. She said if I wanted +her to love me, I mustn't be a saucy, impudent girl, and I should go +straight home and think it over. + +I went, but I was so dazed at her thinking I wanted her to love me, +that I hardly heard May and Leon calling; when I did I went to the +cemetery fence and there they lay in the long grass waiting. + +"If you cried, we were coming back and pitch into her," said Leon. + +There was a pointer. Next time, first cut she gave me, I decided to +scream bloody murder. But that would be no Crusader way. There was +one thing though. No Crusader ever sat and heard a perfectly lovely +fight going on, and never even wondered which whipped. + +May and Leon stepped one on each side, took a hand, and we ran like +Indians, and slid down the hill between the bushes, climbed the fence, +crossed the pasture back of the church, and went to the creek. There +we sat on a log, I told them, and we just laughed. I didn't know what +I could do to pay them, for they saved me sure as fate that time. + +I wished we lived in the woods the way it was when father and mother +were married and moved to Ohio. The nearest neighbours were nine +miles, and there wasn't a dollar for school funds, so of course the +children didn't have to go, and what their fathers and mothers taught +them was all they knew. That would not have helped me much though, for +we never had one single teacher who knew anything to compare with what +father and mother did, and we never had one who was forever reading +books, papers, and learning more things that help, to teach other +people. I wished father had time to take our school. It would have +been some fun to go to him, because I just knew he would use the woods +for the room, and teach us things it would do some good to know about. + +I began debating whether it was a big enough thing to bother the Lord +with: this being penned up in the schoolhouse droning over spelling and +numbers, when you could smell tree bloom, flower bloom, dozens of birds +were nesting, and everything was beginning to hum with life. I +couldn't think for that piece about "Spring" going over in my head: + + "I am coming, I am coming: + Hark! the little bee is humming: + See! the lark is soaring high, + In the bright and sunny sky; + All the birds are on the wing: + Little maiden, now is spring." + + +I made up my mind that it was of enough importance to call for the +biggest prayer I could think of and that I would go up in the barn to +the top window, stand on a beam, and turn my face to the east, where +Jesus used to be, and I'd wrestle with the Lord for freedom, as Jacob +wrestled with the Angel on the banks of the Jabbok in the land of +Ammon. I was just getting up steam to pray as hard as ever I could; +for days I'd been thinking of it, and I was nearly to the point where +one more killdeer crying across the sky would have sent me headlong +from the schoolhouse anywhere that my feet were on earth, and the air +didn't smell of fried potatoes, kraut, sweat, and dogs, like it did +whenever you sat beside Clarissa Polk. When I went to supper one +night; father had been to Groveville, and he was busy over his papers. +After he finished the blessing, he seemed worried, at last he said the +funds were all out, and the county would make no appropriation so +school would have to close next week. + +Well that beats me! I had faith in that prayer I was going to make, +and here the very thing I intended to ask for happened before I prayed. +I decided I would save the prayer until the next time I couldn't stand +anything another minute, and then I would try it with all my might, and +see if it really did any good. After supper I went out the back door, +spread my arms wide, and ran down the orchard to the fence in great +bounds, the fastest I ever went in my life. I climbed my pulpit in the +corner and tried to see how much air my lungs would hold without +bursting, while I waved my arms and shouted at the top of my voice: +"Praise ye the Lord! Praised be His holy name!" + +"Ker-awk!" cried an old blue heron among the cowslips below me. I had +almost scared it to death, and it arose on flapping wings and paid me +back by frightening me so I screamed as I dodged its shadow. + +"What is all this?" asked father behind me. + +"Come up and take a seat, and I'll try to tell you," I said. + +So he stepped on my pulpit and sat on the top rail, while I stood +between his knees, put my arms around his neck, took off his hat and +loosened his hair so the wind could wave it, and make his head feel +cool and good. His hair curled a little and it was black and fine. +His cheeks were pink and his eyes the brightest blue, with long lashes, +and heavier brows than any other man I ever have seen. He was the best +looking--always so clean and fresh, and you never had to be afraid of +him, unless you had been a bad, sinful child. If you were all right, +you would walk into his arms, play with his hair, kiss him all you +pleased, and there wasn't a thing on earth you couldn't tell him, +excepting a secret you had promised to keep. + +So I explained all this, and more too. About how I wanted to hunt for +the flowers, to see which bloomed first, and watch in what order the +birds came, and now it was a splendid time to locate nests, because +there were no leaves, so I could see easily, and how glad mother would +be to know where the blue goose nested, and her white turkey hen; +because she wanted her geese all blue, and the turkeys all white, as +fast as she could manage. + +Every little thing that troubled me or that I wanted, I told him. + +He sat there and he couldn't have listened with more interest or been +quieter if I had been a bishop, which is the biggest thing that ever +happened at our house; his name was Ninde and he came from Chicago to +dedicate our church when it was new. So father listened and thought +and held his arms around me, and-- + +"And you think the Lord was at the bottom of the thing that makes you +happy?" + +"Well, you always go to Him about what concerns you, and you say, +'Praise the Lord,' when things go to please you." + +"I do indeed!" said father. "But I had thought of this running short +of school funds as a calamity. If I had been praying about it, I would +have asked Him to show me a way to raise money to continue until middle +May at least." + +"Oh father!" + +I just crumpled up in his arms and began to cry; to save me I couldn't +help it. He held me tight. At last he said: "I think you are a +little overstrained this spring. Maybe you were sicker than we knew, +or are growing too fast. Don't worry any more about school. Possibly +father can fix it." + +Next morning when I wakened, my everyday clothes lay across the foot of +the bed, so I called mother and asked if I should put them on; she took +me in her arms, and said father thought I had better be in the open, +and I needn't go to school any more that spring. I told her I thought +I could bear it a few more days, now it was going to be over so soon; +but she said I might stay at home, father and Laddie would hear me at +night, and I could take my books anywhere I pleased and study when I +chose, if I had my spelling and reading learned at evening. NOW, say +the Lord doesn't help those who call on Him in faith believing! + +Think of being allowed to learn your lessons on the top of the granary, +where you could look out of a window above the treetops, lie in the +cool wind, and watch swallows and martins. Think of studying in the +pulpit when the creek ran high, and the wild birds sang so sweetly you +seemed to hear them for the first time in all your life, and hens, +guineas, and turkeys made prime music in the orchard. You could see +the buds swell, and the little blue flags push through the grass, where +Mrs. Mayer had her flowerbed, and the cowslips greening under the water +of the swale at the foot of the hill, while there might be a Fairy +under any leaf. I was so full, so swelled up and excited, that when I +got ready to pick up a book, I could learn a lesson in a few minutes, +tell all about it, spell every word, and read it back, front, and +sideways. I never learned lessons so quick and so easy in all my life; +father, Laddie, and every one of them had to say so. One night, father +said to Laddie: "This child is furnishing evidence that our school +system is wrong, and our methods of teaching far from right." + +"Or is it merely proof that she is different," said Laddie, "and you +can't run her through the same groove you could the rest of us?" + +"A little of both," said father, "but most that the system is wrong. +We are not going at children in a way to gain and hold their interest, +and make them love their work. There must be a better way of teaching, +and we should find different teachers. You'll have to try the school +next year yourself, Laddie." + +"I have a little plan about a piece of land I am hoping to take before +then," answered Laddie. "It's time for me to try my wings at making a +living, and land is my choice. I have fully decided. I stick to the +soil!" + +"Amen!" cried father. "You please me mightily. I hate to see sons of +mine thriving on law, literally making their living out of the fruit of +other men's discord. I dislike seeing them sharpen their wits in +trade, buying at the lowest limit, extorting the highest. I don't want +their horizons limited by city blocks, their feet on pavements, +everything under the sun in their heads that concerns a scheme to make +money; not room for an hour's thought or study in a whole day, about +the really vital things of life. After all, land and its products are +the basis of everything; the city couldn't exist a day unless we feed +and clothe it. In the things that I consider important, you are a king +among men, with your feet on soil you own." + +"So I figure it," said Laddie. + +"And you are the best educated man I have reared," said father. "Take +this other thought with you: on land, the failure of the bank does not +break you. The fire another man's carelessness starts, does not wipe +out your business or home. You are not in easy reach of contagion. +Any time you want to branch out, your mother and I will stand back of +you." + +"Thank you!" said Laddie. "You backed none of the others. They would +resent it. I'll make the best start I can myself, and as they did, +stand alone." + +Father looked at him and smiled slowly. + +"You are right, as always," he said. "I hadn't thought so far. It +would make trouble. At any rate, let me inspect and help you select +your land." + +"That of course!" said Laddie. + +I suspect it's not a very nice thing for me to tell, but all of us were +tickled silly the day Miss Amelia packed her trunk and left for sure. +Mother said she never tried harder in all her days, but Miss Amelia was +the most distinctly unlovable person she ever had met. She sympathized +with us so, she never said a word when Leon sang: + + "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, + Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, + Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, + Like fairy-gifts fading away, + Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art, + Let thy loveliness fade as it will, + And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart + Would entwine itself verdantly still--" + +while Miss Amelia drove from sight up the Groveville road. + +As he sang Leon stretched out his arms after her vanishing form. "I +hope," he said, "that you caught that touching reference to 'the dear +ruin,' and could anything be expressed more beautifully and poetically +than that 'verdantly still?'" + +I feel sorry for a snake. I like hoptoads, owls, and shitepokes. I +envy a buzzard the way it can fly, and polecats are beautiful; but I +never could get up any sort of feeling at all for Miss Amelia, whether +she was birdlike or her true self. So no one was any gladder than I +when she was gone. + +After that, spring came pushing until you felt shoved. Our family +needed me then. If they never had known it before, they found out +there was none too many of us. Every day I had to watch the blue +goose, and bring in her egg before it was chilled, carrying it +carefully so it would not be jarred. I had to hunt the turkey nests +and gather their eggs so they would be right for setting. There had to +be straw carried from the stack for new nests, eggs marked, and hens +set by the dozen. Garden time came, so leaves had to be raked from the +beds and from the dooryard. No one was busier than I; but every little +while I ran away, and spent some time all by myself in the pulpit, +under the hawk oak, or on the roof. + +Coming from church that Sunday, when we reached the top of the Big +Hill, mother touched father's arm. "Stop a minute," she said, and he +checked the horses, while we sat there and wondered why, as she looked +and looked all over the farm, then, "Now drive to the top of the Little +Hill and turn, and stop exactly on the place from which we first viewed +this land together," she said. "You know the spot, don't you?" + +"You may well believe I know it," said father. "I can hit it to the +inch. You see, children," he went on, "your mother and I arranged +before the words were said over us"--he always put it that way--I never +in my life heard him say, "when we were married"; he read so many books +he talked exactly like a book--"that we would be partners in +everything, as long as we lived. When we decided the Ohio land was not +quite what we wanted, she sent me farther west to prospect, while she +stayed at home and kept the baby. When I reached this land, found it +for sale, and within my means, I bought it, and started home happy. +Before I'd gone a mile, I turned to look back, and saw that it was +hilly, mostly woods, and there was no computing the amount of work it +would require to make it what I could see in it; so I began to think +maybe she wouldn't like it, and to wish I had brought her, before I +closed the deal. By the time I returned home, packed up, and travelled +this far on the way back with her, there was considerable tension in my +feelings--considerable tension," repeated father as he turned the +horses and began driving carefully, measuring the distance from Hoods' +and the bridge. At last he stopped, backed a step, and said: "There, +mommy, did I hit the spot?" + +"You did!" said mother, stepping from the carriage and walking up +beside him. She raised one hand and laid it on the lamp near him. He +shifted the lines, picked up her hand, and held it tight. Mother stood +there looking, just silently looking. May jabbed me in the side, +leaned over and whispered: + + "Could we but stand where Moses stood, + And view the landscape o'er, + Not our Little Creek, nor dinner getting cold, + Could fright us from that shore." + + +I couldn't help giggling, but I knew that was no proper time, so I hid +my head in her lap and smothered the sound the best I could; but they +were so busy soft-soddering each other they didn't pay a bit of +attention to us. + +It was May now, all the leaves were fresh and dustless, everything that +flowered at that time was weighted with bloom, bees hummed past, +butterflies sailed through the carriage, while birds at the tops of +their voices, all of them, every kind there was, sang fit to split; +friendly, unafraid bluebirds darted around us, and talked a blue streak +from every fence rider. Made you almost crazy to know what they said. +The Little Creek flowed at our feet across the road, through the +blue-flag swamp, where the red and the yellow birds lived. You could +see the sun flash on the water where it emptied into the stream that +crossed Deams', and flowed through our pasture; and away beyond the Big +Hill arose, with the new church on top, the graveyard around it, the +Big Creek flashing at its base. In the valley between lay our fields, +meadows, the big red barn, the white house with the yard filled with +trees and flowering shrubs, beyond it the garden, all made up, neat and +growing; and back of it the orchard in full bloom. + +Mother looked and looked. Suddenly she raised her face to father. +"Paul," she said, "that first day, did you ever dream it could be made +to look like this?" + +"No!" said father. "I never did! I saw houses, barns, and cleared +fields; I hoped for comfort and prosperity, but I didn't know any place +could grow to be so beautiful, and there is something about it, even on +a rainy November day, there is something that catches me in the breast, +on the top of either of these hills, until it almost stifles me. What +is it, Ruth?" + +"The Home Feeling!" said mother. "It is in my heart so big this +morning I am filled with worship. Just filled with the spirit of +worship." + +She was rocking on her toes like she does when she becomes too happy at +the Meeting House to be quiet any longer, and cries, "Glory!" right out +loud. She pointed to the orchard, an immense orchard of big apple +trees in full bloom, with two rows of peach trees around the sides. It +looked like a great, soft, pinkish white blanket, with a deep pink +border, spread lightly on the green earth. + +"We planted that way because we thought it was best; how could we know +how it would look in bloom time? It seems as if you came to these +hilltops and figured on the picture you would make before you cleared, +or fenced a field." + +"That's exactly what I did," said father. "Many's the hour, all told, +that I have stopped my horse on one of these hilltops and studied how +to make the place beautiful, as well as productive. That was a task +you set me, my girl. You always considered BEAUTY as well as USE about +the house and garden, and wherever you worked. I had to hold my part +in line." + +"You have made it all a garden," said mother. "You have made it a +garden growing under the smile of the Master; a very garden of the +Lord, father." + +Father drew up her hand and held it tight against his heart. + +"Your praise is sweet, my girl, sweet!" he said. "I have tried, God +knows I have tried, to make it first comfortable, then beautiful, for +all of us. To the depths of my soul I thank Him for this hour. I am +glad, Oh I am so glad you like your home, Ruth! I couldn't endure it +if you complained, found fault and wished you lived elsewhere." + +"Why, father!" said my mother in the most surprised voice. "Why, +father, it would kill me to leave here. This is ours. We have made it +by and through the strength of the Lord and our love for each other. +All my days I want to live here, and when I die, I want to lie beside +my blessed babies and you, Paul, down by the church we gave the land +for, and worked so hard to build. I love it, Oh I love it! See how +clean and white the dark evergreens make the house look! See how the +big chestnuts fit in and point out the yellow road. I wish we had a +row the length of it!" + +"They wouldn't grow," said father. "You mind the time I had finding +the place those wanted to set their feet?" + +"I do indeed!" said mother, drawing her hand and his with it where she +could rub her cheek against it. "Now we'll go home and have our dinner +and a good rest. I'm a happy woman this day, father, a happy, happy +woman. If only one thing didn't worry me----" + +"Must there always be a 'fly in the ointment,' mother?" + +She looked at him with a smile that was like a hug and kiss, and she +said: "I have found it so, father, and I have been happy in spite of +it. Where one has such wide interests, at some point there is always a +pull, but in His own day, in His own way, the Lord is going to make +everything right." + +"'Thy faith hath made thee whole,'" quoted father. + +Then she stepped into the carriage, and he waited a second, quite long +enough to let her see that he was perfectly willing to sit there all +day if she wanted him to, and then he slowly and carefully drove home, +as he always did when she was in the carriage. Times when he had us +children out alone, he went until you couldn't see the spokes in the +wheels. He just loved to "speed up" once in a while on a piece of fine +road to let us know how going fast felt. + +Mother sat there trembling a little, smiling, misty-eyed. I was +thinking, for I knew what the "fly in the ointment" was. She had a +letter from Shelley yesterday, and she said there wasn't a reason on +earth why father or Laddie should spend money to come to Chicago, she +would soon be home, she was counting the hours, and she never wanted to +leave again. In the start she didn't want to go at all, unless she +could stay three years, at the very least. Of course it was that +dreadful man, who had made her so beautiful and happy, and then taken +away all the joy; how COULD a man do it? It was the hardest thing to +understand. + +Next morning mother was feeling fine, the world was lovely, Miss Amelia +was gone, May was home to help, so she began housecleaning by washing +all the curtains. She had been in the kitchen to show Candace how. I +had all my work done, and was making friends with a robin brooding in +my very own catalpa tree, when Mr. Pryor rode up, tied his horse, and +started toward the gate. I knew he and father had quarrelled; that is, +father had told him he couldn't say "God was a myth" in this house, and +he'd gone home mad as hops; so I knew it would be something mighty +important that was bringing him back. I slid from the tree, ran and +opened the gate, and led the way up the walk. I opened the front door +and asked him in, and then I did the wrong thing. I should have taken +his hat, told him to be seated, and said I would see if I could find +father; I knew what to do, and how to do it, but because of that about +God, I was so excited I made a mistake. I never took his hat, or +offered him a chair; I just bolted into the dining-room, looking for +father or mother, and left the door wide open, so he thought that +wasn't the place to sit, because I didn't give him a chair, and he +followed me. The instant I saw mother's face, I knew what I had done. +The dining-room was no place for particular company like him, and +bringing him in that way didn't give her time to smooth her hair, pull +shut her dress band at the neck, put on her collar, and shiny goldstone +pin, her white apron, and rub her little flannel rag, with rice flour +on it, on her nose to take away the shine. I had made a mess of it. + +There she came right in the door, just as she was from the tub. Her +hair was damp and crinkled around her face, her neckband had been close +in stooping, so she had unfastened it, and tucked it back in a little +V-shaped place to give her room and air. Her cheeks were pink, her +eyes bright, her lips red as a girl's, and her neck was soft and white. +The V-shaped place showed a little spot like baby skin, right where her +neck went into her chest. Sure as father kissed her lips, he always +tipped back her head, bent lower and kissed that spot too. I had seen +hundreds of them go there, and I had tried it myself, lots of times, +and it WAS the sweetest place. Seeing what I had done, I stopped +breathless. You have to beat most everything you teach a child right +into it properly to keep it from making such a botch of things as that. +I hardly dared to peep at mother, but when I did, she took my breath +worse than the mistake I had made. + +Caught, she stood her ground. She never paused a second. Straight to +him she went, holding out her hand, and I could see that it was red and +warm from pressing the lace in the hot suds. A something flashed over +her, that made her more beautiful than she was in her silk dress going +to town to help Lucy give a party, and her voice was sweet as the +bubbling warbler on the garden fence when he was trying to coax a mate +into the privet bush to nest. + +Mother asked him to be seated, so he took one of the chairs nearest +him, and sat holding his hat in one hand, his whip in the other. +Mother drew a chair beside the dining table, dropped her hands on each +other, and looking in his eyes, she smiled at him. I tell the same +thing over about people's looks, but I haven't told of this smile of +mother's; because I never saw exactly how it was, or what it would do +to people, until that morning. Then as I watched her--for how she felt +decided what would happen to me, after Mr. Pryor was gone I saw +something I never had noticed until that minute. She could laugh all +over her face, before her lips parted until her teeth showed. She was +doing it now. With a wide smile running from cheek to cheek, pushing +up a big dimple at each end, her lips barely touching, her eyes +dancing, she sat looking at him. + +"This IS the most blessed season for warming up the heart," she said. +"If you want the half of my kingdom, ask quickly. I'm in the mood to +bestow it." + +How she laughed! He just had to loosen up a little, and smile back, +even though it looked pretty stiff. + +"Well, I'll not tax you so far," he said. "I only want Mr. Stanton." + +"But he is the whole of the kingdom, and the King to boot!" she +laughed, dimpled, and flamed redder. + +Mr. Pryor stared at her wonderingly. You could even see the wonder, +like it was something you could take hold of. I suppose he wondered +what could make a woman so happy, like that. + +"Lucky man!" he said. "All of us are not so fortunate." + +"Then it must be you don't covet the place or the title," said mother +more soberly. "Any woman will crown the man she marries, if he will +allow her. Paul went farther. He compelled it." + +"I wonder how!" said Mr. Pryor, his eyes steadily watching mother's +face. + +"By never failing in a million little things, that taken as a whole, +make up one mighty big thing, on which he stands like the Rock of Ages." + +"Yet they tell me that you are the mother of twelve children," he said, +as if he marvelled at something. + +"Yes!" cried mother, and the word broke right through a bubbling laugh. +"Am I not fortunate above most women? We had the grief to lose two +little daughters at the ages of eight and nine, all the others I have, +and I rejoice in them." + +She reached out, laid a hand on me, drew me to her, and lightly touched +my arm, sending my spirits sky-high. She wasn't going to do a thing to +me, not even scold! Mr. Pryor stared at her like Jacob Hood does at +Laddie when he begins rolling Greek before him, so I guess what mother +said must have been Greek to Mr. Pryor. + +"I came to see Mr. Stanton," he said suddenly, and crosslike as if he +didn't believe a word she said, and had decided she was too foolish to +bother with any longer; but he kept on staring. He couldn't quit that, +no matter how cross he was. The funniest thing came into my mind. I +wondered what on earth he'd have done if she'd gone over, sat on his +lap, put her arms around his neck, took his face between her hands and +kissed his forehead, eyes, lips, and tousled his hair, like she does +father and our boys. I'll bet all I got, he'd have turned to stonier +stone than Sabethany. You could see that no one ever served HIM like +that in all his old, cold, hard, cross, mysterious, shut-in life. I +was crazy to ask, "Say, did anybody ever kiss you?" but I had such a +close escape bringing him in wrong, I thought it would be wise not to +take any risks so soon after. It was enough to stand beside mother, +and hear every word they said. What was more, she wanted me, because +she kept her hand on mine, or touched my apron every little while. + +"I'm so sorry!" she said. "He was called to town on business. The +County Commissioners are sitting to-day." + +"They are deciding about the Groveville bridge, and pike?" + +"Yes. He is working so hard for them." + +"The devil you say! I beg pardon! But it was about that I came. I'm +three miles from there, and I'm taxed over sixty pounds for it." + +"But you cross the bridge every time you go to town, and travel the +road. Groveville is quite a resort on account of the water and lovely +country. Paul is very anxious to have the work completed before the +summer boarders come from surrounding cities. We are even farther from +it than you; but it will cost us as much." + +"Are you insane?" cried Mr. Pryor, not at all politely; but you could +see that mother was bound she wouldn't become provoked about anything, +for she never stopped a steady beam on him. "Spend all that money for +strangers to lazy around on a few weeks and then go!" + +"But a good bridge and fine road will add to their pleasure, and when +they leave, the improvements remain. They will benefit us and our +children through all the years to come." + +"Talk about 'the land of the free'!" cried Mr. Pryor. "This is a +tax-ridden nation. It's a beastly outrage! Ever since I came, it's +been nothing but notice of one assessment after another. I won't pay +it! I won't endure it. I'll move!" + +Mother let go of me, gripped her hands pretty tight together on the +table, and she began to talk. + +"As for freedom--no man ever was, or is, or will be free," she said, +quite as forcibly as he could speak. "You probably knew when you came +here that you would find a land tax-ridden from a great civil war of +years' duration, and from newness of vast territory to be opened up and +improved. You certainly studied the situation." + +"'Studied the situation'!" His whip beat across his knee. "'Studied +the situation'! My leaving England was--er--the result of intolerable +conditions there--in the nature of flight from things not to be +endured. I had only a vague idea of the States." + +"If England is intolerable, and the United States an outrage, I don't +know where in this world you'll go," said mother softly. + +Mr. Pryor stared at her sharply. + +"Madame is pleased to be facetious," he said sneeringly. + +Mother's hands parted, and one of them stretched across the table +toward him. + +"Forgive me!" she cried. "That was unkind. I know you are in dreadful +trouble. I'd give--I'd almost give this right hand to comfort you. +I'd do nearly anything to make you feel that you need bear no burden +alone; that we'd love to help support you." + +"I believe you would," he said slowly, his eyes watching her again. "I +believe you would. I wonder why!" + +"All men are brothers, in the broader sense," said mother, "and if +you'll forgive me, your face bears marks of suffering almost amounting +to torture." + +She stretched out the other hand. + +"You couldn't possibly let us help you?" + +Slowly he shook his head. + +"Think again!" urged mother. "A trouble shared is half over to start +with. You lay a part of it on your neighbours, and your neighbours in +this case would be glad, glad indeed, to see you care-free and happy as +all men should be." + +"We'll not discuss it," he said. "You can't possibly imagine the root +of my trouble." + +"I shan't try!" said mother. "But let me tell you this: I don't care +if you have betrayed your country, blasphemed your God, or killed your +own child! So long, as you're a living man, daily a picture of +suffering before me, you're a burden on my heart. You're a load on my +shoulders, without your consent. I have implored God, I shall never +cease to implore Him, until your brow clears, your head is lifted, and +your heart is at rest. You can't prevent me! This hour I shall go to +my closet and beg Him to have mercy on your poor soul, and when His +time comes, He will. You can't help yourself, or you would have done +so, long ago. You must accept aid! This must end, or there will be +tragedy in your house." + +"Madame, there has been!" said Mr. Pryor, shaking as he sat. + +"I recognize that," said mother. "The question is whether what has +passed is not enough." + +"You simply cannot understand!" he said. + +"Mr. Pryor," she said, "you're in the position of a man doubly bereft. +You are without a country, and without a God. Your face tells every +passer-by how you are enjoying that kind of life. Forgive me, if I +speak plainly. I admire some things about you so much, I am venturing +positive unkindness to try to make you see that in shutting out your +neighbours you will surely make them think more, and worse things, than +are true. I haven't a doubt in my mind but that your trouble is not +one half so dreadful as you imagine while brooding over it. We will +pass that. Let me tell you how we feel about this road matter. You +see we did our courting in Pennsylvania, married and tried Ohio, and +then came on here. We took this land when it was mostly woods. I +could point you to the exact spot where we stopped; we visited it +yesterday, looked down the hill and selected the place where we would +set this house, when we could afford to build it. We moved into the +cabin that was on the land first, later built a larger one, and finally +this home as we had planned it. Every fruit tree, bush, vine, and +flower we planted. Here our children have been born, lived, loved, and +left us; some for the graveyard down yonder, some for homes of their +own. Always we have planned and striven to transform this into the +dearest, the most beautiful spot on earth. In making our home the best +we can, in improving our township, county, and state, we are doing our +share toward upbuilding this nation." + +She began at the a b c's, and gave it to him straight: the whole thing, +just as we saw it; and he listened, as if he were a prisoner, and she a +judge telling him what he must do to gain his freedom. She put in the +birds to keep away the worms, the