MR. FORTNER S 
 
 r&R 
 
GIFT OF 
 
 tv 
 
t w 
 
, tfortner s 
 Marital Claims 
 
 AND OTHER STORIES 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD MALCOLM JOHNSTON 
 
 AUTHOR OF DUKESBOROUGH TALES 
 THE PRIMES AND THEIR NEIGHBORS, WIDOW GUTHRIE, ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 1892 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1892, 
 BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
 
 PR&JTSB AT T^tf/ , , c r r / 
 APPLETON PRESS, U. S. A. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 OF the stories in this volume " Mr. 
 Fortner s Marital Claims" now appears 
 for the first time. " Old Gus Lawson " 
 was printed in the Century, " A Moccasin 
 among the Hobbys " in Lippincotf s, and 
 " Mr. Joel Bozzle " in Dixie, 
 
 R. M. J. 
 Baltimore, MiL, July 75, 1892. 
 
 438935 
 
OBJD 
 
 Ax Am*xi* cr MK- Jon. Boozu. 125 
 
 .-.-". -::-- - 
 
 A ScxiESt TTU/ Mi. TMir*KS BTEK^. - : 
 
Mr. Fortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE Fortners, long before I was born, 
 had been living where they were 
 when there occurred the incidents de 
 scribed in this story. It was two miles 
 above the village of Dukesborough. 
 The grove of lofty red-oaks and chestnuts 
 made the square two-story mansion behind 
 it seem low, and the latter would have 
 presented a better appearance from the 
 public road, two hundred yards distant, 
 but for the lapse of years since it had been 
 painted. Yet things inside and all about 
 the yard were clean and tidy, and in the 
 garden farther behind were some rose 
 bushes, pinks, jonquils, and any quantity 
 of box. Mrs. Fortner (Mirny Pugely that 
 was) born, brought up, courted, married, 
 
2 .flfor. 3Fortner s dRarital Claims, 
 
 and ever continuing to dwell there, had 
 often complained and gotten some indefin 
 ite promises about at least one new coat 
 for the house and one of whitewash for 
 the palings; but there they stood just as 
 they had been standing for nearly fifty 
 years. 
 
 The head of the family, from his very 
 youngest manhood, had been tall, slen 
 der, dark, and religious. The wife, of 
 medium figure, slight in her youth, had 
 now a little rotundity, owing, others said, 
 to the good living she had always had, 
 but more, she contended although smil 
 ing the while, to the work and the anxie 
 ties, and the other like things which had 
 been her lot in this troublesome world. 
 Many children had been born to them, 
 some of whom had died, and the others, 
 except Martha and Mary, the youngest 
 two, had married reasonably well and 
 settled not very far away. Martha, tall 
 like her father with somewhat of his se 
 riousness, and Mary, more like the moth 
 er, were both old enough to marry; but 
 one thing and another had delayed them. 
 
/Ifcr. ffortner Marital Claims, 3 
 
 Not the want of beaux ; for they were 
 handsome, neat, and industrious. But it 
 required a good many things to make 
 a matter of that sort seem to fit satisfac 
 torily all around. Martha, now twenty- 
 three, had no fears of being called an 
 old maid two or three years later on, and 
 Mary, nineteen, merry-hearted, rosy, and 
 round, behaved as if she regarded herself, 
 and expected to regard herself always, 
 as nothing but a girl. Both knew well 
 enough that they needed to be in no great 
 haste; for, after providing for their 
 elders there would be enough of land 
 and negroes left for them whenever 
 it should be time. Besides, they were 
 not the sort of girls who think they 
 must surely be disgraced if not mar 
 ried by the time they are grown, or im 
 mediately thereafter. True, Martha for 
 two years had been having her preference 
 among the young men who came to the 
 house, but nothing definite had come of 
 it yet. She waited to see what time 
 would do; and if it should appear that 
 time would do nothing, then she would 
 
4 dfcr, ffortner s flfcarttal Claims. 
 
 consider if anything could be done with 
 out it. 
 
 Received into the church when so 
 young that his" experience" had, in some 
 portions of it, to be told by his parents 
 and other friends, Jeremiah Fortner, the 
 older he grew, brought forth more and 
 more of the fruits which such early bud 
 ding had promised. Such was people s 
 respect even when he was a child, that his 
 Christian name was never shortened to 
 Jerry, but instead was softened to Jay- 
 miah. My recollection is that the re 
 cords showed that when he was made 
 one of the deacons, he had only just 
 passed his twenty-fifth year. Miss 
 Pugely was of Methodist people; but 
 she had made no delay in yielding what 
 ever opposing theological sentiments 
 she may have believed herself to have 
 on the day when she made up her 
 mind to say "yes" to Jaymiah Fortner s 
 offer to make her his wife that change 
 being one of the conditions which she 
 had to consider; and she made as good a 
 Baptist as any who had been born so in 
 
/tor. tfortner s Marital Claims. 5 
 
 that whole congregation. As for her hus 
 band, there were some persons, in time 
 counting in himself, who almost be 
 lieved that, if every other pillar in that 
 church were to give way, whether from 
 too much sap or from dry-rot, or any other 
 cause, Jaymiah Fortner alone could keep 
 the tottering frame from falling. They 
 used to tell an anecdote, which, although 
 it may have not much to do with this 
 story, I will relate just to show how con 
 scientious he felt himself bound to be 
 in his high official position. One 
 Saturday morning not very long after his 
 elevation to the diaconate, he was ob 
 served to limp somewhat and to be pro 
 foundly dejected all during the forenoon 
 service in the meeting-house, and he was 
 no better in the fore part of the 
 afternoon conference. This was the 
 title of the gathering at which used to 
 be settled businesses of many kinds, 
 denominational, social, and domestic. 
 When such affairs as were then on hand, 
 after the usual prolonged discussion, had 
 been disposed of in ways, some expect- 
 
6 dfcr. tfortner Marital Claims. 
 
 ed, others quite the contrary, and when, 
 adjournment, which the young people 
 as usual, were longing for, seemed to be 
 at hand, the young deacon rose, and with 
 a multitude of words brought an accu 
 sation against himself which he ended 
 with an humble asking of forgiveness 
 from the brethren and sisters. The gist 
 of the self-accusing was the great anger 
 indulged by himself against his old mare 
 Puss, for some of her behavior that very 
 morning while on their way to the meet 
 ing. When he had gotten far on in the 
 narration, he said in humble partial jus 
 tification: 
 
 "And it wern t I got so pow ful mad 
 at her a-stumblin and a-fallin down 
 sprawlin , a-comin down Crowder s Hill, 
 because it were rocky, and she were ten 
 der-footed, and I weren t a holdin the 
 reins tight, it bein I were studdin on 
 my juties as a deakin and not on old 
 Puss a-fallin . Nor I never blamed her, 
 as she were obleeged to fall, for fallin 
 on top o one o my laigs; because I 
 were obleeged to know that nobody, 
 
flfcr, jfortner s dfcarital Claims, 7 
 
 nother animal ner folks is expected, when 
 they goin to fall, to stop and think and 
 pick out how they re goin to do it, and 
 what on, and what not on. I m thankful 
 in my heart I were not that onreason ble 
 with any dumb creatur. But and thar 
 the shoe pinch what made me so bilin 
 mad, after she fell on my laig, she 
 wouldn t git off, a notishstandin my hol- 
 lerin at her at the top o all my woices, 
 because it hurt pow ful bad, my laig did, 
 and I jes had to holler and punch her in 
 the side, and jerk her with the bridle, 
 and kick with what purchase I had with 
 my other laig, and cuff her on the head tell 
 I mighty nigh sprained my hand. And, 
 tell finil, I jes had to gouge her eyes 
 mighty nigh out before she d move one 
 single blessed peg to let me pull out my 
 laig, which I m thankful it didn t git 
 broke and squeushed complete. And it 
 were right thar, brer Mod rator, that 
 come in the whole sin and wickedness of 
 the whole sitiation. And it ain t that I 
 actuil said the words. I m thankful I 
 had grace enough left to keep from sayin 
 
flfcr, ffortner s Marital Claims, 
 
 em, but as I lay thar a-gougin o the 
 mar, I thought to myself, Damn your 
 eyes! and it s for the thoughts o them 
 words, and that a deakin o this church, 
 I ask for the brothers and sisters for 
 giveness." 
 
 They gave it freely, and the penitent 
 showed his gratitude by continual growth 
 in fitness for his position. 
 
 Of all the members Mrs. Fortner was 
 least hearty in felicitating. Busied with 
 household duties, she, riding Little Puss, 
 a colt of the mare, had come on later. 
 Now Old Puss was with her quite a fa 
 vorite, having descended from a dam 
 come from her father s estate, and being 
 destined to transmit her name and virtues 
 through many generations yet to come. 
 When late that evening they had got 
 ten quite out of town, Mrs. Fortner, 
 after looking far behind to see if any 
 others were in hearing, said: 
 
 " Jaymiah Fortner, I think you went 
 ruther t other side of what you was called 
 on this evenin by you a-gitting up and 
 a-making of me a ruther ashamed of my- 
 
flftr. 3fortner 6 Marital Claims. 9 
 
 self by your long languages about Old 
 Puss a-falling on top o your laig, and 
 you a mighty nigh went to the length of 
 cussing her while you was a-gouging of 
 her eye, which it now look red and 
 watery like it was fit to go thes out. 
 What seem to me you ought to told, ef 
 you must git up and tell something, it 
 were that no longer than day before yis- 
 terday I told you that mar was tender- 
 footed and she oughtn t to be rode till 
 she were shod. And my opinion is you d 
 a done better to ve done as I told you, 
 than to have to git up after the other 
 business was through with and keep the 
 confence from breaking up in some sort 
 of time for people that s had no dinner 
 excepting of a cold snack to get out in 
 time to have got leastways a decent sup 
 per, and which it do seem to me a most 
 scan lous the lenth of time is took up 
 at them Sat day meetings with things 
 that some of em have got seem to me 
 they ve no business there; and as for 
 
 your cussing o Old Puss eye " 
 
 But at that moment she spoke sharply 
 
10 /tor. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 to her nag, who loped on ahead, and feel 
 ing that the words would not be quite 
 proper to be spoken aloud even by one 
 as hungry and as much hurt as she was, 
 she only soliloquized: 
 
 " If any cussing had to be done betwixt 
 you and Old Puss it seem like to me Old 
 Puss, if she had a mouth for cussing, she 
 were the one to do it." 
 
 Housewives, some as good as the sun 
 ever shone upon, must occasionally com 
 plain of those meetings whose sessions, 
 seldom needing more than a few minutes 
 for the dispatch of necessary business, 
 were protracted sometimes hours in order 
 to let people like Mr. Fortnertake off the 
 last feather of what burthens were on 
 their minds, or exhibit their powers in 
 counsel and debate at these, their only 
 opportunities. Mr. Fortner had a pleas 
 ant compassion for these harmless fret- 
 tings and like drawbacks to the high 
 felicity of being his wife, but sweeter 
 far on this evening was the retrospect of 
 the victory which he had gotten over 
 himself and men s ooinions. More elate 
 
/tor. ^former s /llbarftal Claims, n 
 
 could hardly be the thoughts of one who 
 both ruleth his spirit and taketh a city. 
 
 Yet, plain as this talk was, nothing 
 was behind or beneath it to mar a con 
 jugal life which had been and was to con 
 tinue to be happy, with one brief inter 
 val, for very many years to come. Mr. 
 Fortner was of all men in that community 
 the most pronounced adherent of the sen 
 timent of St. Paul the apostle concerning 
 marital authority. His wife, submitting 
 like other good women, never raised an 
 issue except when she honestly believed 
 such authority to be strained beyond 
 what was fair. For near half a century 
 they had never had an out-and-out 
 quarrel. Mrs. Fortner s views of matters 
 and things in general, as she frequently 
 said with mild firmness, were her own, 
 and attempt was never made to hinder 
 her in giving expression to them. Her 
 very distinct individuality she could not 
 have suppressed if she had tried ever so 
 hard, and if her husband had been put up 
 on his oath perhaps not otherwise he 
 must have admitted that on many even im- 
 2 
 
12 flfcr. 3fortner 6 flfcarftal Claims, 
 
 portant occasions when their judgments 
 had conflicted, results had showed hers to 
 be nearer the truth. Indeed, their con 
 tests for domestic supremacy had been 
 fewer and smaller, because often he had 
 thought that he was leading when in fact 
 he was being led by both an understand 
 ing and a discretion superior to his own. 
 Yet now that he had grown old his virtues 
 seemed to have become more hard and 
 his consciousness of general superiority 
 more pronounced. Occasionally, When in 
 the society of old or elderly married 
 men, he gave more pointed expression to 
 thoughts which were foremost in his mind. 
 "I m thankful to the good Lord for 
 two things; and the first one of em is 
 him a-makin me a man stead of a 
 woman, and second, him a-lettin me 
 be a Babtis stead of a Meth dis . Be 
 cause, if I had a accident been a woman, 
 a person with the head I ve got, they 
 would been danger of my bein ruther 
 obstinater than the Postle Paul allow 
 women to be; and if I d been a Meth 
 dis , it make me a most trimble to think 
 
Mr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 13 
 
 what a scatterin I d a made o wrong 
 doctring. Yit, they weren t nigh the 
 danger o that as of the t other. Because 
 I had the Scriptur before me to go by 
 soon as I learnt to read, which I done 
 when I were nine year old, and I knewed 
 even then I were right, same as I do 
 now. But I suppose it ain t give to 
 everybody to always see their way per 
 fect cler. Now my wife, Mirny Pugely 
 as was, as you all know, were,Meth dis 
 when she were a girl ; but when I made 
 a dead set at her with my argyments o 
 one kind and another, she couldn t no 
 more stand up before em than so much 
 stubble could stand up before a light d 
 knot afire. She have a right good, 
 strong, hearty will of her own, she do at 
 times; but in genii, and special when I 
 cote the Tostle Paul on her, she know 
 how to other moderate down or else drop 
 the subject; and I ll say it, that in the 
 long run she have made about as good, 
 faithful, reason ble companion as the 
 common run of women anywheres, I don t 
 keer where you go to look for em." 
 
14 flfcr. 3fortner Marital Claims. 
 
 Yet not very far away was the time 
 when he was to deem it needful for entire 
 security in his domestic rule to invoke 
 outside help. In the State of Georgia at 
 that period (fifty years ago), the common 
 law of England in the matter of marital 
 rights obtained, with the addition of stat 
 utory enactments giving to the husband 
 absolute ownership of all the wife s prop 
 erty real and personal. Married women, 
 as a rule, particularly in rural commu 
 nities, acquiesced without complaint in 
 conditions which their own fathers and 
 other nearest male friends almost with 
 out exception approved, and there was as 
 much domestic happiness as elsewhere. 
 Marriage settlements were very rare, 
 separations more so, and applications for 
 divorce were never heard of. Yet in the 
 old age of Mrs. Fortner, when she was 
 required to make a sacrifice which seemed 
 unconscionably exacting, she felt that she 
 had the right to offer resistance. 
 
/tor. tfortner s /iBarftal Claims. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 nearest neighbors of the Fort- 
 1 ners, as you went farther up the 
 road, were the Hollys, whose family 
 consisted of widow, her son Jack, and 
 daughter Susan. Their dwelling was a 
 story and a half house, on the roadside, 
 with no grove except four or five white 
 oaks, backed by a plantation not as large 
 as the Fortners , but with ground fully 
 as good and more fresh, the tending of 
 which by Jack with their moderate negro 
 force produced all that the family needed, 
 and more too. What the thoughts of 
 Jack, now twenty-five, were, and what for 
 some time past they had been about the 
 Fortner girls, nobody knew as well as he 
 himself and Martha. His mother (and 
 it seemed to him rather unfortunate) was 
 a Methodist, and one about as strong as 
 they generally make the stronger per 
 haps because that denomination in the 
 community was in a woeful minority. 
 
16 dfcr, jfortner s flRarttal Claims* 
 
 Jack, a loyal, brave fellow as you could 
 find anywhere, sometimes said: 
 
 "As for me, I don t take much stock 
 in church business of any sort not, I 
 know, as much as everybody ought; but 
 as ma belongs to that party, and spe 
 cially as it s so weak around and about 
 here, whatever s in me that can be count 
 ed at all on that line, I m with ma; of 
 course without I get converted and then 
 get convinced that Methodist ain t as 
 ginuine a article as any of em a-going. 
 I m not a going to promise nobody, like 
 Josh Farmer had to promise Mr. Fortner 
 before he could get his daughter and 
 afterward make the half-and-half Bab- 
 tist he does. No, not me!" 
 
 The more courageous he was, the more 
 surely he engaged Martha s affections; 
 yet she had not quite answered "yes" to 
 the most interesting question which he 
 ever had put to her, although she had 
 intimated several times that, but for her 
 prevision of her father s opposition, she 
 might have done so some time ago. She 
 thought it was due to Jack to say in ad- 
 
dlbr. ffortner s dfcarftal Claims. 17 
 
 dition that she was and expected to con 
 tinue to be hoping for the best; but if in 
 time, in good time that is, in reasonable 
 time she should be convinced that hop 
 ing for the best should have no other 
 result than increasing prejudices and 
 protracting disappointments, there was 
 no telling what she would do. And so 
 Jack waited, not having much confidence 
 that this hoping for the best was going 
 to do any very great things, but looking 
 to what was to happen when it should 
 prove to be a dead failure. 
 
 "A excellent woman Missis Holly is," 
 Mr. Fortner often said to his wife ; " a un 
 common, excellent woman. One o the 
 excellen st it have been my lot to ever 
 knew, that her equil, exception of you, 
 in the waitin on and the settin up with 
 the sick, and the layin* out o the dead, 
 it is yit for me to git a-quainted with. 
 It do seem like pity she won t read and 
 study to her satisfaction the writin s o 
 the Postle Paul, where he tell about in 
 Romans about princ pal ties, and powers, 
 and everything else that tries and can t 
 
18 flfcr, ffortner s Marital Claims, 
 
 sip rate; and then, if she d set down and 
 read keerful about them a-babtizin in 
 Enon, because they were much water 
 there, it do seem like to me a honest 
 person like her would be obleged to give 
 in. Now there s Susan, sweet as a pink 
 and juicy as a peach; and there s Jack, 
 that they aint a industrouser ner a judg- 
 maticler farmer in this whole settlement 
 of people; but they both of em has to 
 be hilt back in jes that kind o style, 
 that, to my opinion, nother of em have 
 read the Scriptur fur theirself, but think 
 they must go with their ma thick and 
 thin, snolus-bolus,* which it all go to 
 show what prejudice is and that it ll go 
 from gin ration to gin ration." 
 
 "Laws! Mr. Fortner," she sometimes 
 answered in weary indifference, " of course 
 it s all from the way people is raised." 
 
 " Of course, my dear, which it make 
 the case that much pitifuller. Well, my 
 hopes about the Hollys is that they ll 
 come in after a while, like the lev nth 
 
 * If Mr. Fortner had been a Latin scholar., instead of these 
 words he would have said " nolens, volens? 
 
d&r, ffortner s Marital Claims, 19 
 
 hour people spoke of in Scriptur , but 
 which sech people always can t help from 
 knowin they re paid more than their 
 work s worth, which if it wer n t in the 
 very word o Scriptur , I couldn t never 
 see the jestice of sech a settlement to 
 them that s been a-workin in the win - 
 yard a constant." 
 
 "Yes, I suppose. Maybe, it s all so. 
 No doubt about Jack and Susan being 
 nice young people, certain." 
 
 " They know nothin about their Meth - 
 dis doctring, what they is in it, and keer 
 nothin about it, and, to my opinion, 
 twern t for that wide-mouth preacher 
 Woody, they could be converted easy in 
 no time; and if brer Wheelright wern t 
 so mealy-mouth, they ain t no tellin 
 what couldn t be done with the whole of 
 em. I wish in my soul he were half as 
 strenious as Fortner Glaze." 
 
 "Umph!" said his wife, and it was all 
 she did say. 
 
 Susan Holly was indeed a fine girl with 
 her little figure, light complexion, blue 
 eyes, with manner and everything else to 
 
20 fl&r. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 match. She was about as much Method 
 ist as the Fortner girls were Baptist; and 
 these, especially Mary, had almost as much 
 fun as she did with the Rev. Elias Woody, 
 who was circuit-rider that year, and who 
 was wont to stop more often than seemed 
 worth while, considering the smallnessof 
 the flock that gathered at the poor little 
 meeting-house at the other end of the 
 village, and spend one night and maybe 
 another at the Hollys . He was about 
 six-and-twenty, quite above medium 
 height, strong, bushy-haired, ruddy, ex 
 uberant in health, abounding in cheer, 
 and as handsome as he was enter 
 taining. He had rather more cult 
 ure than the average among the rural 
 clergy, and his full share of the faculty 
 of speaking with effect in public. More 
 cultured and more serious was the Rev. 
 Isaac Wheelright, of about his age, and 
 not unlike him in appearance, who, 
 on the demise of old Mr. Swinney, 
 had been called, over the vote of Mr. 
 Fortner and a few others, to the pastorate 
 of the Baptist church. 
 
jflfor, ffortner s /IBarftal Claims. 21 
 
 " I didn t vote for you, brer Wheel- 
 right," Mr. Fortner thought he ought to 
 say, when the young man came to his 
 charge, "but it were because I were 
 afeared you was too young for the busi 
 ness. Yit, I never made a streenious 
 opposition, a- memberin that Timothy, 
 young as he were, it never hendered him 
 from a-bein a power, and even a favorite 
 with the Tostle Paul." 
 
 " I thank you, brother Fortner, for 
 your sincere words," he answered; "I 
 mean with the help of your prayers and 
 of the rest to do the best I can." 
 
 Yet the old gentleman rather resented 
 the action of the majority, and he was 
 somewhat proud when some of his pre 
 dictions seemed, at Wheelright s very 
 first sermon, to promise fulfilment. The 
 discourse met with little favor from him, 
 but it was well received by the congrega 
 tion, including the few Methodists who 
 were present. Maintaining firmest adhe 
 rence to the tenets of his own faith, yet he 
 expressed entire respect and Christian 
 brotherly love for those who conscien- 
 
22 dfcr. 3fortner 6 Marital Claims. 
 
 tiously held to a different. After the ser 
 vice was over, Mrs. Holly said to Mrs. 
 Fortner: 
 
 " I want to get acquainted with that 
 young man. I don t know when I ve 
 listened to better Gospel preaching that 
 went straight into my very feelings." 
 
 "That you shall." 
 
 When the preacher, shaking hands all 
 around as he came, had gotten where 
 they were standing under an oak, all the 
 Hollys were introduced to him. 
 
 "They re Meth dis , brer Wheelright; 
 but they re our neighbors, and better 
 friends and honester people nobody ever 
 ought to want to live by. The being 
 of Meth dis, hain t hendered their being 
 both that nor them." 
 
 " They re the main things at last, sister 
 Fortner. I am glad to make your ac 
 quaintance, sister Holly, and your chil 
 dren s." 
 
