SONNY S FATHER I tell you, Doc , it s a great an awful thing to be inherited. SONNY S FATHER IN WHICH THE FATHER, NOW BECOME GRANDFATHER, A KINDLY OBSERVER OF LIFE AND A GENIAL PHILOSOPHER, IN HIS DESULTORY TALKS WITH THE FAMILY DOC TOR, CARRIES ALONG THE STORY OF SONNY. BY RUTH JVPENERY STUART Author of " Sonny, a Christmas Guest," " Napoleon Jackson, the Gentleman of the Plush Rocker," "Aunt Amity s Silver Wedding," etc. ffllusttatefc NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1915 Copyright, 1910, by THE CENTURY Co. Published, October, zgio Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGH I. A MISFIT CHRISTMAS .... 3 II. WEALTH AND RICHES ... .29 III. THE WOMEN 59 IV. THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS ... 97 V. THE CHILD AT THE DOOR , . . 129 VI. KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION . 161 VII. ABSENT TREATMENT AND SECOND SIGHT . 190 VIII. LIGHT 219 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS " I TELL YOU, DOC , IT S A GREAT AN* AWFUL THING TO BE INHERITED " Frontispiece FACING PAGE " THAT s THE WAY ALL THE ORPHANS LL BE TOOK CARE OF WHEN WHEN THE MILLENNIUM COMES " . 44 " THE CHIEF 0-RATER " 62 THE MOTHERS MEETING 68 " HER BICYCLE WAS THE FIRST EVER RID DOWN THE SlMPKINSVILLE ROAD " 76 " LOCATED so THET YOU MIGHT BE LOOKIN RIGHT AT IT AN NOT SEE IT " 106 " EVERY LITTLE ORPHAN ASYLUM CHILD is IN A SENSE WAITIN OUTSIDE OUR GATES " . . . . . 138 " HOW CAN ANY INSTITUTIONAL CHILD HAVE A FAIR CHANCE O BEIN FULLY HUMAN? " . . - .156 " WHEN THAT HEATHEN CHINEE COME TH OUGH " . 184 " AN SO WE SET IT OUT. AN NOW, I M GLAD WE DID " 196 " Do YOU RICOLLEC HOW I TURNED MY DUMB FACE TO YOU IN WONDERMENT? " 220 SONNY S FATHER SONNY S FATHER i A MISFIT CHRISTMAS ELL, well, well! Ef there ain t the doctor! At the steps befo I discovered him ! That s what I get for standin on step-lad ders at my time o life. Ef you d a been a brigand you d V had me, Doc both hands up. I was tempted o the heathen by these big Japanese persimmons. Here, lay these on the banister-rail for me, Doc an look out! Don t taste em, lessen you want yo mouth fixed to whistle. That puckerin trick runs in the family. Yas, they re smooth an handsome, but gimme the little ol woods persimmon, seedy an wrinkled an sugared by the frost, character lines all over its face same as a good ol Christian. A. t : ; : : SONNY s FATHER ,; ; Merry : Christmas, ol friend! ef it is three days after. This first shake is for " Merry Christ mas, " an this is for thanks for yo Christ mas gif. It did seem to be about the only one thet amounted no, I won t say that, neither. They was all well-meant an kind, an I Ve been on the edge of cryin all day, thess to think although - But come along into my room an see the things. Oh, yas ; I reckon it was a sort of " ovation " to celebrate my sev enty-fifth Christmas this-a-way an to make it a surprise party, at that. It seems thet Mary Elizabeth, Sonny s wife, give out along in the summer thet this was to be my seventy-fifth Christmas, an invited accordin ly all the village an country-side. She jest give it out pro miscuous, tellin everybody thet the only person thet wasn t to know about it was me on pain of not havin it. That was what you might call a stroke of ingenious- ness. They ain t a person in the county thet would miss havin an unusual thing like that, an so the secret was pretty safe-t. She never wrote no invitations. She d A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 5 thess tell every person she met to instruct the next one. So nobody s feelin s was hurted. She declares she never hinted about presents; but it must a been in her voice an 7 her intimations unbeknownst to herself, for not a mother s son or daughter come empty-handed. Sh-h-h! I notice the sewin -machine has stopped an she might - But I tell you here - - sh ! I say, I tell you, doc, I can t turn around in my own room. An sech ridic I tell you, I never was so miserable In my life! Oh, of course, they s exceptions. There s yo present, f r instance. Sech a pocket-knife as that why, it s a he redity! I Ve got it down in my will a ready that is to say, I Ve got it codi- ciled to my namesake. What you say? Oh, no; I wouldn t have no child named Deuteronomy, the way Sonny an I was. I m come to a reelization of it. He an Mary Elizabeth, why, they of fered it through excess of devotional feelin . I see you recall the circumstance now. He s named after a certain auburn- haired doctor an yet, as I say, he s my namesake named something else, 6 SONNY S FATHER for my sake. We jes call im Doc for short. Yas, he 11 get that knife, though I hope to season it a little an get the blades wore down some before he receives it. It was real white in you to send sech a thing as that. A person might a sup posed thet you d a sent a fresh box o porous plasters, or maybe a bottle o lithia tab- Why, no; of co se I didn t fear it. How could I an be surprised? But ef I had been anticipatin the party, I d a thought o yo drug-sto show-case, an they ain t never anything appetizin in it to me. You cert n y deserve credit not even to select sech a thing as a hammock or a head-rest, although ef you had, I d never a questioned it. Yes, I got a few head-rests, some stuffed with hops an* some with balsam, an one poor neck-roll perfumed with something turrible asaf etida, I reckon. I Ve laid that out to sun. Mary Elizabeth says they re good to ward off who opin -cough, an I told her I d rather have the who opin -cough than it. Oh, yas; the party was fine, an , as I A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 7 said, they was a lump in my throat from the arrival of the first visitor, although it was Moreland Howe, an you know I never hankered after Moreland. I reckon the reason my throat lumped up so at him comin was the thought thet even More- land had come to wish me joy. You see, he give my emotions a back lick an it s thess like im. He brought me that ridiculous thing hangin from the swingin lamp over my readin -table in the hall there. What you say! " What is it! " God knows, doctor, an he ain t told me. I suspicion it s thess a sort o eye-ketcher, to be looked at, although I d rather look at almost any thing I know. It s a thing thet, ef a per son was anyways nervous, would either help him or hender him. He might find ease in tryin to count the red an purple worsted tassels, or the flies thet light on em; but ef he did, seem to me he would come to realize thet there was holes in the perforated paper thet could n t be counted, an well, I don t like to discuss it. It s the kind o thing she or I never liked not thet I ve ever seen its exact match. The only use she ever had for perforated 8 SONNY S FATHER paper was to make crosses for pulpit book marks an I Ve made em myself whilst she d be darnin , thess startin with one row o between-holes an cuttin each one bigger until the desired size was reached, an then pastin em one on top o the other, accordin to size, so s the middle would rise up like sculpture. Then they re fastened on to the ends of ribbins to hang out in view o the congregation. Now, there s a useful thing an suitable. You know, Moreland was engaged to be married once-t, an I suspicion thet this dangle is one of his engagement presents thet he s had laid away. I Ve got a con- speracy in my mind thet 11 rid me of it - in time. I m go in to tech it over keer- fully with what attraction I can scrape off o fly-paper, quick as spring opens, an when Moreland sees how they Ve ruined it, why, I 11 drop it in the stove with regrets. He s dropped in twice-t a ready sence it s hung there, thess to enjoy it, although he ain t crossed this threshold before but once-t in three year. I tell you, doctor, they s nothin thet stimulates friendship like givin . Ee- A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 9 ceivin is cheap compared to it, ez the Bible declares. Yes, but we were mighty sorry you couldn t come to the party, doctor; an ef it had been anything but another birth day occasion thet kep you away, we d a made a row about it. Of course the babies, bless their hearts ! they must have all the attention thet they can t demand. I tell you, things are a heap more equal ized in this world than short-sighted mor- ,tals can discern. But you ain t seen the bulk o the pres ents yet, doctor. Wait a minute tel I have time to put on my hypocritical smile an I 11 take you in. We 11 be ap to meet Mary Elizabeth, an I owe it to her par ticularly to be as deceitfully cheerful as I can over it ; in fact, I owe it to all them thet took part in it. I wouldn t mind it so much ef I could shet my room door an get into bed an see the interior landscape thet I m used to, but Sh-h-h! I hear her slippers. She s heared you an she s comin out. Here s doctor, daughter. An I m thess takin im in to view my purties. 10 SONNY S FATHER So now, I s pose my popularity is in a manner proved, as you say, an it s all mighty fine an gratifyin . But after I ve lived with my constituency for a while, so to speak, I m goin to get you to separate em, Mary Elizabeth, an let the whole house feel it. No, don t say a word! It s got to be done. Do you think I m that selfish thet I d appropriate all the com bined popularity of daughter an son an gran child en! The truth is, Doc, this has got to be a turrible popular house sence Sonny has been elected school director an little Marthy is old enough to have a choice o hair-ribbins. An Mary Elizabeth she always was pop ular. An I see she s lookin at her watch : we re keepin er too long. I s pose a watch gets looked in the face the first week of its ownership often enough to lose coun tenance forever except it knew it would have plenty of retirement, later on. Most ladies watches lead lives of leisure. Yas, I give it to her. I think every lady should have a good gold watch an chain, ef for nothin else on account o the chil dren rememberin " ma with her watch an A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 11 chain. " An the various daguerreotypes looks well with em. It s a part o gentil ity, a lady s watch is, whether it s kep wound up or not. An in case o breakin up a home, a watch looks well on the inventory. Little Marthy her grandma s namesake of course she s got hers, an it ain t no mean timepiece, neither. It s got a live purple amethyst on one side, an the chain goes ,around twice-t an ef the day comes when she wants to take my old picture out o the case an put in a younger man s, I 11 be that much better pleased to know thet joy stays with us, along with time. I wonder ef that ain t a purty fair joke, doctor, for a seventy-fiver settin amongst his troubles, too. I m glad she slipped away. She s sech a modest little thing went thess as soon as I referred to her popularity. I would n t a* wanted her to stay an look over my presents with you. It d a made me tongue-tied. Come along, Doc. That s right. You lif that an I 11 pull this back whilst I shet the door with my foot. I tried to open that door yesterday from my bed the way I Ve always done, but by 12 the time I d got the things out o the way they wasn t anything left to use but my teeth, an ruther than resk my plate on that glass door-knob I got up an h isted a few things on to the bed an the re bellion thet came into my heart I d like to forget. I Ve doubted the doctrine of total depravity all my life, as you know, but maybe it s so, after all in my case, at least. I reckon, like as not, all doctrines is true, more or less, in some lights, or else so many people would n t see their ways to believin em. The way I Ve sinned over these presents has filled me with regretful remorse. Look out! Don t step! Wait a minute! Some o the children has wound it up. I hear it whir. Here it comes from under the bed. We must Ve shook the floor. What do you think o that, now? Sir? Why, it s said to be a seed-counter. Jim Bowers brought it. He says thet when it travels that-a-way it s prowlin for food an it craves peas an beans to count. What s that you say I " Did I give it any? " No, I didn t. Not a one. I was too nettled to give Jim that satisfaction. I know it s some dod-blasted patent thet A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 13 he s been took in with, an he thought thet bein as I was in my second childhood, I d be tickled over it an I got contrary. I really wouldn t care so much ef the thing wasn t so all- fired big. It takes up as much floor-room as a chair, an I m compelled to keep it in sight for a while. Who in thunder wants seeds counted, even ef the fool thing could do it? It s more like a toe-snatcher, to me; an I in tend to have it chained to the table-leg, a safe-t distance from my bed. I never did like the idee of havin my bare feet nabbed in the dark. Our littlest he s mighty mischievious, an no doubt he heared me an you start to come in, an he s sneaked in an wound up Look out, there ! I say he s been in here an wound up things. That ain t nothin but a mechanical rooster, but you don t want to step on it. See him stretch his neck an did you ever hear anything so ridic lous! I s pose I must ac mighty childish for people to fetch me sech pres ents. An yet, I ruther like that rooster. It tickles me to see the way he exerts Ms- self. Hold on, Doc ! That s on the bureau an 14 it can t do you no harm. Yas, he s wound em all up, the little scamp, an 7 like as not he s watchin us from somewheres. Thess to think, Doc, thet we was boys ouce-t. It s the fullest-to-the-brim of hap piness of all the cups of life, boyhood is, I do believe. Don t start! Thet s thess a donkey savin s-bank, an it 11 " yee-haw! " that- a-way now tel a nickel s dropped in its slotted ear. He s the family favoryte of all the presents, an he s heavy with money a ready. What s that you say? " He 11 bray tel he runs down "? But he don t never run down not within the limit of human endurance. They say they re the best money-savers on the market. They re so ridic lous, most anybody 11 spend a little change to see em perform. The feller showed his genius in makin the deposit go to hushin em. He knew thet once-t he got started, a man would give his last cent to silence him. Did you ever hear so much sound out of sech a little An his last bray is as loud as his first. Here, drop this in his ear, for gracious sakes, so we can talk. A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 15 Oh, them? They re picture-frames con structed out o chicken-bones. I s pose maybe they s jestice in this museum, but they don t seem to be mercy. It seems thet a lady down in Ozan has been givin lessons in makin em. Yas, chicken-bones steeped in diamond dyes; an they say they s seventeen kinds o flowers an four fruits represented. I ain t studied em out yet, but I can see they ve used drumsticks for buds, mostly. An the neck-j ints, unj inted, they re wide-open perrarer-flowers. The heads is seed-pods, an so is the popes -noses; an I have an idee thet the chrysanthe urns an asters is constructed mainly of ribs. Of course it d take a num ber, but on a farm Why, yas ; I s pose it is purty uncom mon purty considerin ; but in things of beauty I don t like to have to consider, an the thing don t appetize me worth a cent. Them gum-ball frames, now, an the sycamores an pine-cones do very well. But when it comes to framin my relations, I sort o like to put my hand in my pocket an do em store- jestice. An these nature- 16 SONNY S FATHER frames they ketch dust an harbor spi ders. Between you an me, I don t intend to give them graveyard chicken-frames house room more n thess so long, an the only real use I can think to put em to is a raffle; so I 11 donate em to the next county fair to be raffled for expenses. You see, they d be suitable for the flower, fruit, an fowl departments, an they pleg me, thess knowin they re here. Mary Elizabeth she ain t give no opinion of em yet, an she may consider em suit able to frame a couple o stuffed birds she s got; an ef she does, why, she s welcome. She d likely gild hers to match the pine-cone frame round her mother. She s got it trimmed with a piece of her ma s favoryte silk dress, fastened in one corner by a little pin she used to wear. She considers suitableness in everything, Mary Elizabeth does. These slippers I ve got on was her pres ent. She worked the initials, an they re lined with a scrap o one o wife s old wool dresses, an I like to know it. That new readin -lamp ? Why, Sonny he give me that. The old one was good A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 17 enough a-plenty, but it seems thet these new ones have special organdy burners or no, I reckon it was the old one thet had the organdy burner, an this one is to wear a mantle, he says. Either one reminds me of her, either the organdy or the man tle, an , of course, I need the best light now for my night chapter o the gospel. The little feller why, he made the stand it sets on, an the mats was crocheted by the girls. Oh, I got lots of nice suitable things, an I appreciate everything, nice or not, ex- ceptin that seed-counter, an I never will be reconciled to bein made cheap of. I hate a fool, even when it s inanimate. Yas, that s a map o the world. Henry Burgess brought that. Yas, it does seem a nice thing, an I said so, too, an I m glad I praised it bef o I saw the date on it. After that, I d a been compelled either to pervaricate or to fail in politeness, an it s always easier to fall on a piller than into a brier-patch. Good hearted people has to look sharp not to become cheerful liars. I Ve looked for places I know on the map, but it s either non-committal or I m is SONNY S FATHER not observant enough. They don t seem to be no Philippine Islands on it whatsoever, but like as not they wasn t thought much of then an they re secreted somewhere. I always did like the look of a wall- map, when I go into an office or court house, but I doubt whether I 11 ever fully relish this on my own wall. A clock thet won t keep truthful time always plegs me, an this threatens me the same way. Oh, no ; that ain t to say a toy, exac ly that nigger doll on the mantel. It s a pin cushion; an the heathen Chinee, why, he s a holder of shavin -paper; an the stuffed cat it s a foot-rest. I notice it s mouse-e t at the corners, so the conwo ziers ain t deceived. I see somethin has stole the hickory-nut head o the toothpick lady a ready, an I suspect it s the fly in -squirrel I caught sniffin at her yesterday. An that pile o ribbins? Oh, they ve come off o all the things. That was the first thing I done, rippin them off. They d ketch in my hands so an gimme goose-skin the len th o my spine. I Ve passed them over to Mary Eliza- A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 19 beth, an she 11 likely work em into crazy- patches or hair-ribbins for the girls. That? Excuse me whistlin . That s whisky, doctor. An who do you reckon sent it? Who but Miss Sophia Falena Simpkins, the twin an they both teeto talers! Shows their confidence in me. " How old is it? " Well, she allowed it was as old as they was, an of co se that stopped my inquiry, but it s old enough to be treated with respect an not abuse. Yas, that four-in-hand necktie was tied on its neck from the other twin. Oh, it s the reverend stuff, an that thimble-sized, hat-shaped glass over the cork seems to stand for their maidenly consciences, an I won t never violate the hint. That shoe-an -slipper holder with all the nests in it was sent in by our chapter of the King s Daughters, each daughter con- tributin one nest, as I understand it; an it s ornamental on the wall, although my one contribution looks middlin lonesome in it. Of co se I always have on either my slippers or my boots, an when I get into bed it s unhandy to cross the room thess to put either one up in style. The first night it hung there the children 20 SONNY S FATHER all come an put in their slioes for the night, but that was awkward. They had to go out bare-feeted. Yas, the motter is suitable enough. " Rest for tired soles " is about as inof fensive as a motter could well be. An so is this, on one o the umbrella-holders, " Wait tel the clouds roll by," although it seems a sort o misfit for an umbrella. " When it rains it pours " would be more to my mind. Yas, I Ve got three. " Little drops of water, " this one seems to have on it ; an this one says I never can read them German-tex letters. What s that you say? " Expansion for protection only "! It s well to be highly educated like you, doctor. I would n t a made that out in a week. It sounds sort o deep- seated to me, like ez ef more was meant than you see at first 1 I wonder ef it could refer to politics, some way. " Expansion for protection only." It cert n y sounds political. Why, of co se, Jedge Whitte- more, he sent me that an he s so op posed to annexin the Philippines. Yas, they did fetch a ridic lous lot o pen- wipers, for a person o my sedate hab its, I never did fly to the pen much. You A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 21 see, when a present is more or less obliga tory, why, a pen-wiper is an easy way out. Almost any cloth shape repeated an tacked in the middle with some sort o centerpiece, like an odd button, rises into prominence with the look of a present. Of co se I have wrote letters, from time to time, in days past. I was counting only last Sunday, the letters I Ve wrote in my life, an 7 , includin my proposal-letter, which I wrote an handed to her personal, on account o the paralysis of my tongue I say, countin that, I Ve wrote seven let ters all told ; an I regret to say, one of the seven was writ in anger, an two in apology for it, so thet they s only four real credit able letters to my credit, an one o the four was n t to say extry friendly, al though it sounded well. That was the one I wrote to Sally Ann, time her first husband, Teddy Brooks, died. Poor Teddy could easy a been kep livin along a few years more, ef not permanent, ef he d been looked after an excused from so much motherly cradle service. Of co se I knew Sally Ann, an thet she was nach- elly a public performer, an would be readin er letters of consolation out loud 22 SONNY S FATHER to whoever dropped in, an I composed it accordin . An 7 so she did, for she wrote me thet my note of condolence was the most eloquent of all she got t so every body said." She beats the Dutch, Sally Ann does. I don t suppose she ever took a mo ment s comfort in seclusion in her life, no more n a weather-vane. Poor Sally! But talkin about this excessive circula tion of presents thet s come into fashion these last years, I don t approve of it, doc tor; an you know it ain t thet I m stingy about doin my part. I 11 give a present, ef need be, an I 11 even command the grace to take one, I seem to Ve proved that, but it s the principle of the thing thet troubles my mind. Some of our best-raised girls has got flighty that-a-way after goin to boa din - school, where they learn a heap more n Latin verbs an finishin behavior. Not thet I don t appreciate what they do ac quire. It seems to lift em into a higher region of ladyhood, I know, an it s a thing you can t locate. Wife had a year at Hilltop Academy, an I always thought she showed it, even in A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 23 the way she d gether eggs in er apron, or keep still tel another person quit speakin . But of co se they s boa din -schools an boa din -schools, an them thet fosters idle hands I don t approve of; an the fact thet a parent may be able to pay for it ain t got nothin to do with the divine re sponsibility as I see it. The idee of an earthly parent bein willin to put up big money to have his own flesh an blood in- capacited for misfortune! Oh, yas; they give me considerable books. They Ve complimented my educa tion to that extent. This " pronouncin - Testament," for instance, I seized with delight, hopin to get the real patriarchal pronunciations. I wanted to see if sech jokes as " Milk-easy-Dick " an " Knee- high-miah " and " Build-dad-the-shoe- height " was legitimate frivolity, but I ain t had no luck so far. I sort o wonder what kind of a man would aspire to write a Bible-pronouncer. You know sence Sonny s taken to writin books, an we Ve had an author s readin here, I always seem to discern a person behind every volume. Yas; they ? re usin several of Sonny s 24 SONNY S FATHER nature-books in the schools, now, an* he has mo orders n he can fill, but he won t never hurry. You know he never did. He 11 study over a thing tel he s satisfied with it, before any temptation would in duce him to write about it. That s why he gets sech high prices for what he does. It don t have to be contradicted, an no pleasure of the imagination will make him lead a dumb beast into behavior thet s too diplomatic or complicated. He s done some jocular experimentin , set eggs under inappropriate beasts an sech as that, but he ain t had no luck. All our beasts-of-a-hair seem to flock to gether same as birds of a feather. He lows thet he s often seen expressions on our dog s face thet looked like ez ef he might be capable of intrigue or religious exaltation, but Sonny ain t felt justifiable in ascribin motives thess on his facial in dications not even when it s backed by the expression of his tail. You ain t goin f Well, I m a friend to all the sick, so I won t keep you. Yo visit has done me good, doctor. I always did love to hear you talk. We agree an disagree thess enough for sugar an spice. A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 25 Oh, yas ; it s been a merry Christmas ; no doubt about that. An the fun ain t fully over, either. I 11 amuse myself with the presents thet s been adjudged suitable to my mind, when time hangs too heavy. I thought last night thet some time I d empty that bottle o iron pills I never took I d empty em into the seed-coun ter when it was on some of its migrations ; an ef it knew the difference an spurned to count em, I d try to have some respect for its intellect. 6r0od-by, Doc, an a merry Christmas! Surely, say it again: " Merry Christ mas! " That lasts here tel we can say " Happy New Year! " They say our Christmas laughter was heared clair acrost Chinquepin Creek, an ol Mis Gibbs, settin there paralyzed in her chair, she laughed with us whilst she enjoyed the basket-dinner Mary Elizabeth sent over to her. Yas, them s her cardin -combs. She could n t come to the surprise party, so she sent them to me. Her hands refuse to hold em any longer, an she allowed no doubt thet I might while away my last moments that-a-way. But of co se she 26 SONNY S FATHER didn t know me. I may be old an child ish, but even ef I was to turn baby again, I d be a boy-baby. Yas, I know I could use em, but I won t. It s true I made Bible book-marks, but they was for a man to preach by, an a housewifey woman set beside me, sewin whilst I made em. That was enough to difference me. Why, ef I was to get so sedated down thet I could set up here an do feminyne work, I d feel belittled, an no man can stand that. Well, good-by, ef you must. Here, ol friend, gimme yo hand an lemme hold it still thess a minute. So much of our earthly hand-shakin is thess touch an go an I like to realize a friend s hand once-t in a while. An now I Ve got it, I want to keep it whilst I say some thin . Settin here these long hours sence this blessed Christ mas day, which, after all my jocular ana- lyzin , has moved me to tears, I Ve had a thought a thought which has give me comfort, an I m goin to pass it on to you. Settin amongst my misfit presents, yes terday, mad one minute an chokin with A MISFIT CHRISTMAS 27 laughter an throat-lumps the next, I sud denly seemed to hear a line o the old hymn, " My Christmas will last all the year," an then I was thankful thet my Piscopal experience had furnished me a ready answer to that: " Good Lord, de liver us! " An then, with my funny-bone fairly trimblin an my risible eye on the fly catcher, the sweetest thought come to me like a white bird out of a wind-storm. Harassed as I was with all these pres ents, I could n t seem to contemplate a con tinuous Christmas of peace, noways, when suddenly I seemed to see the words befo me, differently spelled. Instid of " e-n-t-s " I saw " e-n-c-e," an right befo my speritual vision I saw, same ez sky-writin , " The Christmas Pres ence " thess so. Maybe it won t strike you, but it was a great thought to me, doctor, an " Christ mas all the year " had a new sound to my ears. Think of that, doctor of livin along in the azurine blue, beholdin the face of the Little One of the manger by the near light of the Bethlehem star! 28 SONNY S FATHER Or maybe seein the Beloved leanin on a piller of clouds, illuminin our listenin faces with the gleam of his countenance whilst he d maybe repeat the Sermon on the Mount from the book of his eternal memory. Think of what an author s readin that would be an what an audi ence! An it s this Christmas Presence thet inspires all our lovin thoughts here below, whether we discern it or not. An what we 11 get on the other side 11 be realisation a clair vision with all the mists of doubt dissolved. This is the thought thet come to me yes terday, doctor, out o the cyclone of play ful good will thet got me so rattled. An it s come to stay. An with it, how sweet it will be to set an wait, with a smile to welcome the en- durin Christmas thet 11 last " all the year "an forever. II WEALTH AND RICHES T does me good, doctor, to have you thess drop in this a-way, an 7 nobody sick. Shows you really like us. Yas, I think the addition is goin to im prove the place a heap. I like a house thet grows to its needs. Apt to be a snugger fit than them thet s built big to be growed up to. Each addition stands for some event, an* the whole house is a regular history-book. No, we ain t buildin no new parlor. T ain t needed. That one holds the six chairs an the rocker an arm-chair an the center-table, an when sociables or any thing meets out here, why, they can slide open the doors and fetch in camp chairs. Yas, we re puttin slidin doors in; thess for convenience, though, not for grandeur. It 11 open up the house con sider ble, an often make one fire do in place o two. 30 SONNY S FATHER Yas, Mary Elizabeth she planned it mainly. She did mean to lower the mantel a foot or two. It s tolerable high. But I ve got so used to lookin up to the row o daguerreotypes, it would n t seem quite proper to bring em down even with my eyes. The new room over the dinin -room, with the glass bulged-out winder, why, that s for Sonny s study, away Pom the noise o the children, an it s to be het with a good log fire ; an the long room they re puttin on behind, why, it 11 open up into the very limbs of the oaks, nearly, an that s to be give over to the little ones, for rainy days an whenever they want to stay there. What s that you say? Oh, shoo, doctor. Well, I reckon they do say Sonny s gittin rich, thess because he s buyin mo lanl an addin a ell to his house. But I d nachelly hate to have him regarded ez rich. He ain t got no ambition that a-way. He makes a good income offn his books, an keeps strong runnin the farm. That sup- po ts the family comf table, an I suppose he 11 be a wealthy man if he lives an* I hope he will. How s that, doctor? You " don t see WEALTH AND RICHES 31 no difference "1 No difference twixt wealth an riches? Well, maybe they ain t in the dictionaries. An maybe they re the same out of it, for all I know ; but to my mind they seem two distinc things. To me wealth seems to stand for pros perity, like it might be distributed, but riches they always seem to be confined to a few. When I think o wealth, I seem to see pastures an flocks an herds, an maybe to hear the buzz of machinery - gin-houses an factories; but riches, well, riches might be money stowed away. A home of wealth ought to be broad an* piazzered round, with big rooms, an 7 wide front doors with easy-movin hinges to open to the stranger. But a rich man s residence why, I don t no more n say the word befo I seem to see cupalos an towers rise up, an proud cornishes, an stiff doors with pat ent locks an bolts. To bring it down to few words, wealth always seemed to me to be abundance in use, an riches superabundance stacked on shelves. Wealth lies in comforts, an riches is ap 32 SONNY S FATHER to be cold money. Yas, I d like my folks to be wealthy, ef they could without wrongin anybody, but I d be humiliated ef they was ever to allow theirselves to git rich. I can t say thet I think the bare accu- mulatin of too much money is a Christian thing, anyhow. I m inclined to agree with Scripture on that p int. Of co se we all know thet no camel couldn t git th ough the eye of no needle thet wasn t made a-purpose, even ef he humped hisself worse n he s humped a ready; an they s mighty few big for tunes in money thet ain t in a manner gethered up into humps on their owners backs, so thet they re too broad for the gate o the kingdom. Yas, when a man s money starts to run to cupalos, why, I begin to be anxious about him. T ain t thet I ve got any ob jection to the cupalo. It s the manners an behavior thet goes with em. It don t take em long to git cupalo-minded. I ve seen some mighty good people try it, an the tower would n t be topped hardly befo they d begin to be overbearin an want to be classed ez " leadin citizens " WEALTH AND RICHES 33 an all sech ez that. You know that sort o racket ain t got no Christian sperit to it not a bit. An yet, even whilst I m a-sayin this, doctor, my conscience pricks me, for I re alize thet while I ain t no cupalo-man myself, I ve taken pride in the two or three thet s here an there in the county. Al ways want to make shore any stranger 11 see em. Yas, that could, ez you say, be called State pride, maybe, but I know t ain t worthy. I suppose a man has to die befo he gits shet of all folly. No; my idee of a " leadin citizen " is the man thet leads off in wise counsel an public benefits ; a man thet 11 care more to have the children o the poor learned to read the Holy Scriptures in plain Ameri can than to have his own son teached to talk Philippine or Latin ; a man thet 11 put his cupalo-money into sidewalks in the back streets his folks don t need to travel in, an thet 11 lead off in singin in church long with the congregation, instid o set- tin up in his pew, dumb ez a clam, with his ears cocked for choir criticism. Sir? Oh, don t beg the question, doctor. Of co se, ef he ain t got no voice, he can t 34 SONNY S FATHER sing, but lie can hold one side of his wife s hymn-book an keep the place. A voiceless man is fo ced to sing by proxy to that ex tent, an I think he d be registered ez a singer in heaven, ef he done it worshipful. No; to my mind, a great part o the so-called " leadin citizens " I ve known most about haven t been leaders at all. They Ve been overriders, an when a good- natured man overrides a community with a passably generous hand, why, it s hard to turn him down. Takes courage. Oh, I ain t mentionin no names, but you an me Ve been livin in the State of Ark- ansaw sence long befo the newcomers started to take on new pronunciations an gingerbread work, an I reckon we know who Ve been some of its leadin citizens. We d be thinkin of the same man in a minute ef I was to ask ef you remembered the old man down at Clay Bottom thet planted out shade-trees along the lanes where the niggers had to go to work on the highroads done it befo he foun time to set out any in his own yard. Lowed his home folks had time to set down an fan, an the roads was b ilin hot on man an beast. WEALTH AND RICHES 35 Of co se I knowed you d know. Yas, that was him. He did git to be a man o wealth bef o he died, but he never piled up idle money not a cent of it. What! Oh, now, doc, you can t tell me you don t see where the difference is. But I suppose a man can t understand physic an > why, of co se, I know he was called rich, an* I suppose maybe in a sense he was. He left a big estate, alive an workin , every inch of it. He didn t leave no sod den bank-accounts for his sons to draw on, though. They re the damnation o half o the sons of rich men, them interest-bearin bank-accounts is, to be drawed on in idle ness. Sir? Oh, I didn t say it was idle money. The banks is busy enough. It s the triflin inheritors thet frets me. Sturdy good man, leadin citizen ef they ever was one, though I doubt ef he ever owned a coat trimmed off to a waistcoat in front. Yas, I was sorry, too, about Sally Ann puttin up that cupalo to her house, but I wasn t surprised. Exceptin for that third little boy o hers, little Teddy, havin hip trouble, I m afeard she d have to be otherwise disciplined, Sally Ann would. 36 SONNY S -FATHER Of co se a woman with mo discretion would a waited a little while after her second husband s death befo she started the cupalo; but the remark thet s goin round thet she s " sendin up an an nouncement thet she s open to proposals for number three," why, it s thess simply malicious, that s what it is. No ; Sally Ann thess started that tower ez quick ez she found out how much money was left her, that s all. She never give a thought to how it would look. I take notice she s been walkin the streets for a year past with one o them high spring-out collars on her neck ; an so, ez I say, I m not surprised. A cupalo is thess about the next step. A out-springin collar like that sets off a slim woman gives her a sort o grandeur; but it s a style thet can t be trifled with. Sally Ann don t look nothin but highty-tighty an overloaded in hers. A thing like that would be a turrible stand-off to a timid, pore person come to ask a favor. Yas, I mean the high- spreadin sort the queens wear in the pic tures like that n in Sonny s study. You ve seen Sally Ann wear it. Why, WEALTH AND RICHES 37 that makes half o her conspicuosity. It would take a heap o courage to pass up a umble petition over a collar like that. Of co se for queens they re all right enough. A petition has to go th ough sev al hands an be disinfected befo it reaches them, anyway, an the collar thess about expresses it. Yas, she s give that top cupalo-room to po little Teddy, so s he can amuse hisself lookin out the winders an* p intin out things with his crutch. I don t say but what she was took aback when he asked for it. She had laid out to fur nish it for a spare room for conspicuous visitors, same ez the Hyfflers does with theirs. It s good Sally Ann ain t a man. She d set out to be a leadin citizen first thing she done, an she ain t noways fitted for it. Yas, no doubt she does think she s about the leadin woman in Simpkinsville to-day, but that s harmless enough. Nobody else don t think so. My idee of a leader, doctor, it s one the best people 11 all love to f oiler not the one they re continually obligated to look 38 up to with thanks. A man like that is shore to turn driver some day, an he s liable to do it sudden. Sir? Sonny? Well, hardly. Not yet, anyway. He s got the right sperit for leadership, but he s too young yet, an he s too occupied with his books. No; Sonny 11 always be ap to think out things to be done, the way he does now, but he 11 be likely to git other folks interested enough to go on with em. Well, that s so. That is leadin , in a way. Yas, you re right there. A number o our " leadin men " has left public works named after em. The man thet founds a charity an names it after a member of his own family, well, his heart s divided, that s all. An ef he names it after hisself, why, it s undivided. An the more mag nificent the edifice is, the more he s com- plimentin hisself. Oh, no, I ain t puttin in no objection - cert n y not. We re glad to have chapels an town clocks built an named after any body thet ain t a disgrace. But they s one thing that I hate to see, Doc, an that s the way human creatures is everlastin ly buildin memorials o their WEALTH AND RICHES 39 sorrers. I don t see why we should cele brate only when we re scourged. I ve often thought thet God might enjoy the novelty of havin a steeple rise up into the sky in joy an thanksgivin , instid o which most of em is sent up with a wail. Ef houses for orphans is needed, an it s a livin disgrace thet they are, but ef they are, why not build one when God sends a little child into a home instid o when he sees fit to take it away? The lady thet give the "author s readin " here, she was tellin us about a little mountain settlement where the young engaged couples paid for the stained-glass winders, ez love come along, to celebrate their happiness little bright-colored panes to stand for joy an to fetch the color of it into the worship. Now, that struck me ez purty. I wish t they was more thankfulness brought into our religion, an less mournin . Not thet I d take out one sweet memorial of the dead. Of co se, ez we git along further in sper- itual growth, an come to realize the unim portance of death an the importance of life, a number o these thing 11 pass away of theirselves. 40 SONNY S FATHER Monuments commemoratin personal sorrers is ap to be selfish things, to my mind. When they stand for principle, why, that s different. Sometimes I think the world shows mo selfishness in sorrer than it does in anything else, anyhow. Yas, that s so. Sonny an Mary Eliza beth always makes thank-off erin s when the little ones arrive, but I didn t know it was known. You see, babies costs consider ble, an to some it might seem the hardest time to give anything; an ef they spoke of it, it might look like ez ef they meant to reprove others for not doin likewise. Givin in the right sperit, though, with thought an prudence, never seemed to make anybody any poorer. Them thet gives that a-way is ap to spend keerful, an many a one thet thinks he can t afford it lets his money leak out in driblets. Sech folks ez that rarely saves anything. Sir ? Do I believe in savin 1 Why, what makes you ask me sech a thing ez that, doctor? Ef I did n t, I d be a turrible sin ner, for I ve always done it. Before Sonny arrived, he was always due, for seventeen year. we put by a WEALTH AND RICHES 41 little, each year thess in case; an quick ez he hove in sight, why, this whole gang o grandchildren seemed to loom up in the distance. You see, when a man has a child, he takes all the risk they is on grandchild en. So I bought mo land ez I was able to work it. I think it s a man s duty to his feller- men to fix things so thet neither he nor any o his helpless children won t be left on their hands. But that s a mighty different thing from hoa din money for money s sake. That, an the pride of possession which comes with it, is one o the special pizens thet we ve got to try to keep from our child en, far ez we can. Talk about pride of possession, I reckon a certain amount of it is inborn; or, ef it ain t, it s learned mighty young. Even the little child en show it. I know one day this spring I was settin out here on this po ch, an happened to overhear the little folks jabberin out there under the oak. Half a dozen o the neighbors child en was there with em. "Well, they was talkin along, one way an another, when Sally Ann s third girl, last marriage, little 42 SONNY S FATHER Annabel, she ups an says, says she, We-all s go in to have somethin at our house thet you-all ain t got ! Well, they was silence in a minute, an she kep on, " We goin to have a cupalo at our house " (tell the truth, that was the first I d heerd of it). Of eo se nobody knowed what she meant, more n thet 1 1 cu palo had a f ureign sound. But that was enough for Margie Porter. Do you know, doctor, these peaked-faced lame child en always seem to me to be quick-thoughted. Pore little crooked Mar gie was settin in the swing, her face all eyes. Quick ez Annabel come out with that word " cupalo," why, she chirps up: " That ain t anything! I ve had the spilar melingitis! An she give herself a little hitch of superiority ez she cut her eyes around to see the effect. It seemed for a minute thet Margie was ahead, but purty soon I heerd Mary Blanks s little Jamesie s voice. Them youngsters is so thin their voices is ez dry an ha sh ez a katydid s; an sence I know their mother deprives em of butter in Lent, I imagine their th oats needs ilin . But to go back to this here rivalry. WEALTH AND RICHES 43 When I heerd Jamesie pipe up, I chuckled, an says I to myself, " What on earth is he got to crow over ? " Well," says he, " we re goin to have a sheriff s sale over to our farm! " That was a purty heavy piece of artillery, an they all felt it ; but the silence it made was soon broke by who but our little Marthy! Pore little thing! I know she had been suff erin from the first challenge, an I half wondered, though I didn t think about it, how she was goin to make out. Well, doc, an how do you think she done? You could guess for a month an I doubt ef you d hit what she bragged on an it s right in yo line, too. When she come out with it, I all but give myself away gigglin here behind the vines. Says she, " We ve got the moest chil- d en." What do you think o that, now? Yas ; an not satisfied with that, she started a-tackin on to it. Says she, " We Ve got three boys an two girls, an " an with that she took a long breath an she out with it: " An mama sewin on little teenchy sleeves, an I wouldn t be surpriged ef she s goin to get some more purty soon ! " Marthy always says " surpriged " for 44 SONNY S FATHER surprised, an we let it alone. Sounds cunnin . Well, they kep on back an fo th, an I lowed thet every one there had had his fling, when I see pore Madge, the Button child that Mary Elizabeth an Sonny s took to raise. She was layin down, twistin a wreath out o some clovers she had brought in from the fields, but I see her fingers moved purty slow, an I was wushin I could put some words in her mouth to brag on I never like to see an orphan browbeat. But I need n t ve wer- ried. What does she do when she see her chance but set up an yell out like ez ef she had the best brag o the lot, " I m dopted! An I don t know but ef I was to git the popular vote now, I d find thet they all felt she was ahead. I believe all the child en at home con sider thet she s somethin special because she s adopted. An it s a good thing; makes em treat her respectful. What s that you say, doc? Oh, yas; I don t doubt a-many a one says it s ridic - lous for them to take another child to raise, but I don t see why. Big families is gen ally the ones where That s the way all the orphans ll be took care of when when the millennium comes, ez you say. WEALTH AND RICHES 45 they s most room. I ve seen many an only child fill up a spacious home so tight thet they never seemed to be even room in it for toleration of other children. An , besides, a little stranger comin into a big family, why, it 11 git tied up in num berless little affections; an* then, too, they have the wholesome rough an tumble of holdin their own. Oh, it s great! An I think it s ez good for the other child en ez it is for the adopted. That s the way all the orphans 11 be took care of when when the millennium comes, ez you say. Of co se the childless, why, they re the special ones the Lord seemed to send into the world to nurture the fatherless. But they don t often see it so, an of co se many a one ain t got no gifts that a-way. What s that you say? " Thankless "? Well, I don t know. Not more n anything else. Besides, who thet helps for helpin s sake thinks of thanks? No, that s a mistake. I ve known some o the most ungrateful own child en on earth to break their parents hearts; an more n one adopted son or daughter have I seen grow up to be a staff an a stay. No; that s the eternal excuse of the 46 SONNY S FATHER world s shirkers that an " bein afeard o what inheritance they might have to deal with." I always think when I hear sech ez that: " Well, ef I was you, I d ruther take my chances on any perfect-lookin lit tle child with a clair eye, an raise him the best I could, than to know he was the flesh an blood of folks thet was so afeard of makin a pore investment." An I think I m right. But I cert n y was tickled over Marthy s braggin on the child en. Showed they know how they re valued. You know, I think with child en it s often " Held high, act high." Yas; it is a pity about Mary Blanks s bein sold out. She means well, but of co se things lef to a paid overseer s ap to go wrong; an ever sence she s been runnin three clubs, why, this has been in sight. A woman ain t no smarter n a man in that respect. Quick ez a man starts to put in too much time at clubs, why, his business suffers. I ve got a funny little notion about Sally Ann s cupalo, doctor, ever sence I Ve knew thet it s a-goin to cost exac ly the WEALTH AND RICHES 47 amount o Mis Blanks s mortgage. You d think thet bein ez Mary Blanks is her own aunt, mother s side thet - Of co se I don t say thet because they re kin thet her cupalo an her aunt s mort gage needs to be related, but they might. Ez you say, when the millennium comes but of co se they won t be no mortgages then, even ef they re any wid- ders, which God grant they may not be, or cupalo s either. A widder is always a distress-ed object to me, don t keer what circumstances I seem to see her in. Sally Ann with that high collar on her short neck under that crape veil, with all her toggery, is even more pitiful n some I Ve seen thet mourned in silence. I think they re usu ally honest enough, but they re mighty various. That veil o Sally Ann s is thess ez hon est in every one of its deadly creases ez the collar thet protests against it. It s all in her. Oh, yes, she cert n y did take on in her first grief, in both widderhoods. Tillie Blackstone says she tried her best to lose her mind the first few weeks, but she 48 SONNY S FATHER wasn t able. Tillie is a turrible game- maker. She s so able to do without any husband thet she ain t ez considerate ez she might be of the different dispositioned. Ez to heavenly cupalos, or millennial ones, ef they is any, they won t be no nov elty. Every man thet s been denied one here can have it ef he wants it then; an he 11 build it to suit hisself, not to spy on his neighbors. Yas; Sally did brag thet she could see the inside of seven kitchens from the scaffoldin of hers. She? Oh, she s up there every day makin some new discovery. Climbs like a cat. Grew up in tree-tops mainly. Yas, she lows thet when she gits a spy-glass she 11 be able to see who s comin an go in in every church door in town. No doubt she 11 be able to set in her tower an watch her aunt s sheriff s sale, ef she s a mind to ; but she won t. She 11 be on the ground. She s already tried to bespeak uninterrupted bids on some o the best chiny, an them cut-glass gob lets John bought at the Chicago Fair. She may buy em, but she won t git em for nothin . Yas ; we Ve got it arranged about the WEALTH AND RICHES 49 biddin at the sale. The only person thet ain t to be overreached is pore Mary Blanks herself. She intends to bid in sech things ez she 11 need for a hotel, tin wash-sets an thick dishes for use in argument an a few sech suitable things. But what am I tellin you for! Didn t I see yore handwrite on the subscription list? Can t fool me ef you did sign " In cog." That s too much like the language of prescriptions to be much of a disguise for a doctor, anyway. Yas; an I m glad you could see yore way to put down so much. No ; Sally Ann would n t sign. She said she d stand by her Aunt Mame in private, an I reckon likely she will in little things like the cut glass an casters. Yas; she s offered to keep the pair o pea-fowls, too to keep em for their feed an increase. Mary Blanks she won t sell em thess on account o pore John buyin em. Sally Ann is so took up with the idee o seein peacocks strut around that cu- palo she s buildin thet she d pay most anything for em ef it was necessary. As to the increase, I doubt ef they 11 do more for her n they Ve done for Mary. 50 SONNY S FATHER I never admired anything ez vainglori ous ez a peacock, myself. I could set for hours, though, an hold one o their tail- feathers in my hand, thess a-lookin it in the eye with delight. They re cert n y wonderful. But, of co se, my mind would be on God, an not on the feather. A single piece of perfection like that would be an swer enough for me to all the infidels in the world, ef they wasn t answered at every turn. But, somehow, the burnishin of a bird s wing is sech a gratuitous exhi bition of lovin thought an divine power thet I take p tic lar pleasure in it. The red of a robin s breast has claired a troubled sky for me more n once-t, doc tor. I ricollect one day, years ago, when Sonny was a little mite, an he was sick, an we couldn t indooce him to take no medicine, an you was called away, an I come out here in desperation, an thess ez I stepped out I happened to hear a chirp right above my head, an I looked up into that tree an I see a father robin, his breast a-shinin in the sun like copper afire. It was like a mericle, it was so lustrious. Well, after the first surprise, seemed like the only thing T saw was God, an I thess WEALTH AND RICHES 61 lifted my eyes clair upward, an , doctor, ef God the Father didn t smile at me from the blue spot there between them branches, an let me know thet I had no occasion to worry, why, I m not here to-day. I looked thess a minute, an then I turned back into the house, an my heart was at peace. No ; I did n t tell wife about the robin, she might a thought that fantastic, but I told her I d been comforted, an thet God s everlastin arms was right under us all, an that we was actin more scandalous in our Father s house than that pore little sick baby was in his, resistin us in fear an ignorance. An then I patted her shoulder, an her face claired off, an she remembered a kind o spiced preserves thet Sonny liked, an she went an secreted the medicine in it, an fetched it in to the boy; an when you dropped in that night you said she might take off her clo es an git some sleep. She had n t undressed for four nights. Now, ef I had n t saw God s love th ough the robin an fetched the joy of it in to her, she d never a thought o them spiced pre serves on earth. No; cert n y I didn t mention the robin 52 SONNY S FATHER to you, an you a busy doctor. Of co se not. Besides, I wasn t ez free-spoken about sech things them days ez I am in my old age. I ve often thought sence then, doctor, thet nearly all our worries come from mistrust, or forgitfulness, ef we only knowed it. Did you ever take notice to the little children at a house of bereavement, when the father or mother is took away, an maybe the props knocked from everything, how they thess walk around with company manners an unconcern? They may be mystified, but they ain t never uneasy. They re always a lesson to me. No mat ter what the calamity is, the little ones seem to know they re in their father s house, an* they don t never question. The grown folks thet have been in structed in faith an ought to know better, why, they re scared all but to death. You see, the child en they ve got the right of it. They re always took care of, an so are we. Now, don t it seem to you thet, no matter what comes, we ought to feel thet the earth is our Father s house, an thet we won t be forgot in it? What s that you say? Yas, that s true. I WEALTH AND RICHES 53 My mother-in-law she did show that child like faith when her troubles come an thess ca mly packed up an come to live with us, which was right enough, though it was disconcertin for a while. For ten years she abode with us in peace and harmony; but she had to be discip lined a little before I got things fixed. Not thet they was anything I could put my finger on, exactly; but I know I soon found I was losin my relish for her, an I knowed that wouldn t never do, an so I straightened things out. She was ez pure gold in character ez she was deef an aggervatin in little things. These over-industrious women is ap to be too rigorous. She? Why, she s left more patchwork, an linen she s wove, an sampler- work, than any two women I ever saw. Yas; Mary Elizabeth s got four sam plers made by four grandmothers an aunts o the child en three already bestowed, an I don t doubt the fourth 11 be claimed in time. I like em to have sech ez that. It s stren thenin to character. Oh, yas, they 11 have a little handed-down jewelry, too. I don t mind that. I like it. 54 SONNY S FATHER Why, I Ve bought the little girls a fin ger-ring apiece, with purty blue an red sets in em, to put on when they re dressed up not too big an expensive-lookin ; thess modest little stones to shine th ough their little mittens, ladylike an sweet. 1 never like to see a woman s jewelry out- flash her eyes. Yas, I want our little girls to care enough for dress an fixin s to be properly set off when they re grown up. Most anything carried to an extreme becomes pernicious. You know Sally Ann claims that jewelry in a bureau drawer is goin to waste, an that s why she wears them green emeralds with her crape. Even what I said about hoa din money can t be took too literal. Of co se we all need to keep a little money piled up some where s to draw on in an emergency a little more n we re likely to need, too. Every child on the place here s got his little savin s-bank, but I gen ally see to it thet the money stands for some p tic lar thing, not thess for possession of money. One he s savin for the mules he 11 need to work his piece o land by an by, an WEALTH AND RICHES 55 another for some thin else. The second boy he don t never carry hisn very far. He buys books mostly, an electricity fix- in s. Yas; he put up that door-bell, an it rings, too rings ef it s teched. Do I like it! Oh, yas; I s pose I like it, but I don t, really. I like the different knocks I Ve known for years, thess a knuckle or a calkin -cane or umbrella, or maybe a latch rattle, the way you always done. It s almost ez bad ez livin in a city to haf to open yore front door an not know who s there. Ef I m inside when it rings, I clair my th oat befo I know it then I m mad be cause I ve been flustered. What s that? Why, no, I never bother about what they spend their money for. Sometimes they waste it on trifles, but that s better n their bein bossed in every thing. Little Marthy, now, she s savin for a " secret "; an likely enough it s for some finery got up for old men, an I 11 have to wear it on my head or neck, somehow. I always suspicion their secrets. Yas, I reckon the second boy 11 go to college. All his tastes run that a-way. 56 Sonny s able to send him, too, ef he 11 be satisfied to go an live with prudence. In my opinion, no boy ought to be able to live in college without prudence. It s ruination. No; I suppose ef he goes to college he won t want no land, an it won t cost any more to educate him n what it will to give the others a start. I never used to like the way a college education seemed to give a man a distaste for the plow. Seemed like they went away an learned to know better. But Sonny says that ain t so. An he claims thet the man thet writes a song for men to plow by does more for the cultiva tion o the soil than ef he was triplets plowin with discontent. An I can see how it s true, although the writin of songs seems like a child s play for an able-bodied man. Of co se when a man goes away to col lege, why, he gits a chance to see things from a distance; an ef he can look over the plowman s head an discern blessin s hid from the face turned to the ground, an weave em into a song thet 11 make the singer lift up his eyes an listen once-t in a while, why, I say God bless him, let him WEALTH AND RICHES 57 do nothin but make up songs for the toil ers, an I believe the Lord o the harvest 11 give him credit for days work, too. Yas; Sonny has writ a hoeman s song, an Jim Peters he s set it to music, an they say some o the young men whistles it an dresses by it in the mornin when they git up to go in the fields. It s got consid ble love hints runnin along half hid th ough it, an a swing to it for all the world like a lively hoe motion. I declare, in some o the verses you can ac- chilly seem to see the corn growin an smell the ground. Last Saturday week the black fellers come up an serenaded us, an they sung it all, four parts with a hoe-fling cho rus, an I tell you it ain t calculated to make young folks live indoors not whilst they re young, anyway. Yas, they s life an happiness a-plenty in cheerful labor in the open fields, an a mighty slim chance for the doctor. Why, they s even wealth in it ef it s lived right ; not riches, maybe, but wealth. You needn t laugh, doctor; I meant what I said an I stick to it. Why, the way I read Scripture, it seems 58 SONNY S FATHER to me we re given to understand thet heaven is a home of wealth. t Many man sions " sounds that a- way, I m shore; an golden streets shows thet they won t any thing be considered too good for use. An sometimes I Ve thought thet maybe it meant to give us to understand thet simple riches like gold was to be trod underfoot. An all the Eevelational jewels, why, they seem to be set either in the walls or doors or somewhere, not let loose in piles, to be swapped or squabbled over. No riches to hoard, but thess wealth to enjoy. ni THE WOMEN ILL, doc, I don t wonder you wonder. That is, ef it s thess broke in on you the stir among the women, an* what it s come to. I ain t quite so thunder-struck, because I Ve had time on my hands an patience, an I ve been lookin on an watchin whilst you Ve been tendin the sick. For perfessional lady speakers to come to Simpkinsville, an for our women to go about wearin badges an to have their ex penses paid aroun the country ez dele gates, ain t nothin mo n they ve been havin all over the continent for years. It s only come home to us, that s all. It was funny, when you think of it, though, for em to let me into the " moth ers meetinV I was determined to see 60 what they was to it ef I could, so I engi neered some offered to take charge, an light up the hall for em, free-gratis-for- nothin ; an that carried it. Of co se they nachelly hesitated, an me a man, but you know Sally Ann is great for savin a dime, an she laughed, an says she, " Why, Grrampa Jones he s man-woman-and-child, all in one, anyhow. Of co se that made a laugh, an they give in. So I thess handed ol nigger Joe Towns a dollar, that s his gen al fee for operiin up an lightin , an I wouldn t have him deprived, an I see the whole thing from the openin to the close. Yas, it cost some, but it was cheap consid- erin the show. I tell you, it s an edjercation to a man to git into sech a crowd, an to hear the women hoi fo th. An I heerd some things I hope to remember, an to live by mo or less, f om this time on. Of co se I went on account o the child en mainly. I ain t denyin all curiosity, mind you; but I knowed their mother she couldn t leave them at bedtime, most mothers can t, an I allowed thet ef they was good words bein distributed for THE WOMEN 61 mothers, I could collect em an fetch em home about ez well ez the next one. Sir? " How many? " Well, I suppose they was maybe forty or fifty women there, all counted. You ricollec ten year ago come Christ mas, when Abe Bosworth s sist -in-law come down here Pom Ultima Thool an lec tured on women exhorters in the churches, they wasn t but eleven present, an they was nearer the froth than they was to the sediment of Simpkinsville folks. The best ones wanted to go, but they didn t dast; opposition run too high. Well, she said some good things thet s been quoted variously ever sence, an , ez Miss Phoebe Kellogg says, them leven women was the leaven thet leavened the whole lot. Miss Phoebe will have her joke on words, an sometimes a little thing like that 11 fix a number in yo mind when it could n t never be done in prose. Yas, ten year ago only leven o the light-weights floated into a woman s meetin , even when it had consider ble Baptist sanction, an now the best of our women rides up the middle of our roads astride of a wheel, an most of em tagged 62 at that, n we don t think ez much of it ez we did of that argument for women to speak an pray in meetin . Yas, I counted forty-three befo some started to change seats an 7 1 lost count, but I could come within one of countin em now, from memory. I know everybody thet was there, an , ez I told you over the fence this mornin , they was mostly all maiden ladies. Of co se they wasn t nothin to hender them attendin ; an , like ez not, most of em went to repo t to some home mother same ez I did an easier, not havin no prohibition. You wouldn t chuckle that away ef you d been there, doctor. It was a fine audience o people, an a lot o good speakers. Yas, the chief o-rater she was a single lady, Pom somewhere down East, I should jedge. I s picioned her singularity soon ez I see her walk in, an I lowed she was the paid one, too, which she was. How d I tell? Well, I don t claim thet I did tell exac ly. She was that tall, slim one thet put up at the hotel the one with short hair an a certainty in her walk. I The Chief O-rater. 1 THE WOMEN 63 don t know ez that s much description, but it s the way she struck me. You know they s short hair from fevers an short hair from principle. You d sup pose they d look about the same, but they don t. I know which is which in a minute. Now, they was somethin in the cut of this one s head thet seemed to announce thet she d burnt the bridges behind her even in the front view. But I m sech a Miss Nancy thet ef I knowed a woman didn t have no knot o hair on the back of her head, I d miss it, even in a full-face picture. Thank God, none of our women ain t took to the scis sors, so far, though they do say sev al of em went home from the meetin an th owed away their gum-tragic bottles. I doubt ef they th owed em so far into the shrubbery, though, thet they can t find em befo the nex sociable. I hope not. I alms like to see young girls tricked out a little keerful. It speaks well for the young men of a place shows they re popular. Well, ez I was sayin , this short-haired one she come in with that slab-sided one with the big plaid basque on. Somehow it s been my lot in life, doctor, to see 64 SONNY S FATHER women o her figger wear hit-an -miss plaids. She was tagged consider ble, an she had a woolen bird on her bonnet. They say she spoke fine down at Cedar Cliffs on the destruction of birds, an she gives lessons in worsted birdmakin . She lows, so they tell me, thet she don t wear that parrot why no, I ain t shore it s a parrot, I on y jedge by its color she lows she don t wear it because she feels the necessity of wearin a bird on her head, but thess to show the weak breth sistren, I should say thet, ef a bird is a neces sity, it can be had without sin fifty cents a lesson, worsteds th owed in. She says thet even ef the sheep was to be shorn out o season, they have promise in Scripture of " tempered winds," a quo tation not found in my Bible, so she ricom- mends wool-work without let or hindrance. No, she didn t speak las night. She only come along to survey the landscape o er, an see ef she could git scholars. She give a few samples of bird-songs an mate- callin s whilst the mother speaker took a recess, an I tell you she was n t bad music, neither. I s pose tis a sin, the way the men go THE WOMEN 65 out an slay birds by the thousands, an remove all the marks of death from em, an offer em for sale glass-eyed an happy-lookin . Of co se most any woman would buy a thing like that, an not give it a second thought, though / doubt ef you could find one engaged in the business. Yas, I know, it s a cruel sex you an me belong to, doctor. Even the most conscien tious of us 11 feel virtuous in killin a bird, thess so it s e t, even ef whoever eats it is already surfeited. They tell me thet at great ban-quets, where they have things strung out in cou ses, they never pass the birds aroun tell everybody s chuck-full. That looks to me sarcastic, but of co se it may not be true. Ef every one thet had already e t enough could thess blow on the superfluous bird an sen it back to life, they d be some sense in it. But talkin about the mothers meetin where d I leave off, doctor? Oh, yas, I was sayin the speaker was a singular number. Well, an that ain t all, neither. She was raised in a orphan asylum, so they tell me, an she ain t never had no dealin s with mothers, ceptin , of co se, 66 the visitin mothers thet come once-t a week an fill the fatherless youngsters up with candy an trash enough to keep em puny tell next visitin -day. Of co se I can see she might have an advantage in that, in some ways. It s give her a chance to study the subjec from the outside. That s the side most critics has the outside is. Her chief objection to mothers seemed to be their partiality. Sir? Why, their partiality for their own child en, of co se. She had a heap to say about " universal motherhood"; that s a grand soundin term, " universal motherhood " is, an , for o-ratin , it was the finest part of her discou se, although I didn t quite git the hang of it somehow not clair. Yas, their partiality seemed to be her principal ob jection to mothers that an their bigotry over old maids. But, takin it from first to last, I should say she did n t have much use for mothers, noways that is, not for the common run. Why, she did n t hesitate to say thet ef she was sponsible for a population she d ruther raise it on the incubator plan, ef possible, than to trust it to the gen al run THE WOMEN 67 o mothers. But I reckon she was inclined to be sarcastic in that. Sir? Oh, cert n y, they was other speakers, but she was the only paid one. She was fully primed with all sorts o testimony ag in mothers. Why, Doc , she had a whole set o baby-clo es, all heavy with ruffles an lace, an she exhibited em one by one, displayin their faults, with the treachery of safety-pins an all sech. Then, she showed fo th the injurious motion of a cradle how it was shore to addle a young brain mo or less. But the damagin shock of a knee- jostle was her favor-ite cruelty. Why, she claims thet half the child en have their constitutions jolted out of em befo they cut their eye- teeth all on their mothers knees. Sir! Oh, she proved it that is, she showed it f o th with a doll. She had one o these with internal machinery an vocal powers, an she coddled it up an kissed the supposed breath clean out of it, for all the world like you an I ve seen Sally Ann do hers, joltin it all the while. An then she opened it up an showed us the condition of its internals every vital either sprung or fractioned. 68 SONNY S FATHER She lows she breaks up a ten-dollar doll every lecture, an she considers it well broke ef it saves even one million-dollar baby. She says babies is dressed like ez ef they was millionaires, an then treated same s ef they was three-for-a-quarter. You see they was times when it was neces sary for her to git up a laugh. Of co se this is on y a little scrap o the lecture. She started with a child from the beginnin or befo the beginning for that matter, goin back the requi ed time for all purposes. She seemed to know all about that. I s pose likely she s read up on the subjec . An she said one thing thet surprised me, doctor. She said thet the divinely intended chastisement was a spank. Of co se this brought down the house for a few minutes. An she ricommends a felt slipper, to be applied after a half to three quarters of an hour of meditation an prayer, accordin to how hot-tempered the mother is. What s that you say? Oh, yas, she got off that joke, a little joke goes a long way on the stage, an it shook the house for a while. Of co se it s true. Any slipper would be felt in the circumstances. The Mothers Meeting. THE WOMEN 69 A frivolous word that away, in the mid dle of an argiment, why, it frets me. Somehow I seemed to see the little one strugglin acrost her knee whilst she stopped to crack a joke at his expense. That was the time I made up my mind, for shore, thet she was n t no mother. Some mothers 11 do most anything when their dander s up an they momen tarily forgit the helplessness o the little one, but they d hardly enjoy a scene like that in cold blood; so I was confirmed in my mind ez to her singularity from that minute. Like ez not she was intended for a lec turer. I Ve allus thought preachin an practisin was two sep rate trades, an no one person ought to be helt too strict to both. I tell you, she said some good things, doctor. For one thing, she lowed thet the chastisement a mother administers for a misdemeanor is nine time out o ten mo a question o the woman s temper *n what it is o the child s fault; which we all know to be true. Why, you an I Ve known Sally Ann Brooks to box a child for spillin syrrup on 70 its frock, an when it prevaricated direc in other things, why, she d thess dismiss it with a religious maxim way over its head. Somehow the lady seemed to me to be whackin away at Sally Ann about half her time, an I d find myself leanin over to see how she took it; but she allus seemed to be all of a giggle, cranin her neck to watch some other quarter. You know she s a turrible gamemaker, Sally Ann is, an they s nothin she enjoys so much ez another person s expense. Yas, the speaker she said a lot o good things. They wasn t but one blame she put on mothers, though, thet seemed to fit our little Mary Lizabeth, an I fetched it home to her intac . She flared up a little over it at first, but she took it, all the same, an I ca culate it 11 make some difference to her. It was on the mistake of teachin child en too much an tryin to raise em too exact, on a set pattern. She s consider ble in clined that away, Mary Lizabeth is, an all the child en seem to fall into line excep little Marthy, the one I call mine. She seldom surrenders without a battle, that is, THE WOMEN 71 I mean where she s got her own notions, an she gen ally seems to know thess where she s o-headin for, an I want to have her let alone ez much ez possible. Of co se her mother she s for makin a lady of her fo thwith, an I keep a-tellin her it can t be did by no short cut. She 11 git there all the same, but she s boun to work out her own route. She s one o these mischievious, imag inative child en, an sometimes I call her an git her to settle down, an I reason with her a little, an* she never fails to come around all right. She s a tur ble little mimic, for one thing, for a child of eight year. Why, she can take off anything or anybody she s once-t see, tell you d imagine it was befo yo eyes. Ef you don t mind me tellin you, doctor, that little midgit can take you off from the time you hitch up at the front gate, all the way up the gravel, hunchin her lef shoul der up so s I seem to see yo medicine-case under yo arm. She can do that, an then come an set down befo me an tell me to poke out my tongue, in a voice I m all but boun to 72 SONNY S FATHER obey. You see, I ve harkened to them words from you for so long. She took off Brother Binney, the preacher, the other day, baptizin a doll, an when she come out with the words. Dicey seemed to think she might be struck by lightnin for saterlege. But I wasn t noways afeard. I never did believe thet God eaves dropped on little child en at their plays much. He d git hisself disliked by me ef he did, an I knew it. Sir! Oh, yas, Anna Wallace was there with her baby. No comprehensive child en was allowed; but hers was so young they did n t take no notice to it. I spoke to her comin in, an she said she was most afeard it d take its death in the damp night air, but she was boun to come an take lessons in how to raise it, ef it lived. What s that, doc? You say she called you in to see it befo day this mornin ? Well, I m not surprised. Croup, eh? Thess ez I thought. It coughed pretty metalic every now an ag in all the evenin . Well, she was bent on attendin the moth ers meetin in character, an she done it. THE WOMEN 73 She allus was skittish, Anna was. Got it honest from her ol daddy, Obadiah Em- mett. He wrote po try in odd hours, you ricollec , an lost his farm by sheriff sale. His idee o gittin out o debt was allus some scheme thet requi ed mo cash, an he d borry it with glee an certainty. It s thess about nachel to expect thet his daughter might be the sort o woman thet d all but kill a child experimentin how to raise it. Things like that runs in the blood. Smart woman, though, Anna is. I 11 never forgit her valedictory. But, ez you say, doctor, I never did ex- pec to see the day thet s arrived when the women would rise up in insurrection the way they re doin . Sir? Well, I don t know why not use that word. They talk about emancipation. Looks like they must a felt in bondage to use a slave-term like that. Sir? Oh, I m for lettin em have their way, doctor. I b lieve in lettin everybody have their way lessen it s pernicious. Of co se every woman or every individ- yal man can t have theirs, but I d give in to the bulk of em every time. I don t mind, thess so no partic lar 74 SONNY S FATHER woman don t insurrect ag in her partic lar man. That allus makes trouble. But so long ez it s general, an the husbands is standin off winkin at each other, why, it only enlivens things up a little. Of co se a consider ble part o the agita tors is insubordinatin ag in imaginary husbands, which make it all the mo harm less. What s that you say, doc? Did I go to the sufferage meetin down at Cypress Swamp? D idn t I, though! You forgit, doctor. Of co se I went, an it opened my eyes, both upper an lower leds. I seemed to see the foundation-stone an the cupalo o the whole business that night. " A Dozen Proofs of Woman s Superi ority " yas, that was the title o that lecture. That s what took me twenty mile the title of it. Not thet I would n t yield the blessed creatures a thousand su periorities, but I was curious to hear what particular dozen they d lay claim to in public. The argiment was purty much like any man lawyer s, far ez I could jedge- mos ly spent in abusin the opposite side. She seemed to prove thess about every- THE WOMEN 75 thing ag in us thet could be proved ez she stood there brandishin a fan. Tell the truth, I felt too vile to live befV she had done with the third superiority, an I d a slipped out, only I didn t like to. It might a looked like a confession, an I like my closet for that. Befo I got to where my closet was, though, I seemed to git over my remorse, mainly. It was mo on account o my sex in gen al, anyhow, thet I felt guilty the way she exposed it. When I cooled off, though, I see a heap of it was thess smoke. Somehow, when I hear a woman talk that away, I wonder how she disposes of her father. She s bound to ve had one, an the Scriptures they mention him along with the mother ez entitled to honor in the fifth command ment. Yas, that s true; it does mention him first, but, like ez not, that was on account o not havin no woman mixed up in the framin of it. I can t imagine thet either God or Moses intended any slight to women in that. Sir? No, I m not doubtful, doctor ; I m only forgitful, that s all. No, I don t know 76 ez Mary Lizabeth ever werried over sech things. She s been purty well grounded. She s quick-witted enough to git into trouble, but she s too busy. But she s gen ally one o the first to see an advan tage. She can see the value of a thing even through a shock, an that s sayin a good deal. F instance, her bicycle was the first ever rid down the Simpkinsville road. Bicollec how it startled ole nigger Proph so thet he fell on his knees an 7 commenced to proph esy when he seen her! I can t say I liked to see her straddle it at first, but she never s picioned it. She stays purty close-t at home, an I saw exercise an open air in it. Besides, we d see by the papers how women was takin to the road in New York, an , tell the truth, I knowed the would-ef-you-could set o women would all respect her still more for leadin off. Otherwise I might a been tempted to let her see me wince. We ve all got our weaknesses, an I don t claim to be free from my share. But I would a hated to see her hooted at. Stid o that, she set the fashion, an mo butter-an -egg money has gone into the Her bicycle was the first ever rid down the Siinpkiiisville road." THE WOMEN 77 bicycle-shops than to the heathen from this county from that time on, I m proud to say. Yas, I said proud, doctor. I like the heathen, but I like our own folks, too. But even ef I d been reluctant to see her mount it, the way she rid would a con soled me. Seem like she an it was one from the time she got her first balance, an that s where I draw the line yet. Any woman thet, after due practice, don t seem all of a piece with it ain t got no business on no wheel that is, not for appearance. Mary Lizabeth she skirts an skims for all the world like a chimbly-s waller, on y mo graceful. No, ez I said, Mary Lizabeth don t think promiskyous, but she thinks to the p int. I know when she heerd all the talk about female sufferage, an so many was arguin ag in it, claimin thet all the lowest-down women would likely vote, whilst a heap o the best wouldn t, same ez the men does, why, she didn t seem to be payin no p tic lar attention, an d rec ly, when they was a minute s silence, what did she do but up an remark: " Why not thess let the best o the women vote? Then them an the men together might vote out the bad 78 men, looks to me like, an start even." Thess that away she said it, whilst she was passin the custard-glasses. Sir? Oh, by good an bad she thess meant the classes thet ought an oughtn t to, that s all them thet kin read, P in stance, or thet has property, or thet s been here long enough to have a say-so, or whatever. Seems to me, yet, thet that was a purty straight idee for Mary Lizabeth s size. Oh, yas, she figgered it out herself. An I think maybe she s right. The most fittin of both sexes ought to rule the roost better n the good an bad of either one, seems to me. Sir! Oh, I don t say you could stop them thet has a ready voted maybe not; but they might vote ag in any mo ignoramuses comin in. I don t know nothin t all about it. Don t quiz me, doctor. All I know is thet I 11 be toted out to the polls, ef necessary, an I 11 drop in my bal lot every time, an so will Sonny. We 11 speak out an declare our principles. An ef it ever was to come to us havin to vote ez to who was to be qualified to vote, I m THE WOMEN 79 af eard thet the sex o the applicants would be the last thing I d stop to consider. Ez between Fitty Joe and Mary Liza- beth, f instance, why, I d discriminate in favor o 7 common sense an goodness every time, ez you ricollec I said to you the other day. Didn t it never strike you, doctor, thet in a question like that maybe the women has some say, whether they wanted it or not? Of co se they could, anyhow, ef they d a mind to. An come to think of it, every woman is half father an every man is half mother, more or less, an thess because one sex declares in favor o one parent an the other in favor o the other Truth is, I git mixed thinkin about it. But my b lief is thet them duties an re strictions thet hinges on sex 11 continue to hinge, an them thet don t 11 give way. Some says ef women vote they 11 haf to fight, but I can t say ez I see that. T ain t every man thet s built for battle. Some is constructed for poets, an some, ag in, ain t courageous an can t write po try, neither. Sir? You say am I a woman s-righter? 80 God knows what I am, doctor. I like that name, an I d like to be all the kinds of a righter thet it comes in my way to be, an a wronger of no man. That name seems to Ve stood a long time to be fixed in the sand. I ricollec when it first come how we all hated it. I was a young man then, an ef my wife had a mentioned sech a thing ez go in ez a delegate anywheres, I d a looked for her to grow a beard nex thing, an I d a kep er hid. But settin still in a back seat an lis- tenin an lookin on all these years, why, let any doubter try it an see ef it don t change his views that is, ef he sets still enough, an listens to both sides. He may believe the way he b lieved when he set down, but ef he does, he 11 know the reason why, an have some re spect for his opponents, too. Yas, I Ve lived to see a woman delegate rigged out in a dress made by a man dress maker; an he voted, an she didn t. An maybe it s right she shouldn t. I m shore I don t know. I ain t never been able to see anything appetizin in the picture o woman at the THE WOMEN 81 polls. But appetite ain t principle, of co se. Do you know what I sometimes think, doctor, when I thess look on an consider? Why, I think of what the Bible says : " An a little child shall lead them." Of co se I know I m movin it out o place a little, but I can fit it into things an 7 see how it s true in all this hubbub. I believe thet little child en are the great leaders an bind ers or they re the binders, anyhow. Why, I know a man thet s so flighty thet the next woman 11 turn his head every time, an he loses hisself so complete thet not even the motherliness of the mother of his child en 11 hold im. He turns fool every year or two, an the little home- mother, why, she thess keeps eyes an ears shet tell he gits the better of it, an the call o the child en brings him back ag in. Of co se he allus keeps the home sup plied with marketin marketin an lies an Sir? Oh, this ain t no fairy-tale. I know the man. No, he don t live here. He couldn t. I d thrash him out myself, al though I know likely he can t help his nature. Neither can a snake. That s why I always think, " Po thing! " when I kill 82 SONNY S FATHER one. But I kill it all the same every time. Sir? Oh, cert n y. Shore, you re right about that. The woman might be better shet of him, an ef she lived here she would. But that ain t neither here nor there. This is only an extreme case selected to p int my p int. Yas, they s long stretches o time thet I believe thet it s the children in this world thet s the great power not the men or the women, but the children. Why, I know a case of a baby rnlin Wall street in New York for a whole week once-t fixed the price o cotton for six days an set everything on a different basis for the entire season. They was seven new houses built in Simpkinsville that spring, more n any season before or sence, an it all come o that baby. What s that? " Whose was it? or where? or how old was he? " Well, never mind about that, but I don t mind tellin you how old he was. He was n t no age at the time. He was an old man s first, thess like Sonny was to me, an he had been daily expected for a week, an threatened not to arrive safe-t ; an for five days that man THE WOMEN 83 set in his back parlor, in call o the doc tors, an 7 dictated telegrams entirely dif ferent to what he would a 7 telegraphed ef he d had his mind free, an these tele grams they excited distrust on one side an courage on the other, an first thing you knew the old man s name was in all the papers for savin his country from ruin. You see, not knowin thess how things was, he acted cautious, an when, on the sixth day, that baby arrived, talk about silver spoons! Why, he had a whole set of gold ones in his mouth, he was that rich. You see, the crisis in the market, why, it passed whilst the baby hesitated. Yas, he s the man. I didn t intend to tell you, but sence you know- You see, he s nachelly techy about the circumstance hingin on his timidity that long with his ticklish fatherhood. Of co se the papers they all give him credit for jedgment, dubbed him the Napo leon o the cotton-market an all sech; an , the fact is, he lost his head complete, an thess held still, waitin to hear that baby cry. 84 An when it did cry, why, the newsboys was caliin out his name long the New York streets, so they say. Of co se they named him for his daddy. OP man claired fo millions for his firm in six days, so the story runs, an ef it had n t a been for the youngster, he d a smashed the whole con cern. An yit some says luck is a sinful word. An maybe it is. Of co se I knoiv where my faith is. T least, I know the top notch where it hangs; but the betweens, why, they often puzzle me. Sir? Sonny s faith? Oh, I don t bother about that. Of co se I reelize he s half mother, to start with, an I know he be lieves in God an Mary Lizabeth; an betwix that an his book-writin , an fol- lerin the little ones around, why, he don t have no time to reason out doubts. I never had time, neither, tell I was too old to enjoy em. They do say, when folks spends too much time studyin over things, they re ap to git their religious views hind side fo most, an they tell me some has writ whole books to show they ain t got no re- THE WOMEN 85 ligious views whatsoever. Looks to me like that s a thing a person could declare in a minute an 7 be done with it. But I know I m ignorant of some things. But talkin about the women what s that? Yas, that s true. Sonny does claim to be a sufferagette in principle. He signed with Mary Elizabeth an 7 she signed first time the paper was passed round not thet she advocates every man or woman votin but she lows to draw the line elsewhere. By the way, it strikes me I hear tumblers a-clinkin , an I s picion she s fixin you an me a sinful drink now-- t least, mine 11 be sinful. That drop out o the bottle she puts into my glass o raspberry syrrup has swelled from a teaspoon to a tablespoonful in two year, an you ordered it an never called my attention to it. Of co se I reelize a person has to len then out his crutch at my age, an you an Mary Lizabeth has agreed to piece mine out on the sly. But I m a sort of e-ter-nal vigilanter, doctor. It s hard to keep a thing hid from me. You re a tender hearted man, an that s one reason I like you that an yo style. 86 SONNY S FATHER Thess look at his starched cuff, slick ez a bishop s. It tickles me to see you sport white linen up an down this dusty road. Somehow I wouldn t have confidence in a doctor thet didn t wear a starched cuff. It seems to go in with his di-plomy. A starched cuff an Latin diseases, why, they re about half the battle for a doctor. I obeyed a doctor for two years once-t, when I was a young man, thess because he treated me for tic-douloureux; an one day I happened to be runnin through the dic tionary, an I tripped on the word, an found t was n t a thing but common neu- raligy, an I quit. You know neuraligy it s different to most diseases. You either have it or you don t. It s come an gone with me all my life. It ain t got no use for a strong, man with a healthy appetite, but it s worse n a vampire once-t it gits you down ; so I Ve kep shet of it mostly. What? You ain t goin , doctor? Well, ef you must, thess step over here with me to the end o the piazzy an look at the child en a minute. Ain t that a purty sight, now? Do you ricollec when I used to look forrard to THE WOMEN 87 the time when they d be swings in the branches o that ol oak, all goin at once-t, thess like you see em? Well, ez I set an watch em ez the days pass so joyously, I reelize mo an mo thet I m approachin the time when I 11 be no thin but a ancestor, an I pray God to make me worthy. I tell you, doc, it s a great an awful thing to be inherited. Why, sometimes, when that nex to the littlest one th ows hisself down in a tan trum, I m startled ; it brings back my own youthful tumults so vivid. An then, when treckly he gits over it, an comes with his little wet face for me to kiss, I think about my ol mother, an I bless the Lord thet my ancestral responsibilities is so nobly di vided. Her descendant would haf to be safe-t-guarded with sweetness, even ef he was skimped in his ol gran daddy. How purty the sun is, doctor, where it frosts the edges o them knotty oak-limbs that away, an casts rainbows in the wet moss ! It s a wonderful world, after all, an I trust, when I pass along, it won t be shet out from my vision. Thess look at little Marthy, now, an see how she makes the boy give her her 88 SONNY S FATHER turn at the swing, an she half his heft, an then talk about women gittin their rights. They 11 git em when they re ready, don t you werry. I did intend to put up a swing apiece for em, an then says I : " No ; that ain t the way o the world. Let em learn fair play th ough turn about, same ez they 11 haf to later on." Sir! Oh, they s only one swing short, not countin the baby, of co se. They s allus ap to be one receivin discipline ; that is, unless his greatest pleasure is in seein others swing, an I ain t found no sech an gelic natures among em yit. Ef I did, I d feel his pulse an sen for you, yo perfes- sion bein keepin angels out o heaven ez long ez possible. Did it ever strike you thet that was a sort o frustratin business, doc, for a Christian elder? But ez I was sayin , talkin about the women I was werried, some, lessen in all this tumult they might git mannish, an I d be the last one to like that; but they tell me thet they s thess ez many organder- lawns an furbelows sold in the States where they vote ez they ever was, an no mo small-sized pants. THE WOMEN 89 I did hear thet the governor of some State or Territory or the governess, maybe I should say was inaugurated in a low-neck frock, but maybe t ain t so ! Anybody kin say anything ag in anybody. My taste for sech an occasion would be a high-neck basque, an black silk for the material not thet I m struck on the governess idee in p tic lar, but thess s posin . Ef they was a good lady here runnin ag in a bad man, why, I d vote for her, of co se. Sir! What s that you say? S posin it was six o one an half a dozen o the other! Well, in that case I d compliment the fair sex, of co se. That s a matter o* raisin . But Sir! Ef she was reel wicked? Oh, shoo, doc, I don t know ez I ever knowed one thet was; but I kin imagine thet she might be skittish or hysterical - they re the kind I dread. One o the best women I ever met gi e me the fidgets every time I looked at her. She was both wall-eyed an skittish-man nered, po thing. I allus s picioned she tried to make up for her eyes by her be havior, which was a great mistake. She was the salt o the earth, an I knew 90 it, an yet, ef she was to come up that walk now, I d suddenly ricollec some errand in the kitchen, an I would n t be able to help it. Of co se I d return quick ez I could brace up, but back I d go on first sight. Why, doc, you wouldn t b lieve it of me, maybe, but they s been certain hens in the yard thet would gi e me the creeps, allus actin so agitated an superfluous not comparin , of co se. There s Sally Ann Brooks, now ; I hate to say it, but she kin git me about ez nettled ez anybody I like. What s that? Why, cert n y I like Sally Ann. Yas, I know she will whup her child en constant an dress em to kill ; but she s one of our own girls, an she means well. You know she wanted to be lected dele gate to the W. C. T. U., on account o the stand she took to close the saloons ; but our women is got too much sense to send the mother o two sets o child en away Pom home. Besides, you know how she is. Ez Mis Blanks says, ef Sally Ann found herself app inted to set on a platform befo a au dience o people, like ez not she d be for THE WOMEN 91 appearin with her white ribbin rosette sash-width, or some other conspicuosity, an I don t doubt she would. She s the sort thet 11. second a motion she don t hear. Anything to be a-motionin or a-secondin . The committee on delegations is goin to come out here