trees to break the wind, the creeks +to save the moisture. She whanged him, and she banged him, up one +side, and down the other. She didn't stop to be mincy. She shot +things at him like a man talking to another man who had plenty of sense +but not a particle of reason. She gave him the reason. She told him +exactly why, and how, and where, and also just WHAT he must do to feel +RIGHT toward his neighbours, his family, and his God. No preacher ever +talked half so well. Yea verily, she was as interesting as the Bishop +himself, and far pleasanter to look at. When she ran short of breath, +and out of words, she reached both hands toward him again. + +"OH DO PLEASE THINK OF THESE THINGS!" she begged. "Do try to believe +that I am a sensible person, and know what I am talking about." + +"Madame," said Mr. Pryor, "there's no doubt in my mind but you are the +most wonderful woman I ever have met. Surely I believe you! Surely I +know your plan of life is the true, the only right way. It is one +degree added to my humiliation that the ban I am under keeps me from +friendly intercourse with so great a lady." + +"'Lady'?" said my mother, her eyes widening. "'Lady'? Now it is you +who are amused." + +"I don't understand!" he said. "Certainly you are a lady, a very great +lady." + +"Goodness, gracious me!" cried my mother, laughing until her dimples +would have held water. "That's the first time in all my life I was +ever accused of such a thing." + +"Again, I do not comprehend," said Mr. Pryor, as if vexed about all he +would endure. + +Mother laughed on, and as she did so she drew back her hands and +studied them. Then she looked at him again, one pink dimple flashing +here and there, all over her face. + +"Well, to begin at the root of the matter," she said, "that is an +enormous big word that you are using lightly. Any one in petticoats is +not a lady--by no means! A lady must be born of unsullied blood for at +least three generations, on each side of her house. Think for a minute +about where you are going to fulfil that condition. Then she must be +gentle by nature, and rearing. She must know all there is to learn +from books, have wide experience to cover all emergencies, she must be +steeped in social graces, and diplomatic by nature. She must rise +unruffled to any emergency, never wound, never offend, always help and +heal, she must be perfect in deportment, virtue, wifehood and +motherhood. She must be graceful, pleasing and beautiful. She must +have much leisure to perfect herself in learning, graces and arts----" + +"Madame, you draw an impossible picture!" cried Mr. Pryor. + +"I draw the picture of the only woman on earth truly entitled to be +called a lady. You use a good word lightly. I have told you what it +takes to make a lady--now look at me!" + +How she laughed! Mr. Pryor looked, but he didn't laugh. + +"More than ever you convince me that you are a lady, indeed," he said. + +Mother wiped her eyes. + +"My dear man!" she cried, "I'm the daughter of a Dutch miller, who +lived on a Pennsylvania mountain stream. There never was a school +anywhere near us, and father and mother only taught us to work. Paul +Stanton took a grist there, and saw me. He married me, and brought me +here. He taught me to read and write. I learned my lessons with my +elder children. He has always kept school in our house, every night of +his life. Our children supposed it was for them; I knew it was quite +as much for me. While I sat at knitting or sewing, I spelled over the +words he gave out. I know nothing of my ancestors, save that they came +from the lowlands of Holland, down where there were cities, schools, +and business. They were well educated, but they would not take the +trouble to teach their children. As I have spoken to you, my husband +taught me. All I know I learn from him, from what he reads aloud, and +places he takes me. I exist in a twenty-mile radius, but through him, +I know all lands, principalities and kingdoms, peoples and customs. I +need never be ashamed to go, or afraid to speak, anywhere." + +"Indeed not!" cried Mr. Pryor. + +"But when you think on the essentials of a real lady--and then picture +me patching, with a First Reader propped before me; facing Indians, +Gypsies, wild animals--and they used to be bad enough--why, I mind one +time in Ohio when our first baby was only able to stand beside a chair, +and through the rough puncheon floor a copperhead stuck up its gleam of +bronzy gold, and shot its darting tongue within a foot of her bare leg. +By all accounts, a lady would have reached for her smelling salts and +gracefully fainted away; in fact, a lady never would have been in such +a place at all. It was my job to throw the first thing I could lay my +hands on so straight and true that I would break that snake's neck, and +send its deadly fangs away from my baby. I did it with Paul's plane, +and neatly too! Then I had to put the baby on the bed and tear up +every piece of the floor to see that the snake had not a mate in hiding +there, for copperheads at that season were going pairs. Once I was +driven to face a big squaw, and threatened the life of her baby with a +red-hot poker while she menaced mine with a hunting knife. There is +not one cold, rough, hard experience of pioneer life that I have not +endured. Shoulder to shoulder, and heart to heart, I've stood beside +my man, and done what had to be done, to build this home, rear our +children, save our property. Many's the night I have shivered in a +barn doctoring sick cattle and horses we could ill afford to lose. +Time and again I have hung on and brought things out alive, after the +men gave up and quit. A lady? How funny!" + +"The amusement is all on your part, Madame." + +"So it seems!" said mother. "But you see, I know so well how +ridiculous it is. When I think of the life a woman must lead in order +to be truly a lady, when I review the life I have been forced to live +to do my share in making this home, and rearing these children, the +contrast is too great. I thank God for any part I have been able to +take. Had I life to live over, I see now where I could do more; but +neighbour, believe me, my highest aspiration is to be a clean, thrifty +housekeeper, a bountiful cook, a faithful wife, a sympathetic mother. +That is life work for any woman, and to be a good woman is the greatest +thing on earth. Never mind about the ladies; if you can honestly say +of me, she is a good woman, you have paid me the highest possible +tribute." + +"I have nothing to change, in the face of your argument," said Mr. +Pryor. "Our loved Queen on her throne is no finer lady." + +That time mother didn't laugh. She looked straight at him a minute and +then she said: "Well, for an Englishman, as I know them, you have said +the last word. Higher praise there is none. But believe me, I make no +such claim. To be a good wife and mother is the end toward which I +aspire. To hold the respect and love of my husband is the greatest +object of my life." + +"Then you have succeeded. You stand a monument to wifehood; your +children prove your idea of motherhood," said Mr. Pryor. "How in this +world have you managed it? The members of your family whom I have seen +are fine, interesting men and women, educated above the average. It is +not idle curiosity. I am deeply interested in knowing how such an end +came to be accomplished here on this farm. I wish you would tell me +just how you have gone about schooling your children." + +"By educating ourselves before their coming, and with them afterward. +Self-control, study, work, joy of life, satisfaction with what we have +had, never-ending strife to go higher, and to do better--Dr. Fenner +laughs when I talk of these things. He says he can take a little naked +Hottentot from the jungle, and educate it to the same degree that I can +one of mine. I don't know; but if these things do not help before +birth, at least they do not hinder; and afterward, you are in the +groove in which you want your children to run. With all our twelve +there never has been one who at nine months of age did not stop crying +if its father lifted his finger, or tapped his foot and told it to. +From the start we have rigorously guarded our speech and actions before +them. From the first tiny baby my husband has taught all of them to +read, write and cipher some, before they went to school at all. He is +always watching, observing, studying: the earth, the stars, growing +things; he never comes to a meal but he has seen something that he has +or will study out for all of us. There never has been one day in our +home on which he did not read a new interesting article from book or +paper; work out a big problem, or discuss some phase of politics, +religion, or war. Sometimes there has been a little of all of it in +one day, always reading, spelling, and memory exercises at night. He +has a sister who twice in her life has repeated the Bible as a test +before a committee. He, himself, can go through the New Testament and +all of the Old save the books of the generations. He always says he +considers it a waste of gray matter to learn them. He has been a +schoolmaster, his home his schoolroom, his children, wife and helpers +his pupils; the common things of life as he meets them every day, the +books from which we learn. + +"I was ignorant at first of bookish subjects, but in his atmosphere, if +one were no student, and didn't even try to keep up, or forge ahead, +they would absorb much through association. Almost always he has been +on the school board and selected the teachers; we have made a point of +keeping them here, at great inconvenience to ourselves, in order to +know as much of them as possible, and to help and guide them in their +work. When the children could learn no more here, for most of them we +have managed the high school of Groveville, especially after our +daughter moved there, and for each of them we have added at least two +years of college, music school, or whatever the peculiar bent of the +child seemed to demand. + +"Before any daughter has left our home for one of her own, she has been +taught all I know of cleanliness about a house, cookery, sewing, +tending the sick, bathing and dressing the new born. She has to bake +bread, pie, cake, and cook any meat or vegetable we have. She has had +her bolt of muslin to make as she chose for her bedding, and linen for +her underclothing. The quilts she pieced and the blankets she wove +have been hers. All of them have been as well provided for as we could +afford. They can knit, darn, patch, tuck, hem, and embroider, set a +hen and plant a garden. I go on a vacation and leave each of them to +keep house for her father a month, before she enters a home of her own. +They are strong, healthy girls; I hope all of them are making a good +showing at being useful women, and I know they are happy, so far at +least." + +"Wonderful!" said Mr. Pryor. + +"Father takes the boys in hand and they must graduate in a straight +furrow, an even fence, planting and tending crops, trimming and +grafting trees, caring for stock, and handling plane, auger and chisel. +Each one must select his wood, cure, fashion, and fit his own ax with a +handle, grind and swing it properly, as well as cradle, scythe and +sickle. They must be able to select good seed grain, boil sap, and +cure meat. They must know animals, their diseases and treatment, and +when they have mastered all he can teach them, and done each thing +properly, they may go for their term at college, and make their choice +of a profession. As yet I'm sorry to say but one of them has come back +to the land." + +"You mean Laddie?" + +"Yes." + +"He has decided to be a farmer?" + +"He is determined to make the soil yield his living." + +"I am sorry--sorry indeed to hear it," said Mr. Pryor. "He has brain +and education to make a brilliant figure at law or statesmanship; he +would do well in trade." + +"What makes you think he would not do well on land?" + +"Wasted!" cried Mr. Pryor. "He would be wasted!" + +"Hold a bit!" said mother, her face flushing as it did when she was +very provoked. "My husband is, and always has been, on land. He is +far from being wasted. He is a power in this community. He has sons +in cities in law and in trade. Not one of them has the friends, and +the influence on his time, that his father has. Any day he says the +word, he can stand in legislative halls, and take any part he chooses +in politics. He prefers his home and family, and the work he does +here, but let me tell you, no son of his ever had his influence or +opportunity, or ever will have." + +"All this is news to me," said Mr. Pryor. + +"You didn't expect us to come over, force our way in and tell you?" + +It was his turn to blush and he did. + +"Laddie has been at our house often," he said. "He might have +mentioned----" + +Mother laughed. She was the gayest that morning. + +"He 'might,' but he never would. Neither would I if you hadn't seemed +to think that the men who do the things Mr. Stanton REFUSES to do are +the ones worth while." + +"He could accomplish much in legislative halls." + +"He figures in the large. He thinks that to be a commissioner, travel +his county and make all of it the best possible, to stand in primaries +and choose only worthy men for all offices, is doing a much bigger work +than to take one place for himself, and strive only for that. Besides, +he really loves his land, his house, and family. He says no man has a +right to bring twelve children into the world and not see personally to +rearing and educating them. He thinks the farm and the children too +much for me, and he's sure he is doing the biggest thing for the +community at large, to go on as he does." + +"Perhaps so," said Mr. Pryor slowly. "He should know best. Perhaps he +is." + +"I make no doubt!" said mother, lifting her head proudly. "And as +Laddie feels and has fitted himself, I look to see him go head and +shoulders above any other son I have. Trade is not the only way to +accumulate. Law is not the only path to the legislature. Comfort, +independence, and freedom, such as we know here, is not found in any +city I ever have visited. We think we have the best of life, and we +are content on land. We have not accumulated much money; we have spent +thousands; we have had a big family for which to provide, and on +account of the newness of the country, taxes always have been heavy. +But we make no complaint. We are satisfied. We could have branched +off into fifty different things after we had a fair start here. We +didn't, because we preferred life as we worked it out for ourselves. +Paul says when he leaves the city, and his horses' hoofs strike the +road between our fields, he always lifts his head higher, squares his +shoulders, and feels a man among men. To own land, and to love it, is +a wonderful thing, Mr. Pryor." + +She made me think of something. Ever since I had added to my quill and +arrow money, the great big lot at Easter, father had shared his chest +till with me. The chest stood in our room, and in it lay his wedding +suit, his every Sunday clothes, his best hat with a red silk +handkerchief in the crown, a bundle of precious newspapers he was +saving on account of rare things in them he wanted for reference, and +in the till was the wallet of ready money he kept in the house for +unexpected expense, his deeds, insurance papers, all his particular +private papers, the bunches of lead pencils, slate pencils, and the box +of pens from which he supplied us for school. Since I had grown so +rich, he had gone partners with me, and I might lift the lid, open the +till and take out my little purse that May bought from the huckster for +my last birthday. I wasn't to touch a thing, save my own, and I never +did; but I knew precious well what was there. + +If Mr. Pryor thought my father didn't amount to much because he lived +on land; if it made him think more of him, to know that he could be in +the legislature if he chose, maybe he'd think still more---- + +I lifted the papers, picked it up carefully, and slipping back quietly, +I laid it on Mr. Pryor's knee. He picked it up and held it a minute, +until he finished what he was saying to mother, and then he looked at +it. Then he looked long and hard. Then he straightened up and looked +again. + +"God bless my soul!" he cried. + +You see when he was so astonished he didn't know what he was saying, he +called on God, just as father says every one does. I took a side look +at mother. Her face was a little extra flushed, but she was still +smiling; so I knew she wasn't angry with me, though of course she +wouldn't have shown the thing herself. She and father never did, +except as each of us grew big enough to be taught about the Crusaders. +Father said he didn't care the snap of his finger about it, except as +it stood for hardihood and bravery. But Mr. Pryor cared! He cared +more than he could say. He stared, and stared, and over and over he +wonderingly repeated: + +"God bless my soul!" + +"Where did you get the crest of the Earl of Eastbrooke, the master of +Stanton house?" he demanded. "Stanton house!" he repeated. "Why--why, +the name! It's scarcely possible, but----" + +"But there it is!" laughed mother. "A mere bauble for show and +amounting to nothing on earth save as it stands a mark for brave men +who have striven to conquer." + +"Surgere tento!" read Mr. Pryor, from the little shield. "Four shells! +Madame, I know men who would give their lives to own this, and to have +been born with the right to wear it. It came to your husband in +straight line?" + +"Yes," said mother, "but generations back. He never wore it. He never +would. He only saves it for the children." + +"It goes to your eldest son?" + +"By rights, I suppose it should," said mother. "But father mentioned +it the other night. He said none of his boys had gone as he tried to +influence them, unless Laddie does now in choosing land for his future, +and if he does, his father is inclined to leave it to him, and I agree. +At our death it goes to Laddie I am quite sure." + +"Well, I hope--I hope," said Mr. Pryor, "that the young man has the wit +to understand what this would mean to him in England." + +"His wit is just about level with his father's," said mother. "He +never has been in England, and most probably he never will be. I don't +think it means a rap more to Laddie than it does to my husband. Laddie +is so busy developing the manhood born in him, he has no time to chase +the rainbow of reflected glory, and no belief in its stability if he +walked in its light. The child of my family to whom that trinket +really means something is Little Sister, here. When Leon came in with +the thief, I thought he should have it; but after all, she is the +staunchest little Crusader I have." + +Mr. Pryor looked me over with much interest. + +"Yes, yes! No doubt!" he said. "But the male line! This priceless +treasure should descend to one of the male line! To one whose name +will remain Stanton! To Laddie would be best, no doubt! No doubt at +all!" + +"We will think about it," said mother serenely as Mr. Pryor arose to go. + +He apologized for staying so long, and mother said it hadn't been long, +and asked him the nicest ever to come again. She walked in the +sunlight with him and pointed out the chestnuts. She asked what he +thought of a line of trees to shade the road, and they discussed +whether the pleasure they would give in summer would pay for the +dampness they would hold in winter. They wandered around the yard and +into the garden. She sent me to bring a knife, trowel, and paper, so +when he started for home, he was carrying a load of cuttings, and roots +to plant. + +When father came from town that evening, at the first sight of him, she +went straight into his arms, her face beaming; she had been like a sun +all that day. Some of it must have been joy carried over from +yesterday. + +"Praise God, the wedge is in!" she cried. + +Father held her tight, stroked her hair, and began smiling without +having the least idea why, but he very well knew that whatever pleased +her like that was going to be good news for him also. + +"What has happened, mother?" he asked. + +"Mr. Pryor came over about the road and bridge tax, and oh Paul! I've +said every word to him I've been bursting to say from the very start. +Every single word, Paul!" + +"How did he take it?" + +"Time will tell. Anyway, he heard it, all of it, and he went back +carrying a load of things to plant. Only think of that! Once he +begins planting, and watching things grow, the home feeling is bound to +come. I tell you, Paul, the wedge is in! Oh I'm so happy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The Crest of Eastbrooke + + "Sow;--and look onward, upward, + Where the starry light appears,-- + Where, in spite of coward's doubting, + Or your own heart's trembling fears, + You shall reap in joy the harvest + You have sown to-day in tears." + + +"Any objections to my beginning to break ground on the west eighty +to-day?" asked Laddie of father at breakfast Monday morning. + +"I had thought we would commence on the east forty, when planning the +work." + +"So had I," said Laddie. "But since I thought that, a very particular +reason has developed for my beginning to plow the west eighty at once, +and there is a charming little ditty I feel strongly impelled to +whistle every step of the way." + +Father looked at him sharply, and so, I think, did all of us. And +because we loved him deeply, we saw that his face was a trifle pale for +him; his clear eyes troubled, in spite of his laughing way. He knew we +were studying him too, but he wouldn't have said anything that would +make us look and question if he had minded our doing it. That was +exactly like Laddie. He meant it when he said he hated a secret. He +said there was no place on earth for a man to look for sympathy and +love if he couldn't find it in his own family; and he never had been so +happy since I had been big enough to notice his moods as he had been +since all of us knew about the Princess. He didn't wait for father to +ask why he'd changed his mind about the place to begin. + +"You see," he said, "a very charming friend of mine expressed herself +strongly last night about the degrading influence of farming, +especially that branch of agriculture which evolves itself in a furrow; +hence it is my none too happy work to plow the west eighty where she +can't look our way without seeing me; and I have got to whistle my +favourite 'toon' where she must stop her ears if she doesn't hear; and +then it will be my painful task, I fear, to endeavour to convince her +that I am still clean, decent, and not degraded." + +"Oh Laddie!" cried mother. + +"Abominable foolishness!" roared father like he does roar once in about +two years. + +"Isn't it now?" asked Laddie sweetly. "I don't know what has got into +her head. She has seen me plowing fifty times since their land has +joined ours, and she never objected before." + +"I can tell you blessed well!" said mother. "She didn't care two hoots +how much my son plowed, but it makes a difference when it comes to her +lover." + +"Maw, you speak amazing reckless," said Laddie, "if I thought there was +anything in THAT feature of the case, I'd attempt a Highland fling on +the ridgepole of our barn." + +"Be serious!" said father sternly. "This is no laughing matter." + +"That's precisely why I am laughing," said Laddie. "Would it help me +any to sit down and weep? I trow not! I have thought most of the +silent watches--by the way they are far from silent in May--and as I +read my title clear, it's my job to plow the west eighty immejit." + +Father tried to look stern, but he just had to laugh. + +"All right then, plow it!" he said. + +"What did she say?" asked mother. + +"Phew!" Laddie threw up both hands. "She must have been bottled some +time on the subject. The ferment was a spill of considerable +magnitude. The flood rather overwhelmed me, because it was so +unexpected. I had been taking for granted that she accepted my +circumstances and surroundings as she did me. But no, kind friends, +far otherwise! She said last night, in the clearest English I ever +heard spoken impromptu, that I was a man suitable for her friend, but I +would have to change my occupation before I could be received on more +than a friendly footing." + +"'On more than a friendly footing'?" repeated mother. + +"You have her exact words," said Laddie. "Kindly pass the ham." + +"What did you say?" + +"Nothing! I am going to plow the answer. Please don't object to my +beginning this morning." + +"You try yourself all winter to get as far as you have, and then upset +the bowl like this?" cried mother. + +"Softly, mummy, softly!" said Laddie. "What am I to do? I've +definitely decided on my work. I see land and life, as you and father +taught me, in range and in perspective far more than you've got from +it. You had a first hand wrestle. The land I covet has been greatly +improved already. I can do what I choose with it, making no more +strenuous effort than plowing; and I am proud to say that I LOVE to +plow. I like my feet in the soil. I want my head in the spring air. +I can become almost tipsy on the odours that fill my nostrils. Music +evolved by the Almighty is plenty good enough for me. I'm proud of a +spanking big team, under the control of a touch or a word. I enjoy +farming, and I am going to be a farmer. Plowing is one of the most +pleasing parts of the job. Sowing the seed beats it a little, from an +artistic standpoint, either is preferable to haying, threshing, or corn +cutting: all are parts of my work, so I'm going to begin. Mother, I +hope you don't mind if I take your grays. I'll be very careful; but +the picture I present to my girl to-day is going to go hard with her at +best, so I'd like to make it level best." + +He arose, went around and knelt beside mother. He took her, chair and +all, in his arms: + + "Best of mothers! on my breast + Lean thy head, and sink to rest." + + +She quoted. Mother laughed. + +"Mammy," he asked bending toward her, "am I clean?" + +"You goose!" she said, putting her arms around him and holding him +tight. + +"Gander love," said Laddie, turning up his face for a kiss. "Honest +mother, you have been through nigh unto forty years of it, tell me, can +a man be a farmer and keep neat enough not to be repulsive to a refined +woman?" + +"Your father is the answer," said mother. "All of you know how +perfectly repulsive he is and always has been to me." + +"'Repulsive,"' said father. "That's an ugly word!" + +"There are a whole lot of unpleasant things that peep around corners +occasionally," said Laddie. "But whoever of you dear people it was +that showed Mr. Pryor the Crest of Eastbrooke, brought out this +particular dragon for me to slay." + +"Tut, tut! Now what does that mean?" said father. "Have we had a +little exhibition of that especial brand of pride that goes before a +fall?" + +"We have! and I take the tumble," said Laddie. "Watch me start! 'Jack +fell down and broke his crown.' Question--will 'Jill come tumbling +after?'" + +My heart stopped and I was shaking in my bare feet, because I wore no +shoes to shake in. Oh my soul! No matter how Laddie jested I knew he +was almost killed; the harder he made fun, the worse he was hurt. I +opened my mouth to say I did it, I had to, but Leon began to talk. + +"Well, I think she's smart!" he cried. "If she was going to give you +the mitten, why didn't she do it long ago?" + +"She had to find out first whether there were a possibility of her +wanting to keep it," said Laddie. + +"You're sure you are all signed, sealed, and delivered on this plowing +business, are you?" asked Leon. + +"Dead sure!" said Laddie. + +"All right, if you like it!" said Leon. "None for me after college! +But say, you can be a farmer and not plow, you know. You go trim the +trees, and work at cleaner, more gentlemanly jobs. I'll plow that +field. I'd just as soon as not. I plowed last year and you said I did +well, didn't you, father?" + +"Yes, on the potato patch," said father. "A cornfield is a different +thing. I fear you are too light." + +"Oh but that was a year ago!" cried Leon. + +He pushed back his chair and went to father. + +"Just feel my biceps now! Most like steel!" he boasted. "A fellow can +grow a lot in a year, and all the riding I've been doing, and all the +exercise I've had. Cert' I can plow that meadow." + +"You're all right, shaver," said Laddie. "I'll not forget your offer; +but in this case it wouldn't help. Either the Princess takes her +medicine or I take mine. I'm going to live on land: I'm going to plow +in plain sight of the Pryor house this week, if I have to hire to Jacob +Hood to get the chance. May I plow, and may I take the grays, father?" + +"Yes!" said father roundly. + +"Then here goes!" said Laddie. "You needn't fret, mother. I'll not +overheat them. I must give a concert simultaneous with this plowing +performance, and I'm particular about the music, so I can't go too +fast. Also, I'll wrap the harness." + +"Goodness knows I'm not thinking about the horses," said mother. + +"No, but if they turned up next Sunday, wind-broken, and with nice +large patches of hair rubbed from their sides, you would be! If you +were me, would you whistle, or vocalize to start on?" + +Mother burst right out crying and laid her face all tear-wet against +him. Laddie kissed her, and wiped away the tears, teased her, and soon +as he could he bolted from the east door; but I was closest, so I saw +plainly that his eyes were wet too. My soul and body! AND I HAD DONE +IT! I might as well get it over. + +"I showed Mr. Pryor the trinket," I said. + +"How did you come to do that?" asked father sternly. + +"When he was talking with mother. He told her Laddie would be 'wasted' +farming----" + +"Wasted?" + +"That's what he said. Mother told him you had always farmed and you +were a 'power in this community.' She told him about what you did, +because you wanted to, and what you COULD do if you chose, about +holding office, you know, and that seemed to make him think heaps more +of you, so I thought it would be a good thing for him to know about the +Crusaders too, and I ran and got the crest. I THOUGHT it would +help----" + +"And so it will," said mother. "They constantly make the best showing +they can, we might as well, too. The trouble is they got more than +they expected. They thought they could look down on us, and patronize +us, if they came near at all; when they found we were quite as well +educated as they, had as much land, could hold prominent offices if we +chose, and had the right to that bauble, they veered to the other +extreme. Now they seem to demand that we quit work----" + +"Move to the city, 'sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,'" suggested +father. + +"Exactly!" said mother. "They'll have to find out we are running our +own business; but I'm sorry it fell to Laddie to show them. You could +have done it better. It will come out all right. The Princess is not +going to lose a man like Laddie on account of how he makes his money." + +"Don't be too confident," said father. "With people of their stripe, +how much money a man can earn, and at what occupation, constitute the +whole of life." + +She wasn't too confident. Yesterday she had been so happy she almost +flew. To-day she kept things going, and sang a lot, but nearly every +time you looked at her you could see her lips draw tight, a frown cross +her forehead, and her head shake. Pretty soon we heard a racket on the +road, so we went out. There was Laddie with the matched team of +carriage horses and a plow. Now, in dreadfully busy times, father let +Ned and Jo work a little, but not very much. They were not plow +horses; they were roadsters. They liked to prance, and bow their necks +and dance to the carriage. It shamed them to be hitched to a plow. +They drooped their heads and slunk along like dogs caught sucking eggs. +But they were a sight on the landscape. They were lean and slender and +yet round too, matched dapple gray on flank and side, with long +snow-white manes and tails. No wonder mother didn't want them to work. +Laddie had reached through the garden fence and hooked a bunch of red +tulips and yellow daffodils. The red was at Jo's ear, and the yellow +at Ned's, and they did look fine. So did he! Big, strong, clean, a +red flower in his floppy straw hat band; and after he drove through the +gate, he began a shrill, fifelike whistle you could have heard a half +mile: + + "See the merry farmer boy, tramp the meadows through, + Swing his hoe in careless joy, while dashing off the dew. + Bobolink in maple high, trills a note of glee, + Farmer boy in gay reply now whistles cheerily." + + +The chorus was all whistle, and it was written for folks who could. It +went up until it almost split the echoes, and Laddie could easily sail +a measure above the notes. He did it too. As for me, I kept from +sight. For a week Laddie whistled and plowed. He wore that tune +threadbare, and got an almost continuous pucker on his lips. Leon said +if he didn't stop whistling, and sing more, the girls would think he +was doing a prunes and prisms stunt. So after that he sang the words, +and whistled the chorus. But he made no excuse to go, and he didn't +go, to Pryors'. When Sunday came, he went to Westchester to see +Elizabeth, and stayed until Monday morning. Not once that week did the +Princess ride past our house, or her father either. By noon Monday +Laddie was back in the field, and I had all I could bear. He was +neither whistling nor singing so much now, because he was away at the +south end, where he couldn't be seen or heard at Pryors'. He almost +scoured the skin from him, and he wore his gloves more carefully than +usual. If he soiled his clothing in the least, and it looked as if he +would make more than his share of work, he washed the extra pieces at +night. + +Tuesday morning I hurried with all my might, and then I ran to the +field where he was. I climbed on the fence, sat there until he came +up, and then I gave him some cookies. He stopped the horses, climbed +beside me and ate them. Then he put his arms around me and hugged me +tight. + +"Laddie, do you know I did it?" I wailed. + +"Did you now?" said Laddie. "No, I didn't know for sure, but I had +suspicions. You always have had such a fondness for that particular +piece of tinware." + +"But Laddie, it means so much!" + +"Doesn't it?" said Laddie. "A few days ago no one could have convinced +me that it meant anything at all to me, or ever could. Just look at me +now!" + +"Don't joke, Laddie! Something must be done." + +"Well, ain't I doing it?" asked Laddie. "Look at all these acres and +acres of Jim-dandy plowing!" + +"Don't!" I begged. "Why don't you go over there?" + +"No use, Chicken," said Laddie. "You see her exact stipulation was +that I must CHANGE MY OCCUPATION before I came again." + +"What does she want you to do?" + +"Law, I think. Unfortunately, I showed her a letter from Jerry asking +me to enter his office this fall." + +"Hadn't you better do it, Laddie?" + +"How would you like to be shut in little, stuffy rooms, and set to +droning over books and papers every hour of the day, all your life, and +to spend the best of your brain and bodily strength straightening out +other men's quarrels?" + +"Oh Laddie, you just couldn't!" I cried. + +"Precisely!" said Laddie. "I just couldn't, and I just won't!" + +"What can you do?" + +"I might compromise on stock," he said. "I could follow the same +occupation as her father, and with better success. Neither he nor his +men get the best results from horses. They don't understand them, +especially the breeds they are attempting to handle. Most Arab +horsemen are tent dwellers. They travel from one oasis to another with +their stock. At night their herds are gathered around them as +children. As children they love them, pet them, feed them. Each is +named for a divinity, a planet or a famous ruler, and the understanding +between master and beast is perfect. Honestly, Little Sister, I think +you have got to believe in the God of Israel, in order to say the right +word to an Arabian horse; and I know you must believe in the God of +love. A beast of that breed, jerked, kicked, and scolded is a fine +horse ruined. If I owned half the stock Mr. Pryor has over there, I +could put it in such shape for market that I could get twice from it +what his men will." + +"Are Thomas and James rough with the horses?" + +"'Like master, like man,'" quoted Laddie. "They are! They are foolish +with the Kentucky strain, and fools with the Arab; and yet, that +combination beats the world. But I must get on with the P.C. job." + +He slid from the fence, took a drink from his water jug, and pulled a +handful of grass for each horse. As he stood feeding them, I almost +fell from the top rail. + +"Laddie!" I whispered. "Look! Mr. Pryor is halfway across the field +on Ranger." + +"So?" said Laddie. "Now I wonder----" + +"Shall I go?" + +"No indeed!" said Laddie. "Stay right where you are. It can't be +anything of much importance." + +At first it didn't seem to be. They talked about the weather, the +soil, the team. Laddie scooped a handful of black earth, and holding +it out, told Mr. Pryor all about how good it was, and why, and he +seemed interested. Then they talked about everything; until if he had +been Jacob Hood, he would have gone away. But just at the time when I +expected him to start, he looked at Laddie straight and hard. + +"I missed you Sabbath evening," he said. + +Then I looked at him. He had changed, some way. He seemed more human, +more like our folks, less cold and stern. + +"I sincerely hope it was unanimous," said Laddie. + +Mr. Pryor had to laugh. + +"It was a majority, at any rate." + +Laddie stared dazed. You see that was kind of a joke. An easy one, +because I caught it; but we were not accustomed to expecting a jest +from Mr. Pryor. Not one of us dreamed there was a joke between his hat +crown and his boot soles. Then Laddie laughed; but he sobered quickly. + +"I'm mighty sorry if Mrs. Pryor missed me," he said. "I thought of +her. I have grown to be her devoted slave, and I hoped she liked me." + +"You put it mildly," said Mr. Pryor. "Since you didn't come when she +expected you, we've had the worst time with her that we have had since +we reached this da--ah--er--um--this country." + +"Could you make any suggestion?" asked Laddie. + +"I could! I would suggest that you act like the sensible fellow I know +you to be, and come as usual, at your accustomed times." + +"But I'm forbidden, man!" cried Laddie. + +Ugh! Such awful things as Mr. Pryor said. + +"Forbidden!" he cried. "Is a man's roof his own, or is it not? While +I live, I propose to be the head of my family. I invite you! I ask +you! Mrs. Pryor and I want you! What more is necessary?" + +"TWO things," said Laddie, just as serenely. "That Miss Pryor wants +me, and that I want to come." + +"D'ye mean to tell me that you DON'T want to come, eh? After the fight +you put up to force your way in!" + +Laddie studied the sky, a whimsy smile on his lips. + +"Now wasn't that a good fight?" he inquired. "I'm mighty proud of it! +But not now, or ever, do I wish to enter your house again, if Miss +Pryor doesn't want, and welcome me." + +Then he went over, took Mr. Pryor's horse by the head, and began +working with its bridle. It didn't set right some way, and Mr. Pryor +had jerked, spurred, and mauled, until there was a big space tramped to +mortar. Laddie slid his fingers beneath the leather, eased it a +little, and ran his hands over the fretful creature's head. It just +stopped, stood still, pushed its nose under his arm, and pressed +against his side. Mr. Pryor arose in one stirrup, swung around and +alighted. He looped an arm through the bridle rein, and with both +hands gripped his whipstock. + +"How the devil do you do it?" he asked, as if he were provoked. + +"First, the bridle was uncomfortable; next, you surely know, Mr. Pryor, +that a man can transfer his mental state to his mount." + +Laddie pointed to the churned up earth. + +"THAT represents your mental state; THIS"--he slid his hand down the +neck of the horse--"portrays mine." + +Mr. Pryor's face reddened, but Laddie was laughing so heartily he +joined in sort of sickly-like. + +"Oh I doubt if you are so damnably calm!" he cried. + +"I'm CALM enough, so far as that goes," said Laddie. "I'm not denying +that I've got about all the heartache I can conveniently carry." + +"Do you mind telling me how far this affair has gone?" + +"Wouldn't a right-minded man give the woman in the case the first +chance to answer that question? I greatly prefer that you ask Miss +Pryor." + +If ever I felt sorry for any one, I did then for Mr. Pryor. He stood +there gripping the whip with both hands and he looked exactly as if the +May wind might break him into a thousand tiny pieces, and every one of +them would be glass. + +"Um--er----" he said at last. "You're right, of course, but +unfortunately, Pamela and her mother did not agree with my motives, or +my course in coming to this country; and while there is no outward +demonstration er--um--other than Mrs. Pryor's seclusion; yet, +er--um!--I am forced to the belief that I'm NOT in their confidence." + +"I see!" said Laddie. "And of course you love your daughter as any man +would love so beautiful a child, and when she is all he has----" I +thought the break was coming right there, but Mr. Pryor clenched his +whip and put it off; still, any one watching with half an eye could see +that it was only put off, and not for long at that,--"It has been my +idea, Mr. Pryor, that the proper course for me was to see if I could +earn any standing with your daughter. If I could, and she gave me +permission, then I intended coming to you the instant I knew how she +felt. But in such a case as this, I don't think I shall find the +slightest hesitation in telling you anything you want to know, that I +am able." + +"You don't know how you stand with her?" + +Laddie took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. His feet +were planted widely apart, and his face was sober enough for any +funeral now. At last he spoke. + +"I've been trying to figure that out," he said slowly. "I believe the +situation is as open to you as it is to me. She was a desperately +lonely, homesick girl, when she caught my eye and heart; and I placed +myself on her horizon. In her case the women were slow in offering +friendship, because, on account of Mrs. Pryor's seclusion, none was +felt to be wanted; then Miss Pryor was different in dress and manner. +I found a way to let her see that I wanted to be friends, and she +accepted my friendship, and at the same time allowed it go only so far. +On a few rare occasions, I've met her alone, and we've talked out +various phases of life together; but most of our intercourse has taken +place in your home, and in your presence. You probably have seen her +meet and entertain her friends frequently. I should think you would be +more nearly able to gauge my standing with her than I am." + +"You haven't told her that you love her?" + +"Haven't I though?" cried Laddie. "Man alive! What do you think I'm +made of? Putty? Told her? I've told her a thousand times. I've said +it, and sung it and whistled it, and looked it, and lived it. I've +written it, and ridden it, and this week I've plowed it! Your daughter +knows as she knows nothing else, in all this world, that she has only +to give me one glance, one word, one gesture of invitation, to find me +before her six feet of the worst demoralized beefsteak a woman ever +undertook to handle. Told her? Ye Gods! I should say I've told her!" + +If any of Pryors had been outdoors they certainly could have heard Mr. +Pryor. How he laughed! He shook until he tottered. Laddie took his +arm and led him to the fence. He lifted a broad top rail, pushed it +between two others across a corner and made a nice comfortable seat for +him. After a while Mr. Pryor wiped his eyes. Laddie stood watching +him with a slow grin on his face. + +"And she hasn't given the signal you are waiting for?" he asked at last. + +Laddie slowly shook his head. + +"Nary the ghost of a signal!" he said. "Now we come to Sunday before +last. I only intimated, vaguely, that a hint of where I stood would be +a comfort--and played Jonah. The whale swallowed me at a gulp, and for +all my inches, never batted an eye. You see, a few days before I +showed her a letter from my brother Jerry, because I thought it might +interest her. There was something in it to which I had paid little or +no attention, about my going to the city and beginning work in his law +office; to cap that, evidently you had mentioned before her our prize +piece of family tinware. There was a culmination like a thunder clap +in a January sky. She said everything that was on her mind about a man +of my size and ability doing the work I am, and then she said I must +change my occupation before I came again." + +"And for answer you've split the echoes with some shrill, abominable +air, and plowed, before her very eyes, for a week!" + +Then Laddie laughed. + +"Do you know," he said; "that's a good one on me! It never occurred to +me that she would not be familiar with that air, and understand its +application. Do you mean to crush me further by telling me that all my +perfectly lovely vocalizing and whistling was lost?" + +"It was a dem irritating, challenging sort of thing," said Mr. Pryor. +"I listened to it by the hour, myself, trying to make out exactly what +it did mean. It seemed to combine defiance with pleading, and through +and over all ran a note of glee that was really quite charming." + +"You have quoted a part of it, literally," said Laddie. "'A note of +glee'--the cry of a glad heart, at peace with all the world, busy with +congenial work." + +"I shouldn't have thought you'd have been so particularly joyful." + +"Oh, the joy was in the music," said Laddie. "That was a whistle to +keep up my courage. The joy was in the song, not in me! Last week was +black enough for me to satisfy the most exacting pessimist." + +"I wish you might have seen the figure you cut! That fine team, flower +bedecked, and the continuous concert!" + +"But I did!" cried Laddie. "We have mirrors. That song can't be +beaten. I know this team is all right, and I'm not dwarfed or +disfigured. That was the pageant of summer passing in review. It +represented the tilling of the soil; the sowing of seed, garnering to +come later. You buy corn and wheat, don't you? They are vastly +necessary. Much more so than the settling of quarrels that never +should have taken place. Do you think your daughter found the +spectacle at all moving?" + +"Damn you, sir, what I should do, is to lay this whip across your +shoulders!" cried Mr. Pryor. + +But if you will believe it, he was laughing again. + +"I prefer that you don't," said Laddie, "or on Ranger either. See how +he likes being gentled." + +Then he straightened and drew a deep breath. + +"Mr. Pryor," he said, "as man to man, I have got this to say to +you--and you may use your own discretion about repeating it to your +daughter: I can offer her six feet of as sound manhood as you can find +on God's footstool. I never in my whole life have had enough impure +blood in my body to make even one tiny eruption on my skin. I never +have been ill a day in my life. I never have touched a woman save as I +lifted and cared for my mother, and hers, or my sisters. As to my +family and education she can judge for herself. I offer her the first +and only love of my heart. She objects to farming, because she says it +is dirty, offensive work. There are parts of it that are dirty. Thank +God, it only soils the body, and that can be washed. To delve and to +dive into, and to study and to brood over the bigger half of the law +business of any city is to steep your brain in, and smirch your soul +with, such dirt as I would die before I'd make an occupation of +touching. Will you kindly tell her that word for word, and that I +asked you to?" + +Mr. Pryor was standing before I saw him rise. He said those awful +words again, but between them he cried: "You're right! It's the +truth! It's the eternal truth!" + +"It IS the truth," said Laddie. "I've only to visit the offices, and +examine the business of those of my family living by law, to KNOW that +it's the truth. Of course there's another side! There are times when +there are great opportunities to do good; I recognize that. To some +these may seem to overbalance that to which I object. If they do, all +right. I am merely deciding for myself. Once and for all, for me it +is land. It is born in me to love it, to handle it easily, to get the +best results from stock. I am going to take the Merriweather place +adjoining ours on the west, and yours on the south. I intend to lease +it for ten years, with purchase privilege at the end, so that if I make +of it what I plan, my work will not be lost to me. I had thought to +fix up the place and begin farming. If Miss Pryor has any use whatever +for me, and prefers stock, that is all right with me. I'll go into the +same business she finds suitable for you. I can start in a small way +and develop. I can afford a maid for her from the beginning, but I +couldn't clothe her as she has been accustomed to being dressed, for +some time. I would do my best, however. I know what store my mother +sets by being well gowned. And as a husband, I can offer your daughter +as loving consideration as woman ever received at the hands of man. +Provided by some miracle I could win her consent, would you even +consider me, and such an arrangement?" + +"Frankly sir," said Mr. Pryor, "I have reached the place where I would +be----" whenever you come to a long black line like that, it means that +he just roared a lot of words father never said, and never will--"glad +to! To tell the truth, the thing you choose to jestingly refer to as +'tinware'--I hope later to convince of the indelicacy of such +allusion--would place you in England on a social level above any we +ever occupied, or could hope to. Your education equals ours. You are +a physical specimen to be reckoned with, and I believe what you say of +yourself. There's something so clean and manly about you, it amounts +to confirmation. A woman should set her own valuation on that; and the +height of it should correspond with her knowledge of the world." + +"Thank you!" said Laddie. "You are more than kind! more than generous!" + +"As to the arrangements you could make for Pamela," said Mr. Pryor, +"she's all we have. Everything goes to her, ultimately. She has her +stipulated allowance now; whether in my house or yours, it would go +with her. Surely you wouldn't be so callous as to object to our giving +her anything that would please us!" + +"Why should I?" asked Laddie. "That's only natural on your part. Your +child is your child; no matter where or what it is, you expect to +exercise a certain amount of loving care over it. My father and mother +constantly send things to their children absent from home, and they +take much pleasure in doing it. That is between you and your daughter, +of course. I shouldn't think of interfering. But in the meantime, +unless Miss Pryor has been converted to the beauties of plowing through +my continuous performance of over a week, I stand now exactly where I +did before, so far as she is concerned. If you and Mrs. Pryor have no +objection to me, if you feel that you could think of me, or find for me +any least part of a son's place in your hearts, I believe I should know +how to appreciate it, and how to go to work to make myself worthy of +it." + +Mr. Pryor sat down so suddenly, the rail almost broke. I thought the +truth was, that he had heart trouble, himself. He stopped up, choked +on things, flopped around, and turned so white. I suppose he thought +it was womanish, and a sign of weakness, and so he didn't tell, but I +bet anything that he had it--bad! + +"I'll try to make the little fool see!" he said. + +"Gently, gently! You won't help me any in that mood," said Laddie. +"The chances are that Miss Pryor repeated what she heard from you long +ago, and what she knows you think and feel, unless you've changed +recently." + +"That's the amount of it!" cried Mr. Pryor. "All my life I've had a +lot of beastly notions in my head about rank, and class, and here they +don't amount to a damn! There's no place for them. Things are +different. Your mother, a grand, good woman, opened my eyes to many +things recently, and I get her viewpoint--clearly, and I agree with +her, and with you, sir!--I agree with you!" + +"I am more than glad," said Laddie. "You certainly make a friend at +court. Thank you very much!" + +"And you will come----?" + +"The instant Miss Pryor gives me the slightest sign that I am wanted, +and will be welcomed by her, I'll come like a Dakota blizzard! Flos +can hump herself on time for once." + +"But you won't come until she does?" + +"Man alive! I can't!" cried Laddie. "Your daughter said positively +exactly what she meant. It was unexpected and it hit me so hard I +didn't try to argue. I simply took her at her word, her very explicit +word." + +"Fool!" cried Mr. Pryor. "The last thing on earth any woman ever wants +or expects is for a man to take her at her word." + +"What?" cried Laddie. + +"She had what she said in her mind of course, but what she wanted was +to be argued out of it! She wanted to be convinced!" + +"I think not! She was entirely too convincing herself," said Laddie. +"It's my guess that she has thought matters over, and that her mind is +made up; but I would take it as a mighty big favour if you would put +that little piece of special pleading squarely up to her. Will you?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Pryor, "I will. I'll keep cool and do my best, but I +am so unfortunate in my temper. I could manage slaves better than +women. This time I'll be calm, and reason things out with her, or I'll +blow out my brains." + +"Don't you dare!" laughed Laddie. "You and I are going to get much +pleasure, comfort and profit from this world, now that we have come to +an understanding." + +Mr. Pryor arose and held out his hand. Laddie grasped it tight, and +they stood there looking straight at each other, while a lark on the +fence post close by cried, "Spring o' ye-ar!" at them, over and over, +but they never paid the least attention. + +"You see," said Mr. Pryor, "I've been thinking things over deeply, +deeply! ever since talking with your mother. I've cut myself off from +going back to England, by sacrificing much of my property in hasty +departure, if by any possibility I should ever want to return, and +there is none, not the slightest! There's no danger of any one +crossing the sea, and penetrating to this particular spot so far +inland; we won't be molested! And lately--lately, despite the rawness, +and the newness, there is something about the land that takes hold, +after all. I should dislike leaving now! I found in watching some +roots your mother gave me, that I wanted them to grow, that I very much +hoped they would develop, and beautify our place with flowers, as yours +is. I find myself watching them, watching them daily, and oftener, and +there seems to be a sort of home feeling creeping around my heart. I +wish Pamela would listen to reason! I wish she would marry you soon! +I wish there would be little children. Nothing else on earth would +come so close to comforting my wife, and me also. Nothing! Go ahead, +lad, plow away! I'll put your special pleading up to the girl." + +He clasped Laddie's hand, mounted and rode back to the gate he had +entered when he came. Laddie sat on the rail, so I climbed down beside +him. He put his arm around me. + +"Do I feel any better?" he asked dubiously. + +"Of course you do!" I said stoutly. "You feel whole heaps, and stacks, +and piles better. You haven't got him to fight any more, or Mrs. +Pryor. It's now only to convince the Princess about how it's all right +to plow." + +"Small matter, that!" said Laddie. "And easy! Just as simple and +easy!" + +"Have you asked the Fairies to help you?" + +"Aye, aye, sir," said Laddie. "Also the winds, the flowers, the birds +and the bees! I have asked everything on earth to help me except you, +Little Sister. I wonder if I have been making a mistake there?" + +"Are you mad at me, Laddie?" + +"'Cause for why?" + +"About the old crest thing!" + +"Forget it!" laughed Laddie. "I have. And anyway, in the long run, I +must be honest enough to admit that it may have helped. It seems to +have had its influence with Mr. Pryor, no doubt it worked the same on +Mrs. Pryor, and it may be that it was because she had so much more to +bank on than she ever expected, that the Princess felt emboldened to +make her demand. It may be, you can't tell! Anyway, it's very evident +that it did no real harm. And forget my jesting, Chicken. A man can't +always cry because there are tears in his heart. I think quite as much +of that crest as you do. In the sum of human events, it is a big +thing. No one admires a Crusader more than I. No one likes a good +fight better. No Crusader ever put up a stiffer battle than I have in +the past week while working in these fields. Every inch of them is +battlefield, every furrow a separate conflict. Gaze upon the scene of +my Waterloo! When June covers it with green, it will wave over the +resting place of my slain heart!" + +"Oh Laddie!" I sobbed. "There you go again! How can you?" + +"Whoo-pee!" cried Laddie. "That's the question! How can I? Got to, +Little Sister! There's no other way." + +"No," I was forced to admit, "there isn't. What are we going to do +now?" + +"Life-saver, we'll now go to dinner," said Laddie. "Nothing except the +partnership implied in 'we' sustains me now. YOU'LL FIND A WAY TO HELP +ME OUT, WON'T YOU, LITTLE SISTER?" + +"OF COURSE I WILL!" I promised, without ever stopping a minute to think +what kind of a job that was going to be. + +Did you ever wish with all your might that something would happen, and +wait for it, expect it, and long for it, and nothing did, until it grew +so bad, it seemed as if you had to go on another minute you couldn't +bear it? Now I thought when Mr. Pryor talked to her, maybe she'd send +for Laddie that very same night; but send nothing! She didn't even +ride on our road any more. Of course her father had made a botch of +it! Bet I could have told her Laddie's message straighter than he did. +I could think it over, and see exactly how he'd do. He'd talk nicely +about one minute, and the first word she said, that he didn't like, +he'd be ranting, and using unsuitable words. Just as like as not he +told her that he'd lay his whip across her shoulders, like he had +Laddie. Any one could see that as long as she was his daughter, she +might be slightly handy with whips herself; at least she wouldn't be +likely to stand still and tell him to go ahead and beat her. + +Sunday Laddie went to Lucy's. He said he was having a family reunion +on the installment plan. Of course we laughed, but none of us missed +the long look he sent toward Pryors' as he mounted to start in the +opposite direction. + +Everything went on. I didn't see how it could, but it did. It even +got worse, for another letter came from Shelley that made matters +concerning her no brighter, and while none of us talked about Laddie, +all of us knew mighty well how we felt; and what was much worse, how he +felt. Father and mother had quit worrying about God; especially +father. He seemed to think that God and Laddie could be trusted to +take care of the Princess, and I don't know exactly what mother +thought. No doubt she saw she couldn't help herself, and so she +decided it was useless to struggle. + +The plowing on the west side was almost finished, and some of the seed +was in. Laddie went straight ahead flower-trimmed and whistling until +his face must have ached as badly as his heart. In spite of how hard +he tried to laugh, and keep going, all of us could see that he fairly +had to stick up his head and stretch his neck like the blue goose, to +make the bites go down. And you couldn't help seeing the roundness and +the colour go from his face, a little more every day. My! but being in +love, when you couldn't have the one you loved, was the worst of all. +I wore myself almost as thin as Laddie, hunting a Fairy to ask if she'd +help me to make the Princess let Laddie go on and plow, when he was so +crazy about it. I prayed beside my bed every night, until the Lord +must have grown so tired He quit listening to me, for I talked right up +as impressively as I knew how, and it didn't do the least bit of good. +I hadn't tried the one big prayer toward the east yet; but I was just +about to the place where I intended to do it soon. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Laddie, the Princess, and the Pie + + "O whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad." + + +Candace was baking the very first batch of rhubarb pies for the season +and the odour was so tempting I couldn't keep away from the kitchen +door. Now Candace was a splendid cook about chicken gizzards--the +liver was always mother's--doughnuts and tarts, but I never really did +believe she would cut into a fresh rhubarb pie, even for me. As I +reached for the generous big piece I thought of Laddie poor Laddie, +plowing away at his Crusader fight, and not a hint of victory. No one +in the family liked rhubarb pie better than he did. I knew there was +no use to ask for a plate. + +"Wait--oh wait!" I cried. + +I ran to the woodshed, pulled a shining new shingle from a bale stacked +there, and held it for Candace. Then I slipped around the house +softly. I didn't want to run any one's errands that morning. I laid +the pie on the horseblock and climbed the catalpa carefully, so as not +to frighten my robins. They were part father's too, because robins +were his favourite birds; he said their song through and after rain was +the sweetest music on earth, and mostly he was right; so they were not +all my robins, but they were most mine after him; and I owned the tree. +I hunted the biggest leaf I could see, and wiped it clean on my apron, +although it was early for much dust. It covered the pie nicely, +because it was the proper shape, and I held the stem with one hand to +keep it in place. + + +If I had made that morning myself I couldn't have done better. It was +sunny, spring air, but it was that cool, spicy kind that keeps you +stopping every few minutes to see just how full you can suck your lungs +without bursting. It seemed to wash right through and through and make +you all over. The longer you breathed it the clearer your head became, +and the better you felt, until you would be possessed to try and see if +you really couldn't fly. I tried that last summer, and knocked myself +into jelly. You'd think once would have been enough, but there I was +going down the road with Laddie's pie, and wanting with all my heart to +try again. + +Sometimes I raced, but I was a little afraid the pie would shoot from +the shingle and it was like pulling eye teeth to go fast that morning. +I loved the soft warm dust, that was working up on the road. Spat! +Spat! I brought down my bare feet, already scratched and turning +brown, and laughed to myself at the velvety feel of it. There were +little puddles yet, where May and I had "dipped and faded" last fall, +and it was fun to wade them. The roadsides were covered with meadow +grass and clover that had slipped through the fence. On slender green +blades, in spot after spot, twinkled the delicate bloom of blue-eyed +grass. Never in all this world was our Big Creek lovelier. It went +slipping, and whispering, and lipping, and lapping over the stones, +tugging at the rushes and grasses as it washed their feet; everything +beside it was in masses of bloom, a blackbird was gleaming and preening +on every stone, as it plumed after its bath. Oh there's no use to +try--it was just SPRING when it couldn't possibly be any better. + +But even spring couldn't hold me very long that morning, for you see my +heart was almost sick about Laddie; and if he couldn't have the girl he +wanted, at least I could do my best to comfort him with the pie. I was +going along being very careful the more I thought about how he would +like it, so I was not watching the road so far ahead as I usually did. +I always kept a lookout for Paddy Ryan, Gypsies, or Whitmore's bull. +When I came to an unusually level place, and took a long glance ahead, +my heart turned right over and stopped still, and I looked long enough +to be sure, and then right out loud some one said, "I'll DO something!" +and as usual, I was the only one there. + +For days I'd been in a ferment, like the vinegar barrel when the cider +boils, or the yeast jar when it sets too close to the stove. To have +Laddie and the Princess separated was dreadful, and knowing him as I +did, I knew he never really would get over it. I had tried to help +once, and what I had done started things going wrong; no wonder I was +slow about deciding what to try next. That I was going to do +something, I made up my mind the instant Laddie said he was not mad at +me; that I was his partner, and asked me to help; but exactly WHAT +would do any good, took careful thought. + +Here was my chance coming right at me. She was far up the road, riding +Maud like racing. I began to breathe after a while, like you always +do, no matter how you are worked up, and with my brain whirling, I went +slowly toward her. How would I manage to stop her? Or what could I +say that would help Laddie? I was shaking, and that's the truth; but +through and over it all, I was watching her too. I only wish you might +have seen her that morning. Of course the morning was part of it. A +morning like that would make a fence post better looking. Half a mile +away you could see she was tipsy with spring as I was, or the song +sparrows, or the crazy babbling old bobolinks on the stakes and riders. +She made such a bright splash against the pink fence row, with her dark +hair, flushed cheeks, and red lips, she took my breath. Father said +she was the loveliest girl in three counties, and Laddie stretched that +to the whole world. As she came closer, smash! through me went the +thought that she looked precisely as Shelley had at Christmas time; and +Shelley had been that way because she was in love with the Paget man. +Now if the Princess was gleaming and flashing like that, for the same +reason, there wasn't any one for her to love so far as I knew, except +Laddie. + +Then smash! came another thought. She HAD to love him! She couldn't +help herself. She had all winter, all last summer, and no one but +themselves knew how long before that, and where was there any other man +like Laddie? Of course she loved him! Who so deserving of love? Who +else had his dancing eyes of deep tender blue, cheeks so pink, teeth so +white, such waving chestnut hair, and his height and breadth? There +was no other man who could ride, swim, leap, and wrestle as he could. +None who could sing the notes, do the queer sums with letters having +little figures at the corners in the college books, read Latin as fast +as English, and even the Greek Bible. Of course she loved him! Every +one did! Others might plod and meander, Laddie walked the tired, old +road that went out of sight over the hill, with as prideful a step as +any king; his laugh was as merry as the song of the gladdest thrush, +while his touch was so gentle that when mother was in dreadful pain I +sometimes thought she would a little rather have him hold her than +father. + +Now, he was in this fearful trouble, the colour was going from his +face, his laugh was a little strained, and the heartache almost more +than he could endure--and there she came! I stepped squarely in the +middle of the road so she would have to stop or ride over me, and when +she was close, I stood quite still. I was watching with my eyes, +heart, and brain, and I couldn't see that she was provoked, as she drew +rein and cried: "Good morning, Little Queer Person!" + +I had supposed she would say Little Sister, she had for ages, just like +Laddie, but she must have thought it was queer for me to stop her that +way, so she changed. I was in for it. I had her now, so I smiled the +very sweetest smile that I could think up in such a hurry, and said, +"Good morning," the very politest I ever did in all my life. Then I +didn't know what to do next, but she helped me out. + +"What have you there?" she asked. + +"It's a piece of the very first rhubarb pie for this spring, and I'm +carrying it to Laddie," I said, as I lifted the catalpa leaf and let +her peep, just to show her how pie looked when it was right. I bet she +never saw a nicer piece. + +The Princess slid her hand down Maud's neck to quiet her prancing, and +leaned in the saddle, her face full of interest. I couldn't see a +trace of anything to discourage me; her being on our road again looked +favourable. She seemed to think quite as much of that pie as I did. +She was the finest little thoroughbred. She understood so well, I was +sorry I couldn't give it to her. It made her mouth water all right, +for she drew a deep breath that sort of quivered; but it was no use, +she didn't get that pie. + +"I think it looks delicious," she said. "Are you carrying it for +Candace?" + +"No! She gave it to me. It's my very own." + +"And you're doing without it yourself to carry it to Laddie, I'll be +bound!" cried the Princess. + +"I'd much rather," I said. + +"Do you love Laddie so dearly?" she asked. + +My heart was full of him right then; I forgot all about when I had the +fever, and as I never had been taught to lie, I told her what I thought +was the truth, and I guess it WAS: "Best of any one in all this world!" + +The Princess looked across the field, where she must have seen him +finishing the plowing, and thought that over, and I waited, sure in my +mind, for some reason, that she would not go for a little while longer. + +"I have been wanting to see you," she said at last. "In fact I think I +came this way hoping I'd meet you. Do you know the words to a tune +that goes like this?" + +Then she began to whistle "The Merry Farmer Boy." I wish you might have +heard the flourishes she put to it. + +"Of course I do," I answered. "All of us were brought up on it." + +"Well, I have some slight curiosity to learn what they are," she said. +"Would you kindly repeat them for me?" + +"Yes," I said. "This is the first verse: + + "'See the merry farmer boy tramp the meadows through, + Swing his hoe in careless joy while dashing off the dew. + Bobolink in maple high----' + +"Of course you can see for yourself that they're not. There isn't a +single one of them higher than a fence post. The person who wrote the +piece had to put it that way so high would rhyme with reply, which is +coming in the next line." + +"I see!" said the Princess. + + "'Bobolink in maple high, trills a note of glee + Farmer boy a gay reply now whistles cheerily.' + + +"Then you whistle the chorus like you did it." + +"You do indeed!" said the Princess. "Proceed!" + + "'Then the farmer boy at noon, rests beneath the shade, + Listening to the ceaseless tune that's thrilling through the glade. + Long and loud the harvest fly winds his bugle round, + Long, and loud, and shrill, and high, he whistles back the sound.'" + + +"He does! He does indeed! I haven't a doubt about that!" cried the +Princess. "'Long, and loud, and shrill, and high,' he whistles over +and over the sound, until it becomes maddening. Is that all of that +melodious, entrancing production?" + +"No, evening comes yet. The last verse goes this way: + + "'When the busy day's employ, ends at dewy eve, + Then the happy farmer boy, doth haste his work to leave, + Trudging down the quiet lane, climbing o'er the hill, + Whistling back the changeless wail, of plaintive whip-poor-will,'-- + +and then you do the chorus again, and if you know how well enough you +whistle in, 'whip-poor-will,' 'til the birds will answer you. Laddie +often makes them." + +"My life!" cried the Princess. "Was that he doing those bird cries? +Why, I hunted, and hunted, and so did father. We'd never seen a +whip-poor-will. Just fancy us!" + +"If you'd only looked at Laddie," I said. + +"My patience!" cried the Princess. "Looked at him! There was no place +to look without seeing him. And that ear-splitting thing will ring in +my head forever, I know." + +"Did he whistle it too high to suit you, Princess?" + +"He was perfectly welcome to whistle as he chose," she said, "and also +to plow with the carriage horses, and to bedeck them and himself with +the modest, shrinking red tulip and yellow daffodil." + +Now any one knows that tulips and daffodils are NOT modest and +shrinking. If any flowers just blaze and scream colour clear across a +garden, they do. She was provoked, you could see that. + +"Well, he only did it to please you," I said. "He didn't care anything +about it. He never plowed that way before. But you said he mustn't +plow at all, and he just had to plow, there was no escaping that, so he +made it as fine and happy as possible to show you how nicely it could +be done." + +"Greatly obliged, I'm sure!" cried the Princess. "He showed me! He +certainly did! And so he feels that there's 'no escaping' plowing, +does he?" + +Then I knew where I was. I'd have given every cent of mine in father's +chest till, if mother had been in my place. Once, for a second, I +thought I'd ask the Princess to go with me to the house, and let mother +tell her how it was; but if she wouldn't go, and rode away, I felt I +couldn't endure it, and anyway, she had said she was looking for me; so +I gripped the shingle, dug in my toes and went at her just as nearly +like mother talked to her father as I could remember, and I'd been put +through memory tests, and descriptive tests, nearly every night of my +life, so I had most of it as straight as a string. + +"Well, you see, he CAN'T escape it," I said. "He'd do anything in all +this world for you that he possibly could; but there are some things no +man CAN do." + +"I didn't suppose there was anything you thought Laddie couldn't do," +she said. + +"A little time back, I didn't," I answered. "But since he took the +carriage horses, trimmed up in flowers, and sang and whistled so +bravely, day after day, when his heart was full of tears, why I learned +that there was something he just COULDN'T DO; NOT TO SAVE HIS LIFE, OR +HIS LOVE, OR EVEN TO SAVE YOU." + +"And of course you don't mind telling me what that is?" coaxed the +Princess in her most wheedling tones. + +"Not at all! He told our family, and I heard him tell your father. +The thing he can't do, not even to win you, is to be shut up in a +little office, in a city, where things roar, and smell, and nothing is +like this----" + +I pointed out the orchard, hill, and meadow, so she looked where I +showed her--looked a long time. + +"No, a city wouldn't be like this," she said slowly. + +"And that isn't even the beginning," I said. "Maybe he could bear +that, men have been put in prison and lived through years and years of +it, perhaps Laddie could too; I doubt it! but anyway the worst of it is +that he just couldn't, not even to save you, spend all the rest of his +life trying to settle other people's old fusses. He despises a fuss. +Not one of us ever in our lives have been able to make him quarrel, +even one word. He simply won't. And if he possibly could be made to +by any one on earth, Leon would have done it long ago, for he can start +a fuss with the side of a barn. But he can't make Laddie fuss, and +nobody can. He NEVER would at school, or anywhere. Once in a while if +a man gets so overbearing that Laddie simply can't stand it, he says: +'Now, you'll take your medicine!' Then he pulls off his coat, and +carefully, choosing the right spots, he just pounds the breath out of +that man, but he never stops smiling, and when he helps him up he +always says: 'Sorry! hope you'll excuse me, but you WOULD have it.' +That's what he said about you, that you had to take your medicine----" + +I made a mistake there. That made her too mad for any use. + +"Oh," she cried, "I do? I'll jolly well show the gentleman!" + +"Oh, you needn't take the trouble," I cried. "He's showing you!" + +She just blazed like she'd break into flame. Any one could fuss with +her all right; but that was the last thing on earth I wanted to do. + +"You see he already knows about you," I explained as fast as I could +talk, for I was getting into an awful mess. "You see he knows that you +want him to be a lawyer, and that he must quit plowing before he can be +more than friends with you. That's what he's plowing for! If it +wasn't for that, probably he wouldn't; be plowing at all. He asked +father to let him, and he borrowed mother's horses, and he hooked the +flowers through the fence. Every night when he comes home, he kneels +beside mother and asks her if he is 'repulsive,' and she takes him in +her arms and the tears roll down her cheeks and she says: 'Father has +farmed all his life, and you know how repulsive he is.'" + +I ventured an upward peep. I was doing better. Her temper seemed to +be cooling, but her face was a jumble. I couldn't find any one thing +on it that would help me, so I just stumbled ahead guessing at what to +say. + +"He didn't WANT to do it. He perfectly HATED it. Those fields were +his Waterloo. Every furrow was a FIGHT, but he was FORCED to show you." + +"Exactly WHAT was he trying to show me?" + +"I can think of three things he told me," I answered. "That plowing +could be so managed as not to disfigure the landscape----" + +"The dunce!" she said. + +"That he could plow or do dirtier work, and not be repulsive----" + +"The idiot!" she said. + +"That if he came over there, and plowed right under your nose, when +you'd told him he mustn't, or he couldn't be more than friends; and +when you knew that he'd much rather die and be laid beside the little +sisters up there in the cemetery than to NOT be more than friends, why, +you'd see, if he did THAT, he couldn't help it, that he just MUST. +That he was FORCED----" + +"The soldier!" she said. + +"Oh Princess, he didn't want to!" I cried. "He tells me secrets he +doesn't any one else, unless you. He told me how he hated it; but he +just had to do it." + +"Do you know WHY?" + +"Of course! It's the way he's MADE! Father is like that! He has +chances to live in cities, make big business deals, and go to the +legislature at Indianapolis; I've seen his letters from his friend +Oliver P. Morton, our Governor, you know; they're in his chest till +now; but father can't do it, because he is made so he stays at home and +works for us, and this farm, and township, and county where he belongs. +He says if all men will do that the millennium will come to-morrow. I +'spose you know what the millennium is?" + +"I do!" said the Princess. "But I don't know what your father and his +friend Oliver P. Morton have to do with Laddie." + +"Why, everything on earth! Laddie is father's son, you see, and he is +made like father. None of our other boys is. Not one of them loves +land. Leon is going away as quick as ever he finishes college; but the +more you educate Laddie, the better he likes to make things grow, the +more he loves to make the world beautiful, to be kind to every one, to +gentle animals--why, the biggest fight he ever had, the man he whipped +'til he most couldn't bring him back again, was one who kicked his +horse in the stomach. Gee, I thought he'd killed him! Laddie did too +for a while, but he only said the man deserved it." + +"And so he did!" cried the Princess angrily. "How beastly!" + +"That's one reason Laddie sticks so close to land. He says he doesn't +meet nearly so many two-legged beasts in the country. Almost every +time he goes to town he either gets into a fight or he sees something +that makes him fighting mad. Princess, you think this beautiful, don't +you?" + +I just pointed anywhere. All the world was in it that morning. You +couldn't look right or left and not see lovely places, hear music, and +smell flowers. + +"Yes! It is altogether wonderful!" she said. + +"Would you like to live among this all your life, and have your plans +made to fix you a place even nicer, and then be forced to leave it and +go to a little room in the city, and make all the money you earned off +of how much other men fight over business, and land and such perfectly +awful things, that they always have to be whispered when Jerry tells +about them? Would you?" + +"You little dunce!" she cried. + +"I know I'm a fool. I know I'm not telling you a single thing I +should! Maybe I'm hurting Laddie far more than I'm helping him, and if +I am, I wish I would die before I see him; but oh! Princess, I'm +trying with all my might to make you understand how he feels. He WANTS +to do every least thing you'd like him to. He will, almost any thing +else in the world, he would this--he would in a minute, but he just +CAN'T. All of us know he can't! If you'd lived with him since he was +little and always had known him, you wouldn't ask him to; you wouldn't +want him to! You don't know what you're doing! Mother says you don't! +You'll kill him if you send him to the city to live, you just will! +You are doing it now! He's getting thinner and whiter every day. +Don't! Oh please don't do it!" + +The Princess was looking at the world. She was gazing at it so +dazed-like she seemed to be surprised at what she saw. She acted as if +she'd never really seen it before. She looked and she looked. She +even turned her horse a full circle to see all of it, and she went +around slowly. I stepped from one foot to the other and sweat; but I +kept quiet and let her look. At last when she came around, she glanced +down at me, and she was all melted, and lovely as any one you ever saw, +exactly like Shelley at Christmas, and she said: "I don't think I ever +saw the world before. I don't know that I'm so crazy about a city +myself, and I perfectly hate lawyers. Come to thing of it, a lawyer +helped work ruin in our family, and I never have believed, I never will +believe----" + +She stopped talking and began looking again. I gave her all the time +she needed. I was just straining to be wise, for mother says it takes +the very wisest person there is to know when to talk, and when to keep +still. As I figured it, now was the time not to say another word until +she made up her mind about what I had told her already. If Pryors +didn't know what we thought of them by that time, it wasn't mother's +fault or mine. As she studied things over she kept on looking. What +she saw seemed to be doing her a world of good. Her face showed it +every second plainer and plainer. Pretty soon it began to look like +she was going to come through as Amos Hurd did when he was redeemed. +Then, before my very eyes, it happened! I don't know how I ever held +on to the pie or kept from shouting, "Praise the Lord!" as father does +at the Meeting House when he is happiest. Then she leaned toward me +all wavery, and shining eyed, and bloomful, and said: "Did you ever +hurt Laddie's feelings, and make him angry and sad?" + +"I'm sure I never did," I answered. + +"But suppose you had! What would you do?" + +"Do? Why, I'd go to him on the run, and I'd tell him I never intended +to hurt his feelings, and how sorry I was, and I'd give him the very +best kiss I could." + +The Princess stroked Maud's neck a long time and thought while she +studied our farm, theirs beyond it, and at the last, the far field +where Laddie was plowing. She thought, and thought, and afraid to +cheep, I stood gripping the shingle and waited. Finally she said: +"The last time Laddie was at our house, I said to him those things he +repeated to you. He went away at once, hurt and disappointed. Now, if +you like, along with your precious pie, you may carry him this message +from me. You may tell him that I said I am sorry!" + +I could have cried "Glory!" and danced and shouted there in the road, +but I didn't. It was no time to lose my head. That was all so fine +and splendid, as far as it went, but it didn't quite cover the case. I +never could have done it for myself; but for Laddie I would venture +anything, so I looked her in the eyes, straight as a dart, and said: +"He'd want the kiss too, Princess!" + +You could see her stiffen in the saddle and her fingers grip the reins, +but I kept on staring right into her eyes. + +"I could come up, you know," I offered. + +A dull red flamed in her cheeks and her lips closed tight. One second +she sat very still, then a dancing light leaped sparkling into her +eyes; a flock of dimples chased each other around her lips like +swallows circling their homing place at twilight. + +"What about that wonderful pie?" she asked me. + +I ran to the nearest fence corner, and laid the shingle on the gnarled +roots of a Johnny Appleseed apple tree. Then I set one foot on the +arch of the Princess' instep and held up my hands. One second I +thought she would not lift me, the next I was on her level and her lips +met mine in a touch like velvet woven from threads of flame. Then with +a turn of her stout little wrist, she dropped me, and a streak went up +our road. Nothing so amazing and so important ever had happened to me. +It was an occasion that demanded something unusual. To cry, "Praise +the Lord!" was only to repeat an hourly phrase at our house; this +demanded something out of the ordinary, so I said just exactly as +father did the day the brown mare balked with the last load of seed +clover, when a big storm was breaking--"Jupiter Ammon!" + +When I had calmed down so I could, I climbed the fence, and reached +through a crack for the pie. As I followed the cool, damp furrow, and +Laddie's whistle, clear as the lark's above the wheat, thrilled me, I +was almost insane with joy. Just joy! Pure joy! Oh what a good world +it was!--most of the time! Most of the time! Of course, there WERE +Paget men in it. But anyway, THIS couldn't be beaten. I had a message +for Laddie from the Princess that would send him to the seventh heaven, +wherever that was; no one at our house spent any time thinking farther +than the first one. I had her kiss, that I didn't know what would do +to him, and I also had a big piece of juicy rhubarb pie not yet +entirely cold. If that didn't wipe out the trouble I had made showing +the old crest thing, nothing ever could. I knew even then, that men +were pretty hard to satisfy, but I was quite certain that Laddie would +be satisfied that morning. As I hurried along I wondered whether it +would be better to give him my gift first, or the Princess'. I decided +that joy would keep, while the pie was cold enough, with all the time I +had stopped; and if I told him about her first, maybe he wouldn't touch +it at all, and it wasn't so easy as it looked to carry it to him and +never even once stick in my finger for the tiniest lick--joy would +keep; but I was going to feed him; so with shining face, I offered the +pie and stood back to see just how happy I could get. + +"Mother send it?" asked Laddie. + +People were curious that morning, as if I had a habit of stealing pie. +I only took pieces of cut ones from the cellar when mother didn't care. +So I explained again that Candace gave it to me, and I was free to +bring it. + +"Oh I see!" said Laddie. + +After nearly two weeks of work, the grays had sobered down enough to +stand without tying; so he wound the lines around the plow handle, sat +on the beam, and laid aside his hat, having a fresh flower in the band. +Once he started a thing, he just simply wouldn't give up. He +unbuttoned his neckband until I could see his throat where it was white +like a woman's, took out his knife and ate that pie. Of course we knew +better than to use a knife at the table, but there was no other way in +the field. He ate that pie, slowly and deliberately, and between bites +he talked. I watched him with a wide grin, wondering what in this +world he WOULD say, in a minute. I don't think I ever had quite such a +good time in all my life before, and I never expect to again. He was +saying: "Talk about nectar and ambrosia! Talk about the feasts of +Lucullus! Talk about food for the Gods!" + +I put on his hat, sat on the ground in front of him, and was the +happiest girl in the world, of that I am quite sure. When the last +morsel was finished, Laddie looked at me steadily. + +"I wonder," he said, "I wonder if there's another man in the world who +is blest with quite such a loving, unselfish little sister as mine?" +Then he answered himself: "No! By all the Gods, ant half-Gods, I +swear it--No!" + +It was grand as a Fourth of July oration or the most exciting part when +the Bishop dedicated our church. I couldn't hold in another second, I +could hear my heart beat. + +"Oh Laddie!" I shouted, jumping up, "that pie is only the beginning of +the good things I have brought you. I have a message, and a gift +besides, Laddie!" + +"A message and a gift?" Laddie repeated. "What! More?" + +"Truly I have a message and a gift for you," I cried, "and Laddie--they +are from the Princess!" + +His eyes raised to mine now, and slowly he turned Sabethany-like. + +"From the Princess!" he exclaimed. "A message and a gift for me, +Little Sister? You never would let Leon put you up to serve me a +trick?" + +That hurt. He should have KNOWN I wouldn't, and besides, "Leon feels +just as badly about this as any of us," I said. "Have you forgotten he +offered to plow, and let you do the clean, easy work?" + +"Forgive me! I'm overanxious," said Laddie, his arms reaching for me. +"Go on and tell carefully, and if you truly love me, don't make a +mistake!" + +Crowding close, my arms around his neck, his crisp hair against my +lips, I whispered my story softly, for this was such a fine and +splendid secret, that not even the shining blackbirds, and the pert +robins in the furrows were going to get to hear a word of it. Before I +had finished Laddie was breathing as Flos does when he races her the +limit. He sat motionless for a long time, while over his face slowly +crept a beauty that surpassed that of Apollo in his Greek book. + +"And her gift?" + +It was only a breath. + +"She helped me up, and she sent you this," I answered. + +Then I set my lips on his, and held them there a second, trying my +level best to give him her very kiss, but of course I could only try. + +"Oh, Laddie," I cried. "Her eyes were like when stars shine down in +our well! Her cheeks were like mother's damask roses! She smelled +like flowers, and when her lips touched mine little stickers went all +over me!" + +Then Laddie's arms closed around me and I thought sure every bone in my +body was going to be broken; when he finished there wasn't a trace of +that kiss left for me. Remembering it would be all I'd ever have. It +made me see what would have happened to the Princess if she had been +there; and it was an awful pity for her to miss it, because he'd sober +down a lot before he reached her, but I was sure as shooting that he +wouldn't be so crazy as to kiss her hands again. Peter wasn't a +patching to him! + +That night Laddie rode to Pryors'. When he brought Flos to the gate +you could see the shadow of your face on her shining flank; her mane +and tail were like ravelled silk, her hoofs bright as polished horn, +and her muzzle was clean as a ribbon. I broke one of those rank green +sprouts from the snowball bush and brushed away the flies, so she +wouldn't fret, stamp, and throw dust on herself. Then Laddie came, +fresh from a tubbing, starched linen, dressed in his new riding suit, +and wearing top hat and gauntlets. He looked the very handsomest I +ever had seen him; and at the same time, he seemed trembling with +tenderness, and bursting with power. Goodness sake! I bet the +Princess took one good look and "came down" like Davy Crockett's coon. +Mother was on his arm and she walked clear to the gate with him. + +"LADDIE, ARE YOU SURE ENOUGH TO GO?" I heard her ask him whisper-like. + +"SURE AS DEATH!" Laddie answered. + +Mother looked, and she had to see how it was with him; no doubt she saw +more than I did from having been through it herself, so she smiled kind +of a half-sad, half-glad smile. Then she turned to her damask rose +bush, the one Lucy brought her from the city, and that she was so +precious about, that none of us dared touch it, and she searched all +over it and carefully selected the most perfect rose. When she +borrowed Laddie's knife and cut the stem as long as my arm, I knew +exactly how great and solemn the occasion was; for always before about +six inches had been her limit. She held it toward him, smiling bravely +and beautifully, but the tears were running straight down her cheeks. + +"Take it to her," she said. "I think, my son, it is very like." + +Laddie took her in his arms and wiped away the tears; he told her +everything would come out all right about God, and the mystery, even. +Then he picked me clear off the ground, and he tried to see how near he +could come to cracking every bone in my body without really doing it, +and he kissed me over and over. It hadn't been so easy, but I guess +you'll admit that paid. Then he rode away with the damask rose waving +over his heart. Mother and I stood beside the hitching rack and looked +after him, with our arms tight around each other while we tried to see +which one could bawl the hardest. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The Homing Pigeon + + "A millstone and the human heart, + Are ever driven round, + And if they've nothing else to grind, + They must themselves be ground." + + +It seemed to me that my mother was the person who really could have +been excused for having heart trouble. The more I watched her, the +more I wondered that she didn't. There was her own life, the one she +and father led, where everything went exactly as she wanted it to; and +if there had been only themselves to think of, no people on earth could +have lived happier, unless the pain she sometimes suffered made them +trouble, and I don't think it would, for neither of them were to blame +for that. They couldn't help it. They just had it to stand, and fight +the stiffest they could to cure it, and mother always said she was +better; every single time any one asked, she was better. I hoped soon +it would all be gone. Then they could have been happy for sure, if +some of us hadn't popped up and kept them in hot water all the time. + +I can't tell you about Laddie when he came back from Pryors'. He tore +down the house, then tore it up, and then threw around the pieces, and +none of us cared. Every one was just laughing, shouting, and every bit +as pleased as he was, while I was the Queen Bee. Laddie said so, +himself, and if he didn't know, no one did. Pryors had been lovely to +him. When mother asked him how he made it, he answered: "I rode over, +picked up the Princess and helped myself. After I finished, I +remembered the little unnecessary formality of asking her to marry me; +and she said right out loud that she WOULD. When I had time for them, +I reached Father and Mother Pryor, and maybe it doesn't show, but +somewhere on my person I carry their blessing, genially and heartily +given, I am proud to state. Now, I'm only needing yours, to make me a +king among men." + +They gave it quite as willingly, I am sure, although you could see +mother scringe when Laddie said "Father and Mother Pryor." I knew why. +She adored Laddie, like the Bible says you must adore the Almighty. +From a tiny baby Laddie had taken care of her. He used to go back, +take her hand, and try to help her over rough places while he still +wore dresses. Straight on, he had been like that; always seeing when +there was too much work and trying to shield her; always knowing when a +pain was coming and fighting to head it off; always remembering the +things the others forgot, going to her last at night, and his face +against hers on her pillow the first in the morning, to learn how she +was before he left the house. If you were the mother of a man like +that, how would you like to hear him call some one else mother, and +have the word slip from his tongue so slick you could see he didn't +even realize that he had used it? The answer would be, if you were +honest, that you wouldn't have liked it any more than she did. She +knew he had to go. She wanted him to be happy. She was as sure of the +man he was going to be as she was sure of the mercy of God. That is +the strongest way I know to tell it. She was unshakably sure of the +mercy of God, but I wasn't. There were times when it seemed as if He +couldn't hear the most powerful prayer you could pray, and when instead +of mercy, you seemed to get the last torment that could be piled on. +Take right now. Laddie was happy, and all of us were, in a way; and in +another we were almost stiff with misery. + +I dreaded his leaving us so, I would slip to the hawk oak and cry +myself sick, more than once; whether any of the others were that big +babies I don't know; but anyway, THEY were not his Little Sister. I +was. I always had been. I always would be, for that matter; but there +was going to be a mighty big difference. I had the poor comfort that +I'd done the thing myself. Maybe if it hadn't been for stopping the +Princess when I took him that pie, they never would have made up, and +she might have gone across the sea and stayed there. Maybe she'd go +yet, as mysteriously as she had come, and take him along. Sometimes I +almost wished I hadn't tried to help him; but of course I didn't +really. Then, too, I had sense enough to know that loving each other +as they did, they wouldn't live on that close together for years and +years, and not find a way to make up for themselves, like they had at +the start. + +I liked Laddie saying I had made his happiness for him; but I wasn't +such a fool that I didn't know he could have made it for himself just +as well, and no doubt better. So everything was all right with Laddie; +and what happened to us, the day he rode away for the last time, when +he went to stay--what happened to us, then, was our affair. We had to +take it, but every one of us dreaded it, while mother didn't know how +to bear it, and neither did I. Once I said to her: "Mother, when +Laddie goes we'll just have to make it up to each other the best we +can, won't we?" + +"Oh my soul, child!" she cried, staring at me so surprised-like. "Why, +how unspeakably selfish I have been! No little lost sheep ever ran +this farm so desolate as you will be without your brother. Forgive me +baby, and come here!" + +Gee, but we did cry it out together! The God she believed in has wiped +away her tears long ago; this minute I can scarcely see the paper for +mine. If you could call anything happiness, that was mixed with +feeling like that, why, then, we were happy about Laddie. But from +things I heard father and mother say, I knew they could have borne his +going away, and felt a trifle better than they did. I was quite sure +they had stopped thinking that he was going to lose his soul, but they +couldn't help feeling so long as that old mystery hung over Pryors that +he might get into trouble through it. Father said if it hadn't been +for Mr. Pryor's stubborn and perverted notions about God, he would like +the man immensely, and love to be friends; and if Laddie married into +the family we would have to be as friendly as we could anyway. He said +he had such a high opinion of Mr. Pryor's integrity that he didn't +believe he'd encourage Laddie to enter his family if it would involve +the boy in serious trouble. Mother didn't know. Anyway, the thing was +done, and by fall, no doubt, Laddie would leave us. + +Just when we were trying to keep a stiff upper lip before him, and +whistling as hard as ever he had, to brace our courage, a letter came +for mother from the head of the music school Shelley attended, saying +she was no longer fit for work, so she was being sent home at once, and +they would advise us to consult a specialist immediately. Mother sat +and stared at father, and father went to hitch the horses to drive to +Groveville. + +There's only one other day of my life that stands out as clearly as +that. The house was clean as we could make it. I finished feeding +early, and had most of the time to myself. I went down to the Big +Hill, and followed the top of it to our woods. Then I turned around, +and started toward the road, just idling. If I saw a lovely spot I sat +down and watched all around me to see if a Fairy really would go +slipping past, or lie asleep under a leaf. I peeked and peered softly, +going from spot to spot, watching everything. Sometimes I hung over +the water, and studied tiny little fish with red, yellow, and blue on +them, bright as flowers. The dragonflies would alight right on me, and +some wore bright blue markings and some blood red. There was a blue +beetle, a beautiful green fly, and how the blue wasps did flip, flirt +and glint in the light. So did the blackbirds and the redwings. That +embankment was left especially to shade the water, and to feed the +birds. Every foot of it was covered with alders, wild cherry, +hazelbush, mulberries, everything having a berry or nut. There were +several scrub apple trees, many red haws, the wild strawberries spread +in big beds in places, and some of them were colouring. + +Wild flowers grew everywhere, great beds were blue with calamus, and +the birds flocked in companies to drive away the water blacksnakes that +often found nests, and liked eggs and bird babies. When I came to the +road at last, the sun was around so the big oak on the top of the hill +threw its shadow across the bridge, and I lay along one edge and +watched the creek bottom, or else I sat up so the water flowed over my +feet, and looked at the embankment and the sky. In a way, it was the +most peculiar day of my life. I had plenty to think of, but I never +thought at all. I only lived. I sat watching the world go past +through a sort of golden haze the sun made. When a pair of kingbirds +and three crows chased one of my hawks pell-mell across the sky, I +looked on and didn't give a cent what happened. When a big blacksnake +darted its head through sweet grass and cattails, and caught a frog +that had climbed on a mossy stone in the shade to dine on flies, I let +it go. Any other time I would have hunted a stick and made the snake +let loose. To-day I just sat there and let things happen as they did. + +At last I wandered up the road, climbed the back garden fence, and sat +on the board at the edge of a flowerbed, and to-day, I could tell to +the last butterfly about that garden: what was in bloom, how far things +had grown, and what happened. Bobby flew under the Bartlett pear tree +and crowed for me, but I never called him. I sat there and lived on, +and mostly watched the bees tumble over the bluebells. They were +almost ready to be cut to put in the buttered tumblers for perfume, +like mother made for us. Then I went into the house and looked at +Grace Greenwood, but I didn't take her along. Mother came past and +gave me a piece of stiff yellow brocaded silk as lovely as I ever had +seen, enough for a dress skirt; and a hand-embroidered chemise sleeve +that only needed a band and a button to make a petticoat for a Queen +doll, but I laid them away and wandered into the orchard. + +I dragged my bare feet through the warm grass, and finally sat under +the beet red peach tree. If ever I seemed sort of lost and sorry for +myself, that was a good place to go; it was so easy to feel abused +there because you didn't dare touch those peaches. Fluffy baby +chickens were running around, but I didn't care; there was more than a +bird for every tree, bluebirds especially; they just loved us and came +early and stayed late, and grew so friendly they nested all over the +wood house, smoke house, and any place we fixed for them, and in every +hollow apple limb. Bobby came again, but I didn't pay any attention to +him. + +Then I heard the carriage cross the bridge. I knew when it was father, +every single time his team touched the first plank. So I ran like an +Indian, and shinned up a cedar tree, scratching myself until I bled. +Away up I stood on a limb, held to the tree and waited. Father drove +to the gate, and mother came out, with May, Candace, and Leon +following. When Shelley touched the ground and straightened, any other +tree except a spruce having limbs to hold me up, I would have fallen +from it. She looked exactly as if she had turned to tombstone with +eyes and hair alive. She stopped a second to brush a little kiss +across mother's lips, to the others she said without even glancing at +them: "Oh do let me lie down a minute! The motion of that train made +me sick." + +Well, I should say it did! I quit living, and began thinking in a +hooray, and so did every one else at our house. Once I had been sick +and queened it over them for a while, now all of us strained ourselves +trying to wait on Shelley; but she wouldn't have it. She only said she +was tired to death, to let her rest, and she turned her face to the +wall and lay there. Once she said she never wanted to see a city again +so long as she lived. When mother told her about Laddie and the +Princess to try to interest her, she never said a word; I doubted if +she even listened. Father and mother looked at each other, when they +thought no one would see, and their eyes sent big, anxious questions +flashing back and forth. I made up my mind I'd keep awake that night +and hear what they said, if I had to take pins to bed with me and stick +myself. + +Once mother said to Shelley that she was going to send for Dr. Fenner, +and she answered: "All right, if you need him. Don't you dare for me! +I'll not see him. All I want is a little peace and rest." + +The idea! Not one of us ever had spoken to mother like that before in +all our born days. I held my breath to see what she would do, but she +didn't seem to have heard it, or to notice how rude it had been. Well, +THAT told about as plain as anything what we had on our hands. I +wandered around and NOW there was no trouble about thinking things. +They came in such a jumble I could get no sense from them; but one big +black thought came over, and over, and over, and wouldn't be put away. +It just stood, stayed, forced you, and made you look it in the face. +If Shelley weren't stopped quickly she was going up on the hill with +the little fever and whooping cough sisters. There it was! You could +try to think other things, to play, to work, to talk it down in the +pulpit, to sing it out in a tree, to slide down the haystack away from +it--there it stayed! And every glimpse you had of Shelley made it +surer. + +There was no trouble about keeping awake that night; I couldn't sleep. +I stood at the window and looked down the Big Hill through the soft +white moonlight, and thought about it, and then I thought of mother. I +guess NOW you see what kind of things mothers have to face. All day +she had gone around doing her work, every few minutes suggesting some +new thing for one of us to try, or trying it herself; all day she had +talked and laughed, and when Sarah Hood came she told her she thought +Shelley must be bilious, that she had travelled all night and was +sleeping: but she would be up the first place she went, and then they +talked all over creation and Mrs. Hood went home and never remembered +that she hadn't seen Shelley. She worked Mrs. Freshett off the same +way, but you could see she was almost too tired to do it, so by night +she was nearly as white as Shelley, yet keeping things going. When the +house was still, she came into the room, and stood at the window as I +had, until father entered, then she turned, and I could see they were +staring at each other in the moonlight, as they had all day. + +"She's sick?" asked father, at last. + +"Heartsick!" said mother bitterly. + +"We'd better have Doc come?" + +"She says she isn't sick, and she won't see him." + +"She will if I put my foot down." + +"Best not, Paul! She'll feel better soon. She's so young! She must +get over it." + +They were silent for a long time and then father asked in a harsh +whisper: "Ruth, can she possibly have brought us to shame?" + +"God forbid!" cried mother. "Let us pray." + +Then those two people knelt on each side of that bed, and I could hear +half the words they muttered, until I was wild enough to scream. I +wished with all my heart that I hadn't listened. I had always known it +was no nice way. I must have gone to sleep after a while, but when I +woke up I was still thinking about it, and to save me, I couldn't quit. +All day, wherever I went, that question of father's kept going over in +my head. I thought about it until I was almost crazy, and I just +couldn't see where anything about shame came in. + +She was only mistaken. She THOUGHT he loved her, and he didn't. She +never could have been so bloomy, so filled with song, laughter, and +lovely like she was, if she hadn't truly believed with all her heart +that he loved her. Of course it would almost finish her to give him +up, when she felt like that; and maybe she did wrong to let herself +care so much, before she was sure about him; but that would only be +foolish, there wouldn't be even a shadow of shame about it. Besides, +Laddie had done exactly the same thing. He loved the Princess until it +nearly killed him when he thought he had to give her up, and he loved +her as hard as ever he could, when he hadn't an idea whether she would +love him back, even a tiny speck; and the person who wasn't foolish, +and never would be, was Laddie. + +The more I thought, the worse I got worked up, and I couldn't see how +Shelley was to blame for anything at all. Love just came to her, like +it came to Laddie. She would hardly have knelt down and beseeched the +Lord to make her fall in love with a man she scarcely knew, and when +she couldn't be sure what he was going to do about it--not the Lord, +the man, I mean. You could see for yourself she wouldn't do that. I +finished my work, and then I tried to do things for her, and she +wouldn't let me. Mother told me to ask her to make Grace Greenwood the +dress she had promised when I was so sick; so I took the Scotch plaid +to her and reminded her, and she pushed me away and said: "Some time!" + +I even got Grace, and showed Shelley the spills on her dress, and how +badly she needed a new one, but she never looked, she said: "Oh bother! +My head aches. Do let me be!" + +Mother was listening. I could see her standing outside the door. + +She motioned to me to come away, so I went to her and she was white as +Shelley. She was sick too, she couldn't say a word for a minute, but +after a while she kissed me, I could feel the quivers in her lips, and +she said stifflike: "Never mind, she'll be better soon, then she will! +Run play now!" + +Sometimes I wandered around looking at things and living dully. I +didn't try to study out anything, but I must have watched closer than I +knew, for every single thing I saw then, over that whole farm, I can +shut my eyes and see to-day; everything, from the old hawk tilting his +tail to steer him in soaring, to a snake catching field mice in the +grass, lichens on the fence, flowers, butterflies, every single thing. +Mostly I sat to watch something that promised to become interesting, +and before I knew it, I was back on the shame question. That's the +most dreadful word in the dictionary. There's something about it that +makes your face burn, only to have it in your mind. + +Laddie said he never had met any man who knew the origin of more words +than father. He could even tell every clip what nationality a man was +from his name. Hundreds of time I have heard him say to stranger +people, "From your name you'd be of Scotch extraction," or Irish, or +whatever it was, and every time the person he was talking with would +say, "Yes." Some day away out in the field, alone, I thought I would +ask him what people first used the word "shame," and just exactly what +it did mean, and what the things were that you could do that would make +the people who loved you until they would die for you, ashamed of you. + +Thinking about that and planning out what it was that I wanted to know, +gave me another idea. Why not ask her? She was the only one who knew +what she had done away there in the city, alone among strangers; I +wasn't sure whether all the music a girl could learn was worth letting +her take the chances she would have to in a big city. From the way +Laddie and father hated them, they were a poor place for men, and they +must have been much worse for girls. Shelley knew, why not ask HER? +Maybe I could coax her to tell me, and it would make my life much +easier to know; and only think what was going on in father's and +mother's heads and hearts, when I felt that way, and didn't even know +what there was to be ashamed about. She wouldn't any more than slap +me; and sick as she was, I made up my mind not to get angry at her, or +ever to tell, if she did. I'd rather have her hit me when she was so +sick than to have Sally beat me until she couldn't strike another lick, +just because she was angry. But I forgave her that, and I was never +going to think of it again--only I did. + +Mother kept sending Leon to the post-office, and she met him at the +gate half the time herself and fairly snatched the letters from his +hands. Hum! She couldn't pull the wool over my eyes. I knew she +hoped somehow, some way, there would be a big fat one with Paget, Legal +Adviser, or whatever a Chicago lawyer puts on his envelopes. Jerry's +just say: "Attorney at Law." + +No letter ever came that had Paget in the corner, or anything happened +that did Shelley any good. Far otherwise! Just before supper Leon +came from Groveville one evening, and all of us could see at a glance +that he had been crying like a baby. He had wiped up, and was trying +to hold in, but he was killed, next. I nearly said, "Well, for +heaven's sake, another!" when I saw him. He slammed down a big, long +envelope, having printing on it, before father, and glared at it as if +he wanted to tear it to smithereens, and he said: "If you want to know +why it looks like that, I buried it under a stone once; but I had to go +back, and then I threw it as far as I could send it, into Ditton's +gully, but after a while I hunted it up again!" + +Then he keeled over on the couch mother keeps for her in the +dining-room, and sobbed until he looked like he'd come apart. + +Of course all of us knew exactly what that letter was from the way he +acted. Mother had told him, time and again, not to set his heart so; +father had, too and Laddie, and every one of us, but that little +half-Arab, half-Kentucky mare was the worst temptation a man who loved +horses could possibly have; and while father and mother stopped at good +work horses, and matched roadsters for the carriage, they managed to +prize and tend them so that every one of us had been born horse-crazy, +and we had been allowed to ride, care for, and taught to love horses +all our lives. Treat a horse ugly, and we'd have gone on the thrashing +floor ourselves. + +Father laid the letter face down, his hand on it, and shook his head. +"This is too bad!" he said. "It's a burning shame, but the money, the +exact amount, was taken from a farmer in Medina County, Ohio, by a +traveller he sheltered a few days, because he complained of a bad foot. +The description of the man who robbed us is perfect. The money was +from the sale of some prize cattle. It will have to be returned." + +"Just let me see the letter a minute," said Laddie. + +He read it over thoughtfully. He was long enough about it to have gone +over it three times; then he looked at Leon, and his forehead creased +in a deep frown. The tears slid down mother's cheeks, but she didn't +know it, or else she'd have wiped them away. She was never mussy about +the least little thing. + +"Father!" she said. "Father----!" + +That was as far as she could go. + +"The man must have his money," said father, "but we'll look into +this----" + +He pushed back the plates and tablecloth, and cleared his end of the +table. Mother never budged to stack the plates, or straighten the +cloth so it wouldn't be wrinkled. Then father brought his big account +book from the black walnut chest in our room, some little books, and +papers, sharpened a pencil and began going up and down the columns and +picking out figures here and there that he set on a piece of paper. I +never had seen him look either old or tired before; but he did then. +Mother noticed it too, for her lips tightened, she lifted her head, +wiped her eyes, and pretended that she felt better. Laddie said +something about doing the feeding, and slipped out. Just then Shelley +came into the room, stopped, and looked questioningly at us. Her eyes +opened wide, and she stared hard at Leon. + +"Why what ails him?" she asked mother. + +"You remember what I wrote you about a man who robbed us, and the money +Leon was to have, provided no owner was found in a reasonable time; and +the horse the boy had planned to buy, and how he had been going to +Pryors'--Oh, I think he's slipped over there once a day, and often +three times, all this spring! Mr. Pryor encouraged him, let him take +his older horses to practise on, even went out and taught him +cross-country riding himself----" + +"I remember!" said Shelley. + +Leon sobbed out loud. Shelley crossed the room swiftly, dropped beside +him and whispered something in his ear. Quick as a shot his arm +reached out and went around her. She hid her head deep in the pillow +beside him, and they went to pieces together. Clear to pieces! Pretty +soon father had to take off his glasses and wipe them so he could see +the figures. Mother took one long look at him, a short one at Leon and +Shelley, then she arose, her voice as even and smooth, and she said: +"While you figure, father, I'll see about supper. I have tried to plan +an extra good one this evening." + +She left the room. NOW, I guess you know about all I can tell you of +mother! I can't see that there's a thing left. That was the kind of +soldier she was. Talk about Crusaders, and a good fight! All the +blood of battle in our family wasn't on father's side, not by any +means! The Dutch could fight too! + +Father's pencil scraped a little, a bee that had slipped in buzzed over +the apple butter, while the clock ticked as if it used a hammer. It +was so loud one wanted to pitch it from the window. May and I sat +still as mice when the cat is near. Candace couldn't keep away from +the kitchen door to save her, and where mother went I hadn't an idea, +but she wasn't getting an extra good supper. Shelley and Leon were +quieter now. May nudged me, and I saw that his arm around her was +gripping her tight, while her hand on his head was patting him and +fingering his hair. + +Ca-lumph! Ca-lumph! came the funniest sound right on the stone walk +leading to the east door, then a shrill whicker that made father drop +his pencil. Leon was on his feet, Shelley beside him, while at the +door stood Laddie grinning as if his face would split, and with her +forefeet on the step and her nose in the room, stood the prettiest, the +very prettiest horse I ever saw. She was sticking her nose toward +Leon, whinnying softly, as she lifted one foot, and if Laddie hadn't +backed her, she would have walked right into the dining-room. + +"Come on, Weiscope, she's yours!" said Laddie. "Take her to the barn, +and put her in one of the cow stalls, until we fix a place for her." + +Leon crossed the room, but he never touched the horse. He threw his +arms around Laddie's neck. + +"Son! Son! Haven't you let your feelings run away with you? What +does this mean?" asked father sternly. + +"There's nothing remarkable in a big six-footer like me buying a +horse," said Laddie. "I expect to purchase a number soon, and without +a cent to pay, in the bargain. I contracted to give five hundred +dollars for this mare. She is worth more; but that should be +satisfactory all around. I am going to earn it by putting five of Mr. +Pryor's fancy, pedigreed horses in shape for market, taking them +personally, and selling them to men fit to own and handle real horses. +I get one hundred each, and my expenses for the job. I'll have as much +fun doing it as I ever had at anything. It suits me far better than +plowing, even." + +Mother entered the room at a sweep, and pushed Leon aside. + +"Oh you man of my heart!" she cried. "You man after my own heart!" + +Laddie bent and kissed her, holding her tight as he looked over her +head at father. + +"It's all right, of course?" he said. + +"I never have known of anything quite so altogether right," said +father. "Thank you, lad, and God bless you!" + +He took Laddie's hand, and almost lifted him from the floor, then he +wiped his glasses, gathered up his books with a big, deep breath of +relief, and went into his room. If the others had looked to see why he +was gone so long, they would have seen him on his knees beside his bed +thanking God, as usual. Leon couldn't have come closer than when he +said, "The same yesterday, to-day, and forever," about father. + +Leon had his arms around the neck of his horse now, and he was kissing +her, patting her, and explaining to Shelley just why no other horse was +like her. He was pouring out a jumble all about the oasis of the +desert, the tent dwellers, quoting lines from "The Arab to His Horse," +bluegrass, and gentleness combined with spirit, while Shelley had its +head between her hands, stroking it and saying, "Yes," to every word +Leon told her. Then he said: "Just hop on her back from that top step +and ride her to the barn, if you want to see the motion she has." + +Shelley said: "Has a woman ever been on her back? Won't she shy at my +skirts?" + +"No," explained Leon. "I've been training her with a horse blanket +pinned around me, so Susie could ride her! She'll be all right." + +So Shelley mounted, and the horse turned her head, and tried to rub +against her, as she walked away, tame as a sheep. I wondered if she +could be too gentle. If she went "like the wind," as Leon said, it +didn't show then. I was almost crazy to go along, and maybe Leon would +let me ride a little while; but I had a question that it would help me +to know the answer and I wanted to ask father before I forgot; so I +waited until he came out. When he sat down, smiled at me and said, +"Well, is the girl happy for brother?" I knew it was a good time, and +I could ask anything I chose, so I sat on his knee and said: "Father, +when you pray for anything that it's all perfectly right for you to +have, does God come down from heaven and do it Himself, or does He send +a man like Laddie to do it for him?" + +Father hugged me tight, smiling the happiest. + +"Why, you have the whole thing right there in a nutshell, Little +Sister," he said. "You see it's like this: the Book tells us most +distinctly that 'God is love.' Now it was love that sent Laddie to +bind himself for a long, tedious job, to give Leon his horse, wasn't +it?" + +"Of course!" I said. "He wouldn't have been likely to do it if he +hated him. It was love, of course!" + +"Then it was God," said father, "because 'God is love.' They are one +and the same thing." + +Then he kissed me, and THAT was settled. So I wondered when you longed +for anything so hard you really felt it was worth bothering God about, +whether the quickest way to get it was to ask Him for it, or to try to +put a lot of love into the heart of some person who could do what you +wanted. I decided it all went back to God though, for most of the time +probably we wouldn't know who the right one was to try to awaken love +in. I was mighty sure none of us ever dreamed Laddie could walk over +to Pryors', and come back with that horse, in a way perfectly +satisfactory to every one, slick as an eel. + +You should have seen Leon following around after Laddie, trying to do +things for him, taking on his work to give him more time with the +horses, getting up early to finish his own stunts, so he could go over +to Pryors' and help. Mother said it had done more to make a man of him +than anything that ever happened. It helped Shelley, too. Something +seemed to break in her, when she cried so with Leon, because he was in +trouble. Then he was so crazy to show off his horse he had Shelley +ride up and down the lane, while he ran along and led, so she got a lot +of exercise, and it made her good and hungry. If you don't think by +this time that my mother was the beatenest woman alive, I'll prove it +to you. When the supper bell rang there was strawberry preserves +instead of the apple butter, biscuit, fried chicken, and mashed +potatoes. + +She must have slapped those chickens into the skillet before they knew +their heads were off. When Shelley came to the table, for the first +time since she'd been home, had pink in her cheeks, and talked some, +and ate too, mother forgot her own supper. She fumbled over her plate, +but scarcely touched even the livers, and those delicious little +kidneys in the tailpiece like Leon and I had at Sally's wedding. When +we finished, and it was time for her to give the signal to arise, no +one had asked to be excused, she said: "Let us have a word with the +Most High." Then she bowed her head, so all of us did too. "O Lord, +we praise Thee for all Thy tender mercies, and all Thy loving kindness. +Amen!" + +Of course father always asked the blessing to begin with, and mostly it +was the same one, and that was all at meal time, but this was a little +extra that mother couldn't even wait until night to tell the Almighty, +she was so pleased with Him. Maybe I haven't told everything about +her, after all. Father must have thought that was lovely of her; he +surely felt as happy as she did, to see Shelley better, for he hugged +and kissed her over and over, finishing at her neck like he always did, +and then I be hanged, if he didn't hug and kiss every last one of +us--tight, even the boys. Shelley he held long and close, and patted +her a little when he let her go. It made me wonder if the rest of us +didn't get ours, so he'd have a chance at her without her noticing it. +One thing was perfectly clear. If shame came to us, they were going to +love her, and stick tight to her right straight through it. + +Now that everything was cleared up so, Shelley seemed a little more +like herself every day, although it was bad enough yet; I thought I +might as well hurry up the end a little, and stop the trouble +completely, so I began watching for a chance to ask her. But I wanted +to get her away off alone, so no one would see if she slapped me. I +didn't know how long I'd have to wait. I tried coaxing her to the +orchard to see a bluebird's nest, but she asked if bluebirds were +building any different that year, and I had to admit they were not. +Then I tried the blue-eyed Mary bed, but she said she supposed it was +still under the cling peach tree, and the flower, two white petals up, +two blue down, and so it was. Just as I was beginning to think I'd +have to take that to the Lord in prayer, I got my chance by accident. + +May and Candace were forever going snake hunting. You would think any +one with common sense would leave them alone and be glad of the chance, +but no indeed! They went nearly every day as soon as the noon work was +finished, and stayed until time to get supper. They did have heaps of +fun and wild excitement. May was gentle, and tender with everything +else on earth; so I 'spose she had a right to bruise the serpent with +her heel--really she used sticks and stones--if she wanted to. I asked +her how she COULD, and she said there was a place in the Bible that +told how a snake coaxed Eve to eat an apple, that the Lord had told her +she mustn't touch; and so she got us into most of the trouble there was +in the world. May said it was all the fault of the SNAKE to begin +with, and she meant to pay up every one she could find, because she had +none of the apple, and lots of the trouble. Candace cried so much +because Frederick Swartz had been laid in the tomb, that mother was +pleased to have her cheer up, even enough to go snake hunting. + +That afternoon Mehitabel Heasty had come to visit May, so she went +along, and I followed. They poked around the driftwood at the +floodgate behind the barn, and were giving up the place. Candace had +crossed the creek and was coming back, and May had started, when she +saw a tiny little one and chased it. We didn't know then that it was a +good thing to have snakes to eat moles, field mice, and other pests +that bother your crops; the Bible had no mercy on them at all, so we +were not saving our snakes; and anyway we had more than we needed, +while some of them were too big to be safe to keep, and a few poison as +could be. May began to bruise the serpent, when out of the driftwood +where they hadn't found anything came its mammy, a great big +blacksnake, maddest you ever saw, with its pappy right after her, mad +as ever too. Candace screamed at May to look behind her, but May was +busy with the snake and didn't look quick enough, so the old mammy +struck right in her back. She just caught in the hem of May's skirt, +and her teeth stuck in the goods--you know how a snake's teeth turn +back--so she couldn't let go. May took one look and raced down the +bank to the crossing, through the water, and toward us, with the snake +dragging and twisting, and trying her best to get away. May was +screaming at every jump for Candace, and Mehitabel was flying up and +down crying: "Oh there's snakes in my shoes! There's snakes in my +shoes!" + +That was a fair sample of how much sense a Heasty ever had. It took +all Mehitabel's shoes could do to hold her feet, for after one went +barefoot all week, and never put on shoes except on Sunday or for a +visit, the feet became so spread out, shoes had all they could do to +manage them, and then mostly they pinched until they made one squirm. +But she jumped and said that, while May ran and screamed, and Candace +gripped her big hickory stick and told May to stand still. Then she +bruised that serpent with her whole foot, for she stood on it, and +swatted it until she broke its neck. Then she turned ready for the +other one, but when it saw what happened to its mate, it decided to go +back. Even snakes, it doesn't seem right to break up families like +that; so by the time Candace got the mammy killed, loose from May's +hem, and stretched out with the back up, so she wouldn't make it rain, +when Candace wasn't sure that father wanted rain, I had enough. I went +down the creek until I was below the orchard, then I crossed, passed +the cowslip bed, climbed the hill and fence, and stopped to think what +I would do first; and there only a few feet away was Shelley. She was +sitting in the shade, her knees drawn up, her hands clasped around +them, staring straight before her across the meadow at nothing in +particular, that I could see. She jumped as if I had been a snake when +she saw me, then she said, "Oh, is it you?" like she was half glad of +it. My chance had come. + +I went to her, sat close beside her and tried snuggling up a little. +It worked. She put her arm around me, drew me tight, rubbed her cheek +against my head and we sat there. I was wondering how in the world I +could ask her, and not get slapped. I was growing most too big for +that slapping business, anyway. We sat there; I was looking across the +meadow as she did, only I was watching everything that went on, so when +I saw a grosbeak fly from the wild grape where Shelley had put the +crock for sap, it made me think of her hair. She used to like to have +me play with it so well, she'd give me pennies if I did. I got up, and +began pulling out her pins carefully. I knew I was getting a start +because right away she put up her hand to help me. + +"I can get them," I said just as flannel-mouthed as ever I could, like +all of us talked to her now, so I got every one and never pulled a +mite. When I reached over her shoulder to drop them in her lap, being +so close I kissed her cheek. Then I shook down her hair, spread it +out, lifted it, parted it, and held up strands to let the air on her +scalp. She shivered and said: "Mercy child, how good that does feel! +My head has ached lately until it's a wonder there's a hair left on it." + +So I was pleasing her. I never did handle hair so carefully. I tried +every single thing it feels good to you to have done with your hair, +rubbed her head gently, and to cheer her up I told her about May and +the snake, and what fool Mehitabel had said, and she couldn't help +laughing; so I had her feeling about as good as she could, for the way +she actually felt, but still I didn't really get ahead. Come right to +the place to do it, that was no very easy question to ask a person, +when you wouldn't hurt their feelings for anything; I was beginning to +wonder if I would lose my chance, when all at once a way I could manage +popped into my mind. + +"Shelley," I said, "they told you about Laddie and the Princess, didn't +they?" + +I knew they had, but I had to make a beginning some way. + +"Yes," she said. "I'm glad of it! I think she's pretty as a picture, +and nice as she looks. Laddie may have to hump himself to support her, +but if he can't get her as fine clothes as she has, her folks can help +him. They seem to have plenty, and she's their only child." + +"They're going to. I heard Mr. Pryor ask Laddie if he'd be so unkind +as to object to them having the pleasure of giving her things." + +"Well, the greenhorn didn't say he would!" + +"No. He didn't want to put his nose to the grindstone quite that +close. He said it was between them." + +"I should think so!" + +"Shelley, there's a question I've been wanting to ask some one for +quite a while." + +"What?" + +"Why, this! You know, Laddie was in love with the Princess, like you +are when you want to marry folks, for a long, long time, before he +could be sure whether she loved him back." + +"Yes." + +"Well, now, 'spose she never had loved him, would he have had anything +to be ashamed of?" + +"I can't see that he would. Some one must start a courtship, or there +would be no marrying, and it's conceded to be the place of the man. +No. He might be disappointed, or dreadfully hurt, but there would be +no shame about it." + +"Well, then, suppose she loved him, and wanted to marry him, and he +hadn't loved her, or wanted her, would SHE have had anything to be +ashamed of?" + +"I don't think so! If she was attracted by him, and thought she would +like him, she would have a right to go to a certain extent, to find out +if he cared for her, and if he didn't, why, she'd just have to give him +up. But any sensible girl waits for a man to make the advances, and +plenty of them, before she allows herself even to dream of loving him, +or at least, I would." + +Now I was getting somewhere! + +"Of course you would!" I said. "That would be the WAY mother would, +wouldn't it?" + +"Surely!" + +"If that Paget man you used to write about had seemed to be just what +you liked, you'd have waited to know if he wanted you, before you loved +him, wouldn't you?" + +"I certainly would!" answered Shelley. "Or at least, I'd have waited +until I THOUGHT sure as death, I knew. It seems that sometimes you can +be fooled about those things." + +"But if you thought sure you knew, and then found out you had been +mistaken, you wouldn't have anything to be ASHAMED of, would you?" + +"Not-on-your-life-I-wouldn't!" cried Shelley, hammering each word into +her right knee with her doubled fist. "What are you driving at, +Blatherskite? What have you got into your head?" + +"Oh just studying about things," I said, which was exactly the truth. +"Sally getting married last fall, and Laddie going to this, just +started me to wondering." + +Fooled her, too! + +"Oh well, there's no harm done," she said. "The sooner you get these +matters straightened out, the better able you will be to take care of +yourself. If you ever go to a city, you'll find out that a girl needs +considerable care taken of her." + +"You could look out for yourself, Shelley?" + +"Well, I don't know as I made such a glorious fist of it," she said, +"but at least, as you say, I've nothing to be ashamed of!" + +I almost hugged her head off. + +"Of course you haven't!" I cried. "Of course you wouldn't have!" + +I just kissed her over and over for joy; I was so glad my heart hurt +for father and mother. Shame had not come to them! + +"Now, I guess I'll run to the house and get a comb," I told her. + +"Go on," said Shelley. "I know you are tired." + +"I'm not in the least," I said. "Don't you remember I always use a +comb when I fuss with your hair?" + +"It is better," said Shelley. "Go get one." + +As I got up to start I took a last look at her, and there was something +in her face that I couldn't bear. I knelt beside her, and put both +arms around her neck. + +"Shelley, it's a secret," I said in a breathless half whisper. "It's a +great, big secret, but I'm going to tell you. Twice now I've had a +powerful prayer all ready to try. It's the kind where you go to the +barn, all alone, stand on that top beam below the highest window and +look toward the east. You keep perfectly still, and just think with +all your might, and you look away over where Jesus used to be, and when +the right feeling comes, you pray that prayer as if He stood before +you, and it will come true. I KNOW it will come true. The reason I +know is because twice now I've been almost ready to try it, and what I +intended to ask for happened before I had time; so I've saved that +prayer; but Shelley, shall I pray it about the Paget man, for you?" + +She gripped me, and she shook until she was all twisted up; you could +hear her teeth click, she chilled so. The tears just gushed, and she +pulled me up close and whispered right in my ear: + +"Yes!" + +It was only pretend about the comb; what I really wanted was to get to +father and mother quick. I knew he was at the barn and he was going to +be too happy for words in a minute. But as I went up the lane, I +wasn't sure whether I'd rather pray about that Paget man or bruise him +with my heel like a serpent. The only way I could fix it was to +remember if Shelley loved him so, he must be mighty nice. Father was +in the wagon shovelling corn from it to a platform where it would be +handy to feed the pigs, so I ran and called him, and put one foot on a +hub and raised my hands. He pulled me up and when he saw how important +it was, he sat on the edge of the bed, so I told him: "Father, you +haven't got a thing in the world to be ashamed of about Shelley." + +"Praise the Lord!" said father like I knew he would, but you should +have seen his face. "Tell me about it!" + +I told him and he said: "Well, I don't know but this is the gladdest +hour of my life. Go straight and repeat to your mother exactly what +you've said to me. Take her away all alone, and then forget about it, +you little blessing." + +"Father, have you got too many children?" + +"No!" he said. "I wish I had a dozen more, if they'd be like you." + +When I went up the lane I was so puffed up with importance I felt too +dignified to run. I strutted like our biggest turkey gobbler. The +only reason you couldn't hear my wings scrape, was because through +mistake they grew on the turkey. If I'd had them, I would have dragged +them sure, and cried "Ge-hobble-hobble!" at every step. + +I took mother away alone and told her, and she asked many more +questions than father, but she was even gladder than he. She almost +hugged the breath out of me. Sometimes I get things RIGHT, anyway! +Then I took the comb and ran back to Shelley. + +"I thought you'd forgotten me," she said. + +She had wiped up and was looking better. If ever I combed carefully I +did then. Just when I had all the tangles out, there came mother. She +had not walked that far in a long time. I thought maybe she could +comfort Shelley, so I laid the comb in her lap and went to see how the +snake hunters were coming on. It must be all right, when the Bible +says so, but the African Jungle will do for me, and a popgun is not +going to scatter families. I never felt so strongly about breaking +home ties in my life as I did then. There was nothing worse. It was +not where I wanted to be, so I thought I'd go back to the barn, and +hang around father, hoping maybe he'd brag on me some more. Going up +the lane I saw a wagon passing with the biggest box I ever had seen, +and I ran to the gate to watch where it went. It stopped at our house +and Frank came toward me as I hurried up the road. + +"Where are the folks?" he asked, without paying the least attention to +my asking him over and over what was in the box. + +"May and Candace are killing every snake in the driftwood behind the +barn, Shelley and mother are down in the orchard, and father and the +boys are hauling corn." + +"Go tell the boys to come quickly and keep quiet," he said. "But don't +let any one else know I'm here." + +That was so exciting I almost fell over my feet running, and all three +of them came quite as fast. I stood back and watched, and I just +danced a steady hop from one foot to the other while those men got the +big box off the wagon and opened it. On the side I spelled Piano, so +of course it was for Shelley. It was so heavy it took all six of them, +father and the three boys, the driver and another very stylish looking +man to carry it. They put it in the parlour, screwed a leg on each +corner, and a queer harp in the middle, then they lifted it up and set +it on its feet, under the whatnot, and it seemed as if it filled half +the room. Then Frank spread a beauteous wine coloured cover all +embroidered in pink roses with green leaves over it, and the stylish +man opened a lid, sat down and spread out his hands. Frank said: +"Soft pedal! Mighty soft!" So he smothered it down, and tried only +enough to find that it had not been hurt coming, and then he went away +on the wagon. Father and the boys gathered up every scrap, swept the +walk, and put all the things they had used back where they got them, +like we always did. + +Then Frank took a card from his pocket and tied it to the music rack, +and it read: "For Shelley, from her brothers in fact, and in law." To +a corner of the cover he pinned another card that read: "From Peter." + +"What is that?" asked father. + +"That's from Peter," said Frank. "Peter is great on finishing touches. +He had to outdo the rest of us that much or bust. Fact is, none of us +thought of a cover except him." + +"How about this?" asked father, staring at it as if it were an animal +that would bite. + +"Well," said Frank, "it was apparent that practising her fingers to the +bone wouldn't do Shelley much good unless she could keep it up in +summer, and you and mother always have done so much for the rest of us, +and now mother isn't so strong and the expenses go on the same with +these youngsters; we know you were figuring on it, but we beat you. +Put yours in the bank, and try the feel of a surplus once more. +Haven't had much lately, have you, father?" + +"Well, not to speak of," said father. + +"Now let's shut everything up, ring the bell to call them, and get +Shelley in here and surprise her." + +"She's not very well," said father. "Mother thinks she worked too +hard." + +"She's all right now, father," I said. "She is getting pink again and +rounder, and this will fix her grand." + +Wouldn't it though! There wasn't one anywhere, short of the city. +Even the Princess had none. Father hunted up a song book, opened it +and set it on the rack. Then all of us went out. + +"We'll write to the boys, mother and I, and Shelley also," said father. +"I can't express myself just now. This is a fine thing for all of you +to do." + +Frank seemed to think so too, and looked rather puffed up, until Leon +began telling about his horse. When Frank found out that Laddie, who +had not yet branched out for himself, had given Leon much more than any +one of them had Shelley, he looked a little disappointed. He explained +how the piano cost eight hundred dollars, but by paying cash all at +once, the man took seven hundred and fifty, so it only cost them one +hundred and fifty a piece, and none of them felt it at all. + +"Sometimes the clouds loom up pretty black, and mother and I scarcely +know how to go on, save for the help of the Lord, but we certainly are +blest with good children, children we can be proud of. Your mother +will like that instrument as well as Shelley, son," said father. + +Frank went out and rang the bell, tolled it, and made a big noise like +he always did when he came unexpectedly, and then sat on the back fence +until he saw them coming, and went to meet them. He walked between +mother and Shelley, with an arm around each one. If he thought Shelley +looked badly, he didn't mention it. What he did say was that he was +starved, and to fly around and get supper. I thought I'd burst. They +began to cook, and the boys went to feed and see Leon's horse, and then +we had supper. I just sat and stared at Frank and grinned. I couldn't +eat. + +"Do finish your supper," said mother. "I never saw anything take your +appetite like seeing your brother. You'll be wanting a piece before +bedtime." + +I didn't say a word, because I was afraid to, but I kept looking at +Leon and he smiled back, and we had great fun. Secrets are lovely. +Mother couldn't have eaten a bite if she'd known about that great +shining thing, all full of wonderful sound, standing in our parlour. +When the last slow person had finished, father said: "Shelley, won't +you step into the front room and bring me that book I borrowed from +Frank on 'Taxation.' I want to talk over a few points." + +All of us heard her little breathless cry, and mother said, "There!" as +if she'd been listening for something, and she beat all of us to the +door. Then she cried out too, and such a time as we did have. At last +after all of us had grown sensible enough to behave, Shelley sat on the +stool, spread her fingers over the keys and played at the place father +had selected, and all of us sang as hard as we could: "Be it ever so +humble, There's no place like home;" and there WAS no place like ours, +of THAT I'm quite sure. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +In Faith Believing + + "Nor could the bright green world around + A joy to her impart, + For still she missed the eyes that made + The summer of her heart." + + +Soon as she had the piano, Shelley needed only the Paget man to make +her happy as a girl could be; and having faith in that prayer, I +decided to try it right away. So I got Laddie to promise surely that +he'd wake me when he got up the next morning. + +I laid my clothes out all ready; he merely touched my foot, and I came +to, slipped out with him, and he helped me dress. We went to the barn +when the morning was all gray. + +"What the dickens have you got in your head now, Chicken?" he asked. +"Is it business with the Fairies?" + +"No, this is with the Most High," I said solemnly, like father. "Go +away and leave me alone." + +"Well of all the queer chickens!" he said, but he kissed me and went. + +I climbed the stairs to the threshing floor, then the ladder to the +mow, walked a beam to the wall, there followed one to the east end, and +another to the little, high-up ventilator window. There I stood +looking at the top of the world. A gray mist was rising like steam +from the earth, there was a curious colour in the east, stripes of +orange and flames of red, where the sun was coming. I folded my hands +on the sill, faced the sky, and stood staring. Just stood, and stood, +never moving a muscle. By and by I began to think how much we loved +Shelley, how happy she had been at Christmas the way she was now, and +how much all of us would give in money, or time, or love, to make her +sparkling, bubbling, happy again; so I thought and thought, gazing at +the sky, which every second became a grander sight. Little cold chills +began going up my back, and soon I was talking to the Lord exactly as +if He stood before me on the reddest ray that topped our apple trees. + +I don't know all I said. That's funny, for I usually remember to the +last word; but this time it was so important, I wanted it so badly, and +I was so in earnest that words poured in a stream. I began by +reminding Him that He knew everything, and so He'd understand if what I +asked was for the best. Then I told Him how it looked to us, who knew +only a part; and then I went at Him and implored and beseeched, if it +would be best for Shelley, and would make her happy, to send her the +Paget man, and to be quick about it. When I had said the last word +that came to me, and begged all I thought becoming--I don't think with +His face, that Jesus wants us to grovel to Him, at least He looks too +dignified to do it Himself--I just stood there, still staring. + +I didn't expect to see a burning bush, or a pillar of fire, or a cloud +of flame, or even to hear a small, still voice; but I watched, so I +wouldn't miss it if there should be anything different in that sunrise +from any other I ever had seen, and there was not. Not one thing! It +was so beautiful, and I was so in earnest my heart hurt; but that was +like any other sunrise on a fine July morning. There wasn't the least +sign that Jesus had heard me, and would send the man; yet before I knew +it, I was amazed to find the feeling creeping over me that he was +coming. If I had held the letter in my hand saying he would arrive on +the noon train, I couldn't have grown surer. Why, I even looked down +the first time I moved, to see if I had it; but I was certain anyway. +So I looked steadily toward the east once more and said, "Thank you, +with all my heart, Lord Jesus," then I slowly made my way down and back +to the house. + +Shelley was at the orchard gate, waiting; so I knew they had missed me, +and Laddie had told them where I was and not to call. She had the +strangest look on her face, as she asked: "Where have you been?" + +I looked straight and hard at her and said, "It's all right, Shelley. +He's going to come soon"; but I didn't think it was a thing to mouth +over, so I twisted away from her, and ran to the kitchen to see if +breakfast had all been eaten. I left Shelley standing there with her +eyes wide, also her mouth. She looked about as intelligent as +Mehitabel Heasty, and it wouldn't have surprised me if she had begun to +jump up and down and say there were snakes in HER shoes. No doubt you +have heard of people having been knocked silly; I knew she was, and so +she had a perfect right to look that way, until she could remember what +she was doing, and come back to herself. Maybe it took her longer, +because mother wasn't there, to remind her about her mouth, and I +didn't propose to mention it. + +At breakfast, mother said father was going to drive Frank home in the +carriage, and if I would like, I might go along. I would have to sit +on the back seat alone, going; but coming home I could ride beside and +visit with father. I loved that, for you could see more from the front +seat, and father would stop to explain every single thing. He always +gave me the money and let me pay the toll. He would get me a drink at +the spring, let me wade a few minutes at Enyard's riffles, where their +creek, with the loveliest gravel bed, ran beside the road; and he +always raced like wildfire at the narrows, where for a mile the +railroad ran along the turnpike. + +We took Frank to his office, stopped a little while to visit Lucy, and +give her the butter and cream mother sent, went to the store to see +Peter, and then to the post-office. From there we could see that the +veranda of the hotel across the street was filled with gayly dressed +people, and father said that the summer boarders from big cities around +must be pouring in fast. When he came out with the mail he said he +better ask if the landlord did not want some of mother's corn and milk +fed spring chickens, because last year he had paid her more than the +grocer. So he drove across the street, stopped at the curb, and left +me to hold the team. + +Maybe you think I wasn't proud! I've told you about Ned and Jo, with +their sharp ears, dappled sides, and silky tails, and the carriage +almost new, with leather seats, patent leather trimmings, and side +lamps, so shiny you could see yourself in the brass. We never drove +into the barn with one speck of mud or dust on it. That was how +particular mother was. + +I watched the team carefully; I had to if I didn't want my neck broken; +but I also kept an eye on that veranda. You could see at a glance that +those were stylish women. Now my mother liked to be in fashion as well +as any one could; so I knew she'd be mightily pleased if I could tell +her a new place to set her comb, a different way to fasten her collar, +or about an unusual pattern for a frock. + +I got my drink at the spring, father offered to stop at the riffle, but +I was enjoying the ride so much, and I could always wade at home, +although our creek was not so beautiful as Enyard's, but for common +wading it would do; we went through the narrows, like two shakes of a +sheep's tail, then we settled down to a slow trot, and were having the +loveliest visit possible, when in the bundle on my lap, I saw the end +of something that interested me. Mr. Agnew always made our mail into a +roll with the Advocate and the Agriculturist on the outside, and +because every one was so anxious about their letters, and some of them +meant so much, I felt grown and important while holding the package. + +I was gripping it tight when I noticed the end of one letter much wider +and fatter than any I ever had seen, so when father was not looking I +began pushing it a little at one end, and pulling it at the other, to +work it up, until I could read the address. I got it out so far I +thought every minute he'd notice, and tell me not to do that, but I +could only see Stanton. All of us were Stanton, so it might be for me, +for that matter. Jerry might be sending me pictures, or a book, he did +sometimes, but there was an exciting thing about it. Besides being +fatter than it looked right at the end, it was plastered with +stamps--lots of them, enough to have brought it clear around the world. +I pushed that end back, pulled out the other, and took one good look. +I almost fell from the carriage. I grabbed father's arm and cried: +"Stop! Stop this team quick. Stop them and see if I can read." + +"Are you crazy, child?" asked father, but he checked the horses. + +"No, but you are going to be in a minute," I said. "Look at that!" + +I yanked the letter from the bundle, and held it over. I THOUGHT I +could read, but I was too scared to be sure. I thought it said in big, +strong, upstanding letters, Miss Shelley Stanton, Groveville, Indiana. +And in the upper corner, Blackburn, Yeats and PAGET, Counsellors of +Law, 37 to 39 State St., Chicago. I put my finger on the Paget, and +looked into father's face. I was no fool after all. He was not a bit +surer that HE could read than I was, from the dazed way he stared. + +"You see!" I said. + +"It says Paget!" he said, like he would come nearer believing; it if he +heard himself pronounce the word. + +"I THOUGHT it said 'Paget,'" I gasped, "but I wanted to know if you +thought so too." + +"Yes, it's Paget plain enough," said father, but he acted like there +was every possibility that it might change to Jones any minute. "It +says 'Paget,' plain as print." + +"Father!" I cried, clutching his arm, "father, see how fat it is! +There must be pages and pages! Father, it wouldn't take all that to +tell her he didn't like her, and he never wanted to see her again. +Would it, father?" + +"It doesn't seem probable," said father. + +"Father don't you think it means there's been some big mistake, and it +takes so much to tell how it can be fixed?" + +"It seems reasonable." + +I gripped him tighter, and maybe shook him a little. + +"Father!" I cried. "Father, doesn't it just look HURRY, all over? +Can't you speed up a little? They have all day to cool off. Oh +father, won't you speed a little?" + +"That I will!" said father. "Get a tight hold, and pray God it is good +word we carry." + +"But I prayed the one big prayer to get this," I said. "It wouldn't be +sent if it wasn't good. The thing to do now is to thank the Lord for +'all his loving kindnesses,' like mother said." + +"Drive father! Make them go!" + +At first he only touched them up; I couldn't see that we were getting +home so fast; but in a minute a cornfield passed like a streak, a piece +of woods flew by a dark blur, a bridge never had time to rattle, and we +began to rock from side to side a little. Then I gripped the top +supports with one hand, the mail with the other, and hung on for dear +life. I took one good look at father. + +His feet were on the brace, his face was clear, even white, his eyes +steely, and he never moved a muscle. When Jo thought it was funny, +that he was loose in the pasture, and kicked up a little behind, father +gave him a sharp cut with the whip and said: "Steady boy! Get along +there!" + +Sometimes he said, "Aye, aye! Easy!" but he never stopped a mite. We +whizzed past the church and cemetery, and scarcely touched the Big +Hill. People ran to their doors, even to the yards, and I was sure +they thought we were having a runaway, but we were not. Father began +to stop at the lane gate, he pulled all the way past the garden, and it +was as much as he could do to get them slowed down so that I could jump +out by the time we reached the hitching rack. He tied them, and +followed me into the house instead of going to the barn. I ran ahead +calling: "Shelley! Where is Shelley?" + +"What in this world has happened, child?" asked mother, catching my arm. + +"Her letter has come! Her Paget letter! The one you looked for until +you gave up. It's come at last! Oh, where is she?" + +"Be calmer, child, you'll frighten her," said mother. + +May snatched the letter from my fingers and began to read all that was +on it aloud. I burst out crying. + +"Make her give that back!" I sobbed to father. "It's mine! I found +it. Father, make her let me take it!" + +"Give it to her!" said father. "I rather feel that it is her right to +deliver it." + +May passed it back, but she looked so disappointed, that by how she +felt I knew how much I wanted to take it myself; so I reached my hand +to her and said: "You can come along! We'll both take it! Oh where +is she?" + +"She went down in the orchard," said mother. "I think probably she's +gone back where she was the other day." + +Gee, but we ran! And there she was! As we came up, she heard us and +turned. + +"Shelley!" I cried. "Here's your letter! Everything is all right! +He's coming, Shelley! Look quick, and see when! Mother will want to +begin baking right away!" + +Shelley looked at me, and said coolly: "Paddy Ryan! What's the +matter?" + +"Your letter!" I cried, shoving it right against her hands. "Your +letter from Robert! From the Paget man, you know! I told you he was +coming! Hurry, and see when!" + +She took it, and sat there staring at it, so much like father, that it +made me think of him, so I saw that she was going to have to come +around to it as we did, and that one couldn't hurry her. She just had +to take her time to sense it. + +"Shall I open it for you?" I asked, merely to make her see that it was +time she was doing it herself. + +Blest if she didn't reach it toward me!--sort of woodenlike. I stuck +my finger under the flap, gave it a rip across and emptied what was +inside into her lap. Bet there were six or seven letters in queer +yellow envelopes I never before had seen any like, and on them was the +name, Robert Paget, while in one corner it said, "Returned Dead +Letter"; also there was a loose folded white sheet. She sat staring at +the heap, touching one, another, and repeating "Robert Paget?" as she +picked each up in turn. + +"What do you suppose it means?" she asked May. May examined them. + +"You must read the loose sheet," she advised. "No doubt that will +explain." + +But Shelley never touched it. She handled those letters and stared at +them. Father and mother came through the orchard and stood together +behind us, so father knelt down at last, reached across Shelley's +shoulder, picked one up and looked at it. + +"Have you good word, dear?" asked mother of Shelley. + +"Why, I don't understand at all," said Shelley. "Just look at all +these queer letters, addressed to Mr. Paget. Why should they be sent +to me? I mustn't open them. They're not mine. There must be some +mistake." + +"These are DEAD LETTERS," said father. "They've been written to you, +couldn't be delivered, and so were sent to the Dead Letter Office at +Washington, which returned them to the writer, and unopened he has +forwarded them once more to you. You've heard of dead letters, haven't +you?" + +"I suppose so," said Shelley. "I don't remember just now; but there +couldn't be a better name. They've come mighty near killing me." + +"If you'd only read that note!" urged May, putting it right into her +fingers. + +Shelley still sat there. + +"I'm afraid of it," she said exactly like I'd have spoken if there had +been a big rattlesnake coming right at me, when I'd nothing at hand to +bruise it. + +Laddie and Leon came from the barn. They had heard me calling, seen +May and me run, and then father and mother coming down, so they walked +over. + +"What's up?" asked Leon. "Has Uncle Levi's will been discovered, and +does mother get his Mexican mines?" + +"What have you got, Shelley?" asked Laddie, kneeling beside her, and +picking up one of the yellow letters. + +"I hardly know," said Shelley. + +"I brought her a big letter with all those little ones and a note in +it, and they are from the Paget man," I explained to him. "But she +won't even read the note, and see what he writes. She says she's +afraid." + +"Poor child! No wonder!" said Laddie, sitting beside her and putting +his arm around her. "Suppose I read it for you. May I?" + +"Yes," said Shelley. "You read it. Read it out loud. I don't care." + +She leaned against him, while he unfolded the white sheet. + +"Umph!" he said. "This DOES look bad for you. It begins: 'My own +darling Girl.'" + +"Let me see!" cried Shelley, suddenly straightening, and reaching her +hand. + +Laddie held the page toward her, but she only looked, she didn't offer +to touch it. + +"'My own darling Girl:'" repeated Laddie tenderly, making it mean just +all he possibly could, because he felt so dreadfully sorry for +her--"'On my return to Chicago, from the trip to England I have so +often told you I intended to make some time soon----'" + +"Did he?" asked mother. + +"Yes," answered Shelley. "He couldn't talk about much else. It was +his first case. It was for a friend of his who had been robbed of +everything in the world; honour, relatives, home, and money. If Robert +won it, he got all that back for his friend and enough for +himself--that he could--a home of his own, you know! Read on, Laddie!" + +"'I was horrified to find on my desk every letter I had written you +during my absence returned to me from the Dead Letter Office, as you +see.'" + +"Good gracious!" cried mother, picking up one and clutching it tight as +if she meant to see that it didn't get away again. + +"Go on!" cried Shelley. + +"'I am enclosing some of them as they came back to me, in proof of my +statement. I drove at once to your boarding place and found you had +not been there for weeks, and your landlady was distinctly crabbed. +Then I went to the college, only to find that you had fallen ill and +gone to your home. That threw me into torments, and all that keeps me +from taking the first train is the thought that perhaps you refused to +accept these letters, for some reason. Shelley, you did not, did you? +There is some mistake somewhere, is there not----'" + +"One would be led to think so," said father sternly. "Seems as if he +might have managed some way----" + +"Don't you blame him!" cried Shelley. "Can't you see it's all my +fault? He'd been coming regularly, and the other girls envied me; then +he just disappeared, and there was no word or anything, and they +laughed and whispered until I couldn't endure it; so I moved in with +Peter's cousin, as I wrote you; but that left Mrs. Fleet with an empty +room in the middle of the term, and it made her hopping mad. I bet +anything she wouldn't give the postman my new address, to pay me back. +I left it, of course. But if I'd been half a woman, and had the +confidence I should have had in myself and in him---- Oh how I've +suffered, and punished all of you----!" + +"Never you mind about that," said mother, stroking Shelley's hair. +"Likely there isn't much in Chicago to give a girl who never had been +away from her family before, 'confidence' in herself or any one else. +As for him--just disappearing like that, without a word or even a +line---- Go on Laddie!" + +"'Surely, you knew that I was only waiting the outcome of this trip to +tell you how dearly I love you. Surely, you encouraged me in thinking +you cared for me a little, Shelley. Only a little will do to begin +with----'" + +"You see, I DID have something to go on!" cried Shelley, wiping her +eyes and straightening up. + +"'No doubt you misunderstood and resented my going without coming to +explain, and bid you good-bye in person, but Shelley, _I_ SIMPLY DARED +NOT. You see, it was this way: I got a cable about the case I was +always talking of, and the only man who could give the testimony I MUST +HAVE was dying!'" + +"For land's sake! The poor boy!" cried mother, patting Shelley's +shoulder. + +"'An hour's delay might mean the loss of everything in the world to me, +even you. For if I lost any time, and the man escaped me, there was no +hope of winning my case, and everything, even you, as I said before, +depended on him----'" + +"Good Lord! I mean land!" cried Leon. + +"'If I could catch the train in an hour, I could take a boat at New +York, and go straight through with no loss of time. So I wrote you a +note that probably said more than I would have ventured in person, and +paid a boy to deliver it.'" + +"Kept the money and tore up the note, I bet!" said May. + +"'I wrote on the train, but found after sailing that I had rushed so I +had failed to post it in New York. I kept on writing every day on the +boat, and mailed you six at Liverpool. All the time I have written +frequently; there are many more here that this envelope will not hold, +that I shall save until I hear from you.'" + +"Well, well!" said father. + +"'Shelley, I beat death, reached my man, got the testimony I had to +have, and won my case.'" + +"Glory!" cried mother. "Praise the Lord!" + +"'Then I scoured England, and part of the continent, hunting some +interested parties; and when I was so long finding them, and still no +word came from you, I decided to come back and get you, if you would +come with me, and go on with the work together.'" + +"Listen to that! More weddings!" cried Leon. He dropped on his knees +before Shelley. "Will you marry me, my pretty maid?" he begged. + +"Young man, if you cut any capers right now, I'll cuff your ears!" +cried father. "This is no proper time for your foolishness!" + +"'Shelley, I beg that you will believe me, and if you care for me in +the very least, telegraph if I may come. Quick! I'm half insane to +see you. I have many things to tell you, first of all how dear you are +to me. Please telegraph. Robert.'" + +"Saddle a horse, Leon!" father cried as he unstrapped his wallet. + +"Laddie, take down her message." + +"Can you put it into ten words?" asked Laddie. + +"Mother, what would you say?" questioned Shelley. + +Leon held up his fingers and curled down one with each word. "Say, +'Dear Robert. Well and happy. Come when you get ready.'" + +"But then I won't know when he's coming," objected Shelley. "You don't +need to," said Leon. "You can take it for granted from that epistolary +effusion that he won't let the grass grow under his feet while coming +here. That's a bully message! It sounds as if you weren't crazy over +him, and it's a big compliment to mother. Looks as if she didn't have +to know when people are coming--like she's ready all the time." + +"Write it out and let me see," said Shelley. + +So Laddie wrote it, and she looked at it a long time, it seemed to me, +at last she said: "I don't like that 'get.' It doesn't sound right. +Wouldn't 'are' be better?" + +"Come when you are ready," repeated Laddie. "Yes, that's better. +'Get' sounds rather saucy." + +"Why not put it, 'Come when you choose?'" suggested mother. "That will +leave a word to spare, so it won't look as if you had counted them and +used exactly ten on purpose, and it doesn't sound as if you expected +him to make long preparations, like the other. That will leave it with +him to start whenever he likes." + +"Yes! yes!" cried Shelley. "That's much better! Say, 'Come when you +choose!'" + +"Right!" said Laddie as he wrote it. "Now I'll take this!" + +"Oh no you won't!" cried Leon. "Father told me to saddle my horse. +She's got enough speed in her to beat yours a mile. I take that! +Didn't you say for me to saddle, father?" + +"Such important business, I think I better," said Laddie, and Leon +began to cry. + +"I think you should both go," said Shelley. "It is so important, and +if one goes to make a mistake, maybe the other will notice it." + +"Yes, that's the best way," said mother. + +"Yes, both go," said father. + +It was like one streak when they went up the Big Hill. Father shook +his head. "Poor judgment--that," he said. "Never run a horse up hill!" + +"But they're in such a hurry," Shelley reminded him. + +"So they are," said father. "In this case I might have broken the rule +myself. Now come all of you, and let the child get at her mail." + +"But I want you to stay," said Shelley. "I'm so addle-pated this +morning. I need my family to help me." + +"Of course you do, child," said mother. "Families were made to cling +together, and stand by each other in every circumstance of life--joy or +sorrow. Of course you need your family." + +May began sorting the letters by dates so Shelley could start on the +one that had been written first. Father ran his knife across the top +of each, and cut all the envelopes, and Shelley took out the first and +read it; that was the train one. In it he told her about sending the +boy with the note again, and explained more about how it was so very +important for him to hurry, because the only man who could help him was +so sick. We talked it over, and all of us thought the boy had kept the +money and torn up the note. Father said the way would have been to +send the note and pay the boy when he came back; but Shelley said Mr. +Paget would have been gone before the boy got back, so father saw that +wouldn't have been the way, in such a case. + +Next she read one written on the boat. He told more about sending the +boy; how he loved her, what it would mean to both of them if he got the +evidence he wanted and won his first case; and how much it would bring +his friend. The next one told it all over again, and more. In that he +wrote a little about the ocean, the people on board the ship, and he +gave Shelley the name of the place where he was going and begged her to +write to him. He told her if the ship he was on passed another, they +were going to stop and send back the mail. He begged her to write +often, and to say she forgave him for starting away without seeing her, +as he had been forced to. + +The next one was the same thing over, only a little more yet. In the +last he had reached England, the important man was still living, but he +was almost gone, and Mr. Paget took two good witnesses, all the +evidence he had, and went to see him; and the man saw it was no use, so +he made a statement, and Robert had it all written out, signed and +witnessed. For the real straight sense there was in that letter, I +could have done as well myself. + +It was a wild jumble, because Robert was so crazy over having the +evidence that would win his case; and he told Shelley that now he was +perfectly free to love her all she would allow him. He said he had to +stay a while longer to find his friend's people so they would get back +their share of the money, but it was not going to be easy to locate +them. You wouldn't think the world so big, but maybe it seemed smaller +to me because as far as I could see from the top of our house, was all +I knew about it. After Shelley had read the letters, and the note +again, father heaved a big sigh that seemed to come clear from his boot +soles and he said: "Well Shelley, it looks to me as if you had found a +MAN. Seems to me that's a mighty important case for a young lawyer to +be trusted with, in a first effort." + +"Yes, but it was for Robert's best friend, and only think, he has won!" + +"I don't see how he could have done better if he'd been old as +Methuselah, and wise as Solomon," boasted mother. + +"But he hasn't found the people who must have back their money," said +May. "He will have to go to England again. And he wants to take you, +Shelley. My! You'll get to sail on a big steamer, cross the Atlantic +Ocean, and see London. Maybe you'll even get a peep at the Queen!" + +Shelley was busy making a little heap of her letters; when the top one +slid off I reached over and put it back for her. She looked straight +at me, and smiled the most wonderful and the most beautiful smile I +ever saw on any one's face, so I said to her: "You see! I TOLD you he +was coming!" + +"I can't understand it!" said Shelley. + +"YOU KNOW I told you." + +"Of course I do! But what made you think so?" + +"That was the answer. Just that he was coming." + +"What are you two talking about?" asked mother. + +Shelley looked at me, and waited for me to tell mother as much as I +wanted to, of what had happened. But I didn't think things like that +were to be talked about before every one, so I just said: + +"Oh nothing! Only, I told Shelley this very morning that the Paget man +was coming soon, and that everything was going to be all right." + +"You did? Well of all the world! I can't see why." + +"Oh something told me! I just FELT that way." + +"More of that Fairy nonsense?" asked father sharply. + +"No. I didn't get that from the Fairies." + +"Well, never mind!" said Shelley, rising, because she saw that I had +told all I wanted to. "Little Sister DID tell me this morning that he +was coming, that everything would be made right, and it's the queerest +thing, but instantly I believed her. Didn't I sing all morning, +mother? The first note since Robert didn't come when I expected him in +Chicago, weeks ago." + +"Yes," said mother. "That's a wonderfully strange thing. I can't see +what made you think so." + +"Anyway, I did!" I said. "Now let's go have dinner. I'm starving." + +I caught May's hand, and ran to get away from them. Father and mother +walked one on each side of Shelley, while with both hands she held her +letters before her. When we reached the house we just talked about +them all the time. Pretty soon the boys were back, and then they told +about sending the telegram. Leon vowed he gave the operator a dime +extra to start that message with a shove, so it would go faster. + +"It will go all right," said Laddie, "and how it will go won't be a +circumstance to the way he'll come. If there's anything we ought to +do, before he gets here, we should hustle. Chicago isn't a thousand +miles away. That message can reach him by two o'clock, it's probable +he has got ready while he was waiting, so he will start on the first +train our way. He could reach Groveville on the ten, to-morrow. We +better meet it." + +"Yes, we'll meet it," said mother. "Is the carriage perfectly clean?" + +Father said: "It must be gone over. Our general manager here ordered +me to speed up, and we drove a little coming from town." + +Mother went to planning what else should be done. + +"Don't do anything!" cried Shelley. "The house is all right. There's +no need to work and worry into a sweat. He won't notice or care how +things look." + +"I miss my guess if he doesn't notice and care very much indeed," said +mother emphatically. "Men are not blind. No one need think they don't +see when things are not as they should be, just because they're not +cattish enough to let you know it, like a woman always does. Shelley, +wouldn't you like to ride over and spend the afternoon with the +Princess?" + +"Nope!" said Shelley. "It's her turn to come to see me. Besides, you +don't get me out of the way like that. I know what you'll do here, and +I intend to help." + +"Do you need one of the boys at the house?" asked father, and if you'll +believe it, both of them wanted to stay. + +Father said he must have one to help wash the carriage and do a little +fixing around the barn; so he took Leon, but he didn't like to go. He +said: "I don't see what all this fuss is about, anyway. Probably +he'll be another Peter." + +Shelley looked at him: "Oh Mr. Paget isn't nearly so large as Peter," +she said, "and his hair is whiter than yours, while his eyes are not so +blue." + +"Saints preserve us!" cried Leon. "Come on, father, let's only dust +the carriage! He's not worth washing it for." + +"Is he like that?" asked mother anxiously. + +"Wait and see!" said Shelley. "Looks don't make a man. He has proved +what he can do." + +Then all of us went to work. Before night we were hunting over the +yard, and beside the road, to see if we could find anything to pick up. +Six chickens were in the cellar, father was to bring meat and a long +list of groceries from town in the morning. He was to start early, get +them before train time, put them under the back seat, and take them out +after he drove into the lane, when he came back. That made a little +more trouble for father, but there was not the slightest necessity for +making Mr. Paget feel that he had ridden in a delivery wagon. + +Next morning I wakened laughing softly, because some one was fussing +with my hair, patting my face, and kissing me, so I put up my arms and +pulled that loving person down on my pillow, and gave back little +half-asleep kisses, and slept on; but it was Shelley, and she gently +shook me and began repeating that fool old thing I have been waked up +with half the mornings of my life: + + "Get up, Little Sister, the morning is bright, + The birds are all singing to welcome the light, + Get up; for when all things are merry and glad, + Good children should never be lazy and sad; + For God gives us daylight, dear sister, that we + May rejoice like the lark and work like the bee." + + +Usually I'd have gone on sleeping, but Shelley was so sweet and lovely, +and she kissed me so hard, that I remembered it was going to be a most +exciting day, so I came to quick as snap and jumped right up, for I +didn't want to miss a single thing that might happen. + +The carriage was shining when it came to the gate, so was father. + +I thought there was going to be a vacant seat beside him, and I asked +if I might go along. He said: "Yes, if mother says so." He always +would stick that in. So I ran to ask her, and she didn't care, if +Shelley made no objections. I was just starting to find her, when here +she came, all shining too, but Laddie was with her. I hadn't known +that he was going, and I was so disappointed I couldn't help crying. + +"What's the matter?" asked Shelley. + +"Father and mother both said I might go, if you didn't care." + +"Why, I'm dreadfully sorry," said Shelley, "but I have several things I +want Laddie to do for me." + +Laddie stooped down to kiss me good-bye and he said: "Don't cry, +Little Sister. The way to be happy is to be good." + +Then they drove to Groveville, and we had to wait. But there was so +much to do, it made us fly to get all of it finished. So mother sent +Leon after Mrs. Freshett to help in the kitchen, while Candace wore her +white dress, and waited on the table. Mother cut flowers for the +dining table, and all through the house. She left the blinds down to +keep the rooms cool, chilled buttermilk to drink, and if she didn't +think of every single, least little thing, I couldn't see what it was. +Then all of us put on our best dresses. Mother looked as glad and +sweet as any girl, when she sat to rest a little while. I didn't dare +climb the catalpa in my white dress, so I watched from the horse block, +and when I saw the grays come over the top of the hill, I ran to tell. +As mother went to the gate, she told May and me to walk behind, to stay +back until we were spoken to, and then to keep our heads level, and +remember our manners. I don't know where Leon went. He said he lost +all interest when he found there was to be another weak-eyed towhead in +the family, and I guess he was in earnest about it, because he wasn't +even curious enough to be at the gate when Mr. Paget came. + +Father stopped with a flourish, Laddie hurried around and helped +Shelley, and then Mr. Paget stepped down. Goodness, gracious, sakes +alive! Little? Towhead? He was taller than Laddie. His hair was +most as black as ink, and wavy. His eyes were big and dark; he was +broad and strong and there was the cleanest, freshest look about him. +He put his arm spang around Shelley, right there in the road, and +mother said: "Hold there! Not so fast, young man! I haven't given my +consent to that." + +He laughed, and he said: "Yes, but you'ah going to!" And he put his +other arm around mother, so May and I crowded up, and we had a family +reunion right between the day lilies and the snowball bush. We went +into the house, and he LIKED us, his room, and everything went exactly +right. He was crazy about the cold buttermilk, and while he was +drinking it Leon walked into the dining-room, because he thought of +course Mr. Paget and Shelley would be on the davenport in the parlour. +When he saw Robert he said lowlike to Shelley: "Didn't Mr. Paget come? +Who's that?" + +Shelley looked so funny for a minute, then she remembered what she had +told him and she just laughed as she said: "Mr. Paget, this is my +brother." + +Robert went to shake hands, and Leon said right to his teeth: "Well a +divil of a towhead you are!" + +"Towhead?" said Robert, bewildered-like. + +"Shelley said you were a little bit of a man, with watery blue eyes, +and whiter hair than mine." + +"Oh I say!" cried Robert. "She must have been stringin' you!" + +Leon just whooped; because while Mr. Paget didn't talk like the 'orse, +'ouse people, he made you think of them in the way he said things, and +the sound of his voice. Then we had dinner, and I don't remember that +we ever had quite such a feast before. Mother had put on every single +flourish she knew. She used her very best dishes, and linen, and no +cook anywhere could beat Candace alone; now she had Mrs. Freshett to +help her, and mother also. If she tried to show Mr. Paget, she did it! +No visitor was there except him, but we must have been at the table two +hours talking, and eating from one dish after another. Candace LIKED +to wear her white dress, and carry things around, and they certainly +were good. + +And talk! Father, Laddie, and Robert talked over all creation. Every +once in a while when mother saw an opening, she put in her paddle, and +no one could be quicker, when she watched sharp and was trying to make +a good impression. Shelley was very quiet; she scarcely spoke or +touched that delicious food. Once the Paget man turned to her, looking +at her so fondlike, as he picked up one of her sauce dishes and her +spoon and wanted to feed her. And he said: "Heah child, eat your +dinnah! You have nawthing to be fussed ovah! I mean to propose to +you, and your parents befowr night. That is what I am heah for." + +Every one laughed so, Shelley never got the bite; but after that she +perked up more and ate a little by herself. + +At last father couldn't stand it any longer, so he began asking Robert +about his trip to England, and the case he had won. When the table was +cleared for dessert, Mr. Paget asked mother to have Candace to bring +his satchel. He opened it and spread papers all over, so that father +and Laddie could see the evidence, while he told them how it was. + +It seemed there was a law in England, all of us knew about it, because +father often had explained it. This law said that a man who had lots +of money and land must leave almost all of it to his eldest son; and +the younger ones must go into law, the army, be clergymen, or enter +trade and earn a living, while the eldest kept up the home place. Then +he left it to his eldest son, and his other boys had to work for a +living. It kept the big estates together; but my! it was hard on the +younger sons, and no one seemed even to think about the daughters. I +never heard them mentioned. + +Now there was a very rich man; he had only two sons, and each of them +married, and had one son. The younger son died, and sent his boy for +his elder brother to take care of. He pretended to be good, but for +sure, he was bad as ever he could be. He knew that if his cousin were +out of the way, all that land and money would be his when his uncle +died. So he went to work and he tried for years, and a lawyer man who +had no conscience at all, helped him. At last when they had done +everything they could think of, they took a lot of money and put it in +the pocket of the son they wanted to ruin; then when his father missed +the money, and the house was filled with policemen, detectives, and +neighbours, the bad man said he'd feel more comfortable to have the +family searched too, merely as a formality, so he stepped out and was +gone over, and when the son's turn came, there was the money on him! +That made him a public disgrace to his family, and a criminal who +couldn't inherit the estate, and his father went raving mad and tried +to kill him, so he had to run away. At first he didn't care what he +did, so he came over here. Robert said that man was his best friend, +and as men went, he was a decent fellow, so he cheered him up all he +could, and went to work with all his might to prove he was innocent, +and to get back his family, and his money for him. + +When Robert had enough evidence that he was almost ready to start to +England, his man got a cable from an old friend of his father's, who +always had believed in him, and it said that the bad man was dying--to +come quick. So Robert went all of a sudden, like the Dead Letters told +about. Now, he described how he reached there, took the old friend of +the father of his friend with him, and other witnesses, and all the +evidence he had, and went to see the sick man. When Robert showed him +what he could prove, the bad man said it was no use, he had to die in a +few days, so he might as well go with a clean conscience, and he told +about everything he had done. Robert had it all written out, signed +and sworn to. He told about all of it, and then he said to father: +"Have I made it clear to you?" + +Leon was so excited he forgot all the manners he ever had, for he +popped up before father could open his head, and cried: "Clear as mud! +I got that son business so plain in my mind, I'd know the party of the +first part, from the party of the second part, if I met him promenading +on the Stone Wall of China!" + +Father and Laddie knew so much law they asked dozens of questions; but +that Robert man wasn't a smidgin behind, for every clip he had the +answer ready, and then he could go on and tell much more than he had +been asked. He said as a Case, it was a pretty thing to work on; but +it was much more than a case to him, because he always had known that +his friend was not guilty; that he was separated from his family, +suffering terribly under the disgrace, and they must be also. He had +worked for life for his friend, because the whole thing meant so much +to both of them. He said he must go back soon and finish up a little +more that he should have done while he was there, if it hadn't been +that he received no word from Shelley. + +"When I didn't heah from heh for so long, and wrote so many letters, +and had no reply, I thought possibly some gay 'young Lochinvah had come +out from the west,' and taken my sweet 'eart," he said, "and while I +had my armour on, I made up my mind that I'd give him a fight too. I +didn't propose to lose Shelley, if it were in my powah to win heh. I +hadn't been able to say to heh exactly what I desiahed, on account of +getting a start alone in this country; but if I won this case, I would +have ample means. When I secuahed the requiahed evidence, I couldn't +wait to finish, so I came straight ovah, to make sure of heh." + +He arose and handed the satchel to father. + +"I notice you have a very good looking gun convenient," he said. +"Would you put these papahs where you consider them safe until I'm +ready to return? Our home, our living, and the honah of a man are +there, and we are mighty particular about that bag, are we not, +Shelley?" + +"Well I should think we are!" cried Shelley. "For goodness sake, +father, hang to it! Is the man still living? Could you get that +evidence over again?" + +"He was alive when I left, but the doctors said ten days would be his +limit, so he may be gone befowr this." + +Father picked up the satchel, set it on his knees, and stroked it as if +it were alive. + +"Well! Well!" he said. "Now would any one think such a little thing +could contain so much?" + +Shelley leaned toward Robert. + +"Your friend!" she cried, "Your friend! What DID he say to you? What +did he DO?" + +"Well, for a time he was wildly happy ovah having the stain removed +from his honah, and knowing that he would have his family and faw'tn +back; but there is an extremely sad feature to his case that is not yet +settled, so he must keep his head level until we work that out. Now +about that hoss you wanted to show me----" he turned to Leon. + +Mother gave the signal, and we left the table. Father carried the +satchel to his chest, made room for it, locked it in and put the key in +his pocket. Then our men started to the barn to show the Arab-Kentucky +horse. Mr. Paget went to Shelley and took her in his arms exactly like +Peter did Sally before the parlour door that time when I got into +trouble, and he looked at mother and laughed as he said: "I hope you +will excuse me, but I've been having a very nawsty, anxious time, and I +cawn't conform to the rules for a few days, until I become accustomed +to the fawct that Shelley is not lost to me. It was beastly when I +reached Chicago, had back all my letters, and found she had gone home +ill. I've much suffering to recompense. I'll atone for a small +portion immediately." + +He lifted Shelley right off the floor--that's how big and strong he +was--he hugged her tight, and kissed her forehead, cheeks, and eyes. + +"When I've gone through the fahmality of asking your parents for you, +and they have said a gracious 'yes,' I'll put the fust one on your +lips," he said, setting her down carefully. "In the meantime, you be +fixing your mouth to say, 'yes,' also, when I propose to you, because +it's coming befowr you sleep." + +Shelley was like a peach blossom. She reached up and touched his +cheek, while she looked at mother all smiling, and sparkling, as she +said: "You see!" + +Mother smiled back. + +"I do, indeed!" she answered. + +Leon pulled Mr. Paget's sleeve. + +"Aw quit lally-gaggin' and come see a real horse," he said. + +Robert put his other arm around Leon, drew him to his side and hugged +him as if he were a girl. "I'm so glad Shelley has a lawge family," he +said. "Big families are jolly. I'm so proud of all the brothers I'm +going to have. I was the only boy at home." + +"You haven't told us about your family," said mother. + +"No," said Robert, "but I intend to. I have a family! One of the +finest on uth. We'll talk about them after this hoss is inspected." + +He let Shelley go and walked away, his arm still around Leon. Shelley +ran to mother and both of them sobbed out loud. + +"NOW YOU SEE HOW IT WAS!" she said. + +"You poor child!" cried mother. "Indeed I DO see how it was. You've +been a brave girl. A good, brave girl! Father and I are mighty proud +of you!" + +"Oh mother! I thought you were ashamed of me!" sobbed Shelley. + +"Oh my child!" said mother quavery-like. "Oh my child! You surely see +that none of us could understand, as we do now." + +She patted Shelley, and told her to run upstairs and lie down for a +while, because she was afraid she would be sick. + +"We mustn't have a pale, tired girl right now," said mother. + +"Well!" said Shelley, but she just stood there holding mother. + +"Well?" said mother gripping her. + +"You see!" said Shelley. + +"Child," said mother, "I DO see! I see six feet of as handsome manhood +as I ever have seen anywhere. His manner is perfect, and I find his +speech most attractive. I am delighted with him. I do see indeed! +Your father is quite as proud and pleased as I am. Now go to bed." + +Shelley held up her lips, and then went. I ran to the barn, where the +men were standing in the shade, while Leon led his horse up and down +before them, told about its pedigree, its record, how he came to have +it. The Paget man stood there looking and listening gravely, as he +studied the horse. At last he went over her, and gee! but he knew +horse! Then Laddie brought out Flos and they talked all about her, and +then went into the barn. Father opened the east doors to show how much +land he had, which were his lines; and while the world didn't look +quite so pretty as it had in May, still it was good enough. Then they +went into the orchard, sat under the trees and began talking about +business conditions. That was so dry I went back to the house. And +maybe I didn't strike something interesting there! + +As I came up the orchard path to a back yard gate, I saw a carriage at +the hitching rack in front of the house, so I took a peep and almost +fell over. It was the one the Princess had come to Sally's wedding in; +so I knew she was in the house visiting Shelley. I went to the parlour +and there I had another shock; for lo and behold! in our big rocking +chair, and looking as well as any one, so far as you could see--of +course you can't see heart trouble, though--sat Mrs. Pryor. The +Princess and mother were there, all of them talking, laughing and +having the best time, while on the davenport enjoying himself as much +as any one, was Mr. Pryor. They talked about everything, and it was +easy to see that the Pryor door was OPEN so far as we were concerned, +anyway. Mrs. Pryor was just as nice and friendly as she could be, and +so was he. Shelley sat beside him, and he pinched her cheek and said: +"Something seems to make you especially brilliant today, young woman!" + +Shelley flushed redder, laughed, and glanced at mother, so she said: +"Shelley is having a plain old-fashioned case of beau. She met a young +man in Chicago last fall and he's here now to ask our consent. All of +us are quite charmed with him. That's why she's so happy." + +Then the Princess sprang up and kissed Shelley, so did Mrs. Pryor, +while such a chatter you never heard. No one could repeat what they +said, for as many as three talked at the same time. + +"Oh do let's have a double wedding!" cried the Princess when the +excitement was over a little. "I think it would be great fun; do +let's! When are you planning for?" + +"Nothing is settled yet," said Shelley. "We've had no time to talk!" + +"Mercy!" cried the Princess. "Go make your arrangements quickly! +Hurry up, then come over, and we'll plan for the same time. It will be +splendid! Don't you think that would be fine, Mrs. Stanton?" + +"I can't see any objections to it," said mother. + +"Where is your young man? I'm crazy to see him," cried the Princess. +"If you have gone and found a better looking one than mine, I'll never +speak to you again." + +"She hasn't!" cried Mrs. Pryor calmly, like that settled it. I like +her. "They're not made!" + +"I am not so sure of that," said Shelley proudly. "Mother, isn't my +man quite as good looking, and as nice in every way, as Laddie?" + +"Fully as handsome, and so far as can be seen in such a short time, +quite as fine," said mother. + +I was perfectly amazed at her; as if any man could be! + +"I don't believe it, I won't stand it, and I shan't go home until I +have seen for myself!" cried the Princess, laughing, and yet it sounded +as if she were half-provoked, and I knew I was. The Paget man was all +right, but I wasn't going to lose my head over him. Laddie was the +finest, of course! + +"Well, he's somewhere on the place with our men, this minute," said +Shelley, "but you stay for supper, and meet him." + +"When you haven't your arrangements made yet! You surely are +unselfish! Of course I won't do that, but I'd love to have one little +peep, then you bring him and come over to-morrow, so all of us can +become acquainted, and indeed, I'm really in earnest about a double +wedding." + +"Go see where the men are," said Shelley to me. + +I went to the back door, and their heads were bobbing far down in the +orchard. + +"They're under the greening apple tree," I reported. + +"If you will excuse us," said Shelley to Mr. and Mrs. Pryor, "we'll +walk down a few minutes and prove that I'm right." + +"Don't stay," said Mrs. Pryor. "This trip is so unusual for me that +I'm quite tired. For a first venture, in such a long time, I think +I've done well. But now I'm beginning to feel I should go home." + +"Go straight along," said the Princess. "I'll walk across the fields, +or Thomas can come back after me." + +So Mr. and Mrs. Pryor went away, while the Princess, Shelley, May, and +I walked through the orchard toward the men. They were standing on the +top of the hill looking over the meadow, and talking with such interest +they didn't hear us or turn until Shelley said: "Mr. Paget, I want to +present you to Laddie's betrothed--Miss Pamela Pryor." + +He swung around, finishing what he was saying as he turned, the +Princess took a swift step toward him, then, at the same time, both of +them changed to solid tombstone, and stood staring, and so did all of +us, while no one made a sound. At last the Paget man drew a deep, +quivery breath and sort of shook himself as he gazed at her. + +"Why, Pam!" he cried. "Darling Pam, cawn it possibly be you?" + +If you ever heard the scream of a rabbit when the knives of a reaper +cut it to death, why that's exactly the way she cried out. + +She covered her eyes with her hands. He drew back and smiled, the red +rushed into his face, and he began to be alive again. Laddie went to +the Princess and took her hands. + +"What does this mean?" he begged. + +She pulled away from him, and went to the Paget man slowly, her big +eyes wild and strained. + +"Robert!" she cried. "Robert! how did you get here? Were you hunting +us?" + +"All ovah England, yes," he said. "Not heah! I came heah to see +Shelley. But you? How do you happen to be in this country?" + +"We've lived on adjoining land for two years!" + +"You moved heah! To escape the pity of our friends?" + +"Father moved! Mother and I had no means, and no refuge. We were +forced. We never believed it! Oh Robert, we never--not for a minute! +Oh Robert, say you never did it!" + +"Try our chawming cousin Emmet your next guess!" + +"That devil! Oh that devil!" + +She cried out that hurt way again, so he took her tight in his arms; +but sure as ever Laddie was my brother, he was hers, so that was all +right. When they were together you wondered why in this world you +hadn't thought of it the instant you saw him alone. They were like as +two peas. They talked exactly the same, only he sounded much more so, +probably from having just been in England for weeks, while in two years +she had grown a little as we were. We gazed at them, open-mouthed, +like as not, and no one said a word. + +At last Mr. Paget looked over the Princess' shoulder at father and +said: "I can explain this, Mr. Stanton, in a very few wuds. I am my +friend. The case was my own. The evidence I secuahed was for myself. +This is my only sisteh. Heh people are mine----" + +"The relationship is apparent," said father. "There is a striking +likeness between you and your sister, and I can discern traces of your +parents in your face, speech and manner." + +"If you know my father," said Robert, "then you undehstand what +happened to me when I was found with his money on my pehson, in the +presence of our best friends and the police. He went raving insane on +the instant, and he would have killed me if he hadn't been prevented; +he tried to; has he changed any since, Pam?" + +The Princess was clinging to him with both hands, staring at him, +wonder, joy, and fear all on her lovely face. + +"Worse!" she cried. "He's much worse! The longer he broods, the more +mother grieves, the bitterer he becomes. Mr. Stanton, he is always +armed. He'll shoot on sight. Oh what shall we do?" + +"Miss Pamela," said Leon, "did your man Thomas know your brother in +England?" + +"All his life." + +"Well, then, we'd better be doing something quick. He tied the horses +and was walking up and down the road while he waited, and he saw us +plainly when we crossed the wood yard a while ago. He followed us and +stared so, I couldn't help noticing him." + +"Jove!" cried Robert. "I must have seen him in the village this +morning. A man reminded me of him, then I remembered how like people +of his type are, and concluded I was mistaken. Mr. Stanton, you have +agreed that the evidence I hold is sufficient. Pam cawn tell you that +while I don't deny being full of tricks as a boy, they weh not dirty, +not low, and while father always taking Emmet's paht against me drove +me to recklessness sometimes, I nevah did anything underhand or +disgraceful. She knows what provocation I had, and exactly what +happened. Let heh tell you!" + +"I don't feel that I require any further information," said father. +"You see, I happen to be fairly well acquainted with Mr. Pryor." + +"Pryor?" + +"He made us use that name here," explained the Princess. + +"WELL, HIS NAME IS PAGET!" said Robert angrily. + +Laddie told me long ago he didn't believe it was Pryor. + +"Then, if you are acquainted with my father, what would you counsel? +Unless I'm prepahed to furnish the central figyah of interest in a +funeral, I dare not meet him, until he has seen this evidence, had time +to digest it, and calm himself." + +Shelley caught him by the arm. No wonder! She hadn't been proposed +to, or even had a kiss on her lips. She pulled him. + +"You come straight to the house," she said. "Thomas may tell your +father he thought he saw you." + +That was about as serious as anything could be, but nothing ever +stopped Leon. He sidled away from father, repeating in a low voice: + + "'For sore dismayed, through storm and shade + His child he did discover; + One lovely hand she stretched for aid, + And one was round her lover--'" + + +Shelley just looked daggers at him, but she was too anxious to waste +any time. + +"Would Thomas tell your father?" she asked the Princess. + +"The instant he saw him alone, yes. He wouldn't before mother." + +"Hold one minute!" cried father. "We must think of our mother, just a +little. Shelley, you and the girls run up and explain how this is. +Better all of you go to the house, except Mr. Paget. He'll be safe +here as anywhere. Mr. Pryor will stop there, if he comes. So it would +be best for you to keep out of sight, Robert, until I have had a little +talk with him." + +"I'll stay here," I offered. "We'll talk until you get Mr. Pryor +cooled off. He can be awful ragesome when he's excited, and it doesn't +take much to start him." + +"You're right about that!" agreed Robert. + +So we sat under the greening and were having a fine visit while the +others went to break the news gently to mother that the Pryor mystery +had gone up higher than Gilderoy's kite. My! but she'd be glad! It +would save her many a powerful prayer. I was telling Robert all about +the time his father visited us, and what my mother said to him, and he +said: "She'd be the one to talk with him now. Possibly he'd listen to +her, until he got it through his head that his own son is not a common +thief." + +"Maybe he'll have to be held, like taking quinine, and made to listen," +I said. + +"That would be easy, if he were not a walking ahsenal," said Robert. +"You have small chance to reason with a half-crazy man while he is +handling a pistol." + +He meant revolver. + +"But he'll shoot!" I cried. "The Princess said he'd shoot!" + +"So he will!" said Robert. "Shoot first, then find out how things are, +and kill himself and every one else with remorse, afterward. He is +made that way." + +"Then he doesn't dare see you until he finds out how mistaken he has +been," I said, for I was growing to like Robert better every minute +longer I knew him. Besides, there was the Princess, looking like him +as possible, and loving him of course, like I did Laddie, maybe. And +if anything could cure Mrs. Pryor's heart trouble, having her son back +would, because that was what made it in the first place, and even +before them, there was Shelley to be thought of, and cared for. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +The Pryor Mystery + + "And now old Dodson, turning pale, + Yields to his fate--so ends my tale." + + +It didn't take me long to see why Shelley liked Robert Paget. He was +one of the very most likeable persons I ever had seen. We were sitting +under the apple tree, growing better friends every minute, when we +heard a smash, so we looked up, and it was the sound made by Ranger as +Mr. Pryor landed from taking our meadow fence. He had ridden through +the pasture, and was coming down the creek bank. He was a spectacle to +behold. A mile away you could see that Thomas had told him he had seen +Robert, and where he was. Father had been mistaken in thinking Mr. +Pryor would go to the house. He had lost his hat, his white hair was +flying, his horse was in a lather, and he seemed to be talking to +himself. Robert took one good look. "Ye Gods!" he cried. "There he +comes now, a chattering madman!" + +"The Station," I panted. "Up that ravine! Roll back the stone and +pull the door shut after you. Quick!" + +He never could have been inside, before Mr. Pryor's horse was raving +along the embankment beside the fence. + +"Where is he?" he cried. "Thomas saw him here!" + +I didn't think his horse could take the fence at the top of the hill, +but it looked as if he intended trying to make it, and I had to stop +him if I could. + +"Saw who?" I asked with clicking teeth. + +"A tall, slender man, with a handsome face, and the heart of a devil." + +"Yes, there was a man here like that in the face. I didn't see his +heart," I said. + +"Which way?" raved Mr. Pryor. "Which way? Is he at your house?" + +Then I saw that he had the reins in his left hand, and a big revolver +in his right. So there was no mistake about whether he'd really shoot. +But that gun provoked me. People have no business to be careless with +those things. They're dangerous! + +"He didn't do what you think he did," I cried, "and he can prove he +didn't, if you'll stop cavorting, and listen to reason." + +Mr. Pryor leaned over the fence, dark purple like a beet now. + +"You tell me where he is, or I'll choke it out of you," he said. + +I guess he meant it. I took one long look at his lean, clawlike +fingers, and put both hands around my neck. + +"He knew Thomas saw him. He went that way," I said, waving off toward +the north. + +"Hah! striking for petticoats, as usual!" he cried, and away he went in +the direction of his house. Then I flew for the Station. + +"Come from there, quick!" I cried. "I've sent him back to his house, +but when he finds you're not there, he will come here again. Hurry, +and I'll put you in the woodshed loft. He'd never think of looking +there." + +He came out and we started toward the house, going pretty fast. Almost +to the back gate we met Shelley. + +"Does mother know?" I asked. + +"I just told her," she said. + +"Father," I cried, going in the back dining-room door. "Mr. Pryor was +down in the meadow on Ranger. Thomas did see Robert, and his father is +hunting him with a gun. We saw him coming, so I hid Robert in the +Station and sent Mr. Pryor back home--I guess I told him a lie, father, +or at least part of one, I said he went 'that way,' and he did, but not +so far as I made his father think; so he started back home, but when he +gets there and doesn't find Robert he'll come here again, madder than +ever. Oh father, he'll come again, and he's crazy, father! Clear, +raving crazy! I know he'll come again!" + +"Yes," said father calmly. "I think it very probable that he will come +again." + +Then he started around shutting and latching windows, closing and +locking the doors, and he carefully loaded his gun, and leaned it +against the front casing. Then he put on his glasses, and began +examining the papers they had brought out again. Robert stood beside +him, and explained and showed him. + +"You see with me out of the way, the English law would give everything +to my cousin," he said, and he explained it all over again. + +"And to think how he always posed for a perfect saint!" cried the +Princess. "Oh I hope the devil knows how to make him pay for what all +of us have suffered!" + +"Child! Child!" cried mother. + +"I can't help it!" said the Princess. "Let me tell you, Mr. Stanton." + +Then SHE told everything all over again, but it was even more +interesting than the way Robert explained it, because what she said was +about how it had been with her and her mother. + +"It made father what he is," she said. "He would have killed Robert, +if our friends hadn't helped him away. He will now, if he isn't +stopped. I tell you he will! He sold everything he could legally +control, for what any one chose to give him, and fled here stricken in +pride, heartbroken, insane with anger, the creature you know. In a +minute he'll be back again. Oh what are we going to do?" + +Father was laying out the papers that he wanted to use very carefully. + +"These constitute all the proof any court would require," he said to +Robert. "If he returns, all of you keep from sight. This is my house; +I'll manage who comes here, in my own way." + +"But you must be allowed to take no risk!" cried Robert. "I cawn't +consent to youah facing danger for me." + +"There will be no risk," said father. "There is no reason why he +should want to injure me. As the master of this house, I am accustomed +to being obeyed. If he comes, step into the parlour there, until I +call you." + +He was busy with the papers when he saw Mr. Pryor coming. I wondered +if he would jump the yard fence and ride down mother's flowers, but he +left his horse at the hitching rack, and pounded on the front door. + +"Did any of you notice whether he was displaying a revolver?" asked +father. + +"Yes father! Yes!" I cried. "And he's shaking so I'm afraid he'll +make it go, when he doesn't intend to." + +Father picked up and levelled his rifle on the front door. + +"Leon," he said, "you're pretty agile. Open this door, keep yourself +behind it, and step around in the parlour. The rest of you get out, +and stay out of range." + +Those nearest hurried into the parlour. Candace, May, and I crouched +in the front stairway, but things were so exciting we just had to keep +the door open a tiny crack so we could see plain as anything. There +had been nothing for Mrs. Freshett to do all afternoon, so she had gone +over to visit an hour with Amanda Deam. Now Mr. Pryor probably thought +father would meet him with the Bible in his hand, and read a passage +about loving your neighbour as yourself. I'll bet anything you can +mention that he never expected to find himself looking straight down +the barrel of a shining big rifle when that door swung open. It +surprised him so, he staggered, and his arm wavered. If he had shot +and hit anything then, it would have been an accident. + +"Got you over the heart," said father, in precisely the same voice he +always said, "This is a fine day we are having." "Now why are you +coming here in such a shape?" This was a little cross. "I'm not the +man to cringe before you!" This was quite boastful. "You'll get +bullet for bullet, if you attempt to invade my house with a gun." This +pinged as if father shot words instead of bullets. + +"I want my daughter to come home," said Mr. Pryor. "And if you're +sheltering the thief she is trying to hide, yield him up, if you would +save yourself." + +"Well, I'm not anxious about dying, with the family I have on my hands, +neighbour," said father, his rifle holding without a waver, "but unless +you put away that weapon, and listen to reason, you cannot enter my +house. Calm yourself, man, and hear what there is to be said! Examine +the proof, that is here waiting to be offered to you." + +"Once and but once, send them out, or I'll enter over you!" cried Mr. +Pryor. + +"Sorry," said father, "but if only a muscle of your trigger finger +moves, you fall before I do. I've the best range, and the most +suitable implement for the work." + +"Implement for the work!" Well, what do you think of father? Any one +who could not see, to have heard him, would have thought he was talking +about a hoe. We saw a shadow before we knew what made it; then, a +little at a time, wonderingly, her jolly face a bewildered daze, her +mouth slowly opening, Mrs. Freshett, half-bent and peering, stooped +under Mr. Pryor's arm and looked in our door. She had come back to +help get supper, and because the kitchen was locked, she had gone +around the house to see if she could get in at the front. What she saw +closed her mouth, and straightened her back. + +"WHY, YOU TWO OLD FOOLS!" she cried. "IF YE AIN'T DRAWED A BEAD ON +EACH OTHER!" + +None of us saw her do it. We only knew after it was over what must +have happened. She had said she'd risk her life for mother. + +She never stopped an instant when her chance came. She must have +turned, and thrown her big body against Mr. Pryor. He was tired, old, +and shaking with anger. They went down together, she gripping his +right wrist with both hands, and she was strong as most men. Father +set the gun beside the door, and bent over them. A minute more and he +handed the revolver to Leon, and helped Mrs. Freshett to her feet. Mr. +Pryor lay all twisted on the walk, his face was working, and what he +said was a stiff jabber no one could understand. He had broken into +the pieces we often feared he would. + +Robert and Laddie came running to help father carry him in, and lay him +on the couch. + +"I hope, Miss Stanton," said Mrs. Freshett, "that I wa'n't too rough +with him. He was so shaky-like, I was 'feered that thing would go off +without his really makin' it, and of course I couldn't see none of +yourn threatened with a deadly weepon, 'thout buttin' in and doin' the +best I could." + +Mother put her arms around her as far as they would reach. She would +have had to take her a side at a time to really hug all of her, and she +said: "Mrs. Freshett, you are an instrument in the hands of the Lord +this day. Undoubtedly you have kept us from a fearful tragedy; +possibly you have saved my husband for me. None of us ever can thank +you enough." + +"Loosen his collar and give him air," said Mrs. Freshett pushing mother +away. "I think likely he has bust a blood vessel." + +Father sent Leon flying to bring Dr. Fenner. Laddie took the carriage +and he and Robert went after Mrs. Pryor, while father, mother, Mrs. +Freshett, the Princess, May, and I, every last one, worked over Mr. +Pryor. We poured hot stuff down his throat, put warm things around +him, and rubbed him until the sweat ran on us, trying to get his +knotted muscles straightened out. When Dr. Fenner came he said we were +doing all he could; MAYBE Mr. Pryor would come to and be all right, and +maybe his left side would be helpless forever; it was a stroke. Seemed +to me having Mrs. Freshett come against you like that, could be called +a good deal more than a stroke, but I couldn't think of the right word +then. And after all, perhaps stroke was enough. He couldn't have been +much worse off if the barn had fallen on him. I didn't think there was +quite so much of Mrs. Freshett; but then she was scared, and angry; and +he was about ready to burst, all by himself, if no one had touched him. +He had much better have stayed at home and listened to what was to be +said, reasonably, like father would; and then if he really had to +shoot, he would have been in some kind of condition to take aim. + +After a long hard fight we got him limber, straightened out, and warm, +it didn't rip so when he breathed, then they put him in the parlour on +the big davenport. Leon said if the sparkin' bench didn't bring him +to, nothing would. Laddie sat beside him and mother kept peeping. She +wouldn't let Dr. Fenner go, because she said Mr. Pryor just must come +out of it right, and have a few years of peace and happiness. + +Mrs. Pryor came back with Laddie and Robert. He carried her in, put +her in the big rocking chair again, and he sat beside her, stroking and +kissing her, while she held him with both hands. You could see NOW why +his mother couldn't sleep, walked the road, and held her hands over her +heart. She was a brave woman, and she had done well to keep alive and +going in any shape at all. You see we knew. There had been only the +few hours when it seemed possible that one of our boys had taken +father's money and was gone. I well remembered what happened to our +mother then. And if she had been disgraced before every one, dragged +from her home away across a big sea to live among strangers, and not +known where her boy was for years, I'm not a bit sure that she'd have +done better than Mrs. Pryor. Yes, she would too; come to think it +out--she'd have kept on believing the Lord had something to do with it, +and that He'd fix it some way; and I know she and father would have +held hands no matter what happened or where they went. + +I guess the biggest thing the matter with Pryors was that they didn't +know how to go about loving each other right; maybe it was because they +didn't love God, so they couldn't know exactly what PROPER LOVE was; +because God is love, like father said. + +Mrs. Pryor didn't want to see Mr. Pryor--I can't get used to calling +them Paget--and she didn't ask anything about him. I guess she was +pretty mad at him. She never had liked the Emmet cousin, and she'd had +nothing but trouble with him all the time he had been in her family, +and then that awful disgrace, that she always THOUGHT was all him, but +she couldn't prove it, and she had no money. + +That's a very bad thing. A woman should always have some money. She +works as hard as any one, and usually she has more that worries her, so +it's only fair for her to have part of what the work and worry bring. +Mother always has money. Why, she has so much, she can help father out +when he is pushed with bills, as she did last fall, to start Shelley to +music school. It's no way to be forced to live with a man, just to get +a home, food, and clothing. I don't believe mother ever would do it in +all this world. But then mother has worked all her life, and so if +father doesn't do as she wants him to, she'd know exactly how to go +about taking care of herself. + +After all Mrs. Pryor didn't need to sit back on her dignity and look so +abused. He couldn't knock her down, and drag her clear here. Why +didn't she say right out, in the beginning, that her son COULDN'T be a +thief, that she knew it, and she'd stay at home and wait for him to +come back? She could have put a piece in the paper saying she knew her +boy was all right, and for him to come back, so they could go to work +and PROVE it. I bet if she'd had one tenth of the ginger mother has, +she'd have stopped the whole fuss in the start. I looked at her almost +steadily, trying to figure out just what mother would have done in her +place. Maybe I'm mistaken about exactly how she would have set to +work, but this I KNOW: she'd have stuck to the Lord; she'd have loved +father, so dearly, he just COULDN'T have wanted her to do things that +hurt her until it gave her heart trouble; and she never, never would +have given up one of us, and sat holding her heart for months, refusing +to see or to speak to any one, while she waited for some one else to do +something. Mother never waits. She always thinks a minute, if she's +in doubt she asks father; if he can't decide, both of them ask God; and +then you ought to see things begin to fly. + +The more I watched Mrs. Pryor, the more I began to think she was a +lady; and just about when I was sure that was what ailed her, I heard +father say: "Perhaps the lady would like a cup of tea." I had a big +notion to tell her to come on, and I would show her where the cannister +was, but I thought I better not. I wanted to, though. She'd have felt +much better if she had got up and worked like the rest of us. With all +the excitement, and everything happening at once, you'd have thought +mother would be flat on her back, but flat nothing! Everything was +picked up and slid back, fast as it was torn down; she found time to +flannel her nose and brush her hair, her collar was straight, and the +goldstone pin shone in the light, while her starched white apron +fluttered as she went through the doors. She said a few words to +Candace and Mrs. Freshett, May took out a linen cloth and began to set +places for all the grown people, so I knew there'd be strawberry +preserves and fried ham, but in all that, would you ever have thought +that she'd find a second to make biscuit, and tea cakes herself? Plain +as preaching I heard her say to Mrs. Freshett: "I do hope and pray +that Mr. Pryor will come out of it right, so we can take him home, and +teach him to behave himself; but if he's gone this minute, I intend to +have another decent meal for Shelley to offer her young man; and I +don't care if I show Mrs. Pryor that we're not hungry over here, if we +do lack servants to carry in food on silver platters." + +"That I jest would!" said Mrs. Freshett. "Even if he turns up his +toes, 'tain't YOUR funeral, thank the Lord! an' looky here, I'd jest as +soon set things in a bake pan an' pass 'em for you, myself. I'll do +it, if you say the word." + +Mother bit her lip, and fought her face to keep it straight, as she +said confidential-like: "No, I'm not going to toady to her. I only +want her to see that a meal really consists of food after all; I don't +mind putting my best foot foremost, but I won't ape her." + +"Huccome they to fuss like this, peaceable as Mr. Stanton be, an' +what's Shelley's beau to them?" + +"I should think you could tell by looking at Pryors," said mother. +"He's their mystery, and also their son. Shelley met him in Chicago, +he came here to see her, and ran right into them. I'll tell you about +it before you go. Now, I must keep these applications hot, for I've +set my head on pulling Mr. Pryor out so that he can speak, and have a +few decent years of life yet." + +"But why did the old devil--EX-cuse me, I mean the old GENTLEMAN, want +to shoot your man?" + +"He didn't! I'll tell you all about it after they're gone." + +"I bet you don't get shet of them the night," said Mrs. Freshett. + +"All right!" said mother. "Whatever Dr. Fenner thinks. I won't have +Mr. Pryor moved until it can't hurt him, if he stays a week. I blame +her quite as much as I do him; from what I know. If a woman is going +to live with a man, there are times when she's got to put her foot +down--flat--most unmercifully flat!" + +"Ain't she though!" said Mrs. Freshett; then she and mother just +laughed. + +There! What did I tell you? I feel as good as if father had patted me +on the head and bragged on me a lot. I THOUGHT mother wouldn't think +that Mr. Pryor was ALL to blame, and she didn't. I figured that out by +myself, too. + +Every minute Mr. Pryor grew better. He breathed easier, and mother +tilted on her toes and waved her hands, when he moved his feet, threw +back his head, lifted his hand to it, and acted like he was almost over +it, and still in shape to manage himself. She hurried to tell Mrs. +Pryor, and I know mother didn't like it when she never even said she +was glad, or went to see for herself. + +Laddie and the Princess watched him, while every one else went to +supper. Laddie picked up Mrs. Pryor's chair, carried her to the +dining-room, and set her in my place beside father. He placed Dr. +Fenner next her, and left Robert to sit with Shelley. I don't think +Mrs. Pryor quite liked that, but no one asked her. + +I watched and listened until everything seemed to be going right there, +and then I slipped into the parlour, where Laddie and the Princess were +caring for Mr. Pryor. With one hand Laddie held hers, the other +grasped Mr. Pryor's wrist. Laddie never took his eyes from that white, +drawn face, except to smile at her, and squeeze her hand every little +while. At last Mr. Pryor turned over and sighed, pretty soon he opened +his eyes, and looked at Laddie, then at the Princess, and it was +nothing new to see them, so he smiled and dozed again. After a while +he opened them wider, then he saw the piano--that was an eye-opener for +any one--and the strange room, so he asked, most as plain as he ever +talked, why he was at our house again, and then he began to remember. +He struggled to sit up and the colour came into his face. So Laddie +let go the Princess, and held him down while he said: "Mr. Pryor, +answer me this. Do you want to spend the remainder of your life in an +invalid's chair, or would you like to walk abroad and sit a horse +again?" + +He glared at Laddie, but he heard how things were plainly enough. + +Laddie held him, while he explained what a fight we had to unlock his +muscles, and start him going again, and how, if we hadn't loved him, +and wanted him so, and had left him untouched until the Doctor came, +very likely he'd have been paralyzed all the rest of his life, if he +hadn't died; and he said he wished he HAD, and he didn't THANK any one +for saving him. + +"Oh yes you do!" said Laddie, the same as he'd have talked to Leon. +"You can't stuff me on that, and you needn't try. Being dead is a +cold, clammy proposition, that all of us put off as long as we can. +You know you want to see Pamela in her own home. You know you are +interested in how I come out with those horses. You know you want the +little people you spoke of, around you. You know the pain and suspense +you have borne have almost driven you insane, and it was because you +cared so deeply. Now lie still, and keep quiet! All of us are tired +and there's no sense in making us go through this again, besides the +risk of crippling yourself that you run. Right here in this house are +the papers to prove that your nephew took your money, and hid it in +your son's clothing, as he already had done a hundred lesser things, +before, purposely to estrange you. Hold steady! You must hear this! +The sooner you know it, the better you'll feel. You remember, don't +you, that before your nephew entered your home, you idolized your son. +You thought the things he did were amusing. A boy is a boy, and if +he's alive, he's very apt to be lively. Mother could tell you a few +pranks that Leon has put us through; but they're only a boy's +foolishness, they are not unusual or unforgivable. I've gone over the +evidence your son brings, with extreme care, so has father. Both of us +are quite familiar with common law. He has every proof you can +possibly desire. You can't get around it, even if your heart wasn't +worn out with rebellion, and you were not crazy to have the loving +sympathy of your family again." + +"I don't believe a word of it!" + +"You have got to! I tell you it is PROOF, man! The documents are in +this house now." + +"He forged them, or stole them, as he took the money!" + +Laddie just laughed. + +"How you do long, and fight, to be convinced!" he said. "I don't blame +you! When anything means this much, of course you must be sure. But +you'll know your nephew's signature; also your lawyer's. You'll know +letters from old friends who are above question. Sandy McSheel has +written you that he was with Robert through all of it, and he gives you +his word that everything is all right. You will believe him, won't +you?" + +Big tears began to squeeze from under Mr. Pryor's lids, until Laddie +and the Princess each tried to see how much of him they could hold to +keep him together-like. + +"Tell me!" he said at last, so they took turns explaining everything +plain as day, and soon he listened without being held. + +When they had told him everything they could think of, he asked: "Did +Robert kill Emmet?" + +"I am very happy to be able to tell you that he did not. It would have +been painful, and not helped a bad matter a particle. Your nephew had +dissipated until he was only a skeleton just breathing his last. It's +probable that his fear of death helped your son out, so that he got the +evidence he wanted easier than he hoped to in the beginning. I don't +mean that he is dead now; but he is passing slowly, and loathsomely. +Robert thinks word that he has gone will come any hour. Think how +pleasant it will be to have your son! Think how happy your home will +be now! Think how you will love to see Sandy, and all your old +friends! Think how glad you'll be to go home, and take charge of your +estate!" + +"Think!" cried Mr. Pryor, pushing Laddie away and sitting up: "Think +how I shall enjoy wringing the last drop of blood from that craven's +body with these old hands!" + +What a sight he did look to be sure! Sick, half-crazy, on the very +verge of the grave himself, and wanting to kill a poor man already +dying. Aren't some people too curious? + +Laddie carefully laid him down, straightened him out and held him +again. Mother always said he was "patient as Job," and that day it +proved to be a good thing. + +"You're determined to keep yourself well supplied with trouble," +laughed Laddie. I don't believe any one else would have dared. "Now +to an unbiased observer, it would seem that you'd be ready to let well +enough alone. You have your son back, you have him fully exonerated, +you have much of your property, you are now ready for freedom, life, +and love, with the best of us; you have also two weddings on your hands +in the near future. Why in the name of sense are you anxious for more?" + +"I should have thought that Sandy McSheel, if he's a real friend of +mine----" + +"Sandy tells you all about it in the letter he has sent. He went with +Robert fully intending to do that very thing for you, but the poor +creature was too loathsome. The sight of him made Sandy sick. He +writes you that when he saw the horrible spectacle, all he could think +of was to secure the evidence needed and get away." + +Suddenly the Princess arose and knelt beside the davenport. She put +her arms around her father's neck and drew his wrinkled, white old face +up against her lovely one. + +"Daddy! Dear old Daddy!" she cried. "I've had such a hard spot in my +heart against you for so long. Oh do let's forget everything, and +begin all over again; begin away back where we were before Emmet ever +came. Oh Daddy, do let's forget, and begin all over new, like other +people!" + +He held her tight a minute, then his lips began whispering against her +ear. Finally he said: "Take yourselves off, and send Robert here. I +want my son. Oh I want my boy!" + +It was a long time before Robert came from the parlour; when he did, it +was only to get his mother and take her back with him; then it was a +still longer time before the door opened; but when it did, it was +perfectly sure that they were all friends again. Then Leon went to +tell Thomas, and he came with the big carriage. + +White and shaking, Mr. Pryor was lifted into it and they went home +together, taking Shelley with them to stay that night; so no doubt she +was proposed to and got her kiss before she slept. + +That fall there were two weddings at our church at the same time. + +Sally's had been fine; but it wasn't worth mentioning beside Laddie and +the Princess, and Robert and Shelley. You should have seen my mother! +She rocked like a kingbird on the top twig of the winesap, which was +the tallest tree in our orchard, and for once there wasn't a single fly +in her ointment, not one, she said so herself, and so did father. As +we watched the big ve-hi-ackle, as Leon called it, creep slowly down +the Little Hill, it made me think of that pathetic poem, "The Three +Warnings," in McGuffey's Sixth. I guess I gave Mr. Pryor the first, +that time he got so angry he hit his horse until it almost ran away. +Mother delivered the second when she curry-combed him about the taxes, +and Mrs. Freshett finished the job. The last two lines read as if they +had been especially written about him: + + "And now old Dodson, turning pale, + Yields to his fate--so ends my tale." + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laddie, by Gene Stratton Porter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADDIE *** + +***** This file should be named 286.txt or 286.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/286/ + + + +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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