 Then he passed on to others. 
 
 " I thes knewed from that sermon he 
 were a good man," said Mrs. Holly when 
 they were on the way home. " Old Mr. 
 
flfor. tfortner s jflfcarftal Claims. 23 
 
 Swinney, poor old man, he s dead and 
 gone, but he never could preach such a 
 sermon as that to save his life, and he 
 never said sister to me one single time 
 in the thirty year I knewed him." 
 
 "You think he s as handsome as Mr. 
 Woody, brother?" asked Susan; "I de 
 clare he s certainly like him." 
 
 "There it is," said the mother; "I 
 bound for girls looking out for hand 
 some, as they call it these days." 
 
 " I mean handsome for a for a preach 
 er, of course, ma." 
 
 "Oh, yes of course, of course! But 
 you know you meant no such thing. 
 Now as for me, I weren t thinking about 
 any handsome. What my mind was on 
 as he stood up there, and every bit as 
 good-looking as brother Woody, was the 
 good solemn word she said, special about 
 them that ain t all of his way of thinking, 
 that some of their preachers don t do like 
 poor old Mr. Swinney, which he s dead and 
 gone; but it looks like he ihes couldn t open 
 his mouth in the pulpit without dragging 
 we poor Methodists over the coals." 
 
24 /for. ffortner /Iftarital Claims. 
 
 " Like our preachers do with the Bab- 
 tists eh, Susie?" said Jack. 
 
 " Our preachers," insisted the mother, 
 " never do such a thing except where they 
 deserve it for their close communion, and 
 their predestinism, and such things as the 
 Scriptur is perfect plain aginst. Yes, 
 Susan, I think he s every bit and grain 
 good-looking as brer Woody; for his hair 
 is curlier, and his eyes another sort 
 milder, and a beautifuller hand and 
 mouth I wouldn t wish to see. Yes 
 well, you two may laugh; but my eyes 
 can see well as anybody s; and what s 
 more, my ears can hear, which yours 
 don t seem to did, Susan!" 
 
 And so they went on all the way home. 
 
 The Fortner Glaze aforementioned was 
 a fifth or sixth cousin, living beyond the 
 Oconee River, who had been coming over 
 occasionally to see his kin, and who at 
 his last visit had intimated to Martha 
 that, if she felt like it, she could get him 
 for a husband. Martha answered nothing, 
 and he decided that the way was clear, 
 He was a stout, darkish, confident, im- 
 
dfcr, ^former s Marital Claim0. 25 
 
 mensely voluble young man, particularly 
 when talking about John the Baptist and 
 the Jordan River. He was not a member 
 of the church, because, as he informed 
 them all, he was waiting to settle him 
 self, as all at home were anxious for him 
 to do. His fiery discoursings upon Bap 
 tist doctrines, from the largest to the 
 smallest, commended him to Mr. Fortner, 
 who, being told that his father was of 
 respectable means, was well disposed 
 toward the idea of having him for a 
 son-in-law. Glaze, upon taking leave 
 the last time, had informed him of 
 what he had said to Martha, and the 
 nod which he received was satisfac 
 tory. The rest of the family after his 
 long visits felt relief at his departure. 
 Treating him with all of the respect due 
 to a guest and kinsman, yet they grew 
 tired *of his ceaseless talkings and his 
 boundless conceit. 
 
 "I do think," said the mother, when 
 last he had gone away, " that he s the 
 fullest of himself and John the Babtis as 
 a water milion is of meat, and when him 
 
26 jlfcr, jjFortnet s /Ifcarital Claims, 
 
 and your pa git on the Postle Paul, it 
 actuil make me want to get up and go off 
 some where and and well, at such a 
 time a body can t tell what they do want 
 except to git away from sech everlastin 
 ding-dongin ." 
 
 "I m sorry he s any kin to us, myself," 
 said Mary. "If he d been the gentleman 
 he lays such great claim to, he d have 
 not joined in so quick with pa s com 
 plaining of Mr. Wheelright; and as for 
 what he said about Mr. Woody, that was 
 scandalous." 
 
 "Of course it was," said Martha; "I 
 don t believe a word of it." 
 
 "Well, my daughters," said Mrs. Fort- 
 ner, " such people gets to the end of their 
 row in time. Come, go to your sewing. 
 Your cousin Glaze have put back work. 
 By-dy, my cousin Glaze," she said 
 slowly, with mock affectionateness, look 
 ing toward the gate as the parting guest 
 was shaking Mr. Fortner s hand. 
 
 Then they laughingly dispersed to get 
 to their work. 
 
, tfortner s jflbarital Claims. 27 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 JUST as Mr. Fortner had foretold, a 
 friendship, soon amounting to in 
 timacy, grew up between the two young 
 preachers, upon which the aged deacon 
 looked with feeling not very far on this 
 side of disgust. If Wheelright had be 
 gun his pastorate with a vigorous attack 
 upon the Methodists, he might have 
 been a reasonably acceptable son-in- 
 law, notwithstanding the fact that he 
 had no property of any sort besides his 
 profession. For in that relation, Mr. 
 Fortner might hope to control him as he 
 had controlled the late Mr. Swinney. Not 
 a single conversion from Methodism had 
 been made by that zealous partisan; yet 
 it was a satisfaction to recall his passion 
 ate admonitions and the scorching chas 
 tisements inflicted upon the reprobates 
 who had refused to give heed. But the 
 idea that a stripling of a pastor, pretend 
 ing to have ahead of his own, should be 
 come a member of his family, and then, 
 
28 /iBr. ffortner s dfcarftal Claims. 
 
 while uncontrollable in the pulpit, have 
 to depend upon him to make up what 
 would be necessary for family support 
 over and above the poor stipend paid by 
 the congregation, was not pleasant to 
 think about. Then his mind, captivated 
 by the partisanism of Glaze and what he 
 had said about his father s properties, 
 had already consented to a match be 
 tween him and Martha. But one day, 
 happening to overhear his wife and 
 daughters talking contemptuously about 
 this cousin, he became angry, the more 
 so because he kept the feeling to himself. 
 His love for his wife was the strongest 
 feeling in his being. Yet he had never 
 quite found this out, because of his fail 
 ure to subdue her will entirely beneath 
 his own. *Grown old, his judgment be 
 come impaired, like many others in such 
 condition, he deemed it important to 
 continue, and with yet more asperity, a 
 struggle which although it had never 
 led to actual quarrelling, had result 
 ed in defeats that in the increasing 
 decline of his vigor became harder to 
 
.flfcr. ffortner Marital Claims 29 
 
 endure. And so it was that being not 
 well pleased with the frequent visits of 
 Wheelright to the house, he fell into a 
 habit, after some chatting upon indiffer 
 ent themes, of leaving him with the girls 
 and going off by himself to ponder what 
 was best to be done. In the unconcealed 
 disgust of his family for Glaze, he im 
 agined a defiance of his authority and 
 disregard of his feelings, and, for the first 
 time in all his married life, he conceived 
 toward them a sense of resentment. It 
 might have been better if he had spoken 
 it out; but it was too painful for that. 
 Then, if it should fail of the desired re 
 sults, things would be worse than now. 
 Affectionate as before in words and de 
 portment, attentive to his every want, 
 Mrs. Fortner, conscious of greater need 
 of firmness than ever before, foresaw a 
 crisis and took all pains to be prepared 
 for it. She said to her daughters: 
 
 "You girls be particular to never dis 
 pute with your pa, not for one single 
 word, no matter what he say, even if he 
 call a day a Chuesday when you know it s 
 
30 /tor. jfortnet s jflfcarital Claims, 
 
 a Wensday. Jest say yes, sir, and c no, 
 sir, to everything he say aginst Mr. 
 Woody and fer that Fortner Glaze, a 
 including of them insiniations aginst 
 brother Wheelright. It s a-going to take 
 the levellest best of me and me only to 
 paddle this canoe, and it ll only bother 
 for you to put in. Remember what I tell 
 you, to let it be jest yes, sir, and no, 
 sir, with your pa." 
 
 Several weeks passed before the next 
 visit of Glaze. In this time the girls 
 and the young men met quite frequently, 
 and there was a good understanding all 
 around. In a community simple and up 
 right like that, any scandal of the sort 
 which Mary had referred to lately must 
 soon become generally known. Wheel- 
 right openly expressed his disbelief in its 
 truth, and Jack as openly denounced it 
 as a slander. The tale was that during 
 the previous year, while Woody was on 
 his first riding in Putnam County, of 
 which both he and Glaze were natives, in 
 one of his tirades against the Baptists, 
 he had said that in the sacrament of bap- 
 
/tor. ffortner s /ifcarital Claims. 31 
 
 tism, over which that sect made so great 
 ado, sand would be as efficacious as 
 water, and that when the words were 
 charged upon him he had denied them 
 with an oath. On a late visit across the 
 Oconee, Woody heard of the report, 
 which had been traced to Glaze, and he 
 made up his mind straightway what he 
 would do. Mr. Fortner was delighted 
 with the horror he felt at the awful news, 
 but was intensely irritated that neither 
 Wheelright nor anyone of his own family 
 credited it after he had declared his en 
 tire belief in its truth. Yet, as before, 
 he kept his resentment within his own 
 breast where it was nursed with assi 
 duity. 
 
 It so happened that on the afternoon of 
 Glaze s arrival, Woody, Jack, and Susan 
 came to the Fortners. At the introduc 
 tion to Glaze, Woody said: 
 
 " I know Mr. Glaze very well by sight. 
 Indeed, I was introduced to him last year 
 at the Putnam camp-meeting." 
 
 "Possibly so, sir," said Glaze. "I ve 
 been made acquainted with a good many 
 
32 flfcr. 3fortner f /Marital Claims. 
 
 people. Some of em may ve slipped my 
 ric lection. I remember I did go to that 
 camp-meeting one day just for curiosity 
 to see how they carried on." Then, 
 glancing toward Mr. Fortner, he contin 
 ued: "I m told you re very strong on 
 fallin from grace." 
 
 " Oh, yes, oh, yes," was the cheerful 
 answer, " especially when a man has 
 never had it." 
 
 Then he turned and began laughing 
 and talking with the girls. 
 
 "Now as for things like them," said 
 Mrs. Fortner calmly, her teeth nearly 
 closed, "my opinion is the pulpit s the 
 place for them, if they is any." 
 
 Mr. Fortner and his cousin rose im 
 mediately to retire. As the latter was 
 leaving, Woody said to him: 
 
 "You ll be here for some time, won t 
 you, Mr. Glaze?" 
 
 " Can t say, sir. May or may not; de 
 pend on circumstances;" then he went 
 on out. 
 
 The man s coming, this incident, and 
 the sight of its effect upon those present 
 
dfcr, ffortner s Marital Claims, 33 
 
 served to exasperate Mr. Fortner yet 
 more. In imagination he saw Wheelright 
 become Methodist, and, with Jack Holly 
 weaning his remaining daughters from 
 filial affections and obligations, and, 
 what was yet more appalling, from the 
 religious faith which was the only means 
 of escape from death eternal. He went 
 to bed with the resolution to go next 
 morning into the village and take coun 
 sel with some of the older brethren whom 
 he might meet there. 
 
 That same night, after Mrs. Holly and 
 Susan had retired, Woody said to Jack : 
 
 Perhaps it wasn t exactly right to 
 feel so; but I was delighted when that 
 fellow attacked me this evening, because 
 it showed both his bad manners and his 
 aggressive spirit. But I tell you now, 
 Jack Holly, that my fingers itched to 
 get hold of his throat. I rather think I 
 did give the damned lie to his slander. 
 At all events I thought it, as I ve heard 
 tell about a confession of Mr. Fortner on 
 a certain trying occasion. I m much 
 obliged to you for having confidence 
 
34 /ifcr, jfortner 6 Marital Claims, 
 
 enough in me to denounce it. I know 
 the scoundrel well. He pretends to be a 
 manager of his father s business, but the 
 old man attends to that himself, and the 
 whole family would be glad to get rid of 
 him. As for the number of Baptist girls 
 that have kicked him, nobody but him 
 self could tell. He has feathered Mr. 
 Fortner s eyes with his everlasting talk 
 about John the Baptist and the river 
 Jordan; but it is plain to me that Mrs. 
 Fortner sees a good way into him. So 
 does Wheelright, grand fellow that he is; 
 but they don t see quite through him. 
 To make them do that is going to be my 
 business as soon as I can get a lick at him 
 out of women s company. I intended to 
 go over to Putnam to-morrow in order to 
 see the bishop on a very special matter; 
 but I shall not go until I can have an 
 other int2rview, and in different sur 
 roundings, with that learned and other 
 wise interesting young gentleman. On 
 the whole, I feel first-rate. Glorious 
 girls, aren t they? Let s go to bed. 
 I m off." 
 
/Ifcr, jfortner s /Ifcarital Claims, 35 
 
 " I say, Jack," he sent back as he was 
 moving off, " curious talk for a preacher, 
 
 isn t it? 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM an intimation of Mr. Fortner 
 to Glaze on his arrival that he sus 
 pected an attachment between Wheelright 
 and Martha, Glaze at once began to be 
 stow his special attentions upon Mary, 
 who would have suited just as well a man 
 in his circumstances, At the supper- 
 table Mr. Fortner remained grimly silent 
 while he talked on and on in damning 
 praise of Wheelright and bold denuncia 
 tion of Woody. He was very sorry, he 
 admitted, to hear of the close intimacy 
 between them and much afraid of its con 
 sequences. 
 
 "For I tell you all here at this table 
 that I know all about that fellow, Woody. 
 He s a snake in the grass. You saw how 
 he tried to insult me this evening, which 
 he d have knew better than do if it 
 
36 flfcr, tfortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 hadn t been in company of ladies. I 
 wouldn t have spoke to him if Cousin 
 Mirny hadn t interduced him to me, 
 which, of course that were the thing to 
 do in her own house." 
 
 "My patience, Fortner!" said the lady, 
 "the man hadn t the slightest idea of 
 insulting nobody. It seemed to me that 
 he were only jest a-trying to show that 
 he some ruther you wouldn t be fetching 
 up about Meth dis doctrine when he were 
 perfect surrounded by Babtis es, except 
 ing Jack and Susan, who he know keers 
 not one baubee about Meth dis or Babtis 
 and I ve no doubts is tired like a good 
 many other people by hearing of em 
 ding-donged in their ear when they ain t 
 occasion fer it." 
 
 "The more their shame!" said Mr. 
 Fortner. Then swallowing hastily the 
 last of his coffee, he rose and went out. 
 Next morning after breakfast, he and 
 Glaze rode into town, it being the day 
 for the weekly mail. When they had 
 gone, Mary said: 
 
 " I wish I could never lay eyes on that 
 
/ifcr. ffortner e /Iftarftal Claims. 37 
 
 man any more. It s a perfect shame to 
 have to beany kin to him." 
 
 " You better be thankful, child, ".said 
 the mother, laughing, "that it isn t 
 any closeter. I noticed him a-eyeing 
 you last night like he used to eye 
 Marthy. " 
 
 "Ma, do hush! Well, he may eye on; 
 but let him open his mouth to me one 
 time as he did to sister, and I ll give 
 him something that " 
 
 "Come, now; come, now, Mary. If he 
 tells you he wants you, jes tell him no 
 and be done with it. I don t want your 
 pa to git into a passion with anybody 
 except me. He s that now, and it s com 
 ing to a head fast. Last night he kept 
 me awake with his groaning I don t know 
 how long, and once he got up and lit 
 the candle, and got the Bible, and read 
 awhile in it, and he left it open where 
 he been a-reading, and I knewed he left 
 it for me to see it this morning, and it 
 was in Corinthans, where the Postle 
 Paul talk about women, and what they 
 shall do, and what they shan t. I never 
 
38 /tor, jfortner Marital Claims. 
 
 let on nare a single word; but I tell you 
 it s a-coming to a head." 
 
 "Mr. Woody knows how he s been 
 talking about him, so Jack says," said 
 Martha. 
 
 "Of course he does," said Mary, "and 
 I wouldn t be surprised if Fortner Glaze 
 heard from him, if he thought there was 
 any use in bothering with such a creat 
 ure." 
 
 " I wouldn t care much if he did," said 
 the mother; "for that might bring your 
 pa to see how he s fooled in him. Still 
 sech as that is never women s business, 
 and you girls be very partic lar how you 
 talk, special with your pa, who in all the 
 time I have been living with him, I have 
 never knew him to be that wrapped up 
 in anybody like he is with that Fortner 
 Glaze, that I m thankful he s none of my 
 blood. Your pa have got old, and he s 
 like other old people that think the less 
 judgment they ve got, the more they ve 
 got. But you two leave everything to 
 me, and say nothing to your pa but yes, 
 sir, and no, sir, and the sooner this 
 
/Ifcr. ffortner s /Ifcarital Claims, 39 
 
 thing come to a head, the better it s go 
 ing to be. Get to your work ; I must go 
 and see what sort of a dinner I can get 
 up fur your stinguished cousin. I see 
 he like good things if he s fit for nothing 
 else." 
 
 Devoted as Mr. Fortner was to the 
 Christian Index and the Southern Recorder, 
 the former the organ of the Baptists, the 
 latter of the States Rights party, he 
 first went to the house of Mr. Leadbetter, 
 a brother deacon, in order to let out 
 some of his grief and to counsel with him 
 about his domestic troubles. Mr. Lead- 
 better, a good partisan both in religious 
 faith and in politics, was reasonably con 
 tent to wait and listen and sympathize, 
 and pour in oil where he saw an oppor 
 tunity. These were his last words at 
 the interview which was suddenly inter 
 rupted: 
 
 " Brer Fortner, it seems to me that if 
 it was me, I should try to be keerful how 
 I act, and try not be vi lent. The 
 Tostle Paul, they ain t no doubts, like 
 you say, he have a-pinted plain to women 
 
40 flfcr. ffortner s /Ifcantal Claims. 
 
 the end o their rope; but women some 
 how, ahem! they have got to be of not o 
 the same kind as in them days when he 
 writ. They has more eddication and 
 they ve got another sort of backbone, and 
 my expeunce is it won t do to run it on 
 em too heavy, which sech as that is apt 
 to do more harm than good. Now you 
 acknowledge yourself, and everybody 
 know, that sister Fortner is a uncommon 
 good, useful female, and have done a 
 power of good in the congregation in a 
 mild, and, I may say, in a example way. 
 And as for Mr. Woody a-comin to the 
 house, why they isn t no family in all this 
 section that like to jest shet down on 
 people a-visitin them that behave their- 
 selves as they tell me he do, which I 
 must go as fur to say for my part, that 
 what little I have saw of him, he seem 
 like a ruther gent many young man in 
 his behavior, not ithstandin him bein 
 a Meth dis preacher; and brer Wheel- 
 right say 
 
 "Don t tell me what brer Wheelright 
 say, brer Leadbetter. I were goin to 
 
/for. ffortner s Marital Claims. 41 
 
 git on him after a while. Brer Wheel- 
 right 
 
 At this moment their attention was 
 called to some unusual movements at the 
 post-office a few rods distant. 
 
 In the piazza of the store where the 
 office was kept sat near a dozen men, 
 including Wheelright. The reading of 
 their mail was interrupted by Glaze, who 
 was enlarging on general Baptist themes, 
 mainly John the Baptist and the river 
 Jordan. In the midst of his gush, Woody 
 rode up. He had come by the Fortners 
 and seemed to be in first-rate health and 
 satisfactory spirits. Halting, dismount 
 ing, and fastening his horse at the rack, 
 he ascended the steps of the piazza. The 
 speaker suspended his oration and looked 
 as if he had become suddenly disgusted. 
 
 "Good morning, brother Woody," said 
 Wheelright, "I m glad to see you. You 
 know most of these gentlemen, I sup 
 pose. This is brother Hall; this, brother 
 Askew; Mr. Parker; Mr. Bowden. Of 
 course you know Mr. Glaze?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, he answered, after shaking 
 
42 jfl&r. ffortner s Marital Claims* 
 
 hands with the others, " I know Mr. Glaze 
 well, very well." Then, without looking 
 at him or extending his hand, he passed 
 to the offered chair, seated himself, and, 
 playing with the riding-switch in his 
 hand, looked cheerfully around. The 
 sudden embarrassment of Glaze, who 
 only a few moments before had spoken 
 of the young preacher in contemptuous 
 phrase, was noticed by all present. It 
 seemed to fret him that they laughed 
 with polite good-humor at the playful 
 chatting between the clergymen, and he 
 retreated to a corner at one end of the 
 piazza.. Finding that position not to his 
 liking, in the midst of one of Woody s 
 repartees, he moved impatiently toward 
 the steps, looking toward Mr. Leadbet- 
 ter s house as if he meant to join him 
 and Mr. Fortner. Woody rose quick 
 ly, and, putting himself in his way, 
 said: 
 
 " Mr. Glaze, please wait for a few mo 
 ments, won t you, until I can mention a 
 little matter, about which I d like to ask 
 you a question or two." 
 
/Ifcr. ffortnet /l&arital Claims. 43 
 
 Glaze looked fiercely into the smiling 
 face; but something whispered to him 
 that he might as well pause, and he did 
 so, the while bestowing upon Woody a 
 look as admonitory as he could impro 
 vise. Loosening his cravat and contem 
 plating with satisfaction the switch in his 
 hand, Woody said: 
 
 " I am glad to find you in the midst 
 of your friends, sir. In their hearing I 
 ask you to say whether or not you have 
 been repeating in this community what I 
 know you have been reporting about me 
 in Putnam County that I had said that, 
 in my opinion, sand would answer the 
 purpose in the sacrament of baptism as 
 well as water." 
 
 It had not been half an hour since 
 Glaze had repeated the charge again, 
 and so he could not but answer promptly, 
 although with evident reluctance. 
 
 "I have, sir," he said partly defiant 
 and partly not. " I told it as it was told 
 to me. I wish to have nothing further 
 to do with it, sir." 
 
 " Perhaps so. It is natural, consider- 
 4 
 
44 dfcr. ffortner s flfcarital Claims, 
 
 ing that what you have had to do with it 
 already is more than enough. But as we 
 have gotten thus far with it, and as an 
 opportunity so favorable may not occur 
 again soon, we may as well finish it up. 
 Who told you that I said so ?" 
 
 Glaze, before replying, looked around 
 among the men as if, in a party matter of 
 such importance, surely he could count 
 upon their support. 
 
 " I don t know as I can ric lect who it 
 was told ms, sir, and, if I did, I don t 
 know that it s my business to tell you. 
 But I ll tell you this for your satisfac 
 tion: that I heard when the thing got to 
 you, you said it were a damned lie." 
 
 Then he looked around again, as if he 
 felt that he had scored a point. 
 
