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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36370-h.zip b/36370-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f76557 --- /dev/null +++ b/36370-h.zip diff --git a/36370-h/36370-h.htm b/36370-h/36370-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a4bde2 --- /dev/null +++ b/36370-h/36370-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4067 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Bishop and the Boogerman, by Joel Chandler Harris</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Bishop and the Boogerman, by Joel +Chandler Harris, Illustrated by Charlotte Harding</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Bishop and the Boogerman</p> +<p>Author: Joel Chandler Harris</p> +<p>Release Date: June 10, 2011 [eBook #36370]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by David Edwards, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org">http://www.archive.org</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/bishopboogerman00harrrich"> + http://www.archive.org/details/bishopboogerman00harrrich</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN</h1> + +<h3>BEING THE STORY OF A LITTLE TRULY-GIRL, WHO GREW UP; HER MYSTERIOUS +COMPANION; HER CRABBED OLD UNCLE; THE WHISH-WHISH WOODS; A VERY CIVIL +ENGINEER, AND MR. BILLY SANDERS THE SAGE OF SHADY DALE</h3> + +<h2>By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS</h2> + +<h3><i>Drawings by Charlotte Harding</i></h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<h3>NEW YORK<br /> +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY<br /> +1909</h3> + +<h3>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION<br /> +INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN</h3> + +<h3>COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY SUNNY SOUTH PUBLISHING CO.</h3> + +<h3>COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY<br /> +PUBLISHED, JANUARY, 1909</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"They paused—then she pointed to the darkest corner"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#PART_I">PART I</a><br /> +<a href="#PART_II">PART II</a><br /> +<a href="#PART_III">PART III</a><br /> +<a href="#PART_IV">PART IV</a><br /> +<a href="#PART_V">PART V</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#By_JOEL_CHANDLER_HARRIS">By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p><a href="#illus1">"They paused—then she pointed to the darkest corner"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus2">"It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of fried chicken and +biscuits"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus3">"The child stared at her uncle so seriously that he was actually +embarrassed"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus4">"Old Jonas would listen by her bedside to convince himself that she was +really breathing"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus5">"They began to creep forward, making as little noise as possible"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus6">"'You are pouting,' she said, 'or you'd never be sitting in this room +where nobody ever comes'"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus7">"'That's why you see these shoes lookin' like they're spang new'"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus8">"Mr. Sanders went from the courthouse with a sweeping stride"</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The old Pig went to wander,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The other went far to roam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, at last, when night was falling,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a little Pig was calling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never a one came home.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—<i>Rhunewalt's Ballads of Life</i>.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Adelaide and I have come to the conclusion that if you can't believe +anything at all, not even the things that are as plain as the nose on +your face—if you can't enjoy what is put here to be enjoyed—if you are +going to turn up your nose at everything we tell you, and deny things +that we know to be truly-ann-true, just because we haven't given you the +cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die sign—then it's your own fault if we +don't reply when you try to give the wipple-wappling call. And more than +that, if you know so much that you don't know anything, or less than +anything, you will have to go somewhere else to be amused and +entertained; you will have to find other play-fellows. You might +persuade us to play with you if you had something nicer than peppermint +candy, and sweeter than taffy, and then Adelaide would show you things +that you never so much as dreamed of before, and tell you things you +never heard of.</p> + +<p>Adelaide! Doesn't the very sound of the name make you feel a little bit +better than you were feeling awhile ago? Doesn't it remind you of the +softest blue eyes in the world, and of long curly hair, spun from summer +sunbeams that were left over from last season's growing? If all these +things don't flash in your mind, like magic pictures on a white +background, then you had better turn your head away, and not bother +about the things I am saying. And another thing: Don't imagine that I am +writing of the Right-Now time, for, one day when Adelaide and I were +playing in the garden, we found Eighteen-Hundred-and-Sixty-Eight hiding +under a honeysuckle vine, where it had gone to die. Adelaide picked the +poor thing up and put it in the warm place in her apron that she keeps +for all the weaklings; and now when we want to remember a great many +things, both good and bad, we go back to the poor thing we found under +the honeysuckle vine.</p> + +<p>It was a very good thing that old Jonas Whipple, of Shady Dale, had a +sister who married and went to Atlanta, because Adelaide was in Atlanta, +and nowhere else; it was the only place where she could have been found. +Old Jonas's sister had been in Atlanta not longer than a year, if that +long, when, one day, she found Adelaide, and appeared to be very fond of +her. At that time, Adelaide had hardly been aroused from her dreams. She +may have opened her eyes sometimes, but she seemed sleepy; and when she +snored, as the majority of people will, when they are not put to bed +right, everybody said she was crying. It was so ridiculous that she +sometimes smiled in her sleep. But the most mysterious thing about it, +was that old Jonas's sister knew she was named Adelaide almost as soon +as she found her. Now, how did old Jonas's sister know that? Adelaide +and I have often tried to figure it out when we were playing in the +garden, but no matter how many figures we made in the sand, there was +always something or other in the top row that stood for No-Time, and we +didn't know how to add that up.</p> + +<p>One day, Adelaide's father, who had been ailing a long time, became so +ill that a great many people came to the house in carriages and took him +away so that he might get well again. Adelaide hardly had time to forget +that her father had gone away, before her mother went to bed one night, +and, after staying there a long time, was carried away by the people who +had been so kind to her, only this time there were a great many more +women in the house, and some of them went about acting as though they +had been taking snuff. And there was a very nice old gentleman, with a +smooth face, and a big ring on one of his fat fingers. As well as +Adelaide could remember, this was the Peskerwhalian Bishop, and he was +just as kind as he could be. He had a pink complexion just like a woman. +He took Adelaide in his arms, and told her all about Heaven, and +everything like that, and then he felt about in his pockets and found +some candy drops.</p> + +<p>Adelaide knew very well that the people who came to the house were very +much concerned about her. They talked in whispers when she was in +hearing, but she knew by their sad faces that they were troubled about +something, and she wished that they would get over it, and laugh and +talk as they used to do. When she went on the street, the little girls +she met turned and looked at her curiously, and though they were very +friendly indeed, they had the inquisitive look that older people have +such a dread of. At first she thought her nose must be smutty, or her +bonnet on crooked, or her frock torn; but when it turned out that +everything about her was according to the prevailing fashions of +cleanliness and correctness, she was quite content to be the observed of +all observers in her neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>And then, one day (can it ever be forgotten by anybody who was living at +that time?), a lovely man, looking so much like the Bishop that Adelaide +named him so, came after her and said that she was to go to Shady Dale, +and live with her Uncle Jonas. This was Mr. Sanders—Billy Sanders, of +Shady Dale. "I ain't sorry for you one bit," Mr. Sanders declared—I was +there when he said it—"bekaze the first time I saw you, you made a face +at me."</p> + +<p>"How did I look, and what else did I say?" Adelaide asked.</p> + +<p>"You looked this way," replied Mr. Sanders, puckering up his +countenance, "an' you said 'W-a-a-a!'"</p> + +<p>"Then what did you say?" inquired Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"Why, I shuck my fist at you an' said I never saw anybody look so much +like your Uncle Jonas." Adelaide took all this very seriously, as she +did most things.</p> + +<p>It turned out that she was to go to her Uncle Jonas, and that Mr. +Sanders had come after her; and then, my goodness gracious! she was so +full of anticipation and joy that she was frightened for herself. The +kind ladies who had had charge of her told her not to be frightened, and +to be very good, but she just rolled her big blue eyes, and had long, +long thoughts about things of which she never breathed a word. She +started at last, and went with Mr. Sanders on the choo-choo train, and +such a time as the two had buying tickets to Malvern, and laughing at +the people they saw, and getting their baggage checked, and getting on +the train, and watching the station slide back away from them so they +could get a good start—such a time has hardly been repeated for anybody +from that day to this.</p> + +<p>A man caught a cinder in his eye, and ran with such speed to the +water-cooler that he turned the whole thing over; and it came down with +such a crash that everybody was frightened except Mr. Sanders and +Adelaide. Women screamed, babies squalled, and all the time the cinder +man was saying things under his breath, and some of them sounded to +Adelaide like the words that her good friend, the Peskerwhalian Bishop, +used in his sermon, only they were not so fierce and emphatic. The child +glanced around, and remarked with a satisfied smile: "It didn't scare +Cally-Lou." "I reckon not," Mr. Sanders remarked, although he had no +idea what Adelaide meant.</p> + +<p>Well, they reached Malvern in due time, and there, right at the station, +was the stage-coach, which was driven by John Bell. Mr. Sanders +introduced Adelaide to the driver, who took off his hat and bowed very +gravely, and after that it was only a few minutes before they were on +their way to Shady Dale. If the choo-choo train had been fine, the +stage-coach was finer; it was like getting in a swing and staying there +a long time. There were a few passengers in the coach, and they all +appeared to be very sleepy. When they nodded, as the most of them did, +they fell about somewhat promiscuously—though Adelaide didn't think of +that word—and made it somewhat uncomfortable for the child, who was +wide awake and alert. But when they came to the place where the horses +were watered, John Bell leaned from his seat, and saw at a glance what +Adelaide's trouble was. In a jiffy he had her up on the swaying seat +beside him. It would have been a frightful position for most children, +but Adelaide thought it was the grandest thing in the world. She was +seated almost directly above the two wheel horses, and not very far from +the leaders. She could see their muscles rise and fall as they whirled +the coach along; she could see the flecks of foam made by the harness, +and—well, it was just glorious! She had what Mr. Sanders called the +Christmas feeling—the feeling that is ever ready to become awe or +delight—and the swing of the stage-coach kept her alternating between +the two.</p> + +<p>It was wonderful, too, how one man could manage four great big horses, +how he could guide them by merely touching one of the reins with the end +of a finger; and then, when John Bell gave his long whip wide play, +sending it through the air with a swish, and bringing it down as gently +as a breath of wind on the back of the horse he desired to warn, +Adelaide could have screamed with delight. There was a half-way house +where the horses were changed, and when the coach stopped for that +purpose, most of the passengers went into a near-by inn for their +dinner. One or two of them, however, had brought a lunch along. One of +them offered Adelaide a share, saying: "Won't you have some of my +dinner, Sissy?" Her mother had called her many fond names, but nothing +like that. John Bell glanced at her, and the expression on the little +face opened his eyes. "No, I thank you," he replied, "she'll go snucks +wi' me." She snuggled up to John Bell—"Did you hear him?" she asked; +"he called me Sissy." "I heard him," said John Bell; "I heard every +word, and just how he said it."</p> + +<p>The lunch-basket that John Bell found under the seat was a wonder to +see. It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of fried chicken +and biscuits with yellow butter on the inside of each. "Now," said John +Bell, "there ain't enough vittles here for one, much less six." "Six!" +cried Adelaide. "Yes'm; you and yourself, Mr. Sanders and his self, and +me and myself." "Ef you're countin' me in," remarked Mr. Sanders, "jest +add three more figgers to the multiplication table." "And then," said +Adelaide very solemnly, "there's Cally-Lou and herself. Cally-Lou's +herself is just big enough to be counted," she went on, "but Cally-Lou +is bigger than I am. She's sitting right here by me; you could see her +if you could turn your head quick enough. She dodges when she thinks +anybody is going to look at her, because she is neither black nor white; +she's a brown girl with straight black hair that wavies when you brush +it."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of +fried chicken and biscuits"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Why, of course," said John Bell; "I'd know her anywhere. I was afraid, +once or twice, that I'd put out her eye with my whip-lash."</p> + +<p>"Oh, did you really see Cally-Lou?" cried Adelaide, with an ecstatic +smile.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you hear what he said about the vittles?" remarked Mr. Sanders. +"Do you think he'd 'a' said that ef he'd 'a' seed only us three? I'll +say this much for John Bell before I eat all his chicken an' +biscuits—he's nuther stingy ner greedy. Now, then," he went on, "jest +shet you eyes, an' grab, bekaze the one that grabs the quickest will git +that big hind leg there. My goodness! I can shet my eyes an' see it!" +Whereupon Mr. Sanders and John Bell closed their eyes, and reached into +the basket, and one drew a back and a biscuit, and the other grabbed a +neck and a biscuit. "We dassent shet our eyes any more," remarked Mr. +Sanders, "bekaze if we do, Cally-Lou will git all the chicken!"</p> + +<p>Talk about picnics or barbecues, or parties where you have to wear your +best clothes, or receptions where you have tea-cakes and ice-cream! Why, +this banquet on top of the stage-coach, where no strange person could +look over your shoulder, and no one tell you not to eat with your +fingers, and not to tuck your napkin under your chin, like—like I don't +know what—why, it was just simply a true fairy story, not one of the +make-believe kind—the kind that grows out of the weariness of +invention.</p> + +<p>The feast was over much too soon, though all had had much more than was +good for them. John Bell covered the treasure basket with a towel, and +stowed it away in the big hollow place under the seat; then he beckoned +to a negro who was helping with the horses. "Run down to the spring and +fetch us some water, and be certain to get it out of the north side of +the spring, where it is cold and sweet." The negro did this in a jiffy, +and such water Adelaide had never before tasted. There was a whole +bucketful, too. When they had all drunk their fill, Adelaide looked at +Mr. Sanders and John Bell with a frown. "What can we do for you now, +ma'am?" Mr. Sanders asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, I want you to turn your heads away. Cally-Lou says she is nearly +famished for water, and she won't drink when any one is looking."</p> + +<p>All this being done, everybody was ready to go. Mr. Sanders got in the +stage, declaring that he must have his own warm place, John Bell took +the reins that were handed to him by the hostlers, gave a harmless swish +with his long whip, and away they went to Shady Dale. It was all so +strange, and so pleasant that Adelaide could have wished the journey to +continue indefinitely. But after a while, the houses they passed became +larger and more numerous, and then the stage-coach made its appearance +on the public square that was one of the features of Shady Dale. It +rolled and swung toward the old tavern, and just when Adelaide thought +that John Bell was going to drive right into the house for her benefit, +he gave a little twist to his wrist, and the leaders swung around. Even +then it seemed that they would assuredly run headlong into the big +mulberry tree, and trample to death the man who was leaning against it +in a chair; but just as the leader was about to plant his forefeet in +the man's bosom, John Bell sent another signal down the tightly held +reins, and the leaders swung around until the child could look right +into their tired faces. And, oh, the thrill of it! Adelaide felt that +she could just hug John Bell, but the man who had made such a narrow +escape from the horses' feet had an entirely different view of the +matter.</p> + +<p>"You shorely must be tryin' to show off," he growled to John Bell; "an' +what for, I'd like to know? The next time you kill me, I'll have the law +on you!"</p> + +<p>"Quite so," remarked John Bell, with a grin that showed his white teeth. +"But I want you to know that I've got company; let folks that ain't got +company look out for themselves! Have you seen Mr. Jonas Whipple around +here?"</p> + +<p>"You don't want to run over old Jonas, do you?" replied the man. "All +I've got to say is, jest try it! Old Jonas is a lot tougher than what I +am."</p> + +<p>"I'd run over him in a minnit if it would give my company any pleasure," +said John Bell. "I've got a package for him that come all the way from +Atlanta, an' I reckon the best thing to do is to take it right straight +to his house. It's wropped in cloth, an' he's got to give me a receipt +for it!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know!" cried Adelaide, pouting a little; "you are talking about +me!"</p> + +<p>"Drive on!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, who was sitting on the inside of the +stage-coach. "I'll have my ride out ef I have to set in here ontell +to-morrer."</p> + +<p>"Quite so!" exclaimed John Bell, and with that, he signalled the +leaders, all the other passengers having got out by this time, and in +less than no time the coach was whirling in the direction of old Jonas +Whipple's house.</p> + +<p>I'd like to show you how the neighbours came to their doors and stared; +I can't describe it on paper, but if you were sitting where you could +see my motions and gestures you'd laugh until you cried. The way the +horses swept down that long red hill, leading from the tavern to old +Jonas's, was assuredly a sight to see; and not only the neighbours saw +it. Old Jonas saw it, and Lucindy saw it, too. Lucindy tried hard to be +two persons that day; she'd look at old Jonas and frown, and then she'd +look at the stage-coach and smile all over her face. She was mad on one +side and glad on the other—mad because old Jonas wasn't as excited as +she was, and glad because the child was coming. But old Jonas had a very +good reason for his lack of excitement; he had such a cold that he could +hardly talk for coughing, and such a bad cough that he could hardly +cough for wheezing. And before he would come to the door, he wrapped his +neck in a piece of red flannel. He tried to smile when he saw Adelaide +waving her flower-like hand, and the smile came near strangling him. But +Lucindy, the cook, was more than equal to the emergency; she whipped off +her big apron and waved it up and down at arm's length, which was quite +as hearty a welcome as any one would wish to have. I am sure that no one +else ever received such a welcome at old Jonas's door. Up swept the +stage, around it swung, and then, "All out for Whipple's Cross-roads!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders had his head out of the window, and saw Adelaide lift her +lovely face and kiss John Bell. It must have been a great strain on John +Bell to stoop so low, for when he straightened himself he was very red +in the face.</p> + +<p>"That," said Mr. Sanders, who was a close observer, "is the first time +anybody has kissed John Bell since he was a baby. That's what makes him +sweat so!"</p> + +<p>"Much you know about such things," exclaimed John Bell, mopping his face +with a red bandana. Nobody knows to this day how Lucindy managed to take +the trunk from the boot of the stage, and place it in the veranda in +time to run back and seize Adelaide and pull her through the window of +the coach before any one could open the door. But such was the feat she +performed in her excitement. Mr. Sanders appeared to be so surprised +that he could do nothing but pucker up his face, pretending he was +crying, and yell out: "Lucindy's took Miss Adelaide, an' now who's gwine +to take me out'n this stage. Ef you don't come an' git me, Jonas, I'll +be took off by John Bell, an' you won't never see me no more!" Old Jonas +looked at Mr. Sanders as if he were in a dream, and had not heard +aright. Observing this, Mr. Sanders kept up the pretence, and he cried +so loudly, and to such purpose, that the neighbours on each side of the +street came running to their front doors to see what the trouble was. +And then old Jonas became furiously angry. "Take him away, John Bell!" +he commanded; "I hold you responsible! Confound you! why don't you drive +on." With that he went into the house.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders cared not a whit for old Jonas's irritation, and so he +alighted from the coach and followed the rest into the house. He was +just in time to hear Adelaide begin her course of instruction to old +Jonas.</p> + +<p>"Nunky-Punky," said she, very solemn, "why didn't you wait for +Mr.——oh, I know who he is, he's the Peskerwhalian Bishop!—why didn't +you wait for the Bishop?"</p> + +<p>"Much he looks like a bishop!" replied old Jonas, when he could control +his cough. "Did you ever hear a bishop boo-hooing and carrying on in +that way?"</p> + +<p>The child stared at her uncle so seriously that he was actually +embarrassed. He rubbed his hand over a sharp chin that needed a razor +very badly, and really forgot that he was angry with Mr. Sanders. Then +something quite shocking occurred to Adelaide's nimble mind.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"The child stared at her uncle so seriously that he was +actually embarrassed"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Oh, Nunky-Punky!" she cried, "you didn't kiss me when I comed, and +everybody said you would, cause I asked 'em particular."</p> + +<p>"Honey," said Mr. Sanders, "le' me stand in Nunky-Punky's shoes while +the kissin' is gwine on, bekaze he ain't shaved in two days, and his +whiskers'll scratch your face."</p> + +<p>But Adelaide ran to old Jonas, and held out her little arms to be lifted +up. Jonas hesitated; he looked at Lucindy, then at Mr. Sanders, and +finally allowed his glance to fall on the sweetly solemn face of the +child. He tried to say something, to make some excuse, but he could +think of none. He was not only dreadfully embarrassed, he was actually +ashamed. Not in forty years had any one ever asked to kiss him and, +whether you count it backward or forward, forty years is a long time. +Mr. Sanders tried to pilot him through the deep water—so to speak—in +which he found himself. "Sit down, Jonas, and take Miss Adelaide on your +knee, an' let the thing be done right. Kinder shet your eyes an' pucker +your mouth, and she'll do the rest."</p> + +<p>"Sanders," said old Jonas, bristling up again, "if you really want to +hurt my feelings just say so. You have no real delicacy about you. How +do you know some one hasn't told the little girl that it is her duty to +pretend to want to kiss her uncle, whether she wants to or not? Tell me +that!" Old Jonas's eyes glistened under his overhanging brows, and if +"looks" could kill a man, Mr. Sanders would have fallen down dead. +Adelaide dropped her arms, and stood close to old Jonas's knee, looking +quite forlorn. "Well, come on, Cally-Lou, Uncle Jonas has a very bad +cold and a headache, and we mustn't bother him."</p> + +<p>"No, no, no!" cried old Jonas, screwing up his face until it looked like +the seed-ball of a sweet-gum tree. "There are some things a man has to +do whether he's used to them or not. Come here and kiss me if you really +want to." Adelaide turned, tossing her head as if she were growner than +a grown woman, and went toward old Jonas with the queerest little smile +ever seen. Her feelings had been dreadfully hurt, but not a quiver of +mouth or eyelid disclosed the fact, and only Cally-Lou knew it. Old +Jonas sat down in his favourite chair, and took the child on his knee. +If he had to be a martyr, he would go through the performance as +gracefully as he could. Adelaide made great preparations. She felt of +his chin with one hand, while she threw the other around his neck. She +seemed to know instinctively that old Jonas was rather timid when it +came to kissing people, and she went to his rescue. "Now, I'm not going +to kiss him until all you people turn your heads away. No, that won't +do! You've got to turn clean around, and look the other way!" She waited +until she had been obeyed, and then, as nimbly as a humming-bird kisses +a flower, she kissed the grim old man, and slid from his knee.</p> + +<p>"Ten-ten-double-ten-forty-five-fifteen!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders. "All +eyes open! I'm gwine to peep!"</p> + +<p>Adelaide laughed joyously, and when Mr. Sanders turned around she was +standing in the middle of the floor.</p> + +<p>"You're It!" he said to Jonas. Then the smile disappeared from his face. +"Lucindy," he said, "do you reckon Mr. Whipple would buss me ef I was to +ast him?" The question was a little too much for Lucindy, and she +disappeared in the direction of the kitchen, bent double with laughter.</p> + +<p>"Sanders, why do you make a joke out of everything? Did you ever reflect +that there is somewhere a limit to some things?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly do, Jonas, an' you come mighty nigh reachin' it wi' me +awhile ago. Ef you hadn't 'a' let that child kiss you when she wanted +to, I'd 'a' went out'n yon' door an' I'd 'a' never darkened it +ag'in—not in this world."</p> + +<p>"Well, your common sense should tell you, Sanders, that people ain't +made alike. What you are keen to do I have no appetite for, and what I'm +fond of, you have no relish for. That's plain enough, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"Ef that's a conundrum, Jonas, I thank my Maker that the answer is +plain, yes!"</p> + +<p>Old Jonas looked hard at Mr. Sanders as though he wanted to say +something. He stuck out his chin, and looked toward the ceiling; then he +looked at the floor, and began to rub his hands briskly together. Then +his thought came out: "Sanders," he said, almost hospitably, "suppose +you stay to supper to-night; or, if you can't stay until supper's ready, +suppose you come back to supper? How will that suit you? I——"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you the truth, Jonas: ef you think you need me for to +pertect you from that child, you're mighty much mistaken. I don't +believe that Miss Adelaide would harm a ha'r on your head, few as you've +got."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Sanders! you twist every mortal thing around in your mind, +and you are never happy until you set your best friends up as a target +for your folly. Answer my question: will you take supper with—with us?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders regarded old Jonas with real interest. His mild but fearless +blue eyes studied the other's face as if they would read there the +solution to some mystery. "Yes, Jonas; I'll not stay to supper, but I'll +come back in time for supper. But don't publish it; ef the public know'd +anything about it, they might think I was tryin' for to wheedle you out +of a loan, an' then what'd happen? Why, all my creditors would come +swarmin' aroun' me like gnats aroun' a sleepin' dog. I could jest as +well stay right here tell supper time, but I'm oblidze for to git out +an' walk about a little, an' git the amazement out'n my system. Off an' +on, Jonas, I've been a-knowin' you mighty nigh thirty year, an' this is +the fust time you've ast me to take a meal in your house. I feel as +funny as a flushed pa'tridge!"</p> + +<p>Jonas stalked out of the room pretending to be very angry, but he began +to chuckle as soon as his back was turned. "Sanders is out of his +sphere," he said to himself. "More than half the time he should have a +big tent over his head and be rigged up like a clown." Mr. Sanders +watched the door through which old Jonas had gone, as if he expected him +to come back. Then he called out to him: "Jonas! be shore to have +somethin' for supper that me an' that child can eat!"</p> + +<p>Old Jonas heard the voice of Mr. Sanders, but he paid no attention to +its purport. He went on into the kitchen where Adelaide and Lucindy were +having a conversation. He tried to smile at the child, but he realised +that his face was not made for smiles. It may have been different in the +days of his boyhood, and probably was, but since he had devoted himself +to the heartless problems that beset a man who is money-mad, the facial +muscles that smiling brings into play had become so set in other +directions, and had been so frequently used for other purposes, that +they made but a poor success of a smile. Realising this, he turned to +Lucindy, with a business-like air. "Lucindy, Mr. Sanders is coming to +supper; I reckon he knows how you can cook, for he jumped at the +invitation. And then there's the little girl; we must have something +nice and sweet for her," he went on.</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Jonas!" Lucindy exclaimed; "nothin' sweet fer dis chile; des a +little bread an' milk, er maybe a little hot-water tea."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know about that," remarked Jonas, with a sigh; "we shall have +to get a nurse for the child, I reckon."</p> + +<p>Lucindy drew a deep breath. "A nuss fer dat chile! Whar she gwineter +stay at? Not in dis kitchen! not in dis house! not on dis lot! No, suh! +Ef she do, she'll hafter be here by herse'f. I'll drive her off, an' den +you'll go out dar on de porch an' call her back; an' wid dat, I'll say +good bye an' far'-you-well! Yes, la! I kin stan' dis chile, here, an' I +kin 'ten' ter what little ten'in' ter she'll need—but a new nigger on +de place! an' a triflin' gal at dat! No suh, no suh! you'll hafter +scuzen me dis time, an' de nex' time, too."</p> + +<p>Old Jonas walked from one end of the kitchen to the other, his face +puckered up with anger, and looking as if he were on the point of +bursting into tears. "Well, by the livin' Jimminy! can't I do what I +please in my own house? Can't I get my own niece a nurse if I want to?"</p> + +<p>Lucindy placed both hands under her apron, and looked as if she were +swelling up. "Yasser," she exclaimed; "yasser, an' yasser, an' yasser. +An' whiles you're gittin' a nurse, don't let it 'scape off'n your min' +dat you'll want a cook!" She turned to the child, and the tone of her +voice couldn't have been more different if it had come from the lips of +another woman: "Honey, don't git too close ter de stove; ef yo' frock +ketches afire you won't need no nuss. Mr. Billy Sanders'll be a-knockin' +at dat do' present'y, an' supper ain't nigh ready—an' dey won't be no +supper ef I got ter be crowded outer my own kitchen."</p> + +<p>Adelaide looked and listened, and finally she said: "Aunt Lucindy, +Cally-Lou says she doesn't like to be where people are mad and +quarreling. She's afraid she'll have to go off somewhere else."</p> + +<p>"Whar is Cally-Lou, honey? an' how big is she?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's lot's bigger than me," replied Adelaide, very primly, "and +she's sitting on the floor right by me. She says that fussing gives her +nervy posteration."</p> + +<p>"You say dat Cally-Lou is settin' on de flo' by yo' side?" Lucindy +asked, opening her eyes a little wider. "Den how come I can't see her?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Adelaide, turning her soft blue eyes on the negro woman, +and speaking with what seemed to be perfect seriousness, "she isn't used +to you yet, and then she has had such a bad day!"</p> + +<p>Lucindy paused in her work and took a long look at the pretty face of +the child. "I can't see her, honey, but dat ain't no reason she ain't +dar whar you say she's at. Let 'lone dat, it's a mighty good reason why +she <i>is</i> dar!"</p> + +<p>After a little Adelaide went into the sitting-room, and there found her +Uncle Jonas sitting in the twilight that came dimly through the windows. +She crept to his side, and leaned her head with its long golden curls +against his arm. She may have wondered why he failed to take her on his +knee, but she said nothing, and he, being busy with some old, old +thoughts that came back to him, was as silent as the fat china dog that +sat peacefully by the fireplace.</p> + +<p>Presently Lucindy came in to light the lamps, and saw the child standing +by old Jonas. "Honey!" she exclaimed in a startled tone, "ain't you +tired to death? Ain't yo' legs 'bout to give way fum under you? I bet +you Cally-Lou done gone ter bed——"</p> + +<p>"No," said Adelaide; "she's very tired, but she's standing up just like +me." The next thing to happen was the entrance of Mr. Sanders, who +seemed to bring the fresh breezes with him. He seized Adelaide in his +arms, and carried her into the dining-room. When all were seated, +Adelaide waited a moment, as though she was expecting something. Then +she placed her little hands over her face, leaned her head nearly down +upon the table, and said grace silently; and but for the audible amen, +the men would never have guessed what she was doing.</p> + +<p>"I hope you mentioned my name," said Mr. Sanders, with due solemnity.</p> + +<p>The child paid no attention to the remark, nor did she even glance at +any one at the table, until the genial guest turned to the host and made +a polite inquiry. "Jonas, do you button these napkins on before or +behind? I don't want to make any blunder if I can help it."</p> + +<p>At this, Adelaide looked up and saw that Mr. Sanders was trying to tie a +corner of the tablecloth around his neck. The sight was so unexpected +that she gave forth a peal of the merriest laughter ever heard, and +Lucindy gave a snort of discomfiture.</p> + +<p>"I declar' ter gracious!" she exclaimed, "ef I ain't done gone and +fergit de napkins!"</p> + +<p>The oversight was soon remedied, and everything went along all right +until Mr. Sanders, taking a spoon in his hand, said to the child:</p> + +<p>"Miss Adelaide, I'll bet you and Cally-Lou can't do this."</p> + +<p>He placed the spoon so far in his mouth that nothing could be seen but a +small part of the handle. Lucindy had to leave the room, and the child +laughed until the tears ran down her cheeks. When she could control +herself, she said, reproachfully:</p> + +<p>"Bishop, some day you'll choke yourself—you may ask anybody—and then +what will the people do?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Far over the hills, the wayward,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">White feet of the children run,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now gleaming in the shadows,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Now glistening in the sun—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And always travelling dayward<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As they flit by one by one.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—<i>Vanderlyn's Songs of the Past.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p>It was curious how much interest Mr. Sanders began to take in the home +life that the mere presence of Adelaide brought to old Jonas Whipple's +house. He would walk in without knocking, sometimes just about tea-time, +and the child would invariably ask him to stay. Then after tea, he would +challenge old Jonas for a game of checkers, and Adelaide thought it was +great fun to watch them, they were so eager to defeat each other. Mr. +Sanders had long been the champion checker-player in that part of the +country, and he was very much astonished to find that old Jonas was +himself an expert. Sometimes Adelaide would watch the game, and the two +men invariably appealed to her to settle any question or doubt that +arose, such as which of the two made the last move, or whether old Jonas +had slipped a man from the board.</p> + +<p>Most frequently, however, Adelaide was busy with her own affairs, and +when this was the case, the two men sat quietly together, sometimes +talking and sometimes listening.</p> + +<p>"The Bishop is here," Adelaide would say to Cally-Lou. Then it seemed +that Cally-Lou would make some reply that could only be heard through +the ears of the imagination, to which Adelaide would respond most +earnestly: "Why of course he isn't asleep, 'cause I saw him wink both +eyes just now"—and the conversation would go on, sometimes +good-humouredly, and sometimes charged with pretended indignation. If +there had been any telephones, Mr. Sanders would inevitably have said: +"You can't make me believe thar ain't some un at the other eend of the +line."</p> + +<p>I would say it was all like a play on the stage, only it wasn't as small +as that. A play on the stage, as you well know, has its times and +places. It must come to an end within a reasonable time. The curtain +comes down, the audience files out, laughing and chatting, or wiping its +eyes—as the case may be—the actors run to their cheerless rooms to +strip off their tinsel finery, then the lights are put out, and +everything is left to the chill of emptiness and gloom. But this was not +the way with the play at old Jonas's home. It began early in the +morning—for Adelaide was a very early riser—and lasted until bed-time; +and, sometimes, longer, as Lucindy could have told you. Old Jonas had a +way of covering his bald head with a flannel night-cap, and tucking the +bed-covering about his face and ears, so that light and sound, no matter +where they came from, would have as much as they could do to reach his +eyes and ears; and, while he lay very still, as though he were sound +asleep, he was sometimes awake for a very long time, thinking old +thoughts and new ones, remembering people he had pinched in money +matters, and thinking of those he intended to pinch.</p> + +<p>After Adelaide came to live with him he had few thoughts of this kind, +and less desire to sleep. Frequently he lay awake for hours at a time, +wondering if the child was comfortable. Adelaide slept in a poster bed, +one of the old-fashioned kind, and many a night, when everything was +still and dark as the gloomy plague that fell over Egypt, old Jonas +would slip from under his carefully tucked cover, steal into the room +where the child slept, and listen by her bedside to convince himself +that she was really breathing, so softly and shyly did she draw her +breath. And sometimes he would put out his hand and feel—oh, ever so +gently!—if she had kicked off the covering.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Old Jonas would listen by her bedside to convince +himself that she was really breathing"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Now, it frequently happened that Lucindy, the cook, had the same spells +of uneasiness, and it chanced one night that they were both at the +child's bed at the same time. Old Jonas was feeling, and Lucindy was +feeling, and their hands met; the cold hand of old Jonas touched +Lucindy's hand. This was enough! Lucindy said not a word—indeed, words +were beyond her—she said afterward that she came within one of uttering +a scream and dropping to the floor. But the fright that had weakened +her, had also given her strength to escape. She stole back to her place +on tip-toe, declaring in her mind that she would never again enter that +room at night unless she had torch-bearers to escort her.</p> + +<p>It was contrary to all her knowledge and experience that old Jonas +should concern himself about the child at his time of life, and with his +whimsical habits and methods. In trying to account for the incident, her +mind never wandered in the direction of old Jonas at all. To imagine +that he was at the bedside of the child, investigating her comfort, was +far less plausible than any other explanation she could offer. And then +and there, the legend of Cally-Lou became charged with reality, so far +as Lucindy was concerned; and it had a larger growth in one night, from +the impetus that Lucindy gave it, than an ordinary legend could hope to +have in a century.</p> + +<p>Lucindy lost no time in mentioning the matter to Adelaide the next day. +"La, honey! I had de idee dat you wuz des a-playin' when I hear you +talkin' to Cally-Lou; I got de idee dat she wuz des one er de +Whittle-Come-Whattles dat lives in folks' min', an' nowhar else. Dat 'uz +kaze I ain't never seed 'er; my eyeballs ain't got de right slant, I +reckon. But las' night, I tuck a notion dat you had done kick de kivver +off, an' in I went, gropin' an' creepin' 'roun' in de dark—not dish yer +common dark what you have out'n doors, but de kin' dat your Nunky-Punky +keeps in de house at night; an' de Lord knows ef I had ez much money ez +what dey say he's got, I'd have me ten candles an' a lantern lit in +eve'y blessed room. Well, I went in dar, des like I tell you, an' I put +out my han'—des so—an' I teched somebody else's han', an' 'twant +your'n, honey, kaze 'twuz ez col' ez a frog in de branch. I tell you +now, I lit out fum dar—hosses couldn't 'a' helt me—an' I come in de +back room dar whar I b'long'ded at, crope back in bed, an' shuck an' +shiver'd plum' tell sleep come down de chimberly an' sot on my eyeleds.</p> + +<p>"Nobody nee'n'ter tell me dey aint no Cally-Lou, kaze I done gone an' +felt un her. Folks say dat feelin's lots better'n seein'. What you see +mayn't be dar, kaze yer eyeballs may be wrong, but what you feels un, +it's blidze ter be dar. Well, I done put my han' on Cally-Lou! Yes, +honey, right on 'er!" Lucindy told her experience to many, including old +Jonas, who glared at her with his ferret-like eyes, and moved his jaws +as if he were chewing a very toothsome tidbit; and the oftener she told +it, the larger it grew and the more completely she believed in +Cally-Lou.</p> + +<p>Many shook their heads, while others openly avowed their disbelief. On +the other hand a large number of those who came in contact with Lucindy +and heard her solemn account of the affair, were greatly impressed. +Adelaide showed not the slightest surprise when Lucindy recounted her +astonishing adventure. She seemed to be glad that the cook had now +discovered for herself about Cally-Lou, but she seemed very much +distressed, and also irritated, that the Chill-Child-No-Child (as she +sometimes called her) should be so thoughtless as to wander about in the +darkness with nothing on her feet and little on her body. With both +hands Adelaide pushed back her wonderful hair that was almost hiding her +blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how often I have told Cally-Lou not to go gadding about +the house at night, catching cold and making Nunky-Punky pay a dollar +apiece for doctor's bills. No wonder she slept so late this morning!"</p> + +<p>Adelaide not only talked like she was picking the words out of a big +book, as Lucindy declared, but there were times, as now, when all the +troubles and responsibilities of maternity looked out upon the world +through her eyes. Old-fashioned, and apparently as much in earnest as a +woman grown, it was no wonder that Lucindy gazed at her like one +entranced!</p> + +<p>Adelaide made no further remark, but turned and went from the kitchen +into the house. All the doors were open, the weather being warm and +pleasant, and Lucindy presently heard her asking Cally-Lou why she +continued to disobey the only friend she had in the world. Cally-Lou +must have made some excuse, or explanation, though Lucindy couldn't hear +a word thereof, for Adelaide, speaking in a louder tone, gave the +Chill-Child-No-Child a sound rebuke.</p> + +<p>"I don't care if you do feel that way about it," said she; "Nunky-Punky +can look after me, if he feels like it, and so can Aunt Lucindy, but I'm +the one to look after you. Be ashamed of yourself! a great big girl like +you going around in the dark, barefooted and bareheaded. Seat yourself +in that chair, and don't move out of it till I tell you, or you'll be +sorry."</p> + +<p>Lucindy, listening with all her ears, lifted her arms in a gesture of +admiration and astonishment, exclaiming to herself, "I des wish you'd +listen! Dat sho do beat my time!"</p> + +<p>Adelaide went off to play, and it might be supposed that she had +forgotten Cally-Lou; but a little before the hour was up, she went into +the house again, called Cally-Lou, and, after a little, came running out +again, laughing as gayly as if she had heard one of Mr. Sanders's jokes.</p> + +<p>"What de matter, honey? Whar Cally-Lou?" Lucindy inquired.</p> + +<p>"Why, she went fast asleep in the chair," cried Adelaide, laughing as +though it were the funniest thing imaginable, "and no wonder she fell +asleep after wandering about the house, pretending she wanted to make +sure that I was snivelling under that heavy cover. How can anybody get +cold such weather as this?"</p> + +<p>Lucindy shook her head. "De han' dat totch mine was col', honey—stone +col'."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Cally-Lou's hand! Well, she can sit by the fire and still be cold," +responded Adelaide. "Cally-Lou is mighty funny," she went on, growing +confidential; "she says she is lonesome; she wants to play with growner +folks than me."</p> + +<p>"Well, honey, I dunner whar she'll fin' um. Dar's Mr. Sanders; sholy he +ain't too young fer 'er!"</p> + +<p>As though the mention of his name had summoned Mr. Sanders from the dim +and vague region where Cally-Lou had her place of residence, those in +the kitchen now heard his voice in the house. He had entered, as usual, +without taking the trouble to knock, and he came down the long hall, +talking and saluting imaginary persons, hoping in that way to attract +the attention of Adelaide. Nor was he unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare!" he exclaimed. "Here's Miss Sue Frierson!—an' +well-named too, bekaze ever'body knows that she'd fry a sun ef she had +one. Howdy, Miss Sue! Miss Susan-Sue! Ef you are well, why I am too! So +it's up an' hop to-day. Dr. Honeyman says she won't be well tell she's +better. She had company last night, an' she tried for to nod whiles she +was standin' up. It'd 'a' been all right ef her feet had n't 'a' gone to +sleep. Thereupon, an' likewise whatsoever—as the Peskerwhalian Bishop +says—she fell off'n her perch, an' had to be put to bed back'ards. +What? You don't know the Peskerwhalian Bishop? Well, his hardware name +is William H. Sanders, of the county aforesaid, Ashbank Deestrick, G. M.</p> + +<p>"Cally-Lou? Well, I hain't seed the child to-day, but she's up an' +about; you'll hear her whistlin' fer company presently. Can't stay? +Well, good bye, Miss Susan-Sue; mighty glad I met you when I did. So +long, or longer!"</p> + +<p>Bowing Miss Frierson out, though she was invisible to all eyes, Mr. +Sanders came back toward the kitchen talking to himself. "Well, well! I +hadn't seed my Susan-Sue in thirteen year, an' she's jest the same as +she was when she engaged herself to me—eyes like they had been jest +washed, an' the eend of her nose lookin' like a ripe plum! But sech is +life whar we live at. Howdy, Adelaide? Howdy, Lucindy? I hope both of +you have taken your stand among my well-wishers."</p> + +<p>"La, Mr. Sanders, how you does run on! I b'lieve you er lots wuss'n you +used to be!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Lucindy, it's mighty hard for to make a young hoss stand in one +place. He's uther got to go back'ards or forrerds, or jump sideways. +I've jest begun to live good. I feel a heap better sence I was born in +the country whar Miss Adelaide spends her time an' pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Now, Bishop, tell me, please, if you were really talking to +Miss——Miss——"</p> + +<p>"Frierson—Miss Susan-Sue Frierson." Mr. Sanders supplied the name to +Adelaide. He seemed to be filled with astonishment. "Did you hear me +talking?" he asked in a confidential whisper. "Why, I—I didn't know you +could hear me! Now, don't go and tell ever'body. She lives in our +country, an' she come for to see Cally-Lou."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sorry Cally-Lou didn't see her. I had to punish her to-day, +and she's not feeling so well."</p> + +<p>"Well, I reckon not!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders; "'specially ef you used a +cowhide, or a barrel-stave. What have you got to do to-day, and whar are +you gwine? I had a holiday comin' to me, an' so I thought I'd come down +here an' take you to the Whish-Whish Woods an' hunt for the Boogerman."</p> + +<p>At once Adelaide was in a quiver of excitement. "Shall we camp out? Must +we take guns? How long shall we stay?"</p> + +<p>"Guns! why, tooby shore," replied Mr. Sanders, with an expression of +ferociousness new to his countenance; "as many as we can tote wi'out +sp'ilin' our complexions; an' we'll stay ontel we git him or his hide. +Lucindy'd better fix up a lunch for two—a couple of biscuits an' a +couple of buttermilks. Thar's no tellin' when we'll git back."</p> + +<p>Now, old Jonas Whipple had the largest and the finest garden in town. It +was such a fine garden, indeed, that the neighbours had a way of looking +at it over the fence, and wondering how Providence could be so kind to a +man so close and stingy, and so mean in money-matters. And as your +neighbours can wonder about one thing as well as another, old Jonas's +wondered where all the vegetables went to. It was out of the question +that old Jonas should use them all himself; and yet, as regularly as the +garden was planted every year, as certainly as the vegetables always +grew successfully, let the season be wet or dry, just as regularly and +just as certainly, the various crops disappeared as fast as they became +eatable—and that, too, when nearly everybody in the community had +gardens of their own. It was a very mild mystery, but in a village, such +as Shady Dale was, even a mild mystery becomes highly important until it +is solved, and then it is forgotten. Only Mr. Sanders had solved it thus +far, and this was the main reason why he "neighboured" with old Jonas. +He had discovered that the vegetables went to the maintenance of a small +colony of "tackies" that had settled near Shady Dale—"dirt-eaters" they +were called. They were so poor and improvident that the men went in rags +and the women in tatters; and only old Jonas's fine garden was free to +them. In the early morning twilight they would slip in with their bags +and their baskets, and were gone before anybody but themselves had +shaken off the shackles of sleep.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-eight seemed to be very pale when Adelaide +and I found it under the honeysuckle vine, but in old Jonas's garden it +was particularly brilliant in its colours of green. Green is the +admiration of summer, and it has more beautiful shades than the rainbow. +Observe the marked difference between the cabbage and the corn, between +the squash and watermelon vines, between the asparagus and the cucumber, +between the red pepper plants and the tomato vines! These variations are +worth more than a day's study by any artist who is ambitious of training +his eyes to colour.</p> + +<p>In old Jonas's garden in the summer we are speaking of, there were three +squares of corn, the finest that had ever been seen on upland. And it +was very funny, too: for old Jonas had planted early, and the frost had +come down and nipped the corn when it was about three inches high. The +negro gardener was in despair; in all his experience, and he was +gray-headed, he had never seen anything like this late frost, and he was +anxious for the corn to be ploughed up, so that it could be replanted. +Old Jonas wouldn't hear to the proposition, and the gardener went about +his business, wondering how a man could be so stingy about seed corn, +when he had seven or eight bushels stored away in the dry cellar.</p> + +<p>But, as time went on, the gardener discovered that old Jonas had wisdom +on his side of the fence; the corn not only came up again after being +cut down, but it grew twice as fast, and almost twice as high as anybody +else's corn. In short, there had never before been seen, in that +neighbourhood, a roasting-ear patch quite as vigorous. Some of the +cornstalks were nearly fourteen feet high, and some of them had as many +as four ear-sprouts showing. The patch was so rank and healthy that it +attracted the attention of Mr. Sanders. He climbed the fence, and went +into old Jonas's garden to give it a close examination. A good breeze +was blowing at the time, and the sword-like leaves of the corn were +stirred by it, so that they waved up and down and from side to side, +whispering to one another, "Whish-whish!" That was enough for Mr. +Sanders. He thought instantly of Adelaide, and he named the roasting-ear +patch the Whish-Whish Woods, and that was where he proposed to go +hunting for the Boogerman, the awful, greedy creature that ate +Nunky-Punky's vegetables raw!</p> + +<p>Lucindy didn't need any training in the quick-lunch line, and in less +than no time, if we may deal familiarly with the ticking of the clock, +she had cut two biscuits open and inserted in each a juicy slice of ham; +and while she was doing this, Adelaide ran to her armoury, where she +kept her weapons, offensive and defensive, and came running back with +two guns. They were cornstalk guns, but not the less dangerous on that +account. They were very long and, as Mr. Sanders said, they had about +them an appearance of violence calculated to make the Boogerman fall on +his knees and surrender the moment he was discovered. An ordinary gun +might miss fire—such things have been known before now—but a cornstalk +gun, never! All you have to do when you have a cornstalk gun, is to +point it at the destined victim, shut your eyes and say <i>Bang!</i> in a +loud voice, and the thing is done. And if people or things—whatever and +whoever you shoot at—should be mean enough to remain unhurt, why, then, +that is their fault, and much good may their meanness do them!</p> + +<p>Well, Adelaide and Mr. Sanders took their lunch and were about to start +on their dangerous expedition, when they bethought themselves of +something that Lucindy had forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lucindy!" cried Adelaide, "what is the matter with you?"</p> + +<p>"Nothin' 't all dat I knows on, honey. I'm de same ol' sev'n an' six +what I allers been."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Sanders came to Adelaide's support. "Well, your mind must be +wanderin'," he said, "bekaze we ast you as plain as tongue kin speak for +to put us up a couple of buttermilks."</p> + +<p>Lucindy threw her hand above her head with a gesture of despair. "I know +it, I know it! but I ain't got but one buttermilk. Dar's a jar full, but +dat don't make but one; an' what I gwine do when dat's de case?"</p> + +<p>"Why, ef you've got a jar full, thar must be mighty nigh a dozen +buttermilks in it." And so, after much argument and explanation, Lucindy +found a bottle and a funnel and poured two glassfuls in it, one after +the other. Mr. Sanders, very solemn, counted as she filled the glass. +"That makes one," he said, as she emptied the first glass, "an'," when +she poured in the rest—"that makes two, don't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yasser! La, yasser! you-all got me so mixified dat I dunner know which +eend I'm a standin' on. Two! yasser, dey sho is two in dar!"</p> + +<p>Having everything needful in hand, the hunters took their way toward the +large garden. Don't think this garden bore any resemblance to the +ordinary gardens that are to be found in cities and towns. No! it was so +large that, standing at one end you had to shade your eyes—especially +when the sun was shining—to be able to see the boundary fence at the +other end. It held not only a supply of vegetables sufficient for fifty +families, but it contained an abundance of old-fashioned flowers, the +kind you see pictured in the magazines—roses, spice pinks, primroses, +mint, with its little blue flowers, lavender—oh, and ever so much of +everything! And it was all well kept, too, stingy as old Jonas was. In +this wide garden the Whish-Whish Forest grew and flourished, and toward +this the two hunters bent their steps.</p> + +<p>At first they pretended they were not hunting. Nothing could have been +more innocent than the careless way in which they made their way toward +the home of the Boogerman. Hiding their cornstalk guns behind them as +well as they could, they sauntered along examining the flowers, and no +one would have supposed that they were after ridding the country of the +cruel monster that had terrorised the children for miles around. In not +less than seven or seventeen counties was his name spoken in whispers +when the sun had gone to bed and tucked his cloud-quilts around him. If +a child cried at night, or if a wide-awake little one uttered a +whimpering protest when bed-time came, the nurses—not one nurse, but +all the nurses—would raise their hands warningly, and whisper in a +frightened tone, "Sh-sh! the Boogerman is standing right there by the +window; if you make a noise, he'll know right where you are—and then +what will happen?"</p> + +<p>Presently Adelaide and Mr. Sanders (who was still the Bishop, be it +remembered) came close in their saunterings to the edge of the +Whish-Whish Woods, and then they began to creep forward, making as +little noise as possible.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a> +<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"They began to creep forward, making as little noise as +possible"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Bishop," said Adelaide, in a whisper, "you slip through the Woods one +way, and I'll slip through the other way. You can be a bishop and a +Injun, too, can't you?"</p> + +<p>"Nothin' easier," replied the Bishop, trying to whisper in return; "I'll +jest take off my coat an' turn it wrongsud-out'rds, an' thar you are!"</p> + +<p>Adelaide's ecstasy shone in her face, and with good reason, for the +middle lining of the Bishop's coat was fiery red. This was too good to +be true, and Adelaide wished in her heart that she had worn her hat with +the big red feather—oh, you know: the one she wore to Sunday School, +where all the other little girls were simply green with envy; of course +you couldn't forget that hat and feather!</p> + +<p>In spite of the fiery red lining of his coat, the Bishop had an idea +that he didn't look fierce enough, so he took off his felt hat, knocked +in the crown, and put it on upside down. His aspect was simply +tremendous. No hobgoblin could have a fiercer appearance than the Bishop +had, and if Adelaide didn't shriek with pure delight it was because she +put her gun across her mouth and bit it. She bit so hard that the print +of her small teeth showed on the gun. Well, of course, after the Bishop +had transformed himself into such a ferocious-looking monster, he and +Adelaide were obliged to have another consultation, and it was while +this was going on that Adelaide came near spoiling the whole thing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bishop!" she cried, with a great gasp, "how do you laugh when +you're obliged to, and when——" she gave another gasp, sank to the +ground, and lay there, shaking all over.</p> + +<p>"You put me in mind, honey, of the lady in the book that leaned ag'in +the old ellum tree and shuck wi' sobs, ever' one on 'em more'n a foot +an' a half long, wi' stickers on 'em like a wild briar. It's a sad thing +for to say, but I'm oblidze to say it. The time has come when we've got +to part. Ef we go on this way, the Boogerman will come along an' put us +both in his wallet, an' then what'll we do? Things can't go on this +a-way. It may be for years an' it may be forever, as Miss Ann Tatum says +when she begins for to squall at her peanner, but the time to part has +come. You creep up yander by the fence, so you can see the Boogerman ef +he tries for to git away, an' I'll roost aroun' in the bushes. Ef I jump +him I'll holla, an' ef he come your way, jest shet your eyes an' give +him both barrels in the neighbourhood of eyeballs an' appetite. You +can't kill the Boogerman unless you hit him in his green eye—the other +is a dark mud colour."</p> + +<p>Well, they separated, the Bishop beating in the bushes and underbrush, +as he called the crab-grass and weeds that had begun to make their +appearance in the corn-patch, and Adelaide creeping to her post of +observation as though she were stalking some wild and wary animal. She +could hear the Bishop rustling about in the thick corn, but couldn't +catch a glimpse of him. Once she heard him sneeze as only a middle-aged +man can sneeze, and she frowned as a general frowns when his orders have +been disobeyed. Presently she heard some one coming along the side +street, which, being away from the main thoroughfares, was little +frequented. Occasionally a pedestrian, or a farmer going home, or house +servants, who lived near-by, passed along its narrow length.</p> + +<p>The moment she heard footsteps, Adelaide shrank back in the thick corn, +and held her cornstalk gun in readiness. Her hair might have been +mistaken for a tangle of corn-silks newly sunburned as it fell over her +face. The steps drew nearer, and, in a moment, a negro came into view. +He was a stranger to Adelaide, and that fact only made it more certain +that he was the Boogerman himself, who had jumped the garden fence in +order to elude Mr. Sanders, and was now sauntering along appearing as +innocent as innocence itself. When the Boogerman came opposite +Adelaide's hiding-place, she jumped up suddenly, aimed her gun and cried +<i>Bang!</i> in a loud voice.</p> + +<p>Now, as it happened, the passing negro was one who could meet and beat +Adelaide on her own ground. The cornstalk gun, with its imperative +<i>Bang!</i> carried him back to old times, though he was not old—back to +the times when he played make-believe with his young mistress and the +rest of the children. Therefore, simultaneously with Adelaide's <i>Bang!</i> +he stopped in his tracks, his face working convulsively, his arms flying +wildly about, and his legs giving way under him. He sank slowly to the +ground, and then began to flop about just as a chicken does when its +head is wrung off.</p> + +<p>The Bishop heard a wild, exultant shout from Adelaide: "Run, Bishop, +run! I've got him! I've killed the Boogerman! Run, Bishop, run!" Mr. +Sanders ran as fast as he could; and when he saw the negro lying on the +ground, with no movement save an occasional quiver of the limbs and a +sympathetic twitching of the fingers, his amazement knew no bounds.</p> + +<p>"Why, honey!" he cried, "what in the world have you done to him?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't do a thing, Bishop, but shoot him with my cornstalk gun; I +didn't know it had such a heavy load in it. Anyhow, he had no business +to be the Boogerman. Do you think he's truly—ann—dead, Bishop?"</p> + +<p>"As dead," Mr. Sanders declared solemnly, "as Hector. I dunno how dead +Hector was, but this feller is jest as dead as him—that is ef he ain't +got a conniption fit; I've heern tell of sech things."</p> + +<p>They climbed the garden fence, and went to where the Boogerman was lying +stretched out. "When a man's dead," said Mr. Sanders, "he'll always tell +you so ef you ax him."</p> + +<p>"Boogerman! oh, Boogerman!" cried Adelaide, going a little closer.</p> + +<p>"Ma'am!" replied the dead one feebly.</p> + +<p>"When the Boogerman is dead," said Adelaide, "and anybody asks him if it +is so, he lifts his left foot and rolls his eyeballs. Are you dead?"</p> + +<p>In confirmation of that fact, the foot was lifted, and the eyeballs +began to roll. Adelaide was almost beside herself with delight. Never +had she hoped to have such an experience as this. "Where shall he be +buried, Bishop?"</p> + +<p>"Close to the ash-hopper, right behind the kitchen," promptly responded +Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<p>"Get up, Boogerman!" commanded Adelaide. "You have to go to your own +fumerl, you know, and you might as well go respectably." Adelaide always +uttered a deliciously musical gurgle when she used a big word.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Sanders; "as fur as my readin' goes, thar ain't nothin' +in the fourteenth an' fifteenth amendments ag'in it."</p> + +<p>Now, old Jonas's side-gate opened on this street, and on this gate +Lucindy chanced to be leaning, when the Boogerman, fatally wounded by +Adelaide's cornstalk gun, sank upon the ground and began to jump around +like a chicken with its head off. She was tremendously frightened at +first; in fact she was almost paralysed. So she stayed where she was, +explaining afterward that she didn't want to be mixed up "wid any er +deze quare doin's what done got so common sence de big rucus." Then she +saw Adelaide and Mr. Sanders climb the garden fence and stand over the +fallen negro, and curiosity overcame her fright. By the time the negro +was on his feet, Lucindy had arrived. She looked at him hard, jumped at +him, threw her arms around his neck, and squeezed him so tight that the +two of them kept turning around as if they were trying to keep time to a +smothered waltz; and all the while Lucindy was moaning and groaning and +thanking the Lord that her son whom she had not seen in four long years, +had come, as it were, right straight to her bosom.</p> + +<p>She hugged him to the point of smifflication, as Mr. Sanders declared, +and she held him at arm's length, the better to see whether he had +changed, and in what particular. Then she turned to Mr. Sanders:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sanders, sholy you knows dis chil'—sholy you ain't done gone an' +disremembered Randall. Des like you seed him doin' des now, dat de way +he been doin' all his born days—constantly a-playin', constantly +a-makin' out dat what ain't so is so, an' lots mo' so. Many an' many's +de time sence Miss Adelaide been here has I had de idee dat ef Randall +wuz here, he'd be mo' dan a match fer Cally-Lou an' all de rest un um +dat slips out'n dreams an' stays wid us. Yasser, I sho has. But now he's +come, I des feels in my bones dat he gwine ter git in deep trouble 'bout +dem crimes what he run away fer."</p> + +<p>"Randall is the chap that knocked Judge Bowden's overseer crossways an' +crooked, ain't he?" inquired Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<p>"Yasser, he done dat thing," replied Lucindy: "an how come he ter do +it—him dat wuz afear'd er his own shadder—I'll never tell you. Let +'lone dat, he ain't gwin ter tell you; kaze I done ax'd him myse'f. I +speck he'll haf ter run away ag'in."</p> + +<p>"You know me, don't you, Randall?" inquired Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<p>"La! yasser, Mr. Sanders, I've been knowin' you sence I could walk +good."</p> + +<p>"That's what I thought," said Mr. Sanders. "Well, my advice to you is to +stay an' face the music. Ef the man you hit makes a move we'll have him +right whar we've been a-tryin' fer to git him for two long years!"</p> + +<p>They went toward the house, and entered the side-gate, attracting, as +they did so, the attention of two or three of the neighbours. The Bishop +had been so absorbed in what had occurred that he forgot to turn his +coat, or to right his hat.</p> + +<p>"Did you see old Billy Sanders?" one woman asked another over the back +fence.</p> + +<p>"I did," replied the other, "and I like to have dropped—I believe he is +going crazy."</p> + +<p>"Going!" exclaimed the first woman, "he's gone! Done gone!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a>PART III</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O winds of the sea, that whisper,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will you not whisper to me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What the marvellous strange visions<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of a little child may be?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O wild rose, stirred and shaken,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By the wind that ripples the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why are the children dreaming,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And what are the dreams they dream?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—<i>Beverly's Attitudes and Platitudes: A Drama.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Them that slip out'n dreams an' stay with us!" said Mr. Sanders to +himself, as they went along. "Be jiggered ef that ain't a new one on me! +I'll take it home an' chew on it when I'm lonesome."</p> + +<p>Adelaide had just cause of complaint, she thought. "Now we can't have +any fumerl, with strange folks tip-toeing about the place, and carriages +at the door, with horses snorting and pawing the ground."</p> + +<p>"It's jest as well," remarked Mr. Sanders. "All that sort of thing will +come along lot's quicker than we want it to."</p> + +<p>"They come'd twice to our house—two times!" said Adelaide, in the tone +of one who has a proprietary interest in such matters. "They come'd and +come'd," she went on, with the air of imparting important secret +information, "and they peeped in all the rooms, and in the closets, and +behind the doors, and pulled out all the booro draws; yes, and some of +'em looked in the safe where mother keeps her vittles!"</p> + +<p>There was something pitiful about the child's brief recital. She had +seen and noted everything, and the report she had inadvertently made to +Mr. Sanders rang true to life, and almost humorously true to the results +of Mr. Sanders's observation. His lips twitched, as they had a way of +doing when he was in doubt whether to laugh or cry, which was often the +case.</p> + +<p>"Well, honey," he replied, making what excuse he could for poor +humanity, "ef folks is ever gwine for to find out anything in this world +they've got to stick the'r noses in ev'ry nook an' cranny."</p> + +<p>"That's why I wanted to put the Boogerman in the grave-yard. Lucindy is +his mother, and we could go and look under her bed, and peep in her +cubberd, and find out everything she's got, and more too."</p> + +<p>What reply Mr. Sanders would have made to this will never be known, for +they were just going in the side gate that let them into old Jonas's +back-yard. Old Jonas himself had come out of the house, and was now +walking about in the yard with his hat pulled well down to his ears. The +opening and shutting of the gate attracted his attention, and he turned +to see who could be trespassing on his premises. When he saw Mr. Sanders +fantastically arrayed, his coat turned inside out, and his hat upside +down, old Jonas flung both hands over his head in a gesture of +amazement.</p> + +<p>"Why, what foolery is this? Good Lord, Sanders! have you turned lunatic? +Why—why—if this kind of thing goes on much longer, I'll sue out a +writ, and have you sent to the asylum; I'll do it as sure as my name is +Whipple!"</p> + +<p>"Please, sir, Nunky-Punky, let me off this time, and I'll never play wi' +Miss Adelaide any more. An' the Boogerman may git you for all I keer! +An' ol' Raw-Head-an'-Bloody-Bones'll crawl out from under the house whar +he lives at, an' snap his jaws an' wink his green eyes at you; an' he'll +ketch you an' put you in his wallet, an' chaw you up bone by bone—mark +my words!"</p> + +<p>"Sanders!" said old Jonas, with less anger and more earnestness, "what +in the name of all that's sensible, is the matter with you?"</p> + +<p>"Not a thing in the world but pyore joy, Jonas! Climb up in the waggon +and let's all take a ride. I'm dead in love wi' this little gal here; +won't you j'ine me? Nan Dorrin'ton used to be my beau-lover, but Nan's +too old, an' now Adelaide's done took her place! Slap yourself on the +hams an' crow like a rooster! Jump up an' crack your heels together +twice before you come to earth ag'in. We've ketched the Boogerman, an' +was gittin' ready for to fetch him home bekaze we had him whar he could +nuther back nor squall, but jest about that time, here come Lucindy. She +wa'n't gallopin', but she give us ez purty a sample of the ginnywine +buzzard-lope as you ever laid eyes on. She grabbed the Boogerman an' +give him the Putmon county witch-hug. Arter she'd smivelled an' +smovelled him mighty nigh to death, she helt him off from her an' +claimed him as her long-lost son; she know'd it bekaze he had a +swaller-fork in one y'ear, an' a under-bit in the other, an' a wind-gall +on the back of his neck. Her son, mind you! Well, when I know'd her son +the first letter of his name was Randall Bowden, bekaze Bowden was the +name of the man he belonged to—you remember him, Jonas?"</p> + +<p>"He admitted me to the bar and came within one of frightening me to +death," responded old Jonas.</p> + +<p>"Well, you're a lawyer, an' you know mighty well that a man an' a +citizen can't change his name wi'out a special law passed by the +legislatur'. Now, ef the Boogerman was a plain nigger, it wouldn't make +a bit of difference what he called hisse'f. But thar ain't no plain +niggers any more; they're all sufferin' citizens. An' here he is callin' +hisself Randall Holden. What do you think of that?"</p> + +<p>Randall shifted from one foot to the other and looked, first, at Mr. +Sanders, and then at all of the others in turn. "Well, suh, Mr. Sanders, +I call myse'f Holden bekaze they ain't no Bowdens fer me ter be named +after. Marster's dead, Mistiss is dead, an' Miss Betty is done gone an' +changed her name by—er—gittin' married. De Holdens ain't all dead yit, +an' my mistiss wuz a Holden proceedin' the day she married marster. I +felt like I want ter be named after somebody that wuz alive."</p> + +<p>"What have you been doing all this time?" old Jonas asked in his +sharpest and curtest tone.</p> + +<p>"Workin' hard all day, an' studyin' hard at night, suh. I laid off ter +be a preacher. In four years, I reckon I has been to school about one +year. I can read a little, an' write a little, an' maybe do some easy +figgerin'. It looks like that books git harder the more you fool with +'em. That's what I find about 'em. I jest come ter see my mammy, suh, +an' she come up on me while I was playin' Boogerman with the little +mistiss there."</p> + +<p>"Doing what?" snapped old Jonas; and then Mr. Sanders had to relate the +wonderful adventures that befell Adelaide and him in the Whish-Whish +Woods. How he did it must be imagined, but old Jonas listened patiently +to the end, without uttering so much as the habitual "pish-tush."</p> + +<p>"Sanders," said old Jonas, when the narrative of the expedition was +concluded, "do you mean to stand there and tell me that you, a man old +enough to be a grandfather, got in that rig, and went trampling about in +my garden, just to give that child a little pleasure?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, Jonas, I can't say that I did; I sorter had the idee that I +mought git my name in your will, seein' as how you're so abominably fond +of Adelaide. That's why I come!"</p> + +<p>It was at this point that Jonas's "pish-tush" did execution; he fired it +at Mr. Sanders with as much energy as indignation could give.</p> + +<p>Randall, the Boogerman, was evidently somewhat in doubt of old Jonas's +disposition in regard to him, and so he said, with every appearance of +embarrassment: "I can't stay here long, suh, bekaze they's people in +this county that would Ku-Kluck me ef they know'd I was anywheres +around. I'm the one, suh, that knocked Mr. Tuttle in the head with my +hoe-handle when he was marster's overseer. I didn't go ter do it, suh, +but he pecked on me an' pecked on me twel I didn't have the sense I was +born with. It looked like somebody had flung a red cloth over my head; +ev'rything got red, an' when I come ter myse'f Mr. Tuttle was layin' +there on the ground jest as still as ef he'd a' been a log of wood. I +know'd mighty well that ef they cotch me I'd be hung, bekaze that was +the law in them times; Miss Betty tol' me so. I got away from there, an' +run home; but before I got there, I could hear white folks a-hollerin', +an' then I know'd they was after me. I run right in the big house, an' +went up stairs the back way, an' before I could stop myse'f I run right +in Miss Betty's room. She was in there combing her hair; she'd been +having a party, the first one after she come back frum college."</p> + +<p>"Wasn't she frightened?" old Jonas inquired. "Didn't she scream and +raise a row?"</p> + +<p>"No, suh," replied Randall, the Boogerman; "she wa'n't no more skeer'd +than what you is right now. She say, 'How dast you ter come in here?' +But by ther time she seed the blood runnin' down my face where Mr. +Tuttle had hit me, an' time she looked ag'in, I was down on my knees, +sayin' a prayer to her. I tol' her that the white folks was after me, +an' begged her not ter let 'em git me. I know'd that the way to the top +of the house led through her room, an' that was the reason I run in +there—I thought she was down stairs lookin' after her party. I begged +an' prayed so hard that she went to the door leadin' to the plunder room +under the roof, an' flung it open with, 'Go up there, an' keep still; +don't you dast to make any fuss!' Well, suh, up I went, an' I stayed +there twel I could git away. Ef any of you-all know where Miss Betty is, +an' will tell me, I'll go right whar she is an' work fer her twel she +gits tired of bein' worked fer."</p> + +<p>"All dat's de naked trufe," exclaimed Lucindy, "kaze Miss Betty come out +ter de kitchen an' tol' me whar Randall wuz, an' gi' me de key er de +do', an' I tuck him vittles an' clean cloze plum twel he got away. I'd +'a' gone wid Miss Betty, but I know'd dat boy would come back here ef he +wa'n't dead, an' I stayed an' waited fer 'im twel des now. You may have +de idee dat I'm quare, but Randall is my own chile."</p> + +<p>By this time, Mr. Sanders had righted his coat and hat, and was now +regarding the negro with some curiosity. "Lucindy ain't the only one +that's been a-waitin' fer you," he said. "I reckon that old Tuttle and +his crowd have been doin' some waitin' the'rselves; an' I know mighty +well that I'm one of the waiters. How much do you charge me for knockin' +ol' Tuttle in sight of the Promised Land, and how much will you charge +me for hittin' him another side-wipe?"</p> + +<p>"No, suh, Mr. Sanders! Not me! I ain't never lost my senses sence that +day in the cotton-patch; no matter what you do, I'll never see red any +more; I've done tried myself an' know. No more red fer me—not in dis +world!"</p> + +<p>"Old Tuttle!" snapped Mr. Jonas Whipple. "I wish the buzzards had him!" +Then he turned to Randall. "Stay, if you want to stay. I've plenty of +work for you to do. Sanders, can't you find a job for him at a pinch?"</p> + +<p>"Mercy, yes!" replied Mr. Sanders; "I've got jobs that have grown gray +waitin' for some un to do 'em."</p> + +<p>"Stay! stay!" cried old Jonas, in his harsh voice, "and if old Tuttle +bothers you, come to me or go to Mr. Sanders there, and we'll see who +has the longest arm!"</p> + +<p>"Tooby shore!" assented Mr. Sanders, "an' likewise who's got the longest +money-purse. But what's betwixt you an' Tuttle?"</p> + +<p>"Why," said old Jonas, "he borrowed a thousand dollars from me the +second year of the war, and after the surrender crawled under the +exemption act. Now if he had come to me like a man—I'll not say like a +gentleman, for that is beyond him—if he had come to me and said that he +found it impossible to pay the money I had loaned him to keep the +sheriff out of his yard, I'd have told him plainly to go on about his +business, and pay me when he could. Now, I propose to make it as hot as +pepper for him, especially since he has developed into a scalawag. The +latest report is, that he is one of the officials of the Union League."</p> + +<p>Old Jonas paused, and his bead-like eyes glittered maliciously. +"Sanders," he went on, "it isn't often I ask a man to do me a favour, +but I'm going to ask one of you. It will pay you to do it," he added, +observing the shadow of a doubt on Mr. Sanders's face.</p> + +<p>Adelaide's Bishop seemed to be very serious, but there was a twinkle in +his eye. He passed his hand over his mouth, in order to drive away a +smile that threatened to become insubordinate. "Would it be troublin' +you too much, Jonas," he said, "ef I was to ax you to pay me in +advance?"</p> + +<p>"Pish-tush!" exclaimed old Jonas, with a scowl; "you should get you a +fiddle, Sanders, or a hurdy-gurdy! What I want you to do, the first +opportunity you have, is to tell old Tuttle that the nigger that laid +him low in Judge Bowden's cotton-patch is at my house. He hates me for +doing him a favour, and he hates the nigger for striking him when +striking a white man was a hanging offence. He pretends to be a +nigger-lover now because he wants office; but when you tell him that +this boy is at my house, one of two things will happen: he'll get +together a gang of men of his own kidney and try the Ku-Klux game, or +he'll have him arrested for assault with intent to murder."</p> + +<p>"Bishop," said Adelaide, who had only a dim idea of the meaning of what +she had heard, "please don't let them get my Boogerman. I killed him, +you know, and he belongs to me."</p> + +<p>"No, suh! no, suh!" protested the Boogerman. "I don't want Mr. Tuttle to +lay eyes on me. I jest wanted to see my mammy, an' find out where 'bouts +Miss Betty is, an' then I'll git out'n folks' way. I might stand up an' +tell Mr. Tuttle the truth frum now twel next year an' he wouldn't +b'lieve a word I said. Me see Mr. Tuttle? No, suh! When Mr. Tuttle calls +on me, I'll be gone—done gone!"</p> + +<p>"Yasser!" cried Lucindy; "he's tellin' you de naked trufe! You reckin +I'd let my chile see ol' Tuttle? Well, not me! Maybe somebody else'd do +it, but not me! not ol' Lucindy! Don't you never b'lieve dat."</p> + +<p>"You say you can read and write?" said old Jonas to the Boogerman. +"Well, come into the house here, and black my shoes. Then, after that +you may preach me a sermon."</p> + +<p>"Yes!" exclaimed Adelaide, "Cally-Lou is awake now; I saw her at the +window; come in, Boogerman, and let her see you. She is seven years old, +and has never seen the Boogerman."</p> + +<p>"First, let Lucindy give you something to eat," said old Jonas, "but +don't fail to come in and black my shoes!"</p> + +<p>Old Jonas, Bishop Sanders, and Adelaide went into the house, while the +Boogerman went into the kitchen with his mother, where, seated by the +window, and as far away from the fireplace as ever, he told the tale of +his adventures—a tale which we are not concerned with here. Mr. Sanders +and old Jonas were soon absorbed in a game of checkers, but they were +not so completely lost in their surroundings that they failed to pay +heed to Adelaide as she went from room to room calling Cally-Lou. +Presently she seemed to find her in the parlour.</p> + +<p>"You are pouting," she said, "or you'd never be sitting in this room +where nobody ever comes. Why, they don't have any fires in here, and +nothing to eat. Nunky-Punky says if the sun was to shine in here, the +carpet would curl up and get singed. You don't know what it is to be +singed, do you? Well, it's the way Mammy Lucindy does the chicken after +all the feathers are picked off. She kindles the fire until it blazes, +and then holds the chicken in it until all its whiskers are burnt off. +You didn't know chickens had whiskers, did you? Well, they have. You'll +never find out anything if you mope in the house and pout like this. I +didn't know any child could be so hard-headed."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a> +<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"'You are pouting,' she said, 'or you'd never be sitting +in this room where nobody ever comes'"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Old Jonas reached out his hand to make a move, and held it suspended in +the air while Adelaide was talking to Cally-Lou. "Sanders," he said, +after awhile, "do you suppose the child really thinks she's talking to +some one. Can she see Cally-Lou?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" replied Mr. Sanders placidly. "Folks ain't half as smart when +they grow up as they is when they're little children. They shet the'r +eyes to one whole side of life. Kin you fling your mind back to the time +when your heart was soft, an' your eyes sharp enough for to see what +grown people never seed? Tell me that, Jonas."</p> + +<p>Old Jonas paused over a contemplated move, hesitated and sighed. "Did +you ever have little things happen to you," Mr. Sanders went on, +frowning a little, "that you never told to anybody? Did you ever dream +dreams when you was young that kinder rattled you for the longest, they +was so purty and true?"</p> + +<p>"I think you have me beat, Sanders," responded old Jonas; and no one +ever knew whether he referred to the game, or to the dreams.</p> + +<p>"You think so, maybe, but it's more; I'm a-gwine to make two more moves +and wipe you off the face of the earth!" And it happened just as Mr. +Sanders said it would; two more moves, and he captured four men, and +swept into the royal line where they crown kings. Old Jonas frowned and +pushed the men into the box where they were kept, with "I can't play +to-day, Sanders; my mind isn't on the game."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Sanders, "that's diffunt an' I don't blame you much, +for ef that little gal was loose in my house, what games I played would +be with her."</p> + +<p>"Sanders," said old Jonas, with some asperity, "you don't mean to say +that a little bit of a child like that would worry you!"</p> + +<p>"Worry me!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, with as scornful a look as he could +on his bland and benevolent face. "Worry me! why, what on earth do you +suppose I'm a-doin' in this house?"</p> + +<p>"I thought you came to play checkers with me," old Jonas responded.</p> + +<p>"Well," Mr. Sanders retorted, "ef you'd put your thoughts in a bag and +shake 'em up, an' then pour 'em out, you couldn't tell 'em from these +flyin' ants that was swarmin' from under your front steps awhile ago. +No, Jonas! Don't le' me shatter any fond dream you've got about me, but +sence Nan Dorrin'ton come into the state of Georgy by the Santy Claus +route, this little gal is the only human bein' that I ever wanted to +pick up an' smother wi' huggin' an' kissin'."</p> + +<p>"Is that so, Sanders?" old Jonas inquired, straightening up, with a +queer sparkle in his little eyes. "Why, I never thought——"</p> + +<p>"Tooby shore you didn't," Mr. Sanders interrupted. "Nobody ever thought +that you had any sech thoughts. Ef it was a crime to think 'em, an' you +was to git took up on sech a charge, the case'd be non-prosecuted by the +time it got in the courthouse. When it comes to that you've got the +majority of folks wi' you. You'll hear 'em talk an' brag how fond they +are of children, from morning tell night, but jest let one of the +youngsters make a big fuss, an' you'll see 'em flinch like the'r +feelin's is hurt. No Jonas, don't fool yourself. This world, an' not +only this world, but this town is full of children so lonesome that when +I think about it I feel right damp; an' thar's times when I set an' +think of these little things runnin' about wi' not a soul on top of the +yeth for to reely understand 'em, my heart gits so full that ef some un +was to slip up behind me an' put salt on my back, I reely believe I'd +melt an' turn to water like one of these gyarden snails. It's the honest +fact. Now, that child in thar—Adelaide—has allers had some un to +understand her an' know what she was thinkin' about; allers tell she +come here. Ef I hadn't know'd her mother, I could tell jest by lookin' +at Adelaide an' hearin' her talk, that she was one 'oman amongst ten +thousan'."</p> + +<p>"You put me in the wrong, Sanders, indeed you do; you may not intend it, +but you certainly do me wrong."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders regarded him with unfeigned astonishment: "Why, what have I +said, Jonas? Think it over! Is it doin' you wrong for me to say that +more than nine-tenths of the little children in the world is lonesome? +Does it hurt you when I say that Cordelia, your sister, was a 'oman +among ten thousand? If these sayin's hurt you, Jonas, you must have a +mortal tender conscience or a mighty thin skin. I've allers had the idee +that you ain't a bit wuss than you look to be; do you want me to change +my mind? Was thar ever under the blue sky a lonesomer gal than Cordelia, +or one easier to love? Did you love her as you ought? Did you treat her +right ever' day in the year? Did she ever have a good time of your +makin'? An' in spite of it, didn't she keep on gittin' nicer and nicer, +an' purtier an' purtier, tell bimeby, along come a young feller—as good +a man as ever trod shoe leather—an' snatched her right from under your +wing? An' didn't William H. Sanders, late of said county, show the young +fellow how, an' when, an' whar to snatch her?"</p> + +<p>"Did—did you do that, Sanders? Well, I'm glad I didn't know it at the +time, for I am afraid I'd have shot you."</p> + +<p>"Shot me!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, his blue eyes beaming innocently. +"Well, I've seed a good many quare things in my day an' time, but I've +yit to see the gun that could go off ahead of mine—not when thar was +any needcessity. You say you'd 'a' shot me; an' what did I do? I holp +Cordelia to the fust an' last taste of happiness she ever had in this +world. Did you ever do that much for her? You give her her vittles an' +cloze—sech as they was—but do plain vittles an' plain cloze make +anybody happy? Ef they do, then this old ball we 're walkin' on—when we +ain't fallin' down—must be runnin' over wi' happiness. Why, Jonas, you +wouldn't let the gal have no kind of company, male or female; she +couldn't go out, bekaze she had nobody for to take her; one little +picnic was all the gwine out she done arter she fell in your hands. I +tuck her to that an' I never was as glad of anything in my life as I was +when she an' Dick Lumsden made up the'r little misunderstandin' that you +had been the occasion of, an' had connived at, an' nursed like it was a +baby.</p> + +<p>"Well, they run away an' got married, an' went to housekeepin' not forty +yards from your door—an' you seen 'em ever' day of the world, an' yit +you done like you didn't know they was in town. An' wuss 'n that," Mr. +Sanders continued, his anger rising as he stirred the embers of +recollection—"wuss'n that, you never spoke a word to Cordelia from that +day tell the day she died—an' she your own sister! It's a mighty good +thing that Lumsden was well off while the war lasted. When it ended, he +was as poor as I was. He had land, but who kin eat land? Thar wa'n't but +one reely rich man in the community, Jonas, an' that man was you. +You had bought up all the gold for a hundred mile aroun', but not so +much as a thrip did Cordelia ever git out'n you.</p> + +<p>"What I'm a-tellin' you, Jonas, you know as well as I do; but I jest +want to let you know that we-all ain't been asleep all this time. +Lumsden got a good job in Atlanta, an' took his wife an' baby thar. Him +an' his wife was so well suited to one another that when one died, the +other thought the best thing she could do was to go an' jine him. Both +on 'em know'd mighty well that the Lord would look arter the little gal. +Oh, I know what you want to say: you want to tell me that you was +afear'd Lumsden would turn out to be no 'count, bekaze he was wild when +a boy—an' would have his fling now an' then; but that don't go wi' me, +Jonas. You know what he turned out to be; you know what Cordelia had to +go through; you know that one kind word from you would 'a' been wuth +more to her than all the money you've got in the world; an' yit, your +pride, or your venom—you kin name it an' keep it—hender'd you from +makin' that poor child as happy as she mought 'a' been. An' I'll tell +you, Jonas, jest as shore as the Lord lives an' the sun shines on a +troubled world, you'll have to pay for it."</p> + +<p>Several times during this remarkable tirade—remarkable because it was +delivered with some vehemence, right in old Jonas's teeth—he made an +effort to interrupt Mr. Sanders, but the latter had put him down with a +gesture that a novel writer would call imperious. Imperious or not, it +gave pause to whatever old Jonas had to say in his own behalf; and it +must have all been true, too, for the old fellow finally turned away, +pulled his hat down over his eyes, and pretended to be looking at +something interesting that he saw from the window. Mr. Sanders, when he +had concluded, was surprised to find that old Jonas seemed to be more +hurt than angry; and he would have gone into the parlour where Adelaide +was still playing with Cally-Lou, but old Jonas turned around and faced +him.</p> + +<p>"You've said a great many things, Sanders, that nobody else would have +said, and I gather that you consider me to be a pretty mean fellow; but +did it ever occur to you that perhaps I'm not as mean as I seem to be? +Did it ever occur to you that a man could be so shy and suspicious that +he was compelled to close his mind against what you call love and +affection; and, that, with his mind thus closed, he could cease to +believe in such things? I don't suppose you follow me; but it's the +simple truth. That child in there won't be put to bed at night until she +kisses me good-night, and, even then she wont go until I kiss her. Think +of that, Sanders! No matter what you and other people may think, the +child doesn't believe that I am a mean man."</p> + +<p>"I could tell you, Jonas, that Adelaide ain't old enough for to tell a +mean man ef she met him in the road. But I'll not do that, bekaze I know +mighty well that you ain't as mean as you try to make out. Thar never +was a man on this green globe that didn't have a tender spot in his +gizzard for them that know'd jest when an' whar to tetch it. Ef I took +you at your face value, Jonas, not only would I never put my foot in +your house, but I wouldn't speak to you on the street. I tell you that +flat an' plain."</p> + +<p>The conversation of the two men had been carried on in a tone something +louder than was absolutely necessary, especially on the part of Mr. +Sanders. Indeed, finical folk would have said that the rosy-faced +Georgian was actually rude; but he had found an opportunity to deliver +himself of a burden that had long been a weight on his mind, and he did +it in no uncertain terms. He fully expected either to find himself in +the midst of a row, or to be ordered from old Jonas's house, and he had +prepared himself for both emergencies. But instead of offending the +lonely old money-lender, he had merely set him to thinking; and his +thoughts were not very pleasant ones. He heard every word that Mr. +Sanders said, and it was true, but even as he listened, the whole +panorama of his past life moved before him, and he could see himself in +a narrow perspective, living his cheerless childhood, his almost +friendless youth, and his lonely manhood. In those days, long gone, he +had had his dreams, even as now Adelaide had hers, but their existence +was brief, and their date inconsiderable. He pitied the child, the +youth, and the young man, but strange to say, he had no pity for the +grown man to whom Mr. Sanders was reading one of his cornfield lectures. +He knew that what he was, was the direct outgrowth and development of +all that had gone before.</p> + +<p>His sister had never understood him, and was afraid of him. He, silent +and self-contained, never sought her confidence nor gave her his. A word +from her, a word from him, would have made clear everything that was +dark, or doubtful, or suspicious in their attitude toward each other. He +thought that her silence spelled contempt of a certain kind, and she was +sure that she had his hearty dislike. And so it went, as such matters do +in this world where no one save a chosen few see more than an inch +beyond their noses.</p> + +<p>I could fetch Adelaide on the scene just by waving my hand, but there is +no need to, for the tone in which Mr. Sanders pitched his lecture was +quite sufficient. Her quick, firm steps sounded on the floor with such +emphasis, that any one acquainted with the lady would have known that +she was indignant. But her careful training told even here, for +composure held her irritation in check, and her refinement showed in her +attitude and gestures, giving her small person a cuteness and prettiness +quite out of the common.</p> + +<p>"Why, good gracious me, Bishop! You don't know how many noises you're +making. How can Cally-Lou sleep in the house? She sleeps a good deal +lately, and I'm afraid she'll be sick, poor little thing, if she wakes +up quicker than she ought."</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, in a loud and an excited whisper. "Now, +don't tell me that Cally-Lou has gone and drapped off to sleep ag'in! +Why, at this rate, she'll turn night into day, an' vicy-versy, an' Time, +old an' settled as he is, will git turned wrong-sud-out'erds, an' +ever'thing'll git so tangled up that you can't tell howdy from good-bye, +ner ef the clock's tickin' backerds or forrerds; we'll git so turned +around that we can't tell grasshoppers from turkey-buzzards. I'm reely +sorry she didn't see you shoot the Boogerman, be jigger'd ef I ain't. +The sight of that would 'a' made her open her eyes wider than they've +been sence I fust know'd her."</p> + +<p>In reply to this, Adelaide said she was afraid Cally-Lou wasn't very +well. "Won't you come in and see her, Bishop? The truly-ann Bishop used +to come to see my mother before they sent her where my papa was—the +place where people get well when they're sick. Yes! and he used to bring +things in his pocket—all sorts of goodies—gum-drops and candy kisses, +and he said that if I ate them, all by myself, he wouldn't be hoarse in +his throat any more when he had to holler loud at the sinners to keep +them from goin' to the Bad Place; and once when I ate a whole heap of +them at once, he cleared his throat, the truly-ann Bishop did, and said +he was almost cured."</p> + +<p>"I'll shorely try that trick ef it'll he'p me for to be a truly-ann +Bishop, bekaze I've been so hoarse lately that I can't see my own voice +in the lookin'-glass, no matter how I holler. Nothin' shows up in the +glass but a little muddly mist, an' I have to wipe that off wi' my red +silk han'kcher. Speakin' of Cally-Lou, when had I oughter pay my party +call?"</p> + +<p>"She doesn't like for anybody to see her because she isn't right white," +Adelaide explained, "but she's asleep now, and you might come in to see +her now if you'll walk easy."</p> + +<p>Talk about burglars! Talk about thieves in the night! Talk about wild +animals with padded feet creeping and stealing on their prey! All of +them could have taken lessons in their craftiness from Adelaide and Mr. +Sanders. Yes, and for a brief moment or two from old Jonas, for he +joined the creeping procession, impelled by some mysterious motive. They +stole into the darkened parlour, Adelaide in advance, and paused when +she waved her hand. Then she pointed to the darkest corner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders will tell you to this day that he thought he saw something +dim and dark huddled there—some wavering shape that had no outlines; +but just at the critical moment, just when they were all about to see +Cally-Lou, what should old Jonas do but stumble against a chair, as he +craned his neck forward? Well, of course, with such awkwardness as this +on the part of a man old enough to be Adelaide's grandfather, their +scheme was ruined. Cally-Lou heard the noise, opened her eyes, and fled +from the room so nimbly and with such dispatch that none of them could +see her. Even Adelaide only caught the faintest glimpse of her as she +whisked out of the room, and all she could say, was, "Did you ever see +any one so foolish?" Then she ran after Cally-Lou, pursuing her into the +sitting-room and then into the library, where she seemed to have caught +her, for the others heard her upbraiding and scolding her in the style +approved by all parents who are strict disciplinarians.</p> + +<p>"Jonas," said Mr. Sanders, "did you see anything? Didn't you notice +somethin' in the corner—it mought 'a' been nothin' an' then, ag'in, it +mought 'a' been the biggest thing mortual eyes ever gazed on—didn't you +see somethin' like a shadder?"</p> + +<p>Old Jonas's reply was very prompt. He smacked his lips as though he +tasted something nice. "No, Sanders! I didn't see anything, and what's +more, I didn't expect to see anything."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders opened wide his eyes and stared at old Jonas as hard as if +he had been some rare kind of curiosity placed on exhibition for the +first time.</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll know me next time you see me!" exclaimed old Jonas, +somewhat snappishly. "Do you want me to tell you I saw something, when +in fact I saw nothing?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders passed his hand over his face, as though the gesture would +better enable him to contemplate the sorrowful condition of his +companion. "Jonas," he said with a sigh as heavy as if he had been a +sleepy cow in a big pasture, "ef you'd 'a' had your two eyes put out a +quarter of an hour arter you were born, you couldn't talk any more like +a blind man than you did jest then. You said you seed nothin,'an' a +blind man could say the same, day or night."</p> + +<p>The reply that old Jonas made was characteristic; he pulled his hat a +little further down over his ears, and said nothing. Fortunately for him +perhaps, there was a timely diversion at that moment. Some one raised +the big knocker on the door and let it fall again. Such a bang had not +been heard in the house for many a long day; it set the frightened +echoes flying. Adelaide heard them, and they must have been following +her pretty close, for she ran into the sitting-room, crying:</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, Bishop! Gracious goodness, Nunky-Punky! what was that? +Did some one shoot at my Boogerman? He's already been kill'ded once, and +he ought not to be kill'ded again."</p> + +<p>Neither of the men could give her any satisfaction, and so she ran into +the parlour and peeped through the blinds of a window that commanded a +view of the piazza. Almost instantly she came running back again, +pretended amazement in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I know who it is!" she said in a tragic whisper. "It's my wild +Injun-rubber man, and, oh, my goodness! he looks vigorous and vexified! +Where shall we hide?"</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, it had been such a long time since the knocker had +been used that a big fat spider had spun a silken arbour there. Old +Jonas hesitated so long about responding that Lucindy, who had heard the +noise in the kitchen, put her head in the back door, with the query:</p> + +<p>"Did any er you-all turn loose a gun in dar? Seem like I sho heern a gun +go off!"</p> + +<p>Lucindy's voice seemed to have a reassuring effect on old Jonas, for he +brushed some dust specks from the front of his coat, straightened +himself, and started for the front door which was the centre of the +disturbance. As he made his way along the hall, Mr. Sanders, in +obedience to an imperious gesture from Adelaide, disappeared behind a +huge rocker, while the child concealed herself behind the door. Mr. +Sanders took off his hat, whipped out his red silk handkerchief, threw +it over his head and tied it under his chin. Adelaide had a partial view +of her Bishop, and the sight she saw seemed to be too much for her: she +gave a gasp, and sank to the floor as though in great pain.</p> + +<p>They heard old Jonas urging the visitor to come in, while the other +protested that he only wanted to say a word to Mr. Sanders, which could +be said at the door as well, if not better, than anywhere else. Old +Jonas called Mr. Sanders, but no one answered him. Then Adelaide and her +Bishop heard old Jonas and the visitor coming along the hallway. "I +don't want to trouble you at all, Mr. Whipple. They told me at the +tavern that Mr. Sanders was here, and I just wanted to put a flea in his +ear about a little matter."</p> + +<p>"Well, just come right in," responded old Jonas, cordially. "Sanders!" +he called.</p> + +<p>Adelaide ventured to glance at Mr. Sanders again, and this time she +could not restrain herself. She gave utterance to an ear-piercing +shriek, which was more than sustained by a blood-curdling yell from Mr. +Sanders!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_IV" id="PART_IV"></a>PART IV</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And now, good comrades, what shall it be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A dungeon cell or a gallows tree?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—<i>Varner's Lynching Songs.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Never, since the day you were born, have you seen such a jump, or heard +such a grunt as old Jonas gave. You would have thought the Ku-Klux had +him, for this was the year Eighteen-Hundred-and-under-the-Bushes, with +old Raw-Head-and-Bloody-Bones keeping his green eyes wide open. For one +brief and fleeting moment, old Jonas's whole body seemed to be wrenched +out of socket, as Mr. Sanders said afterward; his hat fell off, and it +was as much as he could do to keep his feet. He scowled, and then he +tried to smile, but the scowl felt very much at home on his wrinkled +countenance, and refused to be ousted by a feeble smile.</p> + +<p>Even the visitor, whose name was Augustus Tidwell, was startled, and he +showed it in his face, but he recovered much sooner than old Jonas did. +He was one of the most prominent lawyers in that whole section, where +prominent lawyers were plentiful. He was dignified, because he had to +live up to his position, but all his dignity was dispersed by Adelaide +and her Bishop. Adelaide called Mr. Tidwell her Injun-rubber because he +wore his hair long, so that it fell in glistening waves over his coat +collar. This gave him a very romantic appearance, and when engaged in +the practice of law he always made the most of it; he could tousel his +hair and look the picture of rage; he could push it straight back from +his wide forehead, and seem to stand for innocence and virtue; and he +could ruffle it up on one side, and tell juries how they should find in +cases where the interests of his clients were concerned.</p> + +<p>But dignity and a romantic appearance couldn't stand before Adelaide and +her Bishop. Mr. Sanders, with the red silk handkerchief thrown over his +head and tied under his chin, was a sight you would have gone far to +see. He had such marvellous control of his features that, one moment he +had the appearance of an overgrown baby, and the next, he was the living +image of an old country granny who had come to town to swap a pound of +snow-white butter for a hank or two of spun-truck. The fact is, Adelaide +was compelled to roll on the floor and kick, so acute were the paroxysms +of laughter. Mr. Sanders laughed, too, but when Adelaide glanced at him +he would wipe the smile from his face and look as solemn as a real +truly-ann Bishop; and this was worse than laughing, for Adelaide would +be compelled to roll over the floor again.</p> + +<p>Old Jonas didn't have any of the pains that come from laughter. At first +he was frightened nearly to death at the manifestations for which +Adelaide and her Bishop were responsible; then the reaction was toward +hot anger, which finally developed into a feeling of impatient disgust +at the spectacle which Mr. Sanders presented.</p> + +<p>"Sanders," he said, sharply and earnestly, "if I didn't know you I'd be +willing to swear you had gone crazy! Why, who under the blue sky ever +heard of a grown man indulging in such antics and capers! It's simply +scandalous, that's what it is."</p> + +<p>"It is that-away!" blandly remarked Mr. Sanders. "An' more especially +it's a scandal when me an' that child thar can't have five minnits' fun +all by ourselves but what you come a-stickin' your head in the door, an' +try for to turn a somerset wi'out liftin' your feet off'n the floor! I +leave it to Gus Tidwell thar ef anybody in this house has cut up more +capers than what you have. I wish you could 'a' seed yourself when you +was flinging your hat on the floor, an' tryin' for to keep your feet in +a slanchindic'lar position, an' workin' an' twistin' your mouth like you +was tryin' for to git it on top of your head—ef you could 'a' seed all +that you'd agree wi' me that thar wa'n't no room in this house for youth +an' innocence."</p> + +<p>Adelaide took advantage of the conversation to run out of the room to +see if Cally-Lou had been frightened by all the noise; and presently the +men heard her relating all the circumstances to her brown Ariel, and +laughing almost as heartily at her own recital as she laughed when Mr. +Sanders winked at her with the red handkerchief on his head.</p> + +<p>"Who is she talking to?" Lawyer Tidwell inquired.</p> + +<p>"Just talking to herself," responded old Jonas, with unnecessary +tartness.</p> + +<p>"Don't you nigh believe it, Gus," said Mr. Sanders. "She ain't twins, +an' she's talkin' to some un that she can see an' we can't. Why, ef thar +wa'n't nothin' thar, she'd be the finest play-actor that ever played in +a county courthouse."</p> + +<p>"She is certainly a wonderful child," said the lawyer. "Lucindy brought +her to see my wife the other day, and I happened to be at home. I never +enjoyed anybody's company so well on a short acquaintance as I did hers. +My wife is daft about her, and she believes with you, Mr. Sanders, that +the Cally-Lou she talks about so much is really her companion."</p> + +<p>"Why, tooby shore, Gus. Children see an' know a heap things that they +don' say nothin' about for fear they'll be laughed at. All you've got to +do to see Cally-Lou is turn your head quick enough. I ain't limber +enough myself, an' I reckon I never will be any more."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of Lucindy, Mr. Sanders, I wanted to see you about some little +business of hers, and it's business that she doesn't know anything +about. Moreover, she wouldn't help matters much if she knew about it. I +don't know how Mr. Whipple feels, but I know very well how you and I +feel. You don't need to be told that nearly all the negroes have fallen +out of sympathy with the whites; but there are a few we can still trust +and have a genuine friendship for—and Lucindy is one of them. Now, I +was sitting in my office to-day reading, when all of a sudden I heard +someone talking in low tones. I didn't hear everything that was said, +but I heard enough to learn that Lucindy's son Randall is somewhere in +the county."</p> + +<p>"He shorely is for a fact!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders. "Right in the state, +county, town, an' deestrick aforesaid. Go on, Gus."</p> + +<p>"Well you know, he's the boy that came within an ace of putting old +Tuttle out of business in 1864. But now old Tuttle is the Radical +Ordinary, elected by the niggers, and he is afraid to bring suit against +Randall in the Superior Court. But he wants the boy put out of business +if it can be done without mixing his name with the affair. I couldn't +overhear all that was said, but I heard enough to know that old Tuttle +intends to have Randall arrested on a charge of assault with intent to +murder, and run him out of the county. Now, I wouldn't care a snap of my +finger if it wasn't for the fact that Randall is Lucindy's son, and he +must be taken care of. I don't know how you gentlemen feel about it, but +that's the way I feel."</p> + +<p>"Ef it'll do you any good to know," Mr. Sanders remarked, "me an' Jonas +feel exactly the same way; an' what's more, we don't intend that Randall +shall be run off. He's right here on this lot, an' here he's a-gwine to +stay, ef I have any sesso in the matter. I'll pay his board, Jonas, ef +that'll suit you, bekaze I've got a crow to pick wi' ol' Tuttle, an' +when I git it picked he'll have more loose feathers than he kin walk off +wi'. Jest mark that down."</p> + +<p>"Pish-tush!" exclaimed old Jonas, smacking his thin lips, and frowning. +He rose and went to the back door, and presently the others heard him +calling Randall, who seemed to be somewhat slow in answering—so much so +that Lucindy's voice was added to his.</p> + +<p>"Randall!" she cried, "what in de name er goodness you doin' in dar? +Don't you hear Mr. Whipple hollain' atter you? Look like you des ez +triflin' now as what you wuz when you loped off!"</p> + +<p>Randall replied after a while, and old Jonas's command was, "Come here, +you no account scoundrel, and black my shoes!"</p> + +<p>"Why, Jonas," said Mr. Sanders, when the former had returned to the +room, "ain't you afraid you'll take cold? You ain't had your shoes +blacked sence the war!"</p> + +<p>The only reply old Jonas made to that was in the shape of a scowl. +Randall came running with a puzzled expression on his face. He dropped +his hat somewhere outside the door, and went in.</p> + +<p>"They tell me," said old Jonas, somewhat curtly, "that you are studying +to be a bishop."</p> + +<p>"That's what I laid off in my mind, suh. It come to me when I hear um +prayin' an' singin'; I allow to myself, I did, that ef it's all ez purty +an' ez nice ez that, they wa'n't nothin' gwine to keep me from bein' a +minister when the time got ripe. That's what I said to myself, suh."</p> + +<p>"Well," remarked Mr. Sanders, reassuringly, "you've already got to be a +Boogerman, an' I reckon that's long step forrerd."</p> + +<p>"Black my shoes!" commanded old Jonas in a tone that was almost brutal. +Randall hustled around until he found an old box of blacking that had +been in the kitchen for many years. With this and an old brush that +Lucindy found in some impossible place, he proceeded to give old Jonas's +shoes a polish that caused them to shine brightly.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it is beneath the dignity of a pastor to black shoes?" +old Jonas asked.</p> + +<p>Randall chuckled. "That's the way some white folks'd feel about it," he +answered; "but me—I'm black, an' I ain't got no business for to feel +so—not me! St. Paul, or it may be St. Timothy, he says, somewhere, I +dunner 'zackly where, 'What your han' finds to do, let your heart +commend.'"</p> + +<p>"Wa'n't it Shakespeare said that?" Mr. Sanders inquired.</p> + +<p>"It mought 'a' been, suh," replied Randall. "All I know, it was some of +them Bible folks. They say, 'Do what yo' han' finds to do, an' do it +better'n some un else could 'a' done it.' That's why you see these shoes +lookin' like they're spang new."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus7" id="illus7"></a> +<img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"'That's why you see these shoes lookin' like they're +spang new'"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Why, I should have thought that a man who is studying to be a bishop," +said old Jonas, sharply, "would think himself above blacking anybody's +shoes."</p> + +<p>"It may be so, suh, in some parts of the country and amongst some +people, but it ain't that-away wid me—I may come to it, suh, but I +ain't come to it yit."</p> + +<p>Randall finished the shoes, and offered to black those of the other men +present, but they declined, and then old Jonas fished around in his +pocket for a shin-plaster small enough to fit the job that had been +done. He found a ragged one that faintly promised to pay the bearer five +cents on demand, but Randall recoiled from it, and held up his hands in +protest. "No, suh! Oh, no, suh! It was wuth all I done jest to hear +you-all gentermens talkin' kinder friendly like. Ef you-all had all the +trouble I uv done had, all the time dodgin' an' lookin roun' cornders +fer fear er Mr. Tuttle er some er his kinnery—he's got um all up dar +whar I been—you'd be mo' than thankful for to hear some un talkin' like +de nex' minnit ain't 'gwine ter be de las'. I done got it proned inter +me that I'm gwine for to be Ku-Klucked long 'fo' I have gray ha'r. You +dunner how nice it is for to have white folks talkin' like they ain't +gwine to kill you yet awhile."</p> + +<p>To any one who knew little of the negro race, Randall's remarks would +have sounded tremendously like a sly joke, with a little irony thrown in +for good measure; but though the negro's voice was soft and deliberate, +he was terribly in earnest, and those who heard him understood and +appreciated this simple recital of a harrowing experience already behind +him, and his lively fear of something worse to come.</p> + +<p>"Well, when you get to be a bishop," remarked old Jonas, "I expect you +to come and black my shoes."</p> + +<p>"I'll do it, suh, an' be glad to do it. Des take yo' stan' anywhere, +jest so it's a public place, an' holla at me, an' tell me you want yo' +shoes blacked. I'll do it, suh, in the face of ten thousand."</p> + +<p>"I believe you would!" exclaimed old Jonas almost gleefully.</p> + +<p>"You don't hafter b'lieve me, suh; jest holla at me, an' yo shoes'll be +blacked."</p> + +<p>With that, Randall started out of the room, but Mr. Sanders raised his +hand. "B'ar in mind, Boogerman, that you're not to leave the lot after +dark. Old Tuttle is a rank Radical, an' a nigger-lover for what revenue +thar is in it, but he's fixin' up his tricks for to give you a taste of +the Radical-Republican movement, an' he's got to be watched. We'll do +the watchin' ef you'll do the hidin'."</p> + +<p>"I'll be more than glad to do that, suh," said Randall, with invincible +politeness—"mo' than glad. I uv got so now, sence freedom come, that I +can hide most as good as I can eat; an' when I say that, you may know it +means sump'n."</p> + +<p>"I reckon it does," said old Jonas, "something to me!"</p> + +<p>Randall laughed pleasantly, and bowed himself out. In a moment the men +in the sitting-room heard him talking to Adelaide in the entry.</p> + +<p>"My goodness, little mistiss! A little mo' an' you'd a skeer'd me +crooked—an' I ain't right straight now. I had de idee that I was to be +the Boogerman, but ef you go on this-a-way, you'll be the Boogerman."</p> + +<p>"Oho!" laughed Adelaide; "don't you know that a young lady could never +be a Boogerman?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare!" Randall exclaimed almost joyously; "that certainly is +so in these days of tribulation. But that ain't all; I uv got a bigger +Boogerman than you uv got. How is Miss Cally-Lou?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, shucks!" replied Adelaide, "you don't have to call her miss; she +ain't right white. Don't you see her standing here by me?"</p> + +<p>"Well, suh!" exclaimed the Boogerman in the tone of one who has just +made a remarkable discovery. "Ef I don't, I most does; an' when you git +that close to Cally-Lou it's the same as seein' her. She don't look +right well to me," said the Boogerman at a venture.</p> + +<p>"Then you do see her," remarked Adelaide; "she hasn't been well for a +day or two."</p> + +<p>"Make her git outdoors, an' take the fresh air," suggested the +Boogerman.</p> + +<p>This suggestion seemed to meet the views of Adelaide, for she went out +into the yard, crying, "Come along, Cally-Lou! Come along!"</p> + +<p>Old Jonas stirred uneasily in his chair, "Do you know, Sanders," he +said, "that my grandmother had a little mulatto girl named Cally-Lou. As +I remember her, she was the smartest little thing that ever ran about on +two legs. I wonder——" Old Jonas paused, and Mr. Sanders didn't give +him time to straighten out his thought.</p> + +<p>"No, Jonas; you don't wonder, an' you needn't pertend to. Nuther here +nor here-arter, will that sorter thing work. When I ketch you wonderin', +I'll know you've took one of them infectious diseases that you read +about. You could see Cally-Lou, an' so could I, if our gizzards was in +the right place. But I kin say as much as that nigger did—I mighty nigh +seed her. Folks tell me that you kin see the wind ef you'll take a +handsaw at the right time of day, an' hold it so the breeze kin blow +over it. I an't got the least doubt that we could see a heap of things +that we never do see, ef we know'd when, an' whar, an' how to look."</p> + +<p>The three men were silent a long time until Lawyer Tidwell remarked, +with something that sounded like a sigh, "I reckon we'd better be going, +Mr. Sanders." They went away, leaving old Jonas alone in the house. He +neither bade them good-bye, nor turned his head when they went. But when +he heard the door shut, he went to the window, as if to make sure they +had really gone; and when he was satisfied on this point, he shuffled to +the back porch, and called for Randall. The negro came silent, but +wondering. For years he had been in a state of uneasy expectation, and +he found it almost impossible to free himself from it now. Old Jonas was +blunt and brief.</p> + +<p>"Go over to the courthouse, walk into the Ordinary's office, and ask if +Mr. Sanders and Lawyer Tidwell have been there. As a matter of fact, +they haven't been there, and they are not going there, but old Tuttle +will think they are coming and he'll be worried about it. I want you to +show yourself to him just once. Answer every question he asks you. Tell +him where you are staying; say that I have employed you; but pretend you +don't know him. Then walk around the public square, and through the +town, make yourself known to some of your coloured friends, and come +right back here and go to work about the lot and yard just as if you had +been here a long time."</p> + +<p>Randall made no reply; he merely stood scratching his head, and fumbling +with his hat trying hard to come to some understanding, however dim, of +the motive and purpose that lay behind old Jonas's command; but, try as +he would, he couldn't make out the puzzle that seemed to envelope and +becloud his mind. Still fumbling with his hat, and standing on first one +foot and then the other, he remarked, with some hesitation, "Well, suh, +I'll go ef it's yo' will—but you know what St. Paul (er it may be St. +Second Timothy) tells us. He tells us, one er both, for to go not +whether we'll be treated contretemptous, not by day an' not by +night—Paul er St. Second Timothy, one er both."</p> + +<p>Old Jonas regarded the negro with amazement; for the first time in his +life he had a whiff of the kind of education the negroes were picking up +here and there.</p> + +<p>That, or something else irritated him, and he spoke with some heat. +"Well, confound you! do just as you please! Go or don't go—you're free, +I reckon. But if you do go, say to old Tuttle that you're glad to see +him looking so well. You are a Republican, I reckon?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," replied Randall, with some degree of hesitation; "ef you put +it that way, I speck I is. Nobody ain't never gi' me no chanst for to be +anything else. I jest did squeeze in the Northron Methodist Church; ef +I'd 'a' had on a long coat, the tail would 'a' been ketched in the crack +of the door. All these here new doin's an' new fashions makes me feel +right ticklish, an' sometimes I ketch myself laughin' when they ain't +nothin' to laugh at, an' it took me long for to find out that when you +laugh in the wrong place it's because you ought to be cryin' by good +rights. All this has been gwine on now some time, an' I done come to +that pass that when a piece of paper blows round the cornder right +sudden, I mighty nigh jump out'n my skin. I'm tellin' you the plain +truth, suh! An' now, after all this, you want me to put on what little +cloze I got an' walk right into Mr. Tuttle's jaws—the identual man that +I've been runnin' fum I dunner how long—him that I come mighty nigh +joltin' across—I done forgot what St. Luke (or maybe it wuz St. +Mark—they run so close together in the book that I skacely know t'other +fum which). Anyhow, they's a Bible name for the thing you want me to do; +an' I tell you right now, I dunner whether for to do it or not. You +white folks don't keer much what you do—I've done took notice of that; +but when it comes down to a plain nigger, why, he's got to walk as thin +as a batter cake; he's got to step like he's afeard of stickin' a needle +in his foot. I'm tellin' you the truth, suh; I been dodgin' an' hidin' +so long that when I hear anybody walkin' fast behind me, the flesh +crawls on my back—yes, suh, natchally crawls—an' I have to hol' my +breath for to keep fum breakin' loose an' runnin'. I'll go there, suh, +an' I hope it'll be all right; but I never is to forget what St. Paul +(or it may be St. Second Timothy) says on that head."</p> + +<p>Old Jonas frowned heavily, and further betrayed his irritation by a +smothered malediction that included the entire negro race. Randall +waited for no further outbreak; he melted, as it were, from the doorway, +and disappeared as far as old Jonas was concerned, but Adelaide, who was +sitting in a little bower she had made for herself, saw him standing by +the fence gazing into space. The child after awhile turned her attention +to play, but Randall held his ground for a long time, looking into the +bright sky far beyond the bermuda hills for a proper solution of the +problem he had in his mind. But it was a problem that the windy spaces +with their blue perspective could not solve, and so, with a sigh, he +betook himself to the courthouse, where the man whose life he had nearly +taken was now holding forth as an officer of the law. The slave-driver +had become a belated Unionist, then a Republican, and was now a Radical +of the stripe and temper of poor Thaddeus Stevens, who was at that time +the centre and motor of Radical politics.</p> + +<p>Now, Mr. Tuttle was by no means asleep; he had watched and waited for +the return of Randall. He carried in his pocket book a warrant, duly +made out and officially signed, for the arrest of the negro. The charge +was assault with intent to murder. He saw Randall long before Randall +saw him, called the deputy sheriff, who had a room across the corridor, +apprised him of the fact that a criminal was to be arrested, pulled from +his pocket-book the wrong document, and the moment the negro entered the +courthouse he found himself in custody of the dread officer of the law. +To say that he was frightened would be putting it rather mildy; he was +paralysed with sickening fear, which was only overcome by desperate rage +against the white people, all and singular, who had caused him to walk +into such a trap.</p> + +<p>The park in which the courthouse stands was separated from the rest of +the public square by a small, neat fence, over which, at the entrances, +steps led, so that instead of opening a gate, you simply walked up the +steps, over the fence, and down on the other side. On top of the most +frequented of these stiles or steps Mr. Sanders and Lawyer Tidwell were +sitting. Lawyer Tidwell was on his way to the courthouse for the purpose +of examining some legal documents relating to a case he had on the +docket, and Mr. Sanders had accompanied him as far as the enclosure. +Their conversation grew so interesting that they finally seated +themselves on the topmost step of the stile. They may have been talking +of something serious, or they may have been relating anecdotes; but +whatever the character of their conference, it was brought to a sudden +conclusion by the appearance of the deputy sheriff with his humble and +unresisting prisoner. The deputy had a fine and high opinion of the +dignity of his position; he magnified his office. "Make way, gentlemen!" +he cried, and stood waiting for Mr. Sanders and the lawyer to move +respectfully aside.</p> + +<p>Both men looked up, but it was left to Mr. Sanders to express the +surprise of each. "What in the confounded nation does this mean?" he +exclaimed, rising to a standing position, and facing the officer and +prisoner.</p> + +<p>The prisoner was ahead of the deputy with a reply: "It means lots mo' to +me than what it do to anybody else, suh," Randall declared, drawing in a +deep breath, as if, in that way, he could control his emotion. "Whar I +come frum they warned me ag'in' all white folks, bofe Republican an' +Dimmycrat. They say, 'You go an' preach the straight gospel, an' let 'em +alone when they talk anything else but the Saviour an' Him crucified; +they tol' me that, an' now you see me! But for that little white child +down yander, I wouldn't be here now. But here I is, an' here I'll stay, +an' I'll be nuther the fust nor the last that was flung to the lions. +Look at Daniel, an' see what he done! Yes, suh! I'm right here!"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, you jest hold up your head an' put your hat on sideways ef +you want to," remarked Mr. Sanders. "Gus!" he said, turning to the +lawyer, with something like a frown on his bland countenance, "here's a +whole bunch of business that's fell right in our laps. An' it's all in +your line, too; but ef you can't do nothin', why, then, I'll take up the +loose ends an' see what I kin do wi' 'em. I'll tell you right now," he +went on, turning to the deputy sheriff, "when you take this nigger to +jail, you'll take me, too—you or the man that's waitin' for your job. +Make no mistake about that!"</p> + +<p>A number of negroes who had been talking together near the courthouse +drew nearer when they saw one of their colour held prisoner. One of them +was the negro member of the Legislature, and he was curious to know what +the trouble was—curious and sympathetic, too, for he somehow felt that +as the representative of the race in the county, he was responsible for +the welfare of each individual. When Lawyer Tidwell thought that the +negroes were near enough to hear everything that was said, he rose from +his seat on the stile, and impressively shook his leonine mane. "What do +you propose to do with this boy?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>"I'm taking him to jail," the deputy replied, with a little relapse from +dignity due to the unwonted aspect of Mr. Tidwell and Mr. Sanders. The +lawyer demanded by what authority he had arrested the negro, and asked +to see the warrant. By this time a considerable crowd of coloured people +had gathered around, and when the warrant was produced, Mr. Tidwell +created a considerable sensation by the tone of indignation he assumed +and by the dramatic gestures with which he denounced such proceedings.</p> + +<p>"Do you call this a warrant?" he cried, striking the document with the +back of his hand. Then with threatening forefinger, held under the +deputy's nose, he went on: "Do you mean to tell me, sir, that you arrest +people, and run them into jail with such scraps of paper as this is? +Deprive them of their rights under the constitution without giving them +a chance to be heard at a preliminary trial?" Lawyer Tidwell's voice +grew higher, and his indignation seemed to rise higher, as he +contemplated the rampant injustice of the period, of which this +proceeding was a very small part. "Mark my words!" he exclaimed; "you'll +go to jail before this boy does! You know just as well as I do that this +is no warrant. You know it isn't properly made out, nor even properly +signed. I tell you again, the man that issued it will be impeached, and +the man that served it will occupy the same cell. You'll know a thing or +two worth remembering when I get through with you!" The lawyer's whole +attitude was menacing, and it made precisely the impression he had +intended it should. He turned to Randall. "What party do you vote with?"</p> + +<p>"Wid the party of Aberham Lincoln, suh; an' if you want to know why, +turn to St. Paul (or it may be St. Second Timothy—one or the other) an' +you'll see where the brotherin is begged an' commanded for to stand by +one another in all manner of trial an' tribulation. In them days, suh, +they grit one another wi' a holy kiss; but in these times—la! holy +kissin' is done played out like a hoss that went through the war!"</p> + +<p>At this point the negro legislator, in order to keep up his reputation +for representing his race, spoke up. "Frien', what has you been doin', +an' what has you been tuck up fer? It look like ter me that you has got +a case fer ter fetch up in the gener'l insembly, an' ef you is, I want +ter have the handlin' un it."</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Tidwell who replied. "Don't you remember that old Tuttle was +an overseer before the war? He had no niggers of his own, and he took +his spite out on other people's niggers. One day, when he was kicking +and cuffing this boy here, he hit him one lick too many. Randall turned +on him, and came pretty near knocking him into the middle of next week. +You-all have put old Tuttle in a place where he has a little power, and +now, after all these years, he wants to slap Randall in jail, when he +knows just as well as you know that he hit the boy a hundred times as +many licks as the boy hit him. And he sha'n't put him in jail! One of +you boys run to Mr. Whipple's and tell him that Mr. Sanders wants to see +him at the courthouse at once. Tell him that Randall is in trouble."</p> + +<p>Not only one negro, but half a dozen negroes, went on a run to carry the +message to old Jonas.</p> + +<p>"Ten to one he doesn't come," remarked Mr. Tidwell to his companion in +an undertone.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders himself had a very small supply of undertones, and so he +spoke right out when he replied to the lawyer—"Ef he don't come I'll go +arter him, an' ef I have to do that, I'll paint him red before he gits +here! I promise you you won't know him!"</p> + +<p>But old Jonas came fast enough; moreover, he came smiling, and this, +together with the fact that he forgot to remove his skull-cap when he +put on his hat gave him something of a new aspect in the eyes even of +those who had known him long. The rapidity with which he walked was not +so remarkable, considering the fact that Adelaide was running a little +ahead of him. The child dropped his hand when she saw Mr. Sanders and +the rest, and ran to them as hard as she could. "Bishop!" she cried to +Mr. Sanders, "the Boogerman is to come right home this minute. I've +found a new gun, and I want to shoot him! Boogerman, please come on!" +All that Randall could say was, "Well, suh!" and then he passed his hand +across his eyes, and gazed off into the far-distance, seeing whatsoever +visions the Almighty vouchsafes to the meek and lowly, who are troubled +in heart and mind. He must have seen something, and that something must +have been sufficient, for his face brightened, and when he turned his +head, and saw that all were looking at him with curiosity, he laughed +pleasantly, and, stooping down, lifted Adelaide in his arms, and held +her there, as though she would afford him the protection which he +thought he needed.</p> + +<p>"Which a-way does you-all want me for to go?" he inquired. "Show me, an' +I'll go right straight to the place. In Galatians, Paul bragged that he +outfaced Peter, an' ef he done that, I speck I kin face what's a comin' +to me."</p> + +<p>"I'll put your hat on the side of your head, Boogerman, so you can look +as bold as a goose," said Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am, I kin do that an' not half try; an' ef I can't look like a +goose, I bet you I can look as sheepish as the next one." He was not +even apprehensive and those who were observing him closely wondered at +the sudden change that had come over him. "Jail," he went on, in the +tone of an exhorter—"jail was good 'nough for the 'postles, an' why not +for me? They ain't got no law long 'nough, ner no jail strong 'nough for +to prevent pra'r."</p> + +<p>"Oh, shucks, Boogerman!" exclaimed Adelaide; "let's go to jail. I want +to see what kind of a place it is on the inside, because I may have to +send Cally-Lou there if she doesn't behaviour better than she has been +doing."</p> + +<p>"Well, ef you're a-gwine to send Cally-Lou to that hotel," Mr. Sanders +remarked, "jest tell 'em for to gi' me a big room wi' a long bed in it." +Then they all went in the courthouse, and sought out the judge of the +Superior Court circuit, who had his office in the building. After Lawyer +Tidwell's explanation, he very readily consented to hold the commitment +trial then and there. Mr. Tidwell briefly called attention to the nature +of the warrant that had been served, and announced his intention of +bringing the impeachment proceedings against Mr. Tuttle, who was judge +of the Court of Ordinary. The Superior Court judge said he had no doubt +that such proceedings would hold, when brought at the proper time, and +in the proper way, but they had nothing to do with the case before him. +Whatever the nature of the warrant, the accused was now in charge of an +officer of the law, and it would simplify matters to have the +preliminary trial take place at once. Randall gave his version of the +affair, and when Mr. Tuttle was called to testify, it was found that the +testimony he gave was not materially different from that which the negro +had given, much of it being brought out by the close questioning of Mr. +Tidwell. The result was that Randall was placed under bond for his +appearance at the next term of the superior court to be held in that +county. Much to the surprise of all, old Jonas Whipple, instead of +making a bond for Randall, gave his check on the local bank, with the +understanding that it was to be cashed in favour of the court. The judge +said that a bond of that kind was something unusual, but he accepted it.</p> + +<p>Randall looked hard at old Jonas, and his lip trembled as if he were +about to say something, but, instead, his glance turned to the floor, +and he stood fumbling his hat. Mr. Sanders, observing the negro's +embarrassment, told a funny story, and when the laughter to which it +gave rise had subsided the judge asked the Sage of Shady Dale if he +wanted the anecdote to be made a part of the record in the case. The +countenance of Mr. Sanders took on a peculiarly solemn expression.</p> + +<p>"Well, judge," he replied, "it'd be a mighty good way for to improve it +some."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus8" id="illus8"></a> +<img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Mr. Sanders went from the courthouse with a sweeping +stride"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>All these things were beyond Adelaide. She climbed on a chair, and from +the chair to a table, and stood poised at that dizzy height with her +eyes fixed on Mr. Sanders. "Come on, Bishop," she commanded, "and let's +go home." He backed up to the table like a trained horse in the modern +pony shows. When he came close enough Adelaide leaped on his back. Here +she perched herself, while Mr. Sanders went from the courthouse with a +sweeping stride, which, when he was out of doors, changed, first into a +trot, and then into a pretended canter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_V" id="PART_V"></a>PART V</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the gales of peace shall scatter<br /></span> +<span class="i0">War's wild, red rubbish like chaff,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the mills shall renew their clatter<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then all the people will laugh.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—<i>Tunison's Industrial Hymns.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Randall celebrated his release by retiring to Lucindy's house, where he +shut himself in and remained for more than an hour. He filled the little +room with thanksgiving in the shape of song and prayer, all of which +could be heard for a considerable distance. A great burden had been +lifted from his simple mind, and he celebrated the fact in a simple and +natural way. Lucindy understood his feelings, for she shared them. While +Randall was praying and singing in her house, she was in the kitchen +with Adelaide. Even while the tears of gratitude and thankfulness were +running down her cheeks, and threatening to fall in the things she was +cooking (as the child saw), she made light of the whole matter. "I +dunner what he mean by gwine 'way off dat-a-way, an' holdin' a +pray'r-meetin' by hisself. He'll have de whole town a-stan'in' 'roun' in +de yard ef he keep on doin' like dat."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mammy Lucindy, you are crying yourself."</p> + +<p>"My eyes weak, honey, an' dey feels like I done stuck a splinter in bofe +un um. You des wait. When you git ol' ez what I is, I lay yo' eyes will +run water, too."</p> + +<p>The idea of Adelaide growing old! Nobody would have thought of such a +thing but Lucindy, and the thought only came to her as a means of hiding +her own feelings. But it is a fact that the child was about to grow +older. For shortly after Randall's trouble, all of us took the road for +Eighteen-Hundred-and-Eighty-Five. We thought it was a long road, too, +and yet, somehow, it was neither long nor rough. But it was a very +peculiar thoroughfare. For though all of us tried to walk side by side, +it seemed that some of us were toiling up-hill, while others were +walking down-hill. It was so peculiar that on several occasions, I was +on the point of asking Adelaide what she thought of a road that could be +up-hill and down-hill in the same place, and at the same time; but the +child had so many quaint and beautiful thoughts of her own that I +hesitated to disturb her mind.</p> + +<p>Moreover, she was growing so fast, and getting along so well, that I had +no real desire to put new ideas in her head. Mr. Sanders declared that +she was running up like a weed. This attracted the attention of old +Jonas, who fixed his small glittering eyes on the old humourist.</p> + +<p>"Like a weed, Sanders?" Mr. Whipple inquired.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Mr. Sanders, "call the weed a sunflower, ef it suits +you; but I dunner what's the matter with a weed—the Lord made it."</p> + +<p>Old Jonas, looking off into space, nodded his head, with "Yes, I reckon +maybe He did."</p> + +<p>As we went along this road I have been telling you of, I thought that +perhaps old Jonas would stop to rest in a fence corner, but the further +we went, we found that he was as lively as any of the rest, though +perhaps not so nimble. As for Adelaide, she simply grew; there was no +other change in her. She carried her child nature along with her, and +she carried Cally-Lou. Not much was said of Cally-Lou, but all of us +felt that she was in hiding in that wide, clear space that is just an +inch or so beyond the short reach of our vision; and, somehow, we were +all glad to have the company of the little dream-child who was "not +quite white." I think she kept Adelaide from taking on the airs and +poses of growing girls. And this was just as well. Adelaide took in +knowledge, as though she had learned it somewhere before. When she began +to study at school (as we went along) she declared that the books caused +her to remember things that she had forgotten. Mr. Sanders said that +there never was such a scholar, and Mr. Tidwell agreed with him. Old +Jonas said nothing; his face simply wore a satisfied frown.</p> + +<p>None of us forgot Randall, or could afford to forget him, for we were +journeying along together. His evolution was out of the usual order. +Adelaide merely fulfilled the promises of her childhood, and the +expectations of those who were in love with her; whereas, Randall outran +prophecy itself. The Boogerman developed into a full-fledged minister of +the Methodist Church, and, in the course of that development, became a +complete engine of modern industry. He went so far and so fast that he +had an abundance of time to devote to the religious enthusiasm that kept +him inwardly inflamed; and such was the power of his rude eloquence that +he attracted the admiration of whites as well as blacks. He was +ignorant, but he had a gift that education has never been able to +produce in a human being—he had the gift of eloquence. When he was in +the pulpit his rough words, his simple gestures, the play of his +features, the poise of his body, his whole attitude, were as far beyond +the compass of education as it is possible for the mind to conceive. +This gift, or power, became so well known that he had a real taste of +what is called reputation in this world. He was a pattern, a model, for +the men of his race, and, indeed, for the men of any race, for there +never was a moment when he was idle after he discovered that an honest +and industrious man can make and save money. All that he made, he gave +to old Jonas Whipple to keep for him. The more Randall worked the more +he learned how to work, so that in the course of a year or two, there +was nothing in the way of work that he couldn't do well. His credit at +the little bank was as good as that of most white men, and his simple +word was as good as a bond.</p> + +<p>The men of his race watched him with a curious kind of awe. When one of +them asked him how he managed to accomplish the results that were plain +to every one, his reply was: "Good gracious, man! I jest goes ahead and +does it, that's how." He had a great knack of meeting opportunity before +she knocked at his door—of meeting her and hitching her to his shack of +a buggy, where she served the purpose of a family horse. He had the +confidence and sympathy of all the white people who knew him. He began +to buy tracts of land, and one of his purchases included High Falls, +where the children and grown people had their picnic grounds. Many +thought this a wild investment, especially old Jonas, who rated him +soundly for throwing away his hard-earned money; but Mr. Sanders, who, +with all his humour and nonsense, was by all odds the shrewdest business +man in all that region, declared that the time would come when the money +that Randall had paid for it would be smothered by the money he could +sell it for. Randall explained to old Jonas the reason why he had bought +this remarkable water-power; it was because the water came so free and +fell so far.</p> + +<p>All this, by the way, as we were journeying along. We began to try to +forget Eighteen-Hundred-and-Sixty-Eight; we knew right were it was, but, +as we got farther and farther away from it, it seemed to lose some of +its importance; and, sometimes, when we couldn't help but remember it, +it came back to us as though it was the memory of a bad dream. People +began to look up and stir about, Progress, hand-in-hand with Better +Conditions, crawled out of the woods, where they had been hiding, and +began to pay visits to their old friends. Mr. Sanders said it gave him a +kind of Christmas feeling to see the hard times vanishing. Old Jonas +felt better, too. At any rate, he seemed to take more interest in +Adelaide, who, by this time, had developed into a wonderfully charming +young woman—just how charming, I leave you to imagine; for she was a +young woman and still a child. It is given to few people in this world +to have this combination and to be able to manage it as it should be +managed. I don't know whether to call it the art of living, or the +instinct that makes Everybody feel as though he were Somebody. I never +could understand the secret of it, and, indeed, I never tried, until one +day a scientist came along peddling his ideas and theories. He declared +that there was an explanation somewhere in one of his books, but so far, +I have been unable to find it. There was nothing in his dull books about +Adelaide and her individuality. It should be borne in mind that Adelaide +had, in the course of seventeen years, developed into Something that was +quite beyond art and education. Her inimitable personality, which was +hers from the first, and quite beyond the contingencies of chance or +change, continued to be inimitable. She had received all the advantages +that money could buy; but this fact only emphasised her native charm. +She was a child as well as a young woman, with the sweet unconsciousness +of the one and the dazzling loveliness of the other.</p> + +<p>Mean as he was said to be, it was a well-known fact that old Jonas's +money would go as far as that of any man; and when it came to a question +of Adelaide, it was as free as the money of some of our modern +millionaires when they desire to advertise their benevolence. He was +determined, he said, that his niece should have all the polish the +schools could furnish. He called it polish for the reason that he had +many a hot argument with Mr. Sanders and Lawyer Tidwell with respect to +the benefits of education—the education furnished by our modern system +of public schools. He didn't believe in it; there was always too much +for some people, and not enough for others; there was no discrimination +in the scheme. Moreover, it put false ideas in some people's heads, and +made them lazy and vicious. But he had never said a word in opposition +to polish, and when he sent Adelaide to one of the most expensive +schools, it was not to educate her, he said, but to give her the +"polish" that would elevate her above ordinary people.</p> + +<p>Adelaide received the polish, but refused to be elevated, and when she +returned home, unchanged and unspoiled, old Jonas Whipple said to +himself that his money had been spent in vain. He wanted to see her put +on airs and hold herself above people, but this she never did; and she +would have laughed heartily at old Jonas's thoughts if she had known +what they were. Mr. Whipple seemed to have an idea that culture and +refinement are things that you can put your fingers on and feel of, and +he was sure that dignity and personal pride are their accompaniments. +Yet he gave no outward sign of his disappointment if he really had any, +and he swallowed such regrets as possessed him with a straight face; for +he saw, with a secret pride and pleasure that no one suspected, that +Adelaide was the most charming young girl in all that neighbourhood. It +filled him with pride for which he could not account when he observed +that she could hold her own in any company, and that, wherever she went, +she was the centre of admiration and interest.</p> + +<p>Now, it was not long before the promoters of a railway line from Atlanta +to Malvern came knocking at the doors of Shady Dale. Mr. Sanders and a +number of others were inclined to be more than hospitable to the +enterprise, but old Jonas Whipple was opposed to it tooth-and-nail. His +arguments in opposition to the enterprise will be thought amusing and +ridiculous in this day and time, but it is notorious, the world over, +that any man with money can have a substantial following without +resorting to bribery, and there were many in Shady Dale, who, basing +their admiration on the fact that he had been very successful as a +money-maker, in the face of the most adverse conditions, were ready to +endorse anything that old Jonas said; he was an oracle because he knew +how to make money, though it is well known that the making of money does +not depend on a very high order of intelligence. Old Jonas's objections +to a railway were not amenable to reason or argument; it was sufficient +that they were satisfactory to him. He had them all catalogued and +numbered. There were six of them, and they ran about as follows:</p> + +<p>1. A railroad would add to the racket and riot of the neighbourhood, +when, even as things were, it was a difficult matter for decent people +to sleep in peace. 2. (This objection was impressive on account of its +originality; no one had ever thought of it). The passing of railway +trains would produce concussion, and this concussion, repeated at +regular intervals, would cause the blossoms of the fruit trees to drop +untimely off, and would no doubt have a disastrous effect on garden +vegetables. 3. The railroad would not stop in Shady Dale, but would go +on to Atlanta, thus making the little town a way-station, and drain the +whole county of its labour at a time when everybody was trying to adjust +himself to the new conditions. 4. Instead of patronising home industries +and enterprises, people would scramble for seats on the cars, and go +gadding about, spending anywhere but at home the little money they had. +5. Every business and all forms of industry in the whole section +adjacent to the line would be at the mercy of the road and its managers; +and, 6. What did people want with railroads, when a majority of the +loudest talkers had earned no more than three dollars apiece since the +war?</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders tried hard to destroy these objections by means of timely +and appropriate jokes. But jokes had no effect on Mr. Whipple. Moreover, +there was one fact that no jokes could change: a great body of land +belonging to old Jonas lay right across the face of the railway survey, +and there was no way to avoid it except by making a detour so wide that +Shady Dale would be left far to one side. You would think, of course, +that it was an easy matter to condemn a right of way through old Jonas's +land, and so it would have been but for one fact that could not be +ignored. There was a bitter controversy going on between the people and +the roads, and the managers were trying to be as polite as they could be +under the circumstances. The controversy referred to finally resulted in +the passage of the railway laws that are now on the statute books of the +state. The promoters of the line to Shady Dale had no desire to arouse +the serious opposition of Mr. Whipple and his friends; they had no idea +of making a serious contest in view of the state of public opinion, and +they had made up their minds that if they failed to secure the right of +way through old Jonas's lands by fair words, they would leave Shady Dale +out of their plans altogether. They had already surveyed another line +that would run six or seven miles north of the town, and work on this +would have begun promptly but for the representations of Mr. Sanders and +other substantial citizens, who declared that only a short delay would +be necessary to bring old Jonas to terms. But that result, by the +interposition of Providence, as it were, was left for others to +accomplish.</p> + +<p>Of the contest going on between the old-fashioned, unprogressive +faction, headed by her uncle, and the spirited element of which Mr. +Sanders was the leader, Adelaide had no particular knowledge. She knew +in a general way that some question in regard to the new railroad was in +dispute. She had heard the matter discussed, and she had laughed at some +of the comments of Mr. Sanders on the obstinacy of her uncle, but the +whole matter was outside the circle of her serious thoughts and +interests until, at last, it was brought home to her in a way that the +novel writers would call romantic, though for some time it was decidedly +embarrassing.</p> + +<p>Blushing and laughing, she told Mr. Sanders about it afterward. That +genial citizen regarded it as a good joke, and, as such, he made the +most of it. She was walking about in the garden one day, thinking of +childish things, and remembering what fine times she and Mr. Sanders had +had when she was a tiny bit of a girl. She was very old now—quite +seventeen—but her childhood was still fresh in her remembrance, and she +was quite a child in her freshness and innocence. The corn-patch was in +a new place now, but to her it was still the Whish-Whish Woods. In the +days when she brought down the Boogerman with her cornstalk gun, the +corn was growing in the garden next to a side street on which there was +very little passing to and fro; but now the corn-patch was next to a +thoroughfare that was much frequented. Remembering how delighted she had +been when Randall, the Boogerman, responded so completely to her +pretence of shooting him with her cornstalk gun, she was seized by a +whim that gave her an almost uncontrollable desire to repeat the +performance.</p> + +<p>By a gesture which, whether magical or not, admirably served its +purpose, Adelaide became a child again. Her beautiful hair, unloosed, +fell below her waist, and her face had the same little pucker of +earnestness that it wore when, as a child, she was intent on her +business of make-believe. She found a cornstalk that suited her purpose, +stripped off the blades, and concealed herself in the Whish-Whish Woods, +holding her gun in readiness to make a victim of the first person that +passed along the street. As Providence would have it, she was not kept +waiting, for almost before she could conceal herself, she heard the +sound of feet. Whoever it was had no idea of the danger that awaited +him, for he was walking along, whistling softly to himself, showing that +he was either in high feather, or seriously uneasy with respect to +certain plans he had in his head. As he came to the ambush, Adelaide +promptly thrust her cornstalk gun forward, with a loud cry of "bang!" +The result was as surprising as, and far more embarrassing than, when +she made-believe to shoot Randall. This time the victim, instead of +falling on the ground and writhing, as a man should do if he is +seriously wounded, nearly jumped out of his skin, crying, "Good +gracious!"</p> + +<p>The voice was strange to Adelaide's ears, and when she was in a position +to see her intended victim, she discovered that her innocent joke had +been played at the expense of a young man whom she had never seen +before; he was an utter stranger. The young man, glancing back to see +who had waylaid him, caught a glimpse of Adelaide, and politely raised +his hat. Adelaide, frightened at what seemed to be her boldness, could +hardly articulate clearly, but she managed to say, in the midst of her +confusion and embarrassment, "Oh, excuse me! I thought—" but there she +paused.</p> + +<p>"So did I," said the young man, with a laugh, "and you are quite +excusable." Adelaide said to herself that he was making fun of her, but +she did not fail to see, in the midst of her vexation and confusion, +that he was very pleasant looking. In short he had a clear eye and a +strong face. Having seen this much, she gathered her skirts free of her +feet, and went running to the house. She couldn't resist the temptation +to stop in the kitchen and give Lucindy the story of her exciting +adventure, and in the midst of it, she paused to say how handsome the +young man was. When the narrative was concluded, Adelaide asked Lucindy +what she thought of it all. The old negro woman must have had very deep +thoughts, judging from her silence. She asked no questions and merely +nodded her head while Adelaide was talking; and then, while the excited +young woman was waiting for her to make some comment, the little-used +knocker on the front door fell with a tremendous whack.</p> + +<p>"Whosomever it mought be," remarked Lucindy, "it look like dey er +bleedze ter git in, kaze dey er breakin' de door down!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I believe it's the young man I tried to shoot!" cried Adelaide in +distress, "and I wouldn't meet him again for the world! I wonder where +Uncle Jonas is—and why he don't have a bell placed on the door?" Then +the young woman asked with some indignation, "Mammy Lucindy, do you +suppose that young man is knocking at the door because I made a goose of +myself in the garden?"</p> + +<p>"Lawsy, honey," said Lucindy, soothingly, "don't git ter frettin'; I'm +gwine ter de door—yit I lay ef you had been up ter yo' neck in de +flour-bairl, I wouldn't let you run ter de front door an' grin at +whomsomever mought be dar! I lay dat much."</p> + +<p>"But, Mammy! I'm afraid the person at the door is the young man I was +rude to when he was passing the garden. Oh, I wish Uncle Jonas would +hire a housemaid; I can't be running to the front door all the time."</p> + +<p>"I ain't seed you run much, honey, kaze dat's de fust time dat +door-knocker is bangded in many's de long day. You want a house-gal, +does you? Well, you better not fetch no gal in dis house fer ter make +moufs at me right 'fo' my face. She sho' won't last long; I tell you dat +right now!"</p> + +<p>Lucindy prepared to answer the summons, but before she could wipe the +flour from her hands, Adelaide changed her mind. She said she would +answer the knock herself, and, as she went into the house, Randall came +around the corner and went into the kitchen. He was somewhat excited, +and Lucindy inquired if he was ill. "Mammy," he said, "does you know who +that is knockin' at the door? Well, it aint nobody in the roun' worl' +but ol' Marster's grandson; it's Miss Betty's boy. Of all people on top +of the ground, that's who it is."</p> + +<p>Lucindy leaned on the kitchen table, and gazed at Randall in speechless +surprise. "De Lord he'p my soul!" she exclaimed when she could find her +voice. "What he been up ter dat he ain't never is been here befo'? He +sholy can't be much mo' dan knee-high ter a puddle-duck." She persisted +in thinking of her young mistress as she had known her a quarter of a +century before. Randall could tell her little beyond the fact that he +had "know'd the favour," and had spoken to the young man on the street, +asking if he were not kin to the Bowdens.</p> + +<p>This simple question developed into a long conversation, with the result +that Randall was as enthusiastic about Miss Betty's boy as he was about +Miss Betty, who had saved his life. "He sho' have got the blood in 'im. +He don't look strong, like all de balance of the Bowdens, but he's got +their ways. He walks an' holds his head jest like Miss Betty."</p> + +<p>When Adelaide opened the door, and saw standing there the young man at +whom she had aimed her cornstalk gun, she was surprised to find that she +was not at all embarrassed. She had no idea that this particular meeting +had been arranged and provided for long ages ago. But she wondered why +she should feel so cool and collected, when she should be confused and +blushing. This is the way young women act in story books, and Adelaide +had often longed for the opportunity to stammer and blush when a strange +but noble young man appeared before her; but now that the young man had +come, she felt as if she had known him a long, long time. He was the +embarrassed one, while she observed that he had nice brown eyes, to +light up his handsome countenance, and these brown eyes seemed to be +trying to apologise for something or other; and all the time the young +man was thinking that he had never seen such beautiful blue eyes as +those that were shyly glancing at him from under their long lashes. It +was a desperate moment for all concerned, but Providence was there, and +laid its calm, cool hand on the situation. The young man asked for Mr. +Whipple, but Providence had been before him, and Mr. Whipple was not to +be found in the house, though Adelaide tried hard to find him, not +knowing that if her uncle could have been found just at that particular +time, a great many possibilities would have been destroyed. Adelaide +inquired if the brown eyes wouldn't come in and wait for Uncle Jonas, +who was to be expected at any moment, and the brown eyes softly admitted +that nothing would please them better if such an arrangement were +perfectly agreeable to everybody, otherwise not for the world would they +intrude—and then, as a matter of course, the blue eyes were compelled +to see to it that the time of waiting would be made perfectly pleasant.</p> + +<p>After awhile the sound of footsteps was heard on the veranda, and +Adelaide, with a secret regret, declared that Uncle Jonas must be +coming. But Providence was looking out for the interests of the young +fellow with a keener eye, for the footsteps they heard were those of Mr. +Sanders. He came in without knocking, as usual, and Adelaide ran to meet +him, just as she always did. "You look as flustrated as ef you had man +company," Mr. Sanders remarked, as she greeted him. She slapped him +lightly on the arm by way of warning and rebuke. "An' I'll lay I kin +guess his name: it's Winters." Adelaide was very red in the face as she +shook her head. "Then it's Somers," he declared; "I know'd it was one of +the seasons that had dropped in on you out'n season. But it happens to +be the very chap I'm arter." He stalked in to the sitting-room, and +shook hands with young Somers, calling him Jonah, though his name was +John.</p> + +<p>Then he casually inquired as to the whereabouts of Mr. Jonas Whipple, in +spite of the fact that he already knew. "You see how it is," he remarked +to the young man; "you thought you wanted to see Jonas, but it wasn't +Jonas you wanted to see at all." Mr. Sanders pursed his mouth, and +stared at the ceiling. The remark he had made was interpreted by +Adelaide in a way he had not intended, but she was quite equal to the +emergency.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Sanders," she inquired with great dignity, "whom did Mr. +Somers desire to see?"</p> + +<p>He turned a bland and child-like smile upon her. "Why, he wanted to see +me, of course. Who else could it 'a' been?" Adelaide's dignity was not +made of the strongest stuff, and she was compelled to laugh. "I +understood him to inquire for Uncle Jonas," she said simply, "but I may +have been mistaken."</p> + +<p>"No; I really want to see Mr. Whipple," the young man insisted. "That is +my business here."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders beamed upon him with a smile that was as broad and sweet as +a slice of pie. "I've allers took notice," he remarked, "that wimmen an' +children, an' young folks in gener'l, will ax for the identical things +they ought not to have. They're made that-a-way, I reckon."</p> + +<p>In a little while the young man bowed himself out, followed by Mr. +Sanders. "You young fellers worry me no little," remarked the Sage of +Shady Dale, as they went along the street together. "I happen to know +about the business that fetched you here, an' I mighty nigh swallered my +goozle when I seed you makin' for Jonas's."</p> + +<p>"Well, I really thought Mr. Whipple was the proper person to see. I was +told that he held the key to the situation," young Somers replied.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders smiled benignly. "Old Jonas has been seed an' he's been +saw'd," said the elder man so drolly that Somers laughed outright. "I +reckon you've been to college, ain't you? I 'lowed as much. The trainin' +is all right, but you'll have to fergit a heap you've l'arned ef you +want travellin' for to be easy. Old as I am, I wish I had some of your +knowledge, but if you was to put it all in a hamper basket an' gi' me +the right to paw it over, you'd be surprised at what I'd pick out. My +experience is that when a feller gits through college, an' begins for to +face the hard propositions that he ain't never thought about, he allers +takes a notion that somethin's wrong somewhar.</p> + +<p>"I reckon maybe you've got the idee that argyment, ef it's got all the +facts behind it, is the thing that's bound for to win, an' you'll have +to git bumped by a barnyard full of billy-goats before you find out that +nineteen-hundred squar' miles on 'em ain't wuth one little inch of +persuasion. It's all right in the books, whar they l'arn you how to +think an' put up a nice article of argyment, but it don't work in reel +life. You can't carry none of your p'ints wi'out doin' some mighty purty +dancin' on t'other side of the line. Now I've saved you from one of the +wust bumpin's that a young feller ever had, and the beauty about it is +you'll never have a suspicion of it ontel you're old enough for to have +grandchildren. It'll not hurt you for to hit some of the rough places as +you go slidin' through this vale of tears, but it'll never do you any +reel good for to climb four flights of sta'rs an' then jump out'n the +top window when you want to come down."</p> + +<p>"I should think that even a fool would know that," the young man +declared.</p> + +<p>"Well, some on 'em don't," responded Mr. Sanders. "Thar's diffunt kinds +of fools, an' diffunt kinds of houses, an' heap higher jumps, an' you'd +'a' had the experience of it ef you'd 'a' found old Jonas at home. The +next time you go thar don't ax for him. Call for Adelaide—call for +Lucindy the cook (she use' to belong to your Gran'daddy Bowden)—call +for Randall—call for any an' ever'body but old Jonas."</p> + +<p>"But what am I to do?" the young man inquired somewhat impatiently. "It +seems that I may as well go back to Malvern or Atlanta; and when I do +that, I'll have to hunt for another job."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders hummed a tune, and apparently paid no attention to the young +man's last remark. "Old Jonas is mighty quar'," he said after a pause. +"When his sister died up thar in Atlanta, you couldn't 'a' told from the +motions he made that he'd hearn the mournful news; but sence he's had +for to take keer of Adelaide, her daughter, his gizzard has kinder +softened up. Why, that man thinks that the sun rises an' sets whar +Adelaide lives at."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the young fellow, "she certainly is charming; I don't think +I ever met a young lady that so impressed me."</p> + +<p>"Forty years from now you'll be able for to say the same thing," +remarked Mr. Sanders. "Well, as I was a-tellin' you, old Jonas ain't +nigh as mean as he looks to be, but when I found out that he reely had a +heart, you mought 'a' knocked me down wi' a feather. It was the time +your gran'daddy died. Why, Jonas walked the floor all night long. That +much I know bekaze I seed it wi' my own eyes. An' then thar's that +nigger Randall—thar ain't no tellin' how much Jonas has done for him, +nor how much he will do. But when it comes to makin' a fuss, Jonas ain't +in it. He's too hard-headed for to let people know him as he is. Now, +don't think I'm doin' any obiturary work, bekaze the fact is old Jonas +ain't a bit better than he ought to be. I reckon, he is too hard-headed +for to let people know him as he is, but the fact is that old Jonas is +human; he ain't a bit better than the rest on us—an' he may be wuss in +some spots. Ef you've ever took notice, the people between the best man +in the world an' the wust, make a purty fa'r average. I reckon," Mr. +Sanders went on, regarding Somers with a child-like smile, "I reckon you +ain't never played poker as a habit?"</p> + +<p>"Not as a habit," replied the young man, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Well, the hand I've dealt to you is known as a royal straight flush, +an' it sweeps ever'thing before it. Look it over when you git time, an' +ef anybody calls you, jes spread out the kyards on the table, an' ax 'em +what they think of the lay-out."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I know what you mean," said the young man, with some show +of embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Maybe not," replied Mr. Sanders, "but I leave it to you ef that's my +fault; I've dealt you the hand, an' ef you dunno how to play it, you +can't blame me. I see Tidwell across yander, an' I want to have a talk +wi' him; maybe he'll loan me his pocket-han'kcher. So-long!"</p> + +<p>Young Somers went to his room in the tavern and pondered long over the +problem that Mr. Sanders had presented with confident smiles. He tried +to think it out, but, somehow, he could think of nothing but a laughing +face, dimpled and sweet, blue eyes and golden hair, and lovely white +hands lifted in eloquent gesture. He could concentrate all the powers of +his mind on these, and he could think a little, just a little, of the +wonderful personality of Mr. Sanders, who had persisted in remaining a +boy, in spite of his years and large experience, but so far as puzzles +and problems were concerned, his mind refused to work.</p> + +<p>It was the same the next day, and the next. He walked about the little +town by way of recreation, but by far the largest part of his time was +spent in his room at the tavern. On the morning of the third day of his +stay in Shady Dale, he concluded to visit the old place where his +grandfather had lived, and where his mother was born. Of the whereabouts +of the place he had not the slightest idea, though he knew it was about +a mile from the centre of the town. While he was debating whether or no +he should wander about and try to find it for himself, or whether he +should make inquiries as to the direction, he heard the rustle of skirts +behind him. Turning he beheld his vision of blue eyes and golden hair. +This, however, was the reality. The young fellow had a queer notion, +momentary but vivid, that somewhere or somehow, in some dim, mysterious +region under the stars, he had come suddenly upon this same experience, +under precisely the same conditions—and the thought gave him a thrill +the like of which he had never felt before—the kind of thrill that, as +Mr. Sanders once suggested, makes you think that you've clerked in a +dry-goods store in some other world.</p> + +<p>Blue eyes and dimples were very gracious. "You left too soon the other +day," they declared; "Uncle Jonas came in shortly after you went away, +and you were hardly out of the house before one of your mother's old +servants came in to see you. It was Mammy Lucindy, our cook, and she was +very much disappointed to find you had gone."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," the young fellow said, and he was so emphatic, and so +serious, that Adelaide laughed. "I have heard my mother speak of Lucindy +and her son Randall."</p> + +<p>"When Uncle Jonas came in," remarked Adelaide, "I told him you had +called. He frowned and said he supposed you wanted to see him on +business; but I suggested that perhaps you had called because you were +Judge Bowden's grandson. He declared you had never thought of such a +thing; but the possibility that you might have had such a thought +pleased him greatly. I don't know when I have seen him in such high good +humour."</p> + +<p>They were walking along as they talked, and the young man made a mental +note of old Jonas's pleasure. The sun was shining brightly, the air was +fresh and cool, the jay-birds in the China trees were hilarious, and, +somehow or other, the two young people felt very happy as they walked +along. They had no particular reason for their happiness, but they +seemed to be in the atmosphere in which happiness arises like the +sparkling dew of early morning. A deaf old lady sitting on her piazza, +on the opposite side of the street, smiled sweetly at Adelaide, and held +her trumpet to her ear, as if, by means of its echoing depths, she could +hear what the laughing young woman was saying. Adelaide did have +something to say, evidently—something that an ear-trumpet could not +interpret across the wide street, for she made a little gesture with her +head, which her companion failed to see, and she sent some signal +whirling through the air by means of a fluttering white hand. This +signal he did see, but he was unfamiliar with the code that prevails +among women-kind the world over: yet he had no difficulty in taking it +to be an ordinary salutation, especially as the smiling old lady waved +the trumpet around her head with an air of triumph. Still there was +something in it all that seemed to be a trifle beyond him—and from the +feminine point of view it was a neat and pretty piece of work.</p> + +<p>He had small opportunity to give the matter any thought, for Adelaide, +laughing, turned toward him, and began to speak of the affection her +Uncle Jonas had felt for Judge Bowden, and the high esteem in which he +held the judge's memory. She acknowledged that it was very queer that a +man long dead should play a living part in her uncle's thoughts, but she +explained that people had wrong ideas about her uncle. "They seem to +think," she declared, "that Uncle Jonas is very mean and stingy, and +hard-hearted; but if they knew him as well as I do, they would think +differently."</p> + +<p>The young fellow would have protested, but Adelaide stopped him with a +dignified wave of her versatile white hand. "I know what people say," +she insisted. "Mr. Sanders tells me, and so does Randall, whose life was +saved by your mother; they tell me everything that is said about Uncle +Jonas. And I always tell him about it, but he doesn't seem to care; he +laughs as if it were a good joke, and declares that people have more +sense than he has been willing to credit them with. Really, I believe he +likes it, but it is not at all agreeable to me."</p> + +<p>Young Somers hardly knew what to say; he had heard old Jonas described +as the meanest man in twenty states, and the promoters of the railway +enterprise who had sent him to Shady Dale were not at all backward in +expressing their opinion of the man who was causing them so much +unnecessary trouble and delay. So he walked on in silence for awhile. +Then: "Speaking of my grandfather, I was just on the point of inquiring +about the old place, but when you made your appearance just now, +dropping out of the sky, I forgot all about it. I should like very much +to see the home where my mother was born, and where my grandfather was +born and died. I have heard my mother talk about Shady Dale and about +the old home-place ever since I could understand what she said. I +remember, when I was a child, that I had a queer idea that the town was +shaped like a bowl or saucer; all the good people that chanced to come +by stumbled and fell in, there to remain, and all the bad people crawled +over the rim and fell out; and I couldn't help having a feeling of +disappointment when I found that Shady Dale is very much like other +towns."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't say that!" protested Adelaide. "I have seen a great many +towns, but never one like this—not one as pretty."</p> + +<p>"Why, in North Carolina——" the young fellow began, but Adelaide +interrupted him with a laugh so genuine and unaffected that it was +delightful to hear. Yet, in spite of the fact that he enjoyed the +rippling sound, he felt his face turning red. "You think North Carolina +is a joke," he went on, "but you would be surprised to know what a great +state it is."</p> + +<p>"I was laughing at one of Mr. Sanders's jokes," said Adelaide, still +smiling. "Once there was a tobacco peddler came here driving a big +covered waggon. Mr. Sanders discovered he was from North Carolina, and +shook hands with him very cordially, and asked about a great many people +he never heard of. The tobacco man said they must have moved away, but +Mr. Sanders said he thought not, for the reason that the only three +North Carolinians he ever saw that were able to settle at the toll-gates +and ferries, made their way straight to Alabama, and formed a business +firm. He said the name of this firm was 'Tar, Pitch, and +Turkentime'—that's the way he pronounced the names. The tobacco man +didn't get angry; he laughed as loudly as anybody, and Uncle Jonas says +that was because he wasn't conceited."</p> + +<p>Here Adelaide paused; she had come to the house of the friend she +proposed to visit, and from the gate she pointed out the trees that grew +so abundantly on the Bowden place, and her attitude seemed to say to the +young man that should he get lost, he would be safe so long as she was +within calling distance. He had been used to more dignity and less charm +on the part of most of the young women he knew, and he rather preferred +the variety which he had now come in contact with for the first time. +And yet, when he came to the old homestead, where his grandfather lived +and died, and where his mother was born, he was attacked by none of the +emotions that would have seized upon the soul of his mother. He had been +educated in a different environment, and he was essentially modern in +his sense of the importance of business affairs. As he read the friendly +inscription on the tomb of his grandfather—the family burying-ground +being not far from the picturesquely simple old house—he was conscious +of a strong desire to know whether failure or success would crown his +negotiations with Mr. Jonas Whipple.</p> + +<p>The vagrant winds blew through the tops of trees more than two centuries +old, the house frowned grimly over the reminiscences of past +hospitality, and the whole scene appealed strongly to sentiments that +are now said not to be strictly scientific. But it must not be supposed +that the young man had no poetry in his soul, or that his nature was +free from emotions of a sentimental character. He lived entirely in the +present, and the past had no meaning for him save that which was coldly +historical. He found his inspiration in the rhythmical clatter and +cackle of intricate machinery; he was stirred by the interweaving and +interlacing business problems, and the whole movement, shape, and +pattern of huge commercial enterprises.</p> + +<p>Nor was this a misfortune. Being modern and practical, he was wholly +free from the entanglements and misconceptions of prejudices that had +outlived the issues that gave rise to them; and he went about his +business with a mind at once clear, clean, and cheerful, bearing the +signal of hope on his forehead. As he walked about the old place, it was +characteristic of him, that he should be seeking the solution of the +puzzle which Mr. Sanders had placed before him in the shape of a "royal +straight flush," but in a matter of this kind, his mathematics availing +him nothing: nor did it occur to him that the solution was to be found +somewhere in the region from which the nations of the world draw their +not over-abundant supplies of poetical metaphor. After an interval which +he deemed seemly and proper, he turned his steps in the direction whence +he had come. The street being straight as well as wide, afforded a fine +perspective of sun and shade, to say nothing of the sand. As he went on, +he walked more and more rapidly, so that he could have been accused of +fleeing from the ghosts of his ancestors; but the propelling influence +was the sight of Adelaide, who, having completed her morning call, was +emerging from the gate-way that led to the house of her friend. She was +for moving on, but seemed suddenly to remember about the young man. +Turning, she saw him coming, and waited, sauntering slowly, her mind +full of a swarm of thoughts that had been fighting for its possession +since she first saw him.</p> + +<p>"The sight of your mother's old home doesn't seem to have saddened you," +she remarked, as he came up.</p> + +<p>"No," he replied, "but that is because I have no refreshing memory of +the old place. All my ideas about it are second hand; and besides, it +seems to be a very cheerful place. I imagine that the soil round about +is still fertile."</p> + +<p>"I never thought of that," she answered; "but men are always more +practical than women. In your place, I should have searched over the old +homestead for the favourite walks of my grandfather; and I should have +known, before I came away, where my mother ran, and hid herself when her +feelings were hurt; and where she played with her dolls, and just how +she did when she was a little bit of a girl."</p> + +<p>The young man had an uneasy idea that Adelaide was poking fun at him, +but her face was so grave that he dismissed the idea, and it was then +that he felt himself stirred by a dim conception of the region in which +the thoughts of this beautiful young woman wandered and ranged.</p> + +<p>"What I was really thinking of all the time," he said, with a laugh that +somehow conveyed a regret that his thoughts were on a plane so much +lower than hers, "was how I shall prevail on your uncle to convey to the +railway company a right of way through his land. It means a great deal +to me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>that</i> is why you are here!" exclaimed Adelaide. "Well, I was +wondering." She regarded him very seriously for a moment and he felt +that he had fallen a notch in her estimation. "If you'll take my +advice," she said, "you will leave the whole affair to Randall."</p> + +<p>"But how can I? Randall is a negro. I'm sure I don't understand what you +mean!" His pride, his self-esteem, had been wounded to the very core, +and his face was very red.</p> + +<p>"Yes, leave it to Randall and Mr. Sanders," Adelaide replied, "and you'd +not lose anything if you could manage to introduce the ghost of your +grandfather." This was said airily, but it had far more meaning that +young Somers was able to read into it.</p> + +<p>"I never saw just such a place as this is," he remarked somewhat +petulantly, "where the people can only help you along by means of +riddles and parables and jokes. Mr. Sanders tells me to say nothing to +your uncle about the business on which I have been sent. And then he +says that I already have a royal straight flush in my hand. What am I to +infer from that?"</p> + +<p>Young Somers, without intending it, revealed the essential boyishness of +his nature, and Adelaide relished it immensely. "You are to infer just +what he intended you should," she declared. "The jokes of Mr. Sanders +mean a great deal more than another man's wisdom. You'll discover that +for yourself when you come to know him well."</p> + +<p>"But you can't do business by means of jokes," the young fellow +protested.</p> + +<p>"That's the way Mr. Sanders transacts his business," Adelaide responded, +"and he's a very prosperous man. As for your grandfather's ghost, Uncle +Jonas will raise it if you give him half an opportunity. You'll learn a +great deal from Mr. Sanders and Uncle Jonas if you stay here long +enough." The expression of her face was demureness itself, but the blue +eyes sparkled with humour.</p> + +<p>Now, young Somers was neither slow nor dull, but the peculiar atmosphere +he found at Shady Dale was something new in his experience, and he was +compelled to tunnel through it before he could clearly understand it. +His business training, as far as it had gone, and all his business +associations, had accustomed him to methods of procedure that were not +only direct, but blunt. He never went around obstacles but through or +over them. But he knew, after giving the matter some consideration, and +after discovering that the ordinary commercial and cold-blooded methods +would be useless here, that he would have to enter into the spirit of +the place. He was a very attractive young man when at his best, and he +made himself more attractive than ever by acquiring a quick sympathy for +the things that interested the sincere and simple people about him.</p> + +<p>He had several long talks with Mr. Sanders, during which he never once +mentioned business nor anything relating thereto. Instead, he seemed to +be very much interested in Adelaide and her personality, her nature and +individuality. On this subject Mr. Sanders was eloquent. He could +discourse on it for hours, and was only humorous when he wanted to make +people believe he was in earnest. He told Somers all about Cally-Lou, +and asked the young man what he thought about the child that was a +little more than make-believe, and yet remained on the very verge of +visibility. Now, the young man was very practical; circumstances had +made him so. His spirit had had so little exercise, his dreams remained +so persistently on the hither side of concrete things, he was so +completely invested with the cold and critical views that were the +result of his education, that his mind never ventured much beyond his +material interests, and he never tried to peep around the many corners +that life presents to a curious and sincere observer. Consequently, he +was all at sea, as the saying is, when Mr. Sanders told him about +Cally-Lou. He thought it was some form of a new joke, and he would have +had a hearty laugh had the old philosopher given him the wink.</p> + +<p>But the wink was not forthcoming. On the contrary, much to the young +man's surprise, Mr. Sanders appeared to be very serious. But the young +man was as frank as it is possible for a youngster to be. "I'll be +honest with you, Mr. Sanders," he said. "I don't know a thing about such +matters. If I were not in Shady Dale, where everything seems to be so +different, I would say at once that you are talking nonsense—that you +are trying to play some kind of a practical joke—but, as it is, I don't +know what to think."</p> + +<p>When the young man said that everything is different in Shady Dale, he +meant that Adelaide was different, and Mr. Sanders knew it; so he said, +"When you git so that you kin mighty nigh see Cally-Lou, you'll be wuth +lookin' at twice."</p> + +<p>Somers took this more seriously than he would have taken it twenty-four +hours previously—and he carried it to the tavern with him, and thought +it over a long time; and then, as if that were not sufficient, he +carried it to the Bowden place in the dusk of the evening, and worried +with it until he had no difficulty in discovering where his grandfather +had walked, and where his mother had hid herself when her feelings were +hurt, and where she had played with her dolls.</p> + +<p>The experience helped him in many ways, so much that when Adelaide saw +him only a few hours later she exclaimed, "Why, how well you are +looking! Our climate must be fine to make such a change in you." And Mr. +Sanders—"Well, well! ef you stay here long, you'll turn out to be a +purty nice lookin' chap. The home air is mighty good for folks, so I've +been told." And, somehow or other, without further explanation, the +young fellow knew what Mr. Sanders had meant by his talk about the +"royal straight flush." When he called on old Jonas, he went as the +grandson of Judge Bowden, and not as the agent of the promoter of the +new railway, and endeavoured to learn everything that the old man knew +about his grandfather.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sanders joined the two before they had been conversing very long, +and he was surprised, as well as pleased, to find how completely old +Jonas had thawed out. There was not a frown on his face, and, on +occasion, he laughed heartily over some incident that his memory drew +from the past. And, presently, Adelaide glided in from the innermost +recesses of the house, and sat near her uncle. She was a charming +addition, and a most interesting one, for she was able to remind old +Jonas of many things he had told her about the dead judge. Mr. Sanders, +not to be outdone, contributed some of his own reminiscences, so that +the evening became a sort of memorial of a good man who had long passed +away.</p> + +<p>When the visitors were going away, Adelaide accompanied them to the +door, and went with them on the veranda. Before Mr. Sanders could say +good-bye, she caught him by his sleeve—"Do you remember what I told you +the other day? Well, she has returned."</p> + +<p>"What did she say?" he inquired, his finger on his chin. Adelaide +blushed, but no one could see her embarrassment. "Why, she says that +everything looks a great deal better by lamplight."</p> + +<p>Young Somers heard the conversation, but kept on moving away. "Did you +hear that?" inquired Mr. Sanders, as he overtook the other. "She was +talking about Cally-Lou. It seems she run away the day you showed your +face here, and now she's come back." And further than that, the Sage of +Shady Dale said not a word. But the next day, he met the young fellow on +the street, and gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. "You showed +up purty strong, sonny; an' now that you've diskiver'd for yourself that +thar's a whole lot of ingineerin' that's nuther civil nor mechanical, +an' that aint got a thing in the world to do wi' figgers, you'll manage +to git along ruther better than you thought—in fact, mighty nigh +fustrate.</p> + +<p>"But don't fergit Cally-Lou!"</p> + +<p>And the young fellow did get along first-rate in more ways than one. The +railroad was allowed to run right through old Jonas's land, and when it +was completed there was nothing to do but to celebrate the event by a +marriage, in which the young man was aided and abetted by Adelaide. Then +when everything had settled down, he took hold of Randall's water-power +and furnished lights for the town, and power for two or three mills in +which Mr. Sanders was interested. I think this is all, but if you are in +doubt about it, and want to find out something more, just enclose a +stamp to William H. Sanders, Esq., Shady Dale, Georgia.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="By_JOEL_CHANDLER_HARRIS" id="By_JOEL_CHANDLER_HARRIS"></a>By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Uncle Remus—His Songs and His Sayings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nights with Uncle Remus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uncle Remus and His Friends<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mingo<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Little Mr. Thimblefinger<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the Plantation<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Daddy Jake, the Runaway<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Balaam and His Master<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mr. Rabbit at Home<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Story of Aaron<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sister Jane<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Free Joe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stories of Georgia<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aaron in the Wild Woods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tales of the Home Folks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Georgia, from the Invasion of De Soto to Recent Times<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Evening Tales<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stories of Home Folks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chronicles of Aunt Minerva Ann<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the Wing of Occasions<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Making of a Statesman<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gabriel Tolliver<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wally Wanderoon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Little Union Scout<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Tar Baby Story and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Told by Uncle Remus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Yankee Hater, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 36370-h.txt or 36370-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/3/7/36370">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/3/7/36370</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Bishop and the Boogerman + + +Author: Joel Chandler Harris + + + +Release Date: June 10, 2011 [eBook #36370] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN*** + + +E-text prepared by David Edwards, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 36370-h.htm or 36370-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36370/36370-h/36370-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36370/36370-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/bishopboogerman00harrrich + + + + + +THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN + +Being the Story of a Little Truly-Girl, Who Grew Up; Her Mysterious +Companion; Her Crabbed Old Uncle; the Whish-Whish Woods; a Very Civil +Engineer, and Mr. Billy Sanders the Sage of Shady Dale + +by + +JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS + +Drawings by Charlotte Harding + + + + + + + +New York +Doubleday, Page & Company +1909 + +All Rights Reserved, Including That of Translation +into Foreign Languages, Including the Scandinavian + +Copyright, 1907, by Sunny South Publishing Co. + +Copyright, 1909, by Doubleday, Page & Company +Published, January, 1909 + + + + +[Illustration: "They paused--then she pointed to the darkest corner"] + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"They paused--then she pointed to the darkest corner" + +"It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of fried chicken and +biscuits" + +"The child stared at her uncle so seriously that he was actually +embarrassed" + +"Old Jonas would listen by her bedside to convince himself that she was +really breathing" + +"They began to creep forward, making as little noise as possible" + +"'You are pouting,' she said, 'or you'd never be sitting in this room +where nobody ever comes'" + +"'That's why you see these shoes lookin' like they're spang new'" + +"Mr. Sanders went from the courthouse with a sweeping stride" + + + + +THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN + + + + +PART I + + The old Pig went to wander, + The other went far to roam + And, at last, when night was falling, + And a little Pig was calling + Never a one came home. + + --_Rhunewalt's Ballads of Life_. + + +Adelaide and I have come to the conclusion that if you can't believe +anything at all, not even the things that are as plain as the nose on +your face--if you can't enjoy what is put here to be enjoyed--if you are +going to turn up your nose at everything we tell you, and deny things +that we know to be truly-ann-true, just because we haven't given you the +cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die sign--then it's your own fault if we +don't reply when you try to give the wipple-wappling call. And more than +that, if you know so much that you don't know anything, or less than +anything, you will have to go somewhere else to be amused and +entertained; you will have to find other play-fellows. You might +persuade us to play with you if you had something nicer than peppermint +candy, and sweeter than taffy, and then Adelaide would show you things +that you never so much as dreamed of before, and tell you things you +never heard of. + +Adelaide! Doesn't the very sound of the name make you feel a little bit +better than you were feeling awhile ago? Doesn't it remind you of the +softest blue eyes in the world, and of long curly hair, spun from summer +sunbeams that were left over from last season's growing? If all these +things don't flash in your mind, like magic pictures on a white +background, then you had better turn your head away, and not bother +about the things I am saying. And another thing: Don't imagine that I am +writing of the Right-Now time, for, one day when Adelaide and I were +playing in the garden, we found Eighteen-Hundred-and-Sixty-Eight hiding +under a honeysuckle vine, where it had gone to die. Adelaide picked the +poor thing up and put it in the warm place in her apron that she keeps +for all the weaklings; and now when we want to remember a great many +things, both good and bad, we go back to the poor thing we found under +the honeysuckle vine. + +It was a very good thing that old Jonas Whipple, of Shady Dale, had a +sister who married and went to Atlanta, because Adelaide was in Atlanta, +and nowhere else; it was the only place where she could have been found. +Old Jonas's sister had been in Atlanta not longer than a year, if that +long, when, one day, she found Adelaide, and appeared to be very fond of +her. At that time, Adelaide had hardly been aroused from her dreams. She +may have opened her eyes sometimes, but she seemed sleepy; and when she +snored, as the majority of people will, when they are not put to bed +right, everybody said she was crying. It was so ridiculous that she +sometimes smiled in her sleep. But the most mysterious thing about it, +was that old Jonas's sister knew she was named Adelaide almost as soon +as she found her. Now, how did old Jonas's sister know that? Adelaide +and I have often tried to figure it out when we were playing in the +garden, but no matter how many figures we made in the sand, there was +always something or other in the top row that stood for No-Time, and we +didn't know how to add that up. + +One day, Adelaide's father, who had been ailing a long time, became so +ill that a great many people came to the house in carriages and took him +away so that he might get well again. Adelaide hardly had time to forget +that her father had gone away, before her mother went to bed one night, +and, after staying there a long time, was carried away by the people who +had been so kind to her, only this time there were a great many more +women in the house, and some of them went about acting as though they +had been taking snuff. And there was a very nice old gentleman, with a +smooth face, and a big ring on one of his fat fingers. As well as +Adelaide could remember, this was the Peskerwhalian Bishop, and he was +just as kind as he could be. He had a pink complexion just like a woman. +He took Adelaide in his arms, and told her all about Heaven, and +everything like that, and then he felt about in his pockets and found +some candy drops. + +Adelaide knew very well that the people who came to the house were very +much concerned about her. They talked in whispers when she was in +hearing, but she knew by their sad faces that they were troubled about +something, and she wished that they would get over it, and laugh and +talk as they used to do. When she went on the street, the little girls +she met turned and looked at her curiously, and though they were very +friendly indeed, they had the inquisitive look that older people have +such a dread of. At first she thought her nose must be smutty, or her +bonnet on crooked, or her frock torn; but when it turned out that +everything about her was according to the prevailing fashions of +cleanliness and correctness, she was quite content to be the observed of +all observers in her neighbourhood. + +And then, one day (can it ever be forgotten by anybody who was living at +that time?), a lovely man, looking so much like the Bishop that Adelaide +named him so, came after her and said that she was to go to Shady Dale, +and live with her Uncle Jonas. This was Mr. Sanders--Billy Sanders, of +Shady Dale. "I ain't sorry for you one bit," Mr. Sanders declared--I was +there when he said it--"bekaze the first time I saw you, you made a face +at me." + +"How did I look, and what else did I say?" Adelaide asked. + +"You looked this way," replied Mr. Sanders, puckering up his +countenance, "an' you said 'W-a-a-a!'" + +"Then what did you say?" inquired Adelaide. + +"Why, I shuck my fist at you an' said I never saw anybody look so much +like your Uncle Jonas." Adelaide took all this very seriously, as she +did most things. + +It turned out that she was to go to her Uncle Jonas, and that Mr. +Sanders had come after her; and then, my goodness gracious! she was so +full of anticipation and joy that she was frightened for herself. The +kind ladies who had had charge of her told her not to be frightened, and +to be very good, but she just rolled her big blue eyes, and had long, +long thoughts about things of which she never breathed a word. She +started at last, and went with Mr. Sanders on the choo-choo train, and +such a time as the two had buying tickets to Malvern, and laughing at +the people they saw, and getting their baggage checked, and getting on +the train, and watching the station slide back away from them so they +could get a good start--such a time has hardly been repeated for anybody +from that day to this. + +A man caught a cinder in his eye, and ran with such speed to the +water-cooler that he turned the whole thing over; and it came down with +such a crash that everybody was frightened except Mr. Sanders and +Adelaide. Women screamed, babies squalled, and all the time the cinder +man was saying things under his breath, and some of them sounded to +Adelaide like the words that her good friend, the Peskerwhalian Bishop, +used in his sermon, only they were not so fierce and emphatic. The child +glanced around, and remarked with a satisfied smile: "It didn't scare +Cally-Lou." "I reckon not," Mr. Sanders remarked, although he had no +idea what Adelaide meant. + +Well, they reached Malvern in due time, and there, right at the station, +was the stage-coach, which was driven by John Bell. Mr. Sanders +introduced Adelaide to the driver, who took off his hat and bowed very +gravely, and after that it was only a few minutes before they were on +their way to Shady Dale. If the choo-choo train had been fine, the +stage-coach was finer; it was like getting in a swing and staying there +a long time. There were a few passengers in the coach, and they all +appeared to be very sleepy. When they nodded, as the most of them did, +they fell about somewhat promiscuously--though Adelaide didn't think of +that word--and made it somewhat uncomfortable for the child, who was +wide awake and alert. But when they came to the place where the horses +were watered, John Bell leaned from his seat, and saw at a glance what +Adelaide's trouble was. In a jiffy he had her up on the swaying seat +beside him. It would have been a frightful position for most children, +but Adelaide thought it was the grandest thing in the world. She was +seated almost directly above the two wheel horses, and not very far from +the leaders. She could see their muscles rise and fall as they whirled +the coach along; she could see the flecks of foam made by the harness, +and--well, it was just glorious! She had what Mr. Sanders called the +Christmas feeling--the feeling that is ever ready to become awe or +delight--and the swing of the stage-coach kept her alternating between +the two. + +It was wonderful, too, how one man could manage four great big horses, +how he could guide them by merely touching one of the reins with the end +of a finger; and then, when John Bell gave his long whip wide play, +sending it through the air with a swish, and bringing it down as gently +as a breath of wind on the back of the horse he desired to warn, +Adelaide could have screamed with delight. There was a half-way house +where the horses were changed, and when the coach stopped for that +purpose, most of the passengers went into a near-by inn for their +dinner. One or two of them, however, had brought a lunch along. One of +them offered Adelaide a share, saying: "Won't you have some of my +dinner, Sissy?" Her mother had called her many fond names, but nothing +like that. John Bell glanced at her, and the expression on the little +face opened his eyes. "No, I thank you," he replied, "she'll go snucks +wi' me." She snuggled up to John Bell--"Did you hear him?" she asked; +"he called me Sissy." "I heard him," said John Bell; "I heard every +word, and just how he said it." + +The lunch-basket that John Bell found under the seat was a wonder to +see. It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of fried chicken +and biscuits with yellow butter on the inside of each. "Now," said John +Bell, "there ain't enough vittles here for one, much less six." "Six!" +cried Adelaide. "Yes'm; you and yourself, Mr. Sanders and his self, and +me and myself." "Ef you're countin' me in," remarked Mr. Sanders, "jest +add three more figgers to the multiplication table." "And then," said +Adelaide very solemnly, "there's Cally-Lou and herself. Cally-Lou's +herself is just big enough to be counted," she went on, "but Cally-Lou +is bigger than I am. She's sitting right here by me; you could see her +if you could turn your head quick enough. She dodges when she thinks +anybody is going to look at her, because she is neither black nor white; +she's a brown girl with straight black hair that wavies when you brush +it." + +[Illustration: "It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of +fried chicken and biscuits"] + +"Why, of course," said John Bell; "I'd know her anywhere. I was afraid, +once or twice, that I'd put out her eye with my whip-lash." + +"Oh, did you really see Cally-Lou?" cried Adelaide, with an ecstatic +smile. + +"Didn't you hear what he said about the vittles?" remarked Mr. Sanders. +"Do you think he'd 'a' said that ef he'd 'a' seed only us three? I'll +say this much for John Bell before I eat all his chicken an' +biscuits--he's nuther stingy ner greedy. Now, then," he went on, "jest +shet you eyes, an' grab, bekaze the one that grabs the quickest will git +that big hind leg there. My goodness! I can shet my eyes an' see it!" +Whereupon Mr. Sanders and John Bell closed their eyes, and reached into +the basket, and one drew a back and a biscuit, and the other grabbed a +neck and a biscuit. "We dassent shet our eyes any more," remarked Mr. +Sanders, "bekaze if we do, Cally-Lou will git all the chicken!" + +Talk about picnics or barbecues, or parties where you have to wear your +best clothes, or receptions where you have tea-cakes and ice-cream! Why, +this banquet on top of the stage-coach, where no strange person could +look over your shoulder, and no one tell you not to eat with your +fingers, and not to tuck your napkin under your chin, like--like I don't +know what--why, it was just simply a true fairy story, not one of the +make-believe kind--the kind that grows out of the weariness of +invention. + +The feast was over much too soon, though all had had much more than was +good for them. John Bell covered the treasure basket with a towel, and +stowed it away in the big hollow place under the seat; then he beckoned +to a negro who was helping with the horses. "Run down to the spring and +fetch us some water, and be certain to get it out of the north side of +the spring, where it is cold and sweet." The negro did this in a jiffy, +and such water Adelaide had never before tasted. There was a whole +bucketful, too. When they had all drunk their fill, Adelaide looked at +Mr. Sanders and John Bell with a frown. "What can we do for you now, +ma'am?" Mr. Sanders asked. + +"Why, I want you to turn your heads away. Cally-Lou says she is nearly +famished for water, and she won't drink when any one is looking." + +All this being done, everybody was ready to go. Mr. Sanders got in the +stage, declaring that he must have his own warm place, John Bell took +the reins that were handed to him by the hostlers, gave a harmless swish +with his long whip, and away they went to Shady Dale. It was all so +strange, and so pleasant that Adelaide could have wished the journey to +continue indefinitely. But after a while, the houses they passed became +larger and more numerous, and then the stage-coach made its appearance +on the public square that was one of the features of Shady Dale. It +rolled and swung toward the old tavern, and just when Adelaide thought +that John Bell was going to drive right into the house for her benefit, +he gave a little twist to his wrist, and the leaders swung around. Even +then it seemed that they would assuredly run headlong into the big +mulberry tree, and trample to death the man who was leaning against it +in a chair; but just as the leader was about to plant his forefeet in +the man's bosom, John Bell sent another signal down the tightly held +reins, and the leaders swung around until the child could look right +into their tired faces. And, oh, the thrill of it! Adelaide felt that +she could just hug John Bell, but the man who had made such a narrow +escape from the horses' feet had an entirely different view of the +matter. + +"You shorely must be tryin' to show off," he growled to John Bell; "an' +what for, I'd like to know? The next time you kill me, I'll have the law +on you!" + +"Quite so," remarked John Bell, with a grin that showed his white teeth. +"But I want you to know that I've got company; let folks that ain't got +company look out for themselves! Have you seen Mr. Jonas Whipple around +here?" + +"You don't want to run over old Jonas, do you?" replied the man. "All +I've got to say is, jest try it! Old Jonas is a lot tougher than what I +am." + +"I'd run over him in a minnit if it would give my company any pleasure," +said John Bell. "I've got a package for him that come all the way from +Atlanta, an' I reckon the best thing to do is to take it right straight +to his house. It's wropped in cloth, an' he's got to give me a receipt +for it!" + +"Oh, I know!" cried Adelaide, pouting a little; "you are talking about +me!" + +"Drive on!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, who was sitting on the inside of the +stage-coach. "I'll have my ride out ef I have to set in here ontell +to-morrer." + +"Quite so!" exclaimed John Bell, and with that, he signalled the +leaders, all the other passengers having got out by this time, and in +less than no time the coach was whirling in the direction of old Jonas +Whipple's house. + +I'd like to show you how the neighbours came to their doors and stared; +I can't describe it on paper, but if you were sitting where you could +see my motions and gestures you'd laugh until you cried. The way the +horses swept down that long red hill, leading from the tavern to old +Jonas's, was assuredly a sight to see; and not only the neighbours saw +it. Old Jonas saw it, and Lucindy saw it, too. Lucindy tried hard to be +two persons that day; she'd look at old Jonas and frown, and then she'd +look at the stage-coach and smile all over her face. She was mad on one +side and glad on the other--mad because old Jonas wasn't as excited as +she was, and glad because the child was coming. But old Jonas had a very +good reason for his lack of excitement; he had such a cold that he could +hardly talk for coughing, and such a bad cough that he could hardly +cough for wheezing. And before he would come to the door, he wrapped his +neck in a piece of red flannel. He tried to smile when he saw Adelaide +waving her flower-like hand, and the smile came near strangling him. But +Lucindy, the cook, was more than equal to the emergency; she whipped off +her big apron and waved it up and down at arm's length, which was quite +as hearty a welcome as any one would wish to have. I am sure that no one +else ever received such a welcome at old Jonas's door. Up swept the +stage, around it swung, and then, "All out for Whipple's Cross-roads!" + +Mr. Sanders had his head out of the window, and saw Adelaide lift her +lovely face and kiss John Bell. It must have been a great strain on John +Bell to stoop so low, for when he straightened himself he was very red +in the face. + +"That," said Mr. Sanders, who was a close observer, "is the first time +anybody has kissed John Bell since he was a baby. That's what makes him +sweat so!" + +"Much you know about such things," exclaimed John Bell, mopping his face +with a red bandana. Nobody knows to this day how Lucindy managed to take +the trunk from the boot of the stage, and place it in the veranda in +time to run back and seize Adelaide and pull her through the window of +the coach before any one could open the door. But such was the feat she +performed in her excitement. Mr. Sanders appeared to be so surprised +that he could do nothing but pucker up his face, pretending he was +crying, and yell out: "Lucindy's took Miss Adelaide, an' now who's gwine +to take me out'n this stage. Ef you don't come an' git me, Jonas, I'll +be took off by John Bell, an' you won't never see me no more!" Old Jonas +looked at Mr. Sanders as if he were in a dream, and had not heard +aright. Observing this, Mr. Sanders kept up the pretence, and he cried +so loudly, and to such purpose, that the neighbours on each side of the +street came running to their front doors to see what the trouble was. +And then old Jonas became furiously angry. "Take him away, John Bell!" +he commanded; "I hold you responsible! Confound you! why don't you drive +on." With that he went into the house. + +Mr. Sanders cared not a whit for old Jonas's irritation, and so he +alighted from the coach and followed the rest into the house. He was +just in time to hear Adelaide begin her course of instruction to old +Jonas. + +"Nunky-Punky," said she, very solemn, "why didn't you wait for +Mr.----oh, I know who he is, he's the Peskerwhalian Bishop!--why didn't +you wait for the Bishop?" + +"Much he looks like a bishop!" replied old Jonas, when he could control +his cough. "Did you ever hear a bishop boo-hooing and carrying on in +that way?" + +The child stared at her uncle so seriously that he was actually +embarrassed. He rubbed his hand over a sharp chin that needed a razor +very badly, and really forgot that he was angry with Mr. Sanders. Then +something quite shocking occurred to Adelaide's nimble mind. + +[Illustration: "The child stared at her uncle so seriously that he was +actually embarrassed"] + +"Oh, Nunky-Punky!" she cried, "you didn't kiss me when I comed, and +everybody said you would, cause I asked 'em particular." + +"Honey," said Mr. Sanders, "le' me stand in Nunky-Punky's shoes while +the kissin' is gwine on, bekaze he ain't shaved in two days, and his +whiskers'll scratch your face." + +But Adelaide ran to old Jonas, and held out her little arms to be lifted +up. Jonas hesitated; he looked at Lucindy, then at Mr. Sanders, and +finally allowed his glance to fall on the sweetly solemn face of the +child. He tried to say something, to make some excuse, but he could +think of none. He was not only dreadfully embarrassed, he was actually +ashamed. Not in forty years had any one ever asked to kiss him and, +whether you count it backward or forward, forty years is a long time. +Mr. Sanders tried to pilot him through the deep water--so to speak--in +which he found himself. "Sit down, Jonas, and take Miss Adelaide on your +knee, an' let the thing be done right. Kinder shet your eyes an' pucker +your mouth, and she'll do the rest." + +"Sanders," said old Jonas, bristling up again, "if you really want to +hurt my feelings just say so. You have no real delicacy about you. How +do you know some one hasn't told the little girl that it is her duty to +pretend to want to kiss her uncle, whether she wants to or not? Tell me +that!" Old Jonas's eyes glistened under his overhanging brows, and if +"looks" could kill a man, Mr. Sanders would have fallen down dead. +Adelaide dropped her arms, and stood close to old Jonas's knee, looking +quite forlorn. "Well, come on, Cally-Lou, Uncle Jonas has a very bad +cold and a headache, and we mustn't bother him." + +"No, no, no!" cried old Jonas, screwing up his face until it looked like +the seed-ball of a sweet-gum tree. "There are some things a man has to +do whether he's used to them or not. Come here and kiss me if you really +want to." Adelaide turned, tossing her head as if she were growner than +a grown woman, and went toward old Jonas with the queerest little smile +ever seen. Her feelings had been dreadfully hurt, but not a quiver of +mouth or eyelid disclosed the fact, and only Cally-Lou knew it. Old +Jonas sat down in his favourite chair, and took the child on his knee. +If he had to be a martyr, he would go through the performance as +gracefully as he could. Adelaide made great preparations. She felt of +his chin with one hand, while she threw the other around his neck. She +seemed to know instinctively that old Jonas was rather timid when it +came to kissing people, and she went to his rescue. "Now, I'm not going +to kiss him until all you people turn your heads away. No, that won't +do! You've got to turn clean around, and look the other way!" She waited +until she had been obeyed, and then, as nimbly as a humming-bird kisses +a flower, she kissed the grim old man, and slid from his knee. + +"Ten-ten-double-ten-forty-five-fifteen!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders. "All +eyes open! I'm gwine to peep!" + +Adelaide laughed joyously, and when Mr. Sanders turned around she was +standing in the middle of the floor. + +"You're It!" he said to Jonas. Then the smile disappeared from his face. +"Lucindy," he said, "do you reckon Mr. Whipple would buss me ef I was to +ast him?" The question was a little too much for Lucindy, and she +disappeared in the direction of the kitchen, bent double with laughter. + +"Sanders, why do you make a joke out of everything? Did you ever reflect +that there is somewhere a limit to some things?" + +"I certainly do, Jonas, an' you come mighty nigh reachin' it wi' me +awhile ago. Ef you hadn't 'a' let that child kiss you when she wanted +to, I'd 'a' went out'n yon' door an' I'd 'a' never darkened it +ag'in--not in this world." + +"Well, your common sense should tell you, Sanders, that people ain't +made alike. What you are keen to do I have no appetite for, and what I'm +fond of, you have no relish for. That's plain enough, I reckon." + +"Ef that's a conundrum, Jonas, I thank my Maker that the answer is +plain, yes!" + +Old Jonas looked hard at Mr. Sanders as though he wanted to say +something. He stuck out his chin, and looked toward the ceiling; then he +looked at the floor, and began to rub his hands briskly together. Then +his thought came out: "Sanders," he said, almost hospitably, "suppose +you stay to supper to-night; or, if you can't stay until supper's ready, +suppose you come back to supper? How will that suit you? I----" + +"Well, I'll tell you the truth, Jonas: ef you think you need me for to +pertect you from that child, you're mighty much mistaken. I don't +believe that Miss Adelaide would harm a ha'r on your head, few as you've +got." + +"Nonsense, Sanders! you twist every mortal thing around in your mind, +and you are never happy until you set your best friends up as a target +for your folly. Answer my question: will you take supper with--with us?" + +Mr. Sanders regarded old Jonas with real interest. His mild but fearless +blue eyes studied the other's face as if they would read there the +solution to some mystery. "Yes, Jonas; I'll not stay to supper, but I'll +come back in time for supper. But don't publish it; ef the public know'd +anything about it, they might think I was tryin' for to wheedle you out +of a loan, an' then what'd happen? Why, all my creditors would come +swarmin' aroun' me like gnats aroun' a sleepin' dog. I could jest as +well stay right here tell supper time, but I'm oblidze for to git out +an' walk about a little, an' git the amazement out'n my system. Off an' +on, Jonas, I've been a-knowin' you mighty nigh thirty year, an' this is +the fust time you've ast me to take a meal in your house. I feel as +funny as a flushed pa'tridge!" + +Jonas stalked out of the room pretending to be very angry, but he began +to chuckle as soon as his back was turned. "Sanders is out of his +sphere," he said to himself. "More than half the time he should have a +big tent over his head and be rigged up like a clown." Mr. Sanders +watched the door through which old Jonas had gone, as if he expected him +to come back. Then he called out to him: "Jonas! be shore to have +somethin' for supper that me an' that child can eat!" + +Old Jonas heard the voice of Mr. Sanders, but he paid no attention to +its purport. He went on into the kitchen where Adelaide and Lucindy were +having a conversation. He tried to smile at the child, but he realised +that his face was not made for smiles. It may have been different in the +days of his boyhood, and probably was, but since he had devoted himself +to the heartless problems that beset a man who is money-mad, the facial +muscles that smiling brings into play had become so set in other +directions, and had been so frequently used for other purposes, that +they made but a poor success of a smile. Realising this, he turned to +Lucindy, with a business-like air. "Lucindy, Mr. Sanders is coming to +supper; I reckon he knows how you can cook, for he jumped at the +invitation. And then there's the little girl; we must have something +nice and sweet for her," he went on. + +"No, Mr. Jonas!" Lucindy exclaimed; "nothin' sweet fer dis chile; des a +little bread an' milk, er maybe a little hot-water tea." + +"Well, you know about that," remarked Jonas, with a sigh; "we shall have +to get a nurse for the child, I reckon." + +Lucindy drew a deep breath. "A nuss fer dat chile! Whar she gwineter +stay at? Not in dis kitchen! not in dis house! not on dis lot! No, suh! +Ef she do, she'll hafter be here by herse'f. I'll drive her off, an' den +you'll go out dar on de porch an' call her back; an' wid dat, I'll say +good bye an' far'-you-well! Yes, la! I kin stan' dis chile, here, an' I +kin 'ten' ter what little ten'in' ter she'll need--but a new nigger on +de place! an' a triflin' gal at dat! No suh, no suh! you'll hafter +scuzen me dis time, an' de nex' time, too." + +Old Jonas walked from one end of the kitchen to the other, his face +puckered up with anger, and looking as if he were on the point of +bursting into tears. "Well, by the livin' Jimminy! can't I do what I +please in my own house? Can't I get my own niece a nurse if I want to?" + +Lucindy placed both hands under her apron, and looked as if she were +swelling up. "Yasser," she exclaimed; "yasser, an' yasser, an' yasser. +An' whiles you're gittin' a nurse, don't let it 'scape off'n your min' +dat you'll want a cook!" She turned to the child, and the tone of her +voice couldn't have been more different if it had come from the lips of +another woman: "Honey, don't git too close ter de stove; ef yo' frock +ketches afire you won't need no nuss. Mr. Billy Sanders'll be a-knockin' +at dat do' present'y, an' supper ain't nigh ready--an' dey won't be no +supper ef I got ter be crowded outer my own kitchen." + +Adelaide looked and listened, and finally she said: "Aunt Lucindy, +Cally-Lou says she doesn't like to be where people are mad and +quarreling. She's afraid she'll have to go off somewhere else." + +"Whar is Cally-Lou, honey? an' how big is she?" + +"Oh, she's lot's bigger than me," replied Adelaide, very primly, "and +she's sitting on the floor right by me. She says that fussing gives her +nervy posteration." + +"You say dat Cally-Lou is settin' on de flo' by yo' side?" Lucindy +asked, opening her eyes a little wider. "Den how come I can't see her?" + +"Well," said Adelaide, turning her soft blue eyes on the negro woman, +and speaking with what seemed to be perfect seriousness, "she isn't used +to you yet, and then she has had such a bad day!" + +Lucindy paused in her work and took a long look at the pretty face of +the child. "I can't see her, honey, but dat ain't no reason she ain't +dar whar you say she's at. Let 'lone dat, it's a mighty good reason why +she _is_ dar!" + +After a little Adelaide went into the sitting-room, and there found her +Uncle Jonas sitting in the twilight that came dimly through the windows. +She crept to his side, and leaned her head with its long golden curls +against his arm. She may have wondered why he failed to take her on his +knee, but she said nothing, and he, being busy with some old, old +thoughts that came back to him, was as silent as the fat china dog that +sat peacefully by the fireplace. + +Presently Lucindy came in to light the lamps, and saw the child standing +by old Jonas. "Honey!" she exclaimed in a startled tone, "ain't you +tired to death? Ain't yo' legs 'bout to give way fum under you? I bet +you Cally-Lou done gone ter bed----" + +"No," said Adelaide; "she's very tired, but she's standing up just like +me." The next thing to happen was the entrance of Mr. Sanders, who +seemed to bring the fresh breezes with him. He seized Adelaide in his +arms, and carried her into the dining-room. When all were seated, +Adelaide waited a moment, as though she was expecting something. Then +she placed her little hands over her face, leaned her head nearly down +upon the table, and said grace silently; and but for the audible amen, +the men would never have guessed what she was doing. + +"I hope you mentioned my name," said Mr. Sanders, with due solemnity. + +The child paid no attention to the remark, nor did she even glance at +any one at the table, until the genial guest turned to the host and made +a polite inquiry. "Jonas, do you button these napkins on before or +behind? I don't want to make any blunder if I can help it." + +At this, Adelaide looked up and saw that Mr. Sanders was trying to tie a +corner of the tablecloth around his neck. The sight was so unexpected +that she gave forth a peal of the merriest laughter ever heard, and +Lucindy gave a snort of discomfiture. + +"I declar' ter gracious!" she exclaimed, "ef I ain't done gone and +fergit de napkins!" + +The oversight was soon remedied, and everything went along all right +until Mr. Sanders, taking a spoon in his hand, said to the child: + +"Miss Adelaide, I'll bet you and Cally-Lou can't do this." + +He placed the spoon so far in his mouth that nothing could be seen but a +small part of the handle. Lucindy had to leave the room, and the child +laughed until the tears ran down her cheeks. When she could control +herself, she said, reproachfully: + +"Bishop, some day you'll choke yourself--you may ask anybody--and then +what will the people do?" + + + + +PART II + + Far over the hills, the wayward, + White feet of the children run, + Now gleaming in the shadows, + Now glistening in the sun-- + And always travelling dayward + As they flit by one by one. + + --_Vanderlyn's Songs of the Past._ + + +It was curious how much interest Mr. Sanders began to take in the home +life that the mere presence of Adelaide brought to old Jonas Whipple's +house. He would walk in without knocking, sometimes just about tea-time, +and the child would invariably ask him to stay. Then after tea, he would +challenge old Jonas for a game of checkers, and Adelaide thought it was +great fun to watch them, they were so eager to defeat each other. Mr. +Sanders had long been the champion checker-player in that part of the +country, and he was very much astonished to find that old Jonas was +himself an expert. Sometimes Adelaide would watch the game, and the two +men invariably appealed to her to settle any question or doubt that +arose, such as which of the two made the last move, or whether old Jonas +had slipped a man from the board. + +Most frequently, however, Adelaide was busy with her own affairs, and +when this was the case, the two men sat quietly together, sometimes +talking and sometimes listening. + +"The Bishop is here," Adelaide would say to Cally-Lou. Then it seemed +that Cally-Lou would make some reply that could only be heard through +the ears of the imagination, to which Adelaide would respond most +earnestly: "Why of course he isn't asleep, 'cause I saw him wink both +eyes just now"--and the conversation would go on, sometimes +good-humouredly, and sometimes charged with pretended indignation. If +there had been any telephones, Mr. Sanders would inevitably have said: +"You can't make me believe thar ain't some un at the other eend of the +line." + +I would say it was all like a play on the stage, only it wasn't as small +as that. A play on the stage, as you well know, has its times and +places. It must come to an end within a reasonable time. The curtain +comes down, the audience files out, laughing and chatting, or wiping its +eyes--as the case may be--the actors run to their cheerless rooms to +strip off their tinsel finery, then the lights are put out, and +everything is left to the chill of emptiness and gloom. But this was not +the way with the play at old Jonas's home. It began early in the +morning--for Adelaide was a very early riser--and lasted until bed-time; +and, sometimes, longer, as Lucindy could have told you. Old Jonas had a +way of covering his bald head with a flannel night-cap, and tucking the +bed-covering about his face and ears, so that light and sound, no matter +where they came from, would have as much as they could do to reach his +eyes and ears; and, while he lay very still, as though he were sound +asleep, he was sometimes awake for a very long time, thinking old +thoughts and new ones, remembering people he had pinched in money +matters, and thinking of those he intended to pinch. + +After Adelaide came to live with him he had few thoughts of this kind, +and less desire to sleep. Frequently he lay awake for hours at a time, +wondering if the child was comfortable. Adelaide slept in a poster bed, +one of the old-fashioned kind, and many a night, when everything was +still and dark as the gloomy plague that fell over Egypt, old Jonas +would slip from under his carefully tucked cover, steal into the room +where the child slept, and listen by her bedside to convince himself +that she was really breathing, so softly and shyly did she draw her +breath. And sometimes he would put out his hand and feel--oh, ever so +gently!--if she had kicked off the covering. + +[Illustration: "Old Jonas would listen by her bedside to convince +himself that she was really breathing"] + +Now, it frequently happened that Lucindy, the cook, had the same spells +of uneasiness, and it chanced one night that they were both at the +child's bed at the same time. Old Jonas was feeling, and Lucindy was +feeling, and their hands met; the cold hand of old Jonas touched +Lucindy's hand. This was enough! Lucindy said not a word--indeed, words +were beyond her--she said afterward that she came within one of uttering +a scream and dropping to the floor. But the fright that had weakened +her, had also given her strength to escape. She stole back to her place +on tip-toe, declaring in her mind that she would never again enter that +room at night unless she had torch-bearers to escort her. + +It was contrary to all her knowledge and experience that old Jonas +should concern himself about the child at his time of life, and with his +whimsical habits and methods. In trying to account for the incident, her +mind never wandered in the direction of old Jonas at all. To imagine +that he was at the bedside of the child, investigating her comfort, was +far less plausible than any other explanation she could offer. And then +and there, the legend of Cally-Lou became charged with reality, so far +as Lucindy was concerned; and it had a larger growth in one night, from +the impetus that Lucindy gave it, than an ordinary legend could hope to +have in a century. + +Lucindy lost no time in mentioning the matter to Adelaide the next day. +"La, honey! I had de idee dat you wuz des a-playin' when I hear you +talkin' to Cally-Lou; I got de idee dat she wuz des one er de +Whittle-Come-Whattles dat lives in folks' min', an' nowhar else. Dat 'uz +kaze I ain't never seed 'er; my eyeballs ain't got de right slant, I +reckon. But las' night, I tuck a notion dat you had done kick de kivver +off, an' in I went, gropin' an' creepin' 'roun' in de dark--not dish yer +common dark what you have out'n doors, but de kin' dat your Nunky-Punky +keeps in de house at night; an' de Lord knows ef I had ez much money ez +what dey say he's got, I'd have me ten candles an' a lantern lit in +eve'y blessed room. Well, I went in dar, des like I tell you, an' I put +out my han'--des so--an' I teched somebody else's han', an' 'twant +your'n, honey, kaze 'twuz ez col' ez a frog in de branch. I tell you +now, I lit out fum dar--hosses couldn't 'a' helt me--an' I come in de +back room dar whar I b'long'ded at, crope back in bed, an' shuck an' +shiver'd plum' tell sleep come down de chimberly an' sot on my eyeleds. + +"Nobody nee'n'ter tell me dey aint no Cally-Lou, kaze I done gone an' +felt un her. Folks say dat feelin's lots better'n seein'. What you see +mayn't be dar, kaze yer eyeballs may be wrong, but what you feels un, +it's blidze ter be dar. Well, I done put my han' on Cally-Lou! Yes, +honey, right on 'er!" Lucindy told her experience to many, including old +Jonas, who glared at her with his ferret-like eyes, and moved his jaws +as if he were chewing a very toothsome tidbit; and the oftener she told +it, the larger it grew and the more completely she believed in +Cally-Lou. + +Many shook their heads, while others openly avowed their disbelief. On +the other hand a large number of those who came in contact with Lucindy +and heard her solemn account of the affair, were greatly impressed. +Adelaide showed not the slightest surprise when Lucindy recounted her +astonishing adventure. She seemed to be glad that the cook had now +discovered for herself about Cally-Lou, but she seemed very much +distressed, and also irritated, that the Chill-Child-No-Child (as she +sometimes called her) should be so thoughtless as to wander about in the +darkness with nothing on her feet and little on her body. With both +hands Adelaide pushed back her wonderful hair that was almost hiding her +blue eyes. + +"I don't know how often I have told Cally-Lou not to go gadding about +the house at night, catching cold and making Nunky-Punky pay a dollar +apiece for doctor's bills. No wonder she slept so late this morning!" + +Adelaide not only talked like she was picking the words out of a big +book, as Lucindy declared, but there were times, as now, when all the +troubles and responsibilities of maternity looked out upon the world +through her eyes. Old-fashioned, and apparently as much in earnest as a +woman grown, it was no wonder that Lucindy gazed at her like one +entranced! + +Adelaide made no further remark, but turned and went from the kitchen +into the house. All the doors were open, the weather being warm and +pleasant, and Lucindy presently heard her asking Cally-Lou why she +continued to disobey the only friend she had in the world. Cally-Lou +must have made some excuse, or explanation, though Lucindy couldn't hear +a word thereof, for Adelaide, speaking in a louder tone, gave the +Chill-Child-No-Child a sound rebuke. + +"I don't care if you do feel that way about it," said she; "Nunky-Punky +can look after me, if he feels like it, and so can Aunt Lucindy, but I'm +the one to look after you. Be ashamed of yourself! a great big girl like +you going around in the dark, barefooted and bareheaded. Seat yourself +in that chair, and don't move out of it till I tell you, or you'll be +sorry." + +Lucindy, listening with all her ears, lifted her arms in a gesture of +admiration and astonishment, exclaiming to herself, "I des wish you'd +listen! Dat sho do beat my time!" + +Adelaide went off to play, and it might be supposed that she had +forgotten Cally-Lou; but a little before the hour was up, she went into +the house again, called Cally-Lou, and, after a little, came running out +again, laughing as gayly as if she had heard one of Mr. Sanders's jokes. + +"What de matter, honey? Whar Cally-Lou?" Lucindy inquired. + +"Why, she went fast asleep in the chair," cried Adelaide, laughing as +though it were the funniest thing imaginable, "and no wonder she fell +asleep after wandering about the house, pretending she wanted to make +sure that I was snivelling under that heavy cover. How can anybody get +cold such weather as this?" + +Lucindy shook her head. "De han' dat totch mine was col', honey--stone +col'." + +"Oh, Cally-Lou's hand! Well, she can sit by the fire and still be cold," +responded Adelaide. "Cally-Lou is mighty funny," she went on, growing +confidential; "she says she is lonesome; she wants to play with growner +folks than me." + +"Well, honey, I dunner whar she'll fin' um. Dar's Mr. Sanders; sholy he +ain't too young fer 'er!" + +As though the mention of his name had summoned Mr. Sanders from the dim +and vague region where Cally-Lou had her place of residence, those in +the kitchen now heard his voice in the house. He had entered, as usual, +without taking the trouble to knock, and he came down the long hall, +talking and saluting imaginary persons, hoping in that way to attract +the attention of Adelaide. Nor was he unsuccessful. + +"Well, I declare!" he exclaimed. "Here's Miss Sue Frierson!--an' +well-named too, bekaze ever'body knows that she'd fry a sun ef she had +one. Howdy, Miss Sue! Miss Susan-Sue! Ef you are well, why I am too! So +it's up an' hop to-day. Dr. Honeyman says she won't be well tell she's +better. She had company last night, an' she tried for to nod whiles she +was standin' up. It'd 'a' been all right ef her feet had n't 'a' gone to +sleep. Thereupon, an' likewise whatsoever--as the Peskerwhalian Bishop +says--she fell off'n her perch, an' had to be put to bed back'ards. +What? You don't know the Peskerwhalian Bishop? Well, his hardware name +is William H. Sanders, of the county aforesaid, Ashbank Deestrick, G. M. + +"Cally-Lou? Well, I hain't seed the child to-day, but she's up an' +about; you'll hear her whistlin' fer company presently. Can't stay? +Well, good bye, Miss Susan-Sue; mighty glad I met you when I did. So +long, or longer!" + +Bowing Miss Frierson out, though she was invisible to all eyes, Mr. +Sanders came back toward the kitchen talking to himself. "Well, well! I +hadn't seed my Susan-Sue in thirteen year, an' she's jest the same as +she was when she engaged herself to me--eyes like they had been jest +washed, an' the eend of her nose lookin' like a ripe plum! But sech is +life whar we live at. Howdy, Adelaide? Howdy, Lucindy? I hope both of +you have taken your stand among my well-wishers." + +"La, Mr. Sanders, how you does run on! I b'lieve you er lots wuss'n you +used to be!" + +"Well, Lucindy, it's mighty hard for to make a young hoss stand in one +place. He's uther got to go back'ards or forrerds, or jump sideways. +I've jest begun to live good. I feel a heap better sence I was born in +the country whar Miss Adelaide spends her time an' pleasure." + +"Now, Bishop, tell me, please, if you were really talking to +Miss----Miss----" + +"Frierson--Miss Susan-Sue Frierson." Mr. Sanders supplied the name to +Adelaide. He seemed to be filled with astonishment. "Did you hear me +talking?" he asked in a confidential whisper. "Why, I--I didn't know you +could hear me! Now, don't go and tell ever'body. She lives in our +country, an' she come for to see Cally-Lou." + +"Well, I'm sorry Cally-Lou didn't see her. I had to punish her to-day, +and she's not feeling so well." + +"Well, I reckon not!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders; "'specially ef you used a +cowhide, or a barrel-stave. What have you got to do to-day, and whar are +you gwine? I had a holiday comin' to me, an' so I thought I'd come down +here an' take you to the Whish-Whish Woods an' hunt for the Boogerman." + +At once Adelaide was in a quiver of excitement. "Shall we camp out? Must +we take guns? How long shall we stay?" + +"Guns! why, tooby shore," replied Mr. Sanders, with an expression of +ferociousness new to his countenance; "as many as we can tote wi'out +sp'ilin' our complexions; an' we'll stay ontel we git him or his hide. +Lucindy'd better fix up a lunch for two--a couple of biscuits an' a +couple of buttermilks. Thar's no tellin' when we'll git back." + +Now, old Jonas Whipple had the largest and the finest garden in town. It +was such a fine garden, indeed, that the neighbours had a way of looking +at it over the fence, and wondering how Providence could be so kind to a +man so close and stingy, and so mean in money-matters. And as your +neighbours can wonder about one thing as well as another, old Jonas's +wondered where all the vegetables went to. It was out of the question +that old Jonas should use them all himself; and yet, as regularly as the +garden was planted every year, as certainly as the vegetables always +grew successfully, let the season be wet or dry, just as regularly and +just as certainly, the various crops disappeared as fast as they became +eatable--and that, too, when nearly everybody in the community had +gardens of their own. It was a very mild mystery, but in a village, such +as Shady Dale was, even a mild mystery becomes highly important until it +is solved, and then it is forgotten. Only Mr. Sanders had solved it thus +far, and this was the main reason why he "neighboured" with old Jonas. +He had discovered that the vegetables went to the maintenance of a small +colony of "tackies" that had settled near Shady Dale--"dirt-eaters" they +were called. They were so poor and improvident that the men went in rags +and the women in tatters; and only old Jonas's fine garden was free to +them. In the early morning twilight they would slip in with their bags +and their baskets, and were gone before anybody but themselves had +shaken off the shackles of sleep. + + * * * * * + +Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-eight seemed to be very pale when Adelaide +and I found it under the honeysuckle vine, but in old Jonas's garden it +was particularly brilliant in its colours of green. Green is the +admiration of summer, and it has more beautiful shades than the rainbow. +Observe the marked difference between the cabbage and the corn, between +the squash and watermelon vines, between the asparagus and the cucumber, +between the red pepper plants and the tomato vines! These variations are +worth more than a day's study by any artist who is ambitious of training +his eyes to colour. + +In old Jonas's garden in the summer we are speaking of, there were three +squares of corn, the finest that had ever been seen on upland. And it +was very funny, too: for old Jonas had planted early, and the frost had +come down and nipped the corn when it was about three inches high. The +negro gardener was in despair; in all his experience, and he was +gray-headed, he had never seen anything like this late frost, and he was +anxious for the corn to be ploughed up, so that it could be replanted. +Old Jonas wouldn't hear to the proposition, and the gardener went about +his business, wondering how a man could be so stingy about seed corn, +when he had seven or eight bushels stored away in the dry cellar. + +But, as time went on, the gardener discovered that old Jonas had wisdom +on his side of the fence; the corn not only came up again after being +cut down, but it grew twice as fast, and almost twice as high as anybody +else's corn. In short, there had never before been seen, in that +neighbourhood, a roasting-ear patch quite as vigorous. Some of the +cornstalks were nearly fourteen feet high, and some of them had as many +as four ear-sprouts showing. The patch was so rank and healthy that it +attracted the attention of Mr. Sanders. He climbed the fence, and went +into old Jonas's garden to give it a close examination. A good breeze +was blowing at the time, and the sword-like leaves of the corn were +stirred by it, so that they waved up and down and from side to side, +whispering to one another, "Whish-whish!" That was enough for Mr. +Sanders. He thought instantly of Adelaide, and he named the roasting-ear +patch the Whish-Whish Woods, and that was where he proposed to go +hunting for the Boogerman, the awful, greedy creature that ate +Nunky-Punky's vegetables raw! + +Lucindy didn't need any training in the quick-lunch line, and in less +than no time, if we may deal familiarly with the ticking of the clock, +she had cut two biscuits open and inserted in each a juicy slice of ham; +and while she was doing this, Adelaide ran to her armoury, where she +kept her weapons, offensive and defensive, and came running back with +two guns. They were cornstalk guns, but not the less dangerous on that +account. They were very long and, as Mr. Sanders said, they had about +them an appearance of violence calculated to make the Boogerman fall on +his knees and surrender the moment he was discovered. An ordinary gun +might miss fire--such things have been known before now--but a cornstalk +gun, never! All you have to do when you have a cornstalk gun, is to +point it at the destined victim, shut your eyes and say _Bang!_ in a +loud voice, and the thing is done. And if people or things--whatever and +whoever you shoot at--should be mean enough to remain unhurt, why, then, +that is their fault, and much good may their meanness do them! + +Well, Adelaide and Mr. Sanders took their lunch and were about to start +on their dangerous expedition, when they bethought themselves of +something that Lucindy had forgotten. + +"Why, Lucindy!" cried Adelaide, "what is the matter with you?" + +"Nothin' 't all dat I knows on, honey. I'm de same ol' sev'n an' six +what I allers been." + +Then Mr. Sanders came to Adelaide's support. "Well, your mind must be +wanderin'," he said, "bekaze we ast you as plain as tongue kin speak for +to put us up a couple of buttermilks." + +Lucindy threw her hand above her head with a gesture of despair. "I know +it, I know it! but I ain't got but one buttermilk. Dar's a jar full, but +dat don't make but one; an' what I gwine do when dat's de case?" + +"Why, ef you've got a jar full, thar must be mighty nigh a dozen +buttermilks in it." And so, after much argument and explanation, Lucindy +found a bottle and a funnel and poured two glassfuls in it, one after +the other. Mr. Sanders, very solemn, counted as she filled the glass. +"That makes one," he said, as she emptied the first glass, "an'," when +she poured in the rest--"that makes two, don't it?" + +"Yasser! La, yasser! you-all got me so mixified dat I dunner know which +eend I'm a standin' on. Two! yasser, dey sho is two in dar!" + +Having everything needful in hand, the hunters took their way toward the +large garden. Don't think this garden bore any resemblance to the +ordinary gardens that are to be found in cities and towns. No! it was so +large that, standing at one end you had to shade your eyes--especially +when the sun was shining--to be able to see the boundary fence at the +other end. It held not only a supply of vegetables sufficient for fifty +families, but it contained an abundance of old-fashioned flowers, the +kind you see pictured in the magazines--roses, spice pinks, primroses, +mint, with its little blue flowers, lavender--oh, and ever so much of +everything! And it was all well kept, too, stingy as old Jonas was. In +this wide garden the Whish-Whish Forest grew and flourished, and toward +this the two hunters bent their steps. + +At first they pretended they were not hunting. Nothing could have been +more innocent than the careless way in which they made their way toward +the home of the Boogerman. Hiding their cornstalk guns behind them as +well as they could, they sauntered along examining the flowers, and no +one would have supposed that they were after ridding the country of the +cruel monster that had terrorised the children for miles around. In not +less than seven or seventeen counties was his name spoken in whispers +when the sun had gone to bed and tucked his cloud-quilts around him. If +a child cried at night, or if a wide-awake little one uttered a +whimpering protest when bed-time came, the nurses--not one nurse, but +all the nurses--would raise their hands warningly, and whisper in a +frightened tone, "Sh-sh! the Boogerman is standing right there by the +window; if you make a noise, he'll know right where you are--and then +what will happen?" + +Presently Adelaide and Mr. Sanders (who was still the Bishop, be it +remembered) came close in their saunterings to the edge of the +Whish-Whish Woods, and then they began to creep forward, making as +little noise as possible. + +[Illustration: "They began to creep forward, making as little noise as +possible"] + +"Bishop," said Adelaide, in a whisper, "you slip through the Woods one +way, and I'll slip through the other way. You can be a bishop and a +Injun, too, can't you?" + +"Nothin' easier," replied the Bishop, trying to whisper in return; "I'll +jest take off my coat an' turn it wrongsud-out'rds, an' thar you are!" + +Adelaide's ecstasy shone in her face, and with good reason, for the +middle lining of the Bishop's coat was fiery red. This was too good to +be true, and Adelaide wished in her heart that she had worn her hat with +the big red feather--oh, you know: the one she wore to Sunday School, +where all the other little girls were simply green with envy; of course +you couldn't forget that hat and feather! + +In spite of the fiery red lining of his coat, the Bishop had an idea +that he didn't look fierce enough, so he took off his felt hat, knocked +in the crown, and put it on upside down. His aspect was simply +tremendous. No hobgoblin could have a fiercer appearance than the Bishop +had, and if Adelaide didn't shriek with pure delight it was because she +put her gun across her mouth and bit it. She bit so hard that the print +of her small teeth showed on the gun. Well, of course, after the Bishop +had transformed himself into such a ferocious-looking monster, he and +Adelaide were obliged to have another consultation, and it was while +this was going on that Adelaide came near spoiling the whole thing. + +"Oh, Bishop!" she cried, with a great gasp, "how do you laugh when +you're obliged to, and when----" she gave another gasp, sank to the +ground, and lay there, shaking all over. + +"You put me in mind, honey, of the lady in the book that leaned ag'in +the old ellum tree and shuck wi' sobs, ever' one on 'em more'n a foot +an' a half long, wi' stickers on 'em like a wild briar. It's a sad thing +for to say, but I'm oblidze to say it. The time has come when we've got +to part. Ef we go on this way, the Boogerman will come along an' put us +both in his wallet, an' then what'll we do? Things can't go on this +a-way. It may be for years an' it may be forever, as Miss Ann Tatum says +when she begins for to squall at her peanner, but the time to part has +come. You creep up yander by the fence, so you can see the Boogerman ef +he tries for to git away, an' I'll roost aroun' in the bushes. Ef I jump +him I'll holla, an' ef he come your way, jest shet your eyes an' give +him both barrels in the neighbourhood of eyeballs an' appetite. You +can't kill the Boogerman unless you hit him in his green eye--the other +is a dark mud colour." + +Well, they separated, the Bishop beating in the bushes and underbrush, +as he called the crab-grass and weeds that had begun to make their +appearance in the corn-patch, and Adelaide creeping to her post of +observation as though she were stalking some wild and wary animal. She +could hear the Bishop rustling about in the thick corn, but couldn't +catch a glimpse of him. Once she heard him sneeze as only a middle-aged +man can sneeze, and she frowned as a general frowns when his orders have +been disobeyed. Presently she heard some one coming along the side +street, which, being away from the main thoroughfares, was little +frequented. Occasionally a pedestrian, or a farmer going home, or house +servants, who lived near-by, passed along its narrow length. + +The moment she heard footsteps, Adelaide shrank back in the thick corn, +and held her cornstalk gun in readiness. Her hair might have been +mistaken for a tangle of corn-silks newly sunburned as it fell over her +face. The steps drew nearer, and, in a moment, a negro came into view. +He was a stranger to Adelaide, and that fact only made it more certain +that he was the Boogerman himself, who had jumped the garden fence in +order to elude Mr. Sanders, and was now sauntering along appearing as +innocent as innocence itself. When the Boogerman came opposite +Adelaide's hiding-place, she jumped up suddenly, aimed her gun and cried +_Bang!_ in a loud voice. + +Now, as it happened, the passing negro was one who could meet and beat +Adelaide on her own ground. The cornstalk gun, with its imperative +_Bang!_ carried him back to old times, though he was not old--back to +the times when he played make-believe with his young mistress and the +rest of the children. Therefore, simultaneously with Adelaide's _Bang!_ +he stopped in his tracks, his face working convulsively, his arms flying +wildly about, and his legs giving way under him. He sank slowly to the +ground, and then began to flop about just as a chicken does when its +head is wrung off. + +The Bishop heard a wild, exultant shout from Adelaide: "Run, Bishop, +run! I've got him! I've killed the Boogerman! Run, Bishop, run!" Mr. +Sanders ran as fast as he could; and when he saw the negro lying on the +ground, with no movement save an occasional quiver of the limbs and a +sympathetic twitching of the fingers, his amazement knew no bounds. + +"Why, honey!" he cried, "what in the world have you done to him?" + +"I didn't do a thing, Bishop, but shoot him with my cornstalk gun; I +didn't know it had such a heavy load in it. Anyhow, he had no business +to be the Boogerman. Do you think he's truly--ann--dead, Bishop?" + +"As dead," Mr. Sanders declared solemnly, "as Hector. I dunno how dead +Hector was, but this feller is jest as dead as him--that is ef he ain't +got a conniption fit; I've heern tell of sech things." + +They climbed the garden fence, and went to where the Boogerman was lying +stretched out. "When a man's dead," said Mr. Sanders, "he'll always tell +you so ef you ax him." + +"Boogerman! oh, Boogerman!" cried Adelaide, going a little closer. + +"Ma'am!" replied the dead one feebly. + +"When the Boogerman is dead," said Adelaide, "and anybody asks him if it +is so, he lifts his left foot and rolls his eyeballs. Are you dead?" + +In confirmation of that fact, the foot was lifted, and the eyeballs +began to roll. Adelaide was almost beside herself with delight. Never +had she hoped to have such an experience as this. "Where shall he be +buried, Bishop?" + +"Close to the ash-hopper, right behind the kitchen," promptly responded +Mr. Sanders. + +"Get up, Boogerman!" commanded Adelaide. "You have to go to your own +fumerl, you know, and you might as well go respectably." Adelaide always +uttered a deliciously musical gurgle when she used a big word. + +"Yes," said Mr. Sanders; "as fur as my readin' goes, thar ain't nothin' +in the fourteenth an' fifteenth amendments ag'in it." + +Now, old Jonas's side-gate opened on this street, and on this gate +Lucindy chanced to be leaning, when the Boogerman, fatally wounded by +Adelaide's cornstalk gun, sank upon the ground and began to jump around +like a chicken with its head off. She was tremendously frightened at +first; in fact she was almost paralysed. So she stayed where she was, +explaining afterward that she didn't want to be mixed up "wid any er +deze quare doin's what done got so common sence de big rucus." Then she +saw Adelaide and Mr. Sanders climb the garden fence and stand over the +fallen negro, and curiosity overcame her fright. By the time the negro +was on his feet, Lucindy had arrived. She looked at him hard, jumped at +him, threw her arms around his neck, and squeezed him so tight that the +two of them kept turning around as if they were trying to keep time to a +smothered waltz; and all the while Lucindy was moaning and groaning and +thanking the Lord that her son whom she had not seen in four long years, +had come, as it were, right straight to her bosom. + +She hugged him to the point of smifflication, as Mr. Sanders declared, +and she held him at arm's length, the better to see whether he had +changed, and in what particular. Then she turned to Mr. Sanders: + +"Mr. Sanders, sholy you knows dis chil'--sholy you ain't done gone an' +disremembered Randall. Des like you seed him doin' des now, dat de way +he been doin' all his born days--constantly a-playin', constantly +a-makin' out dat what ain't so is so, an' lots mo' so. Many an' many's +de time sence Miss Adelaide been here has I had de idee dat ef Randall +wuz here, he'd be mo' dan a match fer Cally-Lou an' all de rest un um +dat slips out'n dreams an' stays wid us. Yasser, I sho has. But now he's +come, I des feels in my bones dat he gwine ter git in deep trouble 'bout +dem crimes what he run away fer." + +"Randall is the chap that knocked Judge Bowden's overseer crossways an' +crooked, ain't he?" inquired Mr. Sanders. + +"Yasser, he done dat thing," replied Lucindy: "an how come he ter do +it--him dat wuz afear'd er his own shadder--I'll never tell you. Let +'lone dat, he ain't gwin ter tell you; kaze I done ax'd him myse'f. I +speck he'll haf ter run away ag'in." + +"You know me, don't you, Randall?" inquired Mr. Sanders. + +"La! yasser, Mr. Sanders, I've been knowin' you sence I could walk +good." + +"That's what I thought," said Mr. Sanders. "Well, my advice to you is to +stay an' face the music. Ef the man you hit makes a move we'll have him +right whar we've been a-tryin' fer to git him for two long years!" + +They went toward the house, and entered the side-gate, attracting, as +they did so, the attention of two or three of the neighbours. The Bishop +had been so absorbed in what had occurred that he forgot to turn his +coat, or to right his hat. + +"Did you see old Billy Sanders?" one woman asked another over the back +fence. + +"I did," replied the other, "and I like to have dropped--I believe he is +going crazy." + +"Going!" exclaimed the first woman, "he's gone! Done gone!" + + + + +PART III + + O winds of the sea, that whisper, + Will you not whisper to me + What the marvellous strange visions + Of a little child may be? + O wild rose, stirred and shaken, + By the wind that ripples the stream, + Why are the children dreaming, + And what are the dreams they dream? + + --_Beverly's Attitudes and Platitudes: A Drama._ + + +"Them that slip out'n dreams an' stay with us!" said Mr. Sanders to +himself, as they went along. "Be jiggered ef that ain't a new one on me! +I'll take it home an' chew on it when I'm lonesome." + +Adelaide had just cause of complaint, she thought. "Now we can't have +any fumerl, with strange folks tip-toeing about the place, and carriages +at the door, with horses snorting and pawing the ground." + +"It's jest as well," remarked Mr. Sanders. "All that sort of thing will +come along lot's quicker than we want it to." + +"They come'd twice to our house--two times!" said Adelaide, in the tone +of one who has a proprietary interest in such matters. "They come'd and +come'd," she went on, with the air of imparting important secret +information, "and they peeped in all the rooms, and in the closets, and +behind the doors, and pulled out all the booro draws; yes, and some of +'em looked in the safe where mother keeps her vittles!" + +There was something pitiful about the child's brief recital. She had +seen and noted everything, and the report she had inadvertently made to +Mr. Sanders rang true to life, and almost humorously true to the results +of Mr. Sanders's observation. His lips twitched, as they had a way of +doing when he was in doubt whether to laugh or cry, which was often the +case. + +"Well, honey," he replied, making what excuse he could for poor +humanity, "ef folks is ever gwine for to find out anything in this world +they've got to stick the'r noses in ev'ry nook an' cranny." + +"That's why I wanted to put the Boogerman in the grave-yard. Lucindy is +his mother, and we could go and look under her bed, and peep in her +cubberd, and find out everything she's got, and more too." + +What reply Mr. Sanders would have made to this will never be known, for +they were just going in the side gate that let them into old Jonas's +back-yard. Old Jonas himself had come out of the house, and was now +walking about in the yard with his hat pulled well down to his ears. The +opening and shutting of the gate attracted his attention, and he turned +to see who could be trespassing on his premises. When he saw Mr. Sanders +fantastically arrayed, his coat turned inside out, and his hat upside +down, old Jonas flung both hands over his head in a gesture of +amazement. + +"Why, what foolery is this? Good Lord, Sanders! have you turned lunatic? +Why--why--if this kind of thing goes on much longer, I'll sue out a +writ, and have you sent to the asylum; I'll do it as sure as my name is +Whipple!" + +"Please, sir, Nunky-Punky, let me off this time, and I'll never play wi' +Miss Adelaide any more. An' the Boogerman may git you for all I keer! +An' ol' Raw-Head-an'-Bloody-Bones'll crawl out from under the house whar +he lives at, an' snap his jaws an' wink his green eyes at you; an' he'll +ketch you an' put you in his wallet, an' chaw you up bone by bone--mark +my words!" + +"Sanders!" said old Jonas, with less anger and more earnestness, "what +in the name of all that's sensible, is the matter with you?" + +"Not a thing in the world but pyore joy, Jonas! Climb up in the waggon +and let's all take a ride. I'm dead in love wi' this little gal here; +won't you j'ine me? Nan Dorrin'ton used to be my beau-lover, but Nan's +too old, an' now Adelaide's done took her place! Slap yourself on the +hams an' crow like a rooster! Jump up an' crack your heels together +twice before you come to earth ag'in. We've ketched the Boogerman, an' +was gittin' ready for to fetch him home bekaze we had him whar he could +nuther back nor squall, but jest about that time, here come Lucindy. She +wa'n't gallopin', but she give us ez purty a sample of the ginnywine +buzzard-lope as you ever laid eyes on. She grabbed the Boogerman an' +give him the Putmon county witch-hug. Arter she'd smivelled an' +smovelled him mighty nigh to death, she helt him off from her an' +claimed him as her long-lost son; she know'd it bekaze he had a +swaller-fork in one y'ear, an' a under-bit in the other, an' a wind-gall +on the back of his neck. Her son, mind you! Well, when I know'd her son +the first letter of his name was Randall Bowden, bekaze Bowden was the +name of the man he belonged to--you remember him, Jonas?" + +"He admitted me to the bar and came within one of frightening me to +death," responded old Jonas. + +"Well, you're a lawyer, an' you know mighty well that a man an' a +citizen can't change his name wi'out a special law passed by the +legislatur'. Now, ef the Boogerman was a plain nigger, it wouldn't make +a bit of difference what he called hisse'f. But thar ain't no plain +niggers any more; they're all sufferin' citizens. An' here he is callin' +hisself Randall Holden. What do you think of that?" + +Randall shifted from one foot to the other and looked, first, at Mr. +Sanders, and then at all of the others in turn. "Well, suh, Mr. Sanders, +I call myse'f Holden bekaze they ain't no Bowdens fer me ter be named +after. Marster's dead, Mistiss is dead, an' Miss Betty is done gone an' +changed her name by--er--gittin' married. De Holdens ain't all dead yit, +an' my mistiss wuz a Holden proceedin' the day she married marster. I +felt like I want ter be named after somebody that wuz alive." + +"What have you been doing all this time?" old Jonas asked in his +sharpest and curtest tone. + +"Workin' hard all day, an' studyin' hard at night, suh. I laid off ter +be a preacher. In four years, I reckon I has been to school about one +year. I can read a little, an' write a little, an' maybe do some easy +figgerin'. It looks like that books git harder the more you fool with +'em. That's what I find about 'em. I jest come ter see my mammy, suh, +an' she come up on me while I was playin' Boogerman with the little +mistiss there." + +"Doing what?" snapped old Jonas; and then Mr. Sanders had to relate the +wonderful adventures that befell Adelaide and him in the Whish-Whish +Woods. How he did it must be imagined, but old Jonas listened patiently +to the end, without uttering so much as the habitual "pish-tush." + +"Sanders," said old Jonas, when the narrative of the expedition was +concluded, "do you mean to stand there and tell me that you, a man old +enough to be a grandfather, got in that rig, and went trampling about in +my garden, just to give that child a little pleasure?" + +"Why, no, Jonas, I can't say that I did; I sorter had the idee that I +mought git my name in your will, seein' as how you're so abominably fond +of Adelaide. That's why I come!" + +It was at this point that Jonas's "pish-tush" did execution; he fired it +at Mr. Sanders with as much energy as indignation could give. + +Randall, the Boogerman, was evidently somewhat in doubt of old Jonas's +disposition in regard to him, and so he said, with every appearance of +embarrassment: "I can't stay here long, suh, bekaze they's people in +this county that would Ku-Kluck me ef they know'd I was anywheres +around. I'm the one, suh, that knocked Mr. Tuttle in the head with my +hoe-handle when he was marster's overseer. I didn't go ter do it, suh, +but he pecked on me an' pecked on me twel I didn't have the sense I was +born with. It looked like somebody had flung a red cloth over my head; +ev'rything got red, an' when I come ter myse'f Mr. Tuttle was layin' +there on the ground jest as still as ef he'd a' been a log of wood. I +know'd mighty well that ef they cotch me I'd be hung, bekaze that was +the law in them times; Miss Betty tol' me so. I got away from there, an' +run home; but before I got there, I could hear white folks a-hollerin', +an' then I know'd they was after me. I run right in the big house, an' +went up stairs the back way, an' before I could stop myse'f I run right +in Miss Betty's room. She was in there combing her hair; she'd been +having a party, the first one after she come back frum college." + +"Wasn't she frightened?" old Jonas inquired. "Didn't she scream and +raise a row?" + +"No, suh," replied Randall, the Boogerman; "she wa'n't no more skeer'd +than what you is right now. She say, 'How dast you ter come in here?' +But by ther time she seed the blood runnin' down my face where Mr. +Tuttle had hit me, an' time she looked ag'in, I was down on my knees, +sayin' a prayer to her. I tol' her that the white folks was after me, +an' begged her not ter let 'em git me. I know'd that the way to the top +of the house led through her room, an' that was the reason I run in +there--I thought she was down stairs lookin' after her party. I begged +an' prayed so hard that she went to the door leadin' to the plunder room +under the roof, an' flung it open with, 'Go up there, an' keep still; +don't you dast to make any fuss!' Well, suh, up I went, an' I stayed +there twel I could git away. Ef any of you-all know where Miss Betty is, +an' will tell me, I'll go right whar she is an' work fer her twel she +gits tired of bein' worked fer." + +"All dat's de naked trufe," exclaimed Lucindy, "kaze Miss Betty come out +ter de kitchen an' tol' me whar Randall wuz, an' gi' me de key er de +do', an' I tuck him vittles an' clean cloze plum twel he got away. I'd +'a' gone wid Miss Betty, but I know'd dat boy would come back here ef he +wa'n't dead, an' I stayed an' waited fer 'im twel des now. You may have +de idee dat I'm quare, but Randall is my own chile." + +By this time, Mr. Sanders had righted his coat and hat, and was now +regarding the negro with some curiosity. "Lucindy ain't the only one +that's been a-waitin' fer you," he said. "I reckon that old Tuttle and +his crowd have been doin' some waitin' the'rselves; an' I know mighty +well that I'm one of the waiters. How much do you charge me for knockin' +ol' Tuttle in sight of the Promised Land, and how much will you charge +me for hittin' him another side-wipe?" + +"No, suh, Mr. Sanders! Not me! I ain't never lost my senses sence that +day in the cotton-patch; no matter what you do, I'll never see red any +more; I've done tried myself an' know. No more red fer me--not in dis +world!" + +"Old Tuttle!" snapped Mr. Jonas Whipple. "I wish the buzzards had him!" +Then he turned to Randall. "Stay, if you want to stay. I've plenty of +work for you to do. Sanders, can't you find a job for him at a pinch?" + +"Mercy, yes!" replied Mr. Sanders; "I've got jobs that have grown gray +waitin' for some un to do 'em." + +"Stay! stay!" cried old Jonas, in his harsh voice, "and if old Tuttle +bothers you, come to me or go to Mr. Sanders there, and we'll see who +has the longest arm!" + +"Tooby shore!" assented Mr. Sanders, "an' likewise who's got the longest +money-purse. But what's betwixt you an' Tuttle?" + +"Why," said old Jonas, "he borrowed a thousand dollars from me the +second year of the war, and after the surrender crawled under the +exemption act. Now if he had come to me like a man--I'll not say like a +gentleman, for that is beyond him--if he had come to me and said that he +found it impossible to pay the money I had loaned him to keep the +sheriff out of his yard, I'd have told him plainly to go on about his +business, and pay me when he could. Now, I propose to make it as hot as +pepper for him, especially since he has developed into a scalawag. The +latest report is, that he is one of the officials of the Union League." + +Old Jonas paused, and his bead-like eyes glittered maliciously. +"Sanders," he went on, "it isn't often I ask a man to do me a favour, +but I'm going to ask one of you. It will pay you to do it," he added, +observing the shadow of a doubt on Mr. Sanders's face. + +Adelaide's Bishop seemed to be very serious, but there was a twinkle in +his eye. He passed his hand over his mouth, in order to drive away a +smile that threatened to become insubordinate. "Would it be troublin' +you too much, Jonas," he said, "ef I was to ax you to pay me in +advance?" + +"Pish-tush!" exclaimed old Jonas, with a scowl; "you should get you a +fiddle, Sanders, or a hurdy-gurdy! What I want you to do, the first +opportunity you have, is to tell old Tuttle that the nigger that laid +him low in Judge Bowden's cotton-patch is at my house. He hates me for +doing him a favour, and he hates the nigger for striking him when +striking a white man was a hanging offence. He pretends to be a +nigger-lover now because he wants office; but when you tell him that +this boy is at my house, one of two things will happen: he'll get +together a gang of men of his own kidney and try the Ku-Klux game, or +he'll have him arrested for assault with intent to murder." + +"Bishop," said Adelaide, who had only a dim idea of the meaning of what +she had heard, "please don't let them get my Boogerman. I killed him, +you know, and he belongs to me." + +"No, suh! no, suh!" protested the Boogerman. "I don't want Mr. Tuttle to +lay eyes on me. I jest wanted to see my mammy, an' find out where 'bouts +Miss Betty is, an' then I'll git out'n folks' way. I might stand up an' +tell Mr. Tuttle the truth frum now twel next year an' he wouldn't +b'lieve a word I said. Me see Mr. Tuttle? No, suh! When Mr. Tuttle calls +on me, I'll be gone--done gone!" + +"Yasser!" cried Lucindy; "he's tellin' you de naked trufe! You reckin +I'd let my chile see ol' Tuttle? Well, not me! Maybe somebody else'd do +it, but not me! not ol' Lucindy! Don't you never b'lieve dat." + +"You say you can read and write?" said old Jonas to the Boogerman. +"Well, come into the house here, and black my shoes. Then, after that +you may preach me a sermon." + +"Yes!" exclaimed Adelaide, "Cally-Lou is awake now; I saw her at the +window; come in, Boogerman, and let her see you. She is seven years old, +and has never seen the Boogerman." + +"First, let Lucindy give you something to eat," said old Jonas, "but +don't fail to come in and black my shoes!" + +Old Jonas, Bishop Sanders, and Adelaide went into the house, while the +Boogerman went into the kitchen with his mother, where, seated by the +window, and as far away from the fireplace as ever, he told the tale of +his adventures--a tale which we are not concerned with here. Mr. Sanders +and old Jonas were soon absorbed in a game of checkers, but they were +not so completely lost in their surroundings that they failed to pay +heed to Adelaide as she went from room to room calling Cally-Lou. +Presently she seemed to find her in the parlour. + +"You are pouting," she said, "or you'd never be sitting in this room +where nobody ever comes. Why, they don't have any fires in here, and +nothing to eat. Nunky-Punky says if the sun was to shine in here, the +carpet would curl up and get singed. You don't know what it is to be +singed, do you? Well, it's the way Mammy Lucindy does the chicken after +all the feathers are picked off. She kindles the fire until it blazes, +and then holds the chicken in it until all its whiskers are burnt off. +You didn't know chickens had whiskers, did you? Well, they have. You'll +never find out anything if you mope in the house and pout like this. I +didn't know any child could be so hard-headed." + +[Illustration: "'You are pouting,' she said, 'or you'd never be sitting +in this room where nobody ever comes'"] + +Old Jonas reached out his hand to make a move, and held it suspended in +the air while Adelaide was talking to Cally-Lou. "Sanders," he said, +after awhile, "do you suppose the child really thinks she's talking to +some one. Can she see Cally-Lou?" + +"Why not?" replied Mr. Sanders placidly. "Folks ain't half as smart when +they grow up as they is when they're little children. They shet the'r +eyes to one whole side of life. Kin you fling your mind back to the time +when your heart was soft, an' your eyes sharp enough for to see what +grown people never seed? Tell me that, Jonas." + +Old Jonas paused over a contemplated move, hesitated and sighed. "Did +you ever have little things happen to you," Mr. Sanders went on, +frowning a little, "that you never told to anybody? Did you ever dream +dreams when you was young that kinder rattled you for the longest, they +was so purty and true?" + +"I think you have me beat, Sanders," responded old Jonas; and no one +ever knew whether he referred to the game, or to the dreams. + +"You think so, maybe, but it's more; I'm a-gwine to make two more moves +and wipe you off the face of the earth!" And it happened just as Mr. +Sanders said it would; two more moves, and he captured four men, and +swept into the royal line where they crown kings. Old Jonas frowned and +pushed the men into the box where they were kept, with "I can't play +to-day, Sanders; my mind isn't on the game." + +"Well," said Mr. Sanders, "that's diffunt an' I don't blame you much, +for ef that little gal was loose in my house, what games I played would +be with her." + +"Sanders," said old Jonas, with some asperity, "you don't mean to say +that a little bit of a child like that would worry you!" + +"Worry me!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, with as scornful a look as he could +on his bland and benevolent face. "Worry me! why, what on earth do you +suppose I'm a-doin' in this house?" + +"I thought you came to play checkers with me," old Jonas responded. + +"Well," Mr. Sanders retorted, "ef you'd put your thoughts in a bag and +shake 'em up, an' then pour 'em out, you couldn't tell 'em from these +flyin' ants that was swarmin' from under your front steps awhile ago. +No, Jonas! Don't le' me shatter any fond dream you've got about me, but +sence Nan Dorrin'ton come into the state of Georgy by the Santy Claus +route, this little gal is the only human bein' that I ever wanted to +pick up an' smother wi' huggin' an' kissin'." + +"Is that so, Sanders?" old Jonas inquired, straightening up, with a +queer sparkle in his little eyes. "Why, I never thought----" + +"Tooby shore you didn't," Mr. Sanders interrupted. "Nobody ever thought +that you had any sech thoughts. Ef it was a crime to think 'em, an' you +was to git took up on sech a charge, the case'd be non-prosecuted by the +time it got in the courthouse. When it comes to that you've got the +majority of folks wi' you. You'll hear 'em talk an' brag how fond they +are of children, from morning tell night, but jest let one of the +youngsters make a big fuss, an' you'll see 'em flinch like the'r +feelin's is hurt. No Jonas, don't fool yourself. This world, an' not +only this world, but this town is full of children so lonesome that when +I think about it I feel right damp; an' thar's times when I set an' +think of these little things runnin' about wi' not a soul on top of the +yeth for to reely understand 'em, my heart gits so full that ef some un +was to slip up behind me an' put salt on my back, I reely believe I'd +melt an' turn to water like one of these gyarden snails. It's the honest +fact. Now, that child in thar--Adelaide--has allers had some un to +understand her an' know what she was thinkin' about; allers tell she +come here. Ef I hadn't know'd her mother, I could tell jest by lookin' +at Adelaide an' hearin' her talk, that she was one 'oman amongst ten +thousan'." + +"You put me in the wrong, Sanders, indeed you do; you may not intend it, +but you certainly do me wrong." + +Mr. Sanders regarded him with unfeigned astonishment: "Why, what have I +said, Jonas? Think it over! Is it doin' you wrong for me to say that +more than nine-tenths of the little children in the world is lonesome? +Does it hurt you when I say that Cordelia, your sister, was a 'oman +among ten thousand? If these sayin's hurt you, Jonas, you must have a +mortal tender conscience or a mighty thin skin. I've allers had the idee +that you ain't a bit wuss than you look to be; do you want me to change +my mind? Was thar ever under the blue sky a lonesomer gal than Cordelia, +or one easier to love? Did you love her as you ought? Did you treat her +right ever' day in the year? Did she ever have a good time of your +makin'? An' in spite of it, didn't she keep on gittin' nicer and nicer, +an' purtier an' purtier, tell bimeby, along come a young feller--as good +a man as ever trod shoe leather--an' snatched her right from under your +wing? An' didn't William H. Sanders, late of said county, show the young +fellow how, an' when, an' whar to snatch her?" + +"Did--did you do that, Sanders? Well, I'm glad I didn't know it at the +time, for I am afraid I'd have shot you." + +"Shot me!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, his blue eyes beaming innocently. +"Well, I've seed a good many quare things in my day an' time, but I've +yit to see the gun that could go off ahead of mine--not when thar was +any needcessity. You say you'd 'a' shot me; an' what did I do? I holp +Cordelia to the fust an' last taste of happiness she ever had in this +world. Did you ever do that much for her? You give her her vittles an' +cloze--sech as they was--but do plain vittles an' plain cloze make +anybody happy? Ef they do, then this old ball we 're walkin' on--when we +ain't fallin' down--must be runnin' over wi' happiness. Why, Jonas, you +wouldn't let the gal have no kind of company, male or female; she +couldn't go out, bekaze she had nobody for to take her; one little +picnic was all the gwine out she done arter she fell in your hands. I +tuck her to that an' I never was as glad of anything in my life as I was +when she an' Dick Lumsden made up the'r little misunderstandin' that you +had been the occasion of, an' had connived at, an' nursed like it was a +baby. + +"Well, they run away an' got married, an' went to housekeepin' not forty +yards from your door--an' you seen 'em ever' day of the world, an' yit +you done like you didn't know they was in town. An' wuss 'n that," Mr. +Sanders continued, his anger rising as he stirred the embers of +recollection--"wuss'n that, you never spoke a word to Cordelia from that +day tell the day she died--an' she your own sister! It's a mighty good +thing that Lumsden was well off while the war lasted. When it ended, he +was as poor as I was. He had land, but who kin eat land? Thar wa'n't but +one reely rich man in the community, Jonas, an' that man was you. +You had bought up all the gold for a hundred mile aroun', but not so +much as a thrip did Cordelia ever git out'n you. + +"What I'm a-tellin' you, Jonas, you know as well as I do; but I jest +want to let you know that we-all ain't been asleep all this time. +Lumsden got a good job in Atlanta, an' took his wife an' baby thar. Him +an' his wife was so well suited to one another that when one died, the +other thought the best thing she could do was to go an' jine him. Both +on 'em know'd mighty well that the Lord would look arter the little gal. +Oh, I know what you want to say: you want to tell me that you was +afear'd Lumsden would turn out to be no 'count, bekaze he was wild when +a boy--an' would have his fling now an' then; but that don't go wi' me, +Jonas. You know what he turned out to be; you know what Cordelia had to +go through; you know that one kind word from you would 'a' been wuth +more to her than all the money you've got in the world; an' yit, your +pride, or your venom--you kin name it an' keep it--hender'd you from +makin' that poor child as happy as she mought 'a' been. An' I'll tell +you, Jonas, jest as shore as the Lord lives an' the sun shines on a +troubled world, you'll have to pay for it." + +Several times during this remarkable tirade--remarkable because it was +delivered with some vehemence, right in old Jonas's teeth--he made an +effort to interrupt Mr. Sanders, but the latter had put him down with a +gesture that a novel writer would call imperious. Imperious or not, it +gave pause to whatever old Jonas had to say in his own behalf; and it +must have all been true, too, for the old fellow finally turned away, +pulled his hat down over his eyes, and pretended to be looking at +something interesting that he saw from the window. Mr. Sanders, when he +had concluded, was surprised to find that old Jonas seemed to be more +hurt than angry; and he would have gone into the parlour where Adelaide +was still playing with Cally-Lou, but old Jonas turned around and faced +him. + +"You've said a great many things, Sanders, that nobody else would have +said, and I gather that you consider me to be a pretty mean fellow; but +did it ever occur to you that perhaps I'm not as mean as I seem to be? +Did it ever occur to you that a man could be so shy and suspicious that +he was compelled to close his mind against what you call love and +affection; and, that, with his mind thus closed, he could cease to +believe in such things? I don't suppose you follow me; but it's the +simple truth. That child in there won't be put to bed at night until she +kisses me good-night, and, even then she wont go until I kiss her. Think +of that, Sanders! No matter what you and other people may think, the +child doesn't believe that I am a mean man." + +"I could tell you, Jonas, that Adelaide ain't old enough for to tell a +mean man ef she met him in the road. But I'll not do that, bekaze I know +mighty well that you ain't as mean as you try to make out. Thar never +was a man on this green globe that didn't have a tender spot in his +gizzard for them that know'd jest when an' whar to tetch it. Ef I took +you at your face value, Jonas, not only would I never put my foot in +your house, but I wouldn't speak to you on the street. I tell you that +flat an' plain." + +The conversation of the two men had been carried on in a tone something +louder than was absolutely necessary, especially on the part of Mr. +Sanders. Indeed, finical folk would have said that the rosy-faced +Georgian was actually rude; but he had found an opportunity to deliver +himself of a burden that had long been a weight on his mind, and he did +it in no uncertain terms. He fully expected either to find himself in +the midst of a row, or to be ordered from old Jonas's house, and he had +prepared himself for both emergencies. But instead of offending the +lonely old money-lender, he had merely set him to thinking; and his +thoughts were not very pleasant ones. He heard every word that Mr. +Sanders said, and it was true, but even as he listened, the whole +panorama of his past life moved before him, and he could see himself in +a narrow perspective, living his cheerless childhood, his almost +friendless youth, and his lonely manhood. In those days, long gone, he +had had his dreams, even as now Adelaide had hers, but their existence +was brief, and their date inconsiderable. He pitied the child, the +youth, and the young man, but strange to say, he had no pity for the +grown man to whom Mr. Sanders was reading one of his cornfield lectures. +He knew that what he was, was the direct outgrowth and development of +all that had gone before. + +His sister had never understood him, and was afraid of him. He, silent +and self-contained, never sought her confidence nor gave her his. A word +from her, a word from him, would have made clear everything that was +dark, or doubtful, or suspicious in their attitude toward each other. He +thought that her silence spelled contempt of a certain kind, and she was +sure that she had his hearty dislike. And so it went, as such matters do +in this world where no one save a chosen few see more than an inch +beyond their noses. + +I could fetch Adelaide on the scene just by waving my hand, but there is +no need to, for the tone in which Mr. Sanders pitched his lecture was +quite sufficient. Her quick, firm steps sounded on the floor with such +emphasis, that any one acquainted with the lady would have known that +she was indignant. But her careful training told even here, for +composure held her irritation in check, and her refinement showed in her +attitude and gestures, giving her small person a cuteness and prettiness +quite out of the common. + +"Why, good gracious me, Bishop! You don't know how many noises you're +making. How can Cally-Lou sleep in the house? She sleeps a good deal +lately, and I'm afraid she'll be sick, poor little thing, if she wakes +up quicker than she ought." + +"What!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders, in a loud and an excited whisper. "Now, +don't tell me that Cally-Lou has gone and drapped off to sleep ag'in! +Why, at this rate, she'll turn night into day, an' vicy-versy, an' Time, +old an' settled as he is, will git turned wrong-sud-out'erds, an' +ever'thing'll git so tangled up that you can't tell howdy from good-bye, +ner ef the clock's tickin' backerds or forrerds; we'll git so turned +around that we can't tell grasshoppers from turkey-buzzards. I'm reely +sorry she didn't see you shoot the Boogerman, be jigger'd ef I ain't. +The sight of that would 'a' made her open her eyes wider than they've +been sence I fust know'd her." + +In reply to this, Adelaide said she was afraid Cally-Lou wasn't very +well. "Won't you come in and see her, Bishop? The truly-ann Bishop used +to come to see my mother before they sent her where my papa was--the +place where people get well when they're sick. Yes! and he used to bring +things in his pocket--all sorts of goodies--gum-drops and candy kisses, +and he said that if I ate them, all by myself, he wouldn't be hoarse in +his throat any more when he had to holler loud at the sinners to keep +them from goin' to the Bad Place; and once when I ate a whole heap of +them at once, he cleared his throat, the truly-ann Bishop did, and said +he was almost cured." + +"I'll shorely try that trick ef it'll he'p me for to be a truly-ann +Bishop, bekaze I've been so hoarse lately that I can't see my own voice +in the lookin'-glass, no matter how I holler. Nothin' shows up in the +glass but a little muddly mist, an' I have to wipe that off wi' my red +silk han'kcher. Speakin' of Cally-Lou, when had I oughter pay my party +call?" + +"She doesn't like for anybody to see her because she isn't right white," +Adelaide explained, "but she's asleep now, and you might come in to see +her now if you'll walk easy." + +Talk about burglars! Talk about thieves in the night! Talk about wild +animals with padded feet creeping and stealing on their prey! All of +them could have taken lessons in their craftiness from Adelaide and Mr. +Sanders. Yes, and for a brief moment or two from old Jonas, for he +joined the creeping procession, impelled by some mysterious motive. They +stole into the darkened parlour, Adelaide in advance, and paused when +she waved her hand. Then she pointed to the darkest corner. + +Mr. Sanders will tell you to this day that he thought he saw something +dim and dark huddled there--some wavering shape that had no outlines; +but just at the critical moment, just when they were all about to see +Cally-Lou, what should old Jonas do but stumble against a chair, as he +craned his neck forward? Well, of course, with such awkwardness as this +on the part of a man old enough to be Adelaide's grandfather, their +scheme was ruined. Cally-Lou heard the noise, opened her eyes, and fled +from the room so nimbly and with such dispatch that none of them could +see her. Even Adelaide only caught the faintest glimpse of her as she +whisked out of the room, and all she could say, was, "Did you ever see +any one so foolish?" Then she ran after Cally-Lou, pursuing her into the +sitting-room and then into the library, where she seemed to have caught +her, for the others heard her upbraiding and scolding her in the style +approved by all parents who are strict disciplinarians. + +"Jonas," said Mr. Sanders, "did you see anything? Didn't you notice +somethin' in the corner--it mought 'a' been nothin' an' then, ag'in, it +mought 'a' been the biggest thing mortual eyes ever gazed on--didn't you +see somethin' like a shadder?" + +Old Jonas's reply was very prompt. He smacked his lips as though he +tasted something nice. "No, Sanders! I didn't see anything, and what's +more, I didn't expect to see anything." + +Mr. Sanders opened wide his eyes and stared at old Jonas as hard as if +he had been some rare kind of curiosity placed on exhibition for the +first time. + +"I hope you'll know me next time you see me!" exclaimed old Jonas, +somewhat snappishly. "Do you want me to tell you I saw something, when +in fact I saw nothing?" + +Mr. Sanders passed his hand over his face, as though the gesture would +better enable him to contemplate the sorrowful condition of his +companion. "Jonas," he said with a sigh as heavy as if he had been a +sleepy cow in a big pasture, "ef you'd 'a' had your two eyes put out a +quarter of an hour arter you were born, you couldn't talk any more like +a blind man than you did jest then. You said you seed nothin,'an' a +blind man could say the same, day or night." + +The reply that old Jonas made was characteristic; he pulled his hat a +little further down over his ears, and said nothing. Fortunately for him +perhaps, there was a timely diversion at that moment. Some one raised +the big knocker on the door and let it fall again. Such a bang had not +been heard in the house for many a long day; it set the frightened +echoes flying. Adelaide heard them, and they must have been following +her pretty close, for she ran into the sitting-room, crying: + +"Good gracious, Bishop! Gracious goodness, Nunky-Punky! what was that? +Did some one shoot at my Boogerman? He's already been kill'ded once, and +he ought not to be kill'ded again." + +Neither of the men could give her any satisfaction, and so she ran into +the parlour and peeped through the blinds of a window that commanded a +view of the piazza. Almost instantly she came running back again, +pretended amazement in her eyes. + +"I know who it is!" she said in a tragic whisper. "It's my wild +Injun-rubber man, and, oh, my goodness! he looks vigorous and vexified! +Where shall we hide?" + +As a matter of fact, it had been such a long time since the knocker had +been used that a big fat spider had spun a silken arbour there. Old +Jonas hesitated so long about responding that Lucindy, who had heard the +noise in the kitchen, put her head in the back door, with the query: + +"Did any er you-all turn loose a gun in dar? Seem like I sho heern a gun +go off!" + +Lucindy's voice seemed to have a reassuring effect on old Jonas, for he +brushed some dust specks from the front of his coat, straightened +himself, and started for the front door which was the centre of the +disturbance. As he made his way along the hall, Mr. Sanders, in +obedience to an imperious gesture from Adelaide, disappeared behind a +huge rocker, while the child concealed herself behind the door. Mr. +Sanders took off his hat, whipped out his red silk handkerchief, threw +it over his head and tied it under his chin. Adelaide had a partial view +of her Bishop, and the sight she saw seemed to be too much for her: she +gave a gasp, and sank to the floor as though in great pain. + +They heard old Jonas urging the visitor to come in, while the other +protested that he only wanted to say a word to Mr. Sanders, which could +be said at the door as well, if not better, than anywhere else. Old +Jonas called Mr. Sanders, but no one answered him. Then Adelaide and her +Bishop heard old Jonas and the visitor coming along the hallway. "I +don't want to trouble you at all, Mr. Whipple. They told me at the +tavern that Mr. Sanders was here, and I just wanted to put a flea in his +ear about a little matter." + +"Well, just come right in," responded old Jonas, cordially. "Sanders!" +he called. + +Adelaide ventured to glance at Mr. Sanders again, and this time she +could not restrain herself. She gave utterance to an ear-piercing +shriek, which was more than sustained by a blood-curdling yell from Mr. +Sanders! + + + + +PART IV + + And now, good comrades, what shall it be, + A dungeon cell or a gallows tree? + + --_Varner's Lynching Songs._ + + +Never, since the day you were born, have you seen such a jump, or heard +such a grunt as old Jonas gave. You would have thought the Ku-Klux had +him, for this was the year Eighteen-Hundred-and-under-the-Bushes, with +old Raw-Head-and-Bloody-Bones keeping his green eyes wide open. For one +brief and fleeting moment, old Jonas's whole body seemed to be wrenched +out of socket, as Mr. Sanders said afterward; his hat fell off, and it +was as much as he could do to keep his feet. He scowled, and then he +tried to smile, but the scowl felt very much at home on his wrinkled +countenance, and refused to be ousted by a feeble smile. + +Even the visitor, whose name was Augustus Tidwell, was startled, and he +showed it in his face, but he recovered much sooner than old Jonas did. +He was one of the most prominent lawyers in that whole section, where +prominent lawyers were plentiful. He was dignified, because he had to +live up to his position, but all his dignity was dispersed by Adelaide +and her Bishop. Adelaide called Mr. Tidwell her Injun-rubber because he +wore his hair long, so that it fell in glistening waves over his coat +collar. This gave him a very romantic appearance, and when engaged in +the practice of law he always made the most of it; he could tousel his +hair and look the picture of rage; he could push it straight back from +his wide forehead, and seem to stand for innocence and virtue; and he +could ruffle it up on one side, and tell juries how they should find in +cases where the interests of his clients were concerned. + +But dignity and a romantic appearance couldn't stand before Adelaide and +her Bishop. Mr. Sanders, with the red silk handkerchief thrown over his +head and tied under his chin, was a sight you would have gone far to +see. He had such marvellous control of his features that, one moment he +had the appearance of an overgrown baby, and the next, he was the living +image of an old country granny who had come to town to swap a pound of +snow-white butter for a hank or two of spun-truck. The fact is, Adelaide +was compelled to roll on the floor and kick, so acute were the paroxysms +of laughter. Mr. Sanders laughed, too, but when Adelaide glanced at him +he would wipe the smile from his face and look as solemn as a real +truly-ann Bishop; and this was worse than laughing, for Adelaide would +be compelled to roll over the floor again. + +Old Jonas didn't have any of the pains that come from laughter. At first +he was frightened nearly to death at the manifestations for which +Adelaide and her Bishop were responsible; then the reaction was toward +hot anger, which finally developed into a feeling of impatient disgust +at the spectacle which Mr. Sanders presented. + +"Sanders," he said, sharply and earnestly, "if I didn't know you I'd be +willing to swear you had gone crazy! Why, who under the blue sky ever +heard of a grown man indulging in such antics and capers! It's simply +scandalous, that's what it is." + +"It is that-away!" blandly remarked Mr. Sanders. "An' more especially +it's a scandal when me an' that child thar can't have five minnits' fun +all by ourselves but what you come a-stickin' your head in the door, an' +try for to turn a somerset wi'out liftin' your feet off'n the floor! I +leave it to Gus Tidwell thar ef anybody in this house has cut up more +capers than what you have. I wish you could 'a' seed yourself when you +was flinging your hat on the floor, an' tryin' for to keep your feet in +a slanchindic'lar position, an' workin' an' twistin' your mouth like you +was tryin' for to git it on top of your head--ef you could 'a' seed all +that you'd agree wi' me that thar wa'n't no room in this house for youth +an' innocence." + +Adelaide took advantage of the conversation to run out of the room to +see if Cally-Lou had been frightened by all the noise; and presently the +men heard her relating all the circumstances to her brown Ariel, and +laughing almost as heartily at her own recital as she laughed when Mr. +Sanders winked at her with the red handkerchief on his head. + +"Who is she talking to?" Lawyer Tidwell inquired. + +"Just talking to herself," responded old Jonas, with unnecessary +tartness. + +"Don't you nigh believe it, Gus," said Mr. Sanders. "She ain't twins, +an' she's talkin' to some un that she can see an' we can't. Why, ef thar +wa'n't nothin' thar, she'd be the finest play-actor that ever played in +a county courthouse." + +"She is certainly a wonderful child," said the lawyer. "Lucindy brought +her to see my wife the other day, and I happened to be at home. I never +enjoyed anybody's company so well on a short acquaintance as I did hers. +My wife is daft about her, and she believes with you, Mr. Sanders, that +the Cally-Lou she talks about so much is really her companion." + +"Why, tooby shore, Gus. Children see an' know a heap things that they +don' say nothin' about for fear they'll be laughed at. All you've got to +do to see Cally-Lou is turn your head quick enough. I ain't limber +enough myself, an' I reckon I never will be any more." + +"Speaking of Lucindy, Mr. Sanders, I wanted to see you about some little +business of hers, and it's business that she doesn't know anything +about. Moreover, she wouldn't help matters much if she knew about it. I +don't know how Mr. Whipple feels, but I know very well how you and I +feel. You don't need to be told that nearly all the negroes have fallen +out of sympathy with the whites; but there are a few we can still trust +and have a genuine friendship for--and Lucindy is one of them. Now, I +was sitting in my office to-day reading, when all of a sudden I heard +someone talking in low tones. I didn't hear everything that was said, +but I heard enough to learn that Lucindy's son Randall is somewhere in +the county." + +"He shorely is for a fact!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders. "Right in the state, +county, town, an' deestrick aforesaid. Go on, Gus." + +"Well you know, he's the boy that came within an ace of putting old +Tuttle out of business in 1864. But now old Tuttle is the Radical +Ordinary, elected by the niggers, and he is afraid to bring suit against +Randall in the Superior Court. But he wants the boy put out of business +if it can be done without mixing his name with the affair. I couldn't +overhear all that was said, but I heard enough to know that old Tuttle +intends to have Randall arrested on a charge of assault with intent to +murder, and run him out of the county. Now, I wouldn't care a snap of my +finger if it wasn't for the fact that Randall is Lucindy's son, and he +must be taken care of. I don't know how you gentlemen feel about it, but +that's the way I feel." + +"Ef it'll do you any good to know," Mr. Sanders remarked, "me an' Jonas +feel exactly the same way; an' what's more, we don't intend that Randall +shall be run off. He's right here on this lot, an' here he's a-gwine to +stay, ef I have any sesso in the matter. I'll pay his board, Jonas, ef +that'll suit you, bekaze I've got a crow to pick wi' ol' Tuttle, an' +when I git it picked he'll have more loose feathers than he kin walk off +wi'. Jest mark that down." + +"Pish-tush!" exclaimed old Jonas, smacking his thin lips, and frowning. +He rose and went to the back door, and presently the others heard him +calling Randall, who seemed to be somewhat slow in answering--so much so +that Lucindy's voice was added to his. + +"Randall!" she cried, "what in de name er goodness you doin' in dar? +Don't you hear Mr. Whipple hollain' atter you? Look like you des ez +triflin' now as what you wuz when you loped off!" + +Randall replied after a while, and old Jonas's command was, "Come here, +you no account scoundrel, and black my shoes!" + +"Why, Jonas," said Mr. Sanders, when the former had returned to the +room, "ain't you afraid you'll take cold? You ain't had your shoes +blacked sence the war!" + +The only reply old Jonas made to that was in the shape of a scowl. +Randall came running with a puzzled expression on his face. He dropped +his hat somewhere outside the door, and went in. + +"They tell me," said old Jonas, somewhat curtly, "that you are studying +to be a bishop." + +"That's what I laid off in my mind, suh. It come to me when I hear um +prayin' an' singin'; I allow to myself, I did, that ef it's all ez purty +an' ez nice ez that, they wa'n't nothin' gwine to keep me from bein' a +minister when the time got ripe. That's what I said to myself, suh." + +"Well," remarked Mr. Sanders, reassuringly, "you've already got to be a +Boogerman, an' I reckon that's long step forrerd." + +"Black my shoes!" commanded old Jonas in a tone that was almost brutal. +Randall hustled around until he found an old box of blacking that had +been in the kitchen for many years. With this and an old brush that +Lucindy found in some impossible place, he proceeded to give old Jonas's +shoes a polish that caused them to shine brightly. + +"Don't you think it is beneath the dignity of a pastor to black shoes?" +old Jonas asked. + +Randall chuckled. "That's the way some white folks'd feel about it," he +answered; "but me--I'm black, an' I ain't got no business for to feel +so--not me! St. Paul, or it may be St. Timothy, he says, somewhere, I +dunner 'zackly where, 'What your han' finds to do, let your heart +commend.'" + +"Wa'n't it Shakespeare said that?" Mr. Sanders inquired. + +"It mought 'a' been, suh," replied Randall. "All I know, it was some of +them Bible folks. They say, 'Do what yo' han' finds to do, an' do it +better'n some un else could 'a' done it.' That's why you see these shoes +lookin' like they're spang new." + +[Illustration: "'That's why you see these shoes lookin' like they're +spang new'"] + +"Why, I should have thought that a man who is studying to be a bishop," +said old Jonas, sharply, "would think himself above blacking anybody's +shoes." + +"It may be so, suh, in some parts of the country and amongst some +people, but it ain't that-away wid me--I may come to it, suh, but I +ain't come to it yit." + +Randall finished the shoes, and offered to black those of the other men +present, but they declined, and then old Jonas fished around in his +pocket for a shin-plaster small enough to fit the job that had been +done. He found a ragged one that faintly promised to pay the bearer five +cents on demand, but Randall recoiled from it, and held up his hands in +protest. "No, suh! Oh, no, suh! It was wuth all I done jest to hear +you-all gentermens talkin' kinder friendly like. Ef you-all had all the +trouble I uv done had, all the time dodgin' an' lookin roun' cornders +fer fear er Mr. Tuttle er some er his kinnery--he's got um all up dar +whar I been--you'd be mo' than thankful for to hear some un talkin' like +de nex' minnit ain't 'gwine ter be de las'. I done got it proned inter +me that I'm gwine for to be Ku-Klucked long 'fo' I have gray ha'r. You +dunner how nice it is for to have white folks talkin' like they ain't +gwine to kill you yet awhile." + +To any one who knew little of the negro race, Randall's remarks would +have sounded tremendously like a sly joke, with a little irony thrown in +for good measure; but though the negro's voice was soft and deliberate, +he was terribly in earnest, and those who heard him understood and +appreciated this simple recital of a harrowing experience already behind +him, and his lively fear of something worse to come. + +"Well, when you get to be a bishop," remarked old Jonas, "I expect you +to come and black my shoes." + +"I'll do it, suh, an' be glad to do it. Des take yo' stan' anywhere, +jest so it's a public place, an' holla at me, an' tell me you want yo' +shoes blacked. I'll do it, suh, in the face of ten thousand." + +"I believe you would!" exclaimed old Jonas almost gleefully. + +"You don't hafter b'lieve me, suh; jest holla at me, an' yo shoes'll be +blacked." + +With that, Randall started out of the room, but Mr. Sanders raised his +hand. "B'ar in mind, Boogerman, that you're not to leave the lot after +dark. Old Tuttle is a rank Radical, an' a nigger-lover for what revenue +thar is in it, but he's fixin' up his tricks for to give you a taste of +the Radical-Republican movement, an' he's got to be watched. We'll do +the watchin' ef you'll do the hidin'." + +"I'll be more than glad to do that, suh," said Randall, with invincible +politeness--"mo' than glad. I uv got so now, sence freedom come, that I +can hide most as good as I can eat; an' when I say that, you may know it +means sump'n." + +"I reckon it does," said old Jonas, "something to me!" + +Randall laughed pleasantly, and bowed himself out. In a moment the men +in the sitting-room heard him talking to Adelaide in the entry. + +"My goodness, little mistiss! A little mo' an' you'd a skeer'd me +crooked--an' I ain't right straight now. I had de idee that I was to be +the Boogerman, but ef you go on this-a-way, you'll be the Boogerman." + +"Oho!" laughed Adelaide; "don't you know that a young lady could never +be a Boogerman?" + +"Well, I declare!" Randall exclaimed almost joyously; "that certainly is +so in these days of tribulation. But that ain't all; I uv got a bigger +Boogerman than you uv got. How is Miss Cally-Lou?" + +"Oh, shucks!" replied Adelaide, "you don't have to call her miss; she +ain't right white. Don't you see her standing here by me?" + +"Well, suh!" exclaimed the Boogerman in the tone of one who has just +made a remarkable discovery. "Ef I don't, I most does; an' when you git +that close to Cally-Lou it's the same as seein' her. She don't look +right well to me," said the Boogerman at a venture. + +"Then you do see her," remarked Adelaide; "she hasn't been well for a +day or two." + +"Make her git outdoors, an' take the fresh air," suggested the +Boogerman. + +This suggestion seemed to meet the views of Adelaide, for she went out +into the yard, crying, "Come along, Cally-Lou! Come along!" + +Old Jonas stirred uneasily in his chair, "Do you know, Sanders," he +said, "that my grandmother had a little mulatto girl named Cally-Lou. As +I remember her, she was the smartest little thing that ever ran about on +two legs. I wonder----" Old Jonas paused, and Mr. Sanders didn't give +him time to straighten out his thought. + +"No, Jonas; you don't wonder, an' you needn't pertend to. Nuther here +nor here-arter, will that sorter thing work. When I ketch you wonderin', +I'll know you've took one of them infectious diseases that you read +about. You could see Cally-Lou, an' so could I, if our gizzards was in +the right place. But I kin say as much as that nigger did--I mighty nigh +seed her. Folks tell me that you kin see the wind ef you'll take a +handsaw at the right time of day, an' hold it so the breeze kin blow +over it. I an't got the least doubt that we could see a heap of things +that we never do see, ef we know'd when, an' whar, an' how to look." + +The three men were silent a long time until Lawyer Tidwell remarked, +with something that sounded like a sigh, "I reckon we'd better be going, +Mr. Sanders." They went away, leaving old Jonas alone in the house. He +neither bade them good-bye, nor turned his head when they went. But when +he heard the door shut, he went to the window, as if to make sure they +had really gone; and when he was satisfied on this point, he shuffled to +the back porch, and called for Randall. The negro came silent, but +wondering. For years he had been in a state of uneasy expectation, and +he found it almost impossible to free himself from it now. Old Jonas was +blunt and brief. + +"Go over to the courthouse, walk into the Ordinary's office, and ask if +Mr. Sanders and Lawyer Tidwell have been there. As a matter of fact, +they haven't been there, and they are not going there, but old Tuttle +will think they are coming and he'll be worried about it. I want you to +show yourself to him just once. Answer every question he asks you. Tell +him where you are staying; say that I have employed you; but pretend you +don't know him. Then walk around the public square, and through the +town, make yourself known to some of your coloured friends, and come +right back here and go to work about the lot and yard just as if you had +been here a long time." + +Randall made no reply; he merely stood scratching his head, and fumbling +with his hat trying hard to come to some understanding, however dim, of +the motive and purpose that lay behind old Jonas's command; but, try as +he would, he couldn't make out the puzzle that seemed to envelope and +becloud his mind. Still fumbling with his hat, and standing on first one +foot and then the other, he remarked, with some hesitation, "Well, suh, +I'll go ef it's yo' will--but you know what St. Paul (er it may be St. +Second Timothy) tells us. He tells us, one er both, for to go not +whether we'll be treated contretemptous, not by day an' not by +night--Paul er St. Second Timothy, one er both." + +Old Jonas regarded the negro with amazement; for the first time in his +life he had a whiff of the kind of education the negroes were picking up +here and there. + +That, or something else irritated him, and he spoke with some heat. +"Well, confound you! do just as you please! Go or don't go--you're free, +I reckon. But if you do go, say to old Tuttle that you're glad to see +him looking so well. You are a Republican, I reckon?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Randall, with some degree of hesitation; "ef you put +it that way, I speck I is. Nobody ain't never gi' me no chanst for to be +anything else. I jest did squeeze in the Northron Methodist Church; ef +I'd 'a' had on a long coat, the tail would 'a' been ketched in the crack +of the door. All these here new doin's an' new fashions makes me feel +right ticklish, an' sometimes I ketch myself laughin' when they ain't +nothin' to laugh at, an' it took me long for to find out that when you +laugh in the wrong place it's because you ought to be cryin' by good +rights. All this has been gwine on now some time, an' I done come to +that pass that when a piece of paper blows round the cornder right +sudden, I mighty nigh jump out'n my skin. I'm tellin' you the plain +truth, suh! An' now, after all this, you want me to put on what little +cloze I got an' walk right into Mr. Tuttle's jaws--the identual man that +I've been runnin' fum I dunner how long--him that I come mighty nigh +joltin' across--I done forgot what St. Luke (or maybe it wuz St. +Mark--they run so close together in the book that I skacely know t'other +fum which). Anyhow, they's a Bible name for the thing you want me to do; +an' I tell you right now, I dunner whether for to do it or not. You +white folks don't keer much what you do--I've done took notice of that; +but when it comes down to a plain nigger, why, he's got to walk as thin +as a batter cake; he's got to step like he's afeard of stickin' a needle +in his foot. I'm tellin' you the truth, suh; I been dodgin' an' hidin' +so long that when I hear anybody walkin' fast behind me, the flesh +crawls on my back--yes, suh, natchally crawls--an' I have to hol' my +breath for to keep fum breakin' loose an' runnin'. I'll go there, suh, +an' I hope it'll be all right; but I never is to forget what St. Paul +(or it may be St. Second Timothy) says on that head." + +Old Jonas frowned heavily, and further betrayed his irritation by a +smothered malediction that included the entire negro race. Randall +waited for no further outbreak; he melted, as it were, from the doorway, +and disappeared as far as old Jonas was concerned, but Adelaide, who was +sitting in a little bower she had made for herself, saw him standing by +the fence gazing into space. The child after awhile turned her attention +to play, but Randall held his ground for a long time, looking into the +bright sky far beyond the bermuda hills for a proper solution of the +problem he had in his mind. But it was a problem that the windy spaces +with their blue perspective could not solve, and so, with a sigh, he +betook himself to the courthouse, where the man whose life he had nearly +taken was now holding forth as an officer of the law. The slave-driver +had become a belated Unionist, then a Republican, and was now a Radical +of the stripe and temper of poor Thaddeus Stevens, who was at that time +the centre and motor of Radical politics. + +Now, Mr. Tuttle was by no means asleep; he had watched and waited for +the return of Randall. He carried in his pocket book a warrant, duly +made out and officially signed, for the arrest of the negro. The charge +was assault with intent to murder. He saw Randall long before Randall +saw him, called the deputy sheriff, who had a room across the corridor, +apprised him of the fact that a criminal was to be arrested, pulled from +his pocket-book the wrong document, and the moment the negro entered the +courthouse he found himself in custody of the dread officer of the law. +To say that he was frightened would be putting it rather mildy; he was +paralysed with sickening fear, which was only overcome by desperate rage +against the white people, all and singular, who had caused him to walk +into such a trap. + +The park in which the courthouse stands was separated from the rest of +the public square by a small, neat fence, over which, at the entrances, +steps led, so that instead of opening a gate, you simply walked up the +steps, over the fence, and down on the other side. On top of the most +frequented of these stiles or steps Mr. Sanders and Lawyer Tidwell were +sitting. Lawyer Tidwell was on his way to the courthouse for the purpose +of examining some legal documents relating to a case he had on the +docket, and Mr. Sanders had accompanied him as far as the enclosure. +Their conversation grew so interesting that they finally seated +themselves on the topmost step of the stile. They may have been talking +of something serious, or they may have been relating anecdotes; but +whatever the character of their conference, it was brought to a sudden +conclusion by the appearance of the deputy sheriff with his humble and +unresisting prisoner. The deputy had a fine and high opinion of the +dignity of his position; he magnified his office. "Make way, gentlemen!" +he cried, and stood waiting for Mr. Sanders and the lawyer to move +respectfully aside. + +Both men looked up, but it was left to Mr. Sanders to express the +surprise of each. "What in the confounded nation does this mean?" he +exclaimed, rising to a standing position, and facing the officer and +prisoner. + +The prisoner was ahead of the deputy with a reply: "It means lots mo' to +me than what it do to anybody else, suh," Randall declared, drawing in a +deep breath, as if, in that way, he could control his emotion. "Whar I +come frum they warned me ag'in' all white folks, bofe Republican an' +Dimmycrat. They say, 'You go an' preach the straight gospel, an' let 'em +alone when they talk anything else but the Saviour an' Him crucified; +they tol' me that, an' now you see me! But for that little white child +down yander, I wouldn't be here now. But here I is, an' here I'll stay, +an' I'll be nuther the fust nor the last that was flung to the lions. +Look at Daniel, an' see what he done! Yes, suh! I'm right here!" + +"Well, now, you jest hold up your head an' put your hat on sideways ef +you want to," remarked Mr. Sanders. "Gus!" he said, turning to the +lawyer, with something like a frown on his bland countenance, "here's a +whole bunch of business that's fell right in our laps. An' it's all in +your line, too; but ef you can't do nothin', why, then, I'll take up the +loose ends an' see what I kin do wi' 'em. I'll tell you right now," he +went on, turning to the deputy sheriff, "when you take this nigger to +jail, you'll take me, too--you or the man that's waitin' for your job. +Make no mistake about that!" + +A number of negroes who had been talking together near the courthouse +drew nearer when they saw one of their colour held prisoner. One of them +was the negro member of the Legislature, and he was curious to know what +the trouble was--curious and sympathetic, too, for he somehow felt that +as the representative of the race in the county, he was responsible for +the welfare of each individual. When Lawyer Tidwell thought that the +negroes were near enough to hear everything that was said, he rose from +his seat on the stile, and impressively shook his leonine mane. "What do +you propose to do with this boy?" he inquired. + +"I'm taking him to jail," the deputy replied, with a little relapse from +dignity due to the unwonted aspect of Mr. Tidwell and Mr. Sanders. The +lawyer demanded by what authority he had arrested the negro, and asked +to see the warrant. By this time a considerable crowd of coloured people +had gathered around, and when the warrant was produced, Mr. Tidwell +created a considerable sensation by the tone of indignation he assumed +and by the dramatic gestures with which he denounced such proceedings. + +"Do you call this a warrant?" he cried, striking the document with the +back of his hand. Then with threatening forefinger, held under the +deputy's nose, he went on: "Do you mean to tell me, sir, that you arrest +people, and run them into jail with such scraps of paper as this is? +Deprive them of their rights under the constitution without giving them +a chance to be heard at a preliminary trial?" Lawyer Tidwell's voice +grew higher, and his indignation seemed to rise higher, as he +contemplated the rampant injustice of the period, of which this +proceeding was a very small part. "Mark my words!" he exclaimed; "you'll +go to jail before this boy does! You know just as well as I do that this +is no warrant. You know it isn't properly made out, nor even properly +signed. I tell you again, the man that issued it will be impeached, and +the man that served it will occupy the same cell. You'll know a thing or +two worth remembering when I get through with you!" The lawyer's whole +attitude was menacing, and it made precisely the impression he had +intended it should. He turned to Randall. "What party do you vote with?" + +"Wid the party of Aberham Lincoln, suh; an' if you want to know why, +turn to St. Paul (or it may be St. Second Timothy--one or the other) an' +you'll see where the brotherin is begged an' commanded for to stand by +one another in all manner of trial an' tribulation. In them days, suh, +they grit one another wi' a holy kiss; but in these times--la! holy +kissin' is done played out like a hoss that went through the war!" + +At this point the negro legislator, in order to keep up his reputation +for representing his race, spoke up. "Frien', what has you been doin', +an' what has you been tuck up fer? It look like ter me that you has got +a case fer ter fetch up in the gener'l insembly, an' ef you is, I want +ter have the handlin' un it." + +It was Mr. Tidwell who replied. "Don't you remember that old Tuttle was +an overseer before the war? He had no niggers of his own, and he took +his spite out on other people's niggers. One day, when he was kicking +and cuffing this boy here, he hit him one lick too many. Randall turned +on him, and came pretty near knocking him into the middle of next week. +You-all have put old Tuttle in a place where he has a little power, and +now, after all these years, he wants to slap Randall in jail, when he +knows just as well as you know that he hit the boy a hundred times as +many licks as the boy hit him. And he sha'n't put him in jail! One of +you boys run to Mr. Whipple's and tell him that Mr. Sanders wants to see +him at the courthouse at once. Tell him that Randall is in trouble." + +Not only one negro, but half a dozen negroes, went on a run to carry the +message to old Jonas. + +"Ten to one he doesn't come," remarked Mr. Tidwell to his companion in +an undertone. + +Mr. Sanders himself had a very small supply of undertones, and so he +spoke right out when he replied to the lawyer--"Ef he don't come I'll go +arter him, an' ef I have to do that, I'll paint him red before he gits +here! I promise you you won't know him!" + +But old Jonas came fast enough; moreover, he came smiling, and this, +together with the fact that he forgot to remove his skull-cap when he +put on his hat gave him something of a new aspect in the eyes even of +those who had known him long. The rapidity with which he walked was not +so remarkable, considering the fact that Adelaide was running a little +ahead of him. The child dropped his hand when she saw Mr. Sanders and +the rest, and ran to them as hard as she could. "Bishop!" she cried to +Mr. Sanders, "the Boogerman is to come right home this minute. I've +found a new gun, and I want to shoot him! Boogerman, please come on!" +All that Randall could say was, "Well, suh!" and then he passed his hand +across his eyes, and gazed off into the far-distance, seeing whatsoever +visions the Almighty vouchsafes to the meek and lowly, who are troubled +in heart and mind. He must have seen something, and that something must +have been sufficient, for his face brightened, and when he turned his +head, and saw that all were looking at him with curiosity, he laughed +pleasantly, and, stooping down, lifted Adelaide in his arms, and held +her there, as though she would afford him the protection which he +thought he needed. + +"Which a-way does you-all want me for to go?" he inquired. "Show me, an' +I'll go right straight to the place. In Galatians, Paul bragged that he +outfaced Peter, an' ef he done that, I speck I kin face what's a comin' +to me." + +"I'll put your hat on the side of your head, Boogerman, so you can look +as bold as a goose," said Adelaide. + +"Yes, ma'am, I kin do that an' not half try; an' ef I can't look like a +goose, I bet you I can look as sheepish as the next one." He was not +even apprehensive and those who were observing him closely wondered at +the sudden change that had come over him. "Jail," he went on, in the +tone of an exhorter--"jail was good 'nough for the 'postles, an' why not +for me? They ain't got no law long 'nough, ner no jail strong 'nough for +to prevent pra'r." + +"Oh, shucks, Boogerman!" exclaimed Adelaide; "let's go to jail. I want +to see what kind of a place it is on the inside, because I may have to +send Cally-Lou there if she doesn't behaviour better than she has been +doing." + +"Well, ef you're a-gwine to send Cally-Lou to that hotel," Mr. Sanders +remarked, "jest tell 'em for to gi' me a big room wi' a long bed in it." +Then they all went in the courthouse, and sought out the judge of the +Superior Court circuit, who had his office in the building. After Lawyer +Tidwell's explanation, he very readily consented to hold the commitment +trial then and there. Mr. Tidwell briefly called attention to the nature +of the warrant that had been served, and announced his intention of +bringing the impeachment proceedings against Mr. Tuttle, who was judge +of the Court of Ordinary. The Superior Court judge said he had no doubt +that such proceedings would hold, when brought at the proper time, and +in the proper way, but they had nothing to do with the case before him. +Whatever the nature of the warrant, the accused was now in charge of an +officer of the law, and it would simplify matters to have the +preliminary trial take place at once. Randall gave his version of the +affair, and when Mr. Tuttle was called to testify, it was found that the +testimony he gave was not materially different from that which the negro +had given, much of it being brought out by the close questioning of Mr. +Tidwell. The result was that Randall was placed under bond for his +appearance at the next term of the superior court to be held in that +county. Much to the surprise of all, old Jonas Whipple, instead of +making a bond for Randall, gave his check on the local bank, with the +understanding that it was to be cashed in favour of the court. The judge +said that a bond of that kind was something unusual, but he accepted it. + +Randall looked hard at old Jonas, and his lip trembled as if he were +about to say something, but, instead, his glance turned to the floor, +and he stood fumbling his hat. Mr. Sanders, observing the negro's +embarrassment, told a funny story, and when the laughter to which it +gave rise had subsided the judge asked the Sage of Shady Dale if he +wanted the anecdote to be made a part of the record in the case. The +countenance of Mr. Sanders took on a peculiarly solemn expression. + +"Well, judge," he replied, "it'd be a mighty good way for to improve it +some." + +[Illustration: "Mr. Sanders went from the courthouse with a sweeping +stride"] + +All these things were beyond Adelaide. She climbed on a chair, and from +the chair to a table, and stood poised at that dizzy height with her +eyes fixed on Mr. Sanders. "Come on, Bishop," she commanded, "and let's +go home." He backed up to the table like a trained horse in the modern +pony shows. When he came close enough Adelaide leaped on his back. Here +she perched herself, while Mr. Sanders went from the courthouse with a +sweeping stride, which, when he was out of doors, changed, first into a +trot, and then into a pretended canter. + + + + +PART V + + When the gales of peace shall scatter + War's wild, red rubbish like chaff, + When the mills shall renew their clatter + Then all the people will laugh. + + --_Tunison's Industrial Hymns._ + + +Randall celebrated his release by retiring to Lucindy's house, where he +shut himself in and remained for more than an hour. He filled the little +room with thanksgiving in the shape of song and prayer, all of which +could be heard for a considerable distance. A great burden had been +lifted from his simple mind, and he celebrated the fact in a simple and +natural way. Lucindy understood his feelings, for she shared them. While +Randall was praying and singing in her house, she was in the kitchen +with Adelaide. Even while the tears of gratitude and thankfulness were +running down her cheeks, and threatening to fall in the things she was +cooking (as the child saw), she made light of the whole matter. "I +dunner what he mean by gwine 'way off dat-a-way, an' holdin' a +pray'r-meetin' by hisself. He'll have de whole town a-stan'in' 'roun' in +de yard ef he keep on doin' like dat." + +"Well, Mammy Lucindy, you are crying yourself." + +"My eyes weak, honey, an' dey feels like I done stuck a splinter in bofe +un um. You des wait. When you git ol' ez what I is, I lay yo' eyes will +run water, too." + +The idea of Adelaide growing old! Nobody would have thought of such a +thing but Lucindy, and the thought only came to her as a means of hiding +her own feelings. But it is a fact that the child was about to grow +older. For shortly after Randall's trouble, all of us took the road for +Eighteen-Hundred-and-Eighty-Five. We thought it was a long road, too, +and yet, somehow, it was neither long nor rough. But it was a very +peculiar thoroughfare. For though all of us tried to walk side by side, +it seemed that some of us were toiling up-hill, while others were +walking down-hill. It was so peculiar that on several occasions, I was +on the point of asking Adelaide what she thought of a road that could be +up-hill and down-hill in the same place, and at the same time; but the +child had so many quaint and beautiful thoughts of her own that I +hesitated to disturb her mind. + +Moreover, she was growing so fast, and getting along so well, that I had +no real desire to put new ideas in her head. Mr. Sanders declared that +she was running up like a weed. This attracted the attention of old +Jonas, who fixed his small glittering eyes on the old humourist. + +"Like a weed, Sanders?" Mr. Whipple inquired. + +"Well," replied Mr. Sanders, "call the weed a sunflower, ef it suits +you; but I dunner what's the matter with a weed--the Lord made it." + +Old Jonas, looking off into space, nodded his head, with "Yes, I reckon +maybe He did." + +As we went along this road I have been telling you of, I thought that +perhaps old Jonas would stop to rest in a fence corner, but the further +we went, we found that he was as lively as any of the rest, though +perhaps not so nimble. As for Adelaide, she simply grew; there was no +other change in her. She carried her child nature along with her, and +she carried Cally-Lou. Not much was said of Cally-Lou, but all of us +felt that she was in hiding in that wide, clear space that is just an +inch or so beyond the short reach of our vision; and, somehow, we were +all glad to have the company of the little dream-child who was "not +quite white." I think she kept Adelaide from taking on the airs and +poses of growing girls. And this was just as well. Adelaide took in +knowledge, as though she had learned it somewhere before. When she began +to study at school (as we went along) she declared that the books caused +her to remember things that she had forgotten. Mr. Sanders said that +there never was such a scholar, and Mr. Tidwell agreed with him. Old +Jonas said nothing; his face simply wore a satisfied frown. + +None of us forgot Randall, or could afford to forget him, for we were +journeying along together. His evolution was out of the usual order. +Adelaide merely fulfilled the promises of her childhood, and the +expectations of those who were in love with her; whereas, Randall outran +prophecy itself. The Boogerman developed into a full-fledged minister of +the Methodist Church, and, in the course of that development, became a +complete engine of modern industry. He went so far and so fast that he +had an abundance of time to devote to the religious enthusiasm that kept +him inwardly inflamed; and such was the power of his rude eloquence that +he attracted the admiration of whites as well as blacks. He was +ignorant, but he had a gift that education has never been able to +produce in a human being--he had the gift of eloquence. When he was in +the pulpit his rough words, his simple gestures, the play of his +features, the poise of his body, his whole attitude, were as far beyond +the compass of education as it is possible for the mind to conceive. +This gift, or power, became so well known that he had a real taste of +what is called reputation in this world. He was a pattern, a model, for +the men of his race, and, indeed, for the men of any race, for there +never was a moment when he was idle after he discovered that an honest +and industrious man can make and save money. All that he made, he gave +to old Jonas Whipple to keep for him. The more Randall worked the more +he learned how to work, so that in the course of a year or two, there +was nothing in the way of work that he couldn't do well. His credit at +the little bank was as good as that of most white men, and his simple +word was as good as a bond. + +The men of his race watched him with a curious kind of awe. When one of +them asked him how he managed to accomplish the results that were plain +to every one, his reply was: "Good gracious, man! I jest goes ahead and +does it, that's how." He had a great knack of meeting opportunity before +she knocked at his door--of meeting her and hitching her to his shack of +a buggy, where she served the purpose of a family horse. He had the +confidence and sympathy of all the white people who knew him. He began +to buy tracts of land, and one of his purchases included High Falls, +where the children and grown people had their picnic grounds. Many +thought this a wild investment, especially old Jonas, who rated him +soundly for throwing away his hard-earned money; but Mr. Sanders, who, +with all his humour and nonsense, was by all odds the shrewdest business +man in all that region, declared that the time would come when the money +that Randall had paid for it would be smothered by the money he could +sell it for. Randall explained to old Jonas the reason why he had bought +this remarkable water-power; it was because the water came so free and +fell so far. + +All this, by the way, as we were journeying along. We began to try to +forget Eighteen-Hundred-and-Sixty-Eight; we knew right were it was, but, +as we got farther and farther away from it, it seemed to lose some of +its importance; and, sometimes, when we couldn't help but remember it, +it came back to us as though it was the memory of a bad dream. People +began to look up and stir about, Progress, hand-in-hand with Better +Conditions, crawled out of the woods, where they had been hiding, and +began to pay visits to their old friends. Mr. Sanders said it gave him a +kind of Christmas feeling to see the hard times vanishing. Old Jonas +felt better, too. At any rate, he seemed to take more interest in +Adelaide, who, by this time, had developed into a wonderfully charming +young woman--just how charming, I leave you to imagine; for she was a +young woman and still a child. It is given to few people in this world +to have this combination and to be able to manage it as it should be +managed. I don't know whether to call it the art of living, or the +instinct that makes Everybody feel as though he were Somebody. I never +could understand the secret of it, and, indeed, I never tried, until one +day a scientist came along peddling his ideas and theories. He declared +that there was an explanation somewhere in one of his books, but so far, +I have been unable to find it. There was nothing in his dull books about +Adelaide and her individuality. It should be borne in mind that Adelaide +had, in the course of seventeen years, developed into Something that was +quite beyond art and education. Her inimitable personality, which was +hers from the first, and quite beyond the contingencies of chance or +change, continued to be inimitable. She had received all the advantages +that money could buy; but this fact only emphasised her native charm. +She was a child as well as a young woman, with the sweet unconsciousness +of the one and the dazzling loveliness of the other. + +Mean as he was said to be, it was a well-known fact that old Jonas's +money would go as far as that of any man; and when it came to a question +of Adelaide, it was as free as the money of some of our modern +millionaires when they desire to advertise their benevolence. He was +determined, he said, that his niece should have all the polish the +schools could furnish. He called it polish for the reason that he had +many a hot argument with Mr. Sanders and Lawyer Tidwell with respect to +the benefits of education--the education furnished by our modern system +of public schools. He didn't believe in it; there was always too much +for some people, and not enough for others; there was no discrimination +in the scheme. Moreover, it put false ideas in some people's heads, and +made them lazy and vicious. But he had never said a word in opposition +to polish, and when he sent Adelaide to one of the most expensive +schools, it was not to educate her, he said, but to give her the +"polish" that would elevate her above ordinary people. + +Adelaide received the polish, but refused to be elevated, and when she +returned home, unchanged and unspoiled, old Jonas Whipple said to +himself that his money had been spent in vain. He wanted to see her put +on airs and hold herself above people, but this she never did; and she +would have laughed heartily at old Jonas's thoughts if she had known +what they were. Mr. Whipple seemed to have an idea that culture and +refinement are things that you can put your fingers on and feel of, and +he was sure that dignity and personal pride are their accompaniments. +Yet he gave no outward sign of his disappointment if he really had any, +and he swallowed such regrets as possessed him with a straight face; for +he saw, with a secret pride and pleasure that no one suspected, that +Adelaide was the most charming young girl in all that neighbourhood. It +filled him with pride for which he could not account when he observed +that she could hold her own in any company, and that, wherever she went, +she was the centre of admiration and interest. + +Now, it was not long before the promoters of a railway line from Atlanta +to Malvern came knocking at the doors of Shady Dale. Mr. Sanders and a +number of others were inclined to be more than hospitable to the +enterprise, but old Jonas Whipple was opposed to it tooth-and-nail. His +arguments in opposition to the enterprise will be thought amusing and +ridiculous in this day and time, but it is notorious, the world over, +that any man with money can have a substantial following without +resorting to bribery, and there were many in Shady Dale, who, basing +their admiration on the fact that he had been very successful as a +money-maker, in the face of the most adverse conditions, were ready to +endorse anything that old Jonas said; he was an oracle because he knew +how to make money, though it is well known that the making of money does +not depend on a very high order of intelligence. Old Jonas's objections +to a railway were not amenable to reason or argument; it was sufficient +that they were satisfactory to him. He had them all catalogued and +numbered. There were six of them, and they ran about as follows: + +1. A railroad would add to the racket and riot of the neighbourhood, +when, even as things were, it was a difficult matter for decent people +to sleep in peace. 2. (This objection was impressive on account of its +originality; no one had ever thought of it). The passing of railway +trains would produce concussion, and this concussion, repeated at +regular intervals, would cause the blossoms of the fruit trees to drop +untimely off, and would no doubt have a disastrous effect on garden +vegetables. 3. The railroad would not stop in Shady Dale, but would go +on to Atlanta, thus making the little town a way-station, and drain the +whole county of its labour at a time when everybody was trying to adjust +himself to the new conditions. 4. Instead of patronising home industries +and enterprises, people would scramble for seats on the cars, and go +gadding about, spending anywhere but at home the little money they had. +5. Every business and all forms of industry in the whole section +adjacent to the line would be at the mercy of the road and its managers; +and, 6. What did people want with railroads, when a majority of the +loudest talkers had earned no more than three dollars apiece since the +war? + +Mr. Sanders tried hard to destroy these objections by means of timely +and appropriate jokes. But jokes had no effect on Mr. Whipple. Moreover, +there was one fact that no jokes could change: a great body of land +belonging to old Jonas lay right across the face of the railway survey, +and there was no way to avoid it except by making a detour so wide that +Shady Dale would be left far to one side. You would think, of course, +that it was an easy matter to condemn a right of way through old Jonas's +land, and so it would have been but for one fact that could not be +ignored. There was a bitter controversy going on between the people and +the roads, and the managers were trying to be as polite as they could be +under the circumstances. The controversy referred to finally resulted in +the passage of the railway laws that are now on the statute books of the +state. The promoters of the line to Shady Dale had no desire to arouse +the serious opposition of Mr. Whipple and his friends; they had no idea +of making a serious contest in view of the state of public opinion, and +they had made up their minds that if they failed to secure the right of +way through old Jonas's lands by fair words, they would leave Shady Dale +out of their plans altogether. They had already surveyed another line +that would run six or seven miles north of the town, and work on this +would have begun promptly but for the representations of Mr. Sanders and +other substantial citizens, who declared that only a short delay would +be necessary to bring old Jonas to terms. But that result, by the +interposition of Providence, as it were, was left for others to +accomplish. + +Of the contest going on between the old-fashioned, unprogressive +faction, headed by her uncle, and the spirited element of which Mr. +Sanders was the leader, Adelaide had no particular knowledge. She knew +in a general way that some question in regard to the new railroad was in +dispute. She had heard the matter discussed, and she had laughed at some +of the comments of Mr. Sanders on the obstinacy of her uncle, but the +whole matter was outside the circle of her serious thoughts and +interests until, at last, it was brought home to her in a way that the +novel writers would call romantic, though for some time it was decidedly +embarrassing. + +Blushing and laughing, she told Mr. Sanders about it afterward. That +genial citizen regarded it as a good joke, and, as such, he made the +most of it. She was walking about in the garden one day, thinking of +childish things, and remembering what fine times she and Mr. Sanders had +had when she was a tiny bit of a girl. She was very old now--quite +seventeen--but her childhood was still fresh in her remembrance, and she +was quite a child in her freshness and innocence. The corn-patch was in +a new place now, but to her it was still the Whish-Whish Woods. In the +days when she brought down the Boogerman with her cornstalk gun, the +corn was growing in the garden next to a side street on which there was +very little passing to and fro; but now the corn-patch was next to a +thoroughfare that was much frequented. Remembering how delighted she had +been when Randall, the Boogerman, responded so completely to her +pretence of shooting him with her cornstalk gun, she was seized by a +whim that gave her an almost uncontrollable desire to repeat the +performance. + +By a gesture which, whether magical or not, admirably served its +purpose, Adelaide became a child again. Her beautiful hair, unloosed, +fell below her waist, and her face had the same little pucker of +earnestness that it wore when, as a child, she was intent on her +business of make-believe. She found a cornstalk that suited her purpose, +stripped off the blades, and concealed herself in the Whish-Whish Woods, +holding her gun in readiness to make a victim of the first person that +passed along the street. As Providence would have it, she was not kept +waiting, for almost before she could conceal herself, she heard the +sound of feet. Whoever it was had no idea of the danger that awaited +him, for he was walking along, whistling softly to himself, showing that +he was either in high feather, or seriously uneasy with respect to +certain plans he had in his head. As he came to the ambush, Adelaide +promptly thrust her cornstalk gun forward, with a loud cry of "bang!" +The result was as surprising as, and far more embarrassing than, when +she made-believe to shoot Randall. This time the victim, instead of +falling on the ground and writhing, as a man should do if he is +seriously wounded, nearly jumped out of his skin, crying, "Good +gracious!" + +The voice was strange to Adelaide's ears, and when she was in a position +to see her intended victim, she discovered that her innocent joke had +been played at the expense of a young man whom she had never seen +before; he was an utter stranger. The young man, glancing back to see +who had waylaid him, caught a glimpse of Adelaide, and politely raised +his hat. Adelaide, frightened at what seemed to be her boldness, could +hardly articulate clearly, but she managed to say, in the midst of her +confusion and embarrassment, "Oh, excuse me! I thought--" but there she +paused. + +"So did I," said the young man, with a laugh, "and you are quite +excusable." Adelaide said to herself that he was making fun of her, but +she did not fail to see, in the midst of her vexation and confusion, +that he was very pleasant looking. In short he had a clear eye and a +strong face. Having seen this much, she gathered her skirts free of her +feet, and went running to the house. She couldn't resist the temptation +to stop in the kitchen and give Lucindy the story of her exciting +adventure, and in the midst of it, she paused to say how handsome the +young man was. When the narrative was concluded, Adelaide asked Lucindy +what she thought of it all. The old negro woman must have had very deep +thoughts, judging from her silence. She asked no questions and merely +nodded her head while Adelaide was talking; and then, while the excited +young woman was waiting for her to make some comment, the little-used +knocker on the front door fell with a tremendous whack. + +"Whosomever it mought be," remarked Lucindy, "it look like dey er +bleedze ter git in, kaze dey er breakin' de door down!" + +"Oh, I believe it's the young man I tried to shoot!" cried Adelaide in +distress, "and I wouldn't meet him again for the world! I wonder where +Uncle Jonas is--and why he don't have a bell placed on the door?" Then +the young woman asked with some indignation, "Mammy Lucindy, do you +suppose that young man is knocking at the door because I made a goose of +myself in the garden?" + +"Lawsy, honey," said Lucindy, soothingly, "don't git ter frettin'; I'm +gwine ter de door--yit I lay ef you had been up ter yo' neck in de +flour-bairl, I wouldn't let you run ter de front door an' grin at +whomsomever mought be dar! I lay dat much." + +"But, Mammy! I'm afraid the person at the door is the young man I was +rude to when he was passing the garden. Oh, I wish Uncle Jonas would +hire a housemaid; I can't be running to the front door all the time." + +"I ain't seed you run much, honey, kaze dat's de fust time dat +door-knocker is bangded in many's de long day. You want a house-gal, +does you? Well, you better not fetch no gal in dis house fer ter make +moufs at me right 'fo' my face. She sho' won't last long; I tell you dat +right now!" + +Lucindy prepared to answer the summons, but before she could wipe the +flour from her hands, Adelaide changed her mind. She said she would +answer the knock herself, and, as she went into the house, Randall came +around the corner and went into the kitchen. He was somewhat excited, +and Lucindy inquired if he was ill. "Mammy," he said, "does you know who +that is knockin' at the door? Well, it aint nobody in the roun' worl' +but ol' Marster's grandson; it's Miss Betty's boy. Of all people on top +of the ground, that's who it is." + +Lucindy leaned on the kitchen table, and gazed at Randall in speechless +surprise. "De Lord he'p my soul!" she exclaimed when she could find her +voice. "What he been up ter dat he ain't never is been here befo'? He +sholy can't be much mo' dan knee-high ter a puddle-duck." She persisted +in thinking of her young mistress as she had known her a quarter of a +century before. Randall could tell her little beyond the fact that he +had "know'd the favour," and had spoken to the young man on the street, +asking if he were not kin to the Bowdens. + +This simple question developed into a long conversation, with the result +that Randall was as enthusiastic about Miss Betty's boy as he was about +Miss Betty, who had saved his life. "He sho' have got the blood in 'im. +He don't look strong, like all de balance of the Bowdens, but he's got +their ways. He walks an' holds his head jest like Miss Betty." + +When Adelaide opened the door, and saw standing there the young man at +whom she had aimed her cornstalk gun, she was surprised to find that she +was not at all embarrassed. She had no idea that this particular meeting +had been arranged and provided for long ages ago. But she wondered why +she should feel so cool and collected, when she should be confused and +blushing. This is the way young women act in story books, and Adelaide +had often longed for the opportunity to stammer and blush when a strange +but noble young man appeared before her; but now that the young man had +come, she felt as if she had known him a long, long time. He was the +embarrassed one, while she observed that he had nice brown eyes, to +light up his handsome countenance, and these brown eyes seemed to be +trying to apologise for something or other; and all the time the young +man was thinking that he had never seen such beautiful blue eyes as +those that were shyly glancing at him from under their long lashes. It +was a desperate moment for all concerned, but Providence was there, and +laid its calm, cool hand on the situation. The young man asked for Mr. +Whipple, but Providence had been before him, and Mr. Whipple was not to +be found in the house, though Adelaide tried hard to find him, not +knowing that if her uncle could have been found just at that particular +time, a great many possibilities would have been destroyed. Adelaide +inquired if the brown eyes wouldn't come in and wait for Uncle Jonas, +who was to be expected at any moment, and the brown eyes softly admitted +that nothing would please them better if such an arrangement were +perfectly agreeable to everybody, otherwise not for the world would they +intrude--and then, as a matter of course, the blue eyes were compelled +to see to it that the time of waiting would be made perfectly pleasant. + +After awhile the sound of footsteps was heard on the veranda, and +Adelaide, with a secret regret, declared that Uncle Jonas must be +coming. But Providence was looking out for the interests of the young +fellow with a keener eye, for the footsteps they heard were those of Mr. +Sanders. He came in without knocking, as usual, and Adelaide ran to meet +him, just as she always did. "You look as flustrated as ef you had man +company," Mr. Sanders remarked, as she greeted him. She slapped him +lightly on the arm by way of warning and rebuke. "An' I'll lay I kin +guess his name: it's Winters." Adelaide was very red in the face as she +shook her head. "Then it's Somers," he declared; "I know'd it was one of +the seasons that had dropped in on you out'n season. But it happens to +be the very chap I'm arter." He stalked in to the sitting-room, and +shook hands with young Somers, calling him Jonah, though his name was +John. + +Then he casually inquired as to the whereabouts of Mr. Jonas Whipple, in +spite of the fact that he already knew. "You see how it is," he remarked +to the young man; "you thought you wanted to see Jonas, but it wasn't +Jonas you wanted to see at all." Mr. Sanders pursed his mouth, and +stared at the ceiling. The remark he had made was interpreted by +Adelaide in a way he had not intended, but she was quite equal to the +emergency. + +"Well, Mr. Sanders," she inquired with great dignity, "whom did Mr. +Somers desire to see?" + +He turned a bland and child-like smile upon her. "Why, he wanted to see +me, of course. Who else could it 'a' been?" Adelaide's dignity was not +made of the strongest stuff, and she was compelled to laugh. "I +understood him to inquire for Uncle Jonas," she said simply, "but I may +have been mistaken." + +"No; I really want to see Mr. Whipple," the young man insisted. "That is +my business here." + +Mr. Sanders beamed upon him with a smile that was as broad and sweet as +a slice of pie. "I've allers took notice," he remarked, "that wimmen an' +children, an' young folks in gener'l, will ax for the identical things +they ought not to have. They're made that-a-way, I reckon." + +In a little while the young man bowed himself out, followed by Mr. +Sanders. "You young fellers worry me no little," remarked the Sage of +Shady Dale, as they went along the street together. "I happen to know +about the business that fetched you here, an' I mighty nigh swallered my +goozle when I seed you makin' for Jonas's." + +"Well, I really thought Mr. Whipple was the proper person to see. I was +told that he held the key to the situation," young Somers replied. + +Mr. Sanders smiled benignly. "Old Jonas has been seed an' he's been +saw'd," said the elder man so drolly that Somers laughed outright. "I +reckon you've been to college, ain't you? I 'lowed as much. The trainin' +is all right, but you'll have to fergit a heap you've l'arned ef you +want travellin' for to be easy. Old as I am, I wish I had some of your +knowledge, but if you was to put it all in a hamper basket an' gi' me +the right to paw it over, you'd be surprised at what I'd pick out. My +experience is that when a feller gits through college, an' begins for to +face the hard propositions that he ain't never thought about, he allers +takes a notion that somethin's wrong somewhar. + +"I reckon maybe you've got the idee that argyment, ef it's got all the +facts behind it, is the thing that's bound for to win, an' you'll have +to git bumped by a barnyard full of billy-goats before you find out that +nineteen-hundred squar' miles on 'em ain't wuth one little inch of +persuasion. It's all right in the books, whar they l'arn you how to +think an' put up a nice article of argyment, but it don't work in reel +life. You can't carry none of your p'ints wi'out doin' some mighty purty +dancin' on t'other side of the line. Now I've saved you from one of the +wust bumpin's that a young feller ever had, and the beauty about it is +you'll never have a suspicion of it ontel you're old enough for to have +grandchildren. It'll not hurt you for to hit some of the rough places as +you go slidin' through this vale of tears, but it'll never do you any +reel good for to climb four flights of sta'rs an' then jump out'n the +top window when you want to come down." + +"I should think that even a fool would know that," the young man +declared. + +"Well, some on 'em don't," responded Mr. Sanders. "Thar's diffunt kinds +of fools, an' diffunt kinds of houses, an' heap higher jumps, an' you'd +'a' had the experience of it ef you'd 'a' found old Jonas at home. The +next time you go thar don't ax for him. Call for Adelaide--call for +Lucindy the cook (she use' to belong to your Gran'daddy Bowden)--call +for Randall--call for any an' ever'body but old Jonas." + +"But what am I to do?" the young man inquired somewhat impatiently. "It +seems that I may as well go back to Malvern or Atlanta; and when I do +that, I'll have to hunt for another job." + +Mr. Sanders hummed a tune, and apparently paid no attention to the young +man's last remark. "Old Jonas is mighty quar'," he said after a pause. +"When his sister died up thar in Atlanta, you couldn't 'a' told from the +motions he made that he'd hearn the mournful news; but sence he's had +for to take keer of Adelaide, her daughter, his gizzard has kinder +softened up. Why, that man thinks that the sun rises an' sets whar +Adelaide lives at." + +"Well," said the young fellow, "she certainly is charming; I don't think +I ever met a young lady that so impressed me." + +"Forty years from now you'll be able for to say the same thing," +remarked Mr. Sanders. "Well, as I was a-tellin' you, old Jonas ain't +nigh as mean as he looks to be, but when I found out that he reely had a +heart, you mought 'a' knocked me down wi' a feather. It was the time +your gran'daddy died. Why, Jonas walked the floor all night long. That +much I know bekaze I seed it wi' my own eyes. An' then thar's that +nigger Randall--thar ain't no tellin' how much Jonas has done for him, +nor how much he will do. But when it comes to makin' a fuss, Jonas ain't +in it. He's too hard-headed for to let people know him as he is. Now, +don't think I'm doin' any obiturary work, bekaze the fact is old Jonas +ain't a bit better than he ought to be. I reckon, he is too hard-headed +for to let people know him as he is, but the fact is that old Jonas is +human; he ain't a bit better than the rest on us--an' he may be wuss in +some spots. Ef you've ever took notice, the people between the best man +in the world an' the wust, make a purty fa'r average. I reckon," Mr. +Sanders went on, regarding Somers with a child-like smile, "I reckon you +ain't never played poker as a habit?" + +"Not as a habit," replied the young man, laughing. + +"Well, the hand I've dealt to you is known as a royal straight flush, +an' it sweeps ever'thing before it. Look it over when you git time, an' +ef anybody calls you, jes spread out the kyards on the table, an' ax 'em +what they think of the lay-out." + +"I don't think I know what you mean," said the young man, with some show +of embarrassment. + +"Maybe not," replied Mr. Sanders, "but I leave it to you ef that's my +fault; I've dealt you the hand, an' ef you dunno how to play it, you +can't blame me. I see Tidwell across yander, an' I want to have a talk +wi' him; maybe he'll loan me his pocket-han'kcher. So-long!" + +Young Somers went to his room in the tavern and pondered long over the +problem that Mr. Sanders had presented with confident smiles. He tried +to think it out, but, somehow, he could think of nothing but a laughing +face, dimpled and sweet, blue eyes and golden hair, and lovely white +hands lifted in eloquent gesture. He could concentrate all the powers of +his mind on these, and he could think a little, just a little, of the +wonderful personality of Mr. Sanders, who had persisted in remaining a +boy, in spite of his years and large experience, but so far as puzzles +and problems were concerned, his mind refused to work. + +It was the same the next day, and the next. He walked about the little +town by way of recreation, but by far the largest part of his time was +spent in his room at the tavern. On the morning of the third day of his +stay in Shady Dale, he concluded to visit the old place where his +grandfather had lived, and where his mother was born. Of the whereabouts +of the place he had not the slightest idea, though he knew it was about +a mile from the centre of the town. While he was debating whether or no +he should wander about and try to find it for himself, or whether he +should make inquiries as to the direction, he heard the rustle of skirts +behind him. Turning he beheld his vision of blue eyes and golden hair. +This, however, was the reality. The young fellow had a queer notion, +momentary but vivid, that somewhere or somehow, in some dim, mysterious +region under the stars, he had come suddenly upon this same experience, +under precisely the same conditions--and the thought gave him a thrill +the like of which he had never felt before--the kind of thrill that, as +Mr. Sanders once suggested, makes you think that you've clerked in a +dry-goods store in some other world. + +Blue eyes and dimples were very gracious. "You left too soon the other +day," they declared; "Uncle Jonas came in shortly after you went away, +and you were hardly out of the house before one of your mother's old +servants came in to see you. It was Mammy Lucindy, our cook, and she was +very much disappointed to find you had gone." + +"I'm sorry," the young fellow said, and he was so emphatic, and so +serious, that Adelaide laughed. "I have heard my mother speak of Lucindy +and her son Randall." + +"When Uncle Jonas came in," remarked Adelaide, "I told him you had +called. He frowned and said he supposed you wanted to see him on +business; but I suggested that perhaps you had called because you were +Judge Bowden's grandson. He declared you had never thought of such a +thing; but the possibility that you might have had such a thought +pleased him greatly. I don't know when I have seen him in such high good +humour." + +They were walking along as they talked, and the young man made a mental +note of old Jonas's pleasure. The sun was shining brightly, the air was +fresh and cool, the jay-birds in the China trees were hilarious, and, +somehow or other, the two young people felt very happy as they walked +along. They had no particular reason for their happiness, but they +seemed to be in the atmosphere in which happiness arises like the +sparkling dew of early morning. A deaf old lady sitting on her piazza, +on the opposite side of the street, smiled sweetly at Adelaide, and held +her trumpet to her ear, as if, by means of its echoing depths, she could +hear what the laughing young woman was saying. Adelaide did have +something to say, evidently--something that an ear-trumpet could not +interpret across the wide street, for she made a little gesture with her +head, which her companion failed to see, and she sent some signal +whirling through the air by means of a fluttering white hand. This +signal he did see, but he was unfamiliar with the code that prevails +among women-kind the world over: yet he had no difficulty in taking it +to be an ordinary salutation, especially as the smiling old lady waved +the trumpet around her head with an air of triumph. Still there was +something in it all that seemed to be a trifle beyond him--and from the +feminine point of view it was a neat and pretty piece of work. + +He had small opportunity to give the matter any thought, for Adelaide, +laughing, turned toward him, and began to speak of the affection her +Uncle Jonas had felt for Judge Bowden, and the high esteem in which he +held the judge's memory. She acknowledged that it was very queer that a +man long dead should play a living part in her uncle's thoughts, but she +explained that people had wrong ideas about her uncle. "They seem to +think," she declared, "that Uncle Jonas is very mean and stingy, and +hard-hearted; but if they knew him as well as I do, they would think +differently." + +The young fellow would have protested, but Adelaide stopped him with a +dignified wave of her versatile white hand. "I know what people say," +she insisted. "Mr. Sanders tells me, and so does Randall, whose life was +saved by your mother; they tell me everything that is said about Uncle +Jonas. And I always tell him about it, but he doesn't seem to care; he +laughs as if it were a good joke, and declares that people have more +sense than he has been willing to credit them with. Really, I believe he +likes it, but it is not at all agreeable to me." + +Young Somers hardly knew what to say; he had heard old Jonas described +as the meanest man in twenty states, and the promoters of the railway +enterprise who had sent him to Shady Dale were not at all backward in +expressing their opinion of the man who was causing them so much +unnecessary trouble and delay. So he walked on in silence for awhile. +Then: "Speaking of my grandfather, I was just on the point of inquiring +about the old place, but when you made your appearance just now, +dropping out of the sky, I forgot all about it. I should like very much +to see the home where my mother was born, and where my grandfather was +born and died. I have heard my mother talk about Shady Dale and about +the old home-place ever since I could understand what she said. I +remember, when I was a child, that I had a queer idea that the town was +shaped like a bowl or saucer; all the good people that chanced to come +by stumbled and fell in, there to remain, and all the bad people crawled +over the rim and fell out; and I couldn't help having a feeling of +disappointment when I found that Shady Dale is very much like other +towns." + +"Now, don't say that!" protested Adelaide. "I have seen a great many +towns, but never one like this--not one as pretty." + +"Why, in North Carolina----" the young fellow began, but Adelaide +interrupted him with a laugh so genuine and unaffected that it was +delightful to hear. Yet, in spite of the fact that he enjoyed the +rippling sound, he felt his face turning red. "You think North Carolina +is a joke," he went on, "but you would be surprised to know what a great +state it is." + +"I was laughing at one of Mr. Sanders's jokes," said Adelaide, still +smiling. "Once there was a tobacco peddler came here driving a big +covered waggon. Mr. Sanders discovered he was from North Carolina, and +shook hands with him very cordially, and asked about a great many people +he never heard of. The tobacco man said they must have moved away, but +Mr. Sanders said he thought not, for the reason that the only three +North Carolinians he ever saw that were able to settle at the toll-gates +and ferries, made their way straight to Alabama, and formed a business +firm. He said the name of this firm was 'Tar, Pitch, and +Turkentime'--that's the way he pronounced the names. The tobacco man +didn't get angry; he laughed as loudly as anybody, and Uncle Jonas says +that was because he wasn't conceited." + +Here Adelaide paused; she had come to the house of the friend she +proposed to visit, and from the gate she pointed out the trees that grew +so abundantly on the Bowden place, and her attitude seemed to say to the +young man that should he get lost, he would be safe so long as she was +within calling distance. He had been used to more dignity and less charm +on the part of most of the young women he knew, and he rather preferred +the variety which he had now come in contact with for the first time. +And yet, when he came to the old homestead, where his grandfather lived +and died, and where his mother was born, he was attacked by none of the +emotions that would have seized upon the soul of his mother. He had been +educated in a different environment, and he was essentially modern in +his sense of the importance of business affairs. As he read the friendly +inscription on the tomb of his grandfather--the family burying-ground +being not far from the picturesquely simple old house--he was conscious +of a strong desire to know whether failure or success would crown his +negotiations with Mr. Jonas Whipple. + +The vagrant winds blew through the tops of trees more than two centuries +old, the house frowned grimly over the reminiscences of past +hospitality, and the whole scene appealed strongly to sentiments that +are now said not to be strictly scientific. But it must not be supposed +that the young man had no poetry in his soul, or that his nature was +free from emotions of a sentimental character. He lived entirely in the +present, and the past had no meaning for him save that which was coldly +historical. He found his inspiration in the rhythmical clatter and +cackle of intricate machinery; he was stirred by the interweaving and +interlacing business problems, and the whole movement, shape, and +pattern of huge commercial enterprises. + +Nor was this a misfortune. Being modern and practical, he was wholly +free from the entanglements and misconceptions of prejudices that had +outlived the issues that gave rise to them; and he went about his +business with a mind at once clear, clean, and cheerful, bearing the +signal of hope on his forehead. As he walked about the old place, it was +characteristic of him, that he should be seeking the solution of the +puzzle which Mr. Sanders had placed before him in the shape of a "royal +straight flush," but in a matter of this kind, his mathematics availing +him nothing: nor did it occur to him that the solution was to be found +somewhere in the region from which the nations of the world draw their +not over-abundant supplies of poetical metaphor. After an interval which +he deemed seemly and proper, he turned his steps in the direction whence +he had come. The street being straight as well as wide, afforded a fine +perspective of sun and shade, to say nothing of the sand. As he went on, +he walked more and more rapidly, so that he could have been accused of +fleeing from the ghosts of his ancestors; but the propelling influence +was the sight of Adelaide, who, having completed her morning call, was +emerging from the gate-way that led to the house of her friend. She was +for moving on, but seemed suddenly to remember about the young man. +Turning, she saw him coming, and waited, sauntering slowly, her mind +full of a swarm of thoughts that had been fighting for its possession +since she first saw him. + +"The sight of your mother's old home doesn't seem to have saddened you," +she remarked, as he came up. + +"No," he replied, "but that is because I have no refreshing memory of +the old place. All my ideas about it are second hand; and besides, it +seems to be a very cheerful place. I imagine that the soil round about +is still fertile." + +"I never thought of that," she answered; "but men are always more +practical than women. In your place, I should have searched over the old +homestead for the favourite walks of my grandfather; and I should have +known, before I came away, where my mother ran, and hid herself when her +feelings were hurt; and where she played with her dolls, and just how +she did when she was a little bit of a girl." + +The young man had an uneasy idea that Adelaide was poking fun at him, +but her face was so grave that he dismissed the idea, and it was then +that he felt himself stirred by a dim conception of the region in which +the thoughts of this beautiful young woman wandered and ranged. + +"What I was really thinking of all the time," he said, with a laugh that +somehow conveyed a regret that his thoughts were on a plane so much +lower than hers, "was how I shall prevail on your uncle to convey to the +railway company a right of way through his land. It means a great deal +to me." + +"Oh, _that_ is why you are here!" exclaimed Adelaide. "Well, I was +wondering." She regarded him very seriously for a moment and he felt +that he had fallen a notch in her estimation. "If you'll take my +advice," she said, "you will leave the whole affair to Randall." + +"But how can I? Randall is a negro. I'm sure I don't understand what you +mean!" His pride, his self-esteem, had been wounded to the very core, +and his face was very red. + +"Yes, leave it to Randall and Mr. Sanders," Adelaide replied, "and you'd +not lose anything if you could manage to introduce the ghost of your +grandfather." This was said airily, but it had far more meaning that +young Somers was able to read into it. + +"I never saw just such a place as this is," he remarked somewhat +petulantly, "where the people can only help you along by means of +riddles and parables and jokes. Mr. Sanders tells me to say nothing to +your uncle about the business on which I have been sent. And then he +says that I already have a royal straight flush in my hand. What am I to +infer from that?" + +Young Somers, without intending it, revealed the essential boyishness of +his nature, and Adelaide relished it immensely. "You are to infer just +what he intended you should," she declared. "The jokes of Mr. Sanders +mean a great deal more than another man's wisdom. You'll discover that +for yourself when you come to know him well." + +"But you can't do business by means of jokes," the young fellow +protested. + +"That's the way Mr. Sanders transacts his business," Adelaide responded, +"and he's a very prosperous man. As for your grandfather's ghost, Uncle +Jonas will raise it if you give him half an opportunity. You'll learn a +great deal from Mr. Sanders and Uncle Jonas if you stay here long +enough." The expression of her face was demureness itself, but the blue +eyes sparkled with humour. + +Now, young Somers was neither slow nor dull, but the peculiar atmosphere +he found at Shady Dale was something new in his experience, and he was +compelled to tunnel through it before he could clearly understand it. +His business training, as far as it had gone, and all his business +associations, had accustomed him to methods of procedure that were not +only direct, but blunt. He never went around obstacles but through or +over them. But he knew, after giving the matter some consideration, and +after discovering that the ordinary commercial and cold-blooded methods +would be useless here, that he would have to enter into the spirit of +the place. He was a very attractive young man when at his best, and he +made himself more attractive than ever by acquiring a quick sympathy for +the things that interested the sincere and simple people about him. + +He had several long talks with Mr. Sanders, during which he never once +mentioned business nor anything relating thereto. Instead, he seemed to +be very much interested in Adelaide and her personality, her nature and +individuality. On this subject Mr. Sanders was eloquent. He could +discourse on it for hours, and was only humorous when he wanted to make +people believe he was in earnest. He told Somers all about Cally-Lou, +and asked the young man what he thought about the child that was a +little more than make-believe, and yet remained on the very verge of +visibility. Now, the young man was very practical; circumstances had +made him so. His spirit had had so little exercise, his dreams remained +so persistently on the hither side of concrete things, he was so +completely invested with the cold and critical views that were the +result of his education, that his mind never ventured much beyond his +material interests, and he never tried to peep around the many corners +that life presents to a curious and sincere observer. Consequently, he +was all at sea, as the saying is, when Mr. Sanders told him about +Cally-Lou. He thought it was some form of a new joke, and he would have +had a hearty laugh had the old philosopher given him the wink. + +But the wink was not forthcoming. On the contrary, much to the young +man's surprise, Mr. Sanders appeared to be very serious. But the young +man was as frank as it is possible for a youngster to be. "I'll be +honest with you, Mr. Sanders," he said. "I don't know a thing about such +matters. If I were not in Shady Dale, where everything seems to be so +different, I would say at once that you are talking nonsense--that you +are trying to play some kind of a practical joke--but, as it is, I don't +know what to think." + +When the young man said that everything is different in Shady Dale, he +meant that Adelaide was different, and Mr. Sanders knew it; so he said, +"When you git so that you kin mighty nigh see Cally-Lou, you'll be wuth +lookin' at twice." + +Somers took this more seriously than he would have taken it twenty-four +hours previously--and he carried it to the tavern with him, and thought +it over a long time; and then, as if that were not sufficient, he +carried it to the Bowden place in the dusk of the evening, and worried +with it until he had no difficulty in discovering where his grandfather +had walked, and where his mother had hid herself when her feelings were +hurt, and where she had played with her dolls. + +The experience helped him in many ways, so much that when Adelaide saw +him only a few hours later she exclaimed, "Why, how well you are +looking! Our climate must be fine to make such a change in you." And Mr. +Sanders--"Well, well! ef you stay here long, you'll turn out to be a +purty nice lookin' chap. The home air is mighty good for folks, so I've +been told." And, somehow or other, without further explanation, the +young fellow knew what Mr. Sanders had meant by his talk about the +"royal straight flush." When he called on old Jonas, he went as the +grandson of Judge Bowden, and not as the agent of the promoter of the +new railway, and endeavoured to learn everything that the old man knew +about his grandfather. + +Mr. Sanders joined the two before they had been conversing very long, +and he was surprised, as well as pleased, to find how completely old +Jonas had thawed out. There was not a frown on his face, and, on +occasion, he laughed heartily over some incident that his memory drew +from the past. And, presently, Adelaide glided in from the innermost +recesses of the house, and sat near her uncle. She was a charming +addition, and a most interesting one, for she was able to remind old +Jonas of many things he had told her about the dead judge. Mr. Sanders, +not to be outdone, contributed some of his own reminiscences, so that +the evening became a sort of memorial of a good man who had long passed +away. + +When the visitors were going away, Adelaide accompanied them to the +door, and went with them on the veranda. Before Mr. Sanders could say +good-bye, she caught him by his sleeve--"Do you remember what I told you +the other day? Well, she has returned." + +"What did she say?" he inquired, his finger on his chin. Adelaide +blushed, but no one could see her embarrassment. "Why, she says that +everything looks a great deal better by lamplight." + +Young Somers heard the conversation, but kept on moving away. "Did you +hear that?" inquired Mr. Sanders, as he overtook the other. "She was +talking about Cally-Lou. It seems she run away the day you showed your +face here, and now she's come back." And further than that, the Sage of +Shady Dale said not a word. But the next day, he met the young fellow on +the street, and gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. "You showed +up purty strong, sonny; an' now that you've diskiver'd for yourself that +thar's a whole lot of ingineerin' that's nuther civil nor mechanical, +an' that aint got a thing in the world to do wi' figgers, you'll manage +to git along ruther better than you thought--in fact, mighty nigh +fustrate. + +"But don't fergit Cally-Lou!" + +And the young fellow did get along first-rate in more ways than one. The +railroad was allowed to run right through old Jonas's land, and when it +was completed there was nothing to do but to celebrate the event by a +marriage, in which the young man was aided and abetted by Adelaide. Then +when everything had settled down, he took hold of Randall's water-power +and furnished lights for the town, and power for two or three mills in +which Mr. Sanders was interested. I think this is all, but if you are in +doubt about it, and want to find out something more, just enclose a +stamp to William H. Sanders, Esq., Shady Dale, Georgia. + + + + +By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS + + + Uncle Remus--His Songs and His Sayings + Nights with Uncle Remus + Uncle Remus and His Friends + Mingo + Little Mr. Thimblefinger + On the Plantation + Daddy Jake, the Runaway + Balaam and His Master + Mr. Rabbit at Home + The Story of Aaron + Sister Jane + Free Joe + Stories of Georgia + Aaron in the Wild Woods + Tales of the Home Folks + Georgia, from the Invasion of De Soto to Recent Times + Evening Tales + Stories of Home Folks + Chronicles of Aunt Minerva Ann + On the Wing of Occasions + The Making of a Statesman + Gabriel Tolliver + Wally Wanderoon + A Little Union Scout + The Tar Baby Story and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus + Told by Uncle Remus + The Yankee Hater, etc. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BISHOP AND THE BOOGERMAN*** + + +******* This file should be named 36370.txt or 36370.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/3/7/36370 + + + +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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