in the mornin an offer it to Mary Lizabeth; but of co se she won t consider it. It s mo of a compliment to her an Sonny n anything else, I reckon. I feel like a secret society or a dynamite bomb, knowin it an not tellin er, but I promised I wouldn t. Sir? How did I know it? Well, never mind; I was told, that s all. Somehow folks 11 tell me most anything. That s a compliment they pay to my dumbness. You nee n t to laugh, doctor! Th ain t nobody can play around a stake an never tech it better n I can. They re the best secret-keepers thet can do that. Yas, I m a reg lar magazine of explosives, an you ought to know it an never let a fever run too high in my system. Yas, they Ve lected Miss Sue Sanderson delegate to the mothers biennial, an I think they Ve done mighty well. She 11 enjoy the trip, an she s free-handed, an 92 SONNY S FATHER she s a good talker, an I jedge she could build up an imaginary family an raise em befo an audience o people ez slick ez the next one. An I tell you, doc, these meetings all help along. Of co se Sally Ann 11 allus be herself, but I b lieve thet after las night s talk even she 11 be herself with restrictions, f om this time forrard. I doubt ef she 11 ever box one o her child en ag in not in public, nohow. Mary Lizabeth says the reason they picked Miss Sue Sanderson for a delegate is on account o she bein a Daughter o the Revolution, an she 11 sort o reflect double credit on Simpkinsville. What s that you say, doc? Of co se I know nobody don t b lieve she s one; not but what she might be, for all I know. Anyhow, we-all know how she j ined. When she heerd thet the Sandersons of Sand Hill was descended that away, why, she thess up an claimed it, too, an commenced to shorten her frock- waists an to buy flowered curtain muslins for her dresses. It s good she s ez purty ez she is. It takes consider ble good looks to carry off that Marthy Washin ton git-up in broad THE WOMEN 93 daylight. You know I ain t called her no thin but " Lady Marthy " sence she adopted the costume. It pleases me to see her wear it, because it seems to make her so happy, an 7 the road is thess one picture purtier with her walkin down it in garret frocks an white kerchiefs. She looks ez innocently proud an de lighted ez the wild roses she breshes with her skirts by the roadside. To my mind, some women is so much like flowers thet for em thess to bloom seems all-sufficient. When a girl like Miss Sue wants to be a delegate to a mothers con vention, why, it s like a lily havin medic inal qualities an they ain t nothin ag in nature in that; they say some has. Miss Sue says her only regret is thet the minuet can t be danced solitary. She craves to dance it, but she says they ain t nobody in Simpkinsville qualified to dance it with her. Oh, yas, she said that to Mary Liza- beth s face, an Mary Lizabeth she was turrible tickled over it, because she knows they s only three quarters o my great gran pa buried down in the Fayetteville 94 SONNY S FATHER cemetery, the rest of Mm bein left on a Revolutionary battlefield; an Sonny has got his swo d an 7 crutch, both, an his com mission, too. An she s got one on her ma s side, for that matter. Sir? Oh, no, she never said nothin . I did pleg Mary Lizabeth a little to send on her papers an things an git a badge, but she wouldn t. She lowed thet it was all she could do to keep up with her duties ez a mother, let alone settin up to be a new kind of a daughter. But I Ve got all the dockiments put by, an ef any o these little girls thet s comin along should ever care to take advantage of bein born Daughters of History, why, they 11 find their title clair. Little Marthy funny for her name to be Marthy, now, ain t it ! I never thought o her an Marthy Washin ton together befo but our little Marthy is a born leader, an it wouldn t surprise me none ef she d be the sort thet d some day enjoy puttin ribbin bows on that ol crutch an swo d, an crossin em over her mantel shelf. Ef her mind should run that away, she won t haf to go to no junk-shop to git her THE WOMEN 95 relics, that s one thing shore. They say a heap of em does. Sir? Oh, no, Miss Sue ain t got no badge. She says the name o Sanderson is all the badge she needs, an I reckon it s thess ez well she feels that away. No, it s thess ez I said in the beginnin , doctor; they ain t no casion to fret about our women. They ain t banded ag in the men no mo n the men has been banded ag in them all these years in their Odd Feller an Freemasonry an all sech. Of co se they s some things in it all thet strikes a looker-on ez ridic lous, now an ag in. F instance, it plegs me to see our sweet young girls go in roun with what they call " Social Purity badges " on. The dear child en ain t no mo n purity badges theirselves, ef they on y knew it, an I hate to see em labeled. Seem like it might make em conscious. 01 Miss Tildy Ferguson is responsible for that. She was born plain-featured, Miss Tildy was, an she s had a purty lonesome time all her life, with her eczema an her deefness, an when she started to wear the badge, why, I was pleased to see it an nobody can t say but what she s 96 SONNY S FATHEK lived up to it strict. But it s only human not to know when to stop. I s pose they come a time when her own virtuous life ceased to satisfy her cravin for virtue, an so she appointed meetings an got the girls all out an tagged em, an it seems they ve made her president, an she says it has renewed her youth like the eagle, she s that happy over it. I reckon the truth is, everybody s life is bound to be a sermon, of one sort or an other, an the happy ones is them thet are convinced thet they Ve found their texts. Of co se white ribbins an reelizations of goodness can t hurt our girls in the long run, an ef it s brought happiness into the heart of one lonely ol woman, that s some- thin . No, don t let s you an me fret over our women, doctor. The motters on all their banners is thess ez good for our sons ez for our daughters, an we 11 all do mighty well ef we try to live up to em. IV THE SONG IN THE TREE - TOPS ELL, Doctor, sence it s another boy, I s pose I 11 have to give in to the name, although, to tell the truth, I ve sort o caught Sonny s obnoxion to Deuteronomy for a Christian title. As he says, it s too sense lessly biblical. An so my grandfatherly advice would be ag inst it. An yet, we ve shoved it along so often, an , ez you say, a mother ought to have some say in namin the child en she brings into the world, an nothin 11 do Mary Elizabeth but to pass the name on intact. Pore little baby ! I declare, you could put his whole len th in that name an have a letter or two left over. Father he give it to me warm out o the Bible, on account o him bein con verted th ough a passage in it thess befo my arrival. I ve always felt thet he 97 98 must a been on the eve of conversion any way. I ve dutifully tried to enjoy the book o Deuteronomy, all my life; but the farthest I ve got is to respect it as a po tion of the revealed Word. I ve often wished my father had foun grace through one o the Christian gospels, or, if not, through Job or Jeremiah or even Proverbs. I had a uncle, mother s side, thet was christened Proverbs, an he always signed John P. I Ve had a good many legal papers to sign, buyin an sellin land an mules an cotton, an bein ez Deuteronomy was the only name I had, I did n t feel free to initial or curtail it ; an it ain t never failed to provoke a smile when it s been read out in court. The trouble is, in passin it down to this helpless infant, he 11 likely be called by it, although Mary Elizabeth has a ready got it reduced down to Duty, which she lows 11 be a watchword an ought to suffice. I never felt the full f o ce o the name an neither has Sonny. The only way I ever heard it in full blast was in reproof, an I d recognize upbraision in it. He was a good man, my father was, an his usual form of address to me was " my THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 99 son," thess so, unadorned, an I don t know but it s helped me all my life. It sort o challenges a boy to be called " my son " by a good man. Ef I hadn t a been on in years when Sonny come, an tickled out of all reason, no doubt I d a follered in father s lead, an started in callin him " my son," al though it would n t never a filled the bill, exac ly. He was too little at first, an then too mischievious, an too much of a prize- package for a steady title like that, an " Sonny," why that thess seemed to hit it off right. An what an abidin an growin joy he has always been to us, Doc ! An to think of him, ez I see him, an can t fully realize im even yet, ez the prosperous father of a large family well, I often feel ez full o praise over it all ez a psalm o David. I Ve always thought thet ef I had my choice, an my life could express worship, I d choose for it to be praise. Prayer is all very well, but half the time when I start to pray, I thess reverse the nrjine, an send up a message of thanksgivin instid; an I m ap to forgit what I got down on my loo SONNY S FATHER marrer-bones to beg for. Not thet I git down that-a-way literal these las days. But my sperit loves to kneel an give thanks. I s pose they 11 be puttin a cupalo on the orphanage, or sendin some boy up to the agricultural college, ez a memorial of thanksgivin for the gift o the little Deu teronomy. You know Sonny an Mary Elizabeth they ain t never failed to make a thank-off erin for every one ez they ve come. Sally Ann Carter she says thet she thinks them namin a sixth child Dorothy thess because Dorothy means a gift o God was nothin short of a bluff. She s a game-maker yet, with all her troubles, Sally Ann is. Do you know what I thought about, Doc tor, when I see the new baby thess now? Why, it reminded me of the littlest one of Sonny s collections of birds eggs an of a talk or two I ve had with his third boy about it, last few days. An of co se it makes me think of her, Sonny s mother, the new baby does an of him an the birth-night. You ve been with us th ough most of our heartrenderin THE SONG IN T#E experiences, Doc . Yas, a birth in the family it always seems to give me a fresh purchase on things, an what you d call a new perspective, I reckon. An of co se at my age I look backwards. It depends upon how far a man s traveled which way he 11 look. He s ap to look the longest way an that s in my rear. Settin here amongst these child en, I reflect on everything, from my boyhood, down. I even think over an over ag in of her, the first time I ricollect of seein er, an then of forever afterwards. You know, sometimes a girl 11 pass under yo eyes a thousand times thess casual, an be same ez part o the landscape, an maybe, some ord nary day, without any brass band or anything excitin , you 11 thess suddenly seem to see her an the jig s up for you. Well, that was the way it was with her. I had often met her, comin an goin , an even passed the time o day with er; but beyond thinkin she was neat-figured, I was n t conscious of er, no ways. Plenty of our girls is nice an compact-built. .Well, we had a happy life together, mother an me. Somehow, Doc, I ve taken 102 to missin er ag in lately, an I like it. It s company to me, missin er is. When the dead are clair forgot, they cease to be company to us. But talkin about birds eggs, you know Sonny s third boy, yo namesake, little Doc we call im, he s got his pa s col lection, along with the gift, an he s got consider ble scientific insight, too, so Sonny says. They s been one or two rare nests found on the place lately, you know Sonny has bought in all the woods thet was left, - an the little boy has got holt o one or two entirely new specimens. He robs a nest with the same wire seizure thet Sonny constructed when he was about his age. It lifts the eggs out without the inhuman touch. Well, he come in with this egg day befo yesterday, a weeny blue-white thing no bigger n a joke. Had it layin in a ole bird-nest thet he keeps for the purpose, befo he classifies an egg an puts it with the collection. He had n t put finger on it. He always waits a while an keeps it sacred, an looks at it; an yet he ain t chicken-hearted THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 103 about it. He collects em, only he does it with respect. Well, whilst he was showin me the little thing, I helt the nest in my hand a minute, an I says, says I, " Son," says I, " d y ever consider what s in a little thing like this! " He s a mischievious youngster, an his eye twinkled. " In it? " says he, " Yaller an white, I reckon. D y ever think what a cunnin little fry one would make with a slice o guinea-pig bacon? " He s a turrible little guy, an smart ez they make em. He knowed I was imbued with some sentimental principles about the egg, an he lowed to gimme a shock. But I never let on; I thess laughed an says: " Why, yas, t would be cunnin , wouldn t it? Or a little omelet would be still better, ef you had eggs enough; an the guinea-pig bacon could be cured with smoke from a Dutchman s pipe in the woods, or maybe puffball smoke." I always try to come out ahead in a bluff if I can. Well, at that he up an hugs me, an says he: 104 SONNY S FATHER i l That s why I like you, Gramper : you re good spo t." An he went off whistlin ; but I see he handled that egg keerful, all the same. I don t know what variety it was, ex- ac ly. It was a shade longer n our hummin -bird s, an freckled. I suppose I m childish, maybe, or maybe it s second-childish, but do you know I can t set an think about a little thing like a bird s egg an be reconciled to infidelity. It 11 take my mind about ez far afield ez a sermon an sometimes further. Well, that was las Thursday. I knew I hadn t made no impression on the boy, so day befo yesterday he was settin all over me ag inst the arm o the rustic settee on the po ch, with his arm roun my neck to keep from slippin . You know he ain t but thess six, an not fully that, an he was sort o meanderin along in idle talk when he says, " Gramper, tell me a story." " What about? " says I. " About anything but God," says he; " I m tired o Him." Now, I know thet they s some good people thet d take exception to sech talk THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 105 ez that from a five-year-old. They seem to think God needs to have His dignity sustained constant; but I ain t that make come to children. I d ruther try to win em roun to the right way o thinkin . It s hard to jolt a human bein into reverence. So I thess laughed, an I says: " Is that so, Son? " I ve always called all the grand-boys * son. It seems to re move the one remove between us. So I says: " Is that so? Tired o God, are you! Well, I don t reckon He minds ef you don t. He ain lonesome. They s so many thet feel different thess so He don t git tired o you." But that didn t bring im roun worth a cent. He thess went on casual: " I ain t turnin Im down altogether," says he; " but I don t want to hear about Him now. Tell me a week-day story." " Well," says I, " you name the sub- jec , an I 11 keep God out of it if I can. He seems to be in most everything befo you git done with it; but I 11 do my best to keep Him out. An thess ez I said that, a hummin -bird happened to flutter past 106 SONNY S FATHER our faces, makin for the Bermudy vines on the po ch, an I see a nest in the crotch of the honeysuckles thet was mingled with it, within easy reach of climbin . " How about that nest! " says I. I see his eyes had follered mine. " Let s see ef they s anything in it." Every child loves a bird-nest, even a 7 ordinary child. So he stood up on the back rail o the settee, clutchin the shoulder of my coat, an peeked into the nest. Then he put his little finger on is lips an held up two fingers. " Yas, I thought ez much," says I. " Two weeny eggs, like little white beans. An the nest wove out o plant-down, an covered with lichens, an located so thet you might be lookin right at it an not see it. Seem like that must a been inten tional matchin a nest to its surround- in s." You see, I Ve learned a heap from Sonny, Doctor, an I spout it out on occa sion. " You can t git one o them eggs with out robbery," says I, " an you Ve got a similar specimen. S pose you come down Located so thet you mig-ht be lookin right at it an not see it. THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 107 an run git one o them for Gramper an let s see what it looks like." He was down an back with the egg in a minute. " Now," says I, " what s in a little egg like this when it s new-laid! No more yaller-an -white talk now: Gramper s tellin this story. First of all, they s life in it an the power to stir an come fo th. " A perfec little bird, feathers lappin one over another, the bronzy ones an the green, thess the same on each side, - all distributed accordin the rule of thou sands of years on a perfec little body con structed for flyin , downy breast-feathers, strong quills to brace ag inst the wind- they re in it. " S pose we study over the contains of an egg, Son, besides feathers an bones, though they re wonderful enough. How do you s pose they reg late the paints so s they won t git mixed in a little bean-egg like that? You d think the speck o bronze thet was to tip the shoulder feath ers might git mixed with the green for the top-knot, or thet the breast-feathers would slip out o place an grow out on 108 the back, maybe, an humiliate the little thing. " But they s other things, besides, in the egg, Son. See ef you can t think of some o the things." But I see the myste rious look comin into his face, so I did n t wait ; I thess went on : " How about the trust thet s in an egg an love, one bird for another an nest-sense - - an tree-knowledge an sky-ambition an - An with that, he interrupted me. " I don t see the trust," says he, " in the bird s egg." " Don t you? " says I. " Why, they s trust all round. Trust in the nest, trust in the mother-bird, trust in the - 11 Oh, I see. Don t explain no mo ," says he. He s impatient, cause he thinks fast. " But the wonder to me is," I went on, " where the love thet comes out o the egg into the bird the love an the sense, an the mother-trust, an all where they re located in a little thing like this. They s lots more in it than I can think about. They s songs in it, somewhere one kind o song in one egg an only a chirp in an- THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 109 other. An , then, they s the man-fear- in all. Ef everything wasn t in its place, the songs would git mixed up with the man-fear, an " Don t! Gramper, what makes you keep sayin * man-fear ? I hate that word." An he looked purty serious. " Oh, well," says I, "of co se, they s boy-fear an cat-fear. Maybe we ought to call it thess enemy-fear. Well, that would n t do at all. It excited im even worse. " What re you puttin us in with the cats an dogs for? " says he. " We ain t enemies. We re friends." " You an I may be, Son," says I; "but the long race o mankind has pur sued the birds in all ages, so thet now they all come into the world with a palpita- tin dread o man. It s got fixed in the egg." " Ain t that awful! " says the boy, an I knew I had awakened his little soul. " Yes, Son, it seems so," says I. " An yet, in the same egg with the man-fear is wing-stren th an sky -knowledge, an the cunnin thet 11 enable a bird to secrete her nest in the enemy s country. But let em no SONNY S FATHER once-t git up an away let a bird tilt on a tree-top an sing away up beyon reach, an the colors of his feathers 11 shine fearless in the sun." " An how do they know who tells em? " " Well, I don t like to say. You know, I promised to keep Somebody out o this story, an - With that, he bu st out laughin . " Better let Him in, Gramper! " says he, clappin his hands. " Maybe it s thess ez well," says I. " Seem like He is in, whether we mention His name or not." " Why don t you say it, then, Gram- perl " " I lowed thet maybe you d like to do that, Son. S pose you say it." " I knew you was talkin about God all the time," says he. " Can t fool me! We could n t keep Him out, could we ! He was that tickled over it ! 11 No," says I; " not whilst they s mer- icles around." " What is a mericle? " says he, serious ag in. Well," says I, " you ve hit me hard, THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 111 Son. That s a big question ; but I reckon we 11 find some sort 6 answer to it. Them thet has studied over it most says thet life is the greatest mericle, life an love, - an to that I d like to add joy. It ain t only the life o the bird, an the love thet made him an thet sends him flyin acrost the sky after his little mate, but, to my mind, the song in the tree-tops is a mericle. It s joy joy in the face of everything. It s mighty hard to look in any direction an not see life, or love, or joy an mostly all three. An wherever they be" " Lemme say it, Gramper. God! I like that story, because it was n t about behavior an obedience an washin yo face an hands. Tell me another." That s always the last thing he says after a story " Tell me another." Well, that was day befo yesterday, an yesterday I missed the little new specimen egg out o the nest, an I ast im what he had done with it, an what you reckon he said? Said he, lookin sort o mysterious an short-lived the way I always feel oneasy to see him look says he : 112 i l Oh, I thess changed my mind about it. I put it back." " How come you to do that, Son! " says I. " Oh, I thess kep a-thinkin about God in there with the three little mericles ready to work out, an so I slipped it back. An I don t think she d missed it." " Thought about all that feather-paint goin to loss, did you! " "No," says he. Then, shakin his little curls: " T wasn t that. An it wasn t much for the life an the love. I kep thinkin about the wings an the sky- an the song in the tree-tops. That s why." 66 An what about yo specimen, Son! " says I, scrutinatin his little face whilst I put the question. " I 11 take my chances after God s done with it," says he. " When He lets the mericles out, maybe they 11 be a good empty shell or some nice pieces. Or He might leave me a whole one. He could." il An ef not! " says I. "Then I ll try next year an next year." " You d ruther be one specimen short THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 113 than to break up a resurrection song, would you? " An , with that, what you reckon he said? Said he : " I would now," says he; " but next year maybe I 11 be bigger an crueler. An I 11 get all the specimens I want. An I 11 whistle loud, to drownd the tree-top song." Sonny thinks thet that was purty high- class talk for a five-year-old; but he can t ricollect his own youth, of co se. I often wished I d kep a book or she had thess to note down Sonny s sayin s whilst he was in little dresses. They say thet even passably good child en go th ough a cruel stage; but Sonny never. Of co se he sometimes rode is horse too hard; but that was ignorance. But he never forgot his oats. An now his sleek live-stock is the talk o the county. I like child en to grow up with the re sponsibility of dependent life about em; an the more service it requires of em, the better. That s my chief objection to most o the new labor-savin machines: they re so senseless an cold. 114 SONNY S FATHER I like a horse. I like his looks, an his touch, an his breath not to speak of his recognition. What is sweeter to a tired farmer, after a day s work, when he s fed his horse, an watered an curried im, an put im up, than to hear im whinny! That s my principal obnoxion to auto mobiles. It s lack of heart, along with insanity, an a disposition to override. Think of a horse with a honk ! for a whinny an a gasolene breath ! I ve talked to my stock, mo or less, all my life not the way ole nigger Proph confides in his dogs an mule, maybe, but thess companionable, an they ve always rewarded me in affection. Imagine a man o feelin pourin gaso lene into a motor-car an pattin it on the tank, the way I always done Traveler, an teasin it about bein so greedy. They ain t nothin endearin about a motor car. It s the over-rich man s chariot, the automobile is takes the road an escapes responsibility, ef it can. Good horses are for the wealthy an respectable, accordin to my mind. Not thet a good horse won t sometimes prove a bad influence. An I m THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 115 not sayin thet a steady man never rides in automobiles. Sonny has rid in one sev al times, an he talks about inventin a new kind; an of co se ef they re han dled an improved by conscientious people, they may be redeemed. Still, I can t see any great good comin to mankind th ough lightnin speed. I ain t any too much in favor of electrocu tion for the guilty, much less for the inno cent, on our highways. What s that you say, Doc ? Yas, no doubt, I do talk too much ; but you re sech a good listener what s that you say 1 " Do I like a mule? " No, I don t like a mule not to ride behind. An a donkey I never could take serious. Can t convince me thet a donkey don t know he s funny, Doctor. Look into the face of the next one you see, or hear, an you 11 see what I mean. He knows he s the joker in the pack. But I d ruther be him than a mule twice-t his size. He s unmistakable, whilst a mule s uncertain an precarious. I don t believe much in mixin races, nohow not even the human. Even in the vegetable kingdom, I can t 116 SONNY S FATHER say ez I m much attracted to too much cross-fertilizing although the production of freaks is always amusing an the mu seums has to be supplied. But when it comes to confusin potatoes an tomatoes, f instance, till you secure a doubtful-fla vored nondescrip betwixt the two an call it a pomato or a topato, like ez ef you had lost a front tooth, why I d draw the line. They s a heap o difference twixt a hybrid an a high breed. Yas, I d keep my vegetables an fruits intac , an when I craved em mixed, I d ask for a tutti frutti puddin or a succotash sech ez Mary Elizabeth concocts. The perfectin of common things an the removal of obstacles seem like it would re sult in perfect ease an unrelieved health, after a while ; but I s picion it 11 only mean a shiftin of pivots, an a new class of ail ments an healers. Too many stairs in a staircase used to be given ez a cause of heart-disease, an now they say the alleviators in the cities has th owed so many o the abominable muscles out o commission thet they ain t nothin to suppo t the useless appendages within, an now any child knows how to THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 117 pronounce appendicitis an they re put- tin it in the American spellers. It s a disease of the hour, accordin to my mind, trouble between the labor- unions an the leisure class, that is, sup- posin the medical profession has got the right of it. They are right sometimes. You nee n t to laugh, Doc ; I m talkin about the generality. Of co se you re always right, but I don t know ez I think you are so much of a doctor ez a man o sense. Yas, you may laugh ! All the same, ef it s ever needful to do any carvin aroun me, I d trust you to do it, for I d be shore you d keep clair of my vi tals. Yas, eighty- three this comin month, an not disturbed over it. You ricollect I was fifty when Sonny come, an I used to have anxieties less n I might not live to see a grandchild. An look at me seven, an no len thenin intervals between em yet, an me more composed an tranquilized in feeble health than ever, an not a ache or a pain ! They say I Ve made a fairly good grand father, but I don know. I m talkative, 118 SONNY S FATHER that s one tiling, an children they like talk. I m glad the seventh is a boy; a lucky number, with a boy at each end, ain t bad. "What s that, Doc ? Do I believe sech ez that? Oh, I believe most anything in mod eration, but I don t let superstition run away with my reason. F instance, I be lieve seven is luckier than six, but not so lucky ez eight, come to havin child en sech ez ours. But yo namesake, little Doc , Doc , I don t want to insinuate thet he ain t well, I couldn t stand it, but you give im a lookin over befo you go. He surprises me too often with his wise talk that is, too often for the occasional white look in is face. What s that! Oh, yas, he s a beauty ; but they all are, more or less. He looks like the Apostle John of my imagi nation, an he is like im with me. You know, he was the " loved apostle," John was thess a little nearer to the Master s heart than the others. I ain t never said this much before even to myself, but they s days when I get a little pain in my heart about the little fel ler, he s so game an so clair-eyed, an* he THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 119 don t know the meanin of fear. The very thought of it in a bird seemed to disturb him, an he talked in his sleep night befo last. First he scolded, an I heerd im say " Man-fear," an then presently he called out ag in " The song in the tree-tops." I reproached myself for appealin to him too serious. I don t like that little blue vein acrost his little nose, so to-day I Ve spent out doors with im, under the trees, an I Ve avoided thoughtful talk, an we Ve played hide-an -seek without me movin out o place. How do we do it! Oh, that s easy- only makin pertend. I make up my mind where I d hide ef I could, an it always has to be a place big enough for a man o my size, an in a place where it would be possible to find me, and I holler " hot " an " cold," accordin ez he approaches the spot. I m allowed to climb up or down, but not to fly, an they has to be some rea son why he could n t see me, if I was where I m supposed to be hidin . Yas, it s imag inative, but it ain t distressing I was hid the longest time this mornin right there in that red hammock, befo his 120 SONNY S FATHER eyes, an when tie found it out, he was tickled over it. Says he, i i Why, Gramper, you hid thess like the birds hide their nests by matchin colors! Mary Elizabeth she bought me this maroon-colored dressin -gownd cause she allowed it was cheerful. You see, it took purty good imagination in a five-year- old, well, say a six-year-old, which he is nearly, to realize the matchin of col ors when I really was n t in the ham mock thess pertendin . But of co se I had on the red gownd a leetle darker than the hammock. So you look im over, Doc , an maybe you 11 approve of droppin a few nails to rust in his drinkin -water, or ef you think a change of air would make im less keen an more ruddy, why, we 11 git im away to Baker s Springs or Eureka. I might take im there myself. He s slep in my room, in his little bed, ever sence the night he ceased to be the youngest, when he lacked sev al weeks of bein two year old. He was a little man then, although he couldn t talk plain - ricollec him sayin the first night he slep THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 121 there, i Call me, ef you need anyfing in the night, Gramper! An we-all laughed so at it. He had heerd his ma say that so often. He s always had middlin thin wrists for a boy, an 7 he s too inquisitive about unknown things. Still, he s got enough o the old Adam in his temper to encourage me to think he ain t too good for this world. An I m glad of it. Temper s a good, honest fault, once-t git it in hand. They s always been somethin birdlike about im, though, an befo he cut his secon -year teeth, I used to look for im to fly away some days. He had a light flut- terin motion with his little arms, like ez ef he d fly, whilst he was so puny, a motion thet seemed like a threat, an I Ve sometimes shut my eyes an tried to think what I would do ef - You see, Doc , that s one experience thet we Ve been spared. The child en have all kep well an strong, an things has gone along prosperous; an sometimes I stand off in admiration of Sonny an Mary Eliza beth, the way they keep so tender an sweet in the face of uninterrupted prosperity. I m glad I Ve had the chance to confide 1 22 SONNY S FATHER in you about the boy, Doc , an I feel bet ter. Sometimes I scarcely know how to proceed with im. Our imagination games seem innocent enough, an he dotes on em, but even in this I ve been brought purty close-t up to the edge o things. Says to me this mornin , says he, an I could see by a twinkle in is eye thet he was in the imagination country, says he : " I was n t in my crib las night, Gramper, an I didn t lay down all night. I perched. " Did n t you, Son! " says I. "That s funny, because they was a little feller yo size thet kissed me good night, an he slep right there. Who could it a been, d you reckon? " " Oh, it was me thet kissed you all right," says he, " an then I laid my out- sides in the crib, thess to fool you, an I flied up, an up an up to the bird country, where a whole lot o birds was perchin on limbs, noddin ; an every little while one would open one eye an say Peep ! an shut it ag in. An when I bal anced myself on the limb, they all opened their eyes. They didn t think I could do it, but I did." THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 123 " Wonder who it could V been thet waked up this mornin in the crib beside my bed? " says I. " He had yo features exact. " Oh, I was back by that time," says he. " The birds started to fly away whilst the stars was slrinin , all talkin at once, thess bird-talk, Gramper, an they made funny noises. I think they must rehear sin 7 for their tree-top songs. then, says he, " Ef I ever stop bein a little boy, I hope God 11 let me be a bird, an I 11 sing in the tree-tops all the days." Then, seein me feel of his wrist, he says, " What re you feelin my pulse for, Gramper? " So you say the birds rehearses for their songs, same as you Sunday-school child en? " says I, lowin to divert is mind whilst I felt of is pulse on the sly. " Not the same," says he. " We-all re hearse Christmas an Easter carols, an they do the tree-top songs. I wonder do the birds know about Christmas, Gram per? " * I would n t be surprised, says I, " they know so many things." " Yas," says he; " they know about pic- 124 SONNY S FATHER nic days, I m shore, an they have theirs same day as ours off o our crumbs; an 7 they know night an mornin , even befo they show, an they go to their tree-beds whilst they can see, an they beat the sun up in the mornin s, an know where to find straws, an water, an worms. An Daddy says they know when it s goin to rain, an they put on rain-coats an we know what that means. They waterproof their swaller-tail coats with their mouths, an turn em into mackintoshes! Daddy said that. Ain t Daddy great, Gramper? " " Yas, Son," says I, bridgin the three generations, with solid content, i t Daddy is great." " An they know bird-talk," he went on, " because I hear em jabberin , an the sparrers they augue an wrastle turrible. An I b lieve the mockin -birds make fun o some o the birds they re mockin . I would, ef I was doin it. " But I ain t shore about them knowin Christmas," says he, lookin away; " but I tell you, Gramper, ef birds have nestes in the Christmas-tree groves, they must hear the trees wonderin which one would be chose for the child en s tree, all the THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 125 trees hopin to be the one, even when they knew they d haf to be sac erficed, so they must know about the Christ-child, " says he. You see, Sonny an Mary Elizabeth, they Ve always read aloud to the children considerable. So he kep on talkin to isself, like, an lookin puzzled, same ez a grown person seekin the truth, an somehow, try ez I might, I couldn t seem to turn is mind into frivolity, an that mysterious look it lingered in is face. But d rec ly, says he, his eyes lightin , says he: "I tell yer, Gramper, I reckon the birds o paradise they know-- cause they are Bible-birds." " An so is sparrers," says I, "an eagles an others." " Yas, but the paradise-birds they re different, says he. " They must a knew Adam an Eve an - " Yas," says I, "an for all we know, they might a been hatched in the Tree of Knowledge," says I, tryin to be extry smart. An what do you think that little six-year-old said to that? Says he, lookin right at me, argumentative as a lawyer, says he : " That wouldn t a done em no good, 126 SONNY S FATHER lessen they picked at the fruit. It s eatin it did the damage," says he. " Ef that would do it, all a boy would haf to do would be to be born in colleges, " says he, scrapin is first fingers together at me. Sometimes I think he s too smart. Then he started reflectin ag in, an d ree ly says he: " Wouldn t it be bee-u-tiful, Gramper, ef the paradise-birds all rose up together, an the rest had to draw straws to see who could go up on Christmas mornin s! They d haf to have some mockin -birds an canaries to do the singin ; an they d fly up an up an up an up, above the paradise-birds tree-tops before day, all thess findin their way by the Bethle m star, till the birthday sun would shine out an light up the feathers, an they d all start singin Christmas carols thess like a big choir. " An maybe they do, for all we know. Daddy says thet even one o these thin- wing mosquito-hawks could tell us beau tiful things, ef we had fine enough hearin to listen; but," says he, drawin a long breath, " th ain t no use guessin an I m tired. They s lots o things I do THE SONG IN THE TREE-TOPS 127 know. I know I m a boy an I know when it s Christmas - " An you know why, too," says I. " You bet I do," says he, an then he rattled off : Little children) can you tell, Do you know the story well, Every girl an every boy, Why the angels sing for joy, On this Christmas mornin ? " I Ve knew that ever since! An I been thinkin it over, Gramper, an I d a heap ruther stay a boy. I wouldn t be a bird, lessen I had to stop. Birds are all right, but they re thess birds an birds -an birds an birds all doin the same way - " But a boy " 16 That s thess my opinion, too, Son," says I. "I Ve been several things myself, an it s ez good a thing ez I know. Some says I m one yet, an I hope I am. ; i I often wished I could remember when I was a teenchy baby, like the little new brother, thess nothin but a weenchy love-center with a boyish disposition to pucker his mouth to whistle, an from that 128 SONNY S FATHER on, more boyish every day, cluckin to the horses before he can talk. It all goes by stages. Then he gits to be a mannish boy ; an then thess a man, with a boyish heart, an before you know it, he s surrounded by his own boys, each one equipped for devilment along with duty, so he s obliged to begin life a little soldier, conquerin wrong an fightin for the right. " So I think you re wise, Son," says I. " Ef I knew I was liable to be wiped out sudden, an had a last-minute vote ez to what I d be next, I d say, Ef it s the same to you, dear Lord, thess do it over ag in. Make me a boy ag in. Th ain t nothin likeit. " An , sir, with that, what does that young ster do but yell out, " Hooray! "an fling his best velveteen cap into the top o this maginolia-tree, an it rainin pitchforks - an he knowin he d want to climb for it ag inst my jedgment. But it tickled me to have him do it. He ain t none too good to live, Doctor, thank God ! THE CHILD AT THE DOCK OLD on there, Doctor! Don t shove that button! I 11 come around an let you in. She s asleep, at last, an I reckon you better not disturb er, even you. I been waitin out here on my side po ch to inter cept you, so s you wouldn t ring. Come right out an set down, an I 11 tell you all about it. It s little Madge, Doctor: yas, little Madge, the child of adoption, an you know we re thess a leetle extry ticklish about her, lessen any harm was to come to er. " When! " you say? Why, thess yester day come home from school with er face too flushed an talkin mo n common - kep up lively talk all th ough er dinner an didn t no mo n pick at er victuals, all the time insistin thet she felt fine. Ricollec one thing she said was she felt 129 130 SONNY S FATHER like ez ef she could fly, an when I felt of er pulse, she made game o me an says, " I m all right, Gramper ! Call me Gramper! Why not, I like to know? Bless her little heart ! Why, Doc , ef I Ve got sech a thing ez a favoryte gran child, after little Marthy, her name sake, an little Doc who requi es it of me, why, it s little Madge Sutton Jones, dear an adopted daughter o the house. Well, I should say ! No, that s so, she ain t to say exac ly little, although she s a child to be desig nated that-a-way. Some women is, an it ain t always a question o size. She s the tallest o the brood now, an ef I don t say she s ez purty ez any o em, it s because I m reticent. Don t be impatient, Doctor. I m a-comin to that, now. Ez I keep tellin you, she come home from school all petered out an thess a leetle too frivolous ; did n t eat no dinner an asked an was allowed to set up beyond er usual bedtime. I see that Mary Elizabeth had er motherly eye on er an she follered er up stairs an it was n t no time befo she come hurryin back for Sonny to come an feel of er THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 131 pulse, an first thing we knowed, the child was settin up in bed, preachin an 7 laughin an cryin all at once-t. That was the time Sonny first tried to git you on the telephone an we ain t none of us got a wink o sleep all night. Sonny says she recited a number o poems correct an she s sung like a night ingale, more songs than you d think one bird would be able to turn. She s got a fine musical talent, an Sonny said las night he intended to have it cultivated. Take it altogether, Doctor, it s been a turrible night the storm outside so the house trimbled, an the telephone de tached by the elements, an that little girl carryin on what Sonny calls a Protean show, whatever that is takin one char acter an then another the whole night th ough, an we-all doin all the incapable things we knowed how for er relief, settin beside the bed an smoothin er hand one minute an complimentin er on er elo cution the next, an Sonny testin the tele phone every little while in a vain effort to git you to prescribe. He knowed you couldn t cross Chinkapin creek durin the hurricane. 132 Well, it was a night of storm, in an out doors, but thess befo day, when he had finally got you on the telephone, why, she succumbed to sleep an she ain t stirred sence. No, we didn t have no time to f oiler no directions. .When Sonny hung up the receiver, she was sleepin . They-all advised me to go to bed then, but at my age, it s easier to rise at four than it is to go to sleep, so I urged Mary Elizabeth to go an git a nap o sleep an Sonny, he s in the saddle, ridin over the place ez he does every daybreak. Dicey s gittin the coffee ready now, thess outside the bedroom door there an keepin an eye, an I stationed myself out here to meet you. Little Madge, she s layin right inside there, an ef she was to stir, we d all hear her. No doubt it s thess as you say, Doc tor. She s high-intellectual strung, an a year out o school would be the best thing for er. But I d dread to see you tell er ; she s sinfully ambitious, poor little hu man an gits only misdirectin praise for it, on all sides. She s got so robust these last three years, seem like we forgit how puny she THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 133 was them first years of scant nourishment which have to be overcome, of co se. Adoption is a great an honorable word in our family, Doctor, an it has sort o gilt-edged little Madge a leetle ahead o the others an we want it so. It s hard to have things thess exac ly right. They re ap to shoot over or under the mark, so, in various little ways, we strive to give the adopted one the higher place. Better that than the lower one an otherwise, she shares every advantage an obligation, share an share alike. We let em f oiler their talents, mainly, an Madge, she s the sociable one, with a tendency to cook. Sonny an Mary Elizabeth, they were reso lute in one thing: they wouldn t have no deception. That child learned to say " dopted " befo she knowed the meanin o the word, an thet she had some sort o friendly advantage o the rest in havin a extry pair o heavenly parents, same ez ef she had a kind of individual bank ac count to draw on in case o need, an she ain t never hesitated to use it, in argument. An ef she was hard-pressed, I have known er to make a special p int o bein chose,, whilst the rest o the child en had to be 134 SONNY S FATHER took, hit an miss, ez they come; I s picion thet Mary Elizabeth give er that weapon of defense. Mary Elizabeth is nnusual. It ain t every motherly woman thet is at the same step-motherly, or adopted-motherly, the way she is. She seems to put erself in every child s place, an to see its highest needs. They s two distinctions in most families, two honors, so to speak the eldest an the youngest an in ours, they s three, eldest, youngest, an dopted, an I ain t shore but the last is first, ez it should be. Our eldest has always been looked up to, an 9 knowed it, but we ain t never weighed im down with a sense of responsibility. I Ve seen oldest child en all but robbed o their youth in the constant demand to be " a livin example " to the younger ones. I notice Sonny an Mary Elizabeth, they 11 often say to the little ones, " See how pretty big brother does this or that, but that s the only challenge he gets an " big brother " 11 go through his paces like a merry showman, tickled over it. They s everything in how a thing s done. They s one thing shore ; if they s any THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 135 element of total depravity in our child en, it ain t never been challenged by opposi tion, an I have an idee thet ef total deprav ity is let alone, an forgot, it 11 be gradu ally absorbed an cast out o the system. Oh, yes, I know I ain t quotin from the catechisms, exactly but you an me, we are sort o free-thinkers, within the lines, an that s why I love to hear you talk! But go in back to the doption o child en, why, Doc , one o the richest lives I can imagine would be thess to have a big, ample home an to gradually fill it with adoptions thess casual, ez the opportun ity come along an seem like I M never be so happy ez when I knew they was a child at the door. I d a liked that to Ve been my fate, ef Sonny had n t arrived an been equal to any dozen to us. But like ez not, ef he had n t come, an opened our hearts an our eyes, we might never a reelized the bless edness o child en in the house. Yas, I d a been glad to Ve been a wholesale adopter of homeless child en. I d even liked to Ve put out a sign, " Needy chil- d en wanted an no questions asked." I never could see the sense o all the cate- 136 chizin they carry on over needy child en. To me it s superfluous. There s the child, an it s its own answer. Why, I Ve known cases for adoption quizzed out o all coun tenance. Adopters seem to be so skeert less n they 11 adopt somethin unworthy o their dignity. You ricollec poor Steve Silverton, Doc ? Well, when little Madge s father died, it seems somebody went to Steve s wife about her that was befo we d heard it an she was for takin the child, Mis Silverton was, but Steve wouldn t hear to it. He made some mean reference to Old Slouch Sutton," the child s father, an he lowed she was n t the right stripe to annex to the Silvertons. I often wonder ef he thinks about that now, wearin his own peniten tiary stripes for high-class chicanery, after castin slurs on poor old po-try-spoutin Eli Sutton, who never did a de-liberate meanness in all his vagarious life an is sleepin , honorably forgot, in a clean, weedy grave on the hillside. "What s that, Doc ? Oh, no. He ain t in the potter s field now. One o the first things Sonny done after they dopted little Madge was to go quietly an have his re- THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 137 mains removed into a pay grave an it s all decently labeled, which ain t no more n fair to the child. Yas, she s been down there, once-t. You know, Sonny had him interred down in the Ozan where he was born. I took er down with one or two o the child en, an she laid a flower there. It give er a sense o dig nity to do that. Yas, we wanted er to Ve been once-t, anyway, thess so she would reelize thet she could go. I ve often thought thet a graveless adult person must feel sort o insignificant, an I believe they do. Yas, Steve Silverton, he turned little Madge down, I m glad to say, an so did sev al of our best families, with well- meanin prudence. Jedge Whittemore was one o them thet shook his head, " No," an I ricollec they say he related a fool story of a man he d heard about thet adopted a child of obscurity, an when she was fo years old, it seems she slipped away from er nurse, an run an stood on the street doorstep in er little birthday suit, in great glee over er escape like ez ef thet was a hyenous crime or had any thing to do with her bein adopted. 138 SONNY S FATHER Why, sir, when our Sonny was six, an reely ought to Ve knowed better, did n t he make a similar escape from the nigger, Dicey, one day, in nature s scant apparel, an he never stopped till he got to the court-house, all the way th ough Main Street, bef o she caught him. But we didn t consider it no indication of depravity an it never occurred to us to try to git shet of him on that account, or wish we could send im back where he come from. What s that? Oh, yas, they returned that little fo -year-old to the asylum, on account of er escapage lowed thet they didn t dast to take the resk of er morals, not knowin but this " tendency," I believe they called it, might prove the beginnin o the end. Yas, sir, they done that an she four. No doubt they was on the lookout for indi cations o total depravity an were grateful for havin it revealed in time. An what you say! Did n t the Whit- temores ; ? Why, yes, they did. After turning Madge down on account o the story o the baby on the front steps, they dopted his wife s nephew, Archie Atkin- A & X m - Every little orphan asylum child is in a sense waitin out side our "ates. THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 139 son, of Atkinsonville - - dopted him glee fully, knowin all about all the fine strains thet was united in his pedigree an thess ez soon ez he was old enough, why Archie, he went out in all his clo es, an disgraced the whole caboodle ! Poor Archie ! He was the last of an enfeebled line, a nachel, well- dressed scapegoat, without a garment o decency to clothe hisself with. We-all felt mighty sorry for his aunt an uncle. You see, it was double humiliation. Mis Whittemore was present at the closin exercises o the High School last July, an I couldn t help wonderin , when our little Madge was called up every few minutes to take a prize, ef she remembered. Her whole name was called, every time, Madge Sutton Jones. That s wliat she is an she stands on it. Of co se, only the All-father knows what er fate will be. That ain t for us not with any o the child en. One mistake adopters make, in my opinion, is in rushin forward to results an rewards. Thess the home-givin an the happy recipiency of a contented child might be its own daily re ward, it seems to me. I know, in our Sonny s most troublous 140 days, we often said to each other, her an 1 me, " Ef he was took from us to-night, we d be overpaid for all he s cost ns in the fullness of joy he s brought us," yas, an that when he was thin-necked an cantankerous with his stomach teeth, an we was obligated to seize our joy chiefly in watchin him sleep, an oftentimes takin turns at fannin him, all the August nights th ough. But talkin about family traits an hered itary dispositions, I want to say right here thet we ain t got a thing to worry about in little Madge s family an ef we did, we d refuse to worry an try to crowd it out. No, her father, Eli Sutton, was n t no common man. He accepted town assist ance, I know, an his child has come to adoption, but they was some stuff in that man, an whilst I couldn t never exactly openly uphold him, he always had consid erable secret sympathy from me. I wish now thet I d follered my instincts an ex tended a hand to him in life. The trouble is we expect the wrong things o the wrong people. We ought to ve been more friendly to Eli. When THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 141 they found his garret full o them per petual-motion devices, an that pitiful diary with them courageous entries of al most perfected " why, well I d give a good deal ef he was back ag in, poor, uneomplainin worker, ef only long enough for us Christian neighbors to apologize to him for our mistrust. We often think of it an we try to make up to little Madge all we can, for neglectin him, although, of co se, she don t know it. I don t call that bad blood for a child to inherit. They s some admixture of the martyr in it with, of co se a perponder- ance o blame fool in finances, which he couldn t help. Her mother was a woman of intelligence an sperit, but I m ashamed to say she cut out an left Eli, although she must Ve knew about his perpetual motion devices, an the long night stretches o work when all them candle ends was burned down. It seems she got tired with it all, an lowed she was goin down to Galveston to pass the school examination o the state o Texas, for a public school position, an she intended to send for the child ez soon ez she could pro- 142 SONNY S FATHER vide " a suitable home," an you know she was drownded in the Galveston storm. She could a remained at home an got less money here for teachin our Simpkins- ville primary longer hours, an looked after the old man. Ef a wife won t do that, who will? No, she chafed under the style in which she was obliged to live with Eli, an so she went off in search of refinement. That was when Eli first took to drinkin , an I never blamed him. I can imagine what it was to be left in a cheerless house, for a man of inventive mind. Why, Doc , you know yo self thet it took you an me an her an the nigger, Dicey, all three, to wrastle with Sonny th ough his teethin , an ef his mother had up and lef me then, I d a took to drink in a minute! They was moments when I d a done it, any how, ef I d a knowed how. I tell you, Doc , now thet you scientists is describin hookworms an makin allow ances for " sleepin sickness," an treatin it with somethin besides moral persuasion, I reckon we 11 have to change the classi fication of a good many of our unfortunate brothers who didn t seem to be able to keep up with the procession. THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 143 Yas, poor Eli Sutton proved in mo ways than one thet he wasn t no common man. He had originality, an the courage to ex press it. A holder of unpopular opinions, he didn t give a cent who listened or who reviled, an they s somethin not alto gether despi sable about that, although it s ap to be tiresome. Why, they was a time in Eli s youth when he edited an printed a newspaper, out west an 9 sold it t least, he offered it for sale, but it wasn t no best seller, ez they say. He told me about it, hisself. He run an entire series in that paper on the subjec o who wrote Shakespeare s works. Eicollec , he was for a literary man by the name o Hogg, or maybe it was Bacon. Sence the child en have been studyin high school books an I hear em their lessons, why, I m gittin* so highly educated thet first thing you know, I 11 be settin fo th theories myself. But somehow, Hogg an Bacon, they seem to run together in a farmer s mind. They was a po try writer by the name o Hogg. He s dead, now. I m shore about that, because I ricollec sayin I M a thought he d V changed his name, thess 144 SONNY S FATHER for manners. Then, I see thet, on the con trary, he had affixed a second " g " to it, for emphasis an I see he was game, an* I took a likin to im, on the spot. Well, sir, that series run a year, an it hurt the circulation o the paper in a farmin community like that. But Sutton did other things. For one thing, he invented a sort o cement for the construction o houses, thess takin the dirt of a person s back yard an combinin it with chemicals, an he believed in it so thorough thet he built a residential home out of it, an they say it looked elegant an substantial an it reely was wind-an -fire proof, an he saw his everlastin fortune in it, but it seems one o them western fall rains set in a regular six-weeks soaker an the house thess nachelly sub sided during one night, an befo mornin Eli an his family foun theirselves well placed for the study of astronomy. It seems, he had left out some adhesive ingregent, so the stuff wouldn t hold out in a storm somethin like the man him self. Beyond the inconvenience o the oc currence, it seems he wasn t fazed in the least. He lowed he realized the mistake THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 145 he d made an he was for rebuildin the place immediate, but his wife, she refused to occupy it with him, for which I exoner ate her, entire. They s some experiments thet a person don t care to repeat. Oh, no! We don t tell the child sech ez that. What good would it do? She s got er pa s set o Shakespeare s plays entire, with no end o " marginal notes," Sonny calls em, an we encourage er nachel pride in it. Sonny says the notes is full o ciphers, but I never could find no oughts to speak of in it. What s that you say, Doc ? Was n t I responsible for Jedge Townsend s adoptin that boy ? Well, s posin I was, what of it I Don t you think it was a good day s work! Yas, I knew you d think so. I Ve often been tempted to tell you, then I d put it off. You re the only person in the county thet knows what blood s in that boy, Doc tor, ef you do know an from yo continual lack of denial, I suspicion you do. An I see you re still about it yet which is straight goods. An you d like to know how I worked the adoption, would you? 146 Well, partly by my nachel gift o elo quence, I reckon. I don t mind tellin you about it, seem ez it s turnin out so happy. You see, his wife an him, they both knowed thet I knowed thet you d brought that child home " from the church door," an was keepin still about it. Whether you placed it there before or after takin it inside an privately baptizin it or not, we 11 never know. You whispered the one fact of the findin to me, in confidence an ez you hoped I might do, I kep a shet mouth on the outside an let him an his wife know, also " in strictest confidence." No, we 11 never know thess how you found it, but we do know thet Moses s little sister never guarded the ancient law-giver amongst the bulrushes with more respon sible care than that you give that little foundlin befo Pharaoh s daughter in the person o Mis Townsend, enfolded it in her queenly an motherly arms. So you d like, after all these years, to know how I worked it, would you? I 11 tell you, Doc , although I d never a men tioned it to you lessen you d asked me. I m a silent man when they s need for it an I Ve always been here for you to THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 147 question, ef you d saw fit. I s pose you thought thet the more you could say you did n t know on the subjec , the better. I had sev al things in my favor, with the Townsends, among other things an ac quaintance thet runs back three genera tions. They believe me to be honest, an I think likely they suspicion me to be fair- minded an not consciously cruel. An then I knowed they needed a baby an needed it bad. Human hearts are like eggs. Ef they lay still too long, they git addled, an a child, why it keeps things movin an fresh. Yas, we had often discussed adoption, they an me, an I knowed they was on a still-hunt for an adoptable baby, but I also knowed their prohibitions on the subject. You see, she s an aristocrat, an in some ways, they re like camels, aristocrats is - that is when their aristocracy strikes out ward. It s ap to make a hump, so thet it s hard to git into the kingdom o Heaven. I knowed the Townsends had both kinds at least she had, or else I would n t never ve entrusted one o the Lord s little ones to er. She s got the internal aristocratic prin- 148 ciple in er which would prevent er from doin a cheap or a mean act, an ef she was a little humped on the outside with the con sciousness o superiority, why, I didn t mind, for I knew she could deliver the goods, an no temptation would move er from integrity. But of co se, a woman like that, she s ap to make a point of things, an she said she d never dopt no child of uncertainty. They had plenty o money, an so they even preferred to have the child penniless, which was a pardonable kind o selfishness. They wanted to be everything to the little one. Well, when you told me about this baby, I put on my thinkin cap an when I laid eyes on the child you ricollec me comin over an kodakin the little thing with Sonny s camera! Well, I never showed you that picture. Sez I, ef he can be shet- mouthed, so can I. I got a lovely picture, the little thing thess wakin out o sleep, with a smile on its face an I walked straight to the Townsends with it an left it with em to look at an kep out o their way for three days, so they d live with it a while bef o anything was said. THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 149 An on the fo th day, Mis Townsend, she wrote an asked me to come over. They wasn t no telephones in Simpkins- ville them days. Well, I went, an I went charged with success so thet nothin else would do me. I made up my mind where that baby hailed from, an I ain t never broached it to this minute but I ain t never changed my mind, neither. .Well, I can t pretend to repeat a con versation, after so long. I went on the principle o lettin them do most o the talkin , but little by little I called attention to things thet seemed attractive about the baby, not thet they was very much in a three-days -old, beyond the fact thet it was a baby, an healthy an happy. Do they often smile, I wonder, Doc , at three days! I s pose they do. Sonny started in with all his functions so early, I don t seem able to differentiate. Well, we talked along. I told er the down on his little head was a sort o yaller, like corn silk, an , of co se it didn t take long to strike the snag o legitimacy, an I ricollec , I remarked thet from the little I d been able to gether, the baby s own 150 SONNY S FATHER folks was too proud an haughty to receive it on the sly, at the back door, when circum stances for which the child wasn t in no wise responsible made it impossible for it to enter the front portal. You see, I used all the terms I could command thet I thought might appeal to er hump. I called attention to the baby s nose-line which happened to be high an 7 straight, for a newly -born ^an I ricollec I told er it was attired in linen Cambridge orna mented with valentia-lace an this set er laughin . I ain t never told that on my self before, an ef I mis-pernounced any o that finery, why you are to blame, Doctor. It seems to me yet thet you said the goods was Cambridge an the lace valentia, an they was somethin else yo wife said, about its bein rolled an whipped but that sounded kind o barbaric, an I omit ted it. Well, I didn t seem to be makin much impression, but I kep on, casual. Told em thet ef they did n t want that child, we did, which you know to be true, in a general way. Of co se, we didn t need the child the way they did. I didn t seem to be makin no headway for about an hour or THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 151 so. The Jedge, he had come in, meantime, an whilst her an me was discussing he stood lookin at the picture. His back is ez straight ez mine, Doctor, ef his ancestor did sign the declaration. No hump there. He s one of the Lord s aristocrats, all gentleness an nobility. Well, after a while, somethin rose up in me. I think it was the success I d come for, an I sud denly turned on my eloquent powers. " My friends," I says, or words to that effect, " I Ve lived a long time, an for the past few years I Ve been addicted to bio graphical readin . It s my favoryte branch o literature," says I, " after the Bible, which is largely responsible for my biographical taste, for it s largely biogra phy. An I Ve noticed," says I, " thet the good Lord seems to take notice o these little fatherless ones an He bestows gifts upon em promiscuous, an 7 sometimes I wonder ef He don t maybe feel Hisself in some special way a Father to the father less, who are so often also desolate and oppressed." Well, they sent over an got the baby. That was my maiden effort at eloquence, an I won out. Ef I d never done another 152 SONNY S FATHER day s work in my life, I d almost be willin to Ve lived to do that one thing espe cially sence he s been readin medicine with you, an you tell me what a fine lad he is. Talk about the sea givin up its dead! I tell you, Doc , the revelations of the dry land 11 outweigh the sea s dead, when the great day comes. By the way, Doctor, do you ever hear from Dr. Cuthbertson s daughter, Char lotte, these days, I wonder? The first of Simpkinsville women to take holy orders, an a noble soul she was, God bless her. Died ? you say in a cholera camp ? You don t say! Well, well! " Passed like a saint amongst em," you say, " an died at the end of the season? " You don t tell me! What s that? You say they s men amongst the survivors who pray to er to this day say their prayers at night to er thess ez ef she was a saint ! It s a great world we live in, Doctor, an* not so much in need of theatres ez a person might think. Settin back the way I Ve done these last years, an takin note o the ins an outs o life, I often feel like ez ef I might be watchin a great play. THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 153 The most beautiful young woman thet ever trod our Simpkinsville lanes was Charlotte Cuthbertson, ez I remember er an it don t take much stretch of imagination to see er clothed ez a saint, walkin amongst the sufTerin soldiers. They say saints, to be real saints, has to sutler crucifixion an they s more than one kind o crosses. Did it ever occur to you, Doctor, thet poor little Mary, the Bethlehem mother, likely suffered er own personal crucifixion in a doubtin community besides the mortal pains through which she was en dowed with the divine countenance! It was n t no cinch earnin that slim ring o gold around her innocent little head ! Seems to me they s more n one lesson to be learned by them thet study over the story o thet reverent and obedient little maiden soul. It s capable o bein looked at from every direction an ef the pic ture o the little girl waitin outside the stable gate don t make us thess a little less critical o the child at our door, so s we 11 be inclined to open it to him, in memory, ef we can t always do it in faith, then maybe we haven t studied it aright. 154 SONNY S FATHER That s the way it seems to me. Maybe ef I was mo highly educated I might see it different, but that s the way it seems to me. To my mind, every little orphan asylum child is in a sense waitin outside our gates an the timid knock o their little fists ought to keep us awake till we invite at least one to come in. Here comes Mary Elizabeth, Doc . Yas, daughter, here s the doctor! You say she s awake, now! Go right in, Doc , an I 11 wait out here for you. No doubt the fewer people she sees at once-t, the better. Well, I thought you d never come back, Doctor ! Do you know how long you ve been in that room! A hour an seven minutes ! Quite right, I m shore, only I m youthfully impatient. An you say it s thess the same thing over-study, an a disposition to under nourish which must be overcome an she must be kep in bed a day or so, with any thing she calls for to eat an abundance of it an no books, positive! Well, ez Sonny says, you re the doctor, Doctor! THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 155 All she needs for the present is watchful care an what s that? " Amusement! " Excuse me conterdictin a professional man, Doctor, but Madge ain t never needed to be amused yet. She 11 amuse the whole crowd, let er alone. An you say you re thinkin out a scheme for er! Well, I ve got patience. But did you take notice to Mary Elizabeth, Doctor! I often think with gratitude o what a mother she has proved. Why, she s motherly todes me, her father-in-law, an to Sonny, hisself. I reckon any good wife is sort o motherly to the husband of er choice. Thess look at that hall hatrack, Doc , an tell me ef you think I ve got any occasion to kick. No, Mary Elizabeth an Sonny, they ain t no mo attracted to " race sui cide " than you an I are. Thess look at that collection o hats an they ain t one, or a sunbonnet, there thet don t cover a lively intelligence, joyfully expressed, thank God! Yes, an what s that you say? " An yet I long for an orphan asylum! " Not much, I don t. Why, Doc , they s some- thin in the very name thet gives me the 156 SONNY S FATHER cold shivers ! No, no ! Ef half our people felt the way I do, they would n t be no sech desolate, homeless institutions on our American soil ez an orphan asylum. They might have to be a few distributin stations to which suddenly destituted children could be assigned for temporary care. Why, to my mind, a orphan asylum in a Christian community o rich an roomy homes is a sort o national disgrace. How can any institutional child have a fair chance o bein fully human? Think o yo boy, our little Doc , yo namesake, bein registered in one o them awful books ez " No. 171," an wendin his lonely little way every night down the aisle be tween the rows o cold, white cots to find his number, with no personal knee for his " Now I lay me " an havin every last one o his cunnin little characteristics smoothed out flat by the daily iron of insti tutional rules made exclusively for the rigid order o the institution! I never will forgit the answer o one o the little asylum inmates thet come to a Sundayschool class I taught whilst I was a youth. After callin attention to a num ber o Scripture mottoes thet adorned the How can any institutional child have a fair chance o bein fully human? THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 157 walls, I ast er which of all the Bible texts she could remember influenced her the most, an she chirped up, without a mo ment s hesitation, " Keep off the grass! " Poor little prohibited orphan ! Sech children always remind me o the poor little incubator chickens thet ain t never nestled under a wing. Ef we was raisin em to sell by the pound, it might do! How s that, Doc ? You say you Ve done evolved a plan for little Madge ? Mh, hm! Say that ag in, Doctor, an say it slow. Why, that sounds tremenjus ! You say, it s important to git er away, but not so important ez to turn er mind away from erself an so you propose to order little Doc away for his health, an to send Madge along to look after him, with in structions to live out o doors " any good place where they s hills an springs," you say? Well, you re a man of inventive genius, Doctor! An I know the identical Metho dist family thet 11 be glad o their board- money. But why limit em to two, Doc? Eureky Springs has got the name o bein a sort o fountain o youth what s the 158 SONNY S FATHER matter with me go in along, an exercizin a grandfatherly eye on em! I couldn t renew my youth, because I ain t never parted with it, but I might recover my in fancy, all right. But I 11 promise to stop imbibin before I need infant s care ! Well, I 11 be jiggered ! Shake ! " be jiggered! " Yas, I 11 be doggoned! An I ain t swore sech a swear ez that in thir teen year not sence the little pitchers has had their big ears set for proper speech. But this tickles me, down to the ground ! Go right in, now, Doc, an consult with Mary Elizabeth about it see how quick she can git us ready to start! An fix the day. You say the responsibility o little Doc will keep Madge s mind off n erself an er strenuosity in follerin him around will keep er actively in the open? An , what s that? " Fishin -tackle ! " Jerooshy ! Why not ! I wonder could I ketch a fish ag in at my age, ef I was to balance myself keepful on a grassy bluff over a sedgy creek with a old bakin powder box with holes punched in the led, full o wrigglin bait beside me, an a fryin pan an a piece o bacon an some cornmeal THE CHILD AT THE DOOR 159 an coffee in the basket at my elbow, propped ag in the cedar knees? An matches handy! An ef I was to ketch a string o goggle- eyed pyerch, instid o rejoicin over the re covery o my youth, would I be ungrateful, I wonder, an start a-grievin for her ag in, with the old regret thet time has begun to heal? You see, in our youth, that was our favoryte debauch thess droppin every corrodin care an startin out equipped for a day in the open, an many s the time we ve come home by star-light, so full o sweet inflation an gratitude thet any little bothers thet had been weighin us down would seem to float away, same ez thistle down. What s that you say, Doc ? " Is Madge a cook? " Haven t I been tellin you all along? She s one o these ornamental cooks, Madge is. Could n t do a thing thess so, by rote, to save er life. It s like the Sutton eloquence, practically applied. Ric- ollec , I ast er to slip out in the kitchen an bile me an egg, one day, when she was about six, Dicey bein busy, an what did she do but dye that egg green? Done it 160 SONNY S FATHER with peach leaves an grass, an a pinch o sal sody, I believe. A thing like that is enlivening in a little youngster o six. Why, it was our Madge thet built that bridal couple on Amy Ames s weddin cake, Doc done it every lick out o her own head, an whipped up eggs an sugar! No doubt, she 11 have little Doc an me eatin woods-cooked corn dodgers of every conceivable shape, an the fried fish, bal anced on their tails, beggin to be de voured ! Ef you hurry an git us off, Doc , we 11 be there in time for the dogwood blos soms an we 11 stay till the persimmons is sugary. I hate to be impolite on my own p och, Doctor, but why in the kingdom come don t you rise up an 9 go in an make arrangements with Mary Elisabeth an decide when we can start! Seems to me we re losin time! VI KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCES SION AS, Doctor, ez you say, Life is a sort o procession " an we either keep up with it, or we don t. Of co se, they s leaders an hangers-on, an the funny part of it is thet a heap o folks is vastly mistaken ez to which they are. No doubt a few o these noisy auto- mobillionaires thet whizz ahead in their lightnin cars think they re ahead in the race, an yet, when the century s story is told, they may not be many o their names remembered, an the man thet set in dark ness inventin their riotous vehicles an handlin the most murderous of all the elements, why his name may name his time. The real leaders ain t always in the public eye. But, ef I ain t mistaken, I Ve got a few 161 162 SONNY S FATHER dear ones in the ranks, all tryin to keep step, God bless em! An that gives me joy. Well, we ve had a great time, Doctor, these three months ! They Ve revealed more to me than I e\er dreamed of. Thess a leetle over three months a hundred days an look at all four of us! I Ve often noticed thet time an distance seem to git sort o mixed when people go in search of health. One week far away is better than ten aroun the corner. . Sonny s sendin Mary Elizabeth along with us, Doctor, was a great idee. It was the finishin touch, not only for her delight over things, but it relieved me of all care, an now, I don t reely know what we would a done without er. You see, Sonny had been to New York befo , whilst he was a lad, the season he attended them lectures an visited Mr. John Burroughs at his farm in York state, which is still the most important event of his life, which give him his final determination to f oiler in the old poet s footsteps, in all humility. He always has hoped to take Mary Eliz abeth some time, but lessen they had went on their weddin trip, they ain t never been KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 163 no time since when they could a went without takin a perambulator along an that would be awkward, all the way from Simpkinsville to New York. Of co se, Mary Elizabeth, like any stay- at-home mother, she shook her head an declared it wouldn t never do, an what would become of this an that ? But Sonny, he had n t been keepin still all those years for no thin . He had thess been bidin his time. It seems, he had been thinkin Marthy needed more responsibility in the house, to develop her ability, an less book- study, an Mary Elizabeth, she had been on the nest too constant an needed to shake her feathers a little an so he figured thet it would be good for hen an chicks for her to clair out for a while an they was n t no use wastin arguments. Of co se, Mary Elizabeth s heart was divided, but little Doc bein so puny, why that balanced any sentiment she might V had about leavin Sonny. Of co se, the trip hasn t been no ways what you an me planned. Renewin a per son s youth with a fishin -pole along old familiar streams sounds very well in books, 164 SONNY S FATHER I know, but I m glad I was n t brought to face it. It s like goin back to an ol homestead after many years. They s thrills in it, no doubt, but they ain t all thrills of merriment, an I hadn t no mo planned out goin over our ol playground than I commenced to have misgivin s. Even ef all the ol companions could show up, it would be somethin of a shock, thess the way they d hobble. Sonny, he knowed better. He always had sense. Says he, " No, go to a new place an see a fresh set o things," an he hadn t no mo n spoke befo I felt he was right. Why, Doc , I wonder ef I could ever give you any idee of my sensations when for the first time, I set on the shore of the ocean an watched a ship sail in! Thess think of it! I tell you, ef I d been struck blind the whole way, comin an goin , that one sight would a paid me for the benighted jour neys. What s that you say, Doctor? " What did I enjoy the most, of the entire trip? " Why, thess my same ol occupation, thinkin ; it don t take long to answer that. KEEPING UP WITH THE PKOCESSION 165 Yas, thinking an the object which fur nished the chiefest delight was the one thing thet had power to stop the wheels for a while, an that was the sea. Yas, the limitless ocean, at night, in a ca m. It seemed to answer all my doubts, so thet I didn t seem to be able to more n wonder an give thanks. I s pose this is sort o fantastic talk, for an ol farmer like me, but you see, my eyes had been kep so free of glorious sights in nature, thet when the ocean loomed befo my vision, I had to rise the full height at one bound an if I breathed for five min utes, I don t know it. What s that you say? " Mary Eliz abeth? " Oh, she was pretty still over everything. She ain t never been a person of many words, you know. But she 11 be able to tell Sonny an the child en at home a heap mo statistical facts about the tides an the moon than I will an I don t begrudge it to her. I don t want to separate my ocean. An I hope the time won t never come when the very remembrance of it won t envelope me an bring comfort to the remnant of my childhood s faith. 166 Of co se Somebody had to think it all out an then make it. An I d be willin to trust my eternal salvation to the One thet conceived sech a thought, even if He had n t seen His way to turn it loose. Mary Elizabeth, she was satisfied thet the sea was all right. She approved of it, quick ez she had give it a ca m look-over an then she was ready for the boa d-walk, an the people. An I don t know but maybe she s thess ez good a wife for Sonny an maybe a more contented mother for his child en than ef she had spent her time at the seashore writin pomes to the ocean. They say most sech, written on the spot, is only fitten to be washed out with the tide. But talkin about Mary Elizabeth, she declares thet this trip has enriched her for life an I 11 whisper to you thet a heap of the enrichment she s brought home in her trunk. An little Madge, well, Madge has kep a diary, Sutton-fashion, an Mary Elizabeth does say thet they s more n one po try- verse in it. " I d thess ez lief she would n t do that, tell the truth, but ef she wants to. she s welcome. Maybe it s the quickest way to KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 1-67 git it out of her system, an Sonny says thet when a person has sech a tendency ez that, th ain t nothin better n to educate em thorough, so s they 11 come ez near ez possible to knowin where they re at. You ricollec , Doc , Sonny tried his hand at po try, for a while, in the matin sea son an pore little Mary Elizabeth, who is a better judge of layer-cake than what she is of po try, has got it all religiously preserved. It would a humiliated me to have Sonny turn out a mejum poet, like the Hummell s boy, thet let his hair grow that- a-way. But that calamity passed us by, ez I hoped it might. 01 Mr. John Burroughs I don t know why I call him old when he s sev al years my junior, exceptin thet most of my talk about printed matter is quoted from Sonny, an he reverences the ol writer s gray hairs. Ez I was sayin , Mr. Bur roughs, he says Sonny is a reel poet an thet all his prose books betray it. Now, that pleases me to think of a man havin the wherewithal to resk makin a blame fool of isself an to keep sober. They s character in that ! 168 SONNY S FATHER Ef a person is a reel poet, I don t reckon he could keep it in. An I feel shore Sonny has said the same thing, in his higher lan guage. I ricollec of him sayin thet ef a man didn t have a chance to express his- self, sech, f instance ez cravin to write an not knowin his a, b, c s, the great pomes thet he couldn t utter would come out under his hand, ef they had to be built in brick and mortar. Now, that s beyond my comprehension, an I ve sometimes won dered what a pome done in concrete would look like. Sonny says it might take shape ez a church, or a bridge, of perfection. He even said thet to plan some of the big cathedrals, a man had to be a poet. I often wonder ef these writer-folks ain t liable to git a leetle off, Doctor, thinkin so constant in one direction. It might be like leanin too long one way with the body. Not thet I m uneasy about Sonny, for his life is too various an too human to git far out o balance. An then, nature-books sech ez he writes, why they have almost to be conceived in the open. My belief is thet they d be less crazy people ef they stayed out o doors more. Of co se, these men they call nature- KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 169 fakirs, they might easy die of vitiated at mosphere, constructin their fantastic beasts by the midnight oil. I delight in Sonny s freckles. Any naturalist ought to be tanned good, an* I can t imagine a con scientious jungle-writer sufferin from in- somnious disorders, exceptin maybe an occasional nightmare, from encounterin wild beasts. But talkin about fakirs, why, the Jersey shore where we Ve been, Doctor, it s fairly alive with em. At one place, we d promenade down the boa d-walk, Mary Elizabeth an little Doc , an Madge an me, an it would a sur prised you to see how I walked too, an we d stop where the East Indians waited with their camels an whilst I was picturin to myself the flight from Egyp first thing I knew I overheard Mary Elizabeth say somethin about " the eye of a needle," an I knew she was expoundin to the chil dren how impossible it would be for a rich man who trusted in his riches, to enter the kingdom of Heaven a camel bein about the last thing you d imagine goin through a needle s eye. Of co se, to the little ones, this seemed like a confirmation 170 of scripture. She wouldn t miss sech a statistic ez a hump, you know, not for no thin . She s a great mother o children. Well, we d stop an look at the camel an then we d pass on to the East Indian fortune-teller, a tall African-complected man with straight hair with a red turban on is head an a gilt belly-band around isself. He stands up right befo you an passes pieces o blank paper around an requi es everybody thet wants his fortune told to write his name secretly on the paper an hand it back. Well, he takes all the sheets without glancin at em an slips em into a brass cylinder which he closes, ma- kin grimaces all the time, an then he lifts it up before him, makin passes over it an mumblin , an d rec ly he stops an takes out the papers an distributes em ag in- an every last one has the person s fortune writ on it, an signed by hisself all did in the dark tube. Mary Elizabeth, she was so tickled over it thet nothin would do but she must write Sonny s name on one, an git his fortune, to take home, which she done. It never occurred to her to tell the fakir thet she was writin a man s name, an when his KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 171 come out, word for word like little Madge s, why she was disgusted. Little Doc 7 an me, why, we didn t in vest in the fortune-tellin . He was mo tickled over the canary-bird fortune-tellin , an he d a spent all he had, nearly, thess to see that bird walk out an pick up a en velope an present it to him with his little bill. Maybe I ought to Ve drawed the line ag inst these impostures, but I m not ap to be severe in my discipline. Sometimes, in triflin things, it s thess ez well for a child to find out for isself thet a thing is a fake. It might save em mo serious experiences in after life. You see, we could investigate all this foolishness an do any little triflin shop- pin an remain in the open air, most o the booths bein open to the sea. But we spent hours every day, down in the sand, in a secluded spot we got access to, an here little Doc an Madge, too, sometimes, would take off shoes an stock- in s an wade in the salt wet sand an , of co se, they all but me went into the daily baths. I walked in, once t, down in our retirement, clad in full, waist deep thess 172 SONNY S FATHER for the experience. Of co se, I dressed a-purpose when I went out, an I knowed the sea water wouldn t hurt me. It was the only moment in the trip thet I reelized my age. To think thet one little invasion of the deep would satisfy me! But it did. Yas, the trip cost consider ble, but it s well invested. The long still days in the woodsy place an them memorable weeks at Atlantic City, an then New York the Statue of Liberty, Grant s Tomb, Brooklyn Bridge, an Central Park, an --well, all of it. I was disapp inted in some things, but it was my fault. The Museum of Nachel Hist ry which Sonny charged me to show little Doc , never give me much pleasure. I like my birds alive an dry bones never appealed to my taste specially. I suppose, the truth is I m a student of life and not of death. But I led little Doc there one fine day in May, thinkin he d never want to come away, but I reckon he taken after me, for whilst he took on right smart over the birds eggs, an spent a whole mornin readin the labels of new specimens, he never wanted to go back. I never asked KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 1?3 why. But when he preferred to play in the park an feed live squir ls, why, I d provide the nuts for im an 7 that was where I done the greater part of my medi tation, whilst Mary Elizabeth an Madge was shoppin an investigatin elsewhere. Madge showed fine sense about her pocket-money, buyin keerfully the pres ents she wanted to fetch home. She did buy one turrible gay hat, poor little human one with a red rooster-head on it, an tail-feathers sproutin out o the neck of it. I felt alarmed when I first see it, but the streets o New York furnished so many worse sights thet I see she was only follerin the procession, in her own little way. Some of em even wore parrots an screech-owls. No, I m not jokin . It s God s truth. Yas, an I ve seen liz ards wore on hats, an beetles, an the shop-winders full of lovely rag flowers, nachel ez life! Yas, little Doc . He gained consider ble in weight, too. You see, we ain t slep under no roof for over three months, ex- ceptin when we d first arrive places befo they d git us fixed up out o doors an of co se, in New York. 174 Tell the truth, I was most afeard to sleep out doors in New York, lessen some aerial terror was to descend upon us from the firmament ef we got high enough to escape the dangers of the street-levels. I s pose it might be sort o luxurious to be robbed or etherized by a professional burglar in a flyin machine thet let isself down the chimbly, but I d ruther deal with the dan gers I m accustomed to sech ez an occa sional harmless black-snake gittin into a person s bed or wasps buildin where it s embarrassin to encounter their en mity. Or, even keepin a lookout for nig gers in watermelon season. These homely little warfares is ap to be naggin , at times, but I wouldn t swap a year of em for the experience of a single daily page of the casualties thet s printed in the New York papers. I wouldn t, reely. Yas, I like a little town where the people play cards for fun an marry for keeps an of co se, they must be some thet live along that-a-way, even in New York. You see, the good an quiet folks, they ain t so conspicuously in sight ez some others. But they s days when, ef you do read KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 175 the papers, you think of Sodom an Go- morrha that is, lessen you look over the edge o yo paper. I taken notice thet the sky-lines around the city is punctured with church-steeples, an the harbor, in summer, why, it s alive with a perfec flotilla of floatin hospitals, filled with the ailin children of the poor, all equipped by rich men. An you know, they opened the great Museum of Art on the poor man s holiday an made it a free day thess so them thet craved to view the pictures an statures could do so, on the Sabbath day. An I wish you could see the Sunday crowds! All talkin foreign tongues, mainly, no doubt praisin America behind its back. An you ought to view the fifty- thousand dollars worth of rhododendrons, thet one rich widder lady presented to the pub lic park, where any God-forsaken beggar may look upon beauty an benevolence, an maybe take courage. Think of a person of wealth keerin that much for the ol woods wild growths, thet we Ve known an humbly loved all our lives! An the city allows it! Yas, an they tell me thet this beauty-distributin lady belongs to the sect of predestinated 176 SONNY S FATHER infant damnation, too but I reckon she don t bother much about that doc trine. Or, ef she does, maybe she intends for the children o the poor, so many of which die yearly, shall see the beauties of nature here, befo they go to hell, poor little things! Anyway, she s lenient an gentle- hearted. An then there s the " bread-line." Didn t you never hear about that? Well, it s another redeemin charity of the tur bulent city. It seems thet a good an brotherly-minded baker distributes free loaves every night at midnight to any hun gry humans thet 11 step into line an take it an the only credentials they have to give is the fact thet it s worth their while to come an stand an wait an that ought to be enough, God knows, especially in rainy, cold nights. They s always some folks to criticize sech ez this, an they do say thet some o the men in that bread-line ain t worthy, like ez ef that had anything to do with it ! They re hungry, an that s all they claim. I d hate for my daily allowance of bread to be measured by my virtues with KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 177 my appetite for home-made rolls, saturated with sweet butter. An* that ain t all, Doctor. They s mon uments of benevolence everywhere you turn in New York. There s Cooper s Union, give an endowed by a good, plain, industrious man-o -the-people a great stone buildin equipped an endowed for the education of all sorts of artisans an artists, free of cost. His stature sets outside the buildin a rugged-faced, no ble old man an with a look of comrade ship for the workin people. If I d ex pected any comfort in cold marble, I d a shook that stature s hand. An they s free wards in most o the big hospitals an free scholarships, every where, to be earned by diligence. They s even places where notably no- count folks can get free night s lodgin , down where the poor is crowded so thick. I ve always had great sympathy for bad people, myself, knowin my own short- comin s an how my parents was to blame for all the good thet s in me. Somehow, they always seem to git left, the unfortu nate wicked do an maybe that s the one reason they stay bad. 178 SONNY S FATHER Only five days we remained in New York, but it seems like a month, ez I look back. It was full of enlightenment for me, in mo ways than I like to confess. They s so much good in the worldly-minded an whilst little Doc an me would set down in the midst o that wilderness of flowers in the park on May day, an I watched the butterflies flittin in the sun, rivaled by their sisters in spring attire in the auto mobiles, lace parasols h isted an feathers flyin , well, I felt fully resigned to butter flies. It was all so pretty. The one thing thet plegged me continual in the city was the hurry. An when a man over eighty an accustomed to go his own gait is constancy ordered to " step lively," why, he s tempted to answer back spe cial when the order comes in the brogue of a foreign aspirant. But I kep my tem per although I m free to confess I didn t hustle none. I knowed enough to reelize thet they was obligated to wait tel I d escape from their cars in my own time an I took it with Simpkinsville composure. Did you notice I fetched that word home, Doctor? Hustle tickled my fancy, an I KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 179 adopted it fo with an intend to try it on the mule. Thess think, I ain t been home twenty-fo hours yet, an it seems a week. It don t seem nachel, yet. Everybody thet passes the gate seems to be waitin for somebody to ketch up they saunter so slow. But don t think I m critical, Doctor. I like it an I m that tickled to be home again. I m thess a leetle bit sp iled by foreign travel, that s all, but I 11 soon get attuned to it ag in. It s restful to me, thess settin here an watchin that ol clock tick whole seconds. They s somethin respectable in its lei surely pendulum. It don t hump itself for nobody, but thess goes along with its kindly admonition on the flight of time. It seems to invite industry an preparation, whilst these numerous little fancy clocks thet keep up sech a tick-tackin , they re like drivers, an nervous at that, if they ain t delerious. Yes, I m grateful to be home again. It s all so sweet. The house looks like a bower with all the flowers thet s been sent in an Sonny had a lot o surprises for us. Yas, ez I said, for a stiddy diet gimme a 180 SONNY S FATHER quiet town where the people play games for fun an marry for keeps. I never reel- ized they was any " r " in divo ce, tell I went to New York. Oh, yas, I know how to spell it, now. It was in every day s spellin - lesson there an sometimes in good company, too, I m grieved to say. Even when they ain t no blame, it always seems a pity to me. Seems like ef they d try harder an not think so much about it, they might jog along somehow in harness. Yas, ez you say, Doc , life is a sort o procession, but I ve come to the conclusion thet the real procession ain t always the visible parade. An the gait of any part of it ain t no indication of the speed of the whole. Keepin up with the procession here in Simpkinsville is quite different from keepin up with it in New York. Why, they has been folks here, ez you know, thet en tered with their lectric motor-cars an cocktails an flared around a while, whilst some railroad scheme was pendin , or the government was investigatin for our min eral wealth an I d resk a guess thet they lowed they was leaders durin their stay, an I don t deny they did make things KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 181 hum, whilst the men zig-zagged over the country an their women nosed around secretively buyin up all our old honest- made mahogany furniture, which I m ashamed to say they done. That s why so many o these big square parlors in Simpkinsville is all radiant in golden oak buffetry an new plush. Mary Elizabeth, she showed great fo ce of char acter an fo sight durin that period. I ricollec thess ez well her sayin thet ef all them rich women was buyin up the delapi- dated an rheumatic furniture, thet our people was eager to consign to the attics, they must be a reason. An they didn t git none of ours. She has got one spare room the guest chamber, she calls it now thet is purty showy an new but the oP heirlooms is stationary in our home. Mary Elizabeth never was nighty about things like that. Still, she likes to keep up with the pro cession, ez she sees it, in fashion an man ners, an I m glad she does. I called yo attention the other day to them heathen gownds she wears, Ki-mo-nos, she calls em, an she cert n y does set em off. But a person of my age has got to git used to a 182 SONNY S FATHER thing like that. It was the longest time befo I could look at her in em without thinkin of " the heathen in his blindness," an I half -expected to see her " bow down to wood an stone." It did look that idolatrous ! Yas, an Sonny, he s took to pajamas for bed-style, an Mary Elizabeth has sent all his ol night-shirts to the missionary- box a even swap with the heathen, I say. I don see .why they make sech a to-do about the pajamas, though. They ain t no mo n child en s ol -fashioned bed-drawers, cut without feet, an wore with jackets to match, cord- an -tassel ed, consid ble. They seem a little too fantastic to me, like ez ef , ef I was to go to bed in em, I d ex pect to dream about jockeys or circus- riders. They wouldn t conduce to repose- fulness not in my case. No, to my mind, they s nothin better to sleep in than a long, unbleached, wife-made night-shirt, of the orthodox faith, without bylaws or amendments. But I m only speakin for myself, an I ve got enough thet she made me to last the rest of my journey all with turkey- red J. D. s cross-stitched inside the collars. KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 183 But I ain t prejudyced, come to other folks an I take pride in Mary Eliz abeth s open mind for a new thought, in anything. Oh, yas, she s gradually changed a num ber o things in the household. She sets " center-pieces " on the table meal-times, an she s raised the grade of meal-an nouncement, from time to time, ez she was enlightened. You ricollec the years we was sum monsed to dinner by that ol bell which I dearly loved an will resolutely miss, all my days the bell I had made for Sonny s deef grandma, an which was peremp- rory enough to call the cows home. It was good an hearty seemed to announce abundance an to take appetite for granted, although I don t deny it was middlin loud, for an invitation. Well, she s set that aside for emergen cies, an , for a time, we hustled in by a silver-plated call-bell which she picked out of a New York catalogue, an she would touch it mighty graceful with her ring- finger, Mary Elizabeth would, an she does yet, endurin of a meal, for relays of hot waffles or fried chicken, but 184 Well, we had thess about got used to the call-bell, when that heathen Chinee come through here a year ago thess befo Christ mas, when everybody s bars of prudence is down; an he carried a bankrup stock of carved idols an things. Did I say * bank rup stock "? That word should a been " bankruptin V for it thess cleaned me out o cash. Mary Elizabeth, she showed some excitement, as she spent all she had an borrowed of me, first time in er life. It tickled me to have her do it, too. I like a weakness for purty things in a prin cipled woman. Well, sir, she laid in a lot o stuff, but her chief purchase, after them ki-mo-nos, was that set o Chinese gongs which you an I have ambled in to dinner by for the last year, although I doubt ef you took notice. You see, I d always f oiler the heathenish thing up with a Christian grace quick ez I could. But it was ornamental an musical. Three gongs suspended, one above the other, by a green cord an tassel, an you d sound all three simultaneous, by drawing a pethy drumstick down em, with one stroke. The child en would always scramble to When that heathen Chinee come th ough. KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 185 see who could git in to ring em first. Well, it did seem like that might a remained the top notch of style but she s got them gongs put out o sight now in her curio cabi net. What s that? " A curio-cabinet? " Why, a curio-cabinet, it s it s a sort o private show-case filled with odds an ends on which you seem to miss the price-tags. First, she used to put the child en s Easter eggs in it, an the family daguerreotypes stood open in a line, but I take notice thet sence the child en has been comin home f om boa din school an visitin their schoolmates, in Little Kock an Louisville an Richmond, why every thing has been banished from the cabi net but high-class junk an it s all right. Well, she s hung them heathen dinner- gongs in there now, an she 11 take em out, of a hot day, when comp ny comes, to make conversation. An so what s that, Doctor! " How do we git our summons to meals, now? " Tell the truth, I m most ashamed to tell you, Doc . I m feard you 11 laugh. It all comes f om boa din -school. The girls, 186 they re always the pioneers in style. They fetch in the reforms. Well, the latest thing in high life, so it seems, is what they call " noiseless serv ice, " an so we have a word-o -mouth per- nouncement, did with awful solemnity. Mary Elizabeth, she s got Mirandy, Dicey s youngest, so she can dike out at a moment s notice in full regimentals, a sort o doll night-cap twisted on her head an a white apron on, an she 11 step in sight an , without no curtsey nor nothin , she 11 per- nounce: " Dinner s served! " thess so, no mo , no less, which, bein interpreted, means thet it ain t served but will be, quick ez the percession files in. An like ez not, when we git there, they won t be a morsel o victuals in sight. You may be surprised, Doctor, but do you know, I ruther like the progression, for a lot o growin children. They re takin flight, now, one by one, for school and college, an that s the beginnin of the breakin up o the nest, an I d hate for any one of em to show up ez greenies when they finally go f o th. Fashions all change with the clock, any how, an many o the ol -time customs thet KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 187 seemed fixed in common-sense, is thess ez fallacious ez the new ones thet we re too quick to resent. In my boyhood days, the tables of hos pitality was heaped with all sorts of victuals, so thet a visitor felt surrounded by the fat o the land. Now, the pendulum is swung the other way, an even at ban quets the table is destitute of nourish ment an 7 profuse with flowers an orna ments. An sech expressions ez " groanin boards " is clean gone out o fashion even with our young lawyers. An when you think of it, for food which has to be partaken of in rotation, why, the new way is most sensible. But new fash ions don t faze me. I d answer any summons to a good din ner. I d even be willin to attemp to go in by handsprings, ef they requi ed it of me. Or I d submit to surgery an have my front coat-tails amputated to match Sonny s last achievement, although I d feel like a dejected chimbly-swaller in one o them swaller-tails. No, I ain t never pinned my faith to ways an manners. Of co se, in all this recon struction, they s some things I miss, but, 188 dear, dear! How much I Ve got in ex change ! An the things lackin in the new order, they re so triflin - - sech ez havin my pie in sight all durin a meal. Somehow, it helped me to gauge things. I Ve told Mary Elizabeth thet her keepin the pie in seclu sion would often cost her a second slice, ez I couldn t make allowances for all thick nesses. I like to quiz her, thess to witness that set o dimples she turns out. Ain t it won derful, Doctor, the way a mother can be queath a gift to numerous child en, an not lose none of it, herself? Now, them dimples, Mary Elizabeth has bestowed em, without diminution, on two o the girls, an her gracious way with people on all three all the time growin erself in womanly grace, an her own dimples even deepenin ez the years pass, an she stoutens a little. Why, they was n t a highf alutin woman thet we encountered in our travels thet cast her in the shade for manners an sweetness, not a one. Not goin , Doctor? Yas, I know you thess dropped in to welcome us, this first KEEPING UP WITH THE PROCESSION 189 day, but you mus come ag in, when I git all my experiences classified. Then I 11 be able to talk. It cert n y is good to be back. Thess see puss rub er ol back ag inst my leg an purr an the dogs Oh, no, I ain t been down to the stable, yet. I 11 take to- morrer for that. Step here, Doc . Lemme whisper to you. I ain t opened my head about Sonny s las book an us seein it bought at the book stand in New York. I can t speak about it yet. It stops my th oat. But nex time you come Wouldn t it be funny, Doctor, ef, when the whole story is told, our little home-grown Sonny thet divides his time betwixt field an woods an home study, tendin strictly to duty an lovin it, wouldn t it be funny ef he should turn out to be an unconscious leader in life s pro cession. Th ain t nothin further from his ambi tion, I know an maybe that s one rea son I think about it. VII ABSENT TREATMENT AND SECOND SIGHT OOD for sore eyes you are, Doc tor. I had about give you up for good. I was thess a-thinkin yesterday thet like ez not you was ketchin on to the new idee an givin me absent treatment! That s right ! Hang up yo hat an drop in that rocker an give me some account o yo self! No absent treatment in mine, Doc not from you! They might be some doctors I d welcome it from, but I m too fond o yo conversational powers which help me ez much ez yo physic. D you reelize thet you ain t set foot here sence thess after our return from our travels seventeen days ago an me thess bustin to confide all our escapages to yo sympathetic ear. You see, you re the only man in the county thet s got a X-ray on my conscience an when I know you 190 ABSENT TREATMENT 191 discern foreign things floatin roun in it, why, I like to have a chance to explain how they got there. Seems sort o small of a man o yo size to take advantage of a family s health an make hisself scarce. I always enjoy company mo when I m well than when I m sick, an yet I don t no sooner git down in the mouth than you come a-prowlin round with a pill and powder expression on yo face. S pose you Ve been out to the Simp- kinses to see ef the flutes is all prim in the old ladies caps. They s somethin mighty pleasin in the crystalizin effect of old age in some. Now, them old maiden sisters ain t changed a ioto in any con ceivable way for twenty-five year, an here I m their senior by nearly a year an ez variable ez a weather-vane an ez open to conviction ez ever. Sometimes I think it s my continual association with childhood, that an my natural curiosity about every new thing thet turns up. I s pose ef they knowed about all our New York carousals, they d be tumble scandalized, but they 11 never know. We bought em both nice little presents from the north, exactly alike, of co se, they bein 192 twins, a pair o revised hymn-books in big print. Mary Elizabeth did crave to fetch em a pair o new style capes. She says them dolman shapes seem to confine their elbows an yet, she hesitated to do it, they bein heirlooms of cut jet. To my mind, antiquated fashions set be- comin on the folks they Ve grown old with. I would n t never Ve varied my clo es the way I have excep n for these growin child en. I reckon they d be humiliated to have me dressed the way I d feel most at home in, whilst I d take es pecial delight in riggin out like a cockatoo, ef it give them pleasure. But I keep a-talkin an don t tell you what s on my mind. I want you to see New York, ez much ez I can present to you, th ough my old eyes an some of it is so dazzlin thet I feel like ez ef you must see it shinin th ough me. There s that opera, now what s that you say? " Did we go to the opera? Ain t I tellin you about it, ez fast ez I can? Yas, we did, an my private opinion is thet we seen an Jieerd the most corrupt oper atic performance thet ever was looked at by a set o Christian people. ABSENT TREATMENT 193 You see, Sonny, he charged Mary Eliza beth to see everything she had been inter ested in by hearsay, an sence we ve had that talkin machine, why the operatic singers is all household friends, so, she nachelly inclined to the opera, an 7 she con sulted me, with all due respect an timidity, an I advised her to take a newspaper an pick out the most correct-soundin opera- play they advertised, which she done. In fact, she an me, we picked it out together. You see, most o the opera-singers is these fureigners with sort o heathenish names, an the parts they play is open to criticism, but when she come to Mary Gar den, why, we both seized upon it. Says she, " Now, that s a good American name." Mary always does seem sort o saintly, an a garden, somehow it put us in mind o the garden of Eden. So we picked her out that-a-way, an then when we see she was engaged in a Bible play, why our decision was complete. The play was entitled Salome, you ricol- lec the daughter of Herodias, an tell the truth, we both felt like ez ef we was goin to a religious service. I got out my New Testament, an we read the fo teenth 194 SONNY S FATHER chapter o Matthew, all about how she danced befo the king, an we discussed the paganism of the ancient times, an we resolved to go with reverent hearts to see the play played, an half doubtful whether it was right to put such holy subjects on a theatre-stage. Well, that was the sperit in which we went, but, ez I told you at the beginnin , ef I m any jedge of corruption, that so-called Bible opera-play is the limit. An the pore misguided girl thet does the part of Salome, well, the truth is, I don t think I m competent to discuss it. Of co se, she was in a manner obligated to misbehave to the extent of rousin the old king to all sorts o brash vows, an it may have seemed necessary for her to be about half stripped, to show them ser pentine motions, but we was unprepared for sech exposure. Of co se, the words bein all in French, an sung at that which obscures their meanin still more, we couldn t be shore but maybe they was in a manner explana tory. But ef the words matched her con duct, the whole thing was consider ble out o the way. I felt like ez ef it might be my ABSENT TREATMENT 195 duty to rise an forfeit them five dollar seats, an lead Mary Elizabeth out into the fresh air that is, the best air we could git, in New York. But I did n t. I d glance at her every little while, an 7 she seemed so untouched by it all, I thought, like ez not, the unreality of the singin conversation an the over wrought behavior of everything in sight would likely make it like a dream to her - an so we set it out. An now, I m glad we did. They thess took the Bible narration ez a stake to play around, an they wove licen tiousness into it, right an left. F in stance, they tried to prove by visual per ception thet the girl, Salome, had fell in love with John the Baptist, at first sight, an her askin for his head was for spite, at his rejection. He cert nly did act a perfec gentleman when she fairly thowed erself at him. He was, to my mind, the only one thet reely looked his part. I d a knowed John, anywhere, not only by his raiment of camel s hair an the leather girdle, but his look o the wilderness an the warnin voice, all that was strictly scriptural. An the scenery of the play, 196 why that was reely worth the entrance money all the grandeur of the Eastern court, an the high color which did n t have to be translated. An that " dance o the seven veils," why, ef it had V been danced by a little child, I d say it was one o the most bewilderin performances in the world. She shore is supple in the hinges, Mary Garden is, an she must a had consider ble drillin to be able to fling them veils exact, every time, a veil bein about ez unmanageable a missile ez a person could try to throw at a mark. I always liked a good game o skill, an I might Ve got over them seven veils, ef she hadn t acted so scandalous with John. An what you say, Doc ! " How about the audience? " Well, I don t know ez the audience showed much mo reticence than what Mary did, in a different way. It was a great sight, that immense half -moon o chairs facin the stage, all occupied by radiantly shinin ladies, mostly, all mo or less stripped. " Eespectable? " you say? Why, shore, that is, they was classed so not only re spectable an wealthy, but high class, but An so we set it out. An now, I m glad we did. ABSENT TREATMENT 197 lean over here a minute, Doc , I can t speak this out loud, lessen Mary Elizabeth might git wind of it, but I want to say to you, both ez a friend an family physician, thet whilst I set there, in that five dollar or chestral seat, an borried Mary Elizabeth s little telescope an surveyed that scenery of ladies occupyin the front row of stalls right out in the glare of a thousand electric lights, it seemed to me I d never seen so many nursin mothers together, in my life. I ain t disposed to criticize an I won t say they was intentionally brazen about it. It might a been forgetfulness, or it might a been conformity to Parisian style. Mary Elizabeth, she seemed to attribute it to Paris, an she says they do say the Paris rule for functional dresses is " the fuller the scanter," in other words, " the higher the style, the lower the cut." Of co se, in all sech ez this, I d defer to the ladies theirselves, every time. Mary Elizabeth, I could see thet she was mo scandalized than what I was which was nachel enough. A person feels for her own sex. An I did n t have no occasion to feel any too vainglorious about mine, neither, my pride in John s circumspection bein 198 SONNY S FATHER over-balanced by my shame in King Herod, the Tetrarch. Any ol man turned fool over a girl is a humiliatin spectacle, an I wish it was rarer n what it is. They ain t no better way for an ol man to expose his decripi- tude than by contrast, an yet, it s hard for a man in love to git far enough from his own folly to git any reasonable view of isself. No, we didn t take the child en, not to that. But Mary Elizabeth took Madge to a number o matinee performances, to verify the Victor machine s performances. An we all heard Harry Lauder sing, in his side-pleated skirt an bare legs. I had to supply mountain scenery out o my ol head to make him appear allowable. We Ve got sev al pictures of Highlanders at home here, an they re all woods-sur rounded. You see Madge is musical an Mary Elizabeth, she never forgot it. She s had her voice tried an they bought some new records an I reckon they s some ambitious plans bein hatched out betwixt her an her mother. When I heerd the reel singers, Doc , an reelized the exactitude of the mechanical ABSENT TREATMENT 199 reproductions, I tell you, it set me a-thinkin . All that musical an emotional exactitude reproduced by the narrow path way of a needle ! Sech ez that makes me almost sorry I m old. It seems to me we re on the ticklish verge of the full vision an I d like to be here for the revela tion. You know, we come home partly by sea, Doc , from New York to New Orleans, an the rest o the way by the Southern Pacific an Iron Mountain, an what I have n t had a chance to observe ain t worth mentionin . But the wireless telegraph, that, to me, is the century s achievement so far. You never know what some student workin in retirement has discovered over night. They re like patent medicines an mortgages inventors are. They work while you sleep ! But the WIRELESS! Think o bein in mid-ocean an gittin messages addressed to the different pas sengers from Squedunk an Moravia, an no visible disturbance o the air, even! The Wireless man, aboa d ship, he an me, we got to be great chums, an he all but adopted little Doc . You see, electricity is 200 a large part of our table conversation, sence the boys has been comin along. An these child en have got all sorts o electric contrivances, bells an telephones, all about the place. Half the trees in our woods is mo or less equipped with wires an they ain t a tree-house nowhere but has its " system " in it, for some sort of ex periment or harmless deviltry. Well, it seems thet this man was n t used to sech child en an he was inclined to rate little Doc ez a progidy, tel I told im about his older brother an his pa. It seems, Doc , thet they thess turn out messages promiscuous, an only the prop erly attuned machines can ketch em. Why, right now, whilst you an me are settin here, the air must be filled with live mes sages rushin in all directions, from Maine to ships in the Pacific, or Hong Kong to Key West, an even whilst they fairly tickle our ears, we don t reelize em, be cause we ain t adjusted to em. I d like to focus what little mind I ve got left on the production of automatic re ceivers receivers thet would ketch all thet was goin , or, at least, all thet was fitten for us. That would come near the ABSENT TREATMENT 201 attainment of divine power an my be lief is thet it s comin . They Ve dispensed with the wires an 7 the nex thing will be dispensin with the machines an by keepin in tune with the infinite, we 11 be enabled to discern the currents of love an affection from hearts in accord with ours, not only on earth but in Heaven. To my mind, that 11 be the dawnin of the Perfect Day. He was a polite young feller, that Wire less, an mighty patient with my slow mind. I learned mo of him in them five days at sea than I d imbibe, settin here on my loved po ch, in ten year with yo visits so sca ce that is, mo specified knowledge. The sweet lessons of full an tranquil life have come to me here, an I wouldn t exchange it but I rejoice to Ve had this fresh illumination. I give the young man one o Sonny s books, a signed one I hap pened to have aboa d, an you d a been proud to witness his delight. Why, he knows all about our Sonny. An when he found out thet he was little Doc s father, you should a seen him. Nothin the little feller could a said would a surprised him, then. 202 SONNY S FATHER What s that you say? " I promised to tell you about seein Sonny s books on sale 1 Sure, I did. Seen people come up an 7 buy em, too, an never let on. The first time we saw that was at the Waldorf. " Did we go to the Waldorf? " We ve been to New York, I tell you, Doc to New York, with Mary Elizabeth ez pilot, aided an abetted by Sonny, eggin er on by every mail to see the last sight. Yas, we put up at the Waldorf over night, registered in the office I thess put down my initial there. I did n t want to humiliate Sonny by writin myself down " Deuteronomy Jones, Sr." Although it s an old name, it seems to have a sort o conspicuosity about it so, I thess signed " D. Jones an family." Yas, we registered an took a suite - that word s pernounced sweet, Doctor. We took a sweet, I say, an went up in it in the alleviator, eleven floors an we stayed over night, an the two youngsters, they punched the buttons in the wall for every conceivable thing an the rest of em, they put their shoes out at night to be shined, all but me. No, I wouldn t do it. I was like the stranger in the castle who ABSENT TREATMENT 203 was afeerd to resk settin out his shoes, lessen they d be gilded. An besides, I never want nobody else polishin my boots. I like my own spit. Well, we set in the Turkish room, an we sauntered amongst the pa ms, an we took that day s dinner, at supper- time, in the main dinin -room, all four of us at a little table together. Then Mary Elizabeth, she lowed it would be nice for each one to order what he wanted, but they all lingered in indeci sion an the list was long an only par tially intelligible. So, finally, she see a mighty nice, well-behaved lookin party of four at the table catticorned away from us, an they had thess give their order, an so she says, says she to the waiter, " Thess duplicate their order for us, please, an fetch it ez soon ez you can." They was a mighty rigorous lookin crowd for style, an I couldn t help ap- plaudin Mary Elizabeth s wit in seein thess what sech a party of average rich New Yorkers would order for a ordinary dinner. Well, I wush-t you could a seen that dinner, Doctor! I won t pertend to de- 204 scribe it to you, for it s beyond my vocab ulary. I know it cost thirty-one dollars an thirty cents an I ricollec Mary Eliza beth, she lowed afterwards thet she did n t see no trace o the thirty-one dollars but she felt like thirty cents ! Yas, I know, it does seem a fabulous price, but you see, they was tarrapin for four, for one thing, an high-class duck for four duck with the blood streamin out of it so thet you had to hurry an mix it with the red jelly to deceive yo self into eatin it. Then they was some kind o round paddy-cakes of meat surrounded with br iled toad-stools which I tried to summon sufficient fo ce o character to taste, an did take on my plate. An , of co se, they was the usual amount of orna mental tricksy sweet an sour things, an ice-cream which you unearthed from a hot chocolate sauce. That was nice, I must confess, an Mary Elizabeth s delight in that one achievement was worth the price o the whole dinner. She s managed to git the recipe for that, somehow, an we Ve had it here, thess ez good ez the Waldorf s. No doubt, it was a fine dinner, but when we had finished it, I hated to give extry ABSENT TREATMENT 205 trouble, but I felt sort o empty, not havin partaken of much, an I asked Mary Eliza beth ef she d be too much humiliated ef I was to order some pancakes an syrrup an a full-sized cup o coffee, which I done. In fact, I got a pot o coffee, an drank it de liberate. That New York coffee, even at the big hotels, is inoffensive, an I needed mild stimulation, leadin the strenuous life the way we was. Yas, ez I said, it was Sonny thet kep a-writin to Mary Elizabeth, eggin er on to fetch home all sorts of New York expe riences. He knowed she d enjoy tellin er friends about the opera, an the Wal dorf, an so she does. I notice, sence she s come home, she don t resort to the curio- cabinet the way she used to, to make talk. Yas, sence her backset with the last baby, when only yo skill brought er th ough the purple fever, Sonny, he s mighty lenient an indulgent todes er. An you know his new book is in the ninth edition a ready, so thet the family expenditures has come to be a matter of discretion mo than of necessity. Yas, we was all sorry for him not to Ve been along, but you see, he s busy on an- 206 SONNY S FATHER other book, an I tell you, Doc 7 , the produc tion of books bears consider ble resem blance to child-bearin . For the last ten years, I ve noticed thet when Mary Eliza beth was n t gittin ready for a baby, why Sonny would be confined with a book. You nee n t to laugh. I m serious. He says he could n t no mo leave a book half done an go galivantin than a hen could leave a settin of eggs an not know the life would be out of em, quick ez they got stone cold. You see, life is life, an the book thet ain t got life in it ain t no good, nohow. He made a joke on that, So any did. He s great on quiet jokes. He lowed thet nothin could be expected to have circula tion thet didn t have life an , of co se circulation is necessary for a book to do any good. Yas, he s still hard at it, although he s got on mighty fast durin the family exo dus, so he says, although, from the number of surprises he s planned an executed for us durin our absence, I d think that was all he did. He says it was his only chance to ad minister absent treatment, an he done it. ABSENT TREATMENT 207 He treated me to this sep rate po ch on the sunny side o my room an my own bath room with tiles in it. I reckon he lowed we d requi e mo luxury after we d seen the world. An he s got Mary Elizabeth a special bath j inin their room, likewise, an a sun-parlor with a out-side place to sleep, an a sort o conservatorial annex, all on her floor, for her favorite plants. It seems, she had a suspicion of what he was doin ez he wrote her she better select wall-papers in New York, ag inst the time they d be ready to use em, an she didn t lose no time. She even advised him where to store em away, all the time full o laugh, knowin he d have em hung, time she come home. An then, once-t awake, she described our Waldorf bath-room, an lowed to him thet whenever she could affo d it, she in tended to have hers done like it, which was mo of a knock-down than a hint, an he tumbled. Now, that sort o absent treatment is to my taste. Of co se when we come home, all the papers was up an the parlor set re covered with the stuff she selected " for storage," an of co se, she bought a few 208 SONNY S FATHER things to conform. But she ain t no reck less buyer. She goes slow an sure. But about Sonny s books, ez I was tellin you, we was standin close-t to the book stand there at the Waldorf, that night we put up there, an a young man come up an what does he say but " Have you got 1 Nature s Overcoats, by Deuteronomy Jones" ? I don t know why, but would you believe I suddenly had a sensation of goose-skin all over me, when I heerd it. 1 i Sure ! says the clerk, like ez ef he d a been ashamed not to ve had it, an I see him hand out the woods-colored volume an take the dollar an a half, an when the man had started off, he turns back an says he, " Any mo of his books? " " All of em, says he, an with that, he enumer ated five, an when he stopped, what does little Doc do but chirp up, " Them ain t all. You forgot Thistles an Armed Peace an The Dutchman s Pipe. " Well, sir, I wish-t you could a seen that man. He thess turned an looked little Doc over, an I could see myself thet our little man looked consider ble of a young country greenie, an says he, " What do you know about those books, my man? " ABSENT TREATMENT 209 " I reckon you d know about em," says he, " ef yo daddy wrote em ! Well, sir, with that he took the boy by the hand an 7 he led him into the office an 7 he called a crowd an 7 they catechised the little feller, an when he come back, he was loaded up with candy an fruit, an - What s that? Oh, no. I didn t make myself known. I m considerate of Sonny, an I know I m thess a plain man. No, that was my absent treatment of him, not thet I think he d want me to feel that-a- way, an I ain t over-afflicted with undue humility. Only, I d ruther meet strangers here at home, where I seem to fit my socket than in the glare of their electric lights. I still have my pants cut by mother s ol pattern, an when I m home, I don t never think about it, but I often had my attention called to em, somehow, walkin the New York streets. The only man to give me comfort about my pants in New York was Abe Lincoln, an him through that stature, in one o the public squares. I reckon, like ez not, his wife made his. Ain t it wonderful, the way ease an ; comfort an a loose fit can be conveyed in hard bronze? Ef the time should ever 210 SONNY S FATHER come when it might be interestin to have statures of the father of Deuteronomy Jones, the nature-writer, I hope they 11 be satisfied with my bust. I d change my pants now for my livin family, but I don t care to do it for posterity. Yas, we Ve had a great time, Doctor, an while it has changed my views on a few subjects an made me mo lenient in some o my jedgments, it ain t no ways dis turbed the foundations o my faith. I ain t never been troubled with no very rigorous sectarian doctrines, ez you know, an even ef I had been, I d a had to widen out a little, after findin so much good in all ; an I m prepared to take what I find wherever I find it, ef it s genuine. The fact thet you keep my rheumatism down the way you do with yo ol -fashioned alopathic salts an ointments would n t pre vent me lettin a Christian Scientist aim any quantity of absent treatment at these j ints which they declare ain t swole the way they seem to be to you an me, an I d take a mud bath or an electric shower or a sun-soak or a water-cure, ef their advo cates seemed sane-minded an didn t re- qui e me to deny the evidence of my senses ABSENT TREATMENT 211 which may be misguided, of co se. But which in a good many things, seem to be faithful guides, so far ez they go. I believe in absent treatment of the Scientists an mind-healers to the extent of not abusin em behind their backs. The avenues of the sperit don t seem to me to be limited to no one sect, an it often seems to me thet one will git a-holt o one side o the truth an one another, an it takes em all to carry it along or, maybe it does. I can t help bein thess a little on their side I m a-talkin about them absent- treaters, now I say I can t help bein on their side when the newspapers all jump on em when one o their number dies. Thy seem to forget thet our ol graveyards are full o the patients of our reg lar doc tors. What s that, Doc"? " Am I goin over to em? " Oh, no. But I want to treat em white, that s all. Any sect thet dwells upon the beauty of holiness an thet chal lenges every soul to find God in itself has got a great truth, an there s so much health an well-bein in that one reelization thet we might forgive em ef their heads 212 SONNY S FATHER gits turned a little an they become imbued with the idee thet they ve got a corner on the Grace of God. Listen at me, quotin terms from the .stock-market ! You see, Doc , they ain t the first sect thet has con sidered itself especially divinely endowed, an that sort o delusion, ef it ain t carried too far, is a tower o stren th. The thing thet we seem to me to need most is to unite on our agreements more an not dispute about our differences quite so much. I Ve often thought thet at the last day the number o sheaves we bring in might be mo important than what kind o scythe we cut em with. Th ain t no reputable religious demoni- nation thet holds any doctrine opposed to brotherly love an human helpfulness an ef we keep busy with that, why we won t find much time to dispute about predesti nation or the Fo teenth Amendment I mean to say the Thirty-nine articles. What s that you say! " Did I know thet 01 Mis Bradley has laid aside her specs, all th ough absent treatment? " Why, yas, I heerd somethin about it. Lemme see. Sarah Jane is two years younger n what I am an I ain t had no ABSENT TREATMENT 213 need o specs for a long time. In my case, it s second sight, the same thet my pa an ma enjoyed, after they passed the sixty- nine mark, that, an the absence of treat ment. Our family eyes has always been reliable an our sight ain t never been in jured by no ambitious oculists. " Don t I b lieve in oculists? " Why, sure I do, an I b lieve in doctors, too, veg lar doctors like you, but I m always happier when my relations with em are purely friendly. An surgery, it never had no appetizin effect on me. I never like to think about a surgeon s implements. I ve always thought thet all doctors ought to be di vinely endowed with a sort o professional second sight, an then they wouldn t be liable to err. I never have been able to forgit that doctor thet put a patient to sleep with chloroform an then took out the wrong eye an scissors is bein sewed up in un conscious humans every day o the week, ef we are to believe the papers. I Ve sometimes thought thet Dave Baily s wife might a had sev al pairs sewed up in her, durin all them operations she loves to talk 214 SONNY S FATHER about, an maybe that s why she s so con trary an argumentative. No, I 11 take my doctors sociably, when ever I can. They s nothin I like so much ez to see yo horse comin down the road an to know I 11 have the pleasure of set- tin down, like this, an listenin to yo talk. "What s that you say? " Ain t our sec ond boy thinkin about studyin medi cine? " Cert n y he is, an with my entire approval. He ought to ve been yo name sake. He got the idee from you, an I approve of his so ce of inspiration. Some things are necessary evils an doctors seem to be one of em, doctors an " healers " which of co se is an inter change of terms. Ef you ain t consider able of a healer, you ain t got no business to be a doctor. I never could git at the consistency of that word among the Chris tian Scientists, though. Ef they ain t no sech a thing ez disease, I can t exactly see what they profess to heal. Ef it s error, an error is illness, then ? But, of co se I m antiquated an maybe slow-minded. I was so curious thet I paid a five dollar bill for a soft-covered ABSENT TREATMENT 215 copy of Science an Health, an I don t say it ain t science, but it ain t healthy, not for me. It s like sayin the apostles creed an the ten commandments backward to me the way we Ve been told to do to git to sleep. You can t say it ain t all there, but well, I found it innocent enough. The only thing was I had n t been sufferin insomniously, an didn t exac ly need it. But for them thet need soothin , I d ricommend it cheerfully. An , when all is said an done, we have to confess it holds a great truth an that s why it s got seclr a holt on some people. It seems to me to be an ancient truth, one o the very oldest, a leetle fantastic in the way it s put, maybe. Of co se, our doctors an preachers, they don take to it. None of us don t like to be interfered with. But it has smoothed out some anxious faces in this neighbor hood, an ain t turned nobody vicious, an that s somethin . Ef it had n t did no mo n to set po oP lame Tillie Fay dancin , I d give it credit. What s that! Well, s pose she does hobble thess the same ! She says that s only 216 SONNY S FATHER reminiscent of error, an she does look so happy! Give the devil his due, Doctor. You Ve treated Miss Tillie for thirty odd year, an I m not criticizing but you never set er dancin ! Yas, ez you say, Po Molly Skinners did commit suicide in a spell of enthusiasm in it, but you ricollec little Elsie Seaman jumpin into Bramble bayou, from over- study, preparin for er graduating an none of us can ever f orgit our saintly little Mary Ellen Williams losin er mind over that scoundrel jiltin er at the altar, never turnin up. Anything thet gets too much mastery over a mind is liable to th ow it over. I Ve often thought thet one o St. Paul s most useful precepts was moderation an temperance in all things. The trouble with us humans is thet we run so to extremes thet the very word temperance, itself, has come to stand for intemperate abstinence. Mo than one man had upset middlin good minds, goin looney over inventin perpetual motion thet they couldn t invent. An I ain t shore thet our Sonny ain t amusin isself now over some sech ma- chinism, in his garret workshop. He an ABSENT TREATMENT 217 the blacksmith has consider ble secrets to gether an he s always fetchin in some new contraption. But I ain t oneasy about him, because I know he don t run to intem perance. Who is that drivin by, Doctor? Nev mind yo specs, I see. It s Jim Toland s buggy with his third boy in it. I m feerd Jim s porely. He sends the boys so often when he used to go hisself. Talk about seein ! Why I can discern the hue o my red drawer th ough the mesh o this homespun on my kneecap, ez no glasses ever revealed it. An I see other things mo clair, too, Doc . I often seem to see beyond appear ances, these later days, an lookin th ough the criss-crossin of some o the troubled faces I ve known so long, an mo or less misjudged, I see deep waters of patience an silent endurance. Why, I ve discov ered mo than one clair lake of peace in the waitin soul of an ol black man with a face ez wrinkled an brown ez a raisin. But most of all, I see beauty. Every where I look, it seems to be distributed. Of co se, it has always laid thick along our country lanes an over our hills. We sow 218 SONNY S FATHER it an water it an gether it, an oftentimes unknowingly. Yas, I have a feelin thet when we git ol age s second sight, ef we 11 open our souls to the vision, we 11 find many a revelation of beauty thet s with held from the eager eyes of youth. An with that an the wireless messages of love thet come to us, even from the Beyond, I ain t shore but old age is the most blessed season in life, ez well ez the richest. VIII LIGHT AS, that s thess what I said, doc tor. These three weeks of so- called darkness, instid o bein an eternity of affliction, have seemed more like a full revealment of light. An now, with them bandages ofTn my eyes, I take a new joy in seein clairly into the faces of affection thet had been grad- yally recedin from me. Our young home-doctor, ez we call our boy student, he had a ready diagonozed them cobwebs thet I kep vainly tryin to bresh away from my vision, an he was extry tender to me, ef that s possible. But he never named it to me. I reckon a reg - lar diagonozier 11 be a great safe-t-guard in the family. An then, when you said the word " Cat- arac " to me, I wonder do you ricollec how I turned my dumb face to you in wonderment ? 219 220 SONNY S FATHER k t, Catarac thinks I to myself, " That s a waterfall, a catarac is, an the pore ol doctor, he thinks my sight is bein drenched out with secret tears. " An , ef you remember, when I got my speech, I remarked to you thet I had never been much habituated to weepin an then the thought come to me thet like ez not the catarac thet you discerned, ef it was a catarac , might a collected by suppres sion a sort o dimmin o the vision by the wellin up o back-waters of tears thet didn t git shed. They s boun to be a-plenty o them, you know, doc, in every deep life. An so I thought thet like ez not the surgeon s knife might be needed to turn em into specified channels scientific, without drowndin out all adjacenin func tions. An then I said to you, after consider ble of a reflective pause, said I " Go ahead with yo dreen, doctor, an maybe the swamp may be redeemed." But I confess I said it more in resignation than in hope. An after that, all them cobwebs seemed mo like sea-weed to me an I dreaded the undertow o the great waters over- comin me, when you d cut down the dam. Do you ricollec how I turned my dumb face to you in wonderment LIGHT 221 It s strange how the nearly-blind dread the full dark. Why, when my vision had got so low thet it was little mo than a discernment of daylight viewed through a tangle, I cherished that little glimmer like ez ef it had a been full sight even more, I believe, havin sampled the deprivation. But when it come the so-called black period the season of bandages an pa tience thet I d been coward enough to dread so when the gate of strivin was shet an peace settled down over an about me like a soft- winged bird, bless yo sweet life, I was n t requi ed to set in no gloom. Not on yo life ! I expected it, but Well, from the time o the ordeel to now, seem like either they was somethin doin every minute or else I was thess steeped in repose. First thing I ricollect of was a little weariness an sleep, an from that on, the only reel closin of night aroun me was whilst I d be in slumber. You see, doctor, with all its blessedness, sight is mo or less of an interference, the way it keeps trivial things befo a person s eyes. I Ve often been recalled from sper- 222 itual visions, in my clair-eyed days, by views of triflin things. Why, a cow in the garden trompin down fifteen cents worth o sweet peas has more n once-t obliter ated great vistias of vision when my soul would seem to perceive the glimmer of streets of gold an 7 jaspar gates right here on this po ch. You see, I Ve set here in meditation a good many years, sence Life offered me this chair an surrounded it with affection. Of co se, sight s handy in gittin about an I ain t one to make cheap of it. A man in the world has a deprived life without it, even ef he don t feel called to choose a wife. An even in my retirement, I welcome its return. But ez I say, seem like quick ez daylight was fully bandaged out, I was allowed a special dispensation of light. An tell the truth, it affo ded me the first chance-t I Ve had to go back over cherished scenes with out interruption. Them first days when you didn t allow no conversation in the room, an I d hear you whisper that one word " temp ature," why they was days of lively joy in which I d walk th ough halls of light an stroll over green fields an LIGHT 22? medders, sometimes fairly skippin in merry recovery of my boy-hood. I suspicion I must a been keyed up con sider ble for I ricollec , although I d rec- o nize the whisperin voice, that word " temp ature " would sound like sup pressed thunder and after a while it seemed about seven foot tall an I reco - nized it ez a pompious policeman, same ez them rigid ones at the New York street corners only, instid o that various out look an the jesticulatin arms, my police man would keep his finger on his lip an the name, " Temp ature," why it run clean aroun his cap, so you could see the ends from behind. An I soon come to like him. He seemed to keep all the crossways clair of inter ruptions in the journeys I d make, so I could think in peace. That s the way it seemed to me, but no doubt I was imaginative whilst I was over-, het with fever. But that soon passed off an one day the policeman broke into a smile an then I knowed it was a dream an he seemed to go out, like a candle. An he never come back. An then the heavenly days of peace 224 ensued. No mo skippin an tree- climbin - -or high-strung acrobatteries, but tliess sailin along between downy clouds of forgitfulness an miraculous dis closures of light sech ez I never expected to see revealed this side o Heaven. You know, Doc , light has always had a great place in my life thess light an , first an last, it has give me some great experiences. Whilst I was in a manner depreciatin eye-sight, thess now, don t imagine thet I was extollin darkness. I only want to differentuate external eye-sight from vis ions o the soul and to git you to reelize thet the blind don t need to abide in gloom an I think I Ve proved it. An takin it all in all, the radiance o these dark days has exceeded all the expe riences of light of my long life-time. An , of co se, some o the best o the sights was reproductions I don t deny that. An when I finally come to the time of release, an the moment arrived when I opened my eyes to recovered vision, well ef Heaven itself is any sweeter, Doc, I m afeard I 11 never be able to stand it on earth. Of co se, it was a great occasion, when LIGHT 225 the bandages was to be lifted, an Mary Elizabeth an Sonny, they was bidin be side me an the first word I heerd was " Yes, father," in two voices, an the daughterly hand a-smoothin my old bald- spot whilst Sonny stiddied my wrist. You see, they was bracin me ag inst possible disappointment. An the pillers was soft under my neck. They had opened up the winders into the trees, choosin the twilight for its mild light ; an between the chirpin o the birds an a katidid or two an the smell o the maginolias, seemed to me all the heavenly f o ces was combined to bring me resignation. An then, when in place o that, I was allowed to give thanks for sight restored, seemed like my cup o happiness thess trickled over the whole place an it ain t dried out yet. I was regretful thet you couldn t be there, along with the ocular doctor thess for companionship. Yas, ez I said, a heap o my life s great est experiences has been depicted to me in light. Did I ever tell you, I wonder, about the miraculous vision in which she was first revealed to me? No, I know I ain t, 226 SONNY S FATHER cause I ain t never told nobody. It sounds so highflown, I m most afeard to tell it to you, even now, an yet The fact is I ve so recently seemed to see it all over ag in tliet it s freshly real to me an I don t know ez I can hold it ag inst yo usual curiosity. It s everlastin ly romantic an high- flown, .doctor an maybe it 11 reveal an unsuspected side o my home-spun charac ter, but ef I m ever go in to tell anybody, I reckon now s the time an place an , of co se, you Ve been my one lifelong con- /zdent. I ricollec allowin to you once-t befo thet fallin in love with her come to me like a clap o thunder out of a clair sky but I didn t go into the little minutias of it. It s all thess ez clair to me today ez it was then an I feel newly equipped to de scribe it to you. You ricollec that ol culvert thet used to be between sour swamp an Jim To- land s rice medders! Well, one day, it must a been about the Yas, it was seventh day of May an every feathered thing nestin . A lot of us boys was standin roun the post office door waitin LIGHT 227 for Miss Cordelia to sort out the mail thess befo sunset, it was. Most o the old crowd was there Sonny Simpkins an Jim Dooley Jim was waitin on one o the Simpkins twins then. Pore Jim! He died bef o he signified which one an , of co se, Bud Zunts, he was there, waitin tel the last one, ez usual. T was n t long befo him an Miss Cordelia up an married. Well, we was all waitin an chaffin each other ez usual when I chanced to look up an I see what appeared to be a girl on fire, standin on the arch o the culvert, ag inst the sunset. I wish-t I had descrip tive language to image it to you, doctor. It was like a sort o transformation, not to say transfiguration. You wouldn t believe thet a mortal could a lit up the way she done, lessen you took into consideration the flamin sunset behind er an the color of her hair which, with all its modesty, had consider - ble blood pulsatin th ough it. An I re- collec distinc , she had on a sort o thin, reddish organder lawn, mo thin than red; but, sir, with the sun th ough it, what I saw from the post office door was a sainted martyr, enveloped in flames, an I thought 228 of Joe Ann of Ark, the way I see er once-t in a play performance thet come down from St. Louis. I ricollec I was curious to know what section o the state of Arkansas Joe Ann come from, in ancient days, for the master of ceremonies, he told us she was historic. But, of co se, in hearin the children their lessons, I Ve picked up considerable, an I ve been glad I never put the question. But anyhow, ez she stood on the culvert, facin the other way an lookin off into the sky, for about a minute I was supersti tious an half looked for her to dissolve into the red behind er an she would n t a been no more to me all my life than one o the figgurs I ve seen form an crumble in the coals. But I stood there entranced, ez you might say, an I didn t glance at none o the boys because, tell the truth, I didn t dast. I mistrusted thet they saw what I saw or ef I reely saw it, myself. The entire sweep o the west was a meri- cle of sunset an I m always still-mouthed in the presence of sky-splendor like that. But whilst we all stood an looked, d rec ly Jim Toland, he says, thess casual, LIGHT 229 whittlin a althea tooth-stick ez he said it, says he: " Wonder what Still-one s doin , standin there on that culvert, lookin up that-a-way? " That was a nickname the boys had for er, Still-one, thess on ac count o her bein sort o sparse on idle conversation. " Who! " says I, knowin full well who he was obliged to mean, an havin that minute recognized er myself. " Why," says he, not payin no atten tion to my fool question, " She s turned back an she s comin this way." An shore enough, she was. An all the way down, she walked clothed in flame, tel she struck the shade o the Cherokee hedge an until I see er face in the shade, I never fully reelized er ez human, although I knowed too well who she was. An when she come down to where we stood, Jim Toland, he says to er, says he : " Forgit somethin , Marthy! " " Thank you, Jim," says she, an, with that, she wheeled around an started straight back without another word. Well, that incited my curiosity an so I up an puts in: 230 . . An why didn t you thank me, too, Miss Marthy? " I didn t know er then quite ez familiar ez what Jim did. Well, at that, her face turned ez red ez her recent garments an says she, castin down er eyes, " I only thanked Jim for what he done forme." "What has Jim done thet I ain t?" says I. " He ain t lef my side." " He loosened my tongue for me," says she, smilin like a veritable seraphim. An then she went on to explain : " Whilst I stood on the culvert thess now, I made a wish to the i first star I see this night, an of co se, after that, I dares n t speak tel I was spoke to less n I d break the wish An it s one I don t want hoodooed." Keddenin all over ag in ez she said it. An with that, I butted in ag in. Says I : " Ain t that May Day comin acrost the culvert now? She could a spoke to you first, ef you d waited." " Yas, I know, but she might n t/ says she. " I saw her comin , an that s why " An , sir, with that, she was turned round an gone. An me, follerin LIGHT 231 er figure ez she went along in the shade o the hedge, discerned er ez a saint. You ricollec , that was thess after poor little May Day s misfortune an lots of our older women would pass er on the boa d- walk an look the other way. Well, sir, you could a knocked me down with a feather. We stood an watched er tel she met May Day on the Culvert. The sun had settled pretty low by then, but it give us them two child en in clair outline - one head, fire-lit, a glory of red, an held high, an little May Day s fair an yaller, but bent down in humility. Poor little May Day always had a innocent lookin little head. Well, sir ez the two stood there, I see Marthy s hand go out to May Day an she drawed er close-t beside er an they stood still, lookin at that star together, an like ez not, Marthy was recitin the wish-verse to er leadin er troubled mind into girlish playfulness an hope. Well, that was the beginnin of my in- somnious nights. I didn t sca cely shet my eyes that night nor the next nor the next an I couldn t make head nor tail o my own sessations for a long time. Every- 232 SONNY S FATHER thing seemed stopped within me, an I thess seemed to be gropin th ough life like a fool, for the want o sense. I s pose every mortal man thet discovers he s fell in love with a saint accuses his- self that-a-way an most men does, one time or another. Well, Doc, it was five weeks, I ricollec , befV I got shet o the ha nt o the flamin saint an could reelize er ez simply hu man, an possibly wiihin reach. An then, of co se I got courage an some new neck-ties an started to walk beside er an talk superior whilst I felt inferior to the occasional cocklebur thet would attach itself to the ruffle of her gownd. Me bein so much older, that gi e me a sort o purchase on the situation. Seems she had looked up to me for a long time ez a person to be respected. I was sort o stalwart shouldered an owned good horses but I was always monst ous hombly an conscious of it in feminyne society. Still, she lookin up to me the way she done an acceptin my opinions ez final, why it gi e me a sort o eloquence ez we walked an loosened up my vocal cords. LIGHT 233 Ricollec , I finally asked er one day after I had told er about Joe Ann of Ark an the pantomime in the sunset an how whilst she was wishin to a star, she looked like ez ef she was listenin to voices like the girl in the show an then, summonsin all my courage, I asked er ef she could ricollec what she had wished on the cul vert that night thet was so important, an , sir, she flushed up an then she paled - an without her openin her lips, she had imparted to me the requisite amount of assurance an nothin but the stoppage o my breath held back my proposal o mar riage, then an there. It was a convenient place, too, down by the mill-dam in maginolia lane thess where you come out o the lane an view the mill- pond where them chiny-trees with the seats is an the moon, it was friendly, too, half -veiled in white nubia clouds an there was a skift there an me a strong oarsman. But, with everything favorable that-a- way I thess seemed to lose every faculty on earth exceptin a sense of paralysis an suffocation. But I wrote it out that night, formal, an 234 SONNY S FATHER handed it to er myself next day. It was n 7 t much of a letter although it was the seven teenth I worked out that night. I know because I burnt sixteen attempts when it was done. It was simple enough but un mistakable, an I was afeard to resk it in the mail, lessen it might set the post office afire ef it did n t git mislaid. Well ez I love to say, Doc, we had a happy life together, an a full one, mother an me. An that was the way life s top meracle was revealed to me in light. An en- durin all these years whilst I Ve bided here on my po ch an grandfathered her descendants an mine ez they Ve gradyally populated the playground under the oak yonder, why, they s been times when I d seem to recall snatches of that scene of en chantment over the culvert. But it was reserved for the one period of so-called darkness to reveal the whole vis ion to me again, entire, an it was like re- newin my youth. Yas, it has been a great experience in the recovery of What s that you say, doctor ? " Mem ory? " LIGHT 235 Well, yas, an no. Maybe tis memory - memory, an more. Things remembered always seem to me to return in a sort o procession but all this seemed more like pictured visions presented to the eyes o the sperit. They couldn t have no con nection with my bodily eyes an they bandaged. Why, even the white moonlight of Son ny s birth-night of that long-ago Christmas has come back to me vivid in these band aged weeks with all the stillness an wonder of it an the reelization of the Christ-child, too. Of co se, in many of my sweetest excur sions in the way of light, our little Doc would seem to be beside me. I don t claim thet his dear sperit has ac-chilly hovered about me, although I ain t shore. You know, in life he dearly loved the back o my chair an his favoryte retreats was all in speakin distance an t ain t supposable thet his nature would change entire all of a sudden. It seems strange, after all these years of uninterrupted growth an prosperity, for Death to Ve come to our door an made his claim. 236 SONNY S FATHER It s brought the other side mighty near to me, doc an the little grave beside hers is sometimes like a call to me an I know it s all right. But I do miss him scand lous the plucky little man an I often recall the talks we d have out here when he d argue with me an lay off his pernouncements on any subject so final with them little thin wrists. You ricollec , I used often to compare him to a bird with them wiry little legs an hands an the way he d perch any where an sing an his friendliness with trees. An they was times when he seemed to feel sort o kinhood with birds, hisself . Eicollec how he talked about j inin the birds in their carols in the tree-tops, Christmas a year ago? An after that, one day he says to me, says he, " Gramper," says he, " my soul s got wings an bet ter look out! Some nights when the moon s still an I hear the cherubims a-bimmin away in the high-skies, an all the choruses is filled out but my little part, I feel somethin ticklin my shoulders! " An then, lookin straight at me, says he, " But I don t want to leave you, gram- per so when I feel the wings start a-flap- LIGHT 237 pin , I hold on tight to the furnitures an grab yo neck an you think I m thess affectionin ." An then he laughs, the lit tle mite, an says he, " I ain t got much of a voice, nohow not the way it comes out. But when I think my songs they re bully." Then says he, "They ll thess have to wait up there. I d think he d been over- wrought by too rigorous religious instruction ef I didn t know better. No it was meant to be so. He was always partly removed, so thet his little feet never seemed fully on the earth. What s that you say? u Mary Eliz abeth "? Oh, Doc, I can t express it to you the way she an Sonny met it. Of co se they re constituted different, him an her. She might a give way exceptin for the need of sustainin him an directin the children s minds Heavenward. But they s a look in both their faces sence this reverent surrender, like ez ef they d seen Grod. What s that you say? " Mournin clothes? " No, indeed she ain t clothed er house hold in gloom. 238 SONNY S FATHER How could she, an his happy sperit passed upward in joy an the purity of childhood? No, Sally Ann, she sent over a lot o black dresses, assorted sizes, thet she d gleaned from the neighbors, for is little funeral. Of co se, it was kindly meant, but to our thinkin , it would a seemed like sac elege in the face of faith. Yas, ez you say, it was sweet for it to be Easter Day when we laid him away. The old cemetery was all joyous in its first re surrection green an matin birds called to each other from the trees on the slope where we made his little bed. An the town child en, they united with ours in fillin an surroundin it with flowers, befo they went home an put on their little white frocks. It was a scene of heavenly peace an beauty when the low sun lit it up. An it s all right, doctor an I ain t dishonorin it with no rebellion. But ef I thess did n t miss im so ! Yas, they ve planted some trees there special an Sonny has put in a wrought- iron chair for me an I go, occasional, with the child en, an set there. But I LIGHT 239 don t need to. Companionship with the dear dead ain t a question of here nor there with me. But it s sweet for the child en - an conduces to reverence. It seems to give death a place in life, which is right. Seems to me they s a little difference in all the child en sence he s went. An they s a new look in their young faces an it ain t no cloud, neither. It s a new light, an heavenly. I ve often wished I had yo fluency of speech with a pen, doctor. I can write an audible hand enough, ef I could think o the words, but thess the idee of pen an paper has power to frustrate my thoughts all out o shape. An think o me bein the father of a nachel book- writer! I ve sometimes imagined thet maybe they might be the makin of a book in me, or likely it would n t be no mo n a pam phlet thess puttin down the thoughts the Lord has sent to me here on my po ch in amongst the vines, in all these years ef I could write it out straight. Yas, they s other things besides bumble bees an hummin birds thet s come in to me here out n a clair sky comfortin 240 SONNY S FATHER thoughts, like peace doves, have flown in to me. An , ez I Ve said bef o , even when I was required to go down into the valley o the shadders, it was n t one of gloom to me. I Ve always been given a reelization thet every shadder is shaped in light not thet anything could fully explain the bene diction of the peace which we are told 61 passeth understanding" THE END. 4054C8 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY