PEOPLE AT
PISGAH
people at
BY
EDWIN W. SANBORN
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1892
COPYRIGHT, 1892,
Bv D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
PRINTED AT THE
APPLETON PRESS, U. S. A.
CONTENTS.
PAOE
I. THE CORTRIGHT DIAMOND, . . 1
II. A LANDMARK IN THEOLOGY, . .11
III. AN INTERRUPTED REPAST, . . .25
IV. A HERBIVOROUS JEWEL, CASE, . . 44
V. A MOSAIC REMEDY 65
VI. A LOQUACIOUS ESCULENT, . . .81
VII. A MIDNIGHT SOMERSAULT, . . 91
VIII. A FAIR EXCHANGE, . . . .104
IX. AN INTERESTING OBSTACLE, . .114
X. AN AMATEUR PERFORMANCE, . . 126
XI. AN INEXHAUSTIBLE MINE, . . . 145
XII. A CONVIVIAL REUNION, . . .161
XIII. THE ECUMENICAL CONGRESS, . . 173
PEOPLE AT PISGAH.
i.
THE CORTRIGHT DIAMOND.
the dusk of an early summer
evening the towering front of Dr.
Van Nuynthlee's church loomed
up on Madison Avenue, massive
and solemn. Around the corner its gray
buttresses and sombre gothic windows
stretched back in long vista into the shadows.
In the ivy-covered chapel beyond, the lights
of the mid-week meeting gleamed cheerily
on passers-by until long after the dusk had
deepened into darkness It was not uncom
mon for Dr. Van Nuynthlee to be thus de
tained at the close of the mid-week service.
When the last word of benediction was
spoken, and the people crowded into the
aisles and moved slowly out, there were al
ways some who stayed to exchange friendly
1
people at
greetings, or to discuss the many plans of a
great church organization. With so many
city homes deserted for the summer the
chapel had seemed scantily filled ; but the
announcement of the death of Courtland
Cortright led an unusual number to linger
after the service. They gathered around
Dr. Van Nuynthlee as he stepped down from
the desk to speak in hushed voices of the sad
event, and of the change it seemed to ne
cessitate in their pastor's plans.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee had accepted a flatter
ing invitation to deliver the closing address
at the Interdenominational Ecumenical Con
gress soon to meet at Saratoga, but with
the assembling of the Congress close at hand,
the pressure of pastoral duties had precluded
any preparation for that event.
The deliberations of the Congress were to
cover a period of nearly two weeks, commenc
ing on the following Sabbath. Though the
discourse of Dr. VanNuynthlee was reserved
for the final session, he wished to reach
Saratoga as soon as circumstances would per
mit. To complete the task before him at
the earliest moment possible, he determined
to pass the intervening days in absolute rural
seclusion. A friend had commended North
Cortrtflbt Diamond.
Pisgah in Northern Vermont as admirably
suited to the doctor's purpose, and it had
been arranged accordingly that he should
set out on the morrow for Pisgah, and for
the farm-house of Deacon Meshach Meiggs.
The message announcing the death of Mr.
Cortright had urgently requested Dr. Van
Nuynthlee's presence at the funeral, and,
while he was oppressed by the thought that
every instant was precious, the immediate
duty before him seemed imperative. After
earnest consultation, in which it was sug
gested that a desirable route to the Green
Hills would carry him near the Cortright
estates, he decided to postpone his departure
and perform the last offices for his old
parishioner.
On his arrival, two days later, at the deso
late manor on the Hudson, Dr. Van Nuynth-
lee learned of a simple trust which Courtland
Cortright in his closing hours had committed
to his pastor.
He had directed that a certain jewel, long
an heirloom in the family, be placed in Dr.
Van Nuynthlee's charge until the return of
Mrs. Cortright, who was travelling with an
invalid sister abroad. The jewel was a dia
mond set in a gold brooch, guarded with a
at ptsgab.
strong pin and clasp. Though a gem of ex
traordinary size and value it attracted special
notice by its rare color, a peculiar tinge of
red, imparting a soft radiance unlike the
showy glitter of a clear white brilliant. In
repose it sparkled with this warm, ruddy
light, but there were times when it could '
dazzle with its rich lustre, or startle with a
fiery gleam. The stone, though roughly cut,
was preserved without change as a souvenir
of early family history.
Near the dawn of the seventeenth century,
Courtlandt van Kourtright, the younger son
of a wealthy merchant of Haarlem, had sailed
with the hardy navigator Jacob Heemskerk
on a voyage to the golden regions of Cathay.
While coasting along the Malay Peninsula,
they learned of the arrival in the Straits of
Malacca of a great Lisbon carack laden with
the richest merchandise ; pearls, spices, silks,
costly fabr ' cs, and precious stones. The fear
less Heemskerk with his two galleots attacked
and captured the huge vessel, and this dia
mond had fallen to the lot of Courtlandt van
Kourtright as his share of the spoil.
As they learned in sailing homeward along
the Indian coast, the stone had been found
half a century earlier near Golconda, and
Gortrigbt SMamcmfc.
was owned by sovereigns of central India,
until Shah Tekbar of Delhi, on coming to
the Mogul throne, bestowed it upon a re
nowned temple of Brahma as a pledge of his
promise to treat all religions with equal re
spect.
In the inmost sanctuary of a Hindoo pa
goda, on the shrine of a hideous idol, in the
weird light of smoking incense and flaring
torches, the strange stone, to the eye of su
perstition, gleamed and glittered with con
scious supernatural life.
Its favored votaries, tradition said, might
turn its piercing ray into the dim realms
of spirit, and conjure up mysterious visions
of the past and shadowy forms of the de
parted.
Stolen by a sacrilegious priest, it had been
carried to Damaun on the distant sea-coast
and sold to the Portuguese traders, whose
carack lay at anchor in the harbor. Van
Kourtright trusted in his red diamond as a
magic talisman and carried it throughout a
life of adventurous service. The gold
brooch, which formed its present setting,
repaid examination not less than the jewel it
encircled. On its surface, though marred
and discolored, could still be traced the deli-
people at
cate engraving of some quaint device. It
was prized as a relic of the memorable siege
of Haarlem, in which the Van Kourtrights
had played an honorable part. Before the
carnivals of image-breaking the churches of
Haarlem were rich in the accumulated offer
ings of wealthy penitence. Cathedrals were
adorned with masterly paintings and sacred
images, and filled with all the symbolic shapes
of art which ages of formalism had invested
with mystic meaning. Near the close of the
siege the people of Haarlem stripped the
churches of such splendid trappings, and
destroyed the treasured adornments of gen
erations. The most pious emblems and
precious ornaments were paraded on the
ramparts in mock procession and profanely
shattered.
A century later, workmen removing a por
tion of the old city wall upturned a mass of
broken relics, which were carried to the bur
gomaster and attracted general interest.
The markings beneath the incrusted grime
upon certain fragments proved them remnants
of the sacred heart, which had hung so long
in the great cathedral. On the fragile golden
plate which formed the sacred heart, some
cunning artist had graven in fine network
Cbe Cortrfgbt Diamond.
the devices which figured in the symbolic
language of the mediaeval church.
Through these quaint markings ran a
tracery of the signs and magic numbers of
astrology. A belief that the sacred heart
had received the benediction of the Chief
Pontiff, and been gifted with miraculous
powers, increased the pious awe with which
it was long regarded. It was not strange
that such eloquent mementoes of the Re
public's gloomy beginnings were carefully
preserved.
When the old Van Kourtright stock came
to an end, a fragment of the sacred heart in
possession of that family was sent to the
thriving branch of the house in the New
World ; and as it had seemed fitting to unite
these two heirlooms, the historic gold had
been shaped roughly into a brooch and used
as a setting for the Indian jewel.
In the mind of Dr. Van Nuynthlee, the
romantic souvenir awoke a train of memories
which had long slumbered ; and far into the
night he mused at his window looking out
over the broad star-lit river. He recalled
the day sixteen years ago when, summoned to
the old manor upon a like errand, he had
found Courtland Cortright stricken by the
people at
loss of his only son, with whom were buried
the hopes and ambitions of the Cortright
name.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee had known Cortright
as a man engrossed in prosperous business;
but from that day all interest in his former
work was gone. Retiring from business, he
sought diversion in travel and congenial
studies. A taste for antiquarian research
first turned his attention to the annals of his
own family, but his inquiries soon took a wider
range. Having learned the Dutch tongue,
he spent many months in the Low Countries
examining records and memorials, delving
among the royal archives at The Hague and
the public records of Haarlem, deciphering
ancient manuscripts and sifting time-honored
traditions. On his return he continued his
researches at home, finding abundant ma
terials in the collections of the New York
Historical Society and the manuscripts in
the office of the Secretary of State at Albany,
as well as valuable papers in his own posses
sion. The result of these labors was never
given to the public, except as he recited
brief stories like that of the red diamond,
which his patience had unravelled from a
tangled skein of legend and tradition. But
<Ibe Cortrfgbt Diamond
his manuscripts, if published, would do
much to lift the veil by which the charming
humor of genius has obscured the real life
and character of the Dutch settlers of New
York.
The later years had not been devoted to
regular literary work, but his thoughts still
loved to dwell upon the olden time.
In his favorite seat by the great fireplace
in the long winter evenings, as he held the
deep-tinged jewel before the flickering flames,
he could Well feel how superstition had gifted
it with strange potency. At such an hour
the old mansion was peopled with shadowy
shapes, and as brilliant spectacles or gloomy
scenes of tragedy passed in succession, he
loved to indulge the fancy that he held in
his hand a charm to conjure up these visions
of the past.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee, who often enjoyed
the hospitality of the manor, had come to
understand the inner life of his friend and
his regard for the diamond brooch which
was, more than anything else, its outward
token. Thus he accepted his trust without
considering it either odd or trivial.
He perceived that Cortright, in the ab
sence of his wife, had taken comfort in the
10 people at
assurance that the treasured jewel, without
falling into the hands of strangers, would
pass directly to the care of his pastor, to be
delivered to Mrs. Cortright on her return as
a precious parting gift.
Its safe keeping caused the doctor a shade
of uneasiness, but it happily occurred to him
to wear the brooch, securely pinned upon his
shirt-front, beneath his high waistcoat ; and
in the hill country whither he now turned,
he constantly carried the gem in that po
sition.
II.
A LANDMARK IN THEOLOGY.
T was afternoon on Saturday when
Dr. Van Nuynthlee reached the
comfortable home of Deacon
Meiggs after a dusty drive from
the station at Dothan Mills.
At Saratoga the delegates to the Inter
denominational Ecumenical Congress were
already gathering.
The Ecumenical Congress is so fresh in the
public mind, that the compliment paid to
Dr. Van Nuynthlee needs little comment.
After the addresses upon special topics, and
the varied exercises *and discussions which
were to form the regular routine of the
assembly, it had been wisely decided to de
vote the closing session to a more compre
hensive discourse, which should review the
general trend of religious thought and define
the position of systematic theology.
For the preparation of such an address,
designed to summarize and pronounce the
11
is people at
convictions of such a convention, a week
afforded scant opportunity. But the es
sential data were already collated. Of the
line of thought to be followed by preceding
speakers the doctor was advised by corre
spondence, and the work before him was
chiefly in arranging and condensing the
ideas which crowded upon his mind, and of
dressing the whole in the elegant style and
impressive diction of which Doctor Van
Nuynthlee is an acknowleged master. For
this work no conditions could have been
more favorable. The deacon's family he
seldom met. His breakfast was taken alone,
except when he was joined by Major Peavy,
a retired army officer, and his invalid wife.
The Peavys had spent several summers at
Pisgah, the climate being as favorable as any
to Mrs. Peavy's health and the major believ
ing it helpful for an irritating rheumatic
trouble from which he suffered.
The isolation gave Dr. Van Nuynthlee
opportunity for communion with self to
which he had been long a stranger. There
were moments when a glimpse of the Cort-
right diamond would suddenly turn his
thoughts from the work before him, and he
would find himself drawn into a sad reverie.
B XanDmarfc in
Musing over the mysterious gem, he was
conscious of breathing the atmosphere in
which Courtland Cortright had lived, and in
receiving the talisman he seemed for the
time to have come under its magic spell.
Certain it was that memories of his early
life, dimmed by long years, revived with
strange distinctness his childhood, school
days, and university life ; the disappointment
in regard to his expected marriage, which
had changed the whole tenor of his life;
then his studies in theology and establish
ment in the ministry.
The coming autumn would bring the
twentieth anniversary of his installation in
his present charge, and often as he sat at his
open window in the still twilight, his
thoughts ran back over this score of busy
years. His life had been a lonely one ; yet he
had hardly realized its loneliness. Wedded to
his work, his only wish was to hide and for
get the longings of his own heart. Only
within a few years, as his early sorrow be
came dimmed and chastened by the flight of
time, was he conscious of any change. Even
now he had scarcely admitted to himself that
he thought of changing his single estate.
It is needless to say that the pastor of a great
2
14 people at ptegab.
metropolitan church, imposing and distin
guished in appearance, brilliant and attrac
tive in intellect, could not remain unmarried
for a score of years without being tried by
much admiration and many admonitions.
From time to time his friends had hinted
that his life might be brightened and his
public influence increased, if his home were
graced by a lady's presence. He could not
be unaware of a feeling that there was need
in the social and practical life of the church
for the guiding spirit of a minister's wife.
But Dr. Van Nuynthlee had made his wishes
so plainly understood, that his unmarried
state had come to be regarded as a settled
and unalterable fact. To this general con
sent there was perhaps a single exception.
Miss Prudence Winthrop, as one might see
at a glance, was a woman of strong will and
steady purpose. It was now a year since
family changes had induced her to leave her
stately home in Beacon Street to reside with
her married sister in New York, a member
of the Murray Hill Church.
Miss Winthrop was a tall, stately lady of
rather slender figure, with a face much ad
mired for its strong, intellectual expression
and clear, classic outlines. She possessed
B ILan&marfc in beolog. is
that invaluable gift called " executive
ability," and being devoted to philanthropic
labors was an efficient manager of church
work and charitable enterprises. Miss Win-
throp, there is reason to believe, was not long
an attendant upon Dr. Van Nuynthlee's
ministrations without becoming impressed
with the idea that the position of pastor's
wife in the Murray II ill Church would be
one well suited to her tastes and ambition.
Such an alliance would insure her a leader
ship in that management of affairs in which
she delighted, while according with her views
of social distinction ; and of course, as a chief
consideration, she admired the doctor's pre
eminent abilities, and was attracted by his
powerful personality.
Thus as time went on, she came to a final
and mature decision to marry Theodore Van
Nuynthlee.
In her native Boston Miss Winthrop had
been the recognized leader in all good works,
and the regret expressed at her departure
was almost universal. Yet one so prominent
could hardly have avoided the petty criticism
of a few envious minds, and there were some
uncharitable persons who expressed relief at
being freed from the oppressive influence of
16 people at
Miss Winthrop's domination. In her new
surroundings the most careful observer could
hardly have suspected her design, and yet it
was soon remarked that Miss Win throp would
be exactly the person for Dr. Van Nuynthlee
to marry. And the doctor himself, all un
consciously, was being drawn into the snare.
He had never uttered a definite expression
of his sentiments, yet felt that a mutual un
derstanding had grown up between them,
and that in some indefinable way he was
under obligation to make her a proposal of
marriage.
While the surface currents of Theodore
Van Nuynthlee's life seemed drifting in this
direction, a simple incident, like a ray of
clear sunlight, chanced to reveal the real
course of his heart's undercurrents. One
Sunday in the autumn before his present
vacation, he had taken his place in the pulpit
and while the ushers Avere arranging seats
in the aisles for the throngs waiting about
the doors, was busied in looking over the
hymns of the morning service and the notices
for the week. Then, as he raised his head
and, glanced over the congregation, his eyes
fell upon a face which strangely attracted him.
The lady upon whom his gaze rested possessed
B Xan&marfc in GbeologB. 17
a face and figure to charm the eye under any
circumstances, yet the clergyman would
have been puzzled to explain what it was
that checked his sweeping glance, and sent
a flood of warm color to his face. Per
haps there was some indefinable expression,
which reminded him of the love of his early
days.
But now the strains of the organ had ceased,
the great audience was seated, and quickly
recalling his wandering thoughts he turned
to the services of the morning. Dropping
in a few days later upon the Livingstons,
his near neighbors and intimate friends, he
had the pleasure of meeting the lady who
had attracted his notice on the Sabbath.
She was, as he learned, a cousin of Mrs. Liv
ingston and a native of New York, but since
her marriage to the late Robert Suydam, Jr.,
well known in Virginia for his great wealth
and boundless hospitality, she had resided
upon her husband's estates near Richmond;
until, after three years of lonely widowhood,
a longing for her early home had brought
her again to New York.
As he walked slowly homeward Dr. Van
Nuynthlee could not but feel that as the
momentary impression of Sunday morning
18 people at
had become more clearly defined, it had also
been strengthened and confirmed.
Very often during the following months
had the clergyman met his fair parishioner,
and he could not conceal from himself that
his first feeling of admiration had deepened
into stronger and more sacred emotion. It
was now, when his heart was touched by a
real and overmastering passion, that he saw
in a clear light the forced and formal nature
of the sentiment he had entertained toward
Miss Winthrop. Although he had made
no distinct avowal, he felt that he was under
stood by Mrs. Suydam, and dared to hope
that the attachment was mutual.
During this quiet life in the country his
thoughts often turned to the subject nearest
his heart, and he did not leave the considera
tion of the subject until he had formed a
plan of seeing Mrs. Suydam immediately on
his return to New York, and declaring his
love before he should sail for Europe.
As with light heart he turned to his work
upon the address, he thought uneasily of
Miss Prudence Winthrop. Her piercing
gray eyes semed to follow him reproachfully,
and he felt a shiver of dread as he thought
of the vigorous tongue behind those tightly
B Xanfcmarfc in ITbeologs. 19
closed lips. But knowing little as he did of
the haughty maiden's designs, he dismissed
these disturbing thoughts with a feeling of
relief that he had never committed himself
in that direction.
As the day set for his departure ap
proached, Dr. Van Nuynthlee was disturbed
to find that he had miscalculated the time
required for his labors.
By Thursday night, it was evident that he
could not hope to reach Saratoga until the
following week. He saw his way tolerably
clear to take the night train on Monday, and
thus enjoy three days Avith the Congress, be
fore the delivery of his own address.
But even Monday night found the task far
from complete. Altogether the doctor de
spaired of being at liberty before Wednesday
night. For days and nights he had been ab
sorbed in unremitting exertion, and now
under continued pressure he threw himself
into the work with such tremendous energy,
that after retiring to his room on Tuesday
evening he did not go to rest until the ora
tion was absolutely complete and he could
find no word to alter, and no sentence to re
touch. So absorbed had he been, that when
ho finally laid down his pen and raised the
20 people at flMsgab.
curtains of his room lie was astounded to find
the day breaking. He raised the window
and allowed the fresh breeze of the morning
to cool his brow. As he sat, looking out
through boughs of apple-trees drooping with
moisture, over the dewy meadows to where
the dark gray lines of cloud were touched by
the first tints of dawn, he felt a pardonable
satisfaction in the work he had accomplished.
The discourse outlined no new departure.
It was rather a return to first principles.
It was no irenicon.
It protested against allowing the strong
doctrine of the early days to lapse into ob
scurity. With vivid and vehement elo
quence it portrayed the period when the
foundations were laid by the Fathers.
In their cosmology, Man was the central
figure of the creation ; the one absorbing ob
ject of the Creator's thought. For him the
sun rose and set and the stars held their
vigils. Around him the universe revolved.
In spite of faults in perspective, it was an
ennobling view of the position of the race.
It inspired a spirit of confident and exhaus
tive research, which would not stay short of
ascertained certainties.
Upon the giant theologians of that time
B Xan&marfc tn beolo0. 21
weighed the responsibility of determining,
in minute and precise terms, the Divine Will,
and of announcing the Eternal Purpose.
Their spiritual vision, preternaturally clari
fied by favorable conditions, and their dialec
tic sense sharpened by uninterrupted discus
sion, traced with apodeictical exactitude the
operations of the Almighty Mind.
Those acute intellects of the sixteenth
century and their successors, who reformed
and elaborated our systems of belief, wrought
under like advantage.
The learning of their day was preponder
antly religious. Their minds were saturated
with an accumulated aggeration of erudite
research and pious speculation, refined and
systematized by centuries of scholiastic
epexegesis and controversial disquisition.
Their acroamatical indagation into the mo
mentous problems of eschatology was not
disturbed by the thousand distractions of the
present age.
It is to their conclusions that we must re
vert for permanent and indefectible standards.
In a literal sense, the doctor of course rec
ognized that the vaunted progress of the
century had attained a more exact cosmog
raphy. But our conceptions of the material
22 people at
universe, he felt, had expanded at the cost of
deplorable restrictions in the realm of pneu-
matology.
From a system which looks to physical
environment for the evolving cause of every
form of life no other results could be ex
pected. It must encourage the pernicious
doctrine that the sensible universe about us
is an important element in revelation. It
will admonish us to seek the friendship of
nature ; to conform to her laws ; to value her
discipline. The trend of the time is toward
the so-termed practical side of religion.
Philanthropy, sociology, altruism, and the
like are encroaching upon the domain of
technical theology. Ethics, charity, and
mere morality are exalted at the expense of
creed and tenets.
The air is filled with schemes for checking
intemperance, for bettering the condition of
the poor, for promoting the science of physi
cal health.
While Dr. Van Nuynthlee considered such
movements meritorious in their place, he
entered his earnest protest against the ten
dency of which they are symptomatic;
against any descent to a sordid temporal
plane of thought and action.
B Xanfcmatfc in abeologg. 23
He pointed out the course by which the
ancient symbolism must be sustained.
The problem resolved itself in the ultimate
analysis, into one of separate personal re
sponsibility. The test must be applied to
the individual life.
For himself, he did not recognize the ex
aggerated potentialities of mere material
environment. Chance and circumstance
cannot alter the essential conditions of a
single human life: much less modify the
moral or even physical development of a
race.
He anathematized the maudlin sentimenta
lity which would seek palliation for human
weakness in accident of birth, or promptings
of heredity or pressure of surroundings.
He could feel but little sympathy for so-
called victims of appearances.
From thisindividuation, Dr. VanNuynth-
lee passed by convincing synthesis and in
duction to general propositions.
In closing he reviewed the work accom
plished by the convention. He pointed to
its mighty influence in the future. They
were now standing at the parting of the
ways.
He finished with an impassioned appeal
24 people at |M0gab.
to his distinguished colleagues to restore
scholastic theology to its position of exalted
independence; to cherish this sublime
ideal and to carry this supreme determina
tion into their respective fields of influence.
With that consciousness of his own power
which men of masterly intellect possess, Dr.
Van Nuynthlee felt that in this address he
had produced a work which must far outlive
the occasion which called it forth, and which
it was no presumption to conceive might
become a landmark in ecclesiastical history
and a classic in theologic literature.
III.
INTERRUPTED REPAST.
HOUGH exhausted by this long
application, the nervous strain
prevented any refreshing sleep,
and after a few hours of fitful
slumber Dr. Van Nuynthlee arose, in the
hope that a walk in the fresh morning air
would bring rest and recuperation. With
nothing to be done until the time for driving
to the evening train, the whole day was be
fore him for uninterrupted recreation.
Mrs. Peavy not feeling able to leave her
room, the major was his only companion at
breakfast, and entertained him by describing
recent symptoms of his rheumatic gout.
The doctor was devoting himself to his
breakfast, while preserving such outward
show of interest as courtesy required, when
Major Peavy remarked:
" By the way, doctor, we called yesterday
at the Hazen boarding-house ; met some New
York people there ; there was a Miss Petti-
25
26 people at
grew inquired for you particularly ; said she
had heard you were staying here."
Fortunately the major was intent upon
breaking a soft-boiled egg into his glass, and
failed to observe into what agitation his
companion was thrown by this simple re
mark. The doctor knew that a southern
young lady, Miss Mildred Pettigrew, had
been visiting Mrs. Suydam in New York,
and the mention of her name at once re
called his having seen on the previous morn
ing, two ladies, one of whom reminded him
of Mrs. Suydam.
"Ah! Did she mention having er
being with any one?" he inquired.
"Yaas; said she had come here with a
Mrs. Soudan or Sudani or something."
Seizing the opportunity while the major
was absorbed in breaking a second egg, Dr.
Van Nuynthlee arose, and with hasty excuses
left the room. Pulling tightly upon his
head the soft felt hat which he wore upon
his walks, he rushed out of the house and
started up the road toward the lane with
bowed head and rapid stride. At first he
was overwhelmed with surprise and per
plexity. He did his best to remember
whether ho had ever had any intimation that
Bn UnterrupteO IRepast. 27
Mrs. Suydam was to visit this remote ham
let. He did recall that some time ago it
must have been early in the spring she had
mentioned her intention of spending a part
of the summer in Vermont. He was not sure
now but she had named this very place.
Expecting, as he did, to spend his own va
cation abroad, he had made no effort to
remember the name of the town. Now it
flashed upon his mind that the enthusiastic
friend who had recommended North Pisgah
to him had doubtless induced Mrs. Suydam
to pass a few weeks in the same quiet re
treat. But to her must it not seem that she
was purposely pursued? Would she be se
riously offended? What annoying gossip it
would create at home!
His rapid gait soon carried him over his
favorite route down the lane to the brow of
a hill overlooking the river. Here, as had
become his custom, he turned into the pasture
and followed a ridge along the line of the
valley. This morning he pushed on for nearly
four miles, until Dothan Village was in plain
sight, and then retraced his steps at the same
nervous pace.
The effect of the thinking Avhich had been
going on all this time was to bring the doctor
28 people at
into a much more agreeable frame of mind.
He had carefully considered all the questions
so suddenly thrust upon his attention and
had satisfactorily answered every one. And
now the anxiety which the sudden announce
ment had caused gave place to intense de
light at a coincidence which enabled him to
carry out at once the decision so lately
formed. He determined that very after
noon to call upon Mrs. Suydam with an offer
of his heart and hand.
But his inward satisfaction had been
gained at the cost of much outward discom
fort. The doctor is of extremely portly
figure, and accustomed to move with deliber
ate and measured tread suggesting a digni
fied consciousness of the responsibility of his
position. This vigorous tramp of two hours
in a hot sun was an extraordinary exertion,
and at the end of the walk he realized that
he was choking with thirst and almost suffo
cated with heat. Even the shade of the
great pine at the head of the lane, where he
paused to recover breath, afforded no relief.
The mighty boughs of the old tree hung
limp and motionless. Not a breath of air
stirred. Half-way down the hill before him
was a spring where a tiny stream of clear, cold
Bn UnterrupteD IRepast. 29
water trickled from under a huge rock into
a little pool, shaded by thick alders and an
overarching elm, and then slowly found its
winding way to the river below.
The doctor watched with envious interest
a troop of barefoot boys who, on their way
up the hill after their bath, had stopped for
refreshment at the spring. Walking on and
leaning upon the bars opening into the lane,
he gazed longingly down toward the shady
pool. The youngsters looked so tantalizingly
cool and happy as they came up the hill and
trooped past him, that the temptation was
irresistible. The doctor let down the bars
and carefully replaced them behind him,
then squeezing between the posts at the foot
of the lane into the brook pasture, scrambled
down the hill. He moistened his parched
throat and bathed his hands and head with
the cooling water, and drank as much as he
dared.
And now he looked back with despair at
the hill. It was unaccountable how much
steeper it appeared from below than from
above. To a man of Dr. Van Nuynthlee's
substantial presence such a climb would be
a serious matter at any time, and after his
long walk he was specially indisposed to exer-
3
30 ipeople at
tion. Eemembering that the main road
crossed the river a half-mile from the house
of Deacon Meiggs, he wisely decided to fol
low the stream to the bridge and then walk
leisurely up the road. He strolled slowly
along the little river, chattering over its
stony bed and gradually slackening its speed
where it widened into a deep pool.
A short distance above, a huge boulder
stood right in the path of the stream, and
slanting toward the further bank turned the
current in that direction. Dr. Van Nuynth-
lee paused opposite the pool and watched the
water swirling around the point of the great
rock. The foamy bubbles hurried into view,
and floated down in long, wavy procession,
gradually separating and disappearing in the
still water. Some were carried to the further
side, where they gathered in masses of white
foam under the mossy overhanging bank.
The point where the doctor stood was ten
feet or more above the water, and the bank
steep and sandy. Below, a bar of soft, fine
sand ran out into the stream and sloped
gradually toward the deeper water. A swarm
of minnows glided along close by the water's
edge, each one attended by a tiny wriggling
shadow following every motion on the white
Bu ITnterrupteO IRepaet. 31
sandy bottom. The doctor smiled as he
noticed the footprints of the urchins who
had lately been disporting themselves in the
water. Though not now insufferably warm,
he was annoyed by those disagreeable, sticky
sensations which follow violent exercise in
warm weather. Nothing could be so delight
ful as a dip in that cool, transparent water.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee was in the mood to throw
aside for the moment his stately dignity,
and indulge in a boyish frolic. He looked
carefully about. Not a living creature, ex
cept a cow quietly grazing near by, was to
be seen in any direction. He no longer
hesitated, but began laying off his clothing
in preparation for a bath.
If the doctor has a single frailty, it is an
overweening pride in his snowy and faultless
linen. As it lay upon the grass he noticed
with genuine pleasure how it glittered in the
sun in contrast with the fresh, green turf.
At the sight of the Cortright jewel sugges
tive of sad memories, a shade of pain crossed
his face ; but the cloud quickly passed away
and he gave himself up to the pleasure of the
moment. Sliding down the steep bank upon
the bar of clear, white sand, he waded into
the limpid pool.
32 people at ptegab.
After his bath, as he left the water the
feeling of the warm, dry earth was so deli
cious, that he reclined against the sloping
bank and half covered himself with sand.
What a drowsy feeling this country air
gives one. The breeze fanned his brow, and
through his half-closed eyes the light air
seemed dancing and beckoning in the sum
mer sun.
It must have been considerably later when
a cloud passing over the sun brought a sen
sation of chill which aroused the doctor, and
after a hasty plunge he started slowly to
climb the bank.
As his eyes rose above the bank, it was
fortunate that they turned toward the path
leading into the pasture from the head of
the lane. There, strolling leisurely down the
hill, were two ladies; two ladies whom he
recognized at a glance.
If an observer had been stationed on the
further side of the stream, he might have
noticed, at the point where Dr. Van Nuynth-
lee had been standing, a seeming electrical
phenomenon a startling monstrous appari
tion, tearing its way down the bank, followed
by a distant rattling of disrupted stones and
gravel ; and then, profound silence.
Sn IfnterrupteO IRepast. 33
The doctor had evidently decided to retire
to a less conspicuous position. He looked
eagerly in both directions. A short distance
up the stream was a thick and sheltering
growth of alders which rose above the river
bank and extended some distance into the
pasture.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee quickly made his way
thither under cover of the bank, and found
a position Where he could see all that took
place without any possibility of being him
self observed.
At the foot of the hill the ladies paused.
It was evident that Miss Pettigrew, who
carried a portfolio, was attracted by the
peaceful beauty of the landscape, for seating
herself upon a log she began to sketch the
scene.
Mrs. Suydam sat a few moments beside
her, and'then in search of ferns followed the
winding course of the little stream which
trickled from the spring down toward the
river.
It is needless to remark that this delay was
exasperating to Dr. Van Nuynthlee ; yet the
minutes dragged on and Miss Pettigrew
showed no sign of completing her sketch.
The doctor was alarmed to see that Mrs.
34 people at
Suydam was gradually approaching the spot
where he had left his raiment. And as he
turned his eyes in that direction he was dis
mayed by signs of new and strange disaster.
The cow which he had noticed in the fore
ground of the charming landscape had been
rummaging among his carefully arranged
garments, and now stood in the midst of the
soiled and scattered apparel.
Unless his almost paralyzed vision deceived
him, the brute actually held his collar in her
mouth, and was chewing thereon as calmly
as if starched linen had formed her habitual
diet.
The strong predilection of the bovine ap
petite for all starchy substances had never
been brought to Dr. Van Nuynthlee's atten
tion. But now the evidence on that point
was cumulative and conclusive. The beast
turned her attention in succession to the
cuffs, and finally to that centre of laundried
effulgence compared with which cuffs and
collars are but humble satellites.
Mrs. Suydam was strolling leisurely on,
and had nearly reached the scene of the un
fortunate bath.
The dishevelled raiment and the destructive
and destroying cow had been hidden from
Bn IfnterruptcO IRcpast. 35
her view by a group of small evergreens, but
she was now passing beyond this natural
screen.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee had dared make no
effort to drive away the cow, but in this ex
tremity he involuntarily strove to cry out
some word of warning. His parched throat
gave utterance only to a strange, inarticu
late croak ; but it was enough to arouse Mrs.
Suydam from her absorbing botanical re
searches.
The belligerent-looking cow was now in
full view. There was a startled scream, a
hasty but comprehensive glance, and Mrs.
Suydam dropped her ferns and huried back
to her companion.
A few words of excited conversation, and
then Miss Pettigrew closed her portfolio ; and
leaving pencils and paper scattered on the
ground, the two ladies hastened up the hill
and disappeared from view.
The cow remained wholly unconcerned.
As her muddy hoofs were planted upon the
caudal department of the garment, the casual
movements of her head had nearly torn the
bosom from the adjoining fabric.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee had not yet moved.
The work of destruction was so far advanced,
36 people at pfsgab.
that he continued to gaze in hopeless dejec
tion.
But now, as the sacrilegious beast tossed
her head into the air, a small bright object
glittered for an instant, just on the point of
being engulfed.
It was the Cortright diamond.
With a screech the doctor rushed through
the bushes and clawed his way up the bank.
The cow gave a final toss which tore the
bosorn entirely loose, and started off at a
leisurely trot, still holding in her mouth,
and, as far as her gait would permit, con
tinuing to masticate the dangling linen.
The reverend doctor's movements were as
graceful as could fairly be expected from one
of his massive build and long neglect of
acrobatic exercise.
Alarmed by his violent demonstrations the
cow broke into a clumsy canter.
While her pursuer stopped for breath, she
ambled on toward a strip of "second growth"
woodland filled with bushes and under
brush.
The doctor was forced to believe that a
portion of his garment, with the precious
jewel attached, was still undergoing mastica
tion in the creature's mouth.
an IFnterrupteD IRepast. 37
As the cow paused to cast a reproachful
glance at the disturber of her repast, the
movement of her jaws, from which depended
a few strings of pulpy linen, confirmed his
supposition.
Pushing on as fast as possible, he followed
the tread of the cow as she crashed through
the underbrush and through a break in the
fence into another open pasture.
Here, when he reached the animal, he
found her serenely grazing, with no indica
tion left of her late misdeeds.
He examined every foot of ground about
her without the least encouragement, and
then made his way back, scrutinizing the
ground at every step.
And now for the first time, he learned
the full extent of the disaster. All his linen
had met a common fate. Of his collar there
remained but one button-hole. To be more
scrupulously exact, he could find the extreme
end of the collar with a few shreds attached.
A large portion of one cuff had been de
voured, while of its mate there remained a
mere wad of pulp.
The doctor arrayed himself in such gar
ments as had been spared, and then, in the
hope of yet finding the missing jewel, care-
38 jpeople at
fully retraced the ground lately passed over
by the cow, but without success. He became
convinced that the beast had crushed the
fragile pin in her jaws and swallowed it.
He determined, however, to engage men at
once to search for the pin, and then consult
some one familiar with the anomalies of
bovine diet as to the course to be pursued
if it were not discovered.
Starting up the hill, he found that every
movement was painful. Not only was he
lamed, scratched, and bruised, but his back
was baked and blistered from long exposure
to the sun. The pursuit of the cow had
impressed him with the frequent occurrence
of that humble but stimulating plant, the
Canada thistle (Carduus Arvensis).
The Reverend Doctor Van Nuynthlee is but
human, and it is not strange that his indig
nation waxed hot against the cause of his
woes and against its owner, who had allowed
such a vicious monster to be at large. He
would first of all seek out the owner of the
cow, denounce his criminal neglect, and de
mand such reparation as was possible. A
small boy whom he met at the top of the
hill directed him to the dwelling of Mr.
Slack, the owner, and thither he turned, his
2ln UnterrupteO TRepast. 39
wrath swelling at every step. The derisive
shouts of the small boy, on observing the
muddy hoofprints upon the back of the
doctor's coat, did little to increase his amia
bility.
By the time he reached the house his blood
seethed with righteous indignation. After
several emphatic knocks he heard a delib
erate shuffling within. Finally the door
opened and an elderly tiller of the soil ap
peared, of bristling beard and stolid coun
tenance, whose jaws moved with measured
regularity in the process of chewing a large
plug of tobacco.
"See here, my man," said the doctor
sharply, " are you the owner of the pasture
over there by the brook?"
" G'd mornin' tew ye, " said the man. " No
cold vittles in the house," he added, observ
ing the stranger's soiled and dilapidated
appearance.
"I say," repeated the doctor, raising his
voice, " are you the owner of the pasture
over there? "
"Haow?" said the man, with a slight up
ward inflection, as he placed his hand behind
his ear.
" You'll have to speak up," cried a shrill
40 people at ptsgab.
voice from some unseen interior, " he's con-
si der'ble deef."
Dr. Van Nuynthlee feels a pardonable
pride in his deep, tremendous voice, so effec
tive in the delivery of his earnest pulpit ex
hortations. Drawing a full breath, he thun
dered out in stentorian tones, " Do you own
the vicious brute of a cow, in the pasture by
the brook?"
" Hanner," called the man, " come out here
and tell me what this critter's mumblin'
abaout. Derned if I can make aout what
ails him."
The possessor of the shrill voice, being
thus evoked, came forth, presenting the out
ward and visible form of a tall and angular
woman, wearing a flour-covered apron, and
bearing in her hand a bread roller. To her
the doctor poured forth, with fervid and
indignant eloquence, the story of his wrongs.
She told him that the cow in the pasture
in question belonged to her husband, and
was, at present, the only cow there. Her
shrill tones succeeded in interpreting the
substance of the story to Mr. Slack.
" Chawed up yer biled shirt, did she?" he
inquired with the slightest possible show of
interest.
Bn IfnterrupteD IRepast. 41
"Yes, sir," roared the doctor, "and I de
mand such poor reparation as may be in
your power."
" I gather that he wants to know what yer
going to dew about it," screamed the woman.
" Want ter know what I'm goin' ter dew
about it, dew } T er?"
"Yes, sir!" bellowed the frenzied clergy
man, " I do want to know what you are
going to do about it."
"Nawthin," said the man, without losing
a single movement of his jaws.
A sickening sense of helplessness settled
down upon the doctor's soul. As he
turned slowly away, Mr. Slack remarked:
" It dooz seem as if a man o' your bigness
might have gumption enough to keep a
caow from feedin' off your elothin'. You'd
orter have a gardeen appinted."
"Better find out who he is, father," he
heard the woman scream as he walked away.
"Don't you remember Elder Spillerses fust
wife died from swallerin' some kind of a pin? "
" That's so," said the man: "Look a-here!"
he shouted after his retreating visitor, " what
d'yer mean by feedin' yer sharp- cornered pins
to my cattle? If it kills my caow, a-plowin'
through her innards, I'll make ye pay for
42 people at
her." Mr. Slack closed the door, but his
sense of injury seeming to grow upon him,
he opened it again, and vociferated after the
doctor's receding form, " If I ketch ye in
swimmin' ag'in on my place, I'll have ye
took up!"
Then the door closed with a bang.
The doctor stopped despairingly, and
leaned against the fence. Before his mind's
vision rose the form of a woman tall,
stately, and clad in deepest mourning. Her
sad inquiring eyes seemed to read his inmost
soul. " Can I face the widow of Courtland
Cortright," he thought, "and confess that I
have allowed the precious gift of her dying
husband to be eaten by a cow? "
Strangely enough, one of farmer Slack's
threats suggested a gleam of hope. He had
said he would make him pay for the cow.
Why not have her at once killed and the
lost treasure recovered? The indestructible
diamond might at least be found, and was
worth a herd of cattle. Approaching the
lady of the house in his most persuasive
manner, he at last induced her to plead his
cause with her husband. With him the
difficulties seemed insurmountable. He in
formed the doctor distinctly that he " didn't
Bn ITnterrupteO IRepaat. 43
want no more words with him," but it was
finally agreed that, upon payment of forty
dollars, the cow should be immediately
slaughtered and her interior decorations
investigated.
And now that a great weight was lifted
from his mind, Dr. Van Nuynthlee realized
that it was long past his dinner hour and
that he was ravenously hungry.
Almost forgetting his mishaps, he started
for the house of Deacon Meiggs.
IV.
A HERBIVOROUS JEWEL CASE.
LTHOUGH so late, the doctor was
fortunate enough to find com
pany at his meal. As Mrs.
Peavy had not felt in the mood
for dining with the family, she and her hus
band were just seated at a special table.
Mrs. Peavy was more than usually reserved,
and devoted her attention to Adolphus.
Adolphus was not the heir to the Peavy
name, but a small terrier of Caledonian line
age. Mrs. Peavy' s devotion was the more
praiseworthy as he no longer possessed the
bright and active attractions of his species,
but had been for years disabled by an acci
dent, while his vitality was further reduced
by the infirmities of age and imperfect assim
ilation of food. The faculty of locomotion
he still possessed, but in a rudimentary de
gree, occupying as much time in passing
a given point as a torch-light procession,
44
B Derbivorous Jewel Case. 45
though with nothing like the same brilliant
effect.
The irascible major had become so wonted
to upholding his wife in her devotion to
Adolphus, and to dilating on the virtues of
that afflicted animal, that the subject hal
come to be an extremely sensitive one. The
mildest remonstrance against the presence of
Adolphus at table, or upon any occasion of
social gayety indeed any remark disparaging
to his personal appearance, or qualities of
head and heart, was certain to call forth an
eruption of overwhelming rebuke.
Since his present stay at Pisgah, the
major's excess of zeal had drawn him into an
annoying difficulty.
Three small boys, who, in passing the
house, had been attracted by Adolphus'
peculiarities, were overtaken in the act of
subjecting him to a series of humiliating
experiments.
They had tied a superannuated teapot to
his tail, and were betting marbles upon the
probable time in which, thus handicapped,
he could cover the distance between two
marks upon the front walk. One of the
wretched offenders held an ancient silver
time-piece, while the others were absorbed
4
46 people at
in stimulating Adolphus to set out from the
starting-point. "When the avenger burst upon
the scene, they fled in different directions.
By superhuman efforts, Major Peavy over
took one of the culprits, whose trousers
caught upon a nail in the fence, and chas
tised him so severely that the boy's parents
summoned the major before a Justice of the
Peace, and put him to considerable trouble
before the matter was settled.
Upon this occasion, while Mrs. Peavy was
tempting the palate of her pet with delicate
morsels, the major made a few remarks upon
the resignation which characterized Adolphus
as an invalid, and the conversation then
drifted into other channels.
After dinner, the doctor rested a short time
upon the lounge, so that it was more than an
hour before he returned to inquire after his
recent acquisition. On entering Mr. Slack's
barn, he found that the cow had paid the
penalty of her crimes, and her former owner
had already stripped back the hide on either
side, and was preparing for an autopsy.
But as the doctor became accustomed to the
dim light of the stable, he saw, with horror,
that some colossal blunder had been made.
The cow which had swallowed the diamond
a Tberbfvorous Jewel Case. 47
had a black head, and only one horn, short
and much crumpled. This cow was red, and
possessed horns of normal number and ap
pearance.
" Hold on, here!" he shouted, " this is not
the cow!"
"Hey?" said Mr. Slack, looking up.
" I tell you it is not the cow!" shrieked the
doctor.
The astonished man stood up. The knife
dropped from his hand. Even his jaws, for
a moment, ceased their rhythmic movement.
"Not a caow, hey? Wall, if the critter
ain't clean gone."
Fortunately the loud voices brought from
the house the female interpreter, and to her
he explained the new calamity.
" Why, 'twan't a little old black caow,
with only one horn?" inquired Mrs. Slack.
" Well, I want to know. Why, that's Bill
Blood's caow, that's always breaking into
our pastur."
At this new complication the doctor
would have completely broken down, but
for the comforting advice of Mrs. Slack.
Encouraged by her, he decided to go to "Bill
Blood" and purchase the real cause of his
misfortunes.
48 people at ptegab.
From the Slacks he learned that William
Blood was a shiftless person, of intemperate
habits, who was born on the stony farm
where he now lived, but in his boyhood had
run away from home, and after twenty years
of wandering upon land and sea had returned
to his native place, where he now lived with
his mother and a small boy whom they kept
to do the " chores."
The house, which was only a quarter of a
mile away, he recalled at once from their
description. It was arranged that the car
case of the slaughtered animal should be pre
pared for market, and disposed of as well as
possible.
"That air caow ain't wuth nothin'," said
Mr. Slack, as the doctor was departing.
" Most anybody'd be glad to get rid on 'er.
But Bill's a currus critter. If you don't
see him, old Marm Blood '11 tell ye where to
find him. They say she's kinder looney.
But you won't have no trouble gettin' along
with her."
This remark that the cow was of small
value, gave Dr. Van Nuynthlee considerable
relief, for his financial condition now caused
him some uneasiness. As he was to be
absent but two weeks, he had taken only
a herbivorous 3ewel Case. 49
sufficient money to cover his probable ex
penses. Another forty-dollar cow was be
yond his means, and a further outlay of
twenty dollars would leave him with barely
enough for travelling expenses. Hence, in
treating with Mr. Blood, he decided to keep
in the background the fact that his cow was
the animate casket of a valuable gern.
Engrossed with such reflections, he ap
proached the house of sanguinary name.
The buildings were old and weatherbeaten,
and the fences appeared in great need of
repair. The debilitated soil seemed to cry
aloud for the most powerful tonics. A
series of knocks brought to the door a
boy, who stated that Mr. Blood was not in
the house, but that he would try to find
him. He invited the caller to " take a
cheer " in the best room, and said that he
would speak to Marmy Blood.
The doctor entered and was just trying to
steady himself on a slippery haircloth sofa,
when Mrs. Blood presented herself.
Marmy Blood was short and extremely
stout, her circumference seeming to expand
symmetrically on all sides, from above down.
It is quite common to see a person with one
leg shorter than the other, and every one is
so people at
familiar with the lurching, jerky gait which
such an infirmity necessitates. As Mrs.
Blood approached, the doctor observed with
surprise that both her legs were shorter than
the other. At least that was the impression
conveyed by her extraordinary waddle. The
artificial black daisies which rose to a dizzy
height above her cap seemed to view with
apprehension and alarm the violent process
by which they were swayed from side to side.
If Mrs. Blood's eyes lacked somewhat of
intelligent expression, this was more than
compensated by the fixedness of their gaze,
and her smile was expansive and reassuring.
It was evident that she was fresh from
communion with nature. In her hands was a
stack of tansy, dandelions, wild carrot, and
other assorted vegetation.
"Jes' sniff them posies," she gasped.
"The're real flagrant."
In accordance with the canons of rural
etiquette, she next insisted upon " relieving"
her visitor of his hat. With that prelimi
nary rite piously observed and the hat duly
deposited on the melodeon, she continued
heartily: " I'm real glad to see ye, and Bill
he'll be tickled to death. He's fleshed up
consider'ble. What, don't know Bill?
B "fcerbivorous Jewel Case. 51
Then pro'bly you was acquainted with Father
Blood afore Bill was born. He was a clever
man, and a likely man, but he's dead. Got
his head shot off in the army."
These melancholy reflections did not seem
to depress Mrs. Blood's spirits, and she con
tinued to beam blandly upon her visitor.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee replied courteously
that while he had not enjoyed the privilege
of the elder Mr. Blood's acquaintance, he
sympathized deeply with one who had been
suddenly deprived of so excellent and patriotic
a husband ; yet he ventured to hope that the
poignancy of her grief had been somewhat
assuaged by the lapse of years. Mrs. Blood
not appearing in the mood for further con
versation, the doctor made some remarks of
a general character, expressing his admira
tion for the scenery of North Pisgah and the
like, when Mrs. Blood suddenly exclaimed,
" There's nothing like yarrer tea for the
liver."
As the good lady showed no disposition to
follow up this line of thought, the doctor
was saying that many of the maladies which
afflict humanity might doubtless be relieved
by such simple remedies, when his hostess
remarked: " Melindy Poole's come home."
52 people at piscwb.
The difficulties in carrying on a con
tinuous conversation seemed so great, and
the doctor's mind was so preoccupied, that
he allowed a long silence to ensue after this
announcement. He was finally startled from
his reverie by a sudden assertion on the part
of Mrs. Blood. " Pie is good, young man, pie
is good," she exclaimed earnestly, "but you
must be keerful abaout eating of it mor'n
three times a day." The doctor was hasten
ing to allay her kindly solicitude, when the
door of the best room flew open and Bill
Blood appeared.
Mr. Blood's appearance was, in its way, as
striking as that of his excellent mother.
He was above the medium height and of
heavy, corpulent figure. His thick, fiery
hair projected in various directions from his
scalp, and, at some points, rose vertically to
a considerable height. His round, heavy
face from long exposure to the weather
and also, as the clergyman was pained to
observe, to alcoholic stimulants had like
wise acquired a coloring of deep and perma
nent red.
The dress of Mr. Blood was unconventional,
its most striking feature being the increased
futility of buttons and other fastenings
2* "fcerbivorous 3ewel Case. 53
toward the region closely subjacent to the
diaphragm.
His countenance habitually wore an ex
pression of intense solemnity, and the most
trivial remarks were uttered in a loud, crisp,
powerful voice, with whole-souled emphasis
which conveyed assurance of deep convic
tion.
His social capabilities were impaired by
the fact that a short black pipe, which he
smoked, required relighting at regular inter
vals of seven minutes, and this operation
always involved considerable loss of time, and
the outpouring of much ingenious profanity.
It may have been due also to some pecu
liarity of the pipe or tobacco, that Mr.
Blood's discourse was punctuated with fre
quent and copious expectoration. Indeed
the impression of an observer was that Mr.
Blood regarded critically the entire external
material universe the non ego the sum of
objective phenomena as a large but some
what inadequate cuspidor.
Upon learning the general object of the
doctor's call, he assured him in glowing lan
guage, enriched with a profusion of sulphur
ous metaphor, that he had come to the cor
rect spot that all the cattlemen, who came
54 people at flMsgab.
over Pisgah way, were wont to call and
receive the benefit of Bill Blood's experience,
and at once began to pour forth information
and advice.
" Naow if you want a fust-class milker, Iry
Peck, that keeps store daown to Firetown
has got jest Don't want a milker?
Why of course I might ha' knowed a beef
enter's what you'rarter. Naow I heerd ole
one-eyed Pitkins, the meat man, say " But
here the doctor interrupted him, and with
much difficult explanation, stated that he
had no time for an extended search that he
wished a cow for a well, a temporary pur
pose that he had seen Mr. Blood's animal,
and had had as it were taken a fancy to
her.
Blood was greatly mystified, but perceiv
ing that for some reason the visitor wanted
his worthless old beast, he determined to
make the most of the opportunity. Sending
the boy to drive her up to the yard, he went
out and dwelt with impressive eloquence
upon the cow's remarkable qualities, and
they then returned to the gloom of the best
room to close the bargain.
" Waall," said Bill, seating himself on the
edge of a chair, close to his victim, " to part
a Iberbivorous Jewel Case. 55
with that 'ere caow would jest break up the
whole fam'ly. If I had any idee she was
goiii' to be butchered," he added, raising his
enormous hand impressively, "she couldn't
be bought not for no sum. Why I should
sooner think of eatin' a slice o' mother.
There's old Pitkins, the meat-man, forever
pesterin' me to name my figger for that
caow, but then agin," said Bill, in a hoarse
portentous whisper, as he leaned solemnly
forward and laid his hand upon the doctor's
knee, " He's a one-eyed man, Pitkins is a
owe-eyed man.
"Just afore Father Blood died," he con
tinued in husky, pathetic tones, " jest afore
he died, he riz up in bed, and sez to me,
sezee, ' Wilyum,' sezee, ' don't have no deal-
ins with a one-eyed man,' sezee."
" Your mother informed me," interposed
the doctor, " that your late father lost his
hea this is his er life in the er
service of his country."
" Jessiggzackly, " said Bill, " so he did. He
met with a casuality a semis casuality,
but he lingered arter it for a consider'ble
spell. You see " Here the doctor, to avoid
the delay of a labored explanation, begged
that he might not revive further painful
56 people at pisgab.
recollections, and assured Mr. Blood that lie
was reluctant to intrude upon his valuable
time any further than was necessary for
agreeing upon the terms of the sale.
Blood protested that his time was wholly
at his guest's disposal, and after pausing
to relight his pipe, continued reflectively:
" Haow well I remember the time Sim Sweezy
tried to tell her age by her horns. You
might ha' sensed that her horns are sort o'
singler. Come o' buttin' into a freight
train a number o' years ago. "Waall, this
was daown to Riggleses tarvern, one Fourth-
o'-July. Old Sweezy was a-blowin' haow he
could tell any caow's age by her horns, and
I sez, 'I'll bet yer five dollars you can't tell
no age o' my caow. ' 'I'll take yer up,'
sezee. Waal, there was a craowd settin
'raound, Ezry Bosler an' Had ad Hatch an'
abaout a dozen on' 'em, and they hitched up
Riggleses big wagon an' they all driv up.
" Sweezy he give one look at the critter,
and- seen there wan't no trace o' one horn,
and t'other was so busted off and twisted in
side aout, that no man, thaout being inspired,
could ha' told which was top and which was
bottom he give one look, and sez kinder
weak-like, "Tain't no use, boys, 'tain't no
B fcerbivorous Sewel Case. 57
use. I give it np. ' Wall, if this ain't the
goldumdest terbacker "
The doctor seized the opportunity, as "Wil
liam's lungs were puffing the fumes of suc
cessive matches into the pipe, to urge that
while these associations might enhance the
worth of the cow to her ownor, it was plain
that she was of small intrinsic value.
" 'Sociations,"said Bill, reseating himself,
" she's the sociablest critter that ever you
see. Why, one time when mother went over
to Billinses for ter borrer a cup o' yeast, that
animile clim up a flight o' stone steps inter
the kitchen an' et up a big 'lection cake, that
mother 'd sat in the winder ter cool and if
I don't misremember that was the time she
et a mess o' red rozberries an' a green mush-
melon, or mebbe it was a pan o' tame cherries.
Eat? why kondem this terbacker you
can't think o' nothin she woii't eat. All
you've got ter do is to let her loose on
the neighbors. Why, mebbe you know an
ole hunyop by the name o' Beasly, that
drives the hearse down to Slab City. He
gits a commission sellin' grave-stones for a
company to Montpeeler, and when anybody's
took sick, he's allers a-pokin' 'raound, talk-
in' about the state o' their souls, an' hopin'
58 people at flMsgab.
ter get a job, if the sickness turns aout favor
able. Waall onct, when ther was an auction
ter the Corners time Bellerses folks moved
aout West this ere Beasly was snoopin'
araound as ushal. It hed been an uncom
mon helthy season, an' he was feelin' turrible
pulled daown, when he happened to come
acrost Jerry Plummer. Yer see Jerry 'd
been sufferin' from stummuck complaint an'
did look kinder peaked. Waall, old Beasly
sorter chirked up the minnit he seen 'im
an' says: 'Why, Mr. Plummer, haow slim
yew dew look. I dew hope you ain't failin',
be ye? '
" This ere stummuck trouble had made
Jerry kinder tetchy, an' he fired up an' hol
lered aout, 'Failin,' you pop-eyed old tomb
stone! I'll let ye know whether I'm failin;'
an' he drawed back and knocked old Beasly
Oh, I orto hev told ye this Bellers was allers
inventin' suthin' er other, an' there was a
flyin' machine put up at the auction, that he
claimed only needed a little techin' up: a
singler lookin' thing had arms, same as a
windmill, an' the cussedest lookin' springs
you ever sot eyes on.
" Waall, the aucshuneer hed sot its arms a
whizzin' raound, an' wastryin' to get a bid,
B Iberbfvorous Jewel Case. 59
when Plummer knocked old Beasly right
into the flyin'-machine. One of its arms
plunked him in the maouth, an' staved in
the heft o' his front teeth, an' the springs
they fetched loose and fired him inter the
air. Seein'as he lit in a tub o' soft soap, he
wan'tmuch hurt, but he brought a big soot
against Plummer for loss o' the teeth.
" Yer see ther' come on a bad spell o' sick
ness, 'nd a number of folks was took away.
Beasly ginrally goes to the mourners when
they're sorter helpless, an' talks an' talks
an' covers 'em with slime until he worries
'em inter buyin' a moniment. But on
account o' not havin' no front teeth, he
couldn't do no talkin'. Couldn't make no
saound but a sorter whistle, an' he was so
almighty mean he put off gettin' chiny teeth,
so 't he lost commission on seven or eight
moniments.
" When the soot come ter be tried, Beasly
fetched in everybody that was to the auc
tion, so'se to make a sure thing on't, but
they didn't seem ter recall nothin' straight,
an' what little they did say was mostly agin
Beasly, an' one ungodly ole cuss, by the name
o' Boggs, he swore positive it was Beasly
struck Plummer. Jerry's lawyer he laid it
60 people at
all to ole man Bellers, fer lettin' such a
thing loose without any muzzle an' Bellers
he mixed in an' claimed that Beasly orter
pay for the machine.
" Waall, the soot larsted the biggest part o'
two weeks and the Jewry kept a gettin'
snarled up wuss an' wuss. Arter they'd
been aout over night they come in, all wore
aout, an' told the jedge they couldn't seem to
find no verdict ; but if Mr. Beasly would fur
nish a set o' false teeth for the flyin' ma
chine, they calkerlated it would be abaout
- "Waall, if this pipe don't beat all."
The doctor made the most of this inter
mission to say that while he enjoyed these
reminiscences, he would be pleased to see
the transaction assuming a more definite
shape.
"Waall," said Bill, whose pipe was again
in operation, " I was jest goin' ter tell
ye abaout that caow's appertite. Yer see,
larst fall ther come a bad run o' tiephoid
fever, an' considerable menny o' the neigh
bors petered aout. Old Beasly sold a big
grist o' gravestones, and got so tarnal stuck
up, that he invited everybody to a blow-aout
a rissepshun, he called it. This 'ere was
the washin' day afore an' he had his store
a Iberbivorous Sewel Case. 61
shirt an' the boy's shirts an' aswad o' collars
an' stuff hung aout on the line.
" Waall, that night this 'ere caow broke
aout and wandered daown the Slab City road
till she come to Beasly's jest excuse me harf
a minnit." Mother Blood had been sitting
with beaming countenance listening to the
conversation of her son. As he paused now
with resounding puffings to blow up his
light, she inquired of Dr. Van Nuynthlee,
" Which be you most partial to prose or
poetry?"
Before he could reply, William, without
noticing the inquiry, resumed his story:
" As I was a-sayin', the caow walked inter
that yard. I don't rightly know whether
'twas accaount o' the starch or what it was,
but, b'gosh'lmity, that critter jest took
a-holt an' et up the bulk o' them close.
Some on 'em she jested chaunked up an' left
a-hangin', but the collars and cuffs an' sech
small skulch, she didn't leave skursely
nothin' of; and some o' the gal's lace han-
kerchi'fs and sech-like flummery she 'peared
ter hev swallered whole. They'd sent aout
printed invites, but next day they had ter
send word that the rissepshun was unavoid-
bubly pos'poned."
5
62 people at
At this point the doctor, who was fairly
bursting with impatience, again interrupted,
but William had become so bent upon relat
ing the singular experiences of Mr. Beasly,
that he persisted in describing how that
gentleman had lately ordered for himself a
mortuary memorial of impressive size, how
he had his own name engraved thereon, with
eulogistic texts and verses the latter of his
own composition, and how it was his custom
to sit, hour after hour, gazing at the memorial
shaft, and on July the fourth and other
occasions of leisure and festivity, to take his
wife and such of their offspring as might
find accommodation in the Slab City funeral
car, and allow them to feast their eyes on
the Beasly "moniment."
By frequent interruptions, the doctor suc
ceeded in checking the flood of narrative,
and insisted upon bringing the bargain to
a head. Mr Blood asserted that thirty dollars
would be a paltry pittance for such an
animal, without considering the laceration
of his own feelings and those of his venerable
mother. Dr. Van Nuynthlee maintained
that fifteen dollars would be an exorbitant
price, but at last, in desperation, compro
mised upon twenty-five.
a Ibcrbivorous Scwel Case. 63
It was agreed that the boy should drive
the cow to Deacon Meiggs', and the doctor
started forward to arrange for having her
slaughtered and examined. As he neared
the house, the deacon's little boy ran out
to meet him, exclaiming, "I guess I know
who's got your pin. The boys was down in
swimmin' this afternoon an' Andrew Gummy
found a pin stickin' in a little strip of
white cloth. He happened ter see it in the
bushes, most covered up with leaves, when
he was huntin' for a cat-bird's nest. He said
it was a queer little brass pin with a piece of
glass in the middle."
The doctor uttered a heartfelt shout of
thanksgiving. Upon inquiry, however, he
was sorry to learn that Master dummy's
home was some five miles distant, and that
having driven up with his father to the store
at Pisgah, he had taken the opportunity of
going with the other boys for a swim.
" I wouldn't think of goin' over there to
night," said the deacon, "you must be all
beat aout. The pin'll be all safe. I know
the folks well. Better wait over till tomorrer
night." It maybe readily imagined that the
doctor fell in with this suggestion.
The family was just sitting down to supper,
64 people at ffrtsgab.
when the deacon cried out, " Why, if there
ain't Bill Blood's boy trying to drive his con-
sarned old black caow inter our yard. Run,
you, and head her off. What dooz the child
mean?"
When Dr. Van Nuynthlee jumped up
and explained his purchase the deacon burst
into a spasm of laughter. To the doc
tor's anxious inquiries, he replied that no
sane person within a range of twenty miles
would take this notorious animal as a gift.
As he expressed her reputation, " she was as
much wickeder than Satan, as Satan is
wickeder than a hogshead of molasses."
The purchase of this second cow had left
Dr. Van Nuynthlee with less money than was
actually necessary to pay his expenses; but
Deacon Meiggs offered some encouragement
by saying that Bill Blood was not a bad
natured fellow, and that the best course would
be to drive the cow over after supper, and
induce him to take her back, and restore a
portion of the money.
V.
A MOSAIC REMEDY.
FTER a hearty supper, the doctor
felt sufficiently refreshed to start
with his good-natured host, upon
the errand of returning the Bill
Blood cow.
That enterprising beast, being found gorg
ing in the adjoining cornfield, was re
luctant to depart, and when she was secured,
after much racing through the vegetable
garden, it required the combined exertions
of Deacon Meiggs and the doctor, upon the
rope tied round her neck, to drag her out of
the yard. On reaching the bank which
sloped from the Meiggs' door-yard, she was
seized with a spasmodic impulse to hasten
homeward, and rushed down the bank,
dragging both men after her with more
rapidity than grace.
As their erratic progress brought them
within ear-shot of the Blood mansion, they
began to observe a continuous sound emanat-
65
66 people at
ing from that direction. It increased
steadily in volume till they stood in front of
the dilapidated house. Through the open
windows of the " settin' room" poured forth
what seemed the eloquent accents of inr
passioned oratory.
"We can't do nothin'," said the deacon
decidedly, and with a look of resignation,
" Bill's a-preachin'. Must have gone down
to the tavern the minnit he got holt o' that
money o' yourn. We can't do nothin'."
In response to the doctor's look of amazed
inquiry he explained that the Reverend
Ilabakkuk Harrower, a clergyman related to
the Bloods, having died without leaving
nearer kindred, a barrelful of his sermons
had been sent here. Whenever William
Blood attained a certain stage of philan
thropic inebriety, he was accustomed to fish
forth one of these discourses, and deliver it
with the greatest unction.
Mr. Blood allowed no secular concerns to
intrude upon this solemn duty, and any hu
man creature who chanced within range was
forced to remain in devout attention as
point after point was expounded till the last
word of closing exhortation. Moreover,
when so fortunate as to find an audience Bill
/Ifcoeafc "Kernel. 67
was sure to stray from the text, to indulge in
copious comment and instructive explana
tion, and was apt to be drawn into endless
irrelevant reminiscence.
The agreeable variety in the nature of
these papers was full of suggestion to the
commentator.
As the Eev. Habakkuk Harrower had been
considered especially "happy at funerals,"
he had been called upon to deliver many
memorial discourses in honor of departed
worthies.
There were likewise " Occasional Ad
dresses " not a few, including " An Histori
cal Discourse at the Opening of the Toll
Bridge across the Onion Eiver," and " Be-
marks on Thanksgiving Day, Suggested by
the Protracted Drought."
But in especial favor with Mr. Blood were
the series of polemical sermons produced by
the Eev. Mr. Harrower in the heat of his
memorable controversy with the Eev. Zepha-
niah Scattergood of Yellow Medicine Coun
ty, Minnesota. The Eev. Zephaniah Scat
tergood had returned to the East to solicit
funds for the establishment of a system of
Consecrated Cyclone Caves, to which the
worshippers in exposed sanctuaries might
68 people at pfsgab.
repair, during the elemental convulsions so
frequent in that region.
He adduced abundant evidence of loss of
life and of church property.
He cited the case of the Rev. Abimilech
Wing, whose ministrations had been inter
rupted and who had been suddenly caught
up and deposited within the closely adjoin
ing confines of Chippewa County.
As his injuries rendered a return to Yel
low Medicine Count} r unsafe for a consider
able time, a successor had reluctantly been
installed. As the Eev. Mr. Wing gradually
recovered, he had taken up the work in
Chippewa County, under the auspices of the
Home Missionary Society.
It was plain that they should labor under
great disadvantage in competition with
denominations whose systems were adapted
to a pastoral itinerancy, unless some security
were provided against these abrupt changes.
As thus presented, the cause appealed
vividly to public sympathy, and was making
encouraging headway, until it encountered
the opposition of the Eev. Habakkuk Har-
rower.
The Eev. Habakkuk Harrower came for
ward and denounced the whole project. He
21 Mosaic TRemefcg.
pointed out that it was based upon a deplor
able lack of confidence in Providence. What
Yellow Medicine County wanted was not
more cyclone caves, but more faith.
The Rev. Mr. Scattergood, alarmed at
this assault, rolled up an overwhelming array
of statistics, applying to cyclones generally
in all parts of the county. He showed that
no cyclone, when once engaged in the trans
action of business, had ever made the least
discrimination in favor of ecclesiastical forms
of architecture ; that so far as could be ob
served they scooped up, dismembered and
disseminated, with cheerful impartiality, the
just and the unjust. This made no impres
sion on the Rev. Mr. Harrower. Having
taken the impregnable position that damage
by cyclone proved a want of adequate con
fidence, of course such general destruction
disclosed a widespread and appalling lack of
faith, which it would be rank impiety to
encourage with financial aid.
As to the case of the Rev. Abimilech
Wing, events would infallibly show that his
transfer to a new and enlarged field of use
fulness had been ordered for the best. His
example could not fail to be instructive so
long as the clergy were prone to hesitation
70 people at
when called to more laborious and less re
munerative pastorates.
The conflict waxed hot and waged long,
but as few were willing to risk the encour
agement of impiety, particularly when asso
ciated with a substantial cash contribution,
it came to pass in the end that the Rev.
Habakkuk Harrower prevailed exceedingly
and convinced the Eev. Zephaniah Scatter-
good that agitations of tempestuous violence
were not confined to the breezy Occident.
It was usual with William Blood, when in
the mood for oratory, to cast the harpoon of
chance into this teeming sea of materials.
Whatever literary cetacean he happened
to impale was certain to be strong with an
osseous framework of sound doctrine and
erudition, and rich in the oleaginous spoils
of sentiment and eloquence.
Mr. Blood's prejudice in favor of the cy
clonic philippics was due particularly to the
fact that they had been printed by special
vote of the Canaan County Conference, and
could thus be read with more accuracy and
continuity than the manuscript addresses.
After listening for some minutes, Deacon
Meiggs expressed the opinion that Bill Blood
was now involved in the Scattergood contro-
dfcosafc IRemeDg. 71
versy, and was almost certain to go on
throughout the entire series. Plainly, as the
deacon said, they could do nothing.
Yet, if the cow were left here, Bill, on
restoration to relative sobriety, would doubt
less deny all recollection of to-day's transac
tion. It was plain that she must be gotten
back to Deacon Meiggs'.
If bringing the cow to her old home had
been difficult, it may be imagined that bring
ing her away again was not less so. As they
approached a long lane leading down from the
Ilazen boarding-house, the doctor was dis
mayed to see, tripping down the lane, upon
an evening ramble, the same ladies whose
appearance in the morning had caused him
so much distress. Of course he wished to
see Mrs. Suydam and make his explanations,
but as yet he had not formulated such apolo
gies as the delicacy of the case demanded,
and in his present occupation, heated and
dusty as he was, she was the last person he
would have wished to meet.
Urging his astonished companion to be
labor the cow from the rear, he put forth
every exertion to drag the villanous beast
beyond the lane before the ladies should
recognize him.
72 people at ptegab.
The cow allowed herself to be forced on
ward at a sullen trot, until exactly opposite
the lane. At this point, with devilish per
versity, she refused to budge further.
The deacon beat diligently with his stick.
The minister whacked wildly with the
rope. When both men braced themselves
in the rear, and endeavored to push the cow
forward, she suddenly kicked her heels into
the air, and made a vicious rush up the
lane.
By gigantic efforts Dr. Van Nuynthlee
clung to the rope, and checked the mad
dened brute after running some distance.
The two ladies, with frightened screams,
ran to one side as they saw the cow coming,
although Deacon Meiggs shouted to them to
"head her off."
It was only when the doctor stepped for
ward and removed his hat that he was recog
nized.
Mrs. Suydam gave an exclamation of amaze
ment, and seemed about to turn away. The
doctor stepped forward with the rope in one
hand, and his hat held low before him in
the other.
With a profound bow of deprecation, he
exclaimed in his blandest and most persuasive
B flBosaic IReme&E. 73
tones, " I beseech you ladies, I beseech you,
Mrs. Suy DAM!!!"
The violent, and seemingly profane ejacu
lation of the last syllable was due to the
cow's unexpectedly whirling round, and
bolting toward the road. The doctor being
taken unawares with the rope twisted round
his hand, was lifted off the ground at the
first plunge.
"Leggo! Leggo the rope!" screamed the
deacon; but the doctor couldn't leggo.
By means of supernatural strides he man
aged to keep his feet, but the rate of speed
soon brought him back to the foot of the
lane. There, as Deacon Meiggs stood in
front and frantically waved his arms, the
cow stopped and allowed Dr. Van Nuynthlee
to recover himself. When he was able to
take observations, he found that the ladies
had turned their backs in confusion or in
dignation and were hastening toward the
boarding-place.
Slowly the two men pursued their melan
choly course to the house. The cow was
turned into the barn-yard and the gates and
fences made secure; while the doctor, who
complained of feeling ill, went at once to his
room. He threw himself upon the bed, and
74 people at pisgab.
after some restless tossing was falling into a
doze, when a soft knock at the door aroused
him, to learn that Mrs. Meiggs had thought
fully called in the village doctor, who hap
pened to be passing.
Learning from Mrs. Meiggs of the patient's
clerical calling and devotion to study, he came
upstairs, and after a thorough professional
examination, assured Dr. Van Nuynthlee that
the indisposition was due solely to his seden
tary habits. He recommended bathing and
pedestrian exercise as especially quieting to
the nerves.
" Why," said he, " one day's good, vigor
ous exercise in the open air would make a
different man of you."
When Mrs. Meiggs asked for the physi
cian's prescription, she was dismayed to find
that Dr. Van Nuynthlee had torn it up.
Her guest was plainly in danger of serious
illness, and in her anxiety she ran into the
adjoining room to consult " Aunty Olimpy. "
Aunt Olympia was a maiden lady of ma
ture years, with spare figure and opaque
complexion, upon whose countenance brooded
an expression of settled melancholy She had
not come under Dr. Van Nuynthlee's ob
servation except in the dining-room, yet
Mosaic TRemeDg. 75
on such occasions, her eccentric demeanor
had attracted his notice. For while the rest
of the household were bending over their
plates, intent upon the work of destruction,
Miss Olympia would sit pensive and silent, a
shade of pain passing at times across her
features, as her eyes fell upon the ravenous
" hired man " absorbed in gobbling the fra
grant "sassage," the succulent fried tripe,
or the pleasingly inevitable pie. In the rude
phraseology of the unsympathetic hired
man, " Aunt Olimpy allus looked as ef she'd
swallered her cud."
When she deigned to taste a bit of some
delicacy, it was done with such unconscious
abstraction, as to disarm suspicion that she
was clogging the etherial mechanism of her
body with coarse, material food. The morsel
was raised gracefully to her lips and poised
listlessly in the air, while her eyes turned up
ward and inward in a peculiar manner which
suggested a modified form of strabismus; but
was, in fact, the outward evidence of deep
introspection.
The doctor wondered how her life was sus
tained, until he had occasion one day to
return to the dining-room after the family
had left the table, and was astonished to find
76 people at pfsgab.
Aunt Olimpy sitting at the deserted board,
with all the dishes concentrated about her
own plate, which was heavily loaded with salt
pork, baked beans, doughnuts, saleratus bis
cuits, and other forms of fried or frizzled
homicide. As he burst into the room, she
had raised her knife, its blade heaped moun
tain high, and was in the act of shoving the
nutritious mass between her wide distended
jaws, while her eyes were fixed in that deter
mined glare associated with the railroad
lunch counter.
At least the doctor could have sworn that
he beheld this amazing sight, and he averted
his eyes for a moment, out of sensitive
regard for the lady's feelings. But when
he glanced at her an instant later, she rose
and cast at the food a look of such withering
contempt, and glided from the room with
such melancholy resignation, that he was
forced to believe his eyes had deceived him.
He had supposed her depression of spirits
to be due to some physical derangement,
but learned upon inquiry that its cause was
purely intellectual. Aunt Olympia was gifted
with a sensitive, poetic temperament, which
found no responsive sympathy in her hard,
practical surroundings. Hers was a nature
B Mosaic IRemeOs. 77
which one might expect to seek utterance
for its sitppressed yearnings in verse.
Indeed, she had once sent to a local paper
some poetic effusions, but its columns were
so congested at the time with items of local
gossip, notices of abnormal pumpkins, and
patent medicines, that the editor returned
the verses as unavailable.
This rebuff had so convinced her of the
world's coldness, that she had since resisted
all appeals for publication of her poems, and
even refused to commit them to paper. To
certain chosen spirits, she occasionally recited
a few affecting stanzas ; and a report that in
the privacy of her own room, when the condi
tions were such as to inspire her muse, she
was wont to pour forth her pent-up emotions
in harmonious song, added not a little to
the awe which her genius inspired.
Let it not be supposed that Olympia Meiggs
was surrendered to selfish and morbid reflec
tions. On the contrary her life was devoted
to the relief of suffering humanity. She
was familiar with the medicinal virtues of
native herbs, and far famed for her miracu
lous cures.
So greatly was her medical skill in demand,
that she kept on hand decoctions suited to
6
people at
all important maladies, and in extreme cases
administered an extraordinary mixture, com
bining the virtues of all the medicinal plants.
It contained yellow dock for the blood, and
tansy for the liver. Each department of
the alimentary canal was provided with a
remedy suited to its peculiar ailments.
There was catnip to soothe the sorrows of
teething infancy, and the tonic and powerful
boneset to support the tottering steps of
age.
In short this preparation contained at least
one element warranted to " act upon" each
organ of the human body. When instant
action was imperative, and she was uncertain
what special organ was deranged, Aunt Olim-
py generally turned to this sovereign remedy.
As it had proved ineffective in one or two
complicated cases, she had latterly added a
generous dose of " Turkey rhubarb " as a sort
of drag-net, and its use was now invariably
followed by marked results.
This powerful remedial agent had been
christened by its architect " The Nectareous
Panacea," but to her patients generally it was
know by the more homely but expressive
name of " Horrogag."
Miss Olympia listened to a statement of
B Mosaic TCeme&B. 79
the boarder's symptoms, and finally went
into the hall and gazed at him from a dis
tance, with melancholy interest. Upon
mature deliberation, she pronounced the
case to be one requiring the persuasive and
far-reaching influence of the panacea. Dr.
Van Nuynthlee had heard that herbal
remedies were harmless, and often useful.
He thought, too, that a hot medicinal drink
might break the force of his cold, while of
its composite style of architecture he was,
of course, ignorant.
Thus when a steaming bowl of the panacea
was presented, he resolutely gulped down the
horrible decoction.
The doctor had imagined that he wr.s
suffering somewhat, during the day, but he
realized now that his agonies were just begin
ning. Unable to lie upon his lamed and sun
burnt back, the horrogag soon rendered the
opposite side of his person quite as sensi
tive. Hence the time passed in feverish
tossings from, one bramble-scratched side
to the other. At last he found a posi
tion of comparative comfort, and was begin
ning to enjoy a little rest, when a sound as
of a heavy body dragged along the floor,
alternating with a loud pounding noise,
so people at flMsgab.
announced that " Gappy " was coming to
make him a visit.
To grasp the significance of this announce
ment, it is proper to explain that " Gappy "
was the abbreviated title of Grandfather
Meiggs, and to give that venerable person a
word of introduction.
VI.
A LOQUACIOUS ESCULENT.
APPY," as he delighted to reiterate
in the course of conversation, was
" eighty-two, goin' on eighty-
three." He had been disabled,
as to his left side, by a stroke of paralysis,
and this misfortune, with the manifold evils
it entailed, he was wont to refer to compre
hensively as his ' difficulty."
It often happens that when one part of
the human body loses its powers, some other
portion is correspondingly strengthened.
In accordance with this principle, the entire
locomotive power of Grandfather Meiggs
had settled in his tongue. From the hour
when the nickel-plated alarm clock of the
hired man announced the call of incense-
breathing morn, until the parting day was
bowed out by the garden sunflowers, Gappy's
tongue knew but three intervals of silence.
Anecdotes of people known during his long
81
{people at
and eventful career gossip about the neigh
bors the daily features of his own " diffi
culty" politics and puddiu' "reddishes"
and religion all these furnished themes for
his talk, which maundered on in endless and
exasperating streams. His conversational
equipment was deficient in nothing, except
terminal facilities.
He loved especially to dwell upon his recol
lections of the late George Washington and
though their historic value was impaired by
the circumstance that the date of his birth,
so often referred to, was some years subse
quent to the death of Washington, yet these
anecdotes were in a high degree picturesque
and entertaining, and had been so often
repeated that they had become as much a
part of his mental constitution as were
onions of his physical being.
It should be said that, owing to the limited
supply and lack of fixedness of his teeth, as
well as to the waning capacity of his sense
of taste, Gappy was restricted to a narrow
range of diet.
" Spoon vittles," he declined to touch, and
as onions were the only thing which he
seemed really to "relish," he confined him
self almost entirely to that fragrant esculent.
21 Xoquacfous Esculent.
It resulted, of course, that his system was
completely saturated with onion.
Every atom of every tissue was rooted, and
grounded, and built up on onion.
Gappy was a talking onion.
The members of the family had come to
regard, or disregard, his talk much as they
did the ticking of the old eight-day clock.
No doubt they would have felt uneasy if, by
any chance, his mechanical clatter had been
interrupted. His voice, though a cracked
treble, was so shrill and penetrating as to
seem independent of ordinary limitations of
space.
Throughout the doctor's stay in the house,
it had been an unbroken accompaniment to
his literary labors. At times it seemed to
make its way up the back-stairs and through
the long, irregular hallway to his room.
Again it was evident that the sound
reached him through the sitting-room and
front stairway.
When all the doors were closed, it driveled
out at the kitchen window on the further
side of the house, groped its feeble but tena
cious way back past the woodshed and a
long line of rambling outbuildings, tottered
around behind the barn and back on the
84 people at
other side, till it staggered in at the open
window.
He had not a moment's doubt that if
every door and window had been tightly
sealed, that voice would have clambered up
the kitchen chimney, dragged itself along
the ridge-pole, and tumbling down the front
chimney, have drooled its way out at the
door of his air-tight stove. Thus, when the
combination of sounds above described her
alded the approach of Grandfather Meiggs,
the doctor was prepared to welcome him as
an old companion.
After considerable fumbling with the
latch, the venerable visitor knocked the door
open with his crutch, and made his way into
the room.
As it happened that his sense of taste had
been deadened to an unusual degree by a
severe cold, he had been subsisting for
several days almost exclusively upon highly
seasoned onions.
He thumped his crutch down at some dis
tance in advance, and then pulled himself up
to it, and, by repeating this process, finally
reached the invalid's bedside. AVith a grin
of sympathy and encouragement, he dragged
a chair close to his victim, and allowing
B XoQuacious Esculent. 85
the crutch to fall heavily upon the doctor's
sensitive stomach, collapsed into the seat.
Arranging his disabled arm upon his lap,
and taking a pinch of snuff, he informed Dr.
Van Nuynthlee that he had come to sit with
him and "chirk him up," and immediately
opened a flow of conversation.
It was his habit, owing doubtless to some
minor development of the "difficulty," to
wear large masses of cotton stuffed into his
ears. Owing to a failure of the ordinary sup
ply, he had utilized, for the requirements of
one ear, an ornamental cotton of brilliant
pink hue, while a large wad of the much
soiled " white " material projected to an equal
distance from the opposite side.
Gappy had one gesture, which he used
regularly, at intervals of about ten seconds,
and without apparent relevance to the sub
ject of his discourse. It consisted in jerking
his right and comparatively active hand up
ward, with the thumb extended, as if point
ing carelessly to some object over his shoulder.
The doctor's head swam. He had a hazy
impression of Gappy's shrivelled face, with
its weak and watery eyes fixed steadily upon
himself. He was vaguely conscious that the
old gentleman, in his shrill and piercing
86 people at
tones, was informing him that last summer's
" boarder " had been " took" with precisely his
own symptoms, which had rapidly developed
into the " yaller jandiss," whereby the boarder
had been confined to the house for four or
five weeks.
" Be yew subjeck to pizon ivry?" he con
tinued, changing the subject. " I dew hope
yew ain't, for they say it's perticler plenty
deoun by the river where yew was pokin'
reound witheout much of ennythin' on."
In the hope of turning the conversation
into more cheerful channels, the doctor in
quired after his visitor's health, and Gappy
replying that he "hadn't been feelin' reel
spry, along back," set out upon a detailed
diagnosis of every phase of the "difficulty."
After dwelling in succession upon other
portions of his anatomy, he finally reached
the lower extremities, and remarked that he
would have one of his toes cut off, if he
thought he could " meet it."
"Do yer s'pose I could meet it?" he
inquired anxiously. The doctor was uncer
tain what he meant. Did he hope to be
reunited to the amputated member in some
future sphere of existence, and under more
auspicious conditions'? or was he merely in
21 ^Loquacious Esculent. 87
doubt as to meeting the shock of the
operation?
Whilst he was revolving these problems,
Mr. Meigg's continued meditatively : " Thar
wuz old Deekin Meeker 't lives deoun ter
Pieville. He'd lied a dreadful bad corn onter
his leetle toe fer a number o' years. Waall,
one time when ther wuz a spell o' wet
weather comin' on, he felt an uncommon
bad gripe-like inter this 'ere toe, an' he sez ter
himself, sezee, 'I won't stand it no longer,'
sezee, 'n' he run right deoun ter the mill,
whar the buzz-saw wuz a goin' yer know
there's a saw-mill deoun ter Pieville a
currus name? Waall yis, 'tis kinder currus,
named arter old Kernel Pye, yer know, 't
owns the mill 'n' lives in the big yaller heouse
long side o' the store. He allers wuz asing-
ler old critter. Had a fambly o' more'n a
dozen young-uns all on 'em boys. Gin 'em
all Scripter names fust one from the Old
Testament, 'n' middle one from the New
Testament. Thar wuz Liviticus Matthew
Pye, Deuteronermy Mark 'n' so on 's long's
the names held eout. Arter Pocrephy Eeve-
lations wuz born, thar didn't seem to be no
more names left. 'T happened kinder for
tunate the' wuz a feller boarded 't old Pye's
people at
the next summer 't lived in Boston or least
wise he claimed to live in Boston but he
let on that it wuz in one o' the back streets
whar he stopped, Back Bay Deestrict I bleeve
he called it, so't mebbe thar might 'er bin
some things he didn't know but anyway
he'd traviled in furrin parts considerable, 'n'
he giv the old kernel some new pints; so't
when the next one wuz born, he gin him an
outlandish name Zendy Vesty Veeder 's
near's I kin git it.
" 0' course them terublelong names wan't
o' no sort o' use, so't they mostly gin 'em
nicknames. Thar wuz Lamintations Acts
he got kinder flatted eout 'long o' cupplin'
cars over ter Dothan Mills, so they most
generally calls him Squash Pie, tho' I bleeve
his folks call him Lamb Pie.
" Then there's Song o' Solomon John
him they mostly calls Custard Pie Cuss Pye,
fer short; 'n' if all they say's true, they
couldn't er got no name 'twud have fitted
him better.
" Habakkuk Colloshuns, his regler name's
Huck, short for huckleberry. Haggai He
brews they allers calls him Punk fer
Punkin, yer know. But Zendy Vesty
Veeder 's got abeout the most singlerest
a loquacious Esculent. 89
name. The folks call him Elder, tho' seem-
in'ly he's most the youngest, an' furzino he
may be the youngest, an' its dead sure he ain't
fit to be elder o' no church. Like enough
Elder's short for elderberry. No, Elder
ain't the youngest nuther, an' I'm glad
suthin' put me in mind o' there bein' another
one, cuz I bleeve I told ye they wuz all
boys. I 'member o' hearin' 't there wuz
a gal 't the eend o' the hull litter, 'n' old
Pye he writ to the feller from the Back
Bay Deestrict near Boston fer to find eout
what to call her; 'n' he writ back to call
her Cory Ann Salmud, or Talmud, I guess
it wuz.
" 0' course nobody could keep in mind no
sech name as that 'are, so I heerd tell 's
soon 's she got big enuff ter come eout 'n'
play reound in the street, the neighbors be
gun ter call her Mud Pie, fer short."
As Gappy emphasized the mention of each
variety of pastry with his peculiar gesture, it
seemed to his auditor as if he were tossing
the successive pies over his shoulder, and the
doctor glanced instinctively at the floor be
hind, to note the result.
"Waall," he resumed, "I wuz a-startin'
ter tell ye abeout that 'ere toe o' Deacon
oo people at
Meeker's. Yersee he got the toe fixed right
front o' the buzz-saw - "
But here mercifully Mrs. Meiggs appeared
and ordered Gappy ignomiuiously to bed.
The doctor's deliverance had come none
too soon. Eising and opening the windows,
he fanned the door back and forth in the
hope of diluting the atmosphere of solid
onion with a little outer air. The effort ap
peared hopeless. The onion had entered
into his soul.
VII.
A MIDNIGHT SOMERSAULT.
UIET was restored but not sleep.
The hot " squshy" feather-bed
was unendurable. The restless
clergyman had now sunk into its
profound and smothering depths from every
portion of its surface. The feathers were
hollowed out in some regions, and forced
elsewhere into adamantine mounds and
ridges.
Across the foot of the bed ran a well de
fined terminal moraine, indicting the drift
of propulsion from the doctor's restless feet.
The sheets, in his feverish tossings, had
been rolled into hard, rope-like coils, and
the pillows were flattened, wrinkled, and
hot to the touch. In desperation, he jumped
up and pulled off the feather-bed, unwound
the sheets, and lay down upon the husk mat
tress.
This was a vast improvement, but just as
the doctor was dropping off to sleep, he
91
92 people at
would become painfully conscious of the
hard bunches in the mattress, which made
it difficult to lie long in one position.
His nerves were now excited and his ears
strangely sensitive to the voices of the
night.
As a blissful sensation of drowsiness began
at last to creep over him, a sudden squeal
ing and scrambling of rats in the wall close
to his ear was so startling, in the solemn
silence, that he sprang up with heart wildly
beating. "When hardly settled again, some
thing rattled down the chimney and banged
against the zinc fireboard, followed by ex
cited twitterings up the chimney.
After holding his breath for some moments
in awful suspense, he came to the conclusion
that a chimney swallow's nest had fallen
down the flue.
He was now wide awake. It seemed
impossible to close his eyes. He could
hear the uncanny hooting of a great owl,
like the baying of demon hounds after
some ghostly prey. It was repeated at in
tervals, each time more faintly, until it
faded away in the distance.
Then the dead silence was oppressive.
A sharp creaking in the floor, due ap-
21 /iM&nigbt Somersault.
parently to no natural cause, startled him
again. He listened, without breathing,
but it was not repeated. He could hear
a horse stamping in the distant stable.
The slightest sound was unaccountably
magnified. The booming flight of a
beetle past his window seemed like the near
rattle of a railway train. At times a stratum
of fresh air was wafted in through the open
window, but was always strangled by the
overwhelming onion, which returned after
such seasons of refreshing, with all the hor
rors of the original infliction.
And meantime he was inwardly conscious
that the horrogag was not idle. He had
heard that a cold, wet bandage, applied to
the back of the head, was a useful soporific,
and now decided to test its value.
Wetting a towel, he tied it around his
head, and again composed himself for re
freshing slumber.
Gradually a drowsy influence began creep
ing over him.
A long, dismal howl from under the win
dow aroused the unfortunate man just as he
was losing consciousness.
The cause of this disturbance, he drowsily
surmised, was the deacon's yellow dog Joe.
7
94 people at ptegab.
The existence of this animal had been im
pressed upon the doctor's attention on the
preceding night.
For some time the deacon's chicken yard
had been visited by a predatory bird, of fine
plumage and extensive advertising facilities,
fragrant in the terminology of science as the
Mephitis Americana.
On the previous night, this invader had
been detected by the dog Joe, and, with well
intended but misguided zeal, had been at
tacked and apprehended.
The inevitable accompaniment of such a
conflict had aroused the household and dis
turbed Dr. Van Nuynthlee in his literary
employment.
Ostracism, the fortune of many patriotic
but ill-fated warriors, had overtaken the dog
Joseph. He had now returned by night, to
protest against the indignity.
There was something in the melancholy
moonlight, which seemed to move his per
turbed spirit to the most distressing lamenta
tions. It was not long before the unearthly
howl was heard again.
The wet towel had become untied and
worked down between the doctor's shoulder-
blades, whence it sent unpleasant chills
dfcifcmgbt Somersault.
through his person. He roused himself,
with an effort, and carried it to the window
as a possible missile.
Joseph was sitting just underneath, with
head thrown back, and mouth half opened
in the very act of emitting another melan
choly wail.
Wetting the towel again in the pitcher,
Dr. Van Xuynthlee took careful aim and
dropped it. As the cold, wet cloth fell
heavily across the dog's back, a howl, now
fairly under way, was choked down with a
gulp of startled terror, and with one pierc
ing yelp the beast fled, the damp towel still
clinging over its back, and trailing behind
as he vanished into the shadows.
Sleep was now out of the question, and,
wrapping a blanket about him, the doctor
took a seat by the open window. There he
remained until after the moon had set. The
room was then dark; but outside there still
lingered a weird, ghostly light. Through
the stillness came a sound as of some one mov
ing in the sitting-room below. It was so
distinct that the doctor groped his way to
the hall and then cautiously down the
stairs.
The creaking of the stairway would have
96 people at pfsgab.
proved an excellent burglar alarm, but its
effectiveness was not put to the test. The
sounds came evidently from the blinds and
shades, rattled by the fresh westerly breeze.
Eeturning with more confidence, the doctor
slipped, in the darkness, and slid down sev
eral steps. Even at high noon, a stout
clergyman can seldom slide down-stairs with
out arousing general interest. In the dead
of night, the effect was magnified many
diameters.
Deacon Meiggs quickly appeared at the
door of his room, and, after a moment's talk
with the doctor, went down to secure the
blinds and windows. Other doors opened
softly. Across the hallway could be heard
grumblings from the apartments of Major
Peavy.
It might have been fifteen minutes later
when there was a light tap at Dr. Van Nuyn-
thlee's door. On opening it he found no
one, but on the floor, by a lighted candle,
was a large yellow bowl of heavy earthen
ware, filled with some steaming liquid. It
seethed and bubbled as if just from the
fire.
Aunt Olympia, alarmed at the restlessness
of her patient, had heated another " kittle "
H dfcf&nfgbt Somersault. 97
of boiling horrogag, to soothe his troubled
nerves.
As the doctor stood in the doorway, a
familiar sound was wafted in on the night
air. The dog Joseph had returned to his
favorite station, and was again bewailing the
degeneracy of the age.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee decided to test the
virtue of the nectareous panacea as an exter
nal application. Taking a towel, to grasp
the fiery basin firmly, without burning his
hands, he carefully approached the window.
The dog was again within easy range.
Again the aim was unerring.
As he leaned far out, with both hands
stretched before him, the bowl slipped from
his fingers, and fell with a crushing thud on
the dog's extended tail, at the instant Avhen
the scalding contents struck his back.
The efficacy of the pharmaceutical mosaic
was never so strikingly illustrated. The
creature had been surprised in the middle of
a prolonged howl, which changed to a screech
of agony and terror. The doctor could trace
only what seemed, in the waning moonlight,
a streak of yelping lightning, vanishing in
the direction of the barn. But soon the
piercing yelps sounded more distinctly on the
people at
other side of the buildings. Joseph was
racing around the house. A moment more,
and he rushed under the window in the
same direction as before; and now the
sounds showed that he was repeating the
circuit of the buildings.
Deacon Meiggs, who had not yet returned
to bed, hastened to open the front door, to
learn the cause of this new disturbance.
He thus stood in the doorway, clad in the
breezy garments of the night, just as" the
frenzied brute tore around the corner of the
house. Seeing the door open, the dog in
stinctively sought relief within, and, leaping
up the steps, shot like an arrow between the
bare legs of the astonished deacon.
Deacon Meshack Meiggs had not been
intending to venture out into the chilly
night air; but when this animated projectile
impinged upon his shins, and wedged itself
between his limbs, he was prevailed upon to
modify his plans. He was induced to turn a
compound somersault down the front steps.
It was not any plain, common " somer
set," but a sideways, twisting, complicated
masterpiece. If secured by some fortunate
circus, it would have been reserved for the
place of highest honor. After the crowd
21 AfMtfsbt Somersault. 99
were sated with the monotonous somer
saults of the ordinary athletes; after even
the gyrations of the star contortionist had
ceased to awaken enthusiasm, the man with
the hoarse voice and the long-tailed coat
would have mounted a stool, and proclaimed
it as Professor Insidout's ''Sublime Act,"
and its execution would have been hailed
with thunders of applause.
But, as it was, no one was present except
Deacon Meiggs, and the deacon was the last
man in the world to applaud his own
achievements.
The doctor, listening at his window, was
made aware by a dull concussion, followed by
smothered exclamations, that something
unusual had occurred; and he soon heard
Deacon Meiggs announcing excitedly that
the dog was "took with hydrophoby," and
screaming to the hired man to hurry down
with the gun.
Meantime Joseph was not inactive. Now
his yelping progress through the " settin'
room " was marked by the noise of over
turned furniture. Anon it was evident that
he was tearing in mad circles around the
best room. A prolonged clatter announced
his collision with the ornamental what-not
loo people at
in the farther corner. A resounding crash
signalized the fall of the Rogers statuary by
the door.
Not finding the atmosphere of the house
congenial, he shot out again, and, by the
time the gun arrived, was far away on the
road to Dothan.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee's room was dark, the
draught of air having extinguished the
candle. He was alarmed at the tremendous
uproar below, and started, with delirious
haste, toward the door.
He supposed that he was going toward the
door, but in the excitement he overlooked
the familiar law of Nature, that whenever
a person has fixed his bearings, amid the
night watches, with exact precision, the
sides of the room revolve, so that he cannot
move far in any direction without meeting
a surprise.
The surprise encountered by the Reverend
Doctor Van Nuynthlee was an old-fashioned,
air-tight, cast-iron stove. His shins, coming
in contact with the projecting hearth-plate
under the door, paused at that point, but
the upper portion of his person proceeded
on its course.
Plunging forward, his head butted into
B dRRmfflbt Somersault. 101
the stove-pipe, at the further end, and car
ried away two full lengths of pipe. The
adjoining section above was held in place by
a wire from the ceiling, but its open and
agitated orifice poured down upon the doc
tor's head a deluge of soot. lie gathered
himself up, and peered around for new bear
ings. A dim light from the hall below
now guided him to the door; and, leaning
over the bannisters, he was able to discern
what was going on.
Deacon Meiggs could be heard describing
to his assembled household the unaccount
able behavior of the dog, and his own re
markable experience.
When they started to return, Aunt Olimpy,
who was waiting at the foot of the stairs,
ran nimbly up toward her room.
She came so suddenly, and Dr. Van Nuyn-
thlee was so absorbed in the conversation be
low, that he did not notice her until al
most at the head of the stairs. When he
did awake to the situation, he made a tre
mendous plunge toward his own door.
Aunt Olimpy, startled at this sudden appa
rition, turned wildly down-stairs again, just
in time to come in forcible contact with the
gouty major, who was making his way up,
102 people at
mumbling fiercely over this new interruption
of his rest. Through the closed door, the
doctor could hear shrill squeals and savage
ejaculations.
As Major Peavy finally came puffing up in
the darkness, and stepped heavily on an
imaginary and superfluous stair at the top,
the consequent wrench upon his system
seemed all that was wanting to open wide
the flood-gates of his wrath.
Deacon Meiggs seized the lantern and has
tened up to light the family to their rooms.
And now the crowning catastrophe of the
night was revealed.
Adolphus, awakened by the tumult, and
finding himself deserted, had dragged his
way into the hall. Either a sudden chill
or the shock of the excitement had proved
too much for his flickering vital flame. It
had gone out without an appreciable splutter.
The enraged major rushed down once
more to fix the guilt of these commotions,
and of the resulting tragedy, upon the offend
ing person. It was plain that Dr. Van
Nuynthlee was the sole cause of the fatal
disturbance.
There was soon an emphatic knock at the
doctor's door. Some one rattled the latch
B /iMCmfgbt Somersault. 103
and tried to enter. The doctor leaned
against the door, and was sustained by hear
ing Deacon Meiggs reasoning with the
major, and entreating him to let the matter
rest until morning. He was at last coaxed
to his own room, and the family dispersed.
The hysterical lamentations of Mrs. Peavy
continued unabated, after the major's anath
emas had sunk to a confused grumble.
VIII.
A FAIR EXCHANGE.
HEN Dr. Van Nuynthlee awoke in
broad daylight, the appearance
of the room suggested the recent
presence of a robust and pains
taking cyclone.
As soon as he was able to clothe himself,
he very cautiously opened the door and
peered out. The house seemed wholly de
serted. Tiptoeing his way down the back
stairs, he found grandfather Meiggs alone in
the kitchen. It was the season when straw
berries must and shall be preserved, and
Gappy was charged with the duty of watch
ing a simmering kettleful of prospective
preserves. He needed no solicitation to give
a full account of all that had occurred.
The men, he said, were at work haying;
the women folks were in the garden picking
peas, and Major and Mrs. Peavy had gone to
the village to procure a suitable casket for
the remains of Adolphus.
104
jfair Bjcbange. 105
Gappy expressed the opinion that they
were " goin' ter hev a regler funeral. I heerd
ole Peevy blovvin' about the ob-sick-wys," he
said. " I dunno as ter whuther the'll be
enny opportunity giv ter view the remanes,
or whuther the' won't. I tell 'em the' ain't
but one way ter make a berryin' pass off
smooth-like and please the neighbors. I
'member the time Zadoc Zeeks was berried
him that wuz killed 'long o' the chimbly fall-
in' onter 'im and squashin' of 'im in, time
the Widder Griffy's house burned deown.
" 0' course the neighbors all lotted on
viewin' the remanes 'n' the' wuz a big creowd
ter the church, but they didn't open the
remanes at all. I 'member it stirred up con-
sider'ble feelin'.
" Fust off ole Peevy wuz a-goin' ter hev
the remanes put up in alkehawl, but the
deacon he told him he'd hev ter git a doc
tor's certiffikit that he needed the alkehawl
fer medissinal pupposes, an' then go ter the
likker agent deown ter the' Corners fer ter
git the sperrits, an' like enuf he'd hev ter
fetch a letter from one o' the seelectmen,
an' he thought the' wouldn't be skusly time
ter wait."
The doctor heard of the failure of this
106 people at flMsgab.
plan with especial regret, for he felt that
the mere incident of Adolphus' complete de
mise would make him no less lively and
attractive as a companion, while affording
a grateful relief from constant care and
anxiety.
" I wouldn't choose ter see ole Peevy jest
now ef I wuz in yeour place," continued
Gappy, as the doctor was washing his sooty
face at the kitchen pump " he certainly has
been goin' on terruble. Bin jawin' some
abeout bringing a consterbul up from the
Corners. Oh, this 'ere sorter puts me in
mind" he went on, as the doctor edged
toward the door "o' what I wuz a-startin'
ter tell ye' las' night abeout Deacon Meeker's
toe. Ye' see, this 'ere buzz-saw must 'er
been runnin' kinder wabbly, for when "
But Gappy found himself talking to empty
air. The doctor had fled.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee's chief anxiety was
still regarding the Cortright diamond. Feel
ing that that must be first recovered, he now
took himself to the hay-field to see if Deacon
Meiggs could spare a horse and wagon to re
new the search.
As he passed the barnyard, he observed his
enterprising cow chained to a stone post and
jfair Bjcbange. 10?
chewing the cud of meditation. Gappy had
already informed him that the cow had been
found in the early morning, regaling herself
in the patch of oats behind the barn, after
transferring a variety of nutriment to her
gifted and versatile stomach.
The deacon awaited his approach with
ghastly solemnity, but seemed appeased by
the doctor's explanations and his promise to
pay for all damages.
A boy was sent to harness the white mare
to the bellows-top buggy while the doctor
should be taking a hasty breakfast, and to
guide him to the home of Mr. Gummy, whose
son had found the diamond pin. Upon
reaching the Gummy residence, after a five
mile drive, Andrew Jackson Gummy was
sent for and acquainted with the business
of his visitor.
After much delay a boy appeared at the
door and reluctantly approached the " bellus-
top." The knuckles of his left hand were
buried in one eye, while tears from the other
were allowed to stream in black-bordered
channels down his dirty face. It seemed evi
dent that a portion of the visit to town had
been passed at the barber's, as his hair was
amputated close to the scalp.
108 people at
In his right hand he grudgingly held out
to Dr. Van Nuynthlee three marbles, a half-
eaten apple, a jews-harp with the tongue
missing, a small piece of chalk, and a much
masticated piece of spruce gum.
"That's all there is left," he whimpered;
" there was a gooseberry ball an' a hunk o'
gingerbread, but I et 'em up las' night."
He had made a "swap," and seemed hurt
at the failure to appreciate his business
sagacity. He was agreeably surprised, how
ever, to find that his visitor laid no claim to
the proceeds of the barter, but started away
in great haste on learning the name and
residence of Sammy Gookin, the swapee.
As the doctor's guide was not sure of the
whereabouts of the Gookin estates, the}'
waited impatiently at a fork in the roads un
til a man upon a load of hay came along,
who was able to give them explicit direc
tions.
"Keep right along," he said, "on the
Babylon turnpike till yer turn ter the right
not the first road, that ' ill fetch ye ter
Skunk Medder but keep on threw New
Jerewsalum, an' deown inter Hell Holler,
an' foller along Squowk Crik, an' then turn
ter the right, an' it's the second left-handed
B ffafr Bjcbange. 109
house. You'll know it by the two popple
trees in the yard, an' a slippery ellum."
Following these instructions they found
the place, but there another delay was in
store. The young man, as they learned from
a tiresome old woman in sole charge of the
house, was at work in the field. After
splashing through a marshy hollow, perspir
ing up a steep hill, and climbing several
fences, Samuel was discovered " raking after"
the hay-cart.
While he had not parted with his supposed
title to the brooch, he had negotiated a loan,
which was, under the circumstances, quite
as annoying.
A circus was to perform to-day at Dothan
Mills. For several weeks its flaming an
nouncements had blazed from every barn
along the road. To-day its presence made
that enterprising village the general centre
of attraction.
When the glittering prize brought home
by her brother met the eye of Miss Lorissa
Gookin, she had naturally " set her heart"
upon wearing it at the morrow's festivities.
Samuel consented to the loan upon terms
which were plainly usurious. The immedi
ate delivery of a mince turnover, certain re-
8
people at
pairs of obvious propriety in the lender's
trousers, with the promise of frying dough
nuts twice a week for several successive
weeks, had closed the bargain ; and thus the
Golconda diamond had gone to the circus.
To assist in finding the young lady, the
doctor also learned that she had set out a
half-hour earlier attired in a green gown,
with yellow sash, and a red feather of un
usual size in her hat.
The doctor had some hope of picking her
out amid the throng at the circus. At all
events, in his present anxiety, his only course
was to push on as fast as possible to Dothan
Mills.
It was about three miles distant, and the
road thither led toward the river valley. As
they reached the brow of a long and very
steep hill leading down to the river, the
mill village came in sight, and in a field on
the outskirts the white circus tent, sur
rounded by a surging mass of human beings.
Dr. Van Nunythlee's heart sank as he re
alized the almost hopeless task before him.
As the clumsy mare picked her tedious
way down the hill, his worry and impatience
swelled with every step. When they rounded
B ffair Exchange, ill
a knoll, affording a view of the road below
as it wound down the long hillside, a surpris
ing sight met their gaze. At first the doctor
noticed, a short distance below them, a four-
seated wagon standing in the road. The
horse had been taken out, and was cropping
the grass by the roadside. A man was sit
ting on a log near by, solemnly smoking.
His wife and children were seated in the
wagon, and seemed to be opening their lunch
baskets. It had much the appearance of a
temporary encampment. But the doctor had
scarcely noticed all this, when his eye fell
upon another similar carriage just beyond,
with its occupants settled down in their
seats in stolid resignation; and beyond this
another, and still another ; and as he followed
the winding line of the descending road, he
found, wherever a glimpse of the highway
could be had, evidence of a continuous line
of wagons stringing down the hillside. And
near the foot of the hill was evidently the
cause of the blockade.
There, at a narrow point in the road, a
crowd of men were collected about some ob
stacle of which they were striving to clear
the way. The vehemence of their gesticula-
112 people at ptegab.
tions was very noticeable, and their shouts,
as wafted up the long hillside, seemed of
no less violence. To a stranger the whole
scene was unintelligible, but the doctor's
companion, as would any resident of Pisgah
or its vicinity, gave the explanation at once.
It was Elder Bawker.
News of the obstruction, and of progress
toward its removal, was passed up the line
from time to time like water at a lire, to
cool the fevered anxiety of late comers.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee sought eagerly for in
formation. With gloomy brevity his next
neighbor replied, " The elder's wheels is het. "
Being familiar with delays in railway
travel caused by a hot box, the doctor readily
perceived that a wagon might suffer a like
fate, after long neglect to anoint its axles
with bland and soothing lubricants.
Where Elder Bawker's buggy had come to
a stand-still, it happened that the banks
sloped upward from the roadway with un
usual abruptness. A hay-cart, trying to pass
the disabled vehicle, had overturned, its top
pling load falling toward and very largely
upon Elder Bawker, and compl"eting a for
midable barricade.
ffafr Bjcbange. 113
Though the doctor was too remote to aid
in the work of rescue and of clearing the
way, it was natural that Elder Bawker should
form a subject of inquiry and contemplation
during his enforced leisure.
IX.
AN INTERESTING OBSTACLE.
LDER BAWKEK, as may be sur
mised, is not a subject to be hasti
ly passed by. Not that the elder
was an intentional obstructionist.
When his unwieldy figure chanced to bar
the pathway of human progress, the painful
deliberation with which he moved aside arose
from certain physical infirmities. These
were of long standing, and had their origin
in an attack of palsy or some kindred ill,
which had permanently rendered any move
ment of his huge and unmanageable bulk a
matter of peculiar difficulty. The elder's
method of locomotion was familiar to every
inhabitant of Pisgah Plain : generally with
one arm clasping a fence, and propped on the
other side by a cane. No process analogous
to a distinct step could ever be observed with
the unaided vision. There would be a series
of inarticulate rumblings and gruntings,
114
Bn Interesting Obstacle. us
gradually increasing in intensity, and an
evident effort to proceed forward; then a
season of repose and anon new premonitions
of movement. By observing the elder's posi
tion when passing him on the way to the field
for a load of hay, and again when returning
on the loaded cart, it was often possible to
discover a change in location. The regu
larity of his attendance at sacred services was
unfailing. Soon after breakfast, he was
always to be seen working his way along the
wayside fences toward the church. Generally,
he reached the sanctuary and began his labor
ious progress up the aisle to his seat at the
side of the pulpit, shortly after the entire
congregation was seated. The time occu
pied in covering that distance varied very
considerably on different occasions. In rare
instances, the elder was known to have
reached his pew before the announcement of
the text. Generally it was at about the
middle of the sermon (say from twelfthly to
fifteenthly) that a regular, rhythmic sound
emanating from the elder's pew indicated
that he had reached his regular place of re
pose. It happened, occasionally, when spec
ially fatigued by his long walk, that the
rendering of the closing hymn was in pro-
116 people at
gress before he collapsed into his seat; but
he never, in a single instance, failed to in
tercept the benediction.
An equally familiar figure was the elder's
devoted sister Hannah. After setting her
brother adrift on the early Sabbath morning,
she would busy herself with household cares,
and, by long practice, was able to time his
progress so accurately as to arrive simulta
neously with the elder at the lower end of the
church aisle.
There she would stand in an agony of ner
vous apprehension throughout the labored
progress toward the seat. His entrance to
the pew was always the signal for painful
suspense pervading the whole congregation,
and was commonly marked by the dropping
of his cane with loud clatter, and other con
fusion. The moment he sank into his seat
his sister, with an audible sigh of relief,
would scoot one-sidedly up the aisle, and
flop into her place beside him.
Elder Bawker had taken pride in main
taining the old New England custom of sit
ting, as the head of the family, by the door
of the pew.
This is a well-known survival of early
conditions, when the men were always ready
Bn Interesting Obstacle. in
to rush out and repulse the savage assaults
of Indians.
The elder had never had occasion to sally
forth during his waking moments, but once
or twice, while napping, he had fallen out
of the pew and struck aisle under such
circumstances as to cause a long and demor
alizing delay in the devotional exercises.
It was finally insisted that he deposit him
self at the further end of the pew against
the wall, where he could be effectually shored
up with umbrellas and canes.
But the time to see the elder at his best was
on his way home from church. Then he
was wont to proceed at his leisure. As long
as he could walk arm in arm with the fence,
it was not impossible to conjecture from his
attitude in which direction he was going;
but when he was obliged to cast loose and
cross the street, no uninspired person, except
possibly his sister Hannah, could tell whither
he was drifting. With his legs planted far
apart, and leaning forward on his cane, he re
sembled that emblem of stability, a pyramid.
At such times his progress, like that of a
glacier, could only be determined by driving
a stake beside him, and comparing their re
lative positions at remote intervals. It was
118 people at flMsgab.
more exciting, however, than a trial of speed
with a glacier, for while the elder would
sometimes forge slightly ahead, there were
times again when the stake seemed to gain
upon and almost overhaul him.
In the performance of social obligations
the elder was equally scrupulous, and even
made periodic incursions into the realm of
sentiment.
At stated intervals he would become im
pressed with the advantages of matrimony,
and, with a view to making proposals of
marriage, entered upon a systematic canvass
of the village.
It is a melancholy commentary upon the
perversity of womankind, considered, as it
were, in bulk, that Elder Bawker remained
single. This result may doubtless be traced
in part to the difficulty he experienced in
giving articulate utterance to the burning
emotions of his heart.
Of all the ladies in his matrimonial cir
cuit, no one was ever able to distinguish more
than three intelligible sentences. When the
elder had effected an entrance to the home
of the favored one who was the immediate
target of his attentions, and had settled into
a chair, there would, after a time, be heard
Tin Interesting Obstacle. 119
gasping and gurgling up through his ob
structed and semi-petrified organs of speech
these words : " Pleasadt evedidg af der the
shower." When it happened that a refresh
ing rainfall was of recent occurrence, nothing
could seem more natural than this remark ;
and even in seasons of protracted drought
it was not without significance; but when
the elder, eluding his sister Hannah, had
sallied forth in the midst of the equinoctial
or other pouring and persistent flood, the
effect of the observation was seriously marred.
But to those accustomed to the elder's vis
its it had lost like the indications of
the Weather Bureau any association in
thought with atmospheric phenomena, and
was accepted simply as a pleasant formality,
and a graceful and easy prelude to the con
versation.
After a brief rest, and fixing his eyes in a
coy and slanting goggle, the elder ventured
upon his second remark: " The bood is dow
rididg high id the he-hevings. " It mattered
not whether the orb of night was in fact near
the zenith or not. As likely as not, the
moon might be riding very low in the
heavens. Except to the eye of an antipodal
observer, it might not be riding at all.
120 people at
Like the elder's previous deliverance, this
was not intended as a literal and prosaic
statement of fact. Doubtless it was de
signed as an announcement of his senti
mental mood and mission.
The actual offer of his heart and hand
assumed the form of an invitation to " take
up your abode id by elb-eb-bowered cottage."
Persons unfamiliar with the elder's phrase
ology were misled into supposing their caller
the proprietor of a summer boarding-house.
Of this idea they were seldom disabused, for
the reason that Elder Bawker, after working
his faculties to such a pitch of excitement,
generally sank into a profound slumber the
moment the exertion was over and the reac
tion set in.
When he was aroused and launched upon
his homeward progress, the tidies and other
small articles which had been lying upon his
chair were plastered to his person by the long
continued and tremendous operation of the
laws of gravity, and, when not observed and
peeled off by his hosts, often adhered to his
garments throughout the return voyage.
It was not, in any sense, a light matter
for the elder to lose his balance.
As long as he remained upon his three
Bn f nterestfns bstaclc. 121
feet his cane being by far the most sup
ple and serviceable of his lower extremities
he enjoyed the power of voluntary motion.
But when he had once fallen down, this sub
jective element was wholly eliminated. He
became a mere object for the exercise of ex
ternal force. In the highest degree was this
true when, as was apt to be the case, he fell
upon his back.
Whenever this occurred the scene resembled
that rural event called a "house-raising."
The ablebodied citizens of the town assem
bled, and all available appliances were called
into play before this human turtle could be
again set in motion.
These difficulties were strikingly illustrated
after the elder had been making one of his
matrimonial excursions. On his homeward
way he became possessed of the idea that he
should return and beg that the lady would
take no offence at his presumptuous advances.
He turned back, determined to perform this
obvious duty.
The house was not far away, and it was
little past midnight when he reached the
door for the second time. A slight rain had
fallen, and it being a chilly night in the
early spring-time a treacherous coating of
122 people at
ice had formed on the front stoop. In the
effort at pulling the bell the elder's feet sud
denly started toward divergent points of
compass. Gripping the bell-knob for sup
port he dragged it after him in his ponder
ous and reverberating fall, hauling out many
yards of wire, and extracting the most ag
onizing screeches from the bell. Elder
Bawker had sought to bring some one to
the door. In this he was not unsuccess
ful. The family did not at first attribute
this convulsion to anything more serious
than a call from a belated avalanche or
slightly demented tornado. When the truth
was revealed they knew not what to do.
With the small force which could be col
lected at that untimely hour, an attempt at
raising their visitor was not to be thought
of. By the skilful application of crowbars
he was pried into the front hall, and made
as comfortable as possible until the morning.
When the elder lost his equilibrium in the
course of a marketing trip, the results were
not less disastrous. To be sure he had been
seen to fall when carrying a loaded molasses
jug in his hand, and with rare presence of
mind sustain the jug high in air, at the ex
pense of his own person.
Bn Ifnterestinc} Obstacle.
Once, when coming out of the store with
a large basket of eggs he was not so fortunate.
On the very last step his foot suddenly shot
from under him. Instinctively he thrust
under him, to break his fall, the basket
holding the eggs. It broke his fall and, it
is needless to add the eggs. When the
elder was raised to a vertical position and
torn asunder from the basket, the expanse
of black broadcloth underlying the orna
mental buttons on the small of his back pre
sented an impressive panorama. Those who
have had the privilege of studying that mas
terpiece of art so much admired by Mr.
Ruskin Turner's " Slave-ship" can best
judge of its coloring and artistic effect. It
was a " symphony in yellow."
It is noteworthy that Elder Bawker's in
ordinate craving for locomotion seemed to
grow upon him in the inverse ratio of his
locomotive capacity. He was emphatically
a "leading citizen." Never was there a
show, parade, or public observance of any
sort which was not graced by the elder's
presence. Either on foot, or with his horse
and wagon, which shared in many respects
his own peculiarities, he was sure to be pres
ent, and always at the head of the proces-
124 {people at
sion. "Was it a parade of the fire company,
he managed in some unaccountable manner
to keep alongside the engine. At every
funeral he was sure to be seen encroaching
upon the prerogatives of the mourners. On
July 4th, during the march of an organiza
tion of alleged veterans, he endeavored to
squeeze in between the drum and the fife.
But, while his tastes thus led him to pa
rades, processions, and other movable feasts,
he was by no means indifferent to stationary
convocations.
At the commencement exercises of the
High School the elder was the most promi
nent figure upon the platform. Seldom was
he known to miss a rehearsal of the New
Boston Cornet Band. When the circus, in
its annual circuit, arrived at Dothan Mills,
his ancient equipage took the lead of the long
line of wagons which poured in from the sur
rounding country, often occasioning such
blockades as Dr. Van Nunythlee had ob
served.
The elder's carriage was constantly break
ing down, and generally at the narrowest
points in the road. Sometimes the stop
page was due to an attack of " blind stag
gers," or other annoying eccentricity, in
Bn 1Tntere0tfng Obstacle. 125
the horse. In the present instance the ob
struction proved less serious than had been
feared, and it was not long before the high
way was again open.
X.
AN AMATEUR PERFORMANCE.
EAR the end of the long cavalcade
the doctor and his young com
panion moved slowly down the
hill, and on to Dothan Mills.
On reaching the circus grounds they tied
the horse to a fence, and hastened to the
scene of action.
The way was lined with booths where pea
nuts, root-beer, ginger cakes, and other deli
cacies were clamorously offered for sale.
The doctor's anxious and inquiring gaze
soon made him the centre of loud solicita
tions. The man in charge of the shooting
gallery made a special effort to attract his
notice, and a wild-eyed person presiding over
the scales offered to determine the portly
clergyman's entire weight without extra
charge.
A vender of cough drops followed him for
a long distance, depicting the insidious ap-
126
Bn Bmateur performance, 127
proach of pulmonary diseases and the mirac
ulous virtue of his remedy.
" Better buy some ter take home ter the
little ones," he whispered confidentially.
"A prize in every package don't neglect
this opportunity," he screamed, as the doc
tor passed out of reach. " It may save yer
life."
The day was the hottest of the summer.
The sun poured down with torrid heat. Fat
and perspiring women were floundering
aimlessly about. Thin and sallow women
elbowed their way through the crowd, drag
ging a towage of children smeared with gin
ger-bread or sucking sticks of gorgeously
illumined candy. Men with long dusters
were walking hither and thither, greeting
their friends with hearty ejaculations or
crowding into the main entrance.
There were many young couples to be seen
strolling hand in hand, gazing at the sin
gular impossibilities pictured on the small
tents, or consuming " corn balls " arid other
portable refreshments.
All such the doctor scrutinized with great
care, and after a fruitless search of the
grounds decided to enter the main tent.
It was nearly time for the circus to open.
128 people at pfsgab.
The struggling jam around the ticket wagons
had diminished so that he secured tickets
without much trouble, and entered the tent.
There were two of these enormous canvasses,
the first containing the wagons and cages of
the menagerie, while the other, beyond, was
devoted to the glories of the circus. The
two were connected by a rather long and
narrow passage. The menagerie was still
well filled, and the doctor pushed his way
around the circuit of attractions.
Now he started forward in pursuit of a red
feather only to find that it accompanied a
white or purple gown. Several times he saw
a green dress with a yellow sash. Once he
came upon a young lady wearing a green gown
with a red feather in her hat. But as no one
toilet could be seen combining these three
essential elements, he pushed on through the
narrow passage into the circus.
As he gazed around upon the circles of
crowded seats the doctor gave way to utter
despair. But as he ran his eye over the
fanning, wriggling sea of people, he was at
tracted by a red feather of enormous size.
The young lady who sat under its shadow
was near enough for him to distinguish a
greenish tint upon her dress. And now, as
Sn amateur performance. 120
, ho strained his eyes to assure himself upon
this point, she rose and leaned forward, as if
looking for some friend in the crowd below;
and blessed sight there appeared a wide
yellow sash encircling her waist, and tied
into a flattened and disordered bow behind.
^P
With a cry of joy the doctor hastened up
the nearest passageway, and along the line
of seats, treading upon many toes, and ex
citing not a little remark of a personal na
ture.
Of course, a young lady thus placed in
the focus of a thousand eyes by the sudden
onslaught of an excited stranger, who de
manded an ornament which she was proudly
wearing in the presence of her " steady com
pany," was thrown into some embarrassment;
and it was not strange that her chivalrous
escort shook his fist in the doctor's dripping
countenance, and threatened to "swat" him
without ceremony or delay.
The doctor soon recovered his breath suf
ficiently to make an intelligible statement,
and upon paying over a dollar to console the
purchaser of the pin, the precious treasure
was secured.
The crowd who had jumped up to witness
the scene of excitement resumed their seats,
130 people at pfsgab.
and turned toward the entrance from the
menagerie whence the triumphal procession
of animals and living curiosities was about
to emerge and open the performance of the
day.
At the outlet Dr. Van Nuynthlee found
himself compelled to wait for a moment, as
the passage was completely filled by the van
guard of the parade. As it moved forward,
the doctor, not knowing which direction it
would take in passing around the outer track
upon which he stood, stepped back and took
a position Avithin the barrier surrounding the
inner circus ring.
Such trifling annoyance made no impres
sion now that his greater burden was lifted.
His face glowed with devout thanksgiving.
His first thought was of finding Mrs. Suy-
dam, to make his excuses and attain the ob
ject nearest his heart.
It was natural that the crowd, observing
this portly and important personage who had
appeared at the entry of the procession, and
who seemed to be reviewing the marching
spectacle with a smile of complacent satis
faction, imagined him to be the proprietor
whose name had blazed for weeks from every
fence and shed in the county. The more
Sn amateur performance.
knowing nudged their companions and
pointed out the distinguished owner of the
" Stupendous Aggregation."
Meanwhile the doctor was so preoccupied
that the end of the train had passed for
several moments before he observed the fact
and started forward. But now he was an
noyed to notice that his egress was still
blockaded.
The white elephant, the attraction of the
show, which Avas to appear impressively at
the close of the display, was still standing
at the further end of the passage. It was
swaying back and forth, waving its trunk
and trumpeting angrily; and Dr. Van
Nuynthlee at once perceived that something
was wrong.
Owing to accident or delay in the diurnal
task of renewing its peculiar hue, the sacred
pachyderm had been missed from its place
of honor in the menagerie, and was hardly
made presentable in time to connect with
this opening ceremony.
It was some moments after the last of the
parade had disappeared within the second
tent, when the white elephant might have
been seen lumbering at forced speed across
the deserted menagerie.
132 f>eople at flM00ab.
Elder Bawker, who had been extricated
from the hay upon the Pisgah turnpike, and
hoisted into the wagon of a sympathetic
neighbor, had moved on after the other
teams to Dothan. He, too, had been push
ing across the first tent, and just at this
crisis had reached the connecting passage
leading to the circus. The break in the
continuity of the procession had not been
long, but the elder, goaded to extraordinary
activity, had managed to wedge his wabbling
way fairly into the narrow space before the
enraged elephant came up.
Meantime, the head of the procession had
reached the doctor again, and a second cir
cuit of the dejected animals began. Now
that the crowd had seen the parade, the sup
posed proprietor began to attract more
general notice. Suddenly an officious in
dividual near the front row cried out,
" Speech ! speech !" and the crowd about him
took up the cry with much stamping of feet,
clapping of hands, and waving of handker
chiefs.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee had teen so short a
time in this neighborhood and had kept him
self so secluded, that it was a surprise to be
thus generally recognized. But he realized
Sn amateur ipecformance. 133
how quickly the presence of a distinguished
visitor became known in a rural community,
and could understand that these good people,
gathered upon such a holiday, might appre
ciate the privilege of listening, to a few words
from a great metropolitan clergyman, whose
name was doubtless a household word among
them. That he should be called upon for
an address under such peculiar circumstances,
he readily excused as being due to a well-
meant impulse of a simple and unconven
tional people.
At all' events, he could not, without
marked discourtesy, disregard the calls,
which were becoming more clamorous, and
were confused with shouts of inquiry in re
gard to the missing white elephant.
" My good friends," he shouted, extending
his hand in a dignified manner to invoke
silence " My good friends, it gives me plea
sure to see so many of you here to-day, and I
regret that circumstances do not admit of
my performing all that you desire."
This short speech was greeted with ap
plause, but the last sentence was construed to
mean that no white elephant would appear,
and the murmurs of disappointment in
creased. Finally, a red-faced, bullet-headed,
134 people at pisgab.
and intoxicated person, who had been discuss
ing the apparent outrage with those about
him, jumped up, and shaking his fist at Dr.
Van Nuynthlee, screamed out in accents thick
with indignation and alcohol, "Oh yis! It
givesher plezher tor see so many on us here,
an' ter skewp in our munny, but it'd give
us a damsite more plezher if yew'd fetch
aout whatyer advertise."
" My good man," cried the doctor, alarmed
at this sudden outburst, " I have advertised
nothing. You are laboring under a mis "
" Did yer hear that? " screeched the bullet-
headed, intoxicated person, turning around
and appealing wildly to the audience. " Did
yer hear that? Actshally says he hain't ad
vertised northing. It's a swindle! I tell yer
it's a swindle!! "
At this moment, most fortunately, the
sacred elephant appeared, some time after the
parade had passed the entrance for the second
time, Elder Bawker having been dislodged
by a triumph of mechanical genius.
Of course the intoxicated person subsided,
and the grumblings changed to murmurs of
admiration. The procession, which had been
waiting for the outlet to clear, now quickly
returned to the menagerie tent ; and except
2ln Bmateur performance. 135
for the solitary march of the white elephant,
all was ready for the regular performance.
Just as the doctor started toward the
exit a mischievous boy in the audience
in front shied a round, fiat ginger-cake,
which, scaling through the air with fatal
precision, knocked off the doctor's high silk
hat, and rolled it well toward the other side
of the ring.
From that side, the whole array of eques
trian talent was entering the arena for its
grand preliminary manoeuvres.
The sight of so many trampling steeds
charging upon his hat spurred Dr. Van
Nuynthlee to the utmost speed consistent
with personal dignity and with the con
spicuous nature of his situation. In exhort
ing the equestrian artists to avoid his hat,
and in his own efforts to avoid the rearing
and plunging horses, he of course created
much confusion. This was increased by a
trick donkey, which, with a clown personat
ing a large and corpulent policeman, supplied
the element of comedy in this part of the
performance.
Seeing a person of similar figure to its
ordinary colleague engaged in the usual re
criminations with the performers, it galloped
136 people at flMsgab.
prematurely into the ring, and embarrassed
Dr. Van Nuynthlee by getting in his way,
kicking up its heels, and generally urging at
tention to the customary programme.
The crowd had now jumped to the con
clusion that this victim of circumstances was
a clown made up as a person of great im
portance, and that it was all a regular feature
of the show.
In view of their mistake in supposing him
to be the proprietor, the antics in which he
was now indulging evoked the more uproari
ous mirth.
When the doctor had at last recovered his
hat and was passing out at the further side
of the ring, the ring-master, either provoked
by the intrusion on his domain or for the
further delectation of the multitude, gave
two or three loud and alarming snaps with
his whip-lash close to the heels of the de
parting intruder. The doctor, after several
jumps which did great credit to his agility,
turned around to rebuke with vigor the au
thor of this indignity. The realistic by-play
convulsed the audience with delight, and he
retired amid tumultuous applause.
In passing out he noticed a commotion in
the reserved seats above, and, looking up, be-
Bn Bmateur iperformance. 137
held Mrs. Suydam. She stood with her
stony gaze fixed upon him, while Miss Petti-
grew was entreating her to resume her seat.
The ladies happening to drive toward Do-
than Mills had noticed the crowds wending
their way thither, and to break the monotony
of rural life had followed an erratic impulse
to attend the circus.
As he disappeared from view the doctor
managed to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Suydam
sinking into the arms of her companion.
The genuine clown came to the assistance of
his under-study without the least professional
jealousy, and congratulated Dr. Van Nuyn-
thlee warmly upon his artistic triumph.
With the aid of other employees his hat was
restored, and he was assisted to the open air.
In a half-dazed condition he wandered about
the grounds until discovered by Deacon
Meiggs's boy, who had been loath to leave the
circus, and under his guidance the horse and
buggy were found, and they set out for North
Pisgah.
By a powerful effort the doctor gradually
roused himself to meet the problems demand
ing immediate attention. As they neared
the house of Mr. Slack, who had promised
to dispose of the slaughtered cow for the
138 people at pfsgab.
doctor's benefit, he was filled with mingled
hope and anxiety at seeing that worthy gen
tleman in front of his barn just hitching his
horse into his lumbering wagon. Mr. Slack
had seated himself, and was taking up the
reins as they drove up.
" Why, haow be ye?" he inquired as he rec-
cognized the doctor. " Well suited to see
ye. Hed fust-rate luck," he continued with
a grin of satisfaction. " Worked off a hull
side o' the critter."
"What did you get for it?" asked the
doctor eagerly."
"Hey?"
" What did you get for it?" shouted the
doctor, still louder.
" Waall," he answered, probably surmising
the drift of the question, "I traded with
Hank Eunnels, that drives meat cart over to
Thermopperly Meetin' Haouse, an' I guess I
made a pooty slick trade, if I dew say it.
Got some sparrer grass," he continued, as
he drew a blanket off a heap of meat and
vegetables in the back part of his wagon,
"an' a hind quarter o' lamb, some of the best
you ever see, and a nice mess o' garden sass,
an' "
"But didn't you get any money?" yelled
an amateur performance. 139
the doctor despairingly. Mr. Slack did not
hear, but it was too evident that he had not
done so. Leaving the surprised Mr. Slack
without further ceremony, they drove home
ward.
It was just as they were turning into the
yard that he noticed a group of four or five
persons in a grove behind the orchard. The
unfortunate experience with Adolphus had
passed from his mind until this moment.
Now it flashed upon him that the " obsick-
wys" were in progress. Major and Mrs. Peavy
were of course there as chief mourners. He
thought he could distinguish Aunt Olimpy.
The far-reaching tones of Gappy were plainly
audible, gabbing forth advice and condolence.
Having no heart for an interview with the
choleric major he hurried into the house.
It was now late in the afternoon, and almost
time to set out for the night train. Since
breakfast he had eaten nothing but a few
ginger-cakes, and was just beginning to de
vour some bread and butter when his young
friend rushed in to announce that they "was
all comin' " back to the house. The doctor
dropped his luncheon, hurried after his
travelling bags, and tiptoed out into the
wood-shed.
140 {people at ptsgab.
Then he took refuge in the barn, where
Deacon Meiggs was intercepted as he rode in
on a load of hay.
Before setting out in the morning Dr.
Van Nuynthlee had dispatched a message to
Mr. William Blood, in the hope of finding
that gentleman in a mood to reconsider the
sale of the cow.
He was gratified to learn from Deacon
Meiggs that, after great delay, a reply to this
appeal had been received. The deacon went
to his coat which hung upon a peg in the
barn, and took from an inner pocket a large
wallet, wherein he was wont to preserve im
portant documents.
Unwinding the convolutions of the leather
strap, he brought from an interior compart
ment a soiled and crumpled paper, closely
folded.
The messenger reported that upon perusal
of the doctor's letter, William Blood had
called in his chore boy to transcribe an ap
propriate response.
It was habitual with Mr. Blood to delegate
to his youthful assistant any task resembling
active physical effort. This rule was ne
cessitated by an unfortunate incident in his
early maritime experience.
Bu amateur iperformance. 141
Having been sent aloft, during his career
as able seaman, in a state of more than nor
mal intoxication, he had fallen from the
principal steeple of the edifice. It was the
common report that, by some inscrutable
dispensation, he had escaped any serious
damage ; but the accident was always referred
to with melancholy resignation by Mr. Blood,
as having caused certain mysterious internal
injuries, and permanent organic displace
ments which rendered the excitement of
bodily labor hazardous in the extreme.
Mr. Blood was never more eloquent than
when discussing the obscure physiological
problems connected with this infirmity.
The habit which it superinduced had be
come so fixed that duties involving the
least exertion were always performed vicari
ously.
Accordingly his assistant was, of course,
summoned to act as amanuensis or more
precisely speaking, as aboyuensts.
In the absence of stationery a fly leaf was
detached from the family copy of Fox's Book
of Martyrs. A little dried ink being dis
covered at the bottom of the ink-bottle,
sufficient water was added to produce a
writing fluid. A cup of sand for blotting
10
142 people at plsgab.
purposes was readily obtained from the hen
yard.
After the youth had twisted his lower
limbs around the chair, and had distorted
his upper person into the proper attitude for
penmanship, and had distributed a suitable
quantity of ink upon his face and hands, he
stuck his tongue into his left cheek and was
ready for literary labor.
William Blood stood over him and dictated
with blear-eyed solemnity ; but owing to the
slow and painful progress of the scribe, the
effect of his fluent and exuberant diction
was wholly lost. There was little in the
letter to suggest its authorship except a slight
flavor of the sermons of the Rev. Habakkuk
Harrower, which by reason of frequent pe
rusal had exerted an influence upon Mr.
Blood's literary style.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee's letter had referred
in guarded language to the inequitable con
ditions of the sale, and proposed that the
cow be returned and the money restored upon
deducting a sufficient sum to compensate the
owner for his trouble. This amount the
doctor was willing to have determined by a
neighboring Justice of the Peace, or by any
disinterested citizen.
Sn Smatcur performance. 143
The reply read as follows :
esteamed frend i Soled you the Cow and i
do not want to Back owt i am Ammaized if
there is eny dout abowt being a fare Trade i
do not dissire to leave it to a justis of the piece
i am wiling to leve it to that Grate and Impotent
judge before whom nuthing shal be conceeled
if she gets off her fead let her hav a little soft
foder i am not bring meny cowes now but if i
disside to by eny catel i wil examin your stok
befour perchessing Elsware mi Agid nmther has
ben feling verry Slim sense i soled you the cow
i rimmark in the thurd place that sense i Soled
you the cow i hav bin Seezed with a Sevear
heddake and i am in no Condishun to do bisnis
but i hoap to be restoard to ushal helth
hoapeing thes fu lines will find you injoying
the Same blesing i sine miself
Your tru frend
WILUAM BLOOD
It was evident that no pecuniary relief
would be obtained from "William Blood.
The doctor was obliged to throw himself
upon the mercy of Deacon Meiggs, who was
induced to await his " boarder's " return to
New York before receiving the balance of
his account, as well as compensation for
damage to property.
The doctor's remaining funds were suffi
cient to met his expenses in the mean time,
144 people at pfsgab.
but his other anxieties made him uneasy un
til another horse was put into the buggy,
and he set out again for Dothan Mills to
take the evening train.
As they drove out of the yard Major
Peavy caught sight of the departing guest,
whom he deemed no better than a midnight
assassin, and hobbled downstairs as fast as
the rheumatic gout would permit. By the
time he arrived at the front gate they were
safely out of reach, but the major's loud
denunciations pursued them for a long dis
tance.
XI.
INEXHAUSTIBLE MINE.
HEN" the station had heen reached
and the train was fairly under
way, the doctor breathed more
freely; and his relief at escaping
from a region so fertile in mishaps enabled
him to look forward to a night of railway
discomfort with some serenity.
He carefully avoided all passengers of
bucolic aspect, and selected a seat by a gen
tleman whose appearance and apparel were
distinctly urban.
He impressed the doctor at a casual glance
as one who sustained the burden of great
public or business cares.
The air of absorption in important affairs
was deepened by a certain carelessness in
dress. Upon the frock coat, which enhanced
the dignity of his portly person, several
buttons were frayed about the periphery or
hung by loose and uncertain tenure.
14f>
146 people at ptsgab.
On the back and elbows was something of
the superficial lustre developed by long at
trition. The shoulders required the minis
trations of a whisk broom, while the expanse
in front was decorated with souvenirs of the
wearer's gastronomic achievements.
But the man was one in whose presence
such petty details were scarcely noticed.
His luxuriant growth of hair and military
bearing gave him an unmistakable air of
distinction. He wore a silk hat with " bell"
crown, and unusually wide brim. The effec
tively trimmed whiskers upon the side face
were trained away from the mouth. About
that clear-cut feature the face was shaven.
The effect in some way suggested the idea of
decks cleared for action.
He quietly observed his new neighbor.
Owing to a cold contracted at North Pisgah,
Dr. Van Nuynthlee wore a light overcoat
tightly buttoned up to the chin. There was
thus nothing in his dress to announce the
clergyman. His sunburnt face and substan
tial figure were suggestive rather of the
prosperous man of business.
"A picturesque region, sir," the gentle
man remarked in rich tones and with dis
tinct enunciation.
Bn flnejbaustiblc flMne. 147
The doctor could not do otherwise than
assent.
" A beautiful country, sir. The garden
spot of America. Yet how few of these per
sons about us realize that we are at this
moment passing over a mine, sir ; a mine of
inexhaustible and illimitable wealth, sir."
The doctor replied briefly that he had
formed no such conception of the mineral re
sources of Vermont.
" You may have done me the honor to ob
serve that I employed the phrase ' inexhausti
ble wealth', sir the phrase was not used, if
I may venture the assurance, unadvisedly,
not unadvisedly, sir.
" Your permanent residence, if you will
pardon the digression, is not of course
er r?" resumed the gentleman inquiringly.
"My home is in the city of New York,"
responded Dr. Van Nuynthlee, somewhat
curtly.
" I was confident of it, sir. I hope, how
ever, you are more fortunate than myself in
the matter of summer leisure. I trust your
sojourn has been purely one of pleasure."
"No, sir," said the doctor with some em
phasis, "it has not."
" Ah ! pray pardon me, sir. I perceive
148 people at
that your interests here are partially, at least,
of a practical nature. Are you an owner,
may I ask, of dairy cattle?"
" Er well, not to a very considerable ex
tent," replied the doctor.
" Quite possibly you have made some pur
chases upon the present trip, sir?"
The doctor, recalling his transactions with
Messrs. Slack and Blood, felt constrained to
nod his assent, though in a deprecating
manner.
" You speak modestly, sir, but with credit
to your business sagacity. Our men of
wealth, very generally, are discovering the
advantages of dairy culture upon an exten
sive scale, sir; it happens that I am indi
rectly interested in the subject myself.
Permit me to hand you a card. Let me in
troduce myself, sir: General Pealer E.
Smoot General Smoot, sir, a name which
has not been unfamiliar at Washington,
Albany and other capitals, though of late my
business interests have centred at your own
city, sir. I may say that I have necessarily
gravitated to the city of New York, sir, as
the financial metropolis of the Western
World."
" You consider New York your permanent
Bn Unesbaustible flMne. 149
home, I presume," interpolated the doctor,
with a view to turning the conversation from
his own investments.
"As permanent, sir, as the cosmopolitan
character of my pursuits will permit; New
York, I may say, and London, sir, New
York and London."
Dr. Van Nuynthlee remarked that he had
observed with interest the capitalizing of
many of our industries upon the basis of
British investment.
" It could not have escaped your notice,
sir, though you may not realize the difficulties
which have been surmounted in the field of
practical financeering. " The combinations
and consolidations in modern industry are
problems which have claimed the attention
of our greatest minds in finance. The power
of planning vast undertakings, of negotiating
gigantic operations, is a gift, sir a natural
gift. Notwithstanding the crushing weight
of responsibility, there is an indefinable plea
sure in handling wealth in stupendous masses,
sir. It has been, sir, I may say my pastime!
as well as my vocation, to promote such en
terprises; to guide the industries of our
country into productive channels ; to develop
our latent resources and to direct the atten-
150 people at ptegab.
tion of moneyed men to profitable invest
ments. My best energies have been imper
atively called to this work, and they have
been given cheerfully, sir, I may say cheer
fully, sir."
" Your visit to the mountains, I trust,
has proved restful," said the doctor, im
pressed by the magnitude of General Smoot's
operations.
" Incidentally, sir, incidentally so. I have
been in consultation with a gentleman of
wealth, sir, a close personal friend: one of a
syndicate, sir a rather influential syndicate.
These gentlemen are interested in the re
organization of certain manufacturing in
dustries upon a corporate basis, sir ; a project
of colossal aggrandizement, sir. I have con
sented to associate myself with the enterprise.
A Herculean labor. But I shall swing it, sir,
I shall swing it."
" Our men of business, I fear, hardly do
themselves justice in the matter of recrea
tion."
" We must content ourselves, sir, with
such recreation as may be incidental to busi
ness; and this, sir, brings me again to the
subject with which I was preoccupied when
our acquaintance began.
Uneibaustible flMne.
" I happen to be engaged at this time upon
such a diversion. The friend of whom I
spoke, by his physician's advice, passes his
summers in Vermont. His tastes led him,
like yourself, to accumulate a herd of im
ported cattle. "With a view to disposing of
the dairy produce, he took a controlling in
terest in a creamery at Meacham, a spot
which we are approaching, sir; the centre of
a rich dairy district, sir. The condition of
his health and the exigences of business,
have caused him to tire of this additional
care. He is a man to whom profits upon a
minor investment offer no attraction. In
short, sir, he has determined to sacrifice this
valuable property.
" He begged me to advise him as to its dis
position, and from personal considerations
I could not refuse. I consented to run over
to Meacham and examine the plant. This
is my mission, sir. Though a trivial mat
ter, it has led me to grasp the subject in its
larger scope. With my practised eye, I see
here a future of vast remuneration, sir."
"I have not observed," said Doctor Van
Nunythlee sceptically, " that the sale of
dairy products has enriched the native popu
lation."
152 people at
" True, sir ; true. The fault has been one
of method. The business has been done with
some profit by individuals, but what is
wanted, sir, is some master hand to take
these hostile and scattered interests, using
wasteful and primitive methods, and weld
them into one harmonious system. If I had
the time, I would consolidate the entire dairy
interests of New England. I would do it, sir.
I would revolutionize this great but dormant
industry ; or rather, sir, I would prepare it
for the revolution which is close at hand.
" My dear sir, has your attention been
called to the revelations of the census? Are
you aware that the pasturage of this country
is now fully utilized? That the number of
cattle has reached its maximum, sir its ex
treme limit, sir?
" Now, sir, have you studied the reports of
the world's grain supply? Do you realize
that, from this time, every available foot of
pasturage must be absorbed by an extending
acreage of wheat and other grains?
" Let me ask you further, sir, do you ap
preciate the enormous increase of foreign and
domestic demand for beef for beef, sir?
" Have you thought, that of our decreasing
pasturage a greater portion will be constantly
2ln flncrbaustible /IIMne. 153
taken for the raising of beef cattle? that
dairy farming will be confined to a few locali
ties? Now, sir, do you know how often the
population of this country doubles itself?
Do you realize that our children will see here
two hundred millions of human beings de
manding a supply of milk, butter, and cheese?
When they talk of golden butter, it will
mean something, sir; it will mean some
thing. And where will this industry con
centrate? Here, sir. Eight here, sir. The
future of the West and South lies in the
raising of staple crops and beef cattle. In
this favored region, a market for dairy pro
ducts comes to the door of the producer.
Every summer an increasing tide pours in
from the cities, exchanging its wealth for the
luxuries of the country. These mighty
causes are already at work, sir. The laws of
economics are inexorable, sir. Supply and
demand will regulate values as sure as fate,
sir, as sure as fate.
" And now, sir, at the very focus of these
converging Titanic forces lies a quiet hamlet
called Meacham, the very heart of the opu
lent dairy region of the future. I hold the
key to the situation, sir. The establishment
of creameries at central points was the first
154 ffieoplc at pfsgab.
strategic move. The next step must be to
bring such establishments under the control
of men of large ideas. As I said before, here
is a mine, sir, a mine of inexhaustible wealth.
Have you not in your own experience looked
upon the cow as a veritable treasure-house,
sir."
" Why er I can hardly say, at least in
the sense you "
" My dear sir, I wish that I were in your
position, that I might devote my energies
and my private fortune to this pursuit. I
wish that I were free to devote myself in this
land of summer charm to the mere accumu
lation of riches. But I must leave that to
others. Your own interests, I understand,
centre near this point. Are your herds ex
clusively of the Jersey stock, sir?"
"No sir, I fear I"
" Not at all, sir. I am one of those who
believe that other strains let us say the
Guernsey, or perhaps the Holstein but our
time is short, sir. I am confident that
it would interest you to examine this estab
lishment. It is not unlikely that some
deal "
But at this juncture the doctor saw the
necessity of explaining unmistakably that
Bit 1fner.bau0tible flMne. 155
lie was only in the market as a seller, not as
a purchaser.
General Smoot relinquished the immediate
hope of a commission upon sale of the
creamery, and left the subject.
He dropped into an easy, conversational
style, though retaining something of the
courtly manner of the old school. His con
versation teemed with entertaining reminis
cences of public men, and of episodes in the
world of finance.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee was really charmed.
It was a return to a refreshing and delightful
atmosphere.
" AVe shall be due at Meacham in less than
ten minutes," remarked the general, con
sulting his watch.
The doctor heard him with genuine re
gret.
"By the way," said the general with a
hearty laugh, " I met to-day with a singular
mishap. I was riding with a party of friends
when the discussion of the creamery arose.
On my return I found that the time for
catching the train for Meacham was ex
tremely short. I made a hasty change of
attire, and drove rapidly to the station.
You can imagine my annoyance at finding
156 people at
that my roll of bills was left behind in my
riding suit. Ha! ha! really it was a most
ludicrous dilemma I am not the man to
turn back, sir. I found that I had sufficient
change in my pocket to buy a ticket, and
here I am, sir, here I am.
" Our brief acquaintance has been, to me,
so exceptionally pleasant, that I almost feel
emboldened to ask a nominal accommoda
tion, sir; my position is extremely awkward
sir. If a trifle of say twenty-five dollars
I shall have access to my check-books
to-morrow. Pray let me take your next
address -- "
" Why, sir, by a curious mischance I re
gret to -- "
" My dear sir, I could not for an instant
think of causing you any substantial incon
venience; why, possibly an insignificant sum
like ten dollars, or even the absurd -- "
Just at this crisis a fortuitous occurrence
came to Dr. Van Nuynthlee's relief.
An elderly gentleman in the seat immedi
ately in front had seemed to be interested in
the topic of General Smoot's earlier conver
sation. His gold-bowed spectacles gave him
a scholarly appearance. As the chill of the
summer evening made itself felt, he had
Bn ITnejbaustible flhine. 157
thrown a gray shawl about his stooping
shoulders.
He was a Bostonian of culture and of in
dependent income, who, as it happened, had
recently become an enthusiastic adherent of
cremation, and was occupied with the in
vestigation of that subject.
After a week in the White Mountains, he
was on his way to examine a large and per
fect crematory near Albany.
He had the misfortune to be very deaf.
In General Smoot's enthusiastic discourse,
he had mistaken the oft-repeated word
" creamery" for .the similar term which ab
sorbed his own attention.
As the general spoke of leaving the train
to inspect an important creamery, his in
tense interest led him to join in the conver
sation.
" I trust, gentlemen, that my intrusion
will not appear inexcusable; but my pro
found personal interest in the subject which
I could not but hear you discussing has
prompted me to make a few inquiries."
"Have no hesitation, sir," said the
general heartily. " It is gratifying to know
of your interest in this important subject."
" I must trouble you to raise your voice
11
158 people at
a trifle," said the cremationist, " as my hear
ing is slightly impaired."
The general repeated the assurance in a
loud tone.
" Was I correct, sir, in understanding that
you are about to visit one of these establish
ments?"
The general succeeded in convincing his
new friend that he had been under no mis
apprehension ; that the structure in question,
with all its appointments, was as completely
equipped as any in the country.
"Indeed! indeed!" exclaimed his eager
auditor, " you surprise me. I must say I
had no idea that the movement had made
such progress in this direction. I should
hardly have imagined that there was sufficient
support among the local population to sus
tain such an establishment."
" The people, sir, are rapidly awaking to
its advantages, sir. The support of the
system is now nearly universal, sir. The old
methods are almost discarded, sir."
"Indeed! this is most encouraging and
most important. But pray tell me of the
facilities for urning -- "
"Earning facilities," interrupted the
general, expanding visibly: "My dear sir,
an 1Fncjbau0tlble fliMne. 159
the earning capacity would astound you- it
would astound you, sir. The results will fill
you with amazement. You must judge for
yourself, sir. You must see it in person, sir. "
" If it happened so that I might really ob
serve the practical operation of the pro
cess "
" You shall observe it to-morrow, sir. I
am on my way thither for that especial pur
pose."
"Indeed! indeed! Are you summoned
on this especial occasion, may I inquire, by
ties of personal interest? Is a friend or
relative ?
" A friend, sir ; a warm personal friend ;
a man, sir, of wealth and influence; a man
who was prominently identified with the new
system, sir, but he has been called to other
er "
"Ah, yes. Ah, yes. I understand you,
sir. Though a stranger, I assure you sin
cerely that the day would be to me one of
rare interest; certainly a very unusual op
portunity, sir; but really my plans are al
ready shaped. I am now on my way to ex
amine a similar structure in the State of New
York, perhaps the most perfect in its ap
pointments of any in the country."
160 people at flMsgab.
" My dear sir, let me give you my personal
assurance, based upon careful investigation,
that there is nothing in the State of New
York entitled to a moment's consideration,
in comparison with what I can exhibit within
a few miles of where we are now speaking.
Indeed, I believe we are now approaching
the station. "
In the very brief time that remained,
General Smoot poured into the dull but ap
preciative ear of his latest acquaintance a
glowing appeal for the immediate inspection
of the object of their mutual interest.
The gentleman was torn by conflicting
emotions, but at the very last moment con
cluded to disembark, which he did; leaving,
as Dr. Van Nuynthlee afterward discovered,
several boxes and bundles scattered about his
seat.
At the last glimpse which Dr. Van Nuynth
lee obtained, General Pealer E. Smoot was
assisting his prospective customer across the
platform, and bending over him with def
erential solicitude.
Knowing nothing of their mutual mis
take, the doctor, of course, did not consider
the probable results of their mutual disap
pointment.
XII.
A CONVIVIAL REUNION".
T about eight o'clock, they readied
a "junction" which proved, like
all of its name, a dis-junction,
and where it was necessary to wait
nearly an hour for the out-going train.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee wandered restlessly
into the " deepo," and began to examine the
railway maps upon the walls.
He observed that Vermont is exceptionally
rich injunctions. Her railways are laid out
at right angles with each other, as nearly as
topographical conditions would permit, and
each and every angle has and is a junction.
A brief study of the time tables convinced
him that the periods for which the travel
ler was scheduled to await his " connecting
train," varied from a fleeting hour to unde
termined stretches of duration lost in the
awful abysm of eternity.
The curiosities displayed upon the lunch
counter attracted his notice. There were
161
Ipcople at
specimens of fossilized sponge cake, and of
some early stratified formation exhibited un
der the pleasant pseudonym of ham sand
wiches. He observed, also, an ingenious
fly-trap, which happened to be labelued:
" Old-fashioned Molasses Gingerbread."
But the object of especial interest was an
edible conglomerate peculiar to Vermont
junctions. It is a hybrid, obtained by cross
ing the ordinary household doughnut with a
dried apple turnover. In structural design
and durability, as well as in elasticity of tex
ture, it might be described as a fried wood-
chuck trap. The doctor refreshed himself
with a glass of raspberry "srub," and took a
seat by a window. Outside, an asthmatic
freight engine wheezed back and forth, first
on one side, then on the other, till it found
the best location for belching its tartarean
fumes into the waiting-room.
Doctor Van Nuynthlee wondered whether
all the other junctions were like this junc
tion.
An overgrown youth clumped up in a
heavy pair of cowhide boots over which he
had imperfect control, and confided to the
doctor that he was " li'ble to turns, and kinder
liked ter set 'longside o' some feller that was
B Convivial Reunion. 163
stout-built and willing to make hisself
handy." The doctor walked to the door
in search of a more cheering prospect.
Through the deepening gloom, he saw
immediately in front a cemetery, provided
evidently for the accommodation of waiting
wayfarers who might sink under wasting and
lingering afflictions, or for such as should be
suddenly stricken down at the lunch counter.
At last the train appeared.
He hoped on the next stage of the journey
to have a seat to himself, and snatch a little
much-needed sleep; but the car gradually
filled, and at the last moment he was obliged
to share his place with a stout, oleaginous
man carrying two cotton umbrellas, and a
distended carpet-bag of unique pattern, who
squeezed himself and his belongings into the
seat.
After several ineffectual efforts to open
conversation, he continued to squirm un
easily in his crowded quarters, until during
a long stop at a way-station, he exclaimed in
tones which, as his voice was a rich but in
termittent falsetto, riveted the attention of
the whole car:
" Thar naow, I knowed I'd seen yer some
where. I was to the circus to Dothan Mills
164 people at
this mornin', an' jesnow, as I was a-thinkin'
on't over, that air donkey put me in mind
o' who you was. Yew wear yer claown
clothes all the whole o' the time, don't ye?
"Yew needn't look so meachin," he
hastened to add, observing the doctor's ex
pression of disgust ; " that was one o' the best
things in the hull show one o' the best.
Yew done noble. I should admire ter see it
agin. Mebbe yew might dew a leetle suthin'
naow to amooze the ' folks in the car ; trav-
lin's dreffle tejus.
"My name's Blum," he continued after
many inquiries as to his companion's sup
posed profession, and prodding him from
time to time to restore attention : " My
name's Blum B. Franklin Blum. I make
it my home ter Dothan Mills, but I'm agoin'
aout West along o' my niece Mar illy Blum
or Marilly Stillins that is naow. That's her
an' Hen Stillins that came inter the car with
me. They're weddiners jest merried this
mornin'. We all went ter the circus, an'
naow they're goin' aout to Nebrasky where
Hen lives. They're taking me along as fur
as loway, where my son W. Peleg Blum is
stoppin'."
The " weddiners " began to wriggle about,
B Convivial "Reunion. 165
as their personal history and prospects, in
teresting features of their courtship, etc.,
etc., were detailed in tones which made an
interested listener of every person in the car.
To their evident relief the conversation
shifted, after a time, to his own affairs and
bodily ills.
The existing ailments were of slight mo
ment compared with what he seemed to pres
age for the future. " I've hed five brothers
as died of apperplexy," he said in ominous
accents, " one arter the other, just when
they come ter be abaout my time o' life.
They wuz a shade fleshier than what be I;
but I'm a-gainin'," added Mr. Blum de-
spondingly, "I'm a-gainin'.
"Naow you're some different," he con
tinued, after observing Dr. Van Nuynthlee
with gloomy concern : " I dunno whuther
yew know it or not; but you're built jest
right for fits jest right for fits."
Goaded to desperation, the doctor went
forward to the only vacant seat in the car
beside a woman with two children, one of
whom persisted in hanging over his knee,
and beating a tattoo on his lower extremities,
while the other wailed continuously in its
mother's arms. It interfered with the doc-
166 people at
tor's coveted repose, but it was better than
Mr. Blum.
The doctor was amazed at the frequency
of stops, and at the multitude of stations,
after their kind, in each township. Thus,
after passing South Squeechee, East
Squeechee and Squeechee Falls, there would
be a prolonged stop at North Squeechee.
Then the train would be dragged to some
other Squeechee. As near as a passenger
might interpret the vociferations of the
brakeman, it was Northwest Squeechee.
Then a run of brief duration to what the
doctor understood to be Nor'west by West
Squeechee. Then still another Squeechee,
apparently W. N. W. Squeechee. In due
season the brakeman would begin, in inar
ticulate bellowings, to box the compass
in an adjoining town. The circuit of each
town's circumference was not sufficiently
rapid to make the head swim, but it was
valuable discipline for any one desirous of
tending toward some definite quarter of the
horizon.
A disagreeable boy passed through the car
from time to time, hawking various wares
which he deposited upon the persons of
passengers, and which, out of the respect al-
21 Convivial IReunion. 167
ways due to age, were generally allowed to
await his return undisturbed.
He would recede into achamber of horrors
somewhere near the engine, and return, now
with apples, again with lemonade drops, and
anon with "corn balls," clammily soldered
with molasses. After a brief respite, he
would reappear with literary matter, either
dry and ancient as his figs, or unwholesome
as his bananas.
At Eutland, which was reached at about
half -past eleven, a longer period of waiting
was to follow ; and was rather welcome to the
weary traveller, as it enabled him to go to a
hotel for several hours of sound repose.
This was his first thought, upon learning
that his train would not leave until 5 :45 in
the morning; but the ticket agent, whom
he consulted, suggested the better plan of
turning in at once in a sleeping-car that was
waiting upon a side track, to be attached to
the early train. The doctor at once engaged
a berth, and hastened out to have it made up.
This fortunate arrangement was due to the
Grand Army reunion, which had been in
progress during tne day at Eutland, the car
being specially intended for the accommoda
tion of a returning delegation of veterans
168 people at
from New York State. As they had been
prolonging the social pleasures of the re
union, and had devoted the later evening to
a little supper and refreshment after the fa
tigues of the day, the doctor had been al
lowed abundant time to compose himself for
the night, before they were ready to seek
their quarters in the "sleeper." He had
been sound asleep for about fifteen minutes
long enough to sink into the very depths
of oblivious slumber.
When the noisy excursionists entered the
car, he did not immediately awake. His reg
ular and very audible breathing continued
for some moments. Then followed several
broken, irregular puffings from behind the
closed curtains.
The veterans hushed their noisy demon
strations to await developments. There was
a violent, explosive snort, and commotion
within. The curtain was jerked aside, and
the startled face of Dr. Van Nuynthlee ap
peared. Not half awakened, his eyes were
dazzled by the bright lights. The notion
first occurred to his bewildered brain that it
was broad daylight. "Huh! er er" he
ejaculated wildly to the crowd: "Is this
Saratoga? Have I er time to dress?"
a Convivial IReunion. 169
The varied responses thus called forth re
assured the doctor as to the immediate neces
sity of arising, and after looking at his watch,
he sank back despondently upon his pillow.
In such a babel of hilarity, he found that
sleep was impossible. None of the veterans
seemed to think of retiring. Most of them
extemporized card-tables as if to make a
night of it. One individual, in a state of
unreasonable inebriety, became possessed of
the conviction that Dr. Van Nuynthlee had
a pack of cards which he was reluctant to
loan. The doctor put his head out between
the curtains, and assured him in unmis
takable terms that this was not the case.
After a short silence the request was re
peated: " Wuncher lemme take yer cards? "
The doctor took no notice of the inquiry.
" You needn't be so skeered of your old cards.
I'll pay yer for the use ovvum."
The doctor was obliged to invoke all the
powers of his eloquence before he could ob
tain relief. His mind, thus excited, reverted
to the events of the past two days and their
probable consequences, and it would have
been difficult for him to sleep again under
the most favorable circumstances. The
games of cards were long and exciting. It
170 people at flMsgab.
was toward morning when the veterans be
gan to retire to their berths. Two en
thusiastic revellers, who had secured the
berth above the doctor, were among the last
to turn in, and were long in composing
themselves to slumber.
It was after daybreak, and the doctor was
overpowered with drowsiness; but one anx
iety still kept him awake. He was so im
pressed with the awful possibility of over
sleeping, that he resolutely kept awake until
after the car was attached to the train, and
the conductor, as well as the porter, had
given solemn pledges to arouse him.
The train was due at Saratoga at 8:40,
allowing two full hours of welcome rest.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee was soon asleep, and his
exhausted system asserted its claim to deep,
restful slumber.
The next sensation of which he was con
scious, was a sharp blow on one of his legs.
One of the veterans, having begun to dress,
with rather unsteady nerves had dropped a
shoe upon the doctor's knee as it projected
over the edge of the berth. He raised him
self instantly, with eyes half opened, and ex
claimed, " Oh ! ah ! er yes I was just going
to jump up."
B Convivial IReunion. 171
But as he became fully awake, he observed
two legs dangling before his eyes from the
berth above, with blue woollen socks settled
about the ankle.
A suspicion that he had overslept broke
upon the doctor's mind. For a moment he
listened breathlessly. The owner of the
dangling limbs was endeavoring to dress,
and seemed exerting himself to complete the
conventional connections between certain of
his garments. After considerable grunting
and squirming, the doctor heard him re
mark to his companion in gruff and queru
lous tones: " Sumthin's bust in the night.
Some button's give way."
The doctor clawed around until he found
his watch, and gazed at it with the glare of
a maniac. It was but twenty minutes after
six. He had been asleep less than an hour.
He was now so thoroughly aroused that
he gave up all hope of sleep; and after lying
in the berth for half an hour longer, rose
and made his toilet.
The long train, with its crowded cars,
dragged more and more slowly. Some func
tional debility in the engine increased the
usual delays of an excursion train. Even
this reduced vitality was largely wasted in
172 jpeopte at
nerve-dissecting whistlings. All the cows
along the line seemed to have broken loose
from their indifferent pasturage, to crop the
luxuriant herbage between the rails. The
doctor learned that the train was already
about an hour behind schedule time.
At Saratoga, the culminating session of
the Interdenominational Ecumenical Con
gress, set apart for the address of Dr. Van
Nuynthlee, was to convene at half after nine
o'clock for the accommodation of delegates
anxious to depart by early trains. Unless
the train " made up" lost time, it could not
reach Saratoga until after that hour. And
there was no sign of " making up." On the
contrary, they were now reaching the region
where the veterans commenced to disembark
always with great deliberation. No ac
commodation train was ever more accommo
dating. The train began to slow up at
every cross-road. Then the doctor, in de
lirious anxiety, fancied that it stopped at
every telegraph pole. Soon it paused at the
end of each particular rail on the track, then
at every cross tie.
When it came to a final stop in the station
at Saratoga, the hands of the clock pointed
to 10:21.
XIII.
THE ECUMENICAL COXGEESS.
T the Convention Hall, a few dele
gates had gathered about the door
as early as nine o'clock. A quar
ter of an hour later, they were
pouring in in great masses. By half after
nine the immense auditorium was packed to
suffocation.
About the desk a group of distinguished
gentlemen are engaged in earnest and anxious
conversation. They cast frequent looks of
eager expectation toward the main entrance.
Ther ebegin to be indications of restless in
quiry throughout the vast audience.
At ten o'clock the venerable President
Stuart Eobertson, the chairman of the occa
sion, explains that the arrival of the distin-"
guished orator of the day has been unfort
unately delayed, but that several telegrams
received this morning offer assurance that
their patience will soon be more than re
warded.
12 173
174 people at jpfegab.
At the suggestion of Prof. Meade, the
great assembly united in the stirring music
of a grand and familiar hymn.
After another pause, and considerable so
licitation from President Robertson, Arch
deacon Marrow utters a few words of con
gratulation upon the work accomplished by
the Congress. Other eminent guests of the
Congress are, with some difficulty, induced
to aid in occupying the time.
Finally, a few delegates, who were anxious
to connect with early homeward trains,
and who despair of Dr. Van Nuynthlee's ap
pearance, begin to slip out of the hall. The
movement becomes more general. Gentle
men gather here and there in groups, and
the assemblage gives indications of break
ing up.
President Eobertson and others occupying
places of honor on the platform eagerly strive
to stem the tide. They announce that the
news from messengers and telegrams all
indicates that Dr. Van Nuynthlee's arrival
may be expected at any moment.
The effect is only temporary. Toward half
after ten o'clock, a considerable part of the
great congregation has departed. The re
mainder is disorganized and very impatient.
^Ecumenical Congress. 175
This was the situation, when a commotion
'about the door announced the appearance of
Dr. Van Nuynthlee. As he entered the
hall, there was a general movement to wel
come him, and ask the cause of his delay.
The doctor rather evaded such inquiries, and
passed forward as directly as possible to the
platform. A few moments were occupied
in greeting the distinguished gentlemen
gathered there, and President Eobertson
then stepped forward and uttered a few
words of courteous and appropriate intro
duction.
Dr. Van Nuynthlee arose, and advanced
with commanding dignity to the desk. In
the surpassing significance of the occasion,
the petty annoyances of the past few days
were forgotten. Yet it was too much to ex
pect to see the doctor at his best.
In such a presence, to be sure, mere ex
ternals would count for little; but certain
things, strange and disquieting, could not
be unnoticed.
Since the speaker's collision with Deacon
Meiggs' stove, his wonted benignity of
countenance has been marred by a strip of
court-plaster across the nose, and a protuber
ant discoloration over one eye. Prolonged
176 people at fiMsgab.
exposure to the sun has roughened and in
flamed his visage.
Since his tardy arrival, there has been no
time to invoke the good offices of a barber.
From the moment when the writer laid
down his pen at daybreak on Tuesday, there
has been no leisure to review the hasty pen
manship. This disadvantage, coupled with
a certain unsteadiness of nerve, lent to the
doctor's delivery at times a trifling incoher
ence. This was not lessened by his efforts to
abbreviate, out of regard to the long detention
of the audience. The portion of the dis
course, which depicted the insignificance of
chance and circumstance in the individual
life, was passed over in special haste. This
modification may have weakened slightly the
superstructure of analogy and induction, but
under the spell of eloquence it was not likely
to attract attention.
The general effect was powerful and im
pressive, and the orator was surrounded at
the close with flattering congratulations.
The delegates were so anxious to turn home
ward, that the hall was soon almost empty.
President Robertson and Bishop Onderdonk
accompanied Doctor Van Nuynthlee down the
aisle. At the door he excused himself, say-
Ecumenical Congress. 177
ing that he would look for his valise and
umbrella, which had been handed to an at
tendant on his hurried arrival, and join
them later at their hotel.
As the attendant was not at the moment
in sight, the doctor proceeded himself to
the parlor where his belongings had been
placed. It was darkened by drawn curtains,
but seats for twenty or thirty persons ranged
about the room, indicated that it had been
used as a committee room during the sessions
of the Congress.
The doctor closed the door, and seated
himself fora moment in the large, comforta
ble chair which had evidently been used by
the presiding officer at meetings of com
mittees.
Opening his valise to replace his manu
script, he noticed a carefully tied newspaper
parcel which he had no recollection of seeing
before. The doctor unrolled the paper,
bringing to view a bountiful and substantial
lunch.
During his absence on the previous day at
Dothan Mills, Mrs. Meiggs had kindly pre
pared this refreshment, and taking it to his
room, had laid it in his valise which stood
open, and nearly packed, upon the table.
178 ipcople at
When Doctor Van Nuynthlee returned, being
in haste to avoid Major Peavy and to set out
for the evening train, he threw into the
valise his manuscript and a few small articles
which were still unpacked, snapped the bag
together, and left the house without being
aware of Mrs. Meiggs' thoughtful atten
tion.
There were hard-boiled eggs, doughnuts of
familiar pattern, and a product of culinary
miscegenation called marble cake.
Mrs Meiggs, or perhaps Aunt Olympia,
had added a little of that refresh ing beverage
cold tea. A flask, in which some whiskey
had been obtained when Grandfather Meiggs
was suffering from chills in the spring, being
of convenient size and shape, had been used
as the receptacle for this beverage.
With a smile the doctor laid the paper and
its contents on another chair beside him,
and remained seated for a short time to rest
and collect his thoughts. The relief from
worry and vexation was unspeakably soothing
and delightful. To have avoided any ex
posure to petty criticism or curious gossip
was not the least source of gratification.
Upon the chair in which he was seated a
number of papers and printed documents
tlbe Ecumenical Congress. 179
were scattered, but in the dim light he had
hardly noticed them.
The doctor was aware, of course, that the
National Convention of the Women's Chris
tian Temperance Union was to follow the
Ecumenical Congress at Saratoga.
Among members of his own church this
movement received hearty co-operation. It
was one of the good works in which Miss
Prudence Winthrop found scope for her rare
executive talents. Of course she had been
selected as a delegate to the convention ; and
when it was learned that the secretary of
the Union would be unable to attend, she had
naturally been called to the vacant post.
Her duties required Miss Winthrop to at
tend the preliminary meeting of the Commit
tee on Arrangements, which had been called
at noon to-day to discuss the plans of the fol
lowing week.
With characteristic energy, she had visited
the convention building in the morning, and
finding that the closing session of the Ecu
menical Congress was likely to be extended
until twelve o'clock, had thought a half-
hour's postponement of the ladies' meeting
advisable.
A number of printed reports and other
180 people at ptegab.
documents which might safely be left in the
room in the mean time, she had tossed into
the large chair by the desk, and had hurried
away to notify other members of the com
mittee.
But Dr. Van Nunythlee was unconscious
of being seated upon documents of any
kind.
During the continuous strain of the past
two weeks, anxiety in regard to the great
duty before him had never been absent from
his mind. Throughout this period he had
been almost absolutely without rest.
Against a weariness of mind and body,
which after three sleepless and harassing
nights had become almost overpowering, he
had been nerved by a sense of imperative
obligation. Now that the duty had been
actually performed and this tremendous ten
sion was relaxed, there had been an inevita
ble reaction.
He had closed his eyes for a moment of
absolute rest. Seated in this comfortable
chair, he had unconsciously yielded to the
fatigue which overwhelmed him. Soon he
sank into the helpless slumber of utter ex
haustion.
The little ornamental clock on the mantel
Bcumenlcal Congress. 181
ticked away the minutes to a quarter after
twelve to half after twelve.
There are sounds of bustling activity in
the hall-way leading to the committee room.
The committee of the Women's Christian
Temperance Union are assembling. The
ladies are about twenty in number.
What a noble band of women! What
earnest enthusiasm! What vigorous energy!
How just the retribution of any intox
icated wretch who should haplessly intrude
upon their councils. No ! It is not possible
that they can misconstrue the condition of
Dr. Van Nuynthlee in the darkened room.
And yet the impression of the first moment
may possibly be misleading.
His attitude and condition at this hour of
the day are certainly unusual. Had they
not been engrossed in such earnest conversa
tion, the ladies must have been forewarned
by the regular and sonorous breathing which
emanated from the room. As it is, they
will unquestionably be startled at the first
glance.
The doctor has now slid down quite low
in the chair, his legs stretching far out in
front in an attitude of helpless collapse.
His arms hang limp by his sides. His head
182 people at
has sunk forward on his breast. His mouth
and other features share in the general
relaxation. His lack of sleep has left its
trace in a noticable redness about the eyes.
The appearance of his hair, still permeated
by traces of the soot, is not such as to inspire
confidence. The imfortunate contusion
above the eye, with the patch across the
nose, cannot but suggest some recent alter
cation. The total lack of expression adds a
sinister disguise to his fiery and unshaven
features.
His waistcoat being loosened at the top,
and being thrown somewhat open by his
present posture, a narrow ray of light is call
ing attention to the great unclerical diamond
in his shirt front.
It is plain that even the ladies from his
own church will not at once recognize him.
The silk hat, much damaged by its experi
ence at the circus, lies upon the carpet in
front. On the chair beside him is the open
newspaper wrapper, displaying its varied
contents.
There, in plain sight, is the black flask,
with its suspicious liquid. The druggist's
label has been mostly removed, but the final
letters, K E Y, are still plainly visible.
Ecumenical Congress. 183
Will the ladies indeed believe this to be
the key to the situation? All these particu
lars must attract attention, for under the doc
tor's supremely unconscious person are the
papers left by Miss Winthrop, without which
the committee can do no business. Ends of
the documents can here and there be seen
protruding appealingly around the edge of
the chair.
Plainly it will be necessary to arouse him.
Unfortunately, as has been observed, Dr.
Van Nuynthlee does not awaken readily from
a sound sleep ; but when he is once fairly
aroused, Miss Winthrop and others of the
ladies will after a time recognize him.
Then explanations will be easy and simple.
Indeed, any future consequences of Dr. Van
Nunythlee's stay amid the Green Hills would
be too petty and insignificant to follow
further.
It was a fortunate incident which offers
an opportunity to take leave of him in the
atmosphere of such a grand and congenial
work, and in the gracious presence of gentle
sympathetic woman.
It will be a pleasure to Miss Winthrop
when she can meet Mrs. Suydam and talk
freely of summer happenings, to recall this
184 people at pfsgab.
charming, informal meeting in the com
mittee room, and to compare it with the
incidents of Dr. Van Nuynthlee's vacation in
Vermont. How creditable, then, will seem
his hearty interest in the rural festivities
at the circus; and, pleasantest of all, the
chance interview with the ladies while driv
ing home the cow that idyllic picture, dear
to the pastoral fancy.
It is possible that Miss Winthrop may un
consciously cherish traces of resentment
against the doctor for transferring his affec
tions to Mrs. Suydam, but of course such
motives will never be allowed to influence her
conduct.
Indeed, as there were delegates from the
Murray Hill Church in attendance upon both
conventions at Saratoga, there can be no dan
ger that occurrences there will be incorrectly
reported. The congregation at home will
be assured of a full and uniform account,
which will be but slightly liable to distor
tion or exaggeration, during the two short
months which the doctor is to spend abroad.
It would be both profitable and agreeable
to go with him across the sea, and to have a
part in his autumn welcome at home; but
the task of Dr. Van Nuynthlee in which the
Ecumenical Congress. 185
public properly had an interest is now com
pleted, and to follow him further would be
an intrusion on the well-earned seclusion of
summer leisure, and would also be straying
too far from People at Pisgah.
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