 " Yes, sir. That was told you, I sup 
 pose; and it had some truth in it. As 
 for the first, which is a lie out and out, 
 you are the sole author of it. You know 
 you lied, when you said in the hearing of 
 Mr. Henry Bass at last Putnam County 
 Court, that I had used that language at 
 Rockville; and you know that you would 
 
dfcr. afortner s /Hbarftal Claims, 45 
 
 not dare to face Mr. Bass and deny your 
 words. " 
 
 " You re a preacher, Mr. Woody." 
 
 "And if I wasn t, what would you do? 
 To facilitate your answer, let us suppose 
 that I m a preacher no longer. Now, sir." 
 
 "Then, Mr. Woody, I ahem! I 
 should say you I think you are mis 
 taken, sir." 
 
 Woody laughed a loud, exultant, bitter, 
 wicked laugh. 
 
 "When I denounce you, which I do in 
 the presence of these gentlemen, as a liar, 
 a base, cowardly, shameless liar, you are 
 content to answer that you think I am 
 mistaken. Yet let me do you no injus 
 tice. Your statement as to how I char 
 acterized your slander was substantially 
 true. If there be such things as damned 
 lies, and I have no doubt there are, that 
 was one; and your baseness is only the 
 meaner in that you never came to me to 
 demand retraction of the words, and that 
 you do not now. Now, Fortner Glaze, 
 while on my way here this morning I cut 
 this young hickory with intent, if you be- 
 
46 /tor, ffortner s dfoarftal Glafm0. 
 
 haved with any degree of insolence, to 
 use it upon you. As it is, I will put up 
 with less rigorous chastisement." 
 
 Seizing his arm he drew him facing the 
 street, then getting behind, thrust him 
 down the steps. Then he said : 
 
 "There is your horse, and yonder lies 
 the road back to Putnam County. Move 
 on! I am on my way there myself, and 
 it will go another sort worse with you if 
 you let me overtake you this side of 
 Park s Bridge. In that event I will 
 wear upon your back this hickory till 
 nothing is left of it but the handle! " 
 
 Glaze went for his horse, struck out in 
 a brisk canter, and if ever he came again 
 on this side of the Oconee, nobody in 
 that community ever knew it. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Woody, turning, 
 " please accept whatever apology I owe 
 for my part in this business. I couldn t 
 well see what else to do with it." 
 
 "He was served exactly right," said 
 Mr. Parker. 
 
 "I won t say he wern t," said brother 
 Hall. 
 
flbr. jfortner s dRarital Claims. 46 
 
 " Nor me," said brother Askew. 
 
 "Walk with me a little way, won t 
 you, Mr. Wheel right ?" asked Woody, 
 taking his arm. They set out together, 
 Woody leading his horse. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FEW words were spoken by either 
 until they reached the end of the 
 village. There they turned into the 
 Methodist church-yard, and sat down 
 upon the trunk of one of the trees that 
 had fallen and not been cleared 
 away. 
 
 "The sight of this poor old place," 
 said Woody, looking at the building and 
 around the neglected yard, "makes me 
 sad, especially in view of something I 
 am going to tell you, Mr. Wheelright 
 after a little while. I am glad you were 
 present at my interview with that man a 
 little while ago, painful as it must have 
 been to you. At such a time a man 
 naturally wishes for at least one whom 
 
48 dfcr. ffortner s flfcarttal Claims. 
 
 he believes kindly disposed to him to be 
 near." 
 
 "You may rely with entire confidence 
 upon my feelings toward you, brother 
 Woody. I was, indeed, intensely pained; 
 yet I felt earnest sympathy with what I 
 knew you must have suffered yourself." 
 
 " Thank you, thank you. I may as 
 well say to you, first as last, that I am 
 now on my way to the presiding elder of 
 this circuit in order to report to him my 
 intention to withdraw from the sacred 
 ministry." 
 
 Seizing his arm, Wheelright said: 
 
 " Brother Woody, surely not surely 
 not ! I beg you not to act precipitately. " 
 
 " Now, I know you are my friend. But 
 let me tell you: there is no precipitation 
 about it. I have been revolving the 
 matter for many months, even before I 
 was assigned to this circuit. That my 
 bishop knows, and I have been acting 
 upon his advice to await the time which 
 I have taken for just consideration. I 
 would have gone several days ago, but 
 that I knew that this man was to be here, 
 
jtor, ffortner s Marital Claims* 49 
 
 and I felt that it was due to myself and 
 all around, that I should meet him here 
 and expose his character. I hope you 
 don t consider that I was too hard on 
 him." 
 
 "I don t see," answered the other, 
 smiling, " how you could have been any 
 harder, Mr. Woody; still, considering 
 the provocation, I well, /should earn 
 estly hope and pray never to be subjected 
 to such a temptation. You saw what my 
 Baptist people, one of them a deacon, 
 thought of it." 
 
 "Yes, indeed; and it supported me 
 wonderfully. The truth is, Mr. Wheel- 
 right, I was drawn into preaching if 
 the mouthing which I have done in the 
 pulpit may be so called without due re 
 flection. While in the midst of sore grief 
 for the death of my father about two 
 years ago, I joined the Church, and felt 
 that I had a calling that way. My 
 mother and sisters, understanding my 
 temper, opposed, as far as they felt that 
 they could do so with propriety, the move 
 ment. But I went on in a very short 
 
so d&r. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 while, and without a particle of prepara 
 tion." 
 
 " May I ask if you have been enter 
 taining any doubts regarding the form of 
 your religious faith?" 
 
 "Not so much," he answered smiling, 
 "as about any calling that ever came to 
 me to preach it. I am naturally very im 
 pulsive and passionate not revengeful, 
 I hope and believe, but resentful to in 
 justice; entirely too much so for a minis 
 ter of the Gospel. I am sure those good 
 Baptist brethren think so after that ex 
 hibition, when I felt more like strangling 
 the scoundrel than hurling him down the 
 steps." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear this, brother 
 Woody, and I am sorry for this last oc 
 currence, thinking how it may affect what 
 I know is a very earnest aspiration with 
 you." 
 
 " I am thankful to be able to say that 
 consideration of that matter had nothing 
 to do with this change of vocation, and 
 that if it had any effect upon my conduct 
 toward Glaze, it was only to precipitate 
 
/Ifcr. ffortner s /toantal Claims. 61 
 
 it. I was conscious of some eagerness to 
 show Mr. Fortneras soon as possible, and 
 before he knew of my intention regard 
 ing his daughter, that the vindication of 
 my reputation was entirely outside of any 
 care I had for her affection or his favor. 
 Mrs. Fortner understands me well; so 
 does Mary, bless her heart! I am all 
 right there, my friend; and however much 
 they may be pained by this affair with 
 Glaze, it will not alter relations which 
 have been fixed definitely this very morn 
 ing. I doubt if I should have let the 
 fellow off so mildly but for his kinship 
 to Mary. I told them that I meant to 
 charge him with his slander, and publicly, 
 if I should get an opportunity. They an 
 swered not a word; but I am sure that 
 they believed it ought to be done." 
 
 "I congratulate you cordially. But, 
 my dear friend, I am sure you don t un 
 derstand brother Fortner. This affair 
 will drive him far, far beyond the point 
 where your Methodism has separated you 
 already." 
 
 " It may be. Still, I couldn t consider 
 
52 dfcr, ffortner s /llbarital Claims. 
 
 that. Well, it will serve to hurry up the 
 crisis which Mrs. Fortner says he s bent 
 upon making. She calls it coming to a 
 head. A right good simile. I ve no 
 doubt that I have pricked the boil 
 to-day." 
 
 " Do the Hollys know of your decision 
 about the ministry?" 
 
 "Not quite; that is, I ve never told 
 them in words. But they suspect, and 
 will not be at all surprised. What do 
 you suppose sister Holly said when I in 
 formed her of my family s opposition to 
 my entering it? She laughed and said 
 she wasn t sure but what they were right. 
 No; Methodist as she is, to the back 
 bone, she wants nothing that militates 
 against the right and everybody s full 
 liberty. That you have first-rate reason 
 to know." 
 
 " Thank you." 
 
 They rose, and, after shaking hands 
 with much cordiality, Wheelright re 
 turned into the village, and the other 
 mounted and cheerily rode away. 
 
. ffortner s Marital Clafme. 53 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON Jeremiah Former now came the 
 severest trial to which he had ever 
 been subjected. Of thorough integrity, 
 intending to be just with everybody, yet 
 he was a clansman and a partisan to the 
 last degree. It cut him deeply that a kins 
 man, whom now he loathed, had been ex 
 posed and punished ignominiously among 
 a set of Baptists, including his pastor, by 
 a Methodist even a Methodist preacher. 
 What exasperated him yet more was the 
 necessary thought that not only these 
 persons, but his own wife and daughters 
 would approve Woody s action, and thus 
 gain or seek to gain, at a time when it 
 would be specially pernicious, ascend 
 ency over himself, their rightful head. 
 Without another word to Mr. Leadbetter 
 when the affair was over, he got on his 
 horse and rode back home. Asheneared 
 his gate he saw Jack Holly issuing from 
 it. He had noticed Jack s riding to the 
 
54 dfcr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 post-office at the moment of Glaze s de 
 parture, getting his mail, and turning 
 away. On entering the grove he heard 
 merry laughter, which was suddenly sup 
 pressed. Then he knew that Jack had 
 reported the news, and they had been ex 
 ulting over it. Consumed with anger he 
 hastened on, and, even while ascending 
 the steeps of the piazza, said: 
 
 "You all think it s the thing to do to 
 be laughin at the disgrace of the whole 
 family! " 
 
 " Marthy and you, Mary, special you, 
 Mary, member what I told you. Go 
 long in and tend to setting the table for 
 dinner." Then, calmly resolute, Mrs. 
 Fortner said: 
 
 " Mr. Fortner, / don t feel any dis 
 grace have been put on this family." 
 
 "You don t!" 
 
 "No, sir, I don t, nare a bit; not the 
 littlest part of nare a bit." 
 
 He was too angry to wince, and so he 
 said: 
 
 " That man shall never darken my door 
 agin, and if he ever comes inside of my 
 
flfcr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 55 
 
 gate ary nother time, I ll set the dogs on 
 him." 
 
 "Who you talking about, Jaymiah 
 Fortner? Jack? Jack Holly?" 
 
 " No! You know well enough I m not 
 a-talkin about Jack Holly, albeit s my 
 intention to tell Jack Holly that his 
 room s better than his company. But 
 I m a-meanin of that Meth dis preach 
 er that s who I m a meanin of. You 
 know who I m a-meanin of, and you 
 needn t try to deny it." 
 
 It was the hardest thing he had ever 
 said to her. She paled for a moment, 
 but recovering, answered with a mildness 
 that provoked and was meant to provoke 
 yet further: 
 
 "And you think the time have come 
 when it s got to be your duty to hurt the 
 feelings of the nighest and the best 
 neighbors we ve got, and all for that 
 Fortner Glaze, that, if my children s 
 father ain t ashamed for them to be kin 
 to him, their mother am. And, if it s so 
 to be, / ain t in it." 
 
 "You won t darens t go agins me, 
 
56 flfcr. ffortner s Marital Claime. 
 
 which you know the Tostle Paul give 
 a man the a thority over his fam ly. " 
 
 "The Tostle Paul! The y^-postle 
 Paul! I ve been a-hearing about the 
 Postle Paul every sence I wern t big 
 enough to know no more than my own 
 blessed name. My own father, if my 
 mother had let him, would a-mighty nigh 
 run her ravin distracted a-freckwent 
 a-going on about how the Postle Paul 
 think so little of women that they mustn t 
 daresn t open their mouth without their 
 husband give em leaf, an sence I jined 
 the Babtis it appear like if anything, 
 they re yit more streenious. But, and, 
 as, for you a-flaring so all up about Mr. 
 Woody a-knocking of Fortner Glaze 
 down them post-office steps, they isn t 
 nobody, Babtis or Meth dis , who won t 
 say it oughtn t to been done by somebody, 
 preacher or what not. And as for you a- 
 threat ning to set the dogs on him, which 
 is new languages in this house or a re 
 nother respectable house in this whole 
 neighborhood about the way to treat 
 folks that comes a-visiting people why, 
 
tffcr, ffortner s Marital Claims. 57 
 
 you can thes do it, although I have yit 
 to learn that the Postle Paul ever or 
 dered anybody to do sech a scan lous 
 thing. And, as for your as good as 
 ordering Jack Holly to keep off these 
 preemerses, it s as good as driving 
 Marthy off of em, which the dear good 
 child is promised to Jack, if the poor 
 things will ever think they can make the 
 connection." 
 
 "What? What you say, Mirny Fort- 
 ner? I thought brer Wheelright 
 were " 
 
 "No, sir; brother Wheelright have 
 been nothing of the kind. Brother 
 Wheelright have no notion of Marthy, 
 nor Marthy of him, and there s two rea 
 sons for it. One is, they both knewed 
 you d be against it if they were, and 
 what s more, there was other people both 
 of em liked better." 
 
 " Do you mean that brer Wheelright 
 is after Mary?" 
 
 " No, I don t. Brother Wheelright 
 have been after Susan ever since here he 
 have been, and he s bound to overtake 
 
58 /ifcr, ffortner s Marital Claims, 
 
 her, because she s nigh about run down, 
 and have give her consent to be over 
 took." 
 
 His feelings against his pastor took 
 presently another form, and he said : 
 
 "Ah, ha! I prophesied they wasn t 
 much in him when he come here, but I 
 didn t dream of his marryin of a Meth - 
 dis . Yit I ain t surprised that is, I 
 ain t surprised complete. But I thought 
 that man Woody were after Susie." 
 
 "Well, he wern t. That man Woody, 
 as you call him, is after somebody else, 
 and she too have he overtook when it 
 come for you to say the word." 
 
 "Do you mean Mary?" he asked, 
 aghast. 
 
 "That s who I mean. Mary Fortner, 
 and nobody else." 
 
 " And you tell me she and that man 
 have been making of a plot?" 
 
 " No, I don t. They have just felled 
 in love with one another, the same that 
 young people does and has been a-doing 
 ever sence Adam and Eve felled in love 
 with one another in the g yarden. It s 
 
ffortner Marital Claims, 59 
 
 been no more, and it s been no less. 
 Now what you got to say?" 
 
 Her judgment was that it was best to 
 drive him at once to the extremest 
 point. His anger was made the more 
 intense by the sight of her defiant fear 
 lessness, and the recollection that it 
 had always prevailed in the few seri 
 ous domestic combats which they had 
 had. It was painful in the extreme 
 to feel that, as in the church, so in his 
 family, he was losing the control which 
 for more than two-score years he had 
 been having almost without dispute. It 
 shamed him that Wheelright had not even 
 cared to win either of his daughters, and 
 his resentment against him, therefore, 
 was kindled to a degree that made 
 him sick at heart. Hardly more painful 
 was the thought that the man who had 
 disgraced Glaze, whom now he could not 
 but despise, should aspire to Mary s 
 hand. Feeling that all these things had 
 come upon him unworthily and because 
 of the suspected weakness of his old age, 
 he looked at his wife in silence for 
 5 
 
60 /for. ffortner e Marital Claims. 
 
 several moments, as if the love of fifty 
 years had turned to hostility and hatred. 
 Finally, he said: 
 
 "I m a-goin to sell this place and 
 move clean away out of this neighbor 
 hood. I d better be dead and have my 
 dead body trompled on than have to be 
 run over on all side that-a-way." 
 
 " Nobody wants to run over you, Jay- 
 miah Fortner; and you ought to know, if 
 they did, I d be the one to die before it 
 should be done." 
 
 "I ll sell this place and move away, 
 clean away." 
 
 "If you do," she answered, in a low 
 voice, "I won t go with you. " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Not one step!" 
 
 "We ll see about that! Ah, ha! We ll 
 see about that! If I can t ex cise some 
 a thority give me in Scriptur, I shall 
 fetch up this whole business in the 
 church, and I ll do it this very Sad day 
 comin ." 
 
 " It s been that I been a-expecting 
 you d do, and you re welcome to do it. 
 
/tor, ffortner s /Ifcarltal Clafm0. ci 
 
 It s jest as well to come to it first as 
 
 last." 
 
 " Them is your conclusions, is they?" 
 "They are. And now I ve got my 
 
 business to tend to." 
 
 And she went off upon this errand. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THIS was on Tuesday. During the 
 three days following Mr. Fortner 
 spoke seldom to any of his family. His 
 anger at the sense of disrespect for his 
 authority was too deep for words. In 
 spite of his resistance, some respect for 
 Woody arose in his mind, which served, 
 however, to make the purpose which he 
 contemplated only more resolute. There 
 was no change in the deportment of his 
 wife and daughters. On Saturday morn 
 ing, he said to the former: . 
 
 "You goin to meetin , ain t you, 
 Mirny?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, I m going to meeting, Mr. 
 Fortner; but being as it s I feel like it s 
 more a-going to a court-house than any- 
 
62 flfcr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 where else, and I want to get my senses 
 together what of em is left ; I some rather 
 go by myself. I maybe late; but I ll 
 get there before time for conference." 
 
 " Have you been a-prayin reg lar, my 
 dear? " he asked in sincere sympathy. 
 
 " I ain t so pow ful much at praying, 
 Mr. Fortner not nigh as much as I ought 
 to be; and I ain t one that love to talk 
 about what little poor praying I do do. 
 Besides, there s things on my mind that 
 it seem to me praying isn t the only thing 
 that s been needed in my case. I m 
 nothing but a woman; that, as she have 
 no rights, she isn t expected to have any 
 feelings. Sometimes I a most wish I 
 could get rid of them I can t help from 
 having, like cows, that when they move 
 em away from their young, they ll low 
 and they ll mow for a day or two, and 
 then they ll quit and go along quiet where 
 people leads em, or drives em. You 
 can go on. You ll ride Puss, I suppose. 
 I can take John if he s not wanted too 
 bad in the plow; and if he is, I can 
 walk." 
 
flfcr. ffortner s /ifcarital Claims. 63 
 
 "You know you d ruther ride Puss, 
 Mimy; and you know that if anybody 
 have to walk, it ought to be me, and I 
 ruther for it to be me." 
 
 He spoke in affectionate tone; for he 
 sincerely pitied the humiliation to which 
 stern necessity was forcing him to sub 
 ject her. Taking his hat and cane, he 
 walked into the village, arriving at the 
 meeting-house more than an hour ahead 
 of time. There he chatted with first one 
 then another of the brethren, several of 
 whom, from their manner, seemed to 
 be remonstrating respectfully. Without 
 staying to listen to their words he passed 
 on to others. The men looked at one 
 another, some gravely, and the rest with 
 meaning smiles. 
 
 " Old brer Fortner is just crazy, or 
 nigh about it," whispered one. 
 
 " No, " another said, "he s mad and will 
 have a fight, and he s goin to git awful bad 
 whipped out. You know he never could 
 listen to reason when his dander gets up." 
 
 As Mrs. Fortner was about to start, 
 Mary said : 
 
64 jfiBr. JFortner s Marital Claims* 
 
 " Don t get too excited to-day, ma." 
 
 "Oh, honey, I shall try to keep in 
 some sort of bounds. I shall let em 
 know I think me and my children have a 
 few rights, and if they say we haven t, 
 then I shall let out on em with some of 
 my feelings, which they ll find I ve got 
 them well as they have. You girls see to 
 things while I m gone, and soon as you 
 see me at the gate coming back if I live 
 to get back make Judy begin bringing 
 in supper, whatever of it s cooked done, 
 because I just know that the egzitement 
 I ve got to go through with, it s going 
 to be absolute nessary for me to have 
 something to eat soon as I can get it to 
 get my strenth back. You better fetch 
 me a tumbler of milk now to start with." 
 
 " It will all come right, ma," said Mar 
 tha assuringly. 
 
 " I don t know how it s going to come 
 nor how it s going to go. There, you 
 may fill the tumbler half-full again." 
 
 Swallowing the milk, she smacked 
 her lips resignedly, went out, and after 
 mounting, called out: 
 
flfcr. tfortner s Marital Claims. 65 
 
 "Mary, tell Ander to see that Puss 
 colt don t get hurted. Go long, Puss! " 
 
 The good mare struck into a brisk 
 amble, and her mistress was in her seat 
 before the first hymn was ended. 
 
 The pastor spoke with more unction 
 than usual for a Saturday sermon. " Be 
 of good comfort, " was the text. In affec 
 tionate, occasionally eloquent words, he 
 commended cheerful submission to the 
 conditions in which Providence has 
 placed us. Let all remember that the 
 highest happiness, next to efforts to help 
 in advancing the glory of the Creator, 
 consists in making as happy as possible 
 those around us. To do this often re 
 quires the yielding of one s own will, 
 and sometimes even prudent relaxation 
 of recognized authority. 
 
 During the discourse several eyes 
 often wandered toward Mr. Fortner, who, 
 throughout, regarded the preacher with 
 stern fixity. In the intermission his wife 
 did not leave her seat. He went out 
 with the others and chatted with some 
 whom he had not met previously. All 
 
66 dfcr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 saw plainly that he neither desired coun 
 sel nor heeded remonstrance. 
 
 "Brother Fortner," said Mr. Leadbet- 
 ter, " were always rather heady, but I 
 never saw him as dead sot in his mind as 
 he is now. The poorer shote of a fellow 
 that Glaze were, it look like the worse 
 he hate that preacher for punishin him, 
 when everybody else know he done right. 
 Brother Fortner know it too; but some 
 how his old age have broke out on him so 
 suddent that he can t hold hisself in. I 
 can t but hope he can be brought down 
 to some sort o reason ble. What I m 
 a most afraid about is the egzitement it 
 may fling sister Fortner intoo, that they 
 isn t a finer woman in this whole congre 
 gation o Babtis ner, as to that, in this 
 whole region of country, I don t keer 
 how fur and wide it is; but if her dander 
 git up, the fur is jest obleeged to fly 
 som ers. I tried to git him to leastways 
 putt the thing off till another munt; but 
 he say no; if the cong egation keer 
 nothin for the Postle Paul, it s high 
 time for it to come out. Knewed brer 
 
dfcr. ffortner s flfcarital Claims, 67 
 
 Fortner forty year and better. Never see 
 him in sech a tar in swivit before." 
 
 After a few minutes they re-entered the 
 house, and the preacher, for the time, ac 
 cording to the purely democratic govern 
 ment of the denomination, being divested 
 of clerical importance, and made what 
 was termed moderator, took a chair at the 
 foot of the pulpit, and called to order. 
 The business, so pleasing to elderly men, 
 so tedious to the younger and the women, 
 except a very few, dragged itself along 
 for an hour or so, and would have dragged 
 far longer but for the silence of Mr. Fort 
 ner, who during this time seemed to be 
 conning the indictment which was on 
 his mind to prefer against the wife of his 
 bosom. When the moderator announced 
 that if there was no other business before 
 the conference he was ready to hear a 
 motion for adjournment, a profoundly 
 sorrowful groan came up from the great 
 deep of Mr. Fortner s breast. Then ris 
 ing, he began. It was evident that he had 
 studied carefully the words which he in 
 tended to pronounce with all the mild- 
 
68 .flftr, jfortner a Marital Claims, 
 
 ness yet with all the dignity which the 
 occasion demanded. Of his prolonged 
 discourse I can report only the exordium 
 and the peroration. Glancing toward 
 Wheelright with qualified respect, he said : 
 
 "Brer Mod rator, if I ain t mistakened 
 in my a readin o Scriptur , the good 
 Lord in the beginnin made em male 
 and female; that is, he first made em 
 male, and then he made em female, which 
 he taken one of Adam s ribs when he 
 were asleep a-cording to his purpose, a- 
 includin mostly the raisin o childern to 
 multiply the land he give em to ockepy 
 and their gen ration, him a-seein , I no 
 doubts, that were the convenantest way to 
 do it. A a and " 
 
 But pages on pages would be required 
 for even a synopsis of that speech. 
 Among other things was his own solemn 
 protest against being regarded as opposed 
 to females as a general thing, because, in 
 deed except for one of them which was 
 his own mother quite a long time back, 
 he would not be there standing on his 
 present legs on that interesting, solemn, 
 
flfcr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 69 
 
 and present occasion. Nor would he 
 deny that in the long run females had 
 their use without which society well, 
 indeed, society fact is, society, that is, 
 you may say, in the course of time more 
 or less why, society must unavoidably 
 die out and be no society of any sort. It 
 was therefore that he wanted to put him 
 self right on these points before the 
 brethren and sisters. The main thing 
 with women was for them to find out what 
 their use was, and then stick to it; and 
 if they wouldn t, then they would have 
 to take the consequences. He closed with 
 these words, which he hoped were both 
 apposite and delicate: 
 
 " And now, brer Mod rator, with these 
 few remarks, I m sorry to have to say 
 that as my desires in my own family have 
 refused actuil and positive to yield to me 
 as their lawful head, I have made these 
 few remarks for the brothern to decide 
 the case betwixt us. And my humble 
 hopes is the good Lord will send his 
 mercies and his blessin s on us all 
 a-includin of my wife, which, Mirny 
 
70 d&r. tfortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 Pugely as was, in some p ints of view, I 
 say it bold, she s as good a wife as any 
 that goes." 
 
 Then he sat down and covered his whole 
 head with his bandana. 
 
 "Brother Moderator," instantly rising, 
 began a young man, " I move we ad 
 
 Noticing that Mrs. Fortner was rising, 
 he stopped, saying: " I yield the floor for 
 the present." 
 
 The defendant was trembling with 
 emotion. She wished that she had stayed 
 at home, so sore was the pain of resent 
 ment kindled for the first time against 
 her husband, whose words, as they 
 sounded to her, showed that in his breast 
 the dominant feeling toward women in 
 general was contempt. Tears coursed 
 down her face, and the violence with 
 which she wiped them away with her hand 
 kerchief told how hot was the anger 
 that had forced them out, and how, in 
 decent regard for appearances, she was 
 trying to stifle them. All except her 
 husband regarded her with intense sym 
 pathy. 
 
dfcr. ffortner s /Ifcarital Claims 71 
 
 "Brother Moderator," she began, "I 
 know, even if the Scriptur hadn t said 
 it, that it s a shame for women to let 
 their voice be heard in the church, and 
 the good Lord know if any woman were 
 ever ashameder than I am this minute, I 
 pity em. But, as everybody know who 
 Jaymiah Fortner is a-p inting at by the 
 not a-yieldin to his desires, as he name 
 it, I feel like it s my duty to my very 
 children a not counting in myself at all, 
 to tell this congregation whether they ll 
 believe it or not, that as for the yielding 
 and the humoring I have been a-doing for 
 Jaymiah Fortner for forty-nine years 
 going on fifty the fifteenth of this com 
 ing September the why the very multi- 
 p clation table would have to be brought 
 in to tell the number o times." 
 
 At the murmurings of favor following 
 these words the handkerchief was torn 
 from Mr. Fortner s head, and his face 
 showed that already anxiety had begun 
 to cast out all other feelings. 
 
 " I won t deny," she continued, "that 
 he have been one of the best husbands any 
 
72 /for. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 woman ever got married to, if sometimes 
 not often but sometimes he have got 
 fretted because he have wanted me to do 
 and I wouldn t things that wern t for the 
 best which if he was pinned down to kiss 
 the Book he d be obliged to say I m tell 
 ing of the truth. But there s one thing 
 and special since he have got old, that 
 his eternal and his everlasting a-coting 
 the Postle Paul on me when I ve done 
 right or honest tried to do it, it have 
 made me so tired sometimes that fact is 
 I never pestered myself so very much 
 about w/iatthe Postle Paul thought about 
 women be it little or be it nothing as 
 long as I was trying to do the best I 
 knewed how. But in the long run in the 
 very longest run I have humored Jaymiah 
 Fortner and fixed things to suit him and 
 saved him all the worry and all the trou 
 ble, could in the raising of our children 
 and everything else a woman in a family 
 is called on for, and a-even tried to not 
 get clean wore out with his never being 
 tired of norating how contempible and 
 good-for-nothing the Postle Paul thought 
 
flfcr. tfortner s dfcarttal Claims, 73 
 
 about women in general, only sometimes 
 I acknowledge I have a most wished in 
 my heart the Postle Paul had have a 
 wife and knewed for his own self how it 
 is about things, that they isn t to my 
 honest opinion, they isn t any lonesome, 
 disappinted bachelor ever did live that 
 know all the worry and the trouble and 
 the one thing and another that married 
 women has to go through with. " 
 
 Not once did she turn toward her hus 
 band, nor note his appealing looks and 
 gesticulations. 
 
 Then her voice lowered. 
 
 "And, brother Moderator, what s the 
 desires my husband complain I ain t 
 willing to yield to, and think it s a need 
 to fetch me up in the church, that I 
 always did believe it was better to let 
 such things settle theirselves the best way 
 they can at home ? Why, it s to break up 
 in my old age and move away from the 
 place where I was borned at, and always 
 lived at, and got married at, and my 
 parents died and left it to me and they 
 both of em lays buried there back o the 
 
74 /iftr. ffortner s /Ifcarital Claims* 
 
 g yarden, and four out o the nine chil 
 dren I ve bore to Jaymiah Fortner lays 
 there too, under the cedars and the 
 chainy-trees, and the girls has planted 
 rose-bushes there and althys, and cape- 
 jes mines, and lilocks, and lagestreamers 
 and some wild olives, and they ain t a 
 grave there that hain t a little bush of 
 some sort at the head; and many time of 
 a Sunday evenin I take my Bible and I 
 go down there and I set down on a bench, 
 and and But seeing the handker 
 
 chiefs rising to faces female and male, 
 she paused, gave herself an indignant 
 shake, resolved to hold on some longer 
 at least to the strength which she was 
 losing, and, in argumentative tone, con 
 tinued: 
 
 " Now, brother Moderator, I ve been a- 
 reading in Corinth ans, where it say, Let 
 not the wife depart from her husband, 
 and I have never no more wanted to part 
 from Jaymiah Fortner than I have wanted 
 to part from my very soul and body. 
 When I were married to Jaymiah Fortner 
 the Scriptur and the law of the land give 
 
flfcr. ffortnet s Marital Claims, 75 
 
 me and all I had to him; but they didn t 
 do it any more complete free than I give 
 myself, jest like I give my name of Mimy 
 Pugely that was; and I jined the Babtist 
 Church for nothing else in the world but 
 because he belonged there, and I thought 
 it was right, and I wanted not to be sip - 
 rate from him in not one single thing. 
 And, therefore, if any departing is to be 
 done by anybody, it will be Jaymiah 
 Fortner a-departing from me and not me 
 from him, when he move away from a 
 place where there is too many things to 
 keep me from being willing to be dragged 
 away from it at my time of life, when he 
 knows and he hasn t forgot, because he 
 promised it if he outlive me that I have 
 picked out the place where I want my 
 grave dug. And if I have to be turned 
 out of the church, why it ll just have to 
 be done, that s all. For I couldn t go 
 different if I was to try and keep on a 
 trying. And I m wore out clean com 
 plete with this day s work; and all the 
 time I ve been in this house and on this 
 unuseless business I been a-hearing of 
 6 
 
76 dfcr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 my poor mar Puss a-whickerkig after me 
 in the grave-yard grove out yonder be 
 cause she know that /know it were high 
 time three hours ago and over that she 
 were took home to her colt. And my 
 own children and all my other business 
 has been and is now a-needing of me 
 which is the very last one of these un 
 called-for scattery words that I m that 
 mortified in my mind I got no more to 
 say about it." 
 
 She turned, went humbly out, and if 
 ever a good beast showed joy at the com 
 ing of her rider it was that same Puss. 
 
 "Poor Puss! there, there! Missis is 
 as bad off to get home as she is; there, 
 there!" 
 
 Just as she was mounting the horse 
 block the people were emerging from the 
 house, and one of the young women sent 
 by Mrs. Leadbetter ran to report what 
 had happened after she had left, and beg 
 her to delay for congratulation. 
 
 " Thanky, Lizzie, honey; tell your 
 aunty, thanky. Puss nor me can t stay 
 any longer. Go on, Puss!" 
 
dfcr, ffortnet s Marital Claims, 77 
 
 And Puss went. 
 
 For several minutes during the defence, 
 Mr. Fortner had been stretching forth 
 first one arm, then another, in mute pite 
 ous appealing. At its close, he rose 
 with both extended, but before he could 
 open his mouth, the member who had 
 yielded cried, saying: 
 
 " I claim the floor, brother Moderator, 
 and I move that this conference do now 
 adjourn." 
 
 " Second the motion ! " came from a 
 dozen voices. 
 
 Over the sound of the voting, Mr. Fort- 
 ner s trembling voice rose with the 
 words: 
 
 "Oh, brer Mod rator! Oh, brothern 
 and sisters! I take it all back, all, all, 
 <7//back!" 
 
 Then he sat down and wept as he had 
 not since he was a little child. 
 
 It was nearing nightfall when he left 
 the ground, for he must say to individuals 
 what he had said in public, and pour out 
 praises upon praises of her who was dearer 
 than his life. Fewer things could have 
 
73 dfcr. ffortner s Marital Claims. 
 
 been lower than the humbleness with 
 which he slowly wended his way. The 
 bare suggestion of his departure without 
 his wife had excited a fear which was 
 appalling in the extreme. He had not 
 dreamed of such a scene and such an 
 overthrow. During her passionate de 
 clamation, she seemed to have been en 
 dued with all the beauty of her youth, 
 and there was revived in his breast more 
 than the eager love with which half a 
 century ago he had sought her in the 
 house whither he was going. How could 
 he have so strangely deluded himself 
 about her loyalty to him? He must be 
 growing older in more ways than he knew. 
 Among his thoughts was one of much sad 
 ness, even of some sort of compassion for 
 his favorite apostle, and he recalled 
 how far back in the past he was removed, 
 and reflected that perhaps some at least 
 of his uninspired teachings might as well 
 be regarded as doomed to become obso 
 lete. One thing, if no more, was fixed in 
 his mind with certitude firm as the earth 
 on which he trod, and the heavens above 
 
tfftr, jfortner s Marital Claims. TO 
 
 it it was that while breath was in his 
 body he would never again quote, in the 
 hearing of Mimy Pugely that was, that 
 saint s words touching the powers of men 
 and women s obligations. 
 
 The fifteenth day of September was 
 fair, serene, sweet in autumnal promises, 
 and blessing was on the gathering and 
 the feast. The old bridegroom, more 
 gallant and gay than fifty years before, 
 believed that they were the fittest words 
 to bestow upon his bride when he declared 
 that she was fairer than all her daughters. 
 
Old GUS Lawson. 
 
 " With pleasing toyes he would her entertaine." 
 
 Faerie Quecne. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IT is interesting to think of the ideas 
 that used to be held by parents, and 
 by many others who were not parents, 
 about the importance of the rod in the edu 
 cation of boys and girls. They seemed 
 to believe that a child of either sex, good 
 bad, or indifferent, could not be expected 
 to get satisfactory development without 
 receiving during that while an amount 
 of flogging that in these days would be 
 thought enormous. But the one who 
 held this notion with greater confidence 
 than any person with whose opinion I 
 ever had opportunities to become ac 
 quainted was neither a parent nor a 
 
 grown man, but a schoolboy. 
 
 80 
 
<3us Xawsom 81 
 
 I do not remember how it came to pass 
 that Augustus Lawson, even in the earli 
 est of his teens, began to be called " Old 
 Gus. " Most of the girls, however, not 
 willing to be regarded as wanting in 
 decorum, called him "Mr. Old Gus." 
 Old Gus now, after the lapse of more 
 than fifty years, I cannot feel like speak 
 ing of him by any other name had been 
 a big baby, and he had been growing big 
 ger until the period of the beginning of 
 this story, when, eighteen years old, he 
 was six feet four inches tall, and weighed 
 one hundred and sixty pounds. He had 
 reddish hair, a face very fair, but with 
 so many freckles that a goodly number of 
 them, not caring, as it seemed, to be 
 crowded so much, had emigrated and 
 colonized prosperous settlements upon his 
 great, long hands and fingers. He had 
 very large, pale-blue eyes and an ex 
 tremely small mouth. This mouth was 
 never entirely shut, and it was doubtful 
 if it could be. Always lazy about books, 
 and rather so about work of any kind, 
 during the seven or eight years at school 
 
ID us OLawsom 
 
 he had learned little more than a smat 
 tering of English grammar, geography, 
 and arithmetic; yet in this while had 
 gotten whippings that in numbers were 
 like the hairs on his head and the freckles 
 on his face and hands. When he had 
 come to be eighteen, his mother, a widow 
 with a small, nicely kept dwelling and 
 a moderate property in land and negroes, 
 residing a mile south of the village, 
 wished him to stop from school and go to 
 work upon the farm. But he begged for 
 another year, and as he was an affection 
 ate son, and, besides, rather shiftless 
 about any sort of field or domestic busi 
 ness, she consented. 
 
 "The simple fact of the business," he 
 would often say, "it is jest about this: 
 I ve been a-goin to school so long, and 
 I ve got so many whippin s while I were 
 a-gettin of my edjication, that when it 
 was complete, and I don t need no more, 
 I got so that I jes loves to be thar, a- 
 knowin how much good it have done 
 me, and me, a-endurin the time, a-not 
 knowin ner a-expectin . I don t git 
 
(Bus Xawson. 83 
 
 whipped now, of course; but somehow, 
 with my expe unce, a-knowin what good 
 they is in whipping I loves to set thar 
 and see it a-goin on." 
 
 Those who had been with him in his 
 younger time used to say that Old Gus 
 Lawson did not mind a whipping any 
 more than it was minded by any old, 
 rusty-coated apple-tree. It was certain 
 that during this last year, in which he 
 was taking leisurely his post-graduate 
 course, his enjoyment of what he called 
 the fun of the thing was great when one 
 or more of his schoolmates received the 
 discipline which was so beneficial. Es 
 pecially was this the case when the recip 
 ient was a girl. 
 
 "Because," he argued, " wimming, it s 
 their business not only to be mothers, but 
 it s their business to be the verybul arks 
 of society, as them people that makes 
 Fourth o July speeches calls em, and it 
 won t do for em to be raised wrong. I 
 tell you that, now." 
 
 Yet he loved the fun as much as he 
 valued the utility. Without a grain of 
 
84 ID <3ua 3Law0on, 
 
 malice, or envy, or jealousy in his nature, 
 still I have witnessed, often and often, 
 in his great big face a delight that was 
 up to the full when boys or girls were 
 crying out under the infliction of the rod. 
 Indeed, when matters in that line became 
 rather duller than he could have wished, 
 occasionally he would endeavor to en 
 liven them in ways that I will tell about 
 after a while. 
 
 There was not a single boy or girl in 
 the school who did not like him; for, 
 besides being as amiable in disposition 
 as anybody in the whole world could be, 
 his willingness to do favors for others, 
 especially us little ones, was boundless. 
 But after using the word "boundless" I 
 have the thought that perhaps I ought 
 not to have done so until I came to de 
 scribe his pockets. I remember him as 
 clothed never otherwise than in his long, 
 baggy, walnut-dyed breeches and waist 
 coat, over which, with varying shades 
 of gray, was the longest frock-coat, and, 
 open from the outsides of the skirts, it 
 had the widest, deepest pockets that I 
 
ID Gus Xawscm. 85 
 
 had ever seen before or that I expect ever 
 to see again. In those pockets, as well 
 as in those of his other garments, he car 
 ried habitually such articles chiefly 
 eatables as children, especially girls, 
 were particularly fond of bits of sugar 
 and ginger-cake, peaches, apples, and 
 other fruit of any and all stages before 
 and after ripeness, especially crab- 
 apples, with small packages of salt to go 
 along with those which he gave to the 
 girls, who were intensely fond of eating 
 them in school hours, when making wry 
 faces over their sourness was attended 
 with so many risks. Then in these store 
 houses were hickory nuts, chestnuts, 
 walnuts, chinkapins, hawberries red 
 and black, marbles won at sweepstakes, 
 balls made of strips cut from worn-out 
 india-rubber shoes and wound with 
 woollen thread, slate pencils and lead 
 pencils that he had picked up, goose 
 quills for making pens and toothpicks. 
 Whatever period of the year it was, Old 
 Gus on every morning brought these vast 
 pockets full of stores of one kindoran- 
 
86 ID <$us Xaw6on. 
 
 other, and during the rest of the day dis 
 tributed as freely as if he had been 
 another Santa Glaus. Besides these 
 things, behind the lapels of his coat and 
 waistcoat and on his sleeve-cuffs were 
 any number of assorted pins and needles, 
 the latter already threaded, so as to be 
 ready for sudden emergiencies in his own 
 or others clothing. And people may be 
 lieve me or not, just as they please, but 
 it is a fact that he never was without a 
 small vial of camphor, and one of opodel 
 doc, or other salve for healing, and strips 
 of cloth for bandaging cut fingers, skinned 
 noses and chins, and stumped toes. The 
 girls used to say that he was the very 
 convenientest boy in school, and I have 
 heard some grown persons say that it was 
 their belief that if he were to go upon a 
 journey of a week he could carry in his 
 pockets supplies to last him throughout. 
 As for his pocket-knives, I think best to 
 let them go into the next chapter. 
 
ID <3ua Xawson. 87 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 POCKET-KNIVES being articles that 
 1 in a school are subject most often 
 to be called for on loan, Old Gus 
 was seldom without as many as four 
 ranging in original value from seven- 
 pence (twelve and a half cents) to half a 
 dollar. These he would lend freely, the 
 worth of the instrument loaned depend 
 ing partly upon the age, partly upon his 
 estimate of the carefulness and responsi 
 bility, but chiefly upon the sex of the 
 borrower. Reasonably gracious in this 
 respect to boys, even the smallest, he 
 was never known to refuse a loan of a 
 knife of some sort to the request *of a 
 girl. Yet there was one, small and four- 
 bladed, with a white handle, claimed to 
 be of ivory, but declared to be nothing 
 but bone by those who were refused the 
 use of it. This knife, which he often 
 said with much solemnity had come all the 
 way from Augusta the favorite city of 
 all middle-Georgia people and had there 
 
88 ID (Bus Xawaon, 
 
 cost a dollar one and nine (a dollar 
 and thirty-seven and a half cents), was 
 kept wrapped in a piece of buckskin, and 
 carried in one of his vest pockets; and 
 two persons, and those two alone, could 
 ever get the loan of it. No boy ever 
 dreamed of such a thing as asking for it, 
 with any hope of success, and every girl 
 but two forebore, except occasionally for 
 the mischief of seeing the trouble that 
 refusal cost him. These were Miranda 
 Attaway and Sarah Ann Shy. 
 
 Miranda was a small, slender bru 
 nette, pretty, but thoughtful-looking and 
 tongue-tied. For the purpose of untying 
 her tongue, as it seemed, she had con 
 tracted the habit of thrusting a minute 
 portion of the end of that member out 
 of her pretty mouth and pressing her 
 lower lip against it, which habit, in spite 
 of its leading her to be called " tongue- 
 sucker" by some of the ruder boys, made 
 her look very interesting. She was about 
 twelve years old, although she looked 
 younger. Sarah Ann, of the same age, 
 was fair, fattish, and red-haired, like Old 
 
<$us Xawson, 89 
 
 Gus, but without a freckle, except an 
 occasional one that took advantage of 
 her carelessness about wearing her bon 
 net, and lived a brief life upon her lovely 
 cheek. Almost always she wore a smil 
 ing countenance. The exceptions were 
 when she was being whipped for her 
 pranks in school-time. While these ex 
 ceptions were numerous, they W 7 ere eva 
 nescent, and interfered little with the 
 fun that she gloried in making. Her 
 parents dwelt a mile east of the village, 
 those of Miranda half a mile south in the 
 direction of the Lawsons. Both families 
 were industrious, plain people, and lived 
 well on the small income arising from 
 their property. 
 
 These girls, so unlike, were almost 
 constant companions, occupying the same 
 desk in school, being the very front of 
 those assigned to the girls. The seat 
 of Mr. Hodge, the teacher, was at the 
 fireplace, facing both rows of desks. Old 
 Gus, being so near a man, was allowed 
 to have a whole desk to himself; and 
 that next to the wall at the end of the 
 
90 ID (Bus SLawson. 
 
 schoolhouse, in the rear of Mr. Hodge. 
 This gentleman, although not of the very 
 best temper in the world, yet was not at 
 all cruel, as some schoolmasters, I am 
 sorry to say, used to be. He whipped 
 freely and conscientiously, but seldom 
 very hard. It seemed as if he was ap 
 prehensive that, unless he whipped with 
 the spirit and regularity exacted by the 
 public, parents would become dissatisfied 
 and turn him out of his office, or that his 
 scholars might lose some of the respect 
 which they had for him, and perhaps the 
 boys, whenever they would want a special 
 holiday, and could not get it otherwise, 
 might "bar him out," or take him to the 
 spring-branch, not far off, and give him 
 a ducking. I think that his mind was to 
 do no more whipping and no less than 
 what was necessary to satisfy his patrons, 
 to save from decay his reputation, and 
 to keep his position entirely secure and 
 comfortable all around. He put Sarah 
 Ann in front, because she was the most 
 mischievous girl in school. Miranda he 
 would have allowed to settle as far down 
 
(Bus Xawson. 91 
 
 in the row as she might have chosen; 
 but Miranda preferred to be alongside 
 her best friend, and take the consequences 
 of such contiguity. Indeed, the truth is 
 that Miranda, notwithstanding her seri 
 ous-looking face and her soft, rather 
 pitiful voice, had in her own way nearly 
 as much love of fun as Sarah Ann. 
 
 There was another cause why Old Gus 
 had been so favored in the matter of 
 position. Mr. Hodge, for convenient 
 and prudential reasons, was not disposed 
 for him to be where he himself could 
 constantly observe his actions. Then, 
 this position was the very one Old Gus 
 preferred, because his two favorites were 
 just in front of him, and convenient both 
 for enjoying the sight of their interesting 
 faces and conferring upon them, by signs 
 and otherwise, such assistance as his 
 judgment decided that they needed and 
 his great fondness for them would not 
 allow him to withhold. In the next chap 
 ter I will endeavor to show in what man 
 ner this charitable service was bestowed. 
 7 
 
92 ID Gus Xawson. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONVINCED of the wisdom and 
 kindness of his reasons for thus 
 helping these little girls, Old Gus often 
 gave expression to them about in this 
 wise: 
 
 " You see, I can t help likin Sarann 
 some, because she s red-headed like me; 
 and then she s so mischeevious that I 
 loves to be on hand when she s a-cuttin 
 up in the schoolhouse, a not expectin 
 Mr. Hodge to notice her, and then him 
 come down on her with his switch. And 
 then it sweeten me down to my very 
 bones to hear her holler, and make out 
 like he s a mighty nigh a-killin of her, 
 when he ain t a hardly a-hurtin of her a 
 single bit, but is a-givin it to her be 
 cause he know people is a-expectin him 
 to keep up the a thority of his school. 
 Now as for M randy, she ain t red 
 headed, as people can see for theirself, 
 but she s mighty nigh as fond of her mis 
 cheevious as Sarann, a notwithstandin 
 
ID <3us TLawson* 93 
 
 she look so solemn exceptin when she s 
 obleeged to laugh at Sarann or me, one 
 or t other. And when she do begin to 
 put up her little tongue-tie pleadin to 
 Mr. Hodge, and the man he have to actuil 
 stop before he have give her half as 
 much as she deserve, because she look so 
 pitiful, and beg so pitiful, I declar* on 
 my soul that it make me feel like 
 laughin so I d jes holler out, if it wern t 
 in the schoolhouse, because they ain t 
 any fun that is equil to it. And but, be 
 sides all that, it do em some of the good 
 they need bad, in a-loosenin of their 
 skin, and lettin em git their growth 
 out of the little teenchy things they is. 
 I ve had the expe unce of whippin , and 
 I call myself a example of the good it do, 
 not only to boys but to girls, in gittin 
 em outo their runty fix in which they re 
 bound to keep onless they re whipped; at 
 least occasional, and, of course, reason 
 able in the case of girls. This is what 
 make me take such a likin to both of 
 them children, and I couldn t keep em, 
 even if I was to try, from takin out of 
 
94 10 6us ILawson, 
 
 my pockets anything that ary one of em 
 wants." 
 
 It was interesting to see his relations 
 with them. Liberal with all, both in 
 giving out his supplies and lending his 
 knives, yet there were two favors that 
 were restricted to Sarah Ann and Mir 
 anda, one of which was the loan of his 
 dollar-one-and-nine knife, and the other, 
 taking with their own hands whatever 
 they wanted out of his pockets. This 
 last liberty the larger girls did not desire, 
 and they would not have accepted the 
 offer of it. But Sarah Ann and Miranda! 
 Knowing that they had full command 
 over him and all his store, their habit 
 was to pick and choose according to their 
 varying wants. 
 
 "Thtop, Mithter Old Guth, and come 
 here," Miranda often said; "me and 
 Tharann w r ant thomething, and we don t 
 egthactly know what it ith. " 
 
 Then, one on one side and the other 
 on the other, they would dive their hands 
 and arms up to their elbows, haul out 
 and empty into their aprons quantities 
 
ID (Bus 3Law0on. 95 
 
 upon quantities, and, after selecting such 
 as they preferred, dump back the rest. 
 During this while, looking down upon 
 them alternately with much fondness, his 
 little mouth would make as big a smile 
 as it could. 
 
 "That ll do," one of them would say; 
 "you may go now." 
 
 "That all you got to say?" he might 
 remonstrate. " Them other girls have 
 got some manners, but you two 
 
 " Oh, we thank you, Mithter Old 
 Guth," Miranda would plead, " jutht ath 
 much ath they do, but whath the uthe of 
 thayin tho every thingle time? People 
 thath alwayth having to thank people get 
 tired of it after a while. You know jutht 
 ath well ath you know anything that 
 me and Tharann like you the betht of all 
 the boyth in thith thchool. Don t we, 
 Tharann?" 
 
 "Of course we do," Sarah Ann would 
 answer; "but he came mighty nigh lend 
 ing our Augusty knife the other day to 
 Susan Leadbetter. " 
 
 "You know I didn t want to lend it to 
 
96 ID <Su6 Xawsom 
 
 her, Sarann Shy, and I didn t. What s 
 the use o your plaguin me that way, 
 Sarann?" he would humbly remon 
 strate. 
 
 In such wise Sarah Ann and Miranda 
 would tease him sometimes. Susan 
 Leadbetter was the only girl whom they 
 regarded as possible to get between them 
 and Old Gus. For the Leadbetters were 
 good people adjoining the Lawsons, and 
 having about equal property. And then 
 Susan was at all, handsome girl, and so 
 nobody would have been surprised if Old 
 Gus in time were to conceive a special 
 partiality for her. But thus far he had 
 never shown any sign pointing in that 
 direction, and it was one of his boasts 
 that he never had been in love in all his 
 life. 
 
 "Ah, Mithter Old Guth," Miranda said 
 one day, "I ve heard old people thay 
 bragging ith dangereth." Then taking 
 hers and Sarah Ann s knife out of his 
 waistcoat pocket, she unwrapped it, and, 
 handing him back the buckskin, said: 
 
 "There, don t you go and lothe it, or 
 
(Bus Xawson. 97 
 
 let it get ruthty." Then she went her 
 way. 
 
 Gratified as he was by the growth made 
 by his favorites, still its rapidity was not 
 entirely satisfactory. Therefore, partly 
 for the purpose of enhancing it, and 
 partly for the sake of the fun, he managed 
 sometimes from his retired position to 
 throw them into laughter which, on being 
 detected by the master, would be followed 
 quickly by desired results. 
 
 "Oh, my!" he said often with greatest 
 glee, " it s positive music to hear em 
 when they re caught. Sarann farly 
 bellers; but when M randy comes out 
 with her keen little tongue, that it s all 
 so tied up, if it don t sound sweet, the 
 same if it was a little young bird, and 
 I d actuil feel sorry for her if t weren t 
 for the good I know it s a-doin of em 
 both, that it mighty nigh seem to me it ll 
 take more whippin s than any one of em 
 gits to make em grow of any size worth 
 talkin about, let alone the ever bein 
 among the bul arks o society. And so, 
 occasion ly, when things is down, and I 
 
ID (Sue ILawson. 
 
 see them children a-needin o some stir- 
 rin up, I wait to git their eye when Mr. 
 Hodge ain t a-noticin of em, and then 
 I come the squir l a-gnawin at a hicker- 
 nut, or a rabbit a-eatin greens. They 
 can t stand nary one o them, special in 
 the schoolhouse, and then you ought to 
 see how the little ones in general, and 
 them two in partic lar, how they can t 
 help bein caught a-giglin , and so be 
 took up and whipped. I ain t never 
 afeared of their peachin on me to Mr. 
 Hodge, because they know if they do, no 
 more crab-apples and things from me, 
 which crab-apples is things I despises 
 myself without they re b iled along of a 
 whole lot of sugar to take some o that 
 everlastin sour out of em; but it s as- 
 tonishin how many of em them girls 
 will destroy, special when you give em 
 salt to go long with em. Yes, sir; they 
 know better than to go to work to break 
 up that business. No; they ain t no 
 such low-down meanness in our school." 
 The performances thus referred to were 
 so funny to the girls that their benign 
 
ID (Bus ILawson. 
 
 intentions always succeeded. The very 
 idea of a person so big, long, and slow- 
 moving claiming to personate as small 
 and nimble a beast as a squirrel or a 
 rabbit was absurd to the last degree. 
 Ridiculous enough was the former with 
 his hickory-nut between his forepaws, 
 digging, or pretending to dig into the 
 shell with his long, white teeth. But the 
 rabbit at his meal of collards or turnip 
 greens was yet more interesting. He 
 used to declare on his very honor that 
 this was done faithfully to life, as often 
 he had watched from a crack of the fence 
 around the garden or turnip-patch and 
 witnessed the scene. If he had not a 
 leaf from one of the trees in the grove, 
 provided for the purpose, he improvised 
 with his copy-book. It was curious as 
 well as irresistibly laughable to observe 
 his actions while in the role of this 
 favorite animal. The curve in his back, 
 made so from inactivity mainly, but 
 partly from the habit of getting down 
 nearer to a level with those whose com 
 pany he liked most, became much more 
 
100 ID us Xawson, 
 
 noticeable as he bowed his head over his 
 leaf. As interesting were his facial ex 
 pressions. Practice had made him per 
 fect in broadening his eyeballs, giving 
 greater roundness to his profile, flatten 
 ing his thin lips, and passing his teeth 
 through their various playings and con 
 tortions, and the most dainty, modest, 
 seemingly embarrassed, even almost 
 painful, way in which, moving the while 
 his long ears forward and backward, he 
 munched in silence and with great rapid 
 ity first one and then another edge. It 
 has been very many years since these and 
 such like things occurred; but I often re 
 call them with vivid distinctness, and in 
 imagination look upon and listen to 
 them, not with loud or suppressed laugh 
 ter as when a child, but with smiles and 
 with tears so fond that I feel as if I could 
 be willing, even glad, to undergo the 
 old-fashioned punishment, if but for a 
 brief little while I could go back to 
 childhood, and see for myself, and see 
 and hear Miranda Attaway and Sarah 
 Ann Shy look up at dear Old Gus Lawson 
 
(Bus Xawson. 101 
 
 eating his greens, laugh their laughs, 
 and take their whippings with the rest 
 of us. 
 
 But just to think that down to this 
 time with all those grownish girls, some 
 of whom were as pretty and as lovely as 
 any young man in this whole world ought 
 to wish to have presented for his selec 
 tions, Old Gus had not fallen in love! 
 But both Sarah Ann and Miranda had 
 told him that the only reason was that 
 his time had not yet come. 
 
 "The only differenth, Mithter Old 
 Guth," Miranda often said, " ith in the 
 timth it comth on people. Ith thertain 
 to come on you thome time, ain t it, 
 Tharann? And then won t he be a 
 thight? I hope I ll be there to thee it." 
 
 "Certainly it s going to come some 
 time," answered Sarah Ann, "and when 
 he s not expecting it; and then no more 
 crab-apples nor nothing else for us; be 
 cause he ll be for just loading down his 
 sweetheart with them Susan Leadbetter 
 or somebody else." 
 
 " You talk, you jes talk, Sarann Shy, 
 
102 tt> <3u0 Xawson, 
 
 like like you thought you was as wise 
 as as the very Queen o Sheby!" 
 
 "No, I m not as wise give me some 
 more salt; these crab-apples are uncom 
 mon sour. That ll do No, Mister Old 
 Gus, I m not quite as wise as all that ; but 
 I m wise enough to know what I m talk 
 ing about, and you ll live to see it. You 
 see if you don t." 
 
 And so he did. The time came at last, 
 and with it the. passion, and in a way so 
 peculiar that it not only surprised him 
 and everybody else, but troubled his mind 
 during a considerable period. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IN those days no Georgia boy who 
 thought much of himself failed, by 
 the time he became fourteen or fifteen, 
 to fall in love with some woman if it were 
 only a schoolmistress or a widow. Yet 
 htherto Old Gus, so far as the female sex 
 was concerned, had seemed to have kept 
 himself as cold as any frog. Some boys 
 
(Bus Xawson, 103 
 
 who claimed to know all that was worth 
 knowing about the human frame gave it 
 as their opinion that he had never had 
 any gizzard; and JMartin Woodall, thir 
 teen years old, who had been in love 
 several times, went privately one day to 
 Dr. Lewis, the physician of the village, 
 who had attended Old Gus during the 
 only spell of sickness which he had ever 
 had, and asked him confidentially for his 
 opinion on the case; and, having gotten 
 it, came away and betrayed the secret 
 which had thus been reposed in him. 
 
 "Boys, "said Martin, loud enough to 
 be heard by some of the girls, " it s so 
 good I can t keep it, but when I asked 
 Dr. Lewis he laughed and said Old Gus 
 didn t have even a sign of a gizzard, and 
 he said that, if he knew anything about 
 the case, he never would. But you all 
 mustn t say anything about it, because 
 the doctor he told it to me as a secret." 
 
 But a change came over Old Gus. He 
 quit personating not only the squirrel but 
 the rabbit, although I think he parted 
 from the latter with some regrets, partic- 
 
104 ID Gua Xawson. 
 
 ularly on account of the excellent influ 
 ences it had exerted upon the physical 
 development of Miranda and Sarah Ann, 
 who began, toward the end of the year, 
 to look, poor little things, as if they were 
 about to make something of a start at 
 last. But he told them one day that he 
 had no heart for such as that any more, 
 and he looked so awfully solemn when 
 he was telling them that for a while they 
 felt concern. They asked him what was 
 the matter. He evaded an answer, but, 
 after being pressed, he let it come, and 
 it was as solemn in sound as any that was 
 ever returned from the oracle of Delphi, 
 or any other shrine: 
 
 " I have fell in love." 
 
 All of us laughed, for many others be 
 sides the two girls heard the confession. 
 Then Sarah Ann and Miranda made him 
 go off with them, when Miranda asked: 
 
 "Who ith it with, Mithter Old Guth ?" 
 
 Sarah Ann declared that Miranda had 
 taken the very words out of her mouth, 
 and she said : 
 
 "Yes, do, please, Mister Old Gus, tell 
 
(Bus 3Law0on. 105 
 
 us who it s with. Oh, I do think it is so 
 interesting! Tell us, Mister Old Gus, 
 please, quick!" 
 
 He looked sorrowfully down upon 
 them, one with a hand in a pocket of his 
 coat, the other with hers in that of his 
 waistcoat, and answered: 
 
 "Ah, now, childern, right there s the 
 deficulty. I can t." 
 
 "Can t! Oh, pshaw! You know you 
 can, but you just won t, and I think it s 
 mean of you." 
 
 Then Sarah Ann rammed her hand 
 again into his pocket and said she was as 
 mad as she could be. But Miranda said: 
 
 "Oh, Mithter Old Guth, I think you 
 might tell me and Tharann, if for noth 
 ing elth, becauthe we ve been good to 
 you in letting you make uth take tho 
 many whippinth for you. Why can t 
 you ?" 
 
 "Because I don t yit know myself, not 
 quite, I don t." 
 
 And then while they were laughing 
 loudly, he went away and sat down upon 
 a stump where he pondered for a long 
 
106 to (Bus Xawsotu 
 
 time. During the remainder of the time 
 he told nobody, not even himself, as he 
 often said, who it was that had effected 
 the change in his feelings and deport 
 ment. For a while they suspected that it 
 might be Susan Leadbetter; but one day 
 when she asked for his dollar-one-and- 
 nine knife, to mend her pen, he took it 
 out, unwrapped it slowly, partly ex 
 tended it toward her, but withdrew it, 
 saying: 
 
 " I some ruther not, Susan. Give me 
 your pen, and I ll mend it well as I know 
 how." 
 
 "Never mind, Mister Old Gus; it 
 makes no difference." 
 
 The fact was that the other girls had 
 put forward Susan in order to find if she 
 was his flame. She went away laugh 
 ing, and after that Susan Leadbetter was 
 dropped out of all calculations. For the 
 time being, Martin Woodall was in love 
 with Susan, although he had not the cour 
 age to tell her so in words; therefore he 
 was glad of the happening of this inci 
 dent, and said : 
 
<3us Xawson. 107 
 
 " It may be the old fellow is beginnin 
 to have some sort of a gizzard; but I 
 doubt if it ever comes to anything worth 
 speakin about." 
 
 Considering the indefiniteness of its 
 origin, it was indeed a very noticeable 
 change. Occasionally Miranda or Sarah 
 Ann drew from him a smile, which, how 
 ever, was more woebegone than his 
 habitual lugubrious expression. But 
 they never could induce him to repeat 
 the thrilling performances which, with 
 such varying attendant circumstances, 
 they had witnessed so often. Instead 
 thereof he usually sat at his desk almost 
 motionless during school hours, in which 
 time he looked at the two girls with a 
 look which was so mournful and so far 
 away that occasionally they broke forth 
 into the giggling, one of the results of 
 which had been so benign that he was 
 thankful for their sakes that they were 
 not suspended entirely. His pockets 
 came as usual weighted with cargoes; 
 and after they were discharged, like any 
 patient camel whose burden had been re- 
 8 
 
108 ID (Bus Xawsotu 
 
 moved, he slowly went off to himself. 
 One day Miranda, impatient at such con 
 duct, said to him: 
 
 "Mithter Old Guth Lawthin, I declare 
 your conduct ith thimply oudathoth. 
 What makth you won t do thothe funny 
 thingth any more? I think ith mean ath 
 can be!" 
 
 Hauling out handfuls of goodies and 
 emptying them into her apron, he said: 
 
 " No, M randy, I ain t, that is, I hope 
 1 ain t, so powerful mean. But a man 
 person who he have once t fell in love 
 th ough and th ough, like I am now, he 
 don t feel like doin them things." 
 
 "You don t feel like it!" she replied 
 with disdain, as she cracked one of his 
 chestnuts. " My opinion ith, your con- 
 thinth hurt you for making me an Thar- 
 ann get tho many whippinth. But we 
 never minded that, did we, Tharann ?" 
 
 "Of course not; I d be willing to take 
 a whipping any time to see him eat 
 greens like a rabbit. If he was obliged 
 to do something, he might be satisfied to 
 take away our squir l, but it was a sin 
 
ID <3us Xawson. 109 
 
 and a shame not to leave us our rabbit. 
 Hand me out some more of those biggest 
 chestnuts. Your hand can get em more 
 convenient than mine can." 
 
 "Me too," said Miranda. " Mithter 
 Old Guth Lawthin, you know I think 
 your being in love ith moth ath funny 
 ath the rabbit ? I know ith ath funny ath 
 the thquirrel. Who ith it with, we keep 
 on athking you." 
 
 Driven to the very wall, he answered 
 in sorely pleading tones: "I jes cant, 
 M randy, because I don t know myself. 
 I wish I could, and I wish I did; but if 
 I did know who it was, you ain t big 
 enough to understand the feelin ." 
 
 She regarded him for a moment with 
 scorn, as the grinding of her chestnut 
 was suspended. Perhaps reflecting that 
 his ignorance of her capacity merited 
 compassion rather than resentment, her 
 grinding was resumed, and she an 
 swered : 
 
 " Right there you are mithtakened, 
 thir, if you only but knew it. The very 
 i-dea! Why I take the greateth delight in 
 
no i& us Xawson. 
 
 hearing about love thtories, and I under- 
 thand em well ath you do, and better 
 too; becauth, if I wath to fall in love, 
 I d know who it wath with, and you 
 don t. I never heard, and I never even 
 read of thuch a cathe. Lawth! Mithter 
 Old Guth Lawthin, do try to thtop thome 
 of that foolithneth, and let me and 
 Tharann have thome fun. People are 
 talking and laughing about you going on 
 ath you do and hurting me and Tharann th 
 feelingth, when we are doing our betht 
 to keep you from dithgrathe; and even 
 Martin Woodall, thath alwayth been 
 thuch a big man, he have to be going 
 about telling people that you haven t got 
 any githarth, or motht none at all, a- 
 knowing no better that nobody excepth 
 chickenth hath githarth. But thuch ath 
 that makth me and Tharann athamed of 
 ourthelvth, and we don t know what to 
 thay. Here, tie up inthith handkerchief 
 thome of thothe betht chinkapinth, and 
 do thop your foolithneth, becauthe, I tell 
 you now, it maketh me and Tharann per 
 fect mitherable. Don t it, Tharann?" 
 
<3us Xawson. in 
 
 Sarah Ann s jaws were tired, but she 
 managed to answer: 
 
 " That it does. He has actually got to 
 that, if it wasn t for his pockets, I actually 
 don t know what we would do." 
 
 " The good laws !" he pleaded pitifully, 
 " How is a body to stop sech as that ? 
 Why he can t no more do it than he can 
 stop the measles not until the things 
 break out on him." 
 
 "Well, then," said Miranda, " I with 
 they d break out on you, if that ith 
 what th the matter with you." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AT the end of the term Old Gus took 
 his final, most melancholy leave 
 of the school. After this he kept him 
 self more closely at home than ever be 
 fore, and delighted his mother with the 
 new interest shown by him in work. If 
 Martin Woodall had been entirely fair 
 in giving expression to his opinions, he 
 would have been obliged to admit that, 
 
112 ID <3us Olawscm. 
 
 however abnormal in his anatomical 
 structure, the old fellow gave promise of 
 making a man in some important ele 
 ments of his being. He showed especial 
 interest in the growth of the young 
 among domestic animals. Often he 
 said: 
 
 " Ma, I jes loves to see young things 
 a-growin , if it ain t nothin but a pig, or 
 a chicken, or a peachy-tree sprout, be 
 cause they ain t no tellin what they 
 goin to pejuce if they re took keer of." 
 
 His mother had been saying all along 
 that she had never a doubt but that Gus- 
 tus would make a man some day when 
 the time came; for his father before him 
 had been just such a boy, and everybody 
 that knew him said that he was one of 
 the best that ever was born. And so he 
 kept on for three years, attending with 
 reasonable diligence to all work that his 
 hands found to be conveniently necessary, 
 his walk and conversation being marked 
 by sobriety rather than the deep solemnity 
 that had been brought on by the first un 
 expected attack upon his tenderest feel- 
 
(Bus Xaweon. 113 
 
 ings. It was not often that he met either 
 Sarah Ann or Miranda; for, as the time 
 elapsed, he more seldom left home. But 
 he was thankful to hear from time to 
 time that the development which he had 
 contributed so liberally to foster was go 
 ing on without much complaint. When 
 ever he met either, if she happened to 
 rally him for what he had made her 
 suffer for his pranks, he answered: 
 
 "And you know jest as well as I do 
 that I done em for your good, and you got 
 the good of em, and you started on the 
 growin you both of you needed, and I m 
 monstrous thankful you ve kept it up." 
 
 One Sunday after meeting, together 
 they met him, and asked if he had ever 
 found out who it was he v/as in love 
 with. 
 
 "Notyit,"he answered. "Not quite 
 yit; but my feelin s is that it ll come 
 after a while. I ain t in a hurry 
 about it." 
 
 " And what do you do mothly thethe 
 dayth, Mithter Old Guth?" asked Mir 
 anda. 
 
114 
 
 "Oh, I m mostly raisin chickens and 
 sich." 
 
 "And do they grow to your thatithfac- 
 tion ?" 
 
 "It s differ nt among em, M randy. 
 Some of em is rapid, and some is ruther 
 mod rate, like you and Sarann. " 
 
 When he had gone, Sarah Ann said : 
 
 " Was there ever such a case in the 
 world ?" 
 
 " It ith curiouth, and ith the funnieth 
 love cathe I ever heard anything about. 
 But, Tharann, thinthe he quit thchool, 
 it theemthtome he th thome handthomer 
 than he uthed to be, and hath better 
 mannerth. " 
 
 "Yes, no doubt about that. Indeed, 
 I think he s got to be very passable. 
 But I do wish the old fellow would come 
 back to school, where we could see some 
 of the fun we used to have. " 
 
 "Ah, well! I thuppoth it ain t betht 
 to have fun at thchool alwayth. Juth 
 to think! It th three whole yearth 
 thinthe Mithter Old Guth left uth. I 
 wonder if we ll ever be ath happy again, 
 
15 <3u0 Xaweon. us 
 
 Tharann. Ma thay I ve got to quit 
 tchool after thith year and learn how to 
 work and keep houthe. It makth me 
 thad to think about it, thometimeth." 
 
 "That s what they say about me. 
 Well, since Mister Old Gus quit, I ve 
 seen so little fun that I m ready to 
 stop whenever the word comes." 
 
 In those times country girls usually 
 got their full growth by the time they 
 were fifteen or sixteen years old, and it 
 was thought well for them to leave school 
 to begin to learn all about domestic 
 work, and, if a good opportunitypresented 
 itself, to get married. Within these 
 three years Miranda and Sarah Ann had 
 improved much every way. Miranda, 
 though yet rather small, was plump as 
 any partridge, and to some looked even 
 sweeter. Sarah Ann was large and lus 
 cious. Both had become more serious, 
 and Mr. Hodge said openly that he had 
 never turned out two girls who were 
 better scholars. They left school with 
 out complaint, and went cheerfully to 
 work. For some time before the end of 
 
116 i& <3us Xawson. 
 
 their last term neither of them had seen 
 Old Gus. He had been keeping himself 
 for the most part about home, and every 
 body was talking about what a fine, 
 domestic person he was getting to be. 
 As for Susan Leadbetter, she had been 
 married long ago and moved away some 
 where on the other side of the Oconee. 
 The world, they say, waits for nobody. 
 Yet Old Gus, patient as the longest days, 
 had been waiting, waiting, waiting, and 
 not even his mother ever heard a word of 
 complaint from his mouth. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A QUIET, harmless life was that dur 
 ing these three years. By slow 
 gradations Old Gus had taken into his 
 hands the conduct of plantation business, 
 and was making as respectable crops as 
 any. During this time, few summer 
 evenings had been more serene than his 
 life. Yet, not long after the last school 
 term, his mother suspected that she 
 
<3u6 Xawson, 117 
 
 noticed some little restlessness in his de 
 portment. Occasionally at night, after 
 decently getting through with his 
 chicken, biscuit, and coffee, he would 
 look sternly and mysteriously at his sau 
 cer of clabber, and then, leaving it un 
 touched, rise, go out, and walk a while on 
 the piazza or in the yard. His mother did 
 not think it best to allude to these symp 
 toms, but waited to see what was to come 
 of them, trusting, as had been her habit 
 always, for the best. One night after 
 supper he sat a long while in silence. 
 Just before it was time to light his candle 
 and go to bed he said : 
 
 " Ma, somethin inside o me have been 
 a-workin like it want to break out 
 on me." 
 
 "Why, Gustus, my son, the measles ts 
 in the neighborhood, but I hain t been 
 afraid of you a-ketchin em, because you 
 had em, and them thick as hops, as the 
 sayin* is, when you weren t more than 
 eight year old. But sometimes people 
 does have the things twice t. I ll make 
 some tansy bitters to-morrow, and have 
 
118 is <3u0 Xawson, 
 
 it ready to fetch em out if it s 
 them." 
 
 Little else was said upon the subject. 
 At breakfast the next morning his mother 
 noticed nothing out of the usual way ex 
 cept that he had on his linen shirt and 
 looked a trifle bashful. She was not 
 alarmed, however, because he put in a 
 reasonably hearty meal. When it was 
 over, taking his hat, he said: 
 
 "Ma, I m goin to step over to the 
 Attaways awhile this mornin , and I may 
 go on as fur as the Shys before I turn 
 back; but I m toler ble certain of gittin 
 back by dinner-time." 
 
 "All right, my son; but as you hain t 
 been a-feelin very well here lately, if I 
 was in your place I d try and not git 
 over-net. " 
 
 "I ll try to keep reason ble cool," he 
 answered to her affectionate admoni 
 tion. 
 
 He walked on to the Attaways neither 
 fast nor slow. Arrived there, he found 
 Miranda, after having put away the 
 breakfast things, getting ready to begin 
 
(Bus Xaweon. no 
 
 on a pair of trousers that her mother had 
 just cut for one of the negroes. 
 
 "Why, if it ain t Mithter Old Guth!" 
 she said. "I m glad to thee you. Take 
 a theat, won t you?" 
 
 He seated himself, and as soon as he 
 had an opportunity for a special remark, 
 said: 
 
 "M randy, I found out who it is; or 
 at leastways I think I have." 
 
 "Who it ith what, Mithter Old Guth?" 
 
 And when she asked the question she 
 knew just as well as he did; for she 
 blushed, and her fingers trembled while 
 she was threading her needle. 
 
 "Who I m in love with. Come now, 
 don t go to makin out you don t know 
 what s been the matter with me all this 
 long time, M randy. I thought by this 
 time you got old enough, if not quite 
 big enough, to understand what made 
 me so solemn them last days I were at 
 school, a-knowin you weren t old enough 
 then for sech as you to understand how 
 dead in love I fell with you and Sarann. " 
 
 " With me and Tharann ? " 
 
120 ID (Bus Xawson. 
 
 "Yes," he answered, looking toward 
 her with moderate interest. " You and 
 Sarann. Thar was the de-ficulty. I 
 couldn t tell in my mind which was from 
 which. Sometimes when I has heard Sar- 
 ann s big, loud haw-haw, and see her 
 nice white teeth, I thought t were her; 
 but then when you d look up at me and 
 say somethin with your little tongue- 
 tied voices, and the cold chills, or 
 ruther, I might say, the warm chills run 
 all over me, I says to myself, No; it 
 must be M randy. And so now, to the 
 best of my knowledge, I think it s you. 
 And besides, you live closeter to us, 
 and it s conven enter. And so here I 
 am." 
 
 Miranda, now red as a June apple, 
 threw down her work, and, looking at 
 him with glittering eyes, said: 
 
 "I d have no man on the top of the 
 ground that came at me a-courting me in 
 thuch a myththeriouth thort of way!" 
 
 "Oh, well then," he replied resignedly; 
 "I thought I d try you first. If I don t 
 suit you, M randy, I ll peruse on to the 
 
<3u0 Xawson. 121 
 
 Shys and see if I can do anything with 
 Sarann." 
 
 He turned his head, as if looking for 
 the place where he had put his hat. 
 
 "I never thaw thuch a perthon! "said 
 Miranda, almost crying, " that he take a 
 girl by thurprithe, and before thee have 
 time to even think about what he thay 
 to her, flare up mad becauthe be- 
 cauthe - " 
 
 "Now, right there, M randy," mildly 
 interrupting her, "you re mistakened in 
 your mind about my flarin up mad. I 
 ain t mad; and as you say you been took 
 by surprise, I m goin back home, and 
 I m goin to stay there one whole, solid 
 week, and then I m a-comin back. What 
 do you say, M randy?" 
 
 " I thay you do jutht ath you pleathe. 
 There!" 
 
 The words were positive, but Old Gus 
 thought that he could see that the tone 
 was subdued. So he rose and said: 
 
 " Good-by, M randy. I shan t go to 
 the Shys to-day; not to-day, I shan t." 
 
 After he had gone Miranda reported 
 
122 ID (Bus Xawson. 
 
 everything to her mother, and ended by 
 saying: 
 
 "I don t care whether he comth back 
 any more or not; I juth don t, and I ath 
 good ath told him tho. Now!" 
 
 After some reflection the mother said : 
 " Of course, M randy, in such matters 
 people has to act according to the way 
 their feelings is; but if it was me, I 
 should hisitate before I turned off a 
 young man that was of good respectable 
 people, and good prop ty to boot, and 
 that all the old people said what a studdy, 
 well-doing young man Gustus Lawson 
 was. And as for his addin in of Sarann, 
 that wouldn t be nuther here nor there 
 with me, straightforward person like him, 
 that I wouldn t be surprised if he didn t 
 do it just to let you see that he couldn t 
 be fooled with nor neither put off too 
 long. Many a young man does such as 
 that with girls, and even when they re 
 most in yearnest. But, of course, my 
 daughter, you ll have to answer ac- 
 cordin to your feelings. He give you 
 a plenty of time to think about it." 
 
(Sue Xawson. 123 
 
 On the morning appointed by him here 
 came on Old Gus, in whose eyes Miranda 
 was glad to think that she could observe 
 some little eagerness. 
 
 "Well, M randy?" said he, after being 
 seated. 
 
 "Mithter Lawthin, I ve talked with 
 ma what you athed me, and if it wathn t 
 for what you thaid about Tharann - " 
 
 "Right thar now, M randy right 
 thar," he broke in with a quickness en 
 tirely unknown theretofore, " let me in- 
 terrup you. I had a talk with my ma 
 too, and ma she said I had no business a 
 even namin of Sarann s name on sech a 
 errant, and if it had been her, she say, 
 she d a got mad as fire jest like you did. 
 And then ma up and says to me: Gustus 
 Lawson, you mayn t know it, but /do; 
 and it s that you don t love Sarann Shy, 
 but it s Mirandy Attaway you re in love 
 with, and has been in love with her ever 
 sence her and you went to school to Mr. 
 Hodge. And now I tell you, M randy, 
 that right thar the thing broke out all 
 over me, and I see ma were right. Not 
 
124 ID (Bus Xawson. 
 
 that I has any disrespects of Sarann; but 
 the one I want for myself is you, and I 
 want you bad." 
 
 Their union was speedy, and it became 
 very happy. Many persons from time to 
 time heard the following remarks: 
 
 " The way thome women are alwayth 
 bragging about their huthbandth ith juth 
 thimply tirethome to me. I m not one 
 of that kind of perthonth mythelf; but 
 my private opinion ith I ve got the betht 
 in thith whole thtate, and I don t care 
 who knowth I thaid tho. " 
 
An Adventure of Mr. Joel 
 Bozzle. 
 
 u A ND my opinion is, that if the people 
 1\ that made the law about hangin 
 of people had a had any ideas of the 
 thing I saw in town to-day, and from 
 whut people told me about it, they d of 
 provided somethin else besides a rope 
 fer the executin o the law." 
 
 This declaration was made one night 
 to the wife of his bosom by Mr. Joel 
 Bozzle, after a remarkable experience 
 had by him on that day at the county 
 seat. A dweller in the lower, piney 
 woods district, a poor man, but an in 
 dustrious and reasonably thrifty one, he 
 seldom went to town. But this year his 
 region had its candidate for the Legisla 
 ture, and all the neighbors felt that it 
 
 behooved them to repair to the court- 
 125 
 
126 Boventure of dRr. Joel 
 
 house on election day so as to make as 
 strong an impression as possible in his 
 behalf. So Mr. Bozzle rode twelve miles 
 to the town, entering it peacefully, even 
 modestly, hitched his horse at the very 
 lowest end of one of the racks in the 
 public square, and then looked around 
 him. The long ride, he felt, had imparted 
 to him a thirst. Not wholly ignorant of 
 interesting places, he sighted out first 
 the grocery of Mr. Nicholas Harbuckle 
 and, but neither too rapidly nor very 
 slowly, made his way thither. Quite a 
 number of other voters were already there 
 preparing themselves for the responsi 
 bilities that the day had devolved upon 
 them. Mr. Bozzle stood for several mo 
 ments at one end of the counter and pa 
 tiently waited to catch the eye of one of 
 the bar-tenders. When he had succeeded, 
 he said, in a low, respectful tone, that if 
 it was entirely convenient he would like 
 to have a drink. Contemporarily with 
 the remark, like any other honorable 
 man would have done, he laid his thrip 
 upon the counter. When the decanter 
 
of flfcr. 5ocl $03312. 127 
 
 was brought, he poured what he thought 
 was fair, added a not unreasonable quan 
 tity of water, and raised the tumbler to 
 his lips. Not being, and never having 
 been, one of that kind of persons that 
 would gulp down a good thing at one 
 indecent swallow, and then forego every 
 pleasant detail in such a luxury more 
 over, being a man that liked for any 
 thrip expended by him to go as far as it 
 could he was letting trickle down his 
 throat some of what Mr. Harbuckle had 
 said was the best article that he had. 
 Not more, or but a little more, than half 
 the potation had gone to the place in 
 tended for it, when suddenly a voice 
 sounded in his ears more commanding 
 than any that he remembered to have 
 heard in all his previous experience. 
 The words were: 
 
 "Cle r the way thar! You country 
 people think you got to do all the 
 drinkin here to-day? If so, all I got to 
 say some of you ll find yourself mis- 
 takened. " 
 
 The voice was so harsh and irate that 
 
128 Bfcventure of dfcr. 5ocl :fiSo33le. 
 
 Mr. Bozzle hastily put down his tumbler 
 and looked behind, although the sound 
 seemed to him to have come up out of 
 the floor. Seeing nothing specially 
 alarming, and noticing smiles on the 
 faces of some of the bystanders, he was 
 proceeding to lift his tumbler again 
 when the same words or their equiva 
 lents came grating up his legs and his 
 sides, jarring him so that, looking down, 
 he discovered an object that he never 
 forgot. In a small vehicle, three feet 
 by two, which was propelled by a negro 
 boy, lay a large, handsome face, covered 
 with a luxuriant beard. This seemed to 
 be all that the cart contained, except 
 some small hands at the extremities of 
 two short arms lying upon a calico rug, 
 that, beginning at the chin of the occu 
 pant, extended to the end. Mr. Har- 
 buckle, leaning over the counter, handed 
 down a toddy and said: 
 
 "Come, Poly, take this, and don t be 
 raising a fuss in here. Back him out, 
 Bob, in the street where he can splurge 
 to his satisfaction." 
 
BDventure of dfcr. 5ocl 3Bo33le. 129 
 
 "Never you mind, Nick," said the 
 face as it was hauled out. 
 
 Mr. Bozzle had stood wondering what 
 use a mere head could have, and what 
 disposition it could make of a drink of 
 whiskey, when he heard from the out 
 side, in yet louder, harsher language: 
 
 " Haul me to the cote-ouse, you 
 fool." 
 
 Mr. Bozzle, having finished his grog, 
 said respectfully: 
 
 " Mr. Harbuckle, won t you please tell 
 me what that thing were?" 
 
 "Oh, that s Poly Cobble, the littlest, 
 flictedest creetur that ever were born. 
 They is mighty nigh nothin of him, ex- 
 ceptin what you see; but he s not much 
 trouble to people exceptin for his sass, 
 and people, first one and then another, 
 lends a little nigger boy to his mother to 
 help take keerof him. He s sorter trou 
 blesome sometimes; but law me! what 
 is people to do with jes sech a case?" 
 
 Mr. Bozzle came out and, while he was 
 standing still watching the moving ve 
 hicle, a well-dressed young townsman, 
 
130 Bfcventure of dfcr. 3oel :fi3o33le, 
 
 having on his hands nothing in particu 
 lar, said to him: 
 
 " Dangerous character, sir." 
 
 "That so?" 
 
 "Yes, indeed. People might take 
 more interest in the pitiful little thing, 
 twasn t for his cussedness in general. I 
 advise people he don t know to keep clear 
 of him, specially after he has drunk 
 thirty or forty drinks and begins flourish 
 ing his pistol around." 
 
 If ever there was an independent voter 
 who, however modest and inoffensive, 
 felt himself at liberty to indulge himself 
 in a recreation not too expensive on elec 
 tion day, it was Mr. Bozzle. After de 
 positing his vote, he thought he would 
 circulate himself around somewhat be 
 fore returning home. There was but 
 one thing that subtracted from his entire 
 enjoyment of himself, and that was the 
 little cart and its contents, which he met 
 oftener than he cared after his first curi 
 ous study of him. At such times he 
 freely gave way to the vehicle, once, 
 when the throng was dense, almost having 
 
Bfcventure of d&r, 5oel $033le. 131 
 
 to step over it. Once again, when he 
 was in the very midst of a shout for his 
 candidate, he heard beneath him the 
 words: 
 
 "Stop that hollerin , you fool, for that 
 man. He s no count. Gwine to be 
 beat, too." 
 
 The shout died in Mr. Bozzle s throat, 
 or in his jaws, as, spreading his legs, he 
 hastily let those fragmentary parts of 
 humanity get out. 
 
 It was growing toward that period of 
 the day that country people usually call 
 the shank of the evening, when it occurred 
 to Mr. Bozzle that, if he expected to get 
 home at the reasonable hour he had fixed 
 in his mind before leaving, it was time 
 that he were making a start thereto. He 
 would have gone before now but for a 
 sort of fascination in Poly, which, in spite 
 of his awe, an occasional additional 
 drink or something else fastened upon 
 him. For half an hour or so he had 
 followed, at respectful distance, the cart, 
 and listened with eager interest to the 
 harsh ejaculatory mandate to people to 
 
132 Bfcventure of fl&r, 3oel 
 
 get out of the way. From one last 
 searching look he was turning away, 
 when two men came along where he was 
 standing, each with a chicken-cock under 
 his arm. 
 
 "Hello, boys," said the young man 
 to whom allusion has been made, and 
 who now was watching Mr. Bozzle with 
 amused interest, " going to have a fight ?" 
 
 " Yes, Frank ; behind Nick Harbuckle s 
 grocery." 
 
 "That ll be worth seeing, cert n, " he 
 said, looking at Mr. Bozzle kindly. The 
 latter glanced up toward the sun, and 
 decided, as it seemed, that he might 
 afford to witness at least a portion of the 
 coming sport. So he followed the game 
 sters, and succeeded in obtaining a satis 
 factory position near the cock-pit, and 
 was pleased to see the pleasant young 
 man come up and put himself by his side. 
 The men were nearly through with fixing 
 the gaffs, when coming up out of the 
 ground under his feet, louder than at any 
 time before, harsher, more threatening, 
 were these words: 
 
BDventure of flBr, 5oel 3Bo33le, 133 
 
 "If some o you country crackers don t 
 cle r the way, and give people a chance 
 to see this fight, I m goin to shoot." 
 
 "My Lord!" said Mr. Bozzle, actually 
 plunging backward until he reached 
 Mr. Harbuckle s back door. 
 
 "Well you may say, My Lord! " said 
 the young man who followed him. 
 
 " Is they danger in the thing a-shootin , 
 shore enough ?" 
 
 " Great deal ; but not with them he 
 knows and likes. Poly likes me; but 
 the mischief is that, blazing away in a 
 crowd like this, a fellow might git lead 
 in him accidently. I told you to look 
 out for him." 
 
 "Yes, you did, and I m a thousand 
 times obleeged. Won t you step in and 
 have a drink ?" 
 
 "I don t care if I do, " he answered 
 politely. 
 
 After they had drunk, Mr. Bozzle 
 said: 
 
 " Did it ever shoot anybody in actual 
 fac ?" 
 
 " If you hadn t give way to him just 
 
134 Bfcventure of 
 
 now, you d have seen if he did, that is, 
 provided a dead man can see anything." 
 
 " My Lord! and hain t it never been 
 took up for it ?" 
 
 "Yes, indeed; but law! what s the use? 
 Yes, sir, time and time ag in has he 
 been took up and tried for murder and 
 found guilty, and time and time ag in 
 has the sheriff tried to hang him, and 
 had to give it up as a bad job." 
 
 "Will you will you please explain 
 that matter, if you please, sir?" 
 
 " Well, my friend, the gaffs is about 
 fixed on them chickens, and I must go 
 back and try to git a place out o range 
 o Poly s pistol. I ll tell you how it is 
 in a few words. He s above the law, 
 Poly Cobble is, and I ll tell you for why. 
 You see the onliest way the law have for 
 killin people is hangin . Well, now, 
 sir, the only thing about Poly Cobble 
 that have any solid weight worth talkin 
 about is his head; and when the sheriff 
 puts the rope round his neck and h ists 
 him up, his head turns, the balance of 
 him, what they is, flops up, and there 
 
adventure of flfcr* 3oel $033^* 135 
 
 he hang a-gigglin until the sheriff out 
 o disgust cut him down, put him in his 
 cart, call Boh, and order em to take them 
 selves off out o his sight. Bye-bye." 
 
 Two minutes afterward he said to 
 Poly: 
 
 "You scared that piny woods fellow, 
 Poly, but I got a treat out of him. Can 
 you see down there ?" 
 
 " First rate. Whyn t you make him 
 treat me too ?" 
 
 " The idea! Didn t you see how he run 
 from you?" 
 
 "I jes wanted to have a little fun out 
 the feller, and you know you put me up 
 to it. Lend me a sebnpence to put on 
 that red." 
 
 After the fight was over, the young 
 man and Poly came into the grocery, when 
 Mr. Harbuckle said to the former: 
 
 " Frank, you had no business botherin 
 that man so about Poly. He s a good 
 man, if he is from the piney woods; and if 
 he d knowed how you was projeckin 
 you d of got a fight on your hands. He 
 ain t afeared o people, exceptin jes 
 
136 BCwenture of flBr, 5oel 
 
 sech as Poly, that he see he can t hit 
 back. And as for you, Poly, the next 
 time when I ve got customers in here, 
 and you git hauled in here and begin on 
 your imp dent talk to people that don t 
 know you, I ll put you and your k yart 
 out n my sto , and I ll give Bob a kick 
 as he haul you off. You git nary nother 
 drink from me to-day ithout you pay for 
 it er somebody treat you." 
 
 As both had been broken by their in 
 vestments, they had to depart. 
 
 Mr. Bozzle by this time was far on his 
 way home. It was long before he could 
 be reassured that somewhere, in the ju 
 diciary system of the State, there must 
 not be a flaw which hindered its being 
 wholly adequate for the infliction of 
 proper punishment upon all varieties of 
 criminals. But when he was, he availed 
 himself of the first good opportunity to 
 go to the court-house. As he alighted 
 from his horse the young Mr. Frank and 
 Mr. Cobble of uncertain age were in front 
 of one of the stores on the public square. 
 
 "Yonder come your piney-woods man, 
 
of dfcr. 3oel $033te. 137 
 
 Frank," said Poly. "Push me home, 
 Bob, right away." 
 
 The vehicle moved off, and Mr. Frank 
 moved back into the store. Mr. Bozzle, 
 entering, asked if there wasn t a young 
 man in there that people called Frank. 
 
 "He was in here jest a minute ago, 
 Mr. Bozzle, but he stepped out the side 
 door as if he was in a hurry. Do any 
 thing for you to-day, Mr. Bozzle?" 
 
 "No, sir; not ithout you could show 
 me how to come up along o that young 
 man," was the calm answer. 
 
 He walked briskly out at the side door, 
 and, observing Mr. Frank some thirty 
 yards in advance, hailed to him. Mr. 
 Frank broke into a run, and so did Mr. 
 Bozzle, but, after a five-minutes chase 
 made in vain, he decided to give it up 
 for the present. 
 
 When he returned, the merchant asked 
 if he had found the one he was looking 
 for; he answered: 
 
 "Couldn t quite overtake him." 
 
 " Must have had some important busi 
 ness with him, Mr. Bozzle." 
 
138 Bfcventure of 
 
 "Ruther," he said, and after having 
 rested a while, repaired to the rack, and, 
 remounting his horse, rode away, not 
 quite, but much nearer, satisfied with his 
 country s institutions. 
 
A Moccasin Among the 
 Hobbys. 
 
 1VERY well remember Little Joe 
 Hobby, who, when, I was a child 
 was one of my father s near neighbors 
 and friends. He was not so very, very 
 little. They called him so in distinc 
 tion from a big cousin of the same name. 
 Everybody liked him. Even Maggy 
 Tiller over and over again said that she 
 thought a great deal of Joe. Yet she 
 gave her hand in preference to the big 
 cousin, and so Little Joe, sorrowful as it 
 all was, had to bear it as well as he 
 could. Maggy, noticing at her very last 
 refusal how hardly he took it, offered the 
 consolation which at such a time, if a 
 girl would only reflect for a moment, is 
 the very poorest to be thought of. She 
 told him to never mind, for that it 
 
 10 39 
 
140 B /Ifcoccasin among tbe 
 
 wouldn t be so very long before he would 
 find a girl to suit him to a /, and then he 
 would be just running over with joy that 
 he hadn t married Maggy Tiller. In 
 deed, Maggy was very sorry for his dis 
 tress; so she must say something, and 
 she didn t know of anything better. 
 Then he rose, and, after shaking good- 
 by, said: 
 
 "No, Maggy, I can t get you; but I ll 
 never marry anybody else." 
 
 He went to the wedding and with the 
 other guests extended congratulations, 
 and partook with reasonable zest of the 
 good things. Afterward he was as good 
 a neighbor as before, and a good cousin 
 to both. My father said but of course 
 only in the family that if he had been 
 in Maggy Tiller s place he would have 
 taken Little Joe, and let Big Joe go 
 somewhere else; for in his opinion, 
 Little Joe was more of a man; and so, 
 he suspected, thought Maggy s mother. 
 However, he added, nobody can ever fore 
 see what girls will do in such cases. 
 
 Joe Little Joe, I mean tried to go 
 
B /llboccasm Bmong tbe Ibobbgs. 141 
 
 along about as he had been doing before 
 his bad luck, as he called it; for he 
 never denied a single thing. But he 
 was as healthy in mind as in body, and 
 he felt that if Maggy and the other Joe 
 could do well, so far as he was concerned, 
 they were entirely welcome to do so. 
 Indeed, he was a better friend to them 
 than Jim Hobby, Big Joe s next older 
 brother, whom Maggy had cast aside 
 also, and who, in a pet went off and mar 
 ried Mandy Brake, who wasn t as pretty 
 as Maggy and had rather poor health 
 besides. 
 
 And they did do well that is, moder 
 ately well. If Big Joe s industry, man 
 agement, and prudence had corresponded 
 with his physical proportions, they would 
 have done splendidly. As it was, out of 
 the good piece of ground which they 
 owned, they made quite enough to live 
 on, and perhaps a trifle over; but not 
 nigh what Little Joe, who continued to 
 live with his mother, contrived to put 
 aside yearly for rainy days. 
 
 The two families lived only a mile 
 
142 B flfooccasln Bmong tbc 
 
 apart, and visiting continued to be kept 
 up the same as if nothing had happened. 
 In decent time after the birth of their 
 baby, Little Joe went over there and 
 handed around his congratulations again. 
 When the baby was named Joe, he had 
 to congratulate again ; and he did so, like 
 the man he was. It may have seemed to 
 him somewhat monotonous whenever he 
 was there that the father was everlast 
 ingly saying that in some points, indeed 
 in almost every single blessed point, he 
 had not a doubt that that baby was ahead 
 of anything of its age that could be found 
 in the whole State, let alone the county. 
 "Why, Joe," he said, more times than 
 his hearer could recall, "Maggy ll tell 
 you herself that sometimes I have to 
 loose my mule from the plough half an 
 hour before the dinner-horn blows, I 
 want to see him so bad. Look ee here, 
 Joe," he said nigh as many times to the 
 baby, "you know who that is sitting in 
 that chair? You don t? Why, that s 
 your cousin Joe, same name as you. Not 
 named after him, exactly, but all the 
 
B dfcoccastn Bmono tbc 1bot>t>6. 143 
 
 same. Ask cousin Joe if he don t wish 
 he had a Joe like you." 
 
 At such times Maggy smiled a little 
 scold; but it did no good. He would go 
 on about it, and keep at it, not even 
 stopping at the dinner-table, occasionally 
 getting up and making Little Joe get up, 
 repair to the bed or the cradle whereon 
 that baby was lying, and note how, when 
 he was not crowing, he would be trying, 
 just for the fun of it, to ram his fists or 
 the coverlet into his ever-open mouth. 
 And then sometimes he would crown all 
 by crying to the youngster about thus: 
 
 " Going to be a big man some day, 
 aren t you a heap bigger than cousin 
 Joe?" 
 
 Such things he did often, not from any 
 thought of malice toward his cousin, but 
 out of mere exuberance of the conscious 
 ness of his superiority to him. Little Joe 
 endured it all, and did what he could in 
 simple ways to help them along. Once, 
 when the baby was thought to be danger 
 ously sick, he went there at nights, and, 
 while the father slept, watched with the 
 
144 B /Ifcoccaefn Hmoncj tbe 
 
 mother during the silent hours. Before 
 Big Joe was awake next morning he 
 would be gone to his work. During 
 that time Jim Hobby never once came 
 there. His wife did, and wanted to 
 help; but Maggy, knowing that she was 
 not strong enough to do any good, thanked 
 her and sent her home. 
 
 One would think that such as that 
 ought always to come to an end. Some 
 times it does, as in this case it did. 
 Early in August, when the baby was 
 only a few weeks old, Big Joe got sick 
 himself. People said it was from having 
 had too much Fourth of July. Whatever 
 was the cause, no sort of medicine, old 
 women s nor doctors , could cure him; 
 and so he died, leaving Maggy a poor 
 lonesome widow. With her baby she 
 moved back to her mother s, and it was 
 not so very long before she began to look 
 as bright as ever, and perhaps some 
 prettier. 
 
 I could not undertake to say exactly 
 how Little Joe felt on the occasion of 
 his cousin s death; but he said and he 
 
B /ifcoccasm Bmoncj tbe fjobb^e. 145 
 
 did what was becoming no more, no 
 less. He helped to put him away de 
 cently, and then helped Maggy to do 
 what was to be clone before she could get 
 back to her native place. As for the 
 baby, while he did not because he could 
 not show the pride which its father 
 indulged, yet he was even more con 
 siderate of its wants. It was only a few 
 minutes walk to the Tiller s, and. he 
 went there almost every day. The devo 
 tion shown by him toward that baby was 
 not without its return, as it was not long 
 before the latter showed himself to be as 
 well pleased with his cousin s society as 
 ever he had been with that of his father. 
 Even Jim began to take an interest which 
 he had not shown in his brother s life 
 time. 
 
 During the summer days of the follow 
 ing year, when Maggy s work took her 
 out of the house, she put the baby in his 
 cradle, which she had removed to a nice 
 spot in the shade of a large Mogul plum 
 tree that stood not far from the dairy. 
 Occasionally she went by to see if any 
 
146 B /llboccasin Bmong tbe 
 
 wood-insect had invaded his couch, or, if 
 he was awake, to have a little chat by 
 way of reassuring him against any sense 
 of abandonment or too profound solitude. 
 For he was not one of those exacting 
 babies who are everlastingly wanting to 
 be waited on, and shaken up, and sung 
 to, claiming all the attention they can 
 get, and more besides, not only in the 
 day but in the very night. What that 
 baby wanted, after his many meals and 
 his as many sleeps, was the consciousness 
 that congenial society was in convenient 
 call. His health was as perfect as the 
 very morning, and whenever he cried you 
 might feel sure either that a pin was 
 sticking somewhere, or that something 
 else was the matter which no grown-up 
 person could be expected to endure with 
 out complaint. At such times, when 
 Little Joe was there, he hovered around 
 that cradle as if the most precious of his 
 treasures lay therein. 
 
 Such devotion, in all the circumstances, 
 must have touched any heart, unless it 
 were of stone. Yet when, toward the be- 
 
B /l&occasfn Bmoncj tbc 1bobt>0. 147 
 
 ginning of fall, Little Joe began to plead 
 as once before he had done so all in vain, 
 Maggy cried and begged him to stop it. 
 He did as he was bidden, but with an in 
 ward resolve not to stop for good as long 
 as things stood as they were. For she 
 showed as plainly as day, even to the 
 humble Little Joe, that she didn t want 
 him to quit coming to the house, particu 
 larly now that Mrs. Jim Hobby had died 
 and so another gloom had been thrown 
 over the family. 
 
 "Mrs. Tiller," said my father one day 
 to Maggy s mother, who had come over 
 to our house, "you tell Maggy from me 
 that if Joe Hobby wants her she s mak 
 ing a great mistake not to take him. 
 Between you and me, I think she made 
 it before." 
 
 "Of course she did, and I think she 
 knows it; but you know she s a right 
 young widow, and she thinks she ought 
 to behave shy." 
 
 "Pshaw! You tell her that when you 
 told me that, I said Pshaw! not one 
 blessed thing but Pshaw! 
 
148 B flfcoccasfii among tbe Ifoobbgs. 
 
 "And then, you know, squire, poor 
 Mandy, Jim s wife, is dead now, and 
 he ll be against Joe all he can. He 
 have already been making his insinua 
 tions that Joe ^comes over to the house 
 oftener than he thinks is either called for 
 or is perfect delicate." 
 
 "Confound Jim Hobby! Wants her 
 himself, and he isn t worth half as much 
 as his brother. You tell her I said so." 
 
 And she did tell her, and in time this 
 message, or something else, seemed to 
 begin slowly having some little effect, 
 when an event occurred to expedite it. 
 
 Little Joe would have been ashamed 
 to be called a hero if he had known what 
 that meant. Yet in the action which I 
 am now going to tell, my father used to 
 say that there was as heroic behavior as 
 much of that one reads of in the careers 
 of those who 
 
 subdue 
 
 Nations and bring home spoils with infinite 
 Manslaughter. 
 
 Among venomous reptiles in the South- 
 
B /IBoccasfn Bmcmcj tbe Ibobbgs. 149 
 
 ern States, next to the rattlesnake, the 
 one most dreaded is the moccasin. Its 
 bite, except upon very young persons, is 
 seldom fatal; but very often its victim 
 has to lose some portion of the limb 
 which has been struck. The most prompt 
 treatment is necessary to prevent much 
 suffering and other serious consequences. 
 I shall let Little Joe speak for himself 
 about an encounter which he had with 
 one of those reptiles. 
 
 One morning, having come over to our 
 house on some little matter about the 
 line-fence, as he was ascending the steps 
 of the piazza, my father said: 
 
 "Good-morning, Joe. Why, hello! 
 what s the matter with your thumb, that 
 you ve got it wrapped in that cloth?" 
 
 " Mornin , squire. Then you hadn t 
 heard about my snake fight ?" 
 
 "No, indeed. I ve been away from 
 home for a couple of weeks, getting back 
 only last night. It seems you got the 
 worst of it." 
 
 " I did for a while ; but I come up with 
 him before it was all over." 
 
150 B Moccasin Bmong tbe 
 
 " My goodness, man! But I m very 
 glad it was no worse." 
 
 " So am I thankful to boot. What 
 time it lasted, it was a right serious 
 business, countin in my skear, and 
 Maggy s too." 
 
 " Ay, was Maggy in it also ?" 
 
 "Not in the fight, she wasn t, but in 
 the skear she were worse off than me; 
 fact is, she couldn t help it, bein of her 
 own baby." 
 
 "My! my! Tell me about it." 
 
 Smoothing tenderly the cloth around 
 his thumb, he began: 
 
 " It was a Thursday three weeks ago. 
 I walked over to Missis Tiller s, I reckon 
 the sun were about a hour or a hour and 
 a half high. Maggy were a-sweepin the 
 front yard about the gate. Her ma were 
 gone over to Missis Keenum s, and the 
 baby was layin in the cradle asleep un 
 der that big plum-tree, you know, squire, 
 there by the dairy." 
 
 "Very well. Finest Mogul plum-tree 
 in the neighborhood." 
 
 " Jes so. Well, soon as I got in the 
 
B dlboccastn Bmong tbe Ibobbgs. isi 
 
 yard and shook hands with Maggy, I 
 went on silent to see the baby, who him 
 and me are first-rate friends, we are." 
 
 "So I heard. Go ahead." 
 
 "When I got there, lo and behold! 
 there were a great big full-grown high 
 land moccasin quiled up on the baby s 
 breast, all exception of his head and his 
 neck, which stood high up, and his eyes 
 a-viewin of the child, like he were 
 studyin where he d begin on him. I 
 holloed out, I did, and Maggy she come 
 a-runnin up; but I pushed her back and 
 told her to stay back and keep silent. 
 She done it. She put one hand on her 
 breast and lifted the other toward the sky. 
 At that minute Jim come in the gate, and 
 he run up to see what were the matter. 
 Then he told me to stay there and watch 
 the snake till he could run in the garden 
 and cut a forked stick and prong him 
 with it. So Jim he left, and the fight 
 begun. Soon as the thing saw me, he 
 whirled his head away from the baby and 
 fixed for a strike at me. And, squire, it 
 were the fieriest, beautifullest thing you 
 
152 B Moccasin Bmons tbe 
 
 ever laid your eyes on. He were cer 
 tain, well as I were, that it were a life- 
 and-death case; because there wasn t any 
 chance for him to get away into the 
 woods, and no doubt he saw fight was 
 in me. But I didn t have one blessed 
 thing except my hands, and if I d had a 
 stick, the question would been what to 
 do with it, him a-layin there on the baby. 
 To make things worse, he woke, the baby 
 did, and he begun a-smilin at me, and I 
 were skeared nigh out of my senses, 
 thinkin he might kick or throw up his 
 hands, so the snake would turn on him 
 again. Then I got mad, sure enough, 
 and I said to myself, No, sir, not that 
 baby. If it s got to be anybody, it shall 
 be me. Every time I made a grab at 
 his neck he dodged and struck at me. 
 Well, sir, it s wonderful how supple the 
 thing were. I thought I had him once 
 or twice, but he slipped from my fingers 
 like a piece of ice, and mighty nigh as 
 cold, and several times with his strike he 
 were in the width of a hair of gettin me. 
 All of a sudden I thought of my hat and 
 
B flfooccaein Bmons tbc Ibobbgs. 153 
 
 thinks I to myself, Blast you, I ll try to 
 hive you! And I done it, after a few 
 wipes at him; but as I was pressin him 
 down he put his tooth in the ball of my 
 left-hand thumb. But I grabbed him by 
 the tail, give him a whirl or two like a 
 whip-thong, then, fetchin a jerk, slung 
 his head off. You know that s the 
 quickest way in the world to kill em. 
 Then Maggy come up, she did, and she 
 snatched up her baby, who waskickin his 
 level best at the fun ; but I told her to lay 
 him down for a minute, take a twine 
 string out of my coat-pocket, and tie it 
 tight round my thumb where I were 
 holdin it. For don t you know, squire, 
 it come to my mind that very minute of 
 Jay Robert s losin his whole thumb three 
 years ago that a moccasin bit, and that 
 under the water? Yes, sir, that it did. 
 Maggy screamed, but she done as I told 
 her. Then I told her to go and make a 
 pot of red-pepper tea, boilin hot, not 
 thinkin there was a drop of sperits in the 
 house. Soon as she got away, I hauled 
 out my knife. I give it a wipe or two 
 
154 B jflfcoccasfn Bmong tbe 
 
 on the bottom of my shoe, and then -- 
 Well, squire, whoever thinks there s fun 
 in cuttin off their own thumb at the j int, 
 they re welcome to it. But I grinned 
 and got through with the job, and by 
 that time Maggy s ma got back. She 
 told Maggy to fling that pepper tea away 
 and then she got out a level tumblerful 
 of whiskey and come out and made me 
 drink every drop of it. And then, while 
 Maggy was fixin to tie up what was left 
 of my thumb, she, a-knowin I couldn t 
 carry all that load of whiskey, she made 
 me go to bed, and tell you the truth, 
 squire, I never remembered another thing 
 till the next mornin daybreak, when I 
 woke up, callin for water." 
 
 "But where was Jim all this time?" 
 " They told me after it was all over 
 that Jim come back with his forked stick, 
 a-sayin it took longer than he thought to 
 get one to suit. Missis Tiller said she 
 thanked him, and told him that he better 
 put it away keerful, as it might come in 
 handy next time." 
 
 "That s Jim; that s exactly Jim," said 
 
dfcoccasin Bmong tbe Ibobbgs. 155 
 
 my father. " But, Joe Hobby, don t tell 
 me you came away from that house with 
 out getting Maggy s word, after what I 
 told you of the importance of being 
 brisker in some of your ways, especially 
 since Jim has become a widower." 
 
 "Oh, no, sir! I thought it were a 
 good chance to follow up your advice, 
 and I put in for her as well as I could; 
 and she said that, in all the circum 
 stances, she wasn t sure but what it 
 were her duty." 
 
 "That s good! that s first-rate!" 
 
 "But, law, squire! she declare she 
 must put off the weddin for at least one 
 whole year." 
 
 "Nonsense! You tell Maggy from 
 me, that, after all you ve done for her 
 and that baby, I say that I think it very 
 hard to be putting you off so long, and 
 that if any accident was to happen to you 
 in all that lonesome while she d never 
 forgive herself." 
 
 He carried the words, and in a few 
 days afterward reported that they had 
 
 compromised on Christmas. 
 11 
 
A Surprise to Mr. Thompson 
 Byers. 
 
 i. 
 
 A MILE above the village of Red Oak, 
 1\ in a snug log-cabin, with a few acres 
 bordering on the creek and the public 
 road, lived the widow Rowell and her son 
 Sandy, whose father, a few weeks before 
 his birth, had been killed by a tree which 
 he had felled. To him this little prop 
 erty, for a nominal price, had been set 
 off by the owner from his large tract. A 
 year or so before the occurrences herein 
 narrated, this generous neighbor had 
 deceased, and his land had been sold to 
 a purchaser named Thompson Byers. 
 Notwithstanding one sore infirmity of her 
 son, Mrs. Rowell, who was liked and 
 often helped by her neighbors, lived 
 reasonably well. She raised no cotton, 
 
B Surprise to /IBr. 3B^er0. 157 
 
 but depended for money wherewith to buy 
 such needed supplies as the place did not 
 produce, on the sale of butter, chickens, 
 eggs, and such other things as could be 
 spared. They kept always a horse for 
 ploughing their garden and patches for 
 corn, potatoes, and such. The one last 
 there having died, its place had been sup 
 plied by a large, good-conditioned mare 
 named Becky, a present from Stephen 
 Shepherd, a life-long friend of Sandy. 
 
 The attachment between mother and 
 son was closer, perhaps, because, al 
 though at this period five-and-twenty- 
 yearsold, he was yet, except in growth of 
 stature, a child, and destined to continue 
 so as long as he lived. About five feet 
 high, of stout build, his thick light hair 
 covered a small head, whose face, in spite 
 of its rather large front teeth, was hand 
 some, and when in entire repose denoted 
 much sweetness, as if in return for com 
 passion he would like to render any ser 
 vice for which his small resources were 
 competent. Yet even his bright, liquid 
 gray eyes showed that within was a tem- 
 
158 B Surprise to dfcr, 
 
 per quickly excitable to anger. His step 
 was rapid seldom, when out of doors 
 and not accompanied by his mother, or 
 not at work, confined to a walk. Mrs. 
 Rowell had found it necessary always to 
 curb his fiery spirit under strict rule, and 
 now, while intensely devoted, he had the 
 same dread of her displeasure as in 
 earliest childhood. He not often went 
 into the village alone, and at such times 
 he hardly needed the orders not to delay 
 after executing his errand; for in other 
 society than that of his mother and 
 Stephen Shepherd, he seemed to feel more 
 or less of confused embarrassment. He 
 seldom spoke, except when delivering his 
 brief message or making known his sim 
 ple wants. Talking in jerks, and with 
 stammering, seemed a painful operation, 
 as if he were conscious of the weakness 
 of his understanding and ashamed of not 
 being able to express his thoughts like 
 others, and it was evident that he felt 
 keenly the smiles sometimes indulged 
 in by thoughtless persons at his essays, 
 abortive as passionate. 
 
a Surprise to /Ifor. ^S^ere, i- r >9 
 
 Stephen Shepherd was a lawyer, living 
 in his bachelor home on the northern 
 edge of the village. A year or two 
 younger than Sandy, they had always 
 been warm friends, having grown up to 
 gether, the Shepherds living a quarter of 
 a mile farther out. A graduate of the 
 State College, he continued to hold to 
 his fondness for the simple folk and the 
 simple things of his childhood. During 
 his college years the weakling missed 
 him sorely. 
 
 "It looks like the child just longs for 
 you when you re away," the mother used 
 to say to him when, shortly after his 
 coming home at a vacation, he made 
 them a visit. It was only once in a long 
 while, and that upon affectionate, press 
 ing invitation, that Sandy could be pre 
 vailed upon to spend the night with his 
 dear friend; for somehow he could not 
 feel quite at his ease to lie down for 
 sleep except on his own bed in the little 
 shed-room behind his mother s. Yet 
 occasionally Shepherd, supported by Mrs. 
 Rowell, who hoped for some benefit to 
 
160 B Surprise to dfcr. 
 
 him from such a change, induced him, 
 while on the homeward return from the 
 village, to tarry; but the house-servant, 
 on awaking next morning, would find his 
 couch empty, its occupant, becoming 
 home-sick, having stolen away at the 
 dawn. 
 
 Mrs. Rowell, ever since Shepherd had 
 settled and become a lawyer, had been 
 going to him whenever she believed that 
 she needed counsel in her business. As 
 for troubles, but for her nighest neigh 
 bor, she would have had few worth 
 mentioning. The infirmity of her son 
 she regarded as a visitation from the 
 good God, who, she felt that she knew, 
 did not and could not mean it for any 
 thing but a mercy, whatever was its kind. 
 
 To people on the coming of Thomp 
 son Byers to live there, although a stout, 
 well-shaped, hearty-enough-looking man, 
 something about his eyes seemed wrong. 
 He could open them as well as anybody, 
 but when talking about trading, of which 
 he was quite fond, he did not, except at 
 intervals and for brief whiles. Yet they 
 
B Surprise to /IBr, 3B^er0, 161 
 
 did not hinder him from noting whatever 
 was for his own advantage. Billy Ellis, 
 a young farmer who lived next beyond 
 him, said one day: 
 
 "He wanted that little corner of my 
 land running into his, and as it would 
 save rails for me I was willing to let him 
 have it. I knew he was sharper with his 
 eyes shut than when open, and so I thought 
 I d watch him close while he was making 
 his long winks. You think he didn t see 
 into my hand and get the land for six 
 dollars an acre, when I found out after 
 ward that he d have given me eight, 
 maybe nine? He s dying to get Mrs. 
 Rowell s little corner; but Stephen Shep 
 herd will have something to say about 
 that, I guess." 
 
 Mr. Byers did want the land very much. 
 For several months after taking posses 
 sion of the adjoining property he had 
 been very neighborly, doing more than 
 his part of border-fencing and other 
 favors, and once, with friendliest words 
 and eyes closely shut, had suggested to 
 Mrs. Rowell that perhaps, if she could 
 
162 a Surprise to flfcr. 
 
 find a purchaser at a fair, even what 
 might be called a good, price, he wouldn t 
 be surprised if it might not be well 
 to sell that place and buy another on 
 higher ground somewhere, less subject to 
 damp influences, and so forth. She an 
 swered with as much reserve as her sim 
 ple, upright nature could command. He 
 appeared to be satisfied with her words, 
 and, after some other extremely cordial 
 assurances, went away. On the next 
 day Mrs. Rowell, having some occasion 
 to go into town, called at Shepherd s 
 office and reported what Byers had said. 
 "Mrs. Rowell," he answered, "do 
 you have no business with that man ex 
 cept through me. When he mentions the 
 subject again, as he is sure to do for 
 Billy Ellis says that he knows of his 
 wanting the place you might say that 
 you might be tempted to accept an offer 
 of thirty, or say forty, dollars an acre; 
 but don t agree with him at any price, 
 though, of course, he wouldn t give either 
 of those figures. Tell him that you 
 would not trade on any terms without first 
 
Surprise to d&r, 
 
 consulting with me. Thompson Byers is 
 smart, but not as much so as he thinks, 
 although Billy says that he s the smartest 
 man he ever saw. " 
 
 "Yes," she answered, smiling, "Billy 
 can t get over Mr. Byers six dollars an 
 acre for the strip he sold him, when he 
 found he could have got eight, maybe 
 nine." 
 
 Mr. Byers, a week afterward, was dis 
 gusted with Mrs. Rowell s cool, evasive 
 answer to his direct questioning. 
 
 "Why, Mrs. Rowell, you talk about 
 such big figures for this little old wet, 
 crawfishy, wore-out scrap of ground and 
 your house hardly fit for even the poorest 
 sort of white folks to live in, when you 
 know that good land all over the county 
 can be had for from five to seven dollars!" 
 
 "I don t want to sell the place, Mr. 
 Byers. The land is good enough for me 
 and Sandy, and so is the house." 
 
 "Yes, and there s that boy s father s 
 grave in your very garden to be always 
 reminding you, and him too, if he had the 
 sense to know, how he was killed. Seems 
 
164 a Surprise to flfcr, 
 
 to me that people with the right sort of 
 feelings would want to get clean away 
 from such a place, specially when they can 
 sell it for twice as much as it s worth, as 
 I had made up my mind, just for the con 
 venience of me and you both, that I d 
 give you ten dollars an acre, cash." 
 
 " As for my husband lying there in the 
 garden, about such things people are 
 not all alike, Mr. Byers. Some prefer to 
 get away from such places; but I am 
 one that don t. I d rather stay where I 
 can keep down the weeds and briars, and 
 it has never done me any harm, that I 
 can see, nor my poor boy either." 
 
 "Don t you think it made an idiot of 
 him, madam? the whole history of the 
 business, I mean ?" 
 
 Then he shut his eyes close, as if he 
 would not like to see the full effect of 
 this brutal speech. 
 
 Tears came into her eyes as, without 
 show of resentment, she answered : 
 
 " Nobody but you, Mr. Byers, ever 
 hinted such a thing as that to me, and 
 I m thankful to believe that you are the 
 
B Surprise to /IRr. ;JBEer0. 165 
 
 only person that would have done it, or 
 could have done it. 1 don t know the 
 ways of Providence, although you appear 
 to think you do. But I have never be 
 lieved for one single moment, and I 
 couldn t be made to believe, that that 
 affliction was sent upon me just to make 
 me suffer more than other people, or to 
 drive me away from this place, where I d 
 rather live than anywhere else. I wonder 
 you could have the heart to say such 
 things to me, Mr. Byers. " 
 
 "Oh, pshaw! I only meant to say 
 something for your own good. Maybe 
 I oughtn t to have said what I did about 
 Sandy." 
 
 "If I ever do take a notion to sell," 
 she said, as he rose, "I shall get Stephen 
 Shepherd to attend to everything for me." 
 
 "Stephen Shepherd! Ah ha! Lawyer! 
 Oh, yes! I know something about law 
 yers, and maybe you will, in time. 
 Well, I only thought I d like to straighten 
 my line, if you d sell on living terms; 
 but if you can stand it, madam, I suppose 
 I ll have to try to. If your object is sim- 
 
166 B Surprlee to flfcr. JBgers, 
 
 ply to spite me and disoblige me, after 
 all I ve done for you, you can do it, of 
 course; but I ll advise you not to let any 
 more trespassing than you can help be 
 done on my land. Morning, madam." 
 
 " Good-morning, sir. I shall be care 
 ful, as I ve always been." 
 
 As he walked off he muttered: 
 
 " People that have no accommodation, 
 nor no knowing what s best for their own 
 selves, it puts a man The rest was 
 
 kept within his breast. As he mounted 
 his horse, he observed Sandy, who had 
 just come from the garden with vegeta 
 bles that he had been sent to gather for 
 dinner. 
 
 " Hello, Elleegzander!" cried the part 
 ing guest: "hello, Elleezgander the 
 Great! How s your corporosity this 
 morning?" 
 
 Sandy looked at his mother, as if in 
 quiring what he must answer. 
 
 " Say nothing, my child." 
 
 " Noth n, sir," repeated Sandy. 
 
 Mr. Byers answered, smiling, "That s 
 so, old fel," then rode away. 
 
Surprise to dfcr. JS^ers. 187 
 
 "What he w-want, mammy?" 
 
 " He wants us to move away and let 
 him have this place. You wouldn t 
 want us to go to live anywhere else, 
 would you, my dear?" 
 
 "N-no m," he answered, looking re 
 sentfully at the back of the retiring 
 visitor. 
 
 "Then we won t," she replied, laying 
 her hand upon his shoulder. He looked 
 up into her face, happy at this assurance, 
 and to her eyes seemed beautiful, very 
 beautiful. 
 
 After that, no more favors were ex 
 tended by this neighbor to the little 
 family at the foot of the hill. Whenever 
 he passed the house, if he spoke at all, 
 his words were understood by Mrs. 
 Rowell as gibes. Sandy, whenever he 
 saw him, looked uneasy. Not that he 
 was afraid ; for he possessed uncommon 
 physical strength and had the feeling of 
 personal fear of no man. But Mr. Byers 
 began to put upon them petty provokings 
 that incensed him much, and it required 
 pains both on his mother s and Shepherd s 
 
168 B Surprise to flfor. 
 
 part to appease him. The Byers part of 
 the fence was not kept as it should have 
 been, and Sandy had several times to 
 drive out cattle that had broken into 
 their little pasture-field. Hearing of 
 these, Shepherd hired a man to split 
 the rails needed, and assist Sandy in 
 strengthening every weak point. 
 
 "Never mind Mr. Byers, Sandy," he 
 said. " Whenever he gets too bad, you 
 and I will take him down a bit." 
 
 "I k-kin do that, St-teevy, b-by my 
 self." 
 
 "Oh, no! Not without I or your 
 mammy says so. Hear ?" 
 
 "Y-yes; I hear." 
 
 "All right." 
 
 II. 
 
 SOME time during the still hours of a 
 calm, sweet night, an event took place in 
 the Rowell family which, though coming 
 not entirely without her expectation, 
 gratified the mother much, but, taking 
 Sandy by surprise, lifted him into great 
 delight. In the morning, a little before 
 
B Surprise to dfcr. ^5ger6, 169 
 
 sunrise, repairing to the stable with pro 
 vender for Becky, surprised that she was 
 not there waiting for her breakfast, he 
 went out to look for her. She was found 
 in a corner of the lot-fence, bending her 
 neck downward, and whinnying affec 
 tionately to a little something on the 
 ground, that looked as if it would like 
 to get up if it knew how. Sandy, after a 
 moment s gaze of wonder, ran to his 
 mother and almost dragged her to the 
 place. 
 
 "Why, Sandy, my darling, you scared 
 me ! Don t you see it s a colt that Becky s 
 got? Oh, I m so glad!" 
 
 The new-comer, after several essays, 
 rose to his legs, that widely spread them 
 selves in order to hold up the rest of him 
 as he made for his first meal. When 
 Sandy had taken in the situation, he 
 looked in frequent quick alternation at 
 the colt and his mother, whose hand he 
 yet held. She was smiling to see how 
 happy he was. A good man, even if he 
 had been an artist, would have thought 
 that it all made a goodly scene. 
 
170 a Surprise to dfcr. 
 
 They named him. Steevy, in honor of 
 their best friend. He soon learned, 
 after a fashion, to repay some part of the 
 great love of his owner; for the mother 
 said he was to be Sandy s own property. 
 He grew fast, giving promise of making 
 in time a good-sized, well-bottomed, hon 
 est horse; and doubtless he would have 
 done so, but for what I will now relate. 
 
 As Sandy was in that respect, Steevy 
 did not like to stay away from his dam 
 too long at a time. So one day, when 
 he was about a month old, Mrs. Rowell 
 and Becky went on a short visit to a sick 
 neighbor, feeling little doubt that Sandy 
 and Steevy could take care of themselves 
 for that little while. No sooner were 
 their elders gone, than these two, think 
 ing no harm of it, betook themselves to 
 the pasture, and were having all sorts of 
 fun possible on such a scale. After some 
 time, they found themselves not far from 
 the outer fence, being that portion which 
 belonged to Mr. Byers. On the other 
 side were feeding a couple of horses, 
 one of which, espying Steevy, ran 
 
B Surprise to /Ifcr. JBgers. 171 
 
 whinnying to a rickety panel, and, push 
 ing off several of the top rails, crossed 
 over the gap. Steevy, doubtless mis 
 taking the visitor (being of the same 
 color) for his dam, ran to meet. Sandy, 
 in alarm and wrath, rushed forth in loud 
 imprecations, when the intruder turned 
 and made exit, followed by Steevy. 
 While scampering along the edge of the 
 adjacent woods, at the firing of a shot 
 gun Steevy fell. The gunner hastily 
 withdrew, but not before he had been 
 observed and recognized by Sandy. 
 When the spot where Steevy had fallen 
 was reached, two of his legs were found 
 to have been broken. I could not tell 
 how he was got home, how cared for till 
 he died, and how bemoaned at and for a 
 long time after the burial. As his com 
 ing had been the greatest happiness that 
 Sandy had ever known, so his going be 
 came his most suffering sorrow. Even 
 his mother shed many tears at his pining. 
 But childhood, particularly that which is 
 perpetual, cannot be too long unhappy. 
 Stephen Shepherd promised him that the 
 1? 
 
172 B Surprise to /Ifcr. 
 
 slayer should be made pay enough money 
 to purchase another colt, two more if he 
 wanted them, and so after a little while, 
 like other people, gifted and not, adult 
 and young, he was consoled for the loss 
 of an old love by expectation of another. 
 
 He didn t tell anybody so, but in his 
 heart he thought that if the time was 
 ever to come when Stephen Shepherd and 
 himself were to take down Mr. Byers, it 
 ought to be already on its way. 
 
 Not only did Mr. Byers not offer con 
 dolence for their domestic affliction like 
 the other neighbors, but whenever he was 
 about to pass the Rowells he put his 
 horse into a canter and looked straight 
 before him. Yet, one morning, not long 
 afterward, he paid a little visit there; 
 for the sheriff on the preceding afternoon 
 had left at his house a writ from the 
 court. After cordial greeting, he said, 
 looking, what time his eyes were open, 
 out of the door: 
 
 "Mrs. Rowell, I don t know as ever 1 
 was so astonished when I found you had 
 sued me for a hundred dollars for Sandy s 
 
21 Surprise to /IBr. ^B^ers. 173 
 
 colt, that somebody told me was shot in 
 my woods. I ve tried to keep them town 
 boys out of my woods with their guns, and 
 I think it s hard for me to have to suffer 
 for their wrong-doings, though I can t 
 but doubt it was an accident. Still, as 
 it happened in my woods, rather than 
 have me and you bothered with a law 
 suit, I thought I d come over and see if 
 we couldn t make some sort of compro 
 mise." 
 
 Rising from her seat, with the air of 
 one who had more important matters to 
 look after, Mrs. Rowell said: 
 
 " Mr. Byers, you ll have to see Stephen 
 Shepherd. I m thankful that Sandy isn t 
 here, and I ll be obliged if you ll leave 
 before he gets back from where I sent 
 him." 
 
 He left immediately, until he had re 
 mounted his horse holding his eyes open 
 as much as their habit would allow. 
 Feeling that it was now too late to do 
 otherwise than defend the suit, although 
 eager for a settlement, he went for 
 learned counsel, and that to the wrong 
 
174 B Surprise to dfcr. 
 
 man. In the legal profession, along 
 with its very many great examples, are 
 to be found always some who know 
 neither how to counsel in cases, large or 
 small, nor how to conduct them. Mr. 
 Ryder, the lawyer sought by Mr. Byers, 
 spoke with such contempt of the bare 
 idea of a verdict against him upon the 
 testimony of an imbecile, that he became 
 rather ashamed of the anxiety which he 
 had felt. In spite of all, however, dur 
 ing the interval before the trial, many 
 times before his eyes, opened and shut, 
 would appear the sad ghost of poor Steevy. 
 
 " MRS. NANCY ROWELL } 
 
 1)erSUS \ ACTION ON THE CASE." 
 
 THOMPSON BYERS. ) 
 
 The call was made in a loud tone by 
 the presiding judge. The parties an 
 nouncing themselves ready, a jury was 
 empanelled. Sandy came within the 
 bar with much solemnity and was seated 
 close to his mother. Occasionally he 
 threw up toward the court a glance of 
 great awe, but during most of the time 
 
B Surprise to d&r. 3Ber0, 175 
 
 his constantly moving eyes darted alter 
 nately at his mother and his counsel. Mr. 
 Byers he did not seem to notice at all. 
 The latter looked surprised that such 
 a crowd had followed the plaintiff into 
 the court-room. 
 
 Shepherd opened this his first case with 
 the following statement: 
 
 "May it please the Court: Gentlemen 
 of the jury, this is an action brought by 
 Mrs. Nancy Rowell to obtain compensa 
 tion from Mr. Thompson Byers for the 
 shooting of a colt. As her attorney, I 
 have laid the damage at one hundred dol 
 lars. This sum is admitted to be more 
 than the animal was worth, although, 
 for some reasons, an important item in 
 her little property. But in cases like this 
 the law provides for the injured beyond 
 mere pecuniary values, by exacting of 
 the wrong-doer what is called smart- 
 money^ when wrongs are shown to have 
 been inflicted in circumstances peculiarly 
 aggravating. Such extra allowance, when 
 you have heard the testimony, I hope we 
 shall obtain by your verdict. I expect 
 
176 B Surprise to /IRr, 
 
 at least I shall offer to prove that this 
 colt was shot by the defendant upon his 
 own premises, and that its having been 
 thereon was due solely to his own 
 neglect, if not his own malicious con 
 trivance. I hope to make known the mo 
 tives to this act by proof of a series of 
 annoyances which he has put upon the 
 plaintiff and her family, perhaps con 
 scious of his power to violate with impu 
 nity the rights and feelings of those 
 whose very weakness served to make 
 them objects of his contempt. I shall 
 offer to show, further, that at the time of 
 firing the shot it appeared that he was 
 aware of the unlawfulness of his act, or 
 at least of some degree of risk in its per 
 petration. This, as I cannot but conclude 
 was manifested by his attempt fortu 
 nately for my client, without success to 
 screen himself from observation, by put 
 ting himself, immediately thereafter, be 
 hind the nearest large tree in his woods." 
 Suppressed groans were heard among 
 the bystanders during the pause that fol 
 lowed these words. The opposing counsel 
 
B Surprise to flfcr. JBgere. 177 
 
 cast threatening frowns all about, and 
 his client, but for the trembling of his 
 eyelids, might have been taken for fast 
 asleep. 
 
 "These facts, gentlemen," continued 
 Shepherd, " I propose to prove by a wit 
 ness who has been known to me inti 
 mately all my life, in whose veracity I 
 have as much confidence as I have in 
 that of any person of my acquaintance 
 indeed, a witness who was born, who has 
 always lived, and who now is, wholly in 
 capable of falsehood. If I do this, I 
 shall count upon your verdict, if not for 
 the full amount asked, then for such part 
 as your honorable judgments shall decide 
 to allow." 
 
 Turning from the jury, he said: 
 
 "Sandy, my friend, I m going to ask 
 you to tell the court and jury what you 
 know about Mr. Byers shooting Steevy. " 
 
 Mrs. Rowell taking his hand, they 
 arose, and, moving to the witness-stand, 
 turned facing the bar and the now large 
 gathering without. Sandy perhaps had 
 never kissed the Bible himself, but he 
 
178 B Surprise to d&r. 
 
 had seen his mother do so often. Then 
 it was Stephen Shepherd who had asked 
 him, and these satisfied him that it was 
 all right. 
 
 So, taking the book, as he had been 
 drilled, he put it to his lips, then handed 
 it back. 
 
 "I object to the witness," said defend 
 ant s counsel. 
 
 " On what grounds?" asked the court. 
 
 " On the ground, please your honor, as 
 counsel must know already, of incom- 
 petency. " 
 
 " Incompetency for what ?" asked Shep 
 herd. 
 
 "Oh, my brother Shepherd! On the 
 plain ground that he does not understand 
 the solemnity nor the responsibility of an 
 oath. That s the what for. " 
 
 Then he turned himself and looked far 
 above everybody s head. 
 
 "The court," replied Shepherd, "for 
 its own satisfaction will interrogate the 
 witness. Sandy, my boy, answer to the 
 judge. He ll do right by you." 
 
 Imitating his mother, he looked up 
 
B Surprise to jflBr, JBgers. 179 
 
 with respect that could not have been 
 greater if he had expected the judge 
 to restore Steevy to life. 
 
 " Sandy, my good lad," asked the judge 
 kindly, "do you know what it means to 
 swear in the court-house?" 
 
 " N-no, sir." 
 
 Defendant s counsel again looked 
 around, this time perhaps to read on 
 men s faces admiration for the quick 
 ness with which he had stemmed this little 
 flood. 
 
 "Do you know, Sandy," again asked 
 the judge, "what would be done to you 
 if you were to swear to a lie here?" 
 
 " N-never t-told no lie bout M-mis 
 Byers. He sh-sh-shoot Steevy, and 
 j-j-jump h-hind tree." 
 
 He was panting, and his eyes looked 
 hot as two newly molten bullets. Louder 
 groans and universal rose amid the 
 crowd. 
 
 "Silence /" roared the sheriff. 
 
 Mr. Ryder, rising in fury, began thus: 
 
 "May it please this honorable court! 
 I would ask if it is the right of counsel 
 
180 a Surprise to dBr. JBgers. 
 
 to seek an advantage over my client by 
 
 " Just then, loud enough to be heard 
 
 by the speaker, not quite by the judge, 
 Shepherd said: 
 
 " Mr. Ryder, I suggest that you be care 
 ful how you speak of me." 
 
 " The court does not wish to hear from 
 you, Brother Ryder," said the judge; 
 then his look at Shepherd indicated that 
 he would prefer the withdrawal of the 
 witness rather than have to pronounce 
 openly upon his evident incompetency. 
 
 " I shall have to suffer a non-suit, 
 your honor," said Spheherd. 
 
 Turning toward his opponents he said, 
 in a voice not high, but trembling with 
 indignation: 
 
 " Well, sirs, you may take your ver 
 dict. I ll try what can be done by the 
 grand inquest of the county in this case! 
 God Almighty is not going to allow this 
 one of his little ones to be so offended 
 and outraged without some degree of sat 
 isfaction!" 
 
 Then, in louder tones, with a finger 
 pointing at the defendant, he said: 
 
B Surprise to dfcr. JBgers. 181 
 
 " Sandy, come down. Mr. Byers won t 
 let you talk. Maybe he thinks you ve 
 told a lie." 
 
 Jerking away from his mother, the in 
 furiated boy literally threw himself upon 
 his adversary, and, when fallen, clutched 
 his throat. When his hand was wrenched 
 away, diving his head, he fixed his teeth 
 in the man s shoulder. There they clung, 
 even when his body was lifted by the 
 sheriff and one of his bailiffs, and they 
 had to be pried apart by the hands of 
 both. 
 
 For years afterward, Mr. Ellis was 
 foud of talking to the young and to 
 strangers about these things: 
 
 "And the scaredest, pitifullest-looking 
 human that I ever saw in all my born 
 days, when he was let up, was that same 
 Thomp. Byers. And you ought to ve 
 been there to hear the shouting and the 
 roaring! The judge made the sheriff 
 clear the court-house quick ; but every 
 body could see that he were glad of it. It 
 was plain as day that God Almighty 
 made up his mind that he d settle that 
 
182 B Surprise to /tor. 
 
 case himself. We used to accuse Stephen 
 Shepherd of setting Sandy on him, but he 
 never would acknowledge it; still, he 
 never denied it out and out, and from 
 that day law-business began to pour in 
 on him. Thomp. Byers knew better than 
 to let the grand jury get hold of him. 
 Besides, people said that he was afraid 
 all the time that Sandy might come up 
 with him on a sudden some day and 
 choke him to death, or eat him up alive. 
 So he paid up the case, costs and all, and, 
 soon as he could sell out, he put off for 
 the Mississippi. And would you be 
 lieve it ? it s so that same man got a piece 
 of my land once for six dollars an acre, 
 and I found out afterward that he d have 
 given me eight, maybe nine. I get mad 
 with myself every time I think about it. 
 Oh, he was smart; aheap smarter than 
 me. In some things, /think that Thomp. 
 Byers was about as smart a man as ever I 
 came up with." 
 
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 " THEA GERARD, author of " Orthodox," etc., and joint 
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 Paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " Romance pure and simple has full sway in Dorothea Gerard s new 
 story, A Queen of Curds and Cream. The author has written nothing 
 better, and one may well doubt if she has ever produced anything quite as 
 good." Boston Beacon. 
 
 T 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., i, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 NOV 9 1984 
 
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 JOL 101957 
 
 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY