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away but the will be glad of our and so will the pigs though we have neither nor pigs of our own but we must certainly keep there is something very and quiet and soothing too in their and converse among themselves and in an idle and mood it is very pleasant to watch a party of picking up their daily with a gallant in the midst of milton had evidently contemplated such a picture with delight i find that i have not given a very complete idea american note books of our garden although it certainly deserves an ample record in this chronicle since my labors in it are the only present labors of my life besides what i have mentioned we have vines which to day yielded us the first of the season a bed of and another of and another of and none of which promise us a very abundant harvest in truth the soil is worn out and moreover received very little this season also we have in superfluous abundance inasmuch as we neither of us have the least affection for them and it would be unreasonable to expect the cook to eat fifty head of too we shall have by and by at our first arrival we found green peas ready for gathering and these instead of the string beans were the first offering of the garden to our board saturday august my life at this time is more like that of a boy than it has been since i was really a boy it is usually supposed that the cares of life come with matrimony but i seem to have cast off all care and live on with as much easy trust in providence as adam could possibly have felt before he had learned that there was a world beyond paradise my chief anxiety consists in watching the prosperity of my vegetables in observing how they are affected by the rain or sunshine in the of one and rejoicing at the luxurious growth of another it is as if the original relation between man and nature were restored in my case and as if i were to look exclusively to her for the support of my eve and by ic american note books to trust to her for food and clothing and all things needful with the full assurance that she would not fail me the fight with the world the struggle of a man among men the agony of the universal effort to the means of living from a host of greedy all this seems like a dream to me my business is merely to live and to enjoy and whatever is essential to life and enjoyment will come as naturally as the dew from heaven this is practically at least my faith and so i awake in the morning with a boyish as to how the of the day are to be provided for and its rendered certain after breakfast i go forth into my garden and gather whatever the mother has made fit for our present and of late days she generally gives me two and a and promises me green corn and shell beans very soon then i pass down through our orchard to the river side and along its margin in search of flowers usually discern a fragrant white lily here and there along the shore growing with sweet beyond the grasp of mortal arm but it does not escape me so i know what is its fitting destiny better than the silly flower knows for itself so i in heedless of wet trousers and seize the shy lily by its slender stem thus i make prize of five or six which are as many as usually blossom within my reach in a single morning some of them partially worm eaten or like with an eating sorrow at the heart others as fair and perfect as nature s own idea was when she first imagined this lovely flower a perfect pond lily is the most satisfactory of flowers by v ic american note books besides these i gather whatever else of beautiful chances to be growing in the moist soil by the river side an tribe yet with more richness and grace than the wild flowers of the deep and dry and hedge rows sometimes the white arrow head always the blue and broad green leaves of the which contrast and so well with the white lilies for the last two or three days i have found scattered of the cardinal flower the gorgeous scarlet of which it is a joy even to remember the world is made brighter and by flowers of such a hue even perfume which otherwise is the soul and spirit of a flower may be spared when it itself in this scarlet glory it is a flower of thought and feeling too it seems to have its roots deep down in the hearts of those who gaze at it other bright flowers sometimes impress me as wanting sentiment but it is not so with this well having made up my bunch of flowers i return home with them then ascend to my study and generally read or perchance in this journal and otherwise suffer time to onward at his own pleasure till the dinner hour in pleasant days the chief event of the afternoon and the happiest one of the day is our walk so comes the night and i look back upon a day spent in what the world would call idleness and for which i myself can suggest no more appropriate epithet but which nevertheless i cannot feel to have been spent amiss true it might be a sin and shame in such a world as ours to spend a lifetime in this manner but for a few summer weeks it is good to live american note books as if tliis world were heaven | 35 |
for with one consent they began to and themselves sullenly on the air took flight to some solitude mine probably was the first human shape that they had seen all day long at least if they had been stationary in that spot but perhaps they had winged their way over miles and miles of country had on the summit of and dined at the base of and were merely come to sup and sleep among the quiet woods of but it was my impression at the time that they had sat still and silent on the tops of the trees all through the sabbath day and i felt by v ic american books like one who should unawares disturb an assembly of a crow however has no real pretensions to religion in spite of his gravity of mien and black attire are certainly thieves and probably nevertheless their voices yesterday were in admirable accordance with the influences of the quiet sunny warm yet afternoon they were so far above my head that their loud added to the quiet of the scene instead of disturbing it there was no other sound except the song of the which is but an audible stillness for though it be very loud and heard afar yet the mind does not take note of it as a sound so entirely does it mingle and lose its individuality among the other characteristics of coming autumn alas for the summer the grass is still on the hills and in the valleys the foliage of the trees is as dense as ever and as green the flowers are abundant along the margin of the river and in the hedge rows and deep among the woods the days too are as as they were a month ago and yet in every breath of wind and in every beam of sunshine there is an influence i know not how to describe it there is a sort of coolness amid all the heat and a in the brightest of the sunshine a breeze cannot stir without thrilling me with the breath of autumn and i behold its pensive glory in the far golden among the long shadows of the trees the flowers even the brightest of them the golden rod and the gorgeous the most glorious flowers of the year have this gentle sadness amid their pomp pensive autumn is expressed in the glow of every one by v ic american note books of them i have felt this influence earlier in some years than in others sometimes autumn may be perceived even in the early days of july there is no other feeling like that caused by this faint doubtful yet real perception or rather prophecy of the year s decay so sweet and sad at the same time after leaving the book at mr s i returned through the woods and entering sleepy hollow i perceived a lady near the path which along its verge it was margaret herself she had been there the whole afternoon meditating or reading for she had a book in her hand with some strange title which i did not understand and have forgotten she said that nobody had broken her solitude and was just giving utterance to a theory that no of ever visited sleepy hollow when we saw a group of people entering the sacred most of them followed a path which led them away from us but an old man passed near us and smiled to see margaret on the ground and me sitting by her side he made some remark about the beauty of the afternoon and withdrew himself into the shadow of the wood then we talked about autumn and about the pleasures of being lost in the woods and about the whose voices margaret had heard and about the experiences of early childhood whose influence remains upon the character after the recollection of them has passed away and about the sight of mountains from a distance and the view from their and about other matters of high and low philosophy in the midst of our talk we heard footsteps above us on the high bank and by ic note books while the person was still hidden among the trees he called to margaret of whom he had gotten a glimpse then he emerged from the green shade and behold it was mr he appeared to have had a pleasant time for he said that there were in the woods to day and whispers to be heard in the breezes it being now nearly six o clock we separated margaret and mr towards his home and i towards last evening there was the most beautiful moonlight that ever this earthly world and when i went to in the river which was as calm as death it seemed like plunging down into the sky but i had rather be on earth than even in the seventh heaven just now wednesday august a i left home at five o clock this morning to catch some fish for breakfast i shook our summer apple tree and ate the golden apple which fell from it these early apples which come as a golden promise before the treasures of fruit are almost more than anything that comes afterwards we have but one such tree in our orchard but it supplies us with a daily abundance and probably will do so for at least a week to come meantime other trees begin to cast their upon the grass and when i taste them and perceive their flavor and seeds i feel somewhat overwhelmed with the impending of providence i suppose adam in paradise did not like to see his fruits on the ground after he had them by v ic i note books through the sunny days of the world s first summer however insects at the worst will hold a festival upon them so that they will not be | 35 |
thrown away in the great scheme of nature moreover i have one advantage over the adam inasmuch as there is a chance of of my superfluous fruits among people who no paradise of their own passing a little way down along the river side i threw in my line and soon drew out one of the smallest possible of fishes it seemed to be a pretty good morning for the an coolness in the air a clear sky but with a fog across the and on the surface of the river which a gentle breeze sometimes into wreaths at first i could barely discern the opposite shore of the river but as the sun arose the gradually dispersed till only a warm smoky tint was left along the water s surface the farm houses across the river made their appearance out of the dusky cloud the voices of boys were heard shouting to the cattle as they drove them to the pastures a man his and set to work in a neighboring meadow meantime i continued to stand on the margin of the stream the little fish and though the inhabitants of our river partake somewhat of the character of their native element and are but still i contrived to pull out not far from two dozen they were all a broad flat almost circular fish shaped a good deal like a but swimming on their edges instead of on their sides as far as mere pleasure is concerned it is hardly worth while to fish in our river it is so much like in a mud by v ic american note books ind one does not attach the idea of freshness and purity to the fishes as we do to those which swift transparent streams or haunt the shores of the great deep standing on the margin and throwing the line over the elder bushes that dip into the water it seems as if we could catch nothing but and mud or akin to them and even when a fish of aspect is drawn out one feels a shyness about touching him as to our river its character was admirably expressed last night by some one who said it was too lazy to keep itself clean i might write pages and pages and only obscure the impression which this brief sentence nevertheless we made bold to eat some of my fish for breakfast and found them very and the rest shall meet with due entertainment at dinner together with some green com and from our garden so this day s food comes directly and entirely from beneficent nature without the of any third person between her and us saturday august ith a tree which grows beside our house and against the window is so with fruit that i have had to it up i never saw more splendid in appearance great round crimson beauties all over the tree a tree likewise is a generous burden of small sweet fruit which will require to be eaten at about the same time as the there is something pleasantly in this superfluous abundance it is like standing under a tree of ripe apples and giving by v ic american note books it a shake with the intention of bringing down a single one when behold a dozen come about our ears but the idea of the infinite generosity and of our mother nature is well worth and i never had it so vividly as now when i find myself with the few mouths which i am to feed the sole ot the old clergyman s wealth of fruits his children his friends in the village and the guests who came to preach in his pulpit were all wont to eat and be from these trees now all these hearty old people have passed away and in their stead is a solitary pair whose are more than satisfied with the which the trees throw down at their feet we shall have now and then a guest to keep our and from g b my old fellow at the community at brook farm called on me last evening and dined here to day he has been vegetables at this summer and selling them in the market what a singular mode of life for a man of education and refinement to spend his days in hard and earnest bodily toil and then to convey the of his labor in a to the public market and there them out a of peas or beans a bunch of a a dozen ears of green com few men without some of character would have the moral strength to do this it is very striking to find such strength combined with the utmost gentleness and an uncommon regularity of nature occasionally he returns for a day or two to resume his place among scholars and idle people as for instance the present week when he by v ic american note books thrown aside lis and to attend the commencement at cambridge he is a rare man a perfect original yet without any one point a character to be felt and understood but almost impossible to describe for should you seize upon characteristic it would inevitably be altered and distorted in the process of writing it down our few days of summer have been darkened with clouds to day there has been an hour or two of hot sunshine but the sun rose amid cloud and mist and before he could dry up the moisture of last night s shower upon the trees and grass the clouds have gathered between him and us again this afternoon the thunder in the distance and i believe a few drops of rain have fallen but the weight of the shower has burst elsewhere leaving us nothing but its sullen gloom there is a warmth in the atmosphere which takes all the spring and vivacity out of the | 35 |
mind and body sunday august m still another rainy day the heaviest rain i believe that has fallen since we came to not two months ago there never was a more sombre aspect of all external nature i gaze from the open window of my study somewhat and observe the great willow tree which shades the house and which has caught and retained a whole of rain among its leaves and boughs and all the fruit trees too are dripping continually even in the brief intervals when the clouds give us a if shaken to bring down the fruit they will discharge a shower upon the by v ic i american note books bead of him who stands beneath the rain is warm coming from some southern region but the willow that it is an spell of weather by scattering down no multitude of yellow leaves which rest upon the sloping roof of the house and the gravel path and the grass the other trees do not yet shed their leaves though in some of them a lighter tint of tending towards yellow is perceptible all day long we hear the water dripping splash splash from the and and foaming into the which have been set out to receive it the old and boards of the mansion and out houses are black with the moisture which they have looking at the river we perceive that its usually smooth and surface is by the of rain drops the whole landscape grass trees and houses has a completely water soaked aspect as if the earth were wet through th wooded hill about a mile distant whither we went to gather has a mist upon its summit as if the demon of the rain were there and if we look to the sky it seems as if all the that had been poured down upon us were as nothing to what is to come once in a while indeed there is a gleam of sky along the horizon or a half sullen lighting up of the atmosphere the rain drops cease to down except when the trees shake off a gentle shower but soon we hear the broad quiet slow and sure of the rain the river if i mistake not has risen considerably during the day and its current will acquire some degree of energy in this sombre weather when some mortals almost vol ii by b american note books forget that there ever was any golden sunshine or ever will be any hereafter others seem absolutely to it from their own hearts and minds the gloom cannot them they conquer it and drive it quite out of their sphere and create a moral rainbow of hope upon the cloud as for myself i am little other than a cloud at such seasons but such persons contrive to make me a sunny one shining all through me and thus even without the support of a stated occupation i survive these sullen days and am happy this morning we read the sermon on the mount in the course of the the rain for a season and i went out and gathered some com and and picked up the of apples and and wet wet wet everything was wet the blades of the corn me the wet grass soaked my boots quite through the trees threw their reserved showers upon my head and soon the rain began anew and drove me into the house when shall we be able to walk again to the far hills and plunge into the deep woods and gather more along the river s margin the track along which we trod is probably under water now how nature is during a rain in the heat of sunny days she still some degree of mercy for us she has shady spots whither the sun cannot come but she no shelter against her storms it makes one shiver to think how dripping with wet are those deep those banks where we find such enjoyment during and what becomes of the birds in such a rain as this f is hope and by ic american note books an instinctive so mixed up with their nature that they can be cheered by the thought that the sunshine will return or do they think as i almost do that there is to be no sunshine any more very must they be among the dripping leaves and when a single summer makes so important a portion of their lives it seems hard that so much of it should be dissolved in rain i like wise am greedy of the summer days for my own sake the life of man does not contain so many of them that one can be spared without regret tuesday y august m i was promised in the midst of sunday s rain that monday should be fair and behold the sun came back to us and brought one of the most perfect days ever made since adam was driven out of paradise by the by was there ever any rain in paradise if so how must eve s bower have been and what a wretched and time must they have had on their bed of wet roses it makes me shiver to think of it well it seemed as if the world was newly created yesterday morning and i beheld its birth for i had risen before the sun was over the hill and had gone forth to fish how did all and of the earth s spirit away before one smile of the beneficent sun this proves that all gloom is but a dream and a shadow and that cheerfulness is the real truth it requires many clouds long brooding over us to make us sad but one gleam of sunshine always to cheer up the landscape the banks of the river actually laughed when the sunshine fell upon them and the river | 35 |
which i have now learned to manage with tolerable skill yesterday afternoon i made a voyage alone up the north branch of by v ic note books river there was a strong west wind blowing dead against me which together with the current increased by the height of the water made the first part of the passage pretty the black river was all over with little and and the breeze moreover caused the to beat against the bow of the boat with a sound like the flapping of a bird s wing the water weeds where they were through the water were straight outstretched by the force of the current looking as if they were forced to hold on to their roots with all their might if for a moment i from the head of the boat was swept round by the combined might of wind and tide however i toiled onward stoutly and entering the north branch soon found myself floating quietly along a tranquil stream sheltered from the breeze by the woods and a lofty hill the current likewise lingered along so gently that it was merely a pleasure to the boat against it i never could have conceived that there was so beautiful a river scene in as this of the north branch the stream flows through the privacy and deepest heart of a wood which as if but half satisfied with its presence calm gentle and as it is seems to crowd upon it and barely to allow it passage for the trees are rooted on the very verge of the water and dip their branches into it on one side there is a high bank forming the side of a hill the indian name of which i have forgotten though mr told it to me and here in some instances the trees stand leaning over the river stretching out their arms as if about to by v ic american note books plunge in on the other side the bank is almost on a level with the water and there the quiet congregation of trees stood with feet in the flood and fringed with foliage down t its very surface vines here and there themselves about bushes or or trees and hang their clusters though scanty and this season so that i can reach them from my boat i scarcely remember a scene of more complete and lovely seclusion than the passage of the river through this wood even an indian in times could not have floated onward in deeper solitude than my boat i have never elsewhere had such an opportunity to observe how much more beautiful reflection is than what we call reality the sky and the foliage on either hand and the effect of sunlight as it found its way through the shade giving hues in contrast with the quiet depth of the prevailing tints all these seemed beautiful when beheld in upper air but on gazing downward there they were the same even to the particular yet arrayed in ideal beauty which satisfied the spirit more than the actual scene i am half convinced that the reflection is indeed the reality the real thing which nature imperfectly images to our sense at any rate the shadow is nearest to the soul there were many tokens of autumn in this beautiful picture two or three of the trees were actually dressed in their coats of many colors the real scarlet and gold which they wear before they put on mourning these stood on low spots where a frost has probably by ic american note books touched them already others were of a light fresh green resembling the hues of spring though this likewise is a token of decay the great mass of the foliage however appears unchanged but ever and anon down came a yellow leaf half flitting upon the air half falling through it and finally settling upon the water a multitude of these were floating here and there along the river many of them curling upward so as to form little boats fit for to voyage in they looked strangely pretty with yet a melancholy as they floated along the general aspect of the river however differed but little from that of summer at least the difference expression it is more in the character of the rich yellow sunlight than in aught else the water of the stream has now a thrill of coolness yet whenever a broad gleam fell across it through an of the foliage multitudes of insects were darting to and fro upon its surface the sunshine thus falling across the dark river has a most beautiful effect it it as it were and yet leaves it as dark as ever on my return i suffered the boat to float almost of its own will down the stream and caught enough for this morning s breakfast but partly from a of conscience i finally put them all into the water again and saw them swim away as if nothing had happened monday october a long while indeed since my last date but the weather has been generally sunny and pleasant though often very cold and i cannot endure to waste anything so precious as sun by ic american note books shine by staying in the house so i have spent almost all the daylight in the open air my chief amusement has been up and down the river a week or two ago september and i went on a excursion with mr and was gone two days and one night it being the first and only night that i have spent away from home we were that night at the village of and the next morning walked three miles farther to the village where we mr had a discussion with two of the brethren but the particulars of it have faded from my memory and all the other adventures of the tour have now | 35 |
so lost their freshness that i cannot recall them wherefore let them rest i recollect nothing so well as the aspect of some fringed which we saw growing by the roadside and which were so beautiful that i longed to turn back and pluck them after an journey we arrived safe home in the afternoon of the second day the first time that i ever came home in my life for i never had a home before on saturday of the same week my friend b b came to sec us and stayed till tuesday morning on wednesday there was a in the village of which i would give a description if it had possessed any picturesque points the foregoing are the chief outward events of our life in the mean time autumn has been advancing and is said to be a month earlier than usual we had sufficient to kill the and vines more than t fortnight ago but there has since been some of the most delicious indian summer weather that i ever by v ic american note books lu mild sweet perfect days in which the warm sunshine seemed to embrace the earth and all earth s children with love and tenderness generally however the bright days have been vexed with winds from the somewhat too keen and high for comfort these winds have strewn our avenue with withered leaves although the trees still retain some of foliage which is now or otherwise by autumn our apples too have been falling falling falling and we have picked the fairest of them horn the grass and put them in our store room and elsewhere on thursday john flint began to gather those which remained on the trees and i suppose they will amount to nearly twenty barrels or perhaps more as usual when i have anything to sell apples are very low indeed in price and will not fetch me more than a dollar a barrel i have sold my share of the field for twenty dollars and ten of potatoes for my own use this may suffice for the economical history of our recent life a clock m just now i heard a sharp tapping at the window of ray study and looking up from my book a volume of behold the head of a little bird who seemed to demand he was probably attempting to get a which was on the pane of glass against which he and on my first motion the visitor took this incident had a furious effect on me it impressed me as if the bird had been a spiritual so strange was it that this little wild thing should to by v ic american note books november i am sorry that our journal has fallen so into neglect but i see no chance of all my will be far more than gratified in writing nonsense for the press so that any labor of the pen becomes peculiarly distasteful since the last date we have paid a visit of nine days to boston and whence we returned a week ago yesterday thus we lost above a week of delicious weather which should have been spent in the woods or upon the river ever since our return however until to day there has been a succession of genuine indian summer days with gentle winds or none at all and a misty atmosphere which all nature and a mild beneficent sunshine inviting one to lie down in a nook and forget all earthly care to day the sky is dark and lowering and occasionally lets fall a few sullen tears i suppose we must bid farewell to indian summer now and expect no more love and tenderness from mother nature till next spring be well advanced she has already made herself as in outward aspect as can well be we took a walk to sleepy hollow yesterday and beheld scarcely a green thing except the everlasting of the family of pines which indeed are trees to thank god for at this season a range of young had retained a pretty liberal of yellow or leaves which became very cheerful in the sunshine there were one or two oak trees whose foliage still retained a deep dusky red which looked rich and warm but most of the oaks had reached the last stage of decay the dusky brown hue millions of their leaves the woods by v ic note books and rustle underneath the foot but enough remain upon the boughs to make a melancholy when the wind sweeps over them we found some fringed in the meadow most of them and withered but a few were quite perfect the other day since our return from i found a violet yet it was so cold that day that a large pool of water under the shadow of some tree had remained frozen from morning till afternoon the ice was so thick as not to be broken by some sticks and small stones which i threw upon it but ice and snow too will soon be no extraordinary matters with us during the last week we have had three put up and henceforth no light of a cheerful fire will us at are detestable in every respect except that they keep us perfectly comfortable thursday november this is day a good old festival and we have kept it with our hearts and besides have made good cheer upon our turkey and and and although none sat at our board but our two selves there was a new and sense i think that we have at last found a home and that a new family has been gathered since the last day have been many bright cold days so cold that it has required a pretty rapid pace to keep one s self warm a walking day before yesterday i saw a party of boys on a pond of water | 35 |
that has a neighboring meadow running water has not yet frozen vegetation has quite come to a stand except in a few sheltered spots in a deep ditch we by american note books found a tall plant of the and green which looked as if it must have grown within the last few weeks we wander among the wood paths which are very pleasant in the sunshine of the the trees looking rich and warm such of them i mean as have retained their leaves and where the leaves are strewn along the paths or heaped in some hollow of the hills the effect is not without a charm to day the morning rose with rain which has since changed to snow and and now the landscape is as dreary as can well be imagined white with the of the soil and withered grass everywhere peeping out the swollen river of a leaden hue itself sullenly along and this may be termed the first winter s day friday march the first month of spring is already gone and still the snow lies deep on hill and valley and the river is still frozen from bank to bank although a late rain has caused pools of water to stand on the surface of the ice and the meadows are into broad lakes such a protracted winter has not been known for twenty years at least i have almost forgotten the wood paths and shady places which i used to know so well last summer and my are so much confined to the interior of our mansion that sometimes looking out of the window i am surprised to catch a glimpse of houses at no great distance which had quite passed out of my recollection from present appearances another month may scarcely suffice to wash away all the snow from the open country and in the woods by v ic j american note books and hollows it may linger yet longer the winter will not have been a day less than five months long and it would not be unfair to call it seven a great space indeed to miss the smile of nature in a single year of human life even out of the midst of happiness have sometimes sighed and groaned for love the and the green woods and the sparkling blue water and it seems as if the picture of our inward should be set in a beautiful frame of outward nature as to the daily course of our life i have written with pretty diligence from two to four hours a day and the result is seen in various magazines i might have written more if it had seemed worth while but i was content to earn only so much gold as might suffice for our immediate wants having prospect of official station and which would do away with the necessity of writing for bread those prospects have not yet had their fulfilment and we are well content to wait because an office would inevitably remove us from our present happy home at least from an outward home for there is an inner one that will accompany us wherever we go meantime the people do not pay their debts so that we taste some of the of poverty it is an annoyance not a trouble every day through snow and to the village look into the post office and spend an hour at the reading room and then return home generally without having spoken a word to a human being in the way of exercise i saw and split wood and physically i never was in a better condition than now this is chiefly owing doubtless to a satisfied heart in aid of by v ic american note books which comes the exercise above and about a fair proportion of intellectual labor on the th of this month we left home again on a visit to boston and i alone went to where i resumed all my bachelor habits for nearly a fortnight leading the same life in which ten years of my youth flitted away like a dream but how much changed was at last had caught hold of a reality which never could be taken from me it was good thus to get apart from my happiness for the sake of contemplating it on the st i returned to boston and went out to cambridge to dine with whom i had not seen since his return from europe the next day we came back to our old house which had been deserted all this time for our servant had gone with us to boston friday april th my wife has gone to boston to see her sister m who is to be married in two or three weeks and then immediately to visit europe for six months i myself to and wood there being an inward which demanded active exercise and i i think more briskly than ever before when i re entered the house it was with somewhat of a desolate feeling yet not without an pleasure as being the more conscious that all separation was temporary and scarcely real even for the uttle time that it may last after my solitary dinner i lay down with the dial in my hand and attempted to sleep but sleep would not come so i arose and began this record in the journal almost by v ic american note books at the commencement of which i was interrupted by a visit from mr who came to return a book and to announce his purpose of going to reside at island as private in the family of mr s brother we had some conversation upon this subject and upon the spiritual advantages of change of place and upon the dial and upon mr and other kindred or subjects i am glad on mr s own account that he is going away as he | 35 |
is out of health and may bs by his removal but on my account i should like to have him remain here he being one of the few persons i think with whom to hold intercourse is like hearing the wind among the boughs of a forest tree and with all this wild freedom there is high and classic cultivation in him too i had a purpose if circumstances would permit of passing the whole term of my wife s absence without speaking a word to any human being but now my vow has been broken within three or four hours after her departure saturday t april after yesterday afternoon i went out and and split wood till then studied german with an occasional glance at a beautiful sunset which i could not enjoy sufficiently by myself to induce me to lay aside the book after finished and over s occasionally refreshing myself with a tune from mr s musical box which he had left in my keeping the evening was but a dull one by v ic american note books i retired soon after nine and felt s me that the old doctor s ghost would take this opportunity to visit me but i rather think his former have not been intended for me and that i am not sufficiently spiritual for ghostly communication at all events i met with no disturbance of the kind and slept soundly enough till six o clock or the was spent with the pen in my hand and sometimes i had the glimmering of an idea and endeavored to it in words but on the whole my mind was idly and refused to work to any purpose between eleven and twelve i went to the post office but found no letter then spent above an hour reading at the on my way home i encountered mr flint for the first time these many weeks although he is our next neighbor in one direction i inquired if he could sell us some potatoes and he promised to send half a for trial also he encouraged me to hope that he might buy a barrel of our apples after my encounter with mr flint i returned to our lonely old abbey opened the door without the usual heart spring ascended to my study and began to read a tale of slow work and dull work too anon the cook rang the bell for dinner a banquet of and to which i sat down in solitary state my appetite served me sufficiently to eat with but not for enjoyment nothing has a zest in my present state thus far i had when mr called after dinner i lay down on the couch with the dial in my hand as a and had a short nap then began to american note books mr came with a in his face and we had as good a talk as i ever remember to have had with him he spoke of margaret fuller who he says has risen into a higher state since their last meeting there rings the tea bell then we of a volume of whose poems is to be immediately published with by mr himself and mr sam g ward he calls them poetry for poets next mr was discussed and his approaching departure in respect to which we agreed pretty well we talked of brook farm and the singular moral aspects which it presents and the great that its progress and should be observed and its history written also of c n y who it appears is passing through a new moral he is silent talks little or none and without response except a laugh and some of his friends think that he is passing into permanent various other matters were considered or glanced at and finally between five and six o clock mr took his leave i then went out to chop wood my allotted space for which had been very much by his visit but i was not sorry i went oi with the journal for a few minutes before tea an hi ve finished the present record in the setting ine an gathering dusk here i am in my old chamber where i produced those works of fiction which have since impressed the universe with and awe to this chamber doubtless in all succeeding a by american note books will come to pay their tribute of reverence they will put off their shoes at the threshold for fear of the tattered old carpets there they will exclaim is the very bed in which he and where he was visited by those ethereal visions which he afterwards fixed forever in glowing words there is the wash stand at which this exalted personage himself from the of earth and rendered his out ward man a fitting of the pure soul within there in its mahogany frame is the dressing glass which often reflected that noble brow those locks that mouth bright with smiles or tremulous with feeling that flashing or melting eye that in short every item of the face of this man there is the pine table there the old flag chair on which he sat and at which he during his agonies of inspiration there is the old chest of drawers in which he kept what shirts a poor author may be supposed to have possessed there is the closet in which was his suit of black there is the worn out shoe brush with which this polished writer polished his boots there is but i believe this will be pretty much all so here i close the catalogue a cloudy veil stretches over the abyss of my nature i have however no love of secrecy and darkness i am glad to think that god sees through my heart and if any angel has power to penetrate into it he is welcome to know everything that | 35 |
is there yes and so may any mortal who is capable of full sympathy and therefore worthy to come into my depths but he must by ic i american note books find his own way i can neither guide nor him it is this involuntary reserve i suppose that has given the to my writings and when people think that i am pouring myself out in a tale or an essay i am merely telling what is common to human nature not what is peculiar to myself i with them not they with me i have recently been both about and preached about here in my native city the preacher was rev mr fox of port but how he contrived to put me into a sermon i know not i trust he took for his text behold an indeed in whom there is no march ti that poor home how desolate it is now last night being awake my thoughts travelled back to the lonely old and it seemed as if i were wandering up stairs and down stairs all by myself my fancy was almost afraid to be there alone i could see every object in a dim gray light our chamber the study all in confusion the with the fragments of that breakfast on the table and the precious silver forks and the old bronze image keeping its solitary stand upon the then the wretched came and jumped upon the window sill and clung there with her fore for which i could not grant her being there myself only in the spirit and then came the ghost of the old doctor through the gallery and down the staircase and peeping into the parlor and though i was wide awake and con vol ii by v z z american note books of being so many miles from tbe spot still it was quite awful to think of tbe ghost having sole possession of our home for i could not quite separate myself from it after all somehow the doctor and i seemed to be there a i believe i did not have any about the ghostly kitchen maid but i trust mary left the flat irons within her reach so that she may do all her while we are away and never disturb us more at midnight i suppose she comes thither to iron her and perhaps likewise to smooth the doctor s band probably during her lifetime she allowed him to go to some or other grand with linen and ever since and throughout all earthly at least as long as the house shall stand she is doomed to exercise a nightly toil with a spiritual flat iron poor sinner and doubtless satan the irons for her what nonsense is all this but really it does make me shiver to think of that poor home of ours march th as for this mr i wish he would not be so troublesome his scheme is well enough and might possibly become popular but it has no peculiar advantages with reference to myself nor do the subjects of his proposed books particularly suit my fancy as to write upon somebody else will answer his purpose just as well and i would rather write books of my own imagining than be hired to develop the ideas of an especially as the pecuniary prospect is not better nor so good as it might be elsewhere i intend to to my former plan of writing one or by v ic american note books two story books to be published under s in new york which is the only place where books can be published with a chance of profit as a matter of courtesy i may call on mr if i have time but i do not intend to be connected with this affair sunday april ta after finishing my record in the journal i sat a long time in grandmother s chair thinking of many things my spirits were at a lower ebb than they ever descend to when i am not alone nevertheless neither was i absolutely sad many times i wound and mr s little but certainly its peculiar sweetness had and i am pretty sure that i should throw it out of the window were i doomed to hear it long and often it has not an infinite soul when it was almost as dark as the moonlight would let it be i lighted the lamp and went on with s tale slowly and painfully often wishing for help in my difficulties at last i determined to learn a little about and before proceeding further and so took up the phrase book with which i was busy when at about a quarter to nine came a knock at my study door and behold there was with a letter how she came by it i did not ask being content to suppose it was brought by a heavenly messenger i had not expected a letter and what a comfort it was to me in my loneliness and i called to take her note enclosed which she received with a face of delight as broad and bright as the kitchen fire then i read and re read and re r read by ic american note books and and re read my until i had it all by heart and then continued to re read it for the sake of the then i took up the phrase book again but could not study and so bathed and retired it being now not far from ten o clock i lay awake a good deal in the night but saw no ghost i arose about seven and found that the upper part of my nose and the region round about was and at the angle of the left eye there is a great spot of almost black purple and a broad streak of the same hue beneath | 35 |
either eye while green yellow and orange the country it looks not unlike a gorgeous sunset throwing its splendor over the heaven of my countenance it will me to show myself as little as possible else people will think i have fought a pitched battle the devil take the stick of wood what had i done that it should me so however there is no pain though i think a very slight affection of the eyes this i began to write and caught an idea by the skirts which i intend to hold fast though it struggles to get free as it was not ready to be put upon paper however i took up the dial and finished reading the article on mr it is not very satisfactory and it has not taught me much then i read margaret s article on which is good about this time the rang and i went down without much alacrity though with a good appetite enough it was in the angle of my right eye not my left that the purple was collected but they both look like the very by v ic american note books half past five o clock after writing the above i again set to work on s tale and worried through several pages and then at half past four threw open one of the western windows of my study and forth to take the sunshine i went down through the orchard to the river side the orchard path is still deeply covered with snow and so is the whole visible universe except streaks upon the and spots in the sunny hollows where the brown earth the river which a few days ago was entirely imprisoned has now broken its but a tract of ice extended across from near tlie foot of the monument to the of the old bridge and looked so solid that i supposed it would yet remain for a day or two large cakes and masses of ice came floating down the current which though not very violent hurried along at a much pace than the ordinary one of our river god these ice masses when they struck the barrier of ice above mentioned acted upon it like a ram and were themselves forced high out of the water or sometimes carried beneath the main sheet of ice at last down the stream came an immense mass of ice and striking the barrier about at its centre it gave way and the whole was swept onward together leaving the river entirely free with only here and there a cake of ice floating quietly along the great in its downward course hit against a tree that stood in mid current and caused it to quiver like a reed and it swept quite over the that bordered what in summer time is the river s bank but which is now nearly the centre of by v ic american note books the stream our river in its present state quite a noble breadth the little which formed the of the old bridge is now an island with its of trees along the hither shore a row of trees stand up to their knees and the smaller ones to their in the water and afar off on the surface of the stream we see of bushes emerging thrusting up their heads as it were to breathe the water comes over the stone wall and several yards on the boundaries of our orchard here the rang if our boat were in good order i should now set forth on voyages of discovery and visit on the borders of the meadows which by and by will be a mile or two from the water s edge but she is in very bad condition full of water and doubtless as as a on coming from supper i found that little had established herself in the study probably with intent to pass the night here she now lies on the between my feet most the day of my wife s departure she came to me talking with the greatest earnestness but whether it was to with me on my loss or to demand my care for herself i could not well make out as now a third part of the family this mention of her will not appear amiss how herself i know not once in a while i hear a door like a thunder clap but she never shows her face nor speaks a word unless to announce a visitor or deliver a letter this day on my part will have been spent without a with any being unless by ic american note books something should yet call for the exercise of speech before monday i april i sat till eight o clock meditating upon this world and the next and sometimes dimly out scenes of a tale then myself to the german phrase book ah these are but dreary evenings the lamp would not my spirits though it was duly filled his was spent in by no means to my satisfaction until past eleven when i went to the village nothing in our box at the post office i read during the customary hour or more at the and returned without saying a word to mortal i gathered from some conversation that i heard that a son of adam is to be buried this afternoon from the meeting house but the name of the deceased escaped me it is no great matter so it be but written in the book of life my face looks somewhat more human today though i was ashamed to meet anybody s gaze and therefore turned my back or my shoulder as much as possible upon the world at dinner behold an immense joint of roast i would willingly have had some assistance in the discussion of this great piece of calf i am ashamed to eat alone it becomes the mere gratification | 35 |
of animal appetite the tribute which we are compelled to pay to our nature whereas in the company of another it is refined and and and over our earthly or rather for the former ii a very foolish mode of over our earthly is diffused by v ic american note books a of lofty and gentle thoughts and tough meat is with tender feelings but oh these solitary meals are the part of my present experience when the company rose from table they all in my single person ascended to the study and employed themselves in reading the article on in the review then they onward in the rugged and bewildering depths of s tale until five o clock when with one accord they went out to split wood this has been a gray day with now and then a of snow through tbe air to day no more than yesterday have i spoken a word to mortal it is now sunset and i must till dark april i meditated accordingly but without any very wonderful result then at eight o clock myself till after nine with this eternal tale of the was spent in but at eleven o clock my thoughts ceased to flaw indeed their current has been interrupted all along so i threw down my pen and set out on the daily journey to the village horrible walking i wasted the customary hour at the and returned home if home it may now be called till dinner time i labored on s tale and resumed that agreeable employment after the banquet just when i was on the point of choking with a huge german word announced mr he wished to take a row in the boat for the last time perhaps before he so we emptied the water out of her and set forth on our voyage she but not by v ic american note books more than she did in the autumn we rowed to the foot of the hill which borders the north branch and there landed and climbed the moist and snowy for the sake of the prospect looking down the river it might well have been mistaken for an arm of the sea so broad is now its swollen tide and i could have fancied that beyond one other the mighty ocean would itself before the eye on our return we a large cake of ice which was floating down the river and were borne by it directly to our own landing place with the boat behind parting with mr i spent half an hour in wood when informed me that mr wished to see me he had brought a letter of written in a style of very pleasant humor this being read and discussed together with a few other matters he took his leave since which i have been attending to my duty and thus this record is brought down to the present moment april m spring is advancing sometimes with sunny days and sometimes as is the case now with chill moist sullen ones there is an influence in the season that makes it almost impossible for me to bring my mind down to literary employment perhaps because several months pretty constant work has exhausted that species of energy perhaps because in spring it is more natural to labor than to think but my impulse now is to be idle altogether to lie in the sun or wander about and look at the revival of nature from her death like slumber or to be borne down the current of the river in by american note books my boat if i had wings i would gladly fly yet would prefer to be along by a breeze sometimes on a patch of green grass then gently whirled away to a still spot o how should i be were there nothing to do then i would watch every inch and hair s breadth of the progress of the season and not a leaf should put itself forth in the vicinity of our old mansion without my noting it but now with the burden of a continual task upon me i have not freedom of mind to make such observations i merely see what is going on in a very general way the snow which two or three weeks ago covered hill and valley is now diminished to one or two solitary in the visible landscape though doubtless there are still heaps of it in the shady places in the woods there have been no violent rains to carry it off it has diminished gradually inch by inch and day after day and i observed along the roadside that the green blades of grass had sometimes on the very edge of the the moment that the earth was uncovered the pastures and grass fields have not yet a general effect of green nor have they that cheerless brown tint which they wear in later autumn when vegetation has entirely ceased there is now a suspicion of the faint shadow of it but not the warm reality sometimes in a happy exposure there is one such tract across the river the carefully cultivated in front of an old red such patches of land wear a beautiful and tender green which no other season will equal because let the grass be green as it may hereafter it will not be so set off by by v ic note books the trees in our orchard and elsewhere have as yet no leaves yet to the most careless eye they appear full of life and vegetable blood it seems as if by one magic touch they might put forth all their foliage and the wind which n w sighs through their naked branches might all at once find itself by innumerable leaves this sudden development would be scarcely more wonderful than the gleam of which often in | 35 |
am no enemy to summer showers could i only have the freedom to be perfectly idle now no duty to fulfil no mental or physical labor to perform i should be as happy as a and much in the same mode but the necessity of keeping my brain at work eats into my comfort as the do into the heart of the vines i keep myself uneasy and produce little and almost nothing that is worth producing the garden looks well now the potatoes flourish the early corn waves in the wind the both for summer and winter use are more forward i suspect than those of any of my neighbors i am forced however to carry on a continual warfare with the who were i to let them alone for a day would perhaps quite destroy the prospects of the whole summer it is impossible not to feel angry with these insects who scruple not to do such excessive mischief to me with only the profit of a meal or two to themselves by v ic american note books for their own they ought at least to wait till the are better grown why is it i wonder that nature has provided such a host of enemies for every useful while the weeds are suffered to grow and are provided with such of life and such methods of that the gardener must maintain a continual struggle or they will hopelessly him what hidden virtue is in these things that it is granted them to sow themselves the wind and to the earth with this and to flourish in spite of obstacles and never to suffer beneath any sun or shade but always to mock their enemies with the same wicked it is truly a mystery and also a symbol there is a sort of about them perhaps if we could penetrate nature s secrets we should find that what we call weeds are more essential to the well being of the world than the most precious fruit or grain this may be doubted however for there is an unmistakable between these wicked weeds and the bad habits and sinful which have the moral world and we may as well imagine that there is good in one as in the other our peas are in such tliat i should not wonder if we had some of them on the table within a week the beans have come up ill and i planted a fresh supply only the day before yesterday we have in good advancement and also within three or four days i set out some last night also some it is my purpose to plant some more com at the end of the month or sooner by v ic american note books there ought to be a record of the flower garden and of the procession of the wild flowers as minute at least as of the kitchen vegetables and pot above all the noting of the appearance of the first roses should not be omitted nor of the one of the and in every manner sweetest of the whole race of flowers for a fortnight past i have found it in the meadows growing up to its chin in heaps of wet moss its hue is a e pink of various depths of shade and somewhat in the form of a to describe it is a feat beyond my power also the visit of two friends who may enough be mentioned among flowers ought to have been described mrs p s and miss a s also i have neglected to mention the birth of a httle white dove i never observed until the present season how long and late the twilight in these longest days the orange hue of the western horizon remains till ten o clock at least and how much later i am unable to say the night before last i could distinguish letters by this lingering gleam between nine and ten o clock the dawn i suppose shows itself as early as two o clock so that the absolute dominion of night has to almost nothing there seems to be also a diminished necessity or at all events a much less possibility of sleep than at other periods of the year i get scarcely any sound repose just now it is summer and not winter that away mortal life well we get the value of what is taken from us saturday july we had our first dish of green by v ic note books peas a very small one yesterday every day for the last week has been hot and our garden like itself only adam could hardly have been doomed to contend with such a ferocious of weeds sunday y july i know not what to say and yet cannot be satisfied without marking with a word or two this but life now and beneath me like a brim fall ocean and the endeavor to any portion of it in words is like trying to dip up the ocean in a god bless and keep us for there is something more awful in happiness than in sorrow the latter being earthly and the former composed of the substance and texture of eternity so that spirits still embodied may well tremble at it july this morning i gathered our first summer we should have had them some days earlier but for the loss of two of the vines either by a disease of the roots or by those infernal we have had and several times are now ripe and we are in the full enjoyment of which turn out much more than i anticipated george and mrs paid us a visit on saturday last on monday afternoon he left us and mrs still remains here friday july m we had green com for dinner yesterday and shall have some more to day not quite full grown but sufficiently | 35 |
so to be there by v ic american note books has been no rain except one moderate shower for many weeks and the earth appears to be away in a slow fever this weather i think affects the spirits very there is an a restlessness a dissatisfaction together with an absolute to bend the mind to any serious effort with me as regards literary production the summer has been and i only hope that my forces are themselves for the autumn and winter for the future i shall endeavor to be so nine months of the year that i may allow myself a full and free of the other three monday july we had our first yesterday there were symptoms of rain on saturday and the weather has since been as moist as the soul could desire wednesday september there was a frost the night before last according to but no effects of it were visible in our garden last night however there was another which has the leaves of the winter and but seems to have done no other damage this is a beautiful morning and promises to be one of those heavenly days that render autumn after all the most delightful season of the year we mean to make a voyage on the river this afternoon sunday september i have gathered the two last of our summer to day they have lasted by v ic american note books ever since the th of july and have numbered ones of excellent quality last wednesday i think i our in number and mostly of fine size our last series of green corn planted about the st of july was good for eating two or three days ago we still have beans and our though backward supply us with a dish every day or two my crop promises well and on the whole my fir independent experiment of is quite a successful one this is a glorious day bright very warm yet with an unspeakable gentleness both in its warmth and brightness on such days it is impossible not to love nature for she evidently loves us at other seasons she does not give me this impression or only at very rare intervals but in these happy days when she has the and accomplished every necessary thing that she had to do she with a blessed of love it is good to be alive now thank god for breath yes for mere breath when it is made up of such a heavenly breeze as this it comes to the cheek with a real kiss it would linger fondly around us if it might but since it must be gone it caresses us with its whole kindly heart and passes onward to caress likewise t e next thing that it meets there is a blessing diffused over all the world i look out of the window and think o perfect day o beautiful world o good god and such a day is the promise of a eternity our creator would never have made such weather and given us the deep heart to enjoy it above and beyond au jf ji j t american note books meant us to be immortal it opens the gates of heaven and gives us glimpses far inward bless me this flight has carried me a great way so now let me come back to our old abbey our orchard is fast and the apples and great the grass in such abundance that it becomes almost a trouble though a pleasant one to gather them this happy breeze too shakes them down as if it flung fruit to us out of the sky and often the air is perfectly still i hear the quiet fall of a great apple well we are rich in blessings though poor in money friday october tl yesterday afternoon i took a solitary walk to pond it was a cool windy day with heavy clouds rolling and tumbling about the sky but still a of genial autumn sunshine the fields are still green and the great masses of the woods have not yet assumed their many colored garments but here and there are solitary oaks of deep substantial red or of a more brilliant hue or either yellow or of a green than in summer some trees seem to return to their hue of may or early june before they put on the brighter tints in some places along the borders of low and moist land a whole range of trees were clothed in the perfect of autumn of all shades of brilliant color looking like the on which nature was arranging the tints wherewith to paint a picture these hues appeared to be thrown together without design and yet there was perfect harmony among them and a by ic note books softness and a delicacy made up of a thousand different there is not i think so much contrast among these colors as might at first appear the more you consider them the more they seem to have one element among them all which is the reason that the most brilliant display of them the observer instead of exciting him and i know not whether it be more a moral effect or a physical one merely on the eye but it is a pensive which causes a sigh often and never a smile we never fancy for instance that these clad trees might be changed into young in holiday attire and themselves to dancing on the plain if they were to undergo such a they would surely arrange themselves in funeral procession and go sadly along with their purple and scarlet and golden garments trailing over the withering grass when the sunshine falls upon them they seem to smile but it is as if they were heart broken but it is in vain for me to attempt to describe these or to convey the | 35 |
impression which they make on me i have tried a thousand times and always without the slightest self satisfaction fortunately there is no need of such a record for nature the picture year after year and even when we shall have passed away from the world we can create these scenes so that we may dispense with all efforts to put them into words pond was clear and beautiful as usual it tempted me to and though the water was cold it was like the thrill of a happy death never was there such transparent water as this i threw sticks vol ii by american note books into it and saw them float suspended on an almost invisible medium it seemed as if the pure air were beneath them as well as above it is fit for but one would not wish it to be by having sins washed into it none but angels should in it but blessed babies might be dipped into its bosom in a small and secluded that opens upon the most beautiful of the whole lake there is a little hamlet of huts or inhabited by the irish people who are at work upon the railroad there are three or four of these the very i should imagine that civilized men ever made for themselves constructed of rough boards with the ends against some of them the earth is heaped up to the roof or nearly so and when the grass has had time to upon them they will look like small natural or a species of ant hills something in which nature has a larger share than man these huts are placed beneath the trees oaks and white pines wherever the trunks give them space to stand and by thus themselves to natural instead of making new ones they do not break or disturb the solitude and seclusion of the place voices are heard and the shouts and of children who play about like the that come down through the branches women are in open spaces and long lines of clothes are extended from tree to tree fluttering and in the breeze a pig in a even more than the is and his through the of his habitation the household pots and are seen at the doors by v ic american note books and a glance within shows the rough benches that serve for chairs and the bed upon the floor the visitor s nose takes note of the fragrance of a pipe and yet with all these homely the repose and of the old wood do not seem to be destroyed or it these poor people and them somehow or other to the character of its natural inhabitants their presence did not shock me any more than if i had merely discovered a s nest in a tree to be sure it is a torment to see the great high ugly of the railroad which is here thrusting itself into the lake or along its margin in close vicinity to this picturesque little hamlet i have seldom seen anything more beautiful than the on the border of which the huts are situated and the more i looked the it grew the trees it deeply but on one side there was some brilliant which seemed to light up the whole picture with the effect of a sweet and melancholy smile i felt as if spirits were there or as if these shrubs had a spiritual life in short the impression was and after gazing and musing a good while i my steps through the irish hamlet and on along a according to my invariable custom i my way and emerging upon the road i turned my back instead of my face towards and walked on very diligently till a guide board informed me of my mistake i then turned about and was shortly overtaken by an old in a chaise who kindly offered me a drive and soon set me down in the village by american note books letters april m i went to george s and he spoke with resolution of the necessity of my going to dine with before returning to but i have an almost miraculous power of escaping from necessities of this kind destiny itself has often been in the attempt to get me out to dinner possibly however i may go afterwards i called on colonel hall who held me long in talk about politics and other then i stepped into a book not to buy but merely to observe and after a few moments who should come in with a smile as sweet as sugar though rather of but to my horror and i anticipated a great deal of bore and but through heaven s mercy he merely spoke a few words and left me this is so unlike his in times past that i suspect the celestial railroad must have given him a and if so shall feel as if providence had sufficiently rewarded me for that pious labor in the course of the i encountered mr in the street he looked most exceedingly depressed and pressing my hand with peculiar emphasis said that he was in great affliction having just heard of his son george s death in he seemed and overwhelmed by this misfortune and walks the street as in a heavy cloud of his own grief forth from which he extended his hand to meet my grasp expressed my sympathy which i told him was now the more by v ic american note books capable of feeling in a father s suffering as being myself the father of a little girl and indeed the being a parent give one the freedom of a wider range of sorrow as well as of happiness he again pressed my hand and left me when i got to there was great joy as you may suppose mother hinted an apprehension that poor baby | 35 |
would be spoilt whereupon i observed that having spoiled her own three children it was natural for her to suppose that all other parents would do the same when she that it was impossible to spoil such children as e and i because she had never been able to do anything with us i could hardly convince them that had begun to smile so soon it surprised my mother though her own children appear to have been bright specimens f could walk and talk at nine months old i do not understand tliat i was quite such a miracle of but should think it not impossible inasmuch as boys are said to make stupid men may th my cook his office admirably he prepared what i must to be the best dish of fish and potatoes for dinner to day that i ever tasted in this house i scarcely recognized the fish of our own river i make him get all the dinners while i confine myself to the much lighter task of breakfast and tea he also takes his turn in washing the dishes we had a very pleasant dinner at s and i liked mrs very much the dinner was by ic american note books late and we sat long so that c and i did not get to till half past nine o clock and truly the old seemed somewhat dark and the next morning george came with s lion who greeted me very but and moaned as if he missed somebody who should have been here i am not quite so strict as i should be in keeping him out of the house but i him and myself for are we not both of us c whom i can no more keep from smoking than i could the kitchen chimney has just come into the study with a cigar which might perfume this letter and make you think it came from my own so i may as well stop here may m c is leaving me to my unspeakable relief for e has had a bad cold which caused him to be much more troublesome and less amusing than might otherwise have been the case may i get along admirably and am at this moment the beef which has been on the fire as it appears to me ever since the beginning of time and shows no symptom of being done before the crack of doom mrs hale says it must boil till it becomes tender and so it shall if i can find wood to keep the fire a going meantime i keep my station in the dining room and read or write as as in my own study just now there came a very important rap at the front door and i threw down a smoked which i had begun to eat as there is no hope of the beef to day and by v ic american note books went to admit the visitor who should it be but ben b with a very peculiar and mysterious grin upon his face he put into my hand a directed to mr and mrs it contained a little bit of card that dr l f and miss c b receive their friends thursday eve june i am afraid i shall be too busy washing my dishes to pay many visits the washing of dishes does seem to me the most absurd and unsatisfactory business that i ever undertook if when once washed they would remain clean for ever and ever which they ought in all reason to do considering how much trouble it is there would be less occasion to but no sooner is it done than it requires to be done again on the whole i have come to the resolution not to use more than one dish at each meal however i deeply on tliis and other matters and have discovered that all the trouble and affliction in the world come from the necessity of away our earthly i ate the last morsel of bread yesterday and congratulate myself on being now reduced to the end of necessity nothing worse can happen according to ordinary modes of thinking than to want bread but like most it is more in prospect than reality i found one in the and over it as if it had been so much gold however i have sent a petition to mrs p stating my destitute condition and imploring her and till it arrive i shall keep myself alive on and apples together with part of a pint of milk which i share with he is my great trouble now though an excellent companion too by v ic american note books but it is not easy to find food for him unless i give him what is fit for christians though for that matter he appears to be as good a christian as most or even as some of the clergy i some and yesterday on purpose for him for he does not hke raw fish they were very good but i should hardly have taken the trouble on my own account george p has just come to say that mrs p has no bread at present and is gone away this afternoon but that she will send me some to morrow i mean to have a regular supply from the same source you cannot imagine how much the presence of the feeling of perfect loneliness he upon being in the room with me all the time except at night when he sleeps in the shed and i do not find myself severe enough to drive him out he me likewise in all my walks to the village and elsewhere and in short keeps at my heels all the time except when i go down cellar then he stands at the head of the stairs and as if he never expected to see me | 35 |
dismal ruin and decay a farm house of the old style with a long sloping roof and as black as the church stands on the opposite side of the road with its and these are all the buildings in sight of the railroad station on the rail in the train of cars with the puffing and blowing off its steam and making a great in that lonely place while along the other railroad stretches the desolate track with the withered weeds growing up the two of iron all so desolate and anon you hear a low thunder running along these iron rails it grows louder an object is seen afar off it approaches rapidly and comes down upon you like fate swift and inevitable in a moment it along in front of the station house and comes to a pause the hissing and in its eagerness to go on how much life has come at once into this lonely place four or ve long cars each perhaps with fifty people in it reading newspapers reading novels chattering sleeping all this vision of passing life a moment passes while the are putting on the trunks and then the bell strikes a few times and away goes the train again quickly out of sight of those who remain behind while by v ic american note books a solitude of hours again over the station house which for an instant has thus been put in communication with far off cities and then remains by itself with the old black church and the black old both built years and years ago before were ever dreamed of meantime the passenger stepping from the solitary station into the train finds himself in the midst of a new world all in a moment he rushes out of the solitude into a village thence through woods and hills into a large inland town beside the which has its banks and along as a vast mud sometimes almost the of a house and with trees standing in the flood half way up their trunks boys with newspapers to sell or apples and many passengers departing and entering at each new station the more permanent passenger with his check or ticket stuck in his hat band where the conductor may see it a party of girls playing at ball with a young man altogether it is a scene of stirring life with which a person who had been waiting long for the train to come might and it difficult at once to himself it is a sombre brooding day and begins to rain as the cars pass onward in a little more than two hours we find ourselves in boston surrounded by eager yesterday i went to the and being received with great courtesy by mr was shown all over the edifice from the very bottom to the very top whence i looked out over boston it is an admirable point of by ic american note books view but it being an and misty day i did not get the full advantage of it the library is in a noble hall and looks splendidly with its vista of the most remarkable sight however was mr writing his history of the united states he sits at a table at the entrance of one of the with his books and papers before him as quiet and absorbed as he would be in the study now consulting an authority now a sentence or a paragraph without seeming conscious of anything but his subject it is very curious thus to have a glimpse of a book in process of creation under one s eye i know not how many hours he sits there but while i saw him he was a pattern of diligence and thought he had taken himself out of the age and put himself i suppose into that about which he was writing being deaf he finds it much the easier to abstract himself nevertheless it is a miracle he is a thin middle aged man in black with an intelligent face rather sensible than scholar hke mr accompanied me to call upon mr the historian of spanish literature he has a fine house at the corner of park and streets perhaps the very best position in boston a marble hall a wide and easy staircase a respectable old man servant evidently long at home in the mansion to admit us we entered the library mr considerably in advance as being familiar with the house and i heard mr greet him in friendly tones their scholar like and pursuits i suppose bringing them into frequent then i was introduced and received with by v ic american note books great distinction but yet without any flourish of courtesy mr has a great head and his hair is gray or you recognize in him at once the man who knows the world the scholar too whidi probably is his more character though a little more under the surface he was in his slippers a volume of his book was open on a table and apparently he had been engaged in or it his library is a stately and beautiful room for a private dwelling and itself looks large and rich the fireplace has a white marble frame about it with figures and over it hung a portrait of sir walter scott a copy i think of the one that represents him in abbey mr was most kind in his alacrity to solve the point on which mr in my behalf had consulted him as to whether there had been any english translation of the tales of and most liberal in his offers of books from his library certainly he is a fine example of a generous scholar anxious to assist the human intellect in its efforts and he must have spent a happy life as happiness goes among mortals writing his great three book for twenty years writing it not for bread nor | 35 |
with any uneasy desire of fame but only with a purpose to achieve something true and enduring he is i apprehend a man of great cultivation and refinement and with quite substance enough to be polished and refined without being worn too thin in the process a man of society he related a singular story of an attempt of his to become acquainted with me years ago when he my for me by v ic american note books at past four i went to mr s the artist who requested to paint my picture this was the second sitting the portrait looked dimly out from the canvas as from a cloud with something that i could recognize as my outline but no strong resemblance as yet i have had three portraits taken before this an oil picture a miniature and a sketch neither of them satisfactory to those most familiar with my in fact there is no such thing as a true portrait they are all and i never saw any two alike nor hardly any two that i would recognize merely by the portraits themselves as being of the same man a bust has more reality this artist is a man of thought and with no mean idea of his art a or as he prefers to call it a member of the new church and i have generally found something marked in men who adopt that faith he had painted a good picture of he seems to me to possess truth in himself and to aim at it in his artistic may th this morning it is an rain i should say just now at twelve o clock and i went at nine by appointment to sit for my picture the artist painted awhile but soon found that he had not so much light as was desirable and complained that his tints were as muddy as the weather further sitting was therefore postponed till to morrow at eleven it will be a good picture but i see no assurance as yet of the likeness an artist s apartment is always very interesting to me with its pictures finished and unfinished its little fancies in the way as by v ic american note books here two sketches of among flowers and foliage representing spring and summer winter and autumn being yet to come out of the artist s mind the portraits of his wife and children here a clergyman there a poet here a woman with the stamp of reality upon her there a feminine conception which we feel not to have existed there was an infant christ or rather a child christ not but scarcely divine i love the of paint in an artist s room his and all his other tools have a mysterious charm for me the pursuit has always interested my imagination more than any other and i remember before having my first portrait taken there was a great in the idea as if it were a magic process even now it is not without interest to me i left mr before ten and took my way through the streets to the where i looked over the newspapers and and found two of my old stories peter and the published as original in the last london the english are much more and than ourselves however if they are poor enough to themselves in such false feathers as these heaven help them i glanced over the stories and they seemed painfully cold and dull it is the more singular that these should be so published inasmuch as the whole book was in london only a few months ago mr fields tells me that two in london had advertised the scarlet letter as in press book at a shilling by american note books certainly life is made much more tolerable and man respects himself far more when he takes his meals with a certain degree of order and state there should be a sacred law in these matters and as the whole business the preliminary prayer is a good and real the advance of man from a savage and animal state may be as well measured by his mode and morality of dining as by any other circumstance at mr fields s soon after entering the house i heard the brisk and notes of a bird singing with great vivacity and making its voice echo through the large rooms it was very pleasant at the close of the east windy day and seemed to fling sunshine through the dwelling may th i did not go out yesterday afternoon but after tea i went to s the drinking and smoking shop is no bad place to see one kind of life the front apartment is for drinking the door opens into court square and is usually by some choice specimens of exhibited in the windows or hanging beside the door post as for instance a pair of ducks by their delicately feathers an admirable cut of raw a ham ready boiled and with curious figures traced in on its outward fat a half or perchance the whole of a large salmon when in season a bunch of etc etc a screen stands directly before the door so as to conceal the interior from an outside at the counter stand at almost all hours certainly at all hours when i have chanced to observe either taking a by v ic note books solitary glass or treating all round young men visitors from the country the various petty officers connected with the law whom the vicinity of the court house brings hither chiefly they drink plain gin brandy or sometimes a tom and a gin which the bar tender makes tossing it in a large from one to another until fit for drinking a brandy and numerous other all this goes forward with little or no apparent of spirits nor does | 35 |
we talked in an idle and way neither of us feeling very which he attributed to the atmosphere it being a bright day we talked about the pictures of and how inadequate and they are he said he thought should attempt only to paint by v ic note books child human powers being inadequate to the task of painting such purity and in a manly development then he said that an idea of a picture had occurred to him that morning while reading a chapter in the new testament how they parted his garments among them and for his did cast lots his picture was to represent the soldier to whom the garment without a had fallen after taking it home and it and becoming impressed with a sense of the former s i do not quite see how he would make such a picture tell its own story but i find the idea suggestive to my own mind and i think i could make something of it we talked of and impressions of character first impressions and how apt they are to come aright in the face of the subsequent observation there were several visitors in the course of the sitting one a gentleman a connection from the country with whom the artist talked about family matters and personal affairs observing on the of his own business and that he had thoughts of returning to new york i wish he would meet with better success two or three ladies also looked in meanwhile mr had been painting with more and more eagerness casting quick keen glances at me and then making hasty touches on the picture as if to secure with his brush what he had caught with his eye he observed that he was just getting interested in the work and i could recognize the feeling that was in him as akin to what i have experienced myself in the glow of composition nevertheless he seemed able to talk about foreign mat by v ic american note books through it all he continued to paint in this rapid way np to the moment of closing the sitting when he took the canvas from the without giving me time to mark what progress he had made as he did the last time the artist is middle sized thin a little stooping with a quick nervous movement he has black hair not thick a beard under his chin a small head but forehead black eyebrows eyes keen but kindly and a dark face not indicating robust health but agreeable in its expression his voice is gentle and sweet and such as comes out from amidst refined feelings he dresses very simply and in a gray frock or sack and does not seem to think of making a picture of himself in his own person at dinner to day there was a young frenchman whom a year or so ago when he had not another friend in america and obtained employment for him in a large dry goods establishment he is a young man of eighteen or with smooth black hail neatly dressed his face showing a good disposition but with nothing of intellect or character it is funny to think of this poor little frenchman a too eating our most un french our and and various homely and and all things most to his hereditary stomach but nevertheless he eats most cheerfully and he has not a large measure of french vivacity never never dances nor breaks into of mirth and song on the contrary i have never known a youth of his age more orderly and he is by v ic american note books kind hearted and grateful and his gratitude to the mother of the family and to his by occasional presents not trifling when measured by his small of five dollars per week just at this time he is confined to his room by caused it is suspected by a on sunday last our gross saxon would soon be the ruin of his french constitution a thought to day great men need to be lifted upon the shoulders of the whole world in order to conceive their great ideas or perform their great deeds that is there must be an atmosphere of greatness round about them a hero cannot be a hero unless in an heroic world may i went last evening to the national theatre to see a it was jack the giant and somewhat heavy and tedious the audience was more than the play the theatre itself is for the and lower classes and i had not taken my seat in the most aristocratic part of the house so that i found myself surrounded chiefly by young sailors street and other people of that class it is wonderful the difference that exists in the personal aspect and dress and no less in the manners of people in this quarter of the city as compared with other parts of it one would think that oak hall should give a common garb and air to the great mass of the boston population but it seems not to be so and perhaps what is vol ii by american note books most singular is that the natural make of the men has a and to the dress glazed caps and hats were much worn it is a pity that this picturesque and comparatively graceful hat should not have been generally adopted instead of falling to the exclusive use of a class in the next box to me were two young women with an infant but to which of them i could not at first discover one was a large plump girl with a heavy face a nose coarse looking but good natured and with no traits of evil save indeed that she had on the gown of dirty white cotton so dingy that it was white no longer as | 35 |
moral and intellectual he is very active and in his duties and rubbing down the horses with alacrity and skill and when not otherwise occupied you may see him talking with chance acquaintances or observing what is going forward in the by ic american note books if a female acquaintance happens to pass lie touches his cap and bows this courtesy with a certain that proves him a man of the world whether it be his greater readiness to talk or the wisdom of what he says he seems usually to be the centre of the group it is very pleasant to see such an image of earthly comfort as this a fat man who feels his flesh as a disease and and on whom it presses o as to make him melancholy with dread of and who moves heavily under the burden of himself such a man is a and disagreeable object but if he have vivacity enough to all his and bodily force enough to move lightly under it and if it be not too to have a and in it then it is good and wholesome to look at him in the background of the house a cat occasionally stealing along on the roofs of the low out houses descending a flight of wooden steps into the brick area the shed and entering all dark and secret places cautious as if in search of something noiseless attentive to every noise moss grows on spots of the roof there are little boxes of earth here and there with plants in them the grass plots to each of the houses whose are opposite ours standing in temple place are perhaps ten or twelve feet broad and three times as long here and there is a large painted garden pot half buried in earth besides the large trees in blossom there are little ones probably of last year s setting out early in the day are seen hanging the out of by v ic american note books the upper windows at the window of the of the same house i see a woman were i a solitary prisoner i should not doubt to find occupation of deep interest for my whole day in watching only one of the houses one house seems to be quite shut up all the blinds in the three windows of each of the four stories being closed although in the roof windows of the story the curtains are hung carelessly upward instead of being drawn i think the house is empty perhaps for the summer the visible side of the whole row of houses is now in the shade they looking towards i should say the later in the day they are wholly covered with sunshine and continue so through the afternoon and at evening the sunshine slowly upward upon the windows on the chimneys and so the upper part of the spire and the of the park street church appear over one of the houses looking as if it were close behind it shows the wind to be east now at one of the windows of the third story sits a woman in a colored dress diligently sewing on something white she not like a lady but with an air her dress i observe on closer observation is a kind of loose morning sack with i think a on it and she seems to have a silver comb m her hair no this latter item is a mistake sheltered as the space is between the two rows of houses a puff of the east wind finds its way in and shakes off some of the withering blossoms from the trees quiet as the prospect is there is a continual and neat thunder of wheels proceeding from washington street by v ic note books in a building not far off there is a hall for and sometimes in the evenings loud music is heard from it or if a be shown that of hill for instance or the of an immense of cannon and may a it has been an rain yesterday and to day with occasional up and then a heavy of the gloom again scenes out of the rear windows the glistening roof of the opposite houses the chimneys now and then choked with their own smoke which a blast drives down their throats the church spire has a mist about it once this morning a dove came and alighted on the peak of an window and looked down into the remaining in this position a considerable time now it has taken a flight and alighted on the roof of this house directly over the window at which i sit so that i can look up and see its head and and the tips of its claws the roofs of the low out houses are black with moisture the are of water and there is a little where there is a place for it in the w of a board on the grass plot are strewn the fallen blossoms of the cherry tree and over the scene a of sombre sky thus it will be all day as it was yesterday and in the evening one window after another will be lighted up in the through the white curtains may be seen the gleam of an lamp like a fixed star in the rooms the work of the kitchen going forward in the upper chambers here and there a light by v ic note books in a bar room a large oval basin let into the counter with a brass rising from the centre out of which continually a fountain and in a soft gentle never ceasing rain into the basin where swim a company of gold fishes some of them gleam brightly in their golden others have a dull white aspect going through some process of one would think that the atmosphere continually filled with tobacco | 35 |
smoke might the water for the people but then it is continually flowing away and being renewed and what if some should be seized with the of his glass of gin or brandy into the basin would the fishes die or merely get jolly i saw for a wonder a man pretty drunk at s the other evening a well dressed man of not aspect he talked loudly and foolishly but in good phrases with a great flow of language and he was no otherwise impertinent than in addressing his talk to strangers finally after sitting a long time staring across the room in silence he arose and staggered away as b st he might only showing his very drunken state when he attempted to walk old acquaintances a gentleman whom i knew ten years ago brisk active vigorous with a kind of fire of physical well being and cheerful spirits glowing through him now after a course i presume of rather free living pale thin with a grave and care or pain worn brow yet still lively and cheerful in his though witb something in his tones another formerly commander of a vessel a by american note books man of splendid and very aristocratic and now out of service and without position and changed into a burnt and sort of personage he seemed as if he might still be a gentleman if he would but his manners show a desperate state of mind by their familiarity the lack of any hedge of reserve about himself while still he is evidently a man of the world accustomed to good society he has i think been in the russian service and would very probably turn on fair occasion july m the tops of the chestnut trees have a appearance they being i suppose in bloom red are just through the season language human language after all is but little better than the and of fowls and other of brute nature sometimes not so adequate july m the tops of the chestnut trees are peculiarly rich as if a more sunshine were falling on them than anywhere else as above don t express it the queer gestures and sounds of a hen looking about for a place to deposit her e her self important gait the turn of her head and cock of her eye as she into one and another nook all the while evidently with the idea that the c in question is the most important thing that has been brought to pass by v ic american note books since the world began a black and and ben of ours does it to most ludicrous perfection and there is something in it too july ik as i sit in my study with the windows open the occasional incident of the visit of some winged creature or bee entering out of the warm sunny atmosphere soaring round the room in large sweeps then against the glass as not satisfied with the place and desirous of getting out finally the joyous curve with which coming to the open part of the window it into the cheerful glow of the outside august dined at hotel with j t fields and wife afternoon drove with them to and called on dr august ta drove with fields and his wife to being invited by mr field of in order to ascend monument mountain found at mr field s dr and mr of new york also mr and ascended the mountain that is to say mrs fields and miss field mr field and mr fields dr messrs mr henry and i and were caught in a shower dined at mr field s afternoon under guidance of j t the party scrambled through the ice by v ic note books august th messrs and junior called in the gave them a couple of bottles of mr s champagne and walked down to the lake with them at twilight mr p and wife called august mr and mrs took tea with us august seven chickens j t and brother called eight chickens august m monument mountain in the early sunshine its base enveloped in parts of which are floating in the sky so that the great hill looks really as if it were founded on a cloud just emerging from the mist is seen a yellow field of and above that forest august st eight more chickens ascended a mountain with my wife a beautiful mellow sunshine august in the nowadays this valley in which i dwell seems like a vast basin filled with golden sunshine as with wine august j r called in the evening september st mr and mrs called in the on their way to or to meet miss by v ic american note books september d when i grow up j in illustration of the might to which he means to attain when i grow up i shall be two men september m foliage of begins to change after picking up a handful of the other day look papa here s a bunch of fire september th in a wood a heap or pile of logs and sticks that had been cut for and piled up square in order to be away to the house when convenience served or rather to be in time but the moss had accumulated on them and leaves falling over them from year to year and a kind of soil had quite covered them although the softened outline of the was perceptible in the green mound it was perhaps fifty years perhaps more since the had cut and piled those logs and sticks intending them for his winter fires but he probably needs no fire now there was something strangely interesting in this simple circumstance imagine | 35 |
the long dead and his long dead wife and family and the old man who was a little child when the wood was cut coming back from their graves and trying to make a fire with this fuel september th lying by the lake yesterday afternoon with my eyes shut while the waves and sunshine were playing together on the water the quick glimmer of the was perceptible through my closed by american note books october a windy day with wind cool with a of dull gray clouds over the sky but with brief quick glimpses of sunshine the foliage having its autumn hues monument tain looks like a wrapped in a rich shawl yesterday through a diffused mist with the sun shining on it it had the aspect of copper the sun on the hills are peculiarly magnificent just in these days one of the children drawing a cow on the says i ll kick this leg out a little more a very happy energy of expression completely herself with the cow or perhaps as the cow s creator conscious of full power over its movements october the brilliancy of the foliage has passed its and indeed it has not been so magnificent this season as in some others owing to the gradual approaches of cooler weather and there having been slight instead of severe ones there is still a shaggy richness on the october m a morning mist filling up the whole length and breadth of the valley my house and monument mountain the summit of the mountain emerging the mist reaches almost to my window so dense as to conceal everything except that near its hither a few ruddy or yellow tree tops appear by the early sunshine as is likewise the whole mist cloud by ic american note books there is a between this house and the lake through which winds a little brook with pools and tiny over the great roots of trees the is deep and narrow and filled with trees so that in the summer it is all a dense shadow of obscurity now the foliage of the trees being almost entirely a golden yellow instead of being full of shadow the is absolutely full of sunshine and its depths are more brilliant than the open plain or the mountain tops the trees are sunshine and many of the golden leaves being fallen the is strewn with sunshine amid which winds and the bright dark little brook december t i saw a in bloom near the lake december m if the world were to the finest dust and scattered through the universe there would not be an of the dust for each star is the flower of justice the print in blood of a naked foot to be traced through the street of a town sketch of a personage with the of a witch and doing the mischief attributed to one but by natural means breaking off love affairs teaching children vices men of wealth etc king of the city of agreed to show mercy provided the by ic american note books would deliver to liim a certain virgin of famous beauty the daughter of a physician of the city when she was sent to the king every one something to adorn her in the richest manner her father gave her a handkerchief at that time a universal richly wrought this handkerchief was poisoned with his utmost art and they presently died in one another s arms of a bitter of swift for instance it might be said that the person or thing on which his satire fell up as if the devil had spit on it the of tears a traveller to discover it and other similar saw a in the household fire it was shown him by his in childhood for the s collection the pen with which signed away his salvation with a drop of blood dried in it an article on newspaper a country newspaper rather than a city one an house where all the dishes served out even to the bread and salt shall be poisoned with the that are said to be practised perhaps death himself might be the cook by v ic american note books the century talk of its present middle age of its youth and its adventures and prospects an supposing he had a live in his stomach applied himself to the study of medicine in order to find a cure for this disease and he became a profound physician thus misfortune physical or moral may be the means of and us s ad or directions for a candidate for the with the of four successive in it all of them at one time or another of the old daniel bliss william and samuel son of the preceding the book according to a latin was sold to daniel bliss by daniel who i suppose was another student of divinity printed at boston for thomas and sold at his shop in ann st near the draw bridge william was son of daniel bliss married the widow of said william and samuel was their son mrs has an ox whose bears a strong resemblance to daniel a majestic brute the of have the power of producing and that have the appearance of a feast which the devil but a divine providence seldom the meat to be good but it has by v ic american note books generally some bad taste or smell mostly wants salt and the feast is often without bread an article on with fantastic ideas of monuments for instance a sun dial a large wide carved stone chair with some such motto as and think and others or serious mamma i see a part of your smile a child to her mother whose mouth was partly covered by | 35 |
each side of stone walls in a pretty broad streak the grass is brown and withered and yet scattered all amongst it on close inspection one finds a little shrubs that have kept green under all the severity of winter and seem to need no change to fit them for in the woods we see stones covered with moss that likewise a most lively green where the trees are dense the snow still lies under them on the sides of the mountains some miles off the black pines and the white snow among them together produce a gray effect the little streams are the most interesting objects at this time some that have an existence only at this season of the moment yet glide and tumble along as if they were the familiar ones seem strange by their breadth and volume their little set off by on a small scale the sun has by this time force enough to make sheltered in the angles of woods or on banks warm and comfortable the lake is still of substance but all round the borders there is a watery margin altogether or covered with thin and broken ice so tliat i could not venture on it with the children a was calling in the woods yesterday the only small bird i have taken note of yet but have been in the woods for a week past though not in very great numbers by le american note books february d tor the last two or three days there has been a warm rain with a moisture diffused through the atmosphere the snow has disappeared except in spots which are the ruins of high and patches far up on the the mists rest all day long on the brows of the hills that shut in our valley the road over which i walk every day to and from the village is in the worst state of mud and mire soft slippery nasty to tread upon while the grass beside it is scarcely better being so and so with little streams and sometimes an absolute the race along the road the hills and wherever there is a permanent however generally insignificant it is now swollen into importance and the and tumble of its may be heard a long way off the general effect of the day and scenery is black black black the streams are all as as mud of original authors might be compared to plaster casts of marble statues or the book to a cast of the original marble march after the ground had been completely freed of snow there has been a snow storm for the two days preceding yesterday which made the earth all white again this morning at sunrise the stood at about above monument mountain stands out in great with its dark sides and here and there a large white patch indicating or pasture land but making a by american note books ally dark contrast with the white expanse of the frozen and snow covered lake at its base and the more white of the surrounding country yesterday under the sunshine of midday and with many clouds hanging over it and a mist of wintry warmth in the air it had a kind of visionary aspect although still it was brought out in striking relief but though one could see all its round and it looked as much akin to the clouds as to solid earth and rock substance in the early sunshine of the morning the atmosphere being very clear i saw the dome of with more distinctness than ever before the snow patches and brown uncovered soil on its round head being fully visible generally it is but a dark blue mountain top all the of the intervening hill country was likewise brought out there seems to be a sort of quality in new snow which it loses after being exposed for a day or two to the sun and atmosphere for a child s story the voyage of a little boat made of a with a bark sail down a river march z st a walk with the children yesterday we went through the wood where we found half hidden among the dry fallen leaves thence down to the brook this uttle brook has not itself from the of the past autumn and winter and is much embarrassed and choked up with brown leaves twigs and bits of branches it by ic american note books rushes along merrily and rapidly cheerfully and tumbling over the of stones with which the children and i made little last year at many spots there are small or pools of calmer and depth three feet perhaps in and a foot or two deep in which little fish are already sporting about all elsewhere is tumble and and i sat on the withered leaves at the foot of a tree while the children played a little brook being the most fascinating that a child can have jumped to and fro across it stood beside a pool fishing with a stick without hook or line and wondering that he caught nothing then he made new with mighty labor pulling big stones out of the earth and flinging them into the current then they sent branches of trees or the outer shells of sailing down the stream and watched their passages through the of the way how they were hurried over in a hurried round in a or brought quite to a stand still amongst the collected rubbish at last tumbled into the brook and was through and through so that we were obliged to come home he along all the way with his india rubber shoes full of water there are still patches of snow on the hills also in the woods especially on the northern the lake is not yet what we may call out although there is a | 35 |
large space of blue water and the ice is separated from the shore everywhere and is soft and on favorable slopes and the earth begins to look green and almost any vol ii by v american note books where if one looks closely one sees the of the grass or of little amidst the brown under the nut trees are scattered some of the nuts of last year the have lost their virtue the do not seem to have much taste but the are in no manner the warmth of these days has a and in many respects the indian summer and is not at all of physical exertion nevertheless the general impression is of life not death one feels that a new season has begun wednesday y april there was a great rain yesterday wind from the and the last visible of snow disappeared it was a small patch near the summit of bald mountain just on the upper verge of a grove of trees i saw a slight remnant of it yesterday afternoon but to day it is quite gone the grass comes up along the roadside and on favorable with a sort of green blush have been melodious for a fortnight and the birds sing pleasantly april t the children found more han a week ago there have been wind continual and occasional rain for a week this morning opened with a great snow storm from the one of the most earnest snow storms of the year though rather more moist than in the earth is entirely covered now as the day advances towards noon it shows some symptoms of turning to rain april m for a week we have found the trailing pretty abundant in the woods a b j american note books since found a few purple and yesterday a in bloom the fragrance of the is and exquisite may in our walks now the children and i find blue white and golden the former especially of great size and richness are very abundant blue some of the pastures they are a very little flower and dwell close together in sometimes covering a space no larger than the palm of the hand but keeping one another in cheerful heart and life sometimes they occupy a much larger space a pink flower growing in the woods of a pale red because they have lacked sun growing in rough and rocky places on banks in the towards the lake the leaves of the trees are not yet out but are so apparent that the woods are getting a very decided shadow water weeds on the edge of the lake of a deep green with roots that seem to have nothing to do with earth but with water only may i think the face of nature can never look more beautiful than now with this so fresh and youthful green the trees not being fully in leaf yet enough so to give airy shade to the woods the sunshine fills them with green light monument mountain and its brethren are green and the lightness of the tint takes away something from their and and they respond with effect to the shine and shade of the sky each tree now within sight stands out in american note books individuality of hue this is a very windy day and the light with in a walk to the lake just now with the children we found abundance of flowers wild of all families red and many others known and unknown besides innumerable blossoms of the wild which has been in bloom for the past fortnight the seem quite to some pastures when viewed from a distance not merely the flowers but the various shrubs which one sees seated for instance on the decayed trunk of a tree are well worth looking at such a variety and such enjoyment they have of their new growth amid these fresh we see others that have already run their course and have done with warmth and sunshine the i mean of gone to seed august th states that in the progress of the world the ocean is to lose its and acquire the taste of a peculiarly m how pleasant it is to see a human countenance which cannot be in reference to baby s smile the best of us being unfit to die what an absurdity to put the worst to death is that a burden of sunshine on s asked one of the children of the on our by v ic american note books october si going to the village yesterday afternoon i saw the face of a beautiful woman gazing at me from a cloud it was the full face not the bust it had a sort of mantle on the head and a pleasant expression of countenance the vision lasted while i took a few steps and then vanished i never before saw nearly so distinct a cloud picture or rather for it came out in on the body of the cloud october th the ground this morning is white with a thin covering of snow the foliage has still some variety of hue the dome of looks dark and seems to have no snow on it though i don t understand how that can be i saw a moment ago on the lake a very singular spectacle there is a high wind the lake s surface and making it blue lead colored or bright in or at intervals but what i saw was a boiling up of foam which began at the right bank of the lake and passed quite across it and the mist flew before it like the cloud out of a a fierce and narrow blast of wind must have the water in a straight line from side to side of the lake as fast as it went | 35 |
on the foam subsided behind it so that it looked somewhat like a sea serpent or other monster swimming very rapidly october th on a walk to scott s pond with we found a wild in the woods not quite ripe but beginning to for a week or two the mills have been grinding apples by v ic american note books immense heaps of apples lie piled near them and the creaking of the press is heard as the horse on farmers are barrels and the brook is made to pour itself into the of a barrel in order to it for the new november m the face of the country is dreary now in a cloudy day like the present the woods on the look almost black and the cleared spaces a kind of gray brown this morning th was a black purple as dense and distinct as monument mountain itself i hear the creaking of the press the patient horse going round and round perhaps thirsty to make the liquor which he never can enjoy we left friday morning november in a storm of snow and and took the cars at and arrived at west that evening happiness in this world when it comes comes incidentally make it the object of pursuit it leads us a wild goose chase and is never attained follow some other object and very possibly we may find that we have caught happiness without dreaming of it but likely enough it is gone the moment we say to ourselves here it is like the chest of gold that treasure find west april m one of the snow storms of the winter by v ic american note books m wrote the last page th ms of the romance may ist wrote preface afterwards modified the conclusion and lengthened it to pages first proofs sheets may mass august m a piece of land to and connected with a handsome estate to the and good appearance of which it was essential but the owner of the strip of land was at with the owner of the estate so he always refused to sell it at any price but let it he there wild and ragged in front of and near the mansion house when he dies the owner of the estate who has rejoiced at the approach of the event all through his enemy s illness hopes at last to buy it but to his infinite discomfiture the enemy in his will that his body should be buried in the centre of this strip of land all sorts of ugly weeds grow most out of the grave in poisonous the of monday august m left at a quarter of nine a m friday september set sail at about half past ten to the of the passengers were an old master of a vessel a ig rather genteel man from n h two from and and a country i should judge from some inland town of new the old sea captain preparatory to sailing bought a bunch of cigars they cost ten cents and occasionally by ic american note books puffed one the two bad brought guns on board and asked questions about the fishing of the they were young men brothers the youngest a in the other a farmer i imagine at and both specimens of the least kind of yankee and therefore proper to those they were at first full of questions and greatly interested in whatever was going forward but anon the began to grow first a little then very sick tiu he lay along the boat longing as he afterwards said for a little fresh water to be drowned in his brother attended him in a very kindly way but became sick himself before he reached the end of the voyage the young talked politics or rather discussed the personal character of pierce the new said not a word or hardly one all the way a youth whom i forgot to mention sat in the stem of the boat looking very white the of the boat is a a good natured fellow not particularly intelligent and speaking in a dialect somewhat like irish he had a man with him a silent and rather sulky fellow who at the captain s bidding grimly made himself useful the wind not being favorable we had to make several before the islands where we arrived at about two o clock we at on which is s hotel a large building with a or before it about an hundred and twenty feet in length or more yes it must be more it is an edifice with a centre aud two wings the central part upwards of seventy feet at one end of the by v ic american note books is a covered thirty of forty feet square situated that the breeze draws across it from the sea on one side of the island to the sea on the other and it is the and place in the world on a hot day there are two beneath it and here one may sit or walk and enjoy life while all other mortals are suffering as i entered the door of the hotel there met me a short round and full faced man rather elderly if not old he was a little lame he addressed me in a hearty hospitable tone and judging that it must be my landlord i delivered a letter of introduction from pierce of course it was fully in obtaining the best that were to be had i found that we were expected a man having brought the news of our intention the day before here ensued great inquiries after the general and wherefore he had not come i was looked at with considerable curiosity on my own account especially by the ladies of whom there were several agreeable and pretty enough there were four or ve | 35 |
room and on the walls mr was there and i do not know but he is an of mr s by and by came in mr s brother with a young lady whose position i do not know either a sister or the brother s wife anon too came in the apple a very rich and compound after which we had some and negro in which mr sang a noble bass and mrs sang like a bird and mr sang i suppose tenor and the brother took some other part and all were very and jolly at about ten o clock mr and myself took leave and emerging into the open air out of that room of song and pretty of woman and gay young men there was the sky and the three quarters moon and the old sea moaning all round about the island sunday september m to day i have done little or nothing except to along the shore of the island and to sit under the talking with mr or some of his half dozen guests and about an hour before dinner i came up to my room and took a brief nap since dinner i have been writing the foregoing journal i observe that the our passenger and mail boat has arrived from and now lies in by v ic american note books a little to the rocky with a flag flying at her main mast we have been watching her for some hours but she stopped to fish and then went to some other island before putting in here i must go and see what news she has brought what did you fire at p asked one of the just now of a boy who had been firing a gun nothing said the boy did you hit it rejoined the yankee the farmer is of a much and mould than his brother heavier in frame and mind and far less cultivated it was on this account probably that he labored as a farmer instead of setting up a shop when it is warm as yesterday he takes off liis coat and not whether or no his shirt sleeves be soiled goes in this guise to meals or wherever else not his coat as long as he is more comfortable without it his shoulders have a stoop and altogether his air is that of a farmer in repose his brother is handsome and might have quite the aspect of a smart comely young man if well dressed this island is said to be haunted by a called old he was one of captain s men and was slain for the protection of the treasure mr said that before he built his house nothing would have induced the of another island to come to this after nightfall the ghost especially haunts the space between the hotel and the in front there has in times past been great search for the treasure mr tells me that the women on the island are very timid as to venturing on the sea more so than by v ic american note books the women of the and that they are easily frightened about their husbands very few accidents happen to the boats or men none i think since mr has been here they are not an set of people never liking to make long voyages sometimes one of them will ship on a voyage to the west indies but generally only on or fishing or voyages they have a very strong local attachment and return to die they are now generally temperate formerly very much the contrary september a large part of the guests took their departure after an early breakfast this morning including mr mr the two and mr who however went as or and will return with the boat i have been fishing for off the rocks but with poor success there is nothing so as poor fishing and i spend most of the time with my head on my hands looking at the sea breaking against the rocks around the with sea weed it is a sunny with a cool breeze from the the craft are in the mr says that the spy the boat which went to the this morning is now on her return with all her colors set and he thinks that pierce is on board he having sent mr to invite him to come in this boat pierce arrived before dinner in the spy accompanied by judge and his brother and their wives his own wife mr and three young ladies after dinner some of the gentlemen crossed over to by v ic american note books l where we visited the old in which were monuments to rev mr died after forty years settlement and to another and later minister of the island they were of red lying on piles of the granite fragments such as are scattered all about there were other graves marked by the shapes of stones at head and foot and so many stones from the ground that it was wonderful how space and depth enough was found between them to cover the dead we went to the house of the town clerk of a drunken joe by name and there found the town records in in a beautiful style of they are imperfect the having been broken up probably at the time of the revolution being very drunk immediately put in a petition to pierce to build a sea for the protection of the of the island when he should be president he was dressed in the ordinary s style red shirt trousers tucked into large boots which as he had just come ashore were wet with salt water he led us down to the shore of the island towards the east and showed us moody s hole this moody was a woman of the island in old times | 35 |
the indians came off on a excursion and she fled from them with a child and hid herself in this hole which is by several great rocks being lodged so as to cover one of the which are common along these shores i crept into the hole which is somewhat difficult of access long low and narrow and might well enough be a hiding place the child or by ic american note books children began to cry and fearful of discovery murdered them to save herself joe did not tell the latter part of the story but mr did not far from the spot there is a point of rocks extending out farther into the ocean than the rest of the island some four or five years ago there was a young woman at in the capacity of she was of a romantic turn and used to go and sit on this point of rock to view the waves one day when the wind was high and the surf raging against the rocks a great wave struck her as she sat on the edge and seemed to deprive her of sense another wave or the of the same one carried her off int o the sea and she was seen no more this happened i think in passing a rock near the centre of the island which rose from the soil about breast high and appeared to have been split asunder with an aged and moss grown the of which however precisely suited each other mr mentioned that there was an idea among the people with regard to rocks thus split that they were rent asunder at the time of the judge observed that this superstition was common in all parts of the country mr said that he was consulted the other day by a man who had been digging for buried treasure at point up the river and while he and his companions were thus engaged the owner of the land came upon them and compelled s to give him a note for a sum of money the object was to inquire whether this note was note books tory says tliat there are a hundred people now resident in who at one time or another have dug for treasure the process is in the to find out the site of the treasure by the rod a circle is then described with the steel rod about the spot and a man walks around within its verge reading the bible to keep off the evil spirit while his companions dig if a word is spoken the whole business is a failure once the person who told him the story reached the of the chest so that tlie plainly scraped upon it when one of the men spoke and the chest immediately moved sideways int the earth another time when he was reading the bible within the circle a creature like a whit e horse but large came from a distance towards the circle looked at him and then began to about the spot he saw the motion of the jaws but beard no sound of his companions saw the gigantic horse precisely as he did only to them it appeared bay instead of white the stared with great curiosity at pierce one pretty young woman appeared inclined to him entirely to herself there is a alley on the island at which some of the were rolling september th i have made no to day except a walk with the guests in the morning but have about the and it has been a calm warm sunny day the sea the shores and now and then breaking into white foam by ic american note books the surface of the island is overgrown with and bushes the sheep cut down the former so that few are produced the latter gives a pleasant fragrance when pressed in the hand the island is one great ledge of rock four hundred acres in extent with a little soil thrown over it but the bare rock everywhere emerging not only in points but still more in flat the only trees i think are two that mr has been trying to raise in front of the hotel the taller of which looks scarcely so much as ten feet high it is now about sunset and the with the mail is just arrived at the so still is it that the sounds on board as of throwing oars into a small boat are distinctly heard though a quarter of a mile off she has the stars and flying at the main mast there appear to be no passengers the only on the island is a very vivid and beautiful green snake which is exceedingly abundant yesterday while catching for fish bait i nearly one in my hand indeed i rather think i did it the snake was as much startled as myself and in its fright stood an instant on its tail before it recovered presence of mind to glide away these are quite harmless september m last evening we could hear the roaring of the at and nine miles off the surf likewise swelled against the rocky shores of the island though there was little or no wind and except for the swell the surface was smooth the by ic american note books sheep loudly and all these tokens according to mr a storm to this morning nevertheless there were no further signs of it it is sunny and calm or only the slightest breeze from the westward a haze sleeping along the a warm day the surface of the sea with and gentle of wind it has been the day that i have known here and probably one of the of the season ashore and the land is now in the haze smith s monument is about seven feet high and probably ten or twelve in at its base it is a or mere heap of | 35 |
stones thrown together as they came to hand though with some selection of large and flat ones towards the base and with smaller ones thrown in at the foundation there are large rocks naturally in the earth i see no reason to that a part of this monument may have been erected by captain smith although subsequent visitors may have added to it says it is known to have stood upwards of a hundred years it is a work of considerable labor and would more likely have been erected by one who supposed himself the first of the island than by anybody afterwards for mere amusement i observed in some places towards the base that the had grown from one stone to another and there is nothing in the appearance of the monument that the supposition of its antiquity it is an irregular circle somewhat towards the top few of the stones except at the base are bigger than a man easily many of them are not more than a by ic american note books foot across it stands towards the part of the island and all the other islands are visible from it nose star island and white island on which is the much of s island the proper name of which is though called and duck island which looks like a mere of rocks and about a mile farther into the ocean of island s hotel together with the house in which his son in law which was likewise built by and stands about fifty yards from the hotel the middle of a shallow valley which passes through the island from east to west looking from the you have the ocean opening towards the east and the bay towards beach and on the west in the same storm that s light a year or two ago a great wave passed entirely through this valley and describes it when it came in from the sea as over to the height of the of his hotel it roared and through from sea to sea twenty feet abreast rolling along huge rocks in its passage it passed beneath his which stands on posts and probably filled the valley completely would i had been here to see the day has been exceedingly hot since dinner the spy has arrived from with a party of half a dozen or more men and women and children apparently from the interior of new i am rather sorry to receive these strangers into the quiet life that we are leading here for we had grown quite to feel ourselves at home and the two young ladies mr his wife by v ic american note books and sister and myself met at meal times like one family the young ladies gathered shells arranged them laughed gently sang and did other pretty things in a young way these new comers are people of uncouth voices and loud laughter and behave themselves as if they were trying to turn their expedition to as much account as possible in the way of enjoyment john s boat the regular passenger boat is now coming in and probably brings the mail in the afternoon while some of the new comers were fishing off the rocks west of the hotel a came close in shore hearing their i looked out of my chamber window and saw the fin and the of his tail stuck up out of the water as he moved to and fro he must have been eight or ten feet long he had probably followed the small fish into the bay and got bewildered and at one time be was almost mr s son ran down with a gun and fired at the which was then not more than ten yards from the shore he aimed according to his father s directions just below the of the fin with the body but the gun was loaded only with shot and seemed to produce no effect had another shot at him afterwards the a little in the water but finally got off and disappeared probably without very serious damage he came so near the shore that he might have been touched with a boat hook september mr rowed me this morning in his to white island on which is the light by v ic j american note books house there was scarcely a breath of air and a perfectly calm sea an intensely hot sunshine with a little haze so that the horizon was indistinct here and there sail boats sleeping on the water or moving almost over it the island would be difficult of access in a rough sea the shore being so rocky on landing we found the keeper his harvest of which he had gathered because the insects were eating them his little patch of garden seemed to be a strange kind of soil as like marine mud as anything but he had a fair crop of though injured as he said by the last storm and there were and a few i recollect no other garden vegetables the grass grows pretty and looked very green where there was any soil but he kept no cow nor even a pig nor a hen his house stands close by the garden a small stone building with roof and the stands on a ledge of rock with a between and there is a long covered way in connecting his residence with it we ascended into the lantern which is eighty seven feet high it is a revolving light with several great of copper and colored lamp glasses looking downward we had the island displayed as on a with its little its of beach connecting two parts of the island and at high tide its sunken rocks about it indicated by the swell or slightly breaking surf the keeper of the was formerly a writing master he has a kind of look and does not | 35 |
bear a very high character among his by v ic american note books neighbors since he kept the light he has lost two wives the first a young creature whom he used to leave alone upon this desolate rock and the gloom and terror of the situation were probably the cause of her death the second wife the same kind of treatment ran away from him and returned to her friends he to be religious but drinks about a year ago he attempted to row out alone from there was a head wind and head tide and he would have inevitably drifted out to sea if mr had not saved him while we were standing in his garden patch i heard a woman s voice inside the dwelling but know not whose it was a nine miles from shore would be a delightful place for a new married couple to spend their or their whole first year on our way back we landed at another island called s rock or some such name it has but little soil as we approached it a large bird flew away mr took it to be a and while walking over the island an owl started up from among the rocks near us and flew away apparently uncertain of its course it was a brown owl but mr says that there are beautiful white which spend the winter here and feed upon rats these are very abundant and live amidst the rocks probably having been brought hither by vessels the water to day was not so transparent as sometimes but had a slight haze diffused through it somewhat like that of the atmosphere the passengers brought by the spy yesterday still by v ic american note books remain with us they consist of country a country doctor and such sorts of people rude shrewd aud simple and well behaved enough wondering at and equally at down to table with their coats off helping themselves out of the dish with their own forks taking on the plates off which they have eaten meat people at just this stage of manners are more disagreeable than at any other stage they are aware of some but not so deeply aware as to make them a matter of conscience they may be heard talking of the financial affairs of the expedition reckoning wliat money each has paid one offers to pay another three or four cents which the latter has it s of no consequence sir says his friend with a tone of conscious liberality that s near enough this is a most hot day there is a young lady staying at the hotel afflicted with what her friends call but which is probably she seems unable to walk or sit up but every pleasant day about the middle of the she is dragged out beneath the on a sofa to day she has been there until late in the decline of the afternoon it is a delightful place where the breezes stir if any are in motion the young girls her sisters or cousins and mr s sister sat round her cheerfully and singing and they were so merry that it did not seem as if there could be an sick one in the midst of them the spy came to day with more passengers of no particular character she still remains off the landing with her sails in the wind by vol ii o american note books the mail arrived to day but nothing for me close by the at the end of the hotel is drawn up a lai e boat of ten or twelve tons which got injured in some gale and probably will remain there for years to decay and be a picturesque and characteristic object the spy has been lying in the broad track of golden light thrown by the sun far down towards the horizon over the rippling water her sails throwing distinct dark shadows over the brightness she has now got under way and set sail on a course for carrying off i believe all the passengers she brought to day september here is another beautiful morning with the sun in the early sunshine four are in sight motionless on the sea with the whiteness of their sails reflected in it the heat haze sleeps along the shore though not so as quite to hide it and there is the promise of another very warm day as yet however the air is cool and refreshing around the island there is the little of a breeze but where the sail boats are a mile or more off the sea is perfectly calm the sing and i hear the of birds besides at the base of the yesterday we saw the wings and feathers of a decayed little bird and mr said they often flew the em with such force as to kill themselves and that large quantities of them might be picked up how came little birds out of their nests at night why should they meet destruction from the radiance that proves the salvation of other beings p by v american note books mr had once a man living with him who had seen old the ghost he met him between the hotel and the sea and describes him as dressed in a sort of frock and with a very dreadful countenance two or three years ago the crew of a wrecked vessel a wrecked near boon island landed on island of a winter night and found shelter in the hotel it was from the eastward there were six or seven men with the mate and it was midnight when they got ashore the common sailors as soon as they were physically comfortable seemed to be perfectly at ease the captain walked the floor himself for a silver watch which he had lost the mate being the only married man talked about his they all told | 35 |
their dreams of the preceding night and saw in them of the misfortune there is now a breeze the blue of which seems to reach almost across to the yet with streaks of calm and in one place the surface of a of calmness amidst the surrounding commotion the wind in the early morning was from the west and the aspect of the sky seemed to promise a warm and sunny day but all at once soon after breakfast the wind shifted round to the eastward and great volumes of fog almost as dense as cannon smoke came sweeping from the eastern ocean through the valley and past the house it soon covered the whole sea and the whole island beyond a verge of a few hundred yards the was not so great as a change of wind on the we had been watching a large ship that was slowly making her way between us and he by v z american note books land towards this was now hidden the breeze is still very moderate but the boat near the shore rides with a considerable motion as if the sea were getting up mr says that the artist who adorned church in new york with wanted some real wings from which to imitate the wings of mr carried him the wings of the white owl that here at the together with those of some other bird and the artist gave his the wings of an owl this morning there have been two boat loads of visitors from they merely made a flying call and took to their boats again a disagreeable and impertinent kind of people the spy arrived before dinner with several passengers after dinner came the bringing other freight a large basket of delicious to me together with a note from mr b b comb he is certainly a man of excellent taste and admirable behavior sent a of to the room of each guest now in the hotel kept a dozen for myself and gave the balance to mr the two young ladies returned in the spy i had grown accustomed to their presence and rather liked them one of them gay and rather noisy and the other quiet and gentle as to new comers i feel rather a to them and so i find does mr a rather singular sentiment for a to entertain towards his guests however he treats them very when once within his doors by v ic american note books the sky is and about the time the spy and the sailed there were a few drops of rain the wind at that time was strong enough to raise to the eastward of the island and there was good hope of a storm now however the wind has subsided and the weather know not what to september the wind shifted and about towards the close of yesterday and later it was almost calm after blowing gently from the notwithstanding which it rained there being a in the air we could see the gleam of the upon the mist above it although the itself was hidden by the highest point of this island or by our being in a valley as we sat under the in the evening we saw the light from on board some vessel move slowly through the distant obscurity so slowly that we were only sensible of its progress by forgetting it and looking again the and murmur of the waves around the island were soothingly audible it was not cold and mr mr and myself sat under the till long after dark the former at a little distance occasionally smoking his pipe and mr and i talking about poets and the stage the latter is an odd subject to be discussed in this stem and wild scene which has precisely the same characteristics now as two hundred years ago the were very abundant last night and they are certainly a race than their inland brethren this morning there is a sullen sky with scarcely any breeze the clouds throw shadows of varied darkness by v ic american note books upon the sea i know not way the wind is but the aspect of things seems to a calm as much as anything else about eleven o clock mr took me over to nose in his a from the eastward laden with bark and other lumber and a few barrels of filled yesterday and was left by her and crew all the morning we have seen boats picking up her deck load which was scattered over the sea and along the shores of the islands the and his three men got into nose in the boat and the was afterwards by the noses and brought into that island we saw her lying at the pier a black ugly rotten old thing with the water half way over her decks the wonder was how she swam so long the a man of about or forty in a blue pilot cloth overcoat and a rusty high crowned hat down over his brow looked very forlorn while the were about enjoying the matter i walked with mr over the island and saw first the graves of the they were wrecked on this island a hundred years ago and lie buried in a range about thirty feet in length to the number of sixteen with rough moss grown pieces of granite on each side of this common grave near this spot yet somewhat removed so as not to be confounded with it are other individual graves chiefly of the family who were once of the island these have slate there is also within a small of rough pine boards a white marble in memory by v ic american note books of a young man named son of the person who now keeps the hotel on nose he was buried mr says notwithstanding his marble monument in a | 35 |
rude pine box which he himself helped to make we walked to the farthest point of the island and i have never seen a more dismal place than it was on and east windy day being the farthest point out into the melancholy sea wliich was in no very agreeable mood and roared sullenly against the wilderness of rocks one mass of rock more than twelve feet square was thrown up out of the sea in a storm not many years since and now lies never to be moved unless another wave shall give it another toss on shore such a rock would be a for centuries it is inconceivable how a sufficient mass of water could be brought to bear on this ponderous mass but not all the fragments piled upon one another round these islands have thus been flung to and fro at one time or another there is considerable land that would serve tolerably for pasture on nose and here and there a little of richer grass built round with a strong the same kind of is on star island each small proprietor off his little bit of or grass wild flowers are abundant and various on these islands the bush is plentiful on nose and makes the hand that it fragrant the hotel is kept by a an old soldier who fought at the battle of we saw him in the by v ic note books bam a gray round old fellow troubled with the of the wrecked had apparently just been taking a drop of comfort but still seemed downcast he took passage in a fishing vessel the wave of for and i know not why but there was something that made me smile in his grim and gloomy look his rusty hat his rough and beard and in his mode of tobacco with much action of the jaws getting out the as largely as possible as men always do when disturbed in mind i looked at him earnestly and was conscious of something that marked him out from among the careless around him being as much as it was possible for him to be his feelings the man and the observer when he got aboard the fishing vessel he seemed not entirely at his ease being accustomed to command and work amongst his own little crew and now having nothing to do nevertheless unconsciously perhaps he lent a hand to whatever was going on and yet had a kind of strangeness about him as the wave set sail we were just starting in our and a young fellow an acquaintance of mr proposed to take us in tow so we were dragged along at her stem very rapidly and with a wake until we came off island then the was cast loose and mr rowed ashore against a head sea the day is still and the wind is firom the eastward but it does not increase and the sun appears occasionally on the point of out a boat the i suppose from has just come to by v ic american note books her in front of the hotel a sail boat has put off from her with a passenger in the stem pray god she bring me a letter with good news from home for i begin to feel as if i had been long enough away there is a alley on nose at which some of the star were playing when we were there i saw only two dwelling houses besides the hotel connected with nose by a stone wall there is another little bit of island called both are the property of mr mr says that the spanish wreck occurred forty seven years ago instead of a hundred some of the dead bodies were found on others on various parts of the next island one or two had crept to a stone wall that nose but were unable to get over it one was found among the bushes the next summer mr had them buried at his own expense the of the wrecked yesterday was unwilling to go to until he was shaved his beard being of several days growth it seems to be the of people under misfortune to put on their best clothes and attend to the of life the brought a passenger a thin stiff young man who enters his name as mr from he and a country his wife sister and two children all of whom have been here several days are now the only guests besides myself september the night set in sullen and gloomy and morning has dawned in pretty much the same way american note books the wind however seems rising somewhat and past the angle of the house perhaps we shall see a storm yet from the eastward and having the whole sweep of the broad atlantic between here and ireland i do not see why it should not be fully equal to a storm at sea it has been more or less all the and now at twelve o clock blows as mr says half a gale from the through the opening of our shallow valley towards the east there is the prospect of a tumbling sea with hundreds of white caps chasing one another over it in front of the hotel being to the water near the shore is but slightly ruffled but farther the sea is agitated and the surf breaks over square rock all round the horizon as well as the view is shut in by a mist sometimes i have a dim sense of the continent beyond but no more distinct than the thought of the other world to the soul the sheep in their desolate pasture the wind shakes the house a seeking i suppose some resting place than on the troubled waves was seen swimming just now in the not more than a hundred yards from the hotel judging by | 35 |
the which this half a gale makes with the sea it must have been a terrific time indeed when that great wave rushed and roared across the islands since dinner i have been to the eastern shore to look at the sea it is a wild spectacle but still i suppose an infinite deal of being a storm outside of this island there is a long and low one or two in a line by ic american note books looking more like a of rocks than an island and at the distance of a mile or more there the surf and spray break gallantly white forms rising up all at once and hovering a moment in the air spots which in calm times are not from the rest of the ocean now are converted into white the swell of the waves against our shore makes a snowy depth tinged with green for many feet back from the shore the longer waves swell and rush upon the rocks and when they return the waters pour back in a against the outer points of nose and star island there is a higher surf than here because the wind being from the these islands receive it first and form a partial barrier in respect to this while i looked there was moisture in the air and occasional of rain the places in the rocks were full of the fallen rain it is quite impossible to give an idea of these rocky shores how they are tossed together lying in all directions what solid what great fragments thrown out from the rest often the rocks are broken square and so as to form a kind of staircase though for the most part such as would require a giant stride to ascend them sometimes a black trap rock runs through the bed of granite sometimes the sea has eaten this away leaving a long irregular in some places owing to the same cause perhaps there is a great hollow place into the ledge and forming a harbor into which the sea flows and while there is foam and at the entrance it is comparatively oc american note books parts of the are as much as fifty feet of height down which you look over a bare and smooth descent at the base of which is a sha y margin of sea weed but it is vain to try to express this confusion as much as anything else it seems as if some of the massive materials of the world remained superfluous after the creator had finished and were carelessly thrown down here where the part of them from the sea and in the course of thousands of years have become partially with a little soil the wind has changed to and blows pretty the sun shone before it set and the mist which all day has the land now takes the aspect of a cloud drawing a thin veil between us and the shore and rising above it in our own atmosphere there is no fog nor mist september i spent last evening as well as part of the evening before at mr s it is certainly a romantic incident to find such a young man on this lonely island his marriage with the pretty is true romance in our talk we have glanced over many matters and among the rest that of the stage to prepare himself for which was his first motive in coming hither he appears quite to have given up any dreams of that kind now what he will do on returning to the world as his purpose is i cannot imagine but no doubt through all their remaining life both he and she will look back to this rocky ledge with its handful of soil as to a paradise last evening we mr mrs and miss sat by v ic american note books and talked of ghosts and kindred subjects and they told me of the appearance of a little old woman in a striped gown that had come into that house a few months ago she was seen by nobody but an irish nurse who spoke to her but received no answer the little woman drew her chair up towards the fire and out her feet to warm them by and by the nurse who suspected nothing of her ghostly character went to get a of water and when she came back the little woman was not there it being known precisely how many and what people were on the island and that no such little woman was them the fact of her being a ghost is i taught them how to discover the hidden sentiments of letters by a gold ring over them ordinarily since i have been here we have spent the evening under the where mr sits to take the air he seems to avoid the within doors whenever he can so there he sits in the sea breezes when inland people are probably drawing their chairs to the fireside and there i sit with him not keeping up a continual flow of talk but each speaking as any wisdom happens to come into his mind the wind this morning is from the rather brisk but not very strong there is a scattering of clouds about the sky but the atmosphere is singularly clear and we can see several hills of the interior the cloud like white mountains and along the shore the long white and the dotted dwellings with great distinctness many small vessels spread their wings and go by ic american note books i have been rambling over the southern part of the island and looking at the traces of there there are several the largest perhaps thirty yards square surrounded with a rough of very antiquity built originally broad and strong two or three large stones in width and piled up breast high or more | 35 |
and taking advantage of the extending ledge to make it within this there is almost a clear space of soil which was formerly no doubt cultivated as a garden but is now close by the sheep and cattle except where it produces or the poisonous weed called which seems to love these old walls and to root itself in or near them these walls are truly venerable gray and and you see at once that the hands that piled the stones must have been long ago turned to dust close by the is the hollow of an old cellar with rocks tumbled into it but the of stone at the side still to be traced and bricks broken or with rounded edges scattered about and perhaps pieces of lime and weeds and grass growing about the whole several such of former human homes may be seen there none of which can possibly be later than the revolution and probably they are as old as the settlement of the island the site has nose and star opposite with a road that is a water road between varying from half a mile to a mile duck island is also seen on the left and on the right the shore of the behind the rising ground the view smith s monument is visible i do not see where the inhabitants could have kept their boats unless in the worn by the sea into the rocks dig by note books one of these has a spring of fresh water in the base down to which the sea has worn out the chasm has perpendicular though irregular sides which the waves have out very square its width from ten to twenty feet towards the sea and on the shelves up ai d down the sides some soil has been here and there accumulated on which grow grass and wild flowers such as golden rod now in bloom and bushes the fruit of which i found ripe the whole making large parts of the sides of the chasm green its overhanging the strip of sea that and into the hollow sea weed besides what grows upon and the rocks is tossed into the harbor together with stray pieces of wood barrel or as to day an entire barrel or whatever else the sea happens to have on hand the water to and fro over the pebbles at the bottom of the chasm drawing back and leaving much of it bare then rushing up with more or less of foam and fury according to the force and direction of the wind though owing to the protection of the adjacent islands it can never have a gale blowing right into its mouth the spring is situated so far down the chasm that at half or two thirds tide it is covered by the sea twenty minutes after the retiring of the tide to restore to it its freshness in another chasm very much like the one here described i saw a m the rock about tall enough for a person of moderate stature to stand upright it had a floor and a top and was just the place to hold the statue that ever a savage made by v ic american note books many of the on the island have yellow moss or spread on them in large patches the moss of those stone walls does really look very old old the ghost has a ring round his neck and is supposed either to have been hung or to have had his throat cut but he telling the mode of his death there is a luminous appearance about him as he walks and his face is pale and very dreadful the arrived this and sailed again before dinner she brought as passenger a mr brother to the country who has been spending a few days here on her return she has swept the islands of all the non except myself the wind being ahead and pretty strong she will have to beat up and the voyage will be anything but agreeable the spray flew before her bows and doubtless gave the passengers all a thorough within the first half hour the view of star island or from the north is picturesque the village or group of houses being gathered pretty closely together in the centre of tlie island with some green about them and above all the other wholly displayed stands the httle stone church with its tower and on the right is white island with the to the right of that and a little to the northward s rock where perhaps of old some london ship was wrecked to the left of star island and nearer or is nose pour the blue sea about these and let the surf and steal up from their points and from the about them which latter for an instant and then are lost in the and by ic american note books depths the wind the while raising thousands of white caps and the evening sun shining solemnly over the expanse and it is a stern and lovely scene the valleys that or partially the island are a remarkable feature they appear to be of the same formation as the in the rocks but as they extend farther from the sea they a little soil along the irregular sides and so become green and with bushes though with the rock everywhere thrusting itself through the old people of the say that their fathers could remember when the sea at high tide flowed quite through the valley in which the hotel stands and that boats used to pass afterwards it was a standing pond then a with cat tail flags growing in it it has filled up so far as it is filled by the soil being washed down from the higher ground on each side the storms meanwhile have tossed up the and stones at each end of | 35 |
genius it would be absurd to accuse the author of making his hero do too much all he has done is to give this genius a right direction and for politics cigars horses and one he has the duties of a rational and being regarding them as better fitted to develop the young gentleman s mind heart and soul bright is something more than a smart boy he is a good boy and makes a true man his daily life is the moral of the story and the author hopes that his devotion to principle will make a stronger impression upon the mind of the young reader than even the most exciting incidents of his career william t contents chap i in which goes a fishing and catches a horse chap ii in which several times and does a sum in chap iii in which the little black house is bought but not paid for chap iv in which gets out of one scrape and into another chap v in which gives his note for sixty dollars chap vi in which sets out on his travels chap vii in which stands up for certain chap viii in which mr is astonished and in chestnut street chap ix in which opens various accounts and wins his first victory contents chap x in which is a little too smart ill chap xi in which strikes a balance and returns to chap xii in which sundry persons and pays part of his note chap xiii in which a and visits b again chap xiv in which s air castle is upset and tom takes to the woods chap xv in which gets into a scrape and tom turns up again chap xvi in which finds it is an ill wind that blows no one any good chap xvii in which tom has a good time and meets with a terrible misfortune chap xviii in which takes french leave and in the woods chap xix in which has a narrow escape and goes to sea with sam bay chap xx in which the clouds blow over and is himself again chap xxi in which steps off the stage and the author must finish now or never now or never w now or never ob the adventures of bright chapter i ik which a fishing and catches a e by jolly i ve got a bite exclaimed tom a rough hard looking boy who sat on a rock by the river s side anxiously watching the cork float on his line catch him then quietly responded bright who occupied another rock near the first speaker as he pulled up a large and without any appearance of exultation proceeded to and place him in his basket id now or never or you axe a lucky dog bob added tom as he glanced into the basket of his companion which now contained six good sized fishes i haven t caught one yet you don t fish deep enough i fish on the bottom that is too deep it don t make any difference how i fish it is all luck not all luck tom there is something in doing it right i shall not catch a fish continued tom in despair you ll catch something else though when you go home i m afraid you will who says i will didn t you tell me you were jack who is going to know any thing about it the master will know you are absent i shall tell him my mother sent me over to the village on an errand the of i never knew a fellow to hook jack yet without getting found out i shall not get found out unless you blow on me and you wouldn t be mean enough to do that and tom glanced uneasily at his companion suppose your mother should ask me if i had seen you you would tell her you have not of course of course why wouldn t you wouldn t you do as much as that for a fellow it would be a lie a lie i wouldn t lie for any fellow replied stoutly as he pulled in his seventh fish and placed him in the basket wouldn t you no i wouldn t then let me tell you this if you on me i ll your head tom removed one hand from the fish pole and his fist shook it with energy at his companion now ob never ob away replied coolly i shall not go out of my way to tell tales but if your mother or the master asks me the question i shall not lie won t you no i won t i ll bet you will and tom dropped his fish pole and was on the point of jumping over to the rock occupied by when the float of the former disappeared beneath the surface of the water you have got a bite coolly interposed pointing to the line tom snatched the pole and with a violent pulled up a big but his violence jerked the hook out of the fish s mouth and he disappeared beneath the surface of the river just my luck muttered tom keep cool then i will fix you yet all right but you had better not let go your pole again or you will lose another fish i m bound to your head though no you won t the adventures won t i two can play at that game do you me no i don t want to fight i won t fight if i can help it i ll bet yon won t sneered tom but i will defend myself i am not a liar and the fear of a shall not make me tell a lie go to sunday school | 36 |
don t you do and besides that my mother always taught me never to tell lies come you needn t preach to me by and by you will call me a liar no i won t but just now you told me you meant to lie to your mother and to the master what if i did that is none of your business it is my business when you want me to lie for you though and i shall not do it blow on me and see what you will get i don t mean to blow on you yes you do now ob ob i will not lie about it that s all by jolly see that horse exclaimed tom suddenly as he pointed to the road leading to centre by gracious added dropping his fish pole as he saw the horse running at a furious rate up the road from the village the mad animal was attached to a chaise in which was seated a lady whose frantic shrieks pierced the soul of our youthful hero the course of the road was by the river s side for nearly half a mile and crossed the stream at a wooden bridge but a few rods from the place where the boys were fishing bright s impulses were noble and generous and without stopping to consider the peril to which the attempt would expose him he boldly resolved to stop that horse or let the animal dash him to pieces on the bridge now or never shouted he as he leaped from the rock and ran with all his might to the bridge the shrieks of the lady rang in his ears and seemed to command him with an authority which he could not the adventures of bright resist to stop the horse there was no time for deliberation and indeed did not want any deliberation the lady was in danger if the horse s flight was not checked she would be dashed in pieces and what then could excuse him for his duty not the fear of broken limbs of flesh or even of a sudden and violent death it is true did not think of any of these things though if he had it would have made no difference with him he was a boy who would not fight except in self defence but he had the courage to do a deed which might have made the heart tremble with terror grasping a broken rail as he leaped over the fence he planted himself in the middle of the bridge which was not more than half as wide as the road at each end of it to await the coming of the furious animal on he came and the piercing shrieks of the lady him to the performance of his perilous duty the horse approached him at a mad run and his feet struck the loose of the bridge the brave boy then raised his big club and it with now oe or all his might in the air probably the horse did not mean any thing very bad was only frightened and had no wicked intentions towards the lady so that when a new danger him in front he stopped suddenly and with so much violence as to throw the lady forward from her seat upon the of the chaise he gave a long which was his way of expressing his fear he was evidently astonished at the sudden barrier to his further progress and commenced running back save me screamed the lady i will ma am don t be scared replied confidently as he dropped his club and grasped the bridle of the horse just as he was on the point of whirling round to escape by the way he had come stop him do stop him cried the lady said in gentle tones as he patted the trembling horse on his neck good horse be quiet the animal in his terror kept running backward and forward but in his gentle treatment and finally soothed him so that he stood quiet enough for the lady to get out of the chaise the adventures of bright what a miracle that i am alive exclaimed she when she realized that she stood once more upon the firm earth yes ma am it is lucky he didn t break the chaise good horse stand quiet what a little fellow you are said the lady as soon as she could recover her breath so as to express her admiration of s bold act o i don t mind it replied he blushing like a rose in june did he run away with you u no my father left me in the chaise for a moment while he went into a store in the village and a who was passing by snapped his whip which frightened so that she started off at the top of her speed i was so terrified that i screamed with all my might which frightened her the more the more i screamed the faster she ran i dare say good horse she is a splendid creature she never did such a thing before my father will think i am killed by this time had become quite reasonable and seemed very much obliged to for preventing her from doing mischief to her mistress for she now or never or looked at the lady with a glance of satisfaction which her interpreted as a promise to behave better in future he relaxed his grasp upon the bridle patted her upon the neck and said sundry pleasant things to encourage her in her assumed purpose of doing better appeared to understand s kind words and declared as plainly as a horse could declare that she would be sober and now ma am if you will get into the chaise again i think will let me drive her down to the village o dear i should not dare to | 36 |
do so then if you please i will drive down alone so as to let your father know that you are safe do i am sure he must feel very bad and i may save him a great deal of pain for a man can suffer a great deal in a very short time you are a little philosopher as well as a hero and if you are not afraid of you may do as you wish she seems gentle now and turned her round and got into the chaise the op be very careful said the lady i will took the reins and true to the promise she had made started off at a round pace towards the village he had not gone more than a quarter of a mile of the distance when he met a wagon containing three men one of whom was the lady s father the gestures which he made assured he had found the person whom he sought and he stopped my daughter where is she gasped the gentleman as he leaped from the wagon she is safe sir replied with all the enthusiasm of his warm nature thank god added the gentleman devoutly as he placed himself in the chaise by the side of now or never ob chapter ii in which several times and does a sum in mb the owner of the horse and the father of the lady whom had saved from impending death was too much agitated to say even to the bold youth who had rendered him such a signal service he could scarcely believe the intelligence which the boy brought him it seemed too good to be true he had assured himself that for that was the young lady s name was killed or dreadfully injured was driven at the top of her speed and in a few moments reached the bridge where was awaiting his arrival here i am father alive and cried as mr stopped the horse thank heaven my child replied the glad the of bright father embracing his daughter i was sure you were killed no father thanks to this bold youth i am lam under very great obligations to you young man continued mr grasping s hand o never mind sir and blushed just as he had blushed when the young lady spoke to him we shall never forget you shall we father added no my child and i shall endeavor to repay to some slight extent our to him but you have not yet told me how you were saved o i merely stopped the horse that s all answered modestly yes father but he placed himself right before when she was almost flying over the ground when i saw him i was certain that he would lose his life or be horribly for his boldness interposed it was a daring deed young man to place yourself before an horse in that manner said mr didn t mind it sir now ok never or and then he flourished a big club almost as big as he is himself in the air which made pause in her mad career when my here grasped her by the bit and held her it was well and bravely done that it was father not many men would have been bold enough to do what he did added with enthusiasm very true and i feel that i am indebted to him for your safety what is your name young man robert bright sir mr took from his pocket several pieces of gold which he offered to no i thank you sir replied blushing what as proud as you are bold i don t like to be paid for doing my duty you are a noble little fellow but you must take this money not as a reward for what you have done but as a of my gratitude i would rather not sir do take it robert added don t like to take it it looks mean to take money for doing one s duty the adventures op x take it robert to please mc and the young lady smiled so sweetly that s resolution began to give way only to please me robert i will to please you but i don t feel right about it you must not be too proud said mr as he put the gold pieces into his hand i am not proud sir only i don t like to be paid for doing my duty not paid my young friend consider that you have placed me under an obligation to you for life this money is only an expression of my own and my daughter s feelings it is but a small sum but hope you will permit me to do something more for you when you need it yoa will regard me as your friend as long as you live thank you sir when you want any assistance of any kind come to me i live in boston here is my business card mr handed him a card on which d f co and publish ers no washington street to a a y r y kind sir or ob i want you should come to boston and see us too interposed i should be delighted to show you the city to take you to the and the museum thank you mr inquired of about his parents where he lived and about the circumstances of his family he then took out his book in which he wrote the boy s name and residence i am sorry to leave you now robert but j have over twenty miles to ride to day i should be glad to visit your mother and next time i come to i shall certainly do so thank you sir my mother is a very poor woman but she will be glad to see you now good by robert good by repeated good | 36 |
by mr drove off leaving standing on bridge with the gold pieces in his hand here s luck said shaking the coin won t mother s eyes stick out when she sees these there are no such in the river as these the oh was astonished and the more he gazed at the gold pieces the more bewildered he became he had never held so much money in his hand before there were three large and one smaller one he turned them oyer and over and finally ascertained that the large were ten dollar pieces and the smaller one a five dollar piece was not a great scholar but he knew enough of to calculate the value of his treasure he was so excited however that he did not arrive at the conclusion half so quick as most of my young readers would have done thirty five dollars exclaimed when the problem was solved gracious bob shouted tom who had got tired of fishing besides the village clock was just striking twelve and it was time for him to go home made no answer but hastily tying the gold pieces up in the corner of his handkerchief he threw the broken rail he had used in stopping the horse where it belonged and started for the place where he had left his fishing apparatus now ob ob bob well tom stopped him didn t you i did you were a fool he might have killed you so he might but i didn t stop to think of that the lady s life was in danger what of that every thing i should say did he give you any thing yes and continued his walk down to the river s side i say what did he give you persisted tom following him o he gave me a good deal of money how much i want to get my fish line now i will tell you all about it some other time replied who rather suspected the intentions of his companion tell me now how much was it never mind it now do you think i mean to rob you no the a of bright ain t you going why should i wasn t i with you were you wasn t i fishing with you you did not do any thing about stopping the horse i would if i hadn t been afraid to go up to the road afraid somebody might have seen me and they would have known that i was jack then you ought not to share the money yes i had when a fellow is with you he ought to have half it is mean not to give him half if you had done any thing to help stop the horse i would have shared with you but you didn t what of that was particularly sensitive in regard to the of meanness his soul was a great deal bigger than his body and he was always generous even to his own injury among his companions it was evident to him that tom had no claim to any part of now ob ob the reward but he could not endure the thought even of being accused of meanness i ll tell you what i will do if you think i ought to share with you i will leave it out to squire lee and if he thinks you ought to have half or any part of the money i will give it to you no you don t you want to get me into a scrape for jack i see what you are up to i will state the case to him without telling him who the boys are no you don t you want to be mean about it come hand over half the money i will not replied who when it became a matter of could stand his ground at any peril how much have you got thirty five dollars by jolly and you mean to keep it all yourself i mean to give it to my mother no you won t if you are going to be mean about it i ll your head this was a favorite expression with tom the of who was a noted bully among the boys of the young now placed himself in front of and shook his fist in his face hand over no i won t you have no claim to any part of the money at least i think you have not if you have a mind to leave it out to squire lee i will do what is right about it not i hand over or your head away replied placing himself on the do you think you can me asked tom not a little embarrassed by this exhibition of resolution on the part of his companion i don t think any thing about it but you don t bully me in that kind of style won t i no but tom did not immediately put his threat in execution and would not be the so he stepped one side to pass his tom took this as an evidence of the other s desire to escape and struck him a heavy blow on the side of the head now ok never or the next instant the bully was in the soft mud of a ditch s reply was more than tom had for and while he was dragging himself out of the ditch our hero ran down to the river and got his fish pole and basket you ll catch it for that growled tom i m all ready whenever it suits your convenience replied just come out here and take it in fair fight continued tom who could not help even in the midst of his misfortune no i thank you i don t want to fight with any fellow i will not fight if i can help it what did you hit | 36 |
me for then in self defence just come out here and try it fair no and hurried home leaving the bully astonished and by the winding up of the morning s sport the advent of bright chapter iii in which the little black house is bought but not paid my young readers have by this time come to the conclusion that bright was a very clever fellow one whose acquaintance they would be happy to cultivate perhaps by this time they have become so far interested in him as to desire to know who his parents were what they did and in what kind of a house he lived i hope none of my young friends will think any less of him when i inform them that lived in an old black house which had never been painted which had no flower garden in front of it and which in a word was quite far from being a palace a great many very nice city folks would not have considered it fit to live in would have turned up their noses at it and wondered that any human beings could be so degraded as to live ob ob in such a miserable house but the widow bright s mother thought it was a very comfortable house and considered herself very fortunate in being able to get so good a dwelling she had never lived in a fine house knew nothing about velvet carpets seven feet high chairs and or any of the smart things which very rich and very proud city people consider absolutely necessary for their comfort her father had been a poor man her husband had died a poor man and her own life had been a struggle to keep the of poverty and want from her humble abode mr bright her deceased husband had been a day in he never got more than a dollar a day which was then considered very good wages in the country he was a very honest industrious man and while he lived his family did very well mrs bright was a careful prudent woman and helped him support the family they never knew what it was to want for any thing poor people as well as rich have an ambition to be something which they are not or to have something which they have not every person who has ny the adventures of bright energy of character desires to get ahead in the world some merchants who own big ships and big ware houses by the dozen desire to be what they consider rich but their idea of wealth is very grand they wish to count it in millions of dollars in whole blocks of and they are even more discontented than the day who has to earn his dinner before he can eat it s father and mother had just such an ambition only it was so modest that the merchant would have laughed at it they wanted to own the little black house in which they resided so that they could not only be sure of a home while they lived but have the satisfaction of living in their own house this was a very reasonable ideal compared with that of the rich merchants i have mentioned but it was even more difficult for them to reach it for the wages were small and they had many mouths to feed mr bright had saved up fifty dollars and he thought a great deal more of this sum than many people do of a thousand dollars he had had to work very hard and be very prudent in order to this sum which made him value it all the more highly now or never or with this sum of fifty dollars at his command john bright felt rich and then more than ever before he wanted to own the little black house he felt as grand as a lord and as soon as the forty nine dollars had become fifty he waited upon mr a little old man who owned the little black house and proposed to purchase it the landlord was a hard man every body in said he was mean and any man would have been willing to make an easy bargain with an honest industrious poor man like john bright who wished to own the house in which he lived but mr although he was rich only thought how he could make more money he asked the poor man four hundred dollars for the old house and the little lot of land on which it stood it was a matter of great concern to john bright four hundred dollars was a of money and he could not see how he should ever be able to save so much from his daily so he talked with squire lee about it who told him that three hundred was all it was worth john offered this for it and after a month s hesitation mr accepted tho the adventures of offer agreeing to take fifty dollars down and the rest in semi annual of twenty five dollars each until the whole was paid i am thus particular in telling my readers about the bargain because this debt which his father con was the means of making a man of as will be seen in his subsequent history john bright paid the first fifty dollars but before the next became due the poor man was laid in his cold and silent grave a malignant disease carried him off and the hopes of the bright family seemed to be four children were left to the widow the youngest was only three years old and the oldest was nine when his father died squire lee who had always been a good friend of john bright told the widow that she had better go to the and not attempt to struggle along with such a fearful odds against her but the widow | 36 |
nobly refused to become a and to make of her children whom she loved quite as much as though she and they had been born in a palace she told the squire that she had two hands and as long as she had her now or never or health the town need not trouble itself about her support squire lee was filled with surprise and admiration at the noble resolution of the poor woman and when he returned to his house he immediately sent her a cord of wood ten of potatoes wo bags of meal and a of salt pork the widow was very grateful for these articles and no false pride prevented h r from accepting the gift of her rich and kind hearted neighbor centre was largely engaged in the of boots and shoes and this business gave employment to a large number of men and women mrs bright had for several years closed shoes which my readers who do not live in shoe towns may not know means sewing or them to this business she applied herself with renewed energy there was a large hotel in centre where several families from boston spent the summer by the aid of squire lee she obtained the washing of these families which was more profitable than closing shoes by these means she not only supported her family the adventures of very comfortably but was able to save a little money towards paying for the house mr by the of squire lee had consented to let the widow keep the house and pay for it as she could john bright had been dead four years at the time we introduce to the reader mrs bright had paid another hundred dollars towards the house with the interest so there was now but one hundred due had learned to close and helped his mother a great deal but the confinement and the stooping posture did not agree with his health and his mother was obliged to dispense with his assistance but the devoted little fellow found a great many ways of helping her he was now thirteen and was as handy about the house as a girl when he was not better occupied he would often go to the river and catch a mess of fish which was so much clear gain the winter which had just passed had brought a great deal of sickness to the little black house the children all had the and two of them the scarlet fever so that mrs bright could not work much her affairs were not in a very prosperous condition when the spring opened but the future was bright now or ob and the widow trusting in providence believed that all would end well one thing troubled her she had not been able to save any thing for mr she could only pay her interest but she hoped by the first of july to give him twenty five dollars of the principal but the first of july came and she had only five dollars of the sum she had partly promised her she could not so easily recover from the of the hard winter and she had but just paid off the little debts she had contracted she was nervous and uneasy as the day approached mr always abused her when she told him she could not pay him and she dreaded his coming it was the first of july on which caught those caught the horse and on which tom had caught a hastened home as we said at the conclusion of the last chapter he was as happy as a lord he had fish enough in his basket for dinner and for breakfast the next morning and money enough in his pocket to make his mother as happy as a queen if queens are always happy tiie adventures of the widow bright though she had worried and night and day about the money which was to be paid to mr on the first of july had not told her son any thing about it it would only make him unhappy she reasoned and it was needless to make the dear boy miserable for nothing so ran home all unconscious of the pleasure which was in store for him when he reached the front door as he stopped to scrape his feet on the sharp stone there as all considerate boys who love their mothers do before they go into the house he heard the angry tones of mr he was scolding and his mother because she could not pay him the twenty five dollars s blood boiled with indignation and his first impulse was to serve him as he had served tom only a few moments before but as we have before intimated was a peaceful boy and not disposed to quarrel with any person so he contented himself with muttering a few hard words the wretch what business has he to talk to my now ok ok mother in that style said he to himself i have a great mind to kick him out of the house but s better judgment came to his aid and perhaps he realized that he and his mother would only get kicked out in return he could battle with mr but not with the power which his wealth gave him so like a great many older persons in similar circumstances he took counsel of prudence rather than impulse bear ye one another s burdens the scripture but was not old enough or enough to realize that mr s burden was his wealth his love of money that it made him little better than a and he could not feel as towards him as a christian should towards his weak brother setting his pole by the door he entered the room where was his mother the of chapter iv in which gets out of one into another was so indignant at the conduct of | 36 |
and brilliant idea and for half an hour he kept up a most tremendous thinking now or never said he as he rose and walked down the road towards centre the adventures of chapter v in which gives his note sixty dollars a great idea was born in s brain his mother s weakness and the of her position were more apparent to him than they had ever been before she was in the power of her who might turn her out of the little black house sell the place at and thus perhaps deprive her of the whole or a large part of his father s and her own hard but this was not the peculiar hardship of her situation as her devoted son understood it it was not the hard work alone which she was called upon to perform not the of the fare upon which they lived not the danger even of being turned out of doors that distressed it was that a wretch like mr could insult and upon his now ob ok mother he had just heard him use language to her that made his blood boil with indignation and he did not on cool sober second thought regret that he had taken such a decided stand against it he cared not for himself he could live on a crust of bread and a cup of water from the spring he could sleep in a barn he could wear coarse and even ragged clothes but he could not submit to have his mother insulted and by such a mean and contemptible person as mr yet what could he do he was but a boy and the great world would look with contempt upon his form but he felt that he was not altogether insignificant he had performed an act that day which the fair young lady to whom he had rendered the service had declared very few men would have undertaken there was something in him something that would come out if he only put his best foot forward it was a tower of strength within him it told him that he could do wonders that he could go out into the world and accomplish all that would be required to free his mother from debt and relieve her from the severe of her life the adventures of bright a great many people think they can do wonders the vanity of some very silly people makes them think they can command armies govern nations and teach the world what the world never knew before and never would know but for them but s something within him was not vanity it was something more substantial he was not thinking of becoming a great man a great general a great ruler or a great not even of making a great fortune self was not the idol and the end of his calculations he was thinking of his mother and only of her and the feeling within him was as pure and holy and beautiful as the dream of an angel he wanted to save his mother from insult in the first place and from a life of ceaseless in the second a of angels seemed to have in his soul to give him strength for the great purpose in his mind his was a holy and a true purpose and it was this that made him think he could do wonders what intended to do the reader shall know in due time it is enough now that he meant to do something the difficulty with a great many people ob or is that they never resolve to do something they wait for something to turn up and as things are often very obstinate they utterly refuse to turn up at all their lives are spent in waiting for a golden opportunity which never comes now bright the philosophy he would have nothing to do with it he did not believe corn would grow without being planted or that would bite the bare hook i am not going to tell my young readers now how made out in the end but i can confidently say that if he had waited for something to turn up he would have become a vagabond a out of money out at the elbows and out of patience with himself and all the world it was now or never with he meant to do something and after he had made up his mind how and where it was to be done it was no use to stand thinking about it like the of the old clock which had stood for fifty years in a farmer s kitchen without giving its owner any cause of complaint walked down the road towards the village the of with a rapid step he was thinking very fast and probably that made him step quick but as he approached squire lee s house his pace and he seemed to be very uneasy when he reached the great gate that led up to the house he stopped for an instant and thrust his hands down very deep into his trousers pockets i cannot tell what the trousers pockets had to do with what he was thinking about but if he was searching for any thing in them he did not find it for after an instant s hesitation he drew out his hands struck one of them against his chest and in an audible voice exclaimed now or never all this i suppose meant that had some as to the ultimate success of his mission at squire lee s and that when he struck his breast and uttered his favorite expression they were conquered and driven out marching with a bold and determined step up to the squire s back door s ideas of etiquette would not have answered for the of fashionable society he gave three smart s heart beat a little wildly as he | 36 |
waited a now ob ok response to his summons it seemed that he still had some doubts as to the of his mission but they were not permitted to disturb him long for the door was opened by the squire s pretty daughter a young miss of twelve is it you i am so glad you have come exclaimed the little lady blushed he didn t know why unless it was that the young lady desired to see him he stammered out a reply and for the moment forgot the object of his visit i want you to go down to the village for me and get some books the was to bring up from boston for me will you go certainly miss i shall be very glad to go for you replied with an emphasis that made the little maiden blush in her turn you are real good but i will give you something for going i don t want any thing said stoutly you are too generous ah i heard what you did this and pa says that a great many men would not have dared to do what you did i the adventures of bright always thought you were as brave as a lion now i know it the books are at the express office i suppose said turning as red as a blood yes i am so anxious to get them that i can t wait till pa goes down this evening i will not be gone long o you needn t run take your time i will go very quick but miss is your father at home not now he has gone over to the wood lot but he will be back by the time you return will you to tell him that i want to see him about something very particular when he gets back i will thank you miss and hastened to the village to execute his commission i wonder what he wants to see pa so very particularly for said the young lady to herself as she watched his receding form in my opinion something has happened at the little black house for i could see that he looked very sober now ok never or either had a very great regard for the young lady and wished to relieve her impatience to behold the books or he was in a hurry to see squire lee for the squire s old horse could hardly have gone quicker you should not have run said the little maiden when he placed the books in her hand i would not have asked you to go if i had thought you would run all the way you must be very tired not at all i didn t run only walked very quick replied he but his quick breathing indicated that his words or his walk had been very much exaggerated has your father returned he has he is waiting for you in the sitting room come in followed her into the room and took the chair which offered him how do you do i am glad to see you said the squire taking him by the hand and a smile upon him a smile which cheered his heart more than any thing else could at that moment i have heard of you before to day have you the adventures of i have you are a brave little fellow i came over to see you sir about something very particular replied whose natural modesty induced him to change the topic indeed well what can i do for you a great deal sir perhaps you will think i am very bold sir but i can t help it i know you are a very bold little fellow or you would not have done what you did this laughed the squire i didn t mean that sir answered blushing up to the eyes i know you didn t but go on i only meant that you would think me or impudent or something of that kind o no far from it you cannot be or impudent speak out any thing under the heavens that i can do for you i shall be glad to do well sir i am going to leave leave yes sir i am going to boston where i mean to do something to help mother now ob ob you are a good lad what do you mean to do i was thinking i should go into the book business indeed and squire lee was much amused by the matter of fact manner of the young i was talking with a young fellow who went through the place last spring selling books he told me that some days he made three or four dollars and that he twelve dollars a week he did well perhaps though only a few of them make so much i know i can make twelve dollars a week replied confidently for that something within him made him feel capable of great things i dare say you can you have energy and perseverance and people take a liking to you but i wanted to see you about another matter to speak out at once i want to borrow sixty dollars of you and blushed and seemed very much embarrassed by his own boldness sixty dollars exclaimed the squire i knew you would think me impudent replied our hero his heart sinking within him the of but i don t you want this money to go into business with to buy your stock of books no sir i am going to apply to mr for that just so mr is the gentleman whose daughter you saved yes sir i want this money to pay off mr we owe him but sixty dollars now and he has threatened to turn us out if it is not paid by tomorrow noon the old briefly related to the squire the events of the morning | 36 |
much to the indignation and disgust of the honest kind hearted man the courageous boy detailed more clearly his purpose and doubted not he should be able to pay the loan in a few months very well here is the money and the squire took it from his and gave it to him thank you sir may heaven bless you i shall certainly pay you don t worry about it pay it when you get ready i will give you my note and now ok j ob the squire laughed heartily at this and told him that as he was a minor his note was not good for any thing you shall see whether it is or not returned let me give it to you at least so that we can tell how much i owe you from time to time you shall have your own way lee as much amused as her father at s big talk got the writing materials and the little merchant in wrote and signed the note good now promise that you will come and see me every time you come home and tell me how you are getting along i will sir with the greatest pleasure and with a light heart tripped away home the adventures of bright chapter vi in which sets out on his travels squire lee though only a plain farmer was the richest man in river he had taken a great fancy to and often employed him to do errands ride the horse to plough in the and such about the place as a boy could do he liked to talk with because there was a great deal of good sense in him for one with a small head if there was any one thing upon which the squire particularly himself it was his knowledge of human nature he declared that he only wanted to look a man in the face to know what he was and as for bright he had him and him and he was satisfied that he would make something in good time he was not much astonished when opened his ambitious scheme of going into business for him now ob ob self but he had full faith in his ability to work out a useful and profitable if not a brilliant life he often said that was worth his weight in gold and that he would trust him with any thing he had perhaps he did not suspect that the time was at hand when he would be called upon to his words practically for it was only that morning when one of the neighbors told him about stopping the horse that he had repeated the expression for the twentieth time it was not an idle remark sixty dollars was hardly worth mentioning with a man of his wealth and liberal views though so careful a man as he was would not have been likely to throw away that amount but as a matter of had made the note read with interest he would as readily have let him have it as the next richest man in the place so much confidence had he in our hero s integrity and so sure was he that he would soon have the means of paying him was at the fortunate issue of his mission and he walked into the room where his mother was closing shoes with a dignity worthy a the ot bright banker or a great merchant mrs bright was very sad perhaps she felt a little grieved that her son whom she loved so much had so plunged her into a new difficulty come cheer up mother it is all right said in his usual elastic and gay tones and at the same time he took the sixty dollars from his pocket and handed it to her there is the money and you will be forever quit of mr to morrow what why where did you get all this money asked mrs bright utterly astonished in a few words the ambitious boy told his story and then informed his mother that he was going to boston the next monday morning to commence business for himself why what can you do do i can do a great many things and he unfolded his scheme of becoming a little book merchant you are a courageous fellow who would have thought of such a thing should and did but you are not old enough now or never ob o yes i am you had better wait a while now or never mother you see i have given my note and my paper will be if i am not up and doing your paper said mrs bright with a smile that is what mr wing the boot calls it you needn t go away to earn this money i can pay it myself this note is my affair and i mean to pay it myself with my own no objections mother like a sensible woman as she was she did not make any objections she was conscious of s talents she knew that he had a strong mind of his own and could take care of himself it is true she feared the influence of the great world and especially of the great city upon the tender mind of her son but if he was never tempted he would never be a conqueror over the foes that beset him she determined to do her whole duty towards him and she carefully pointed out to him the sins and the moral danger to which he would be exposed and the adventures of bright warned him always to resist temptation she him to think of her when he felt like going astray declare that he would try to be a good boy he did not speak contemptuously of the anticipated perils as many boys would have done because he knew that his mother would not make out of | 36 |
things which she knew had no real existence the next day mr came and my young readers can judge how astonished and he was when the widow bright offered him the sixty dollars the lord was with the widow and tbe and the wretch was cheated out of his revenge the note was given up and the mr insisted that she should pay the interest on the sixty dollars for one day as it was then the second day of july but when reckoned it up and found it was less than one cent even the wretched seemed ashamed of himself and changed the subject of conversation he did not dare to say any thing to the now or never or widow this lime he had lost his power over her and there stood who had come to look just like a young lion to him coward and as he was the business was all settled now and spent the test of the week in getting ready for his great enterprise he visited all his friends and went each day to talk with squire lee and the little maiden promised to buy a great many books of him if he would bring his stock to for she was quite as much interested in him as her father was monday morning came and was out of bed with the first streak of dawn the excitement of the great event which was about to happen had not permitted him to sleep for the two hours preceding yet when he got up he could not help feeling sad he was going to leave the little black house going to leave his mother going to leave the children to part for the great city his mother was up before him she was even sad than he was for she could see than te the perils that him and her maternal the of heart in spite of the reasonable confidence she had in his integrity and good principles trembled for hia safety as he ate his breakfast his mother repeated the and the good lessons she had before imparted she particularly him to keep out of bad company if he found that his companions would lie and swear he might depend upon it they would steal and he had better them at once this was excellent advice and had occasion at a later period to call it to his heart here is three dollars it is all the money i have your fare to boston will be one dollar and you will have two left to pay the expenses of your first trip it is all i have now said mrs bright i will not take the whole of it you will want it yourself one dollar is enough when i find mr i shall do very well yes take the whole of it i will take just one dollar and no more replied resolutely as he handed her the other two dollars do take it now or never or no mother it will only make me lazy and indifferent taking a clean shirt a pair of and a handkerchief in his bundle he was ready for a start good by mother said he kissing her and taking her hand i shall try and come home on saturday so as to be with you on sunday then kissing the children who had not yet got up and to whom he had adieu the night before he left the house he had seen the flood of tears that filled his mother s eyes as he crossed the threshold and he could not help crying a little himself it is a sad thing to leave one s home one s mother especially to go out into the great world and we need not wonder that who had hardly been out of before should weep but he soon restrained the flowing tears now or ne ver said he and he put his best foot forward it was an epoch in his history and though he was too young to realize the importance of the event he seemed to feel that what he did now was to give character to his whole future life the adventures of bright it was a bright and beautiful morning somehow it is always a bright and beautiful morning when boys leave their homes to commence the journey of life it is typical of the season of youth and hope and it is meet that the sky should be clear and the sun shine brightly when the little pilgrim sets out upon his tour he will see clouds and storms before he has gone far let him have a fair start he had to walk five miles to the nearest railroad station his road lay by the house of his friend squire lee and as he was approaching it he met she said she had come out to take her morning walk but knew very well that she did not usually walk till an hour later which with the fact that she had asked him particularly the day before what time he was going made believe that she had come out to say good by and bid him god speed on his journey at any rate he was very glad to see her he said a great many pretty things to her and talked so big about what he was going to do that the little maiden could hardly help laughing in his face then at the house he shook hands with the squire now ob ob and shook hands again with and resumed his journey his heart felt lighter for having met them or at least for having met one of them if not for s eyes were so full of sunshine that they seemed to his heart and make him feel truer and stronger after a pleasant walk for he scarcely the distance so full was he of his big | 36 |
you seem to be a gentleman sir said approaching the i wish to see mr you can t see him growled can t i not at this minute he is engaged just now added the who seemed to have a profound for s he will be at liberty in a few moments i will wait then said himself on a stool by the counter pretty soon the civil gentleman left the store to go to dinner and a little timid about provoking the young lion cast an occasional glance of hatred at him he had evidently found that country was an american citizen and that he was a firm the of bright in the self evident truths of the declaration of independence bore no ill will towards the clerk ready as he had been to defend his certain rights you do a big business here suggested in a tone and with a smile on his face which ought to have convinced the clerk that he meant well who told you so replied i merely judged from appearances you have a big store and an immense quantity of books appearances are replied and perhaps he had been impressed by the fact from his experience with the lad from the country that is true added with a good natured smile which when interpreted might have meant i took you for a civil fellow but i have been very much mistaken you will find it out before you are many days older the book business is good just now isn t it continued without clearly the meaning of the other s last remark now ob or what s that to you o i intend to go into it myself ha ha ha good you do i do replied seemingly at the of the clerk i suppose you want to get a place here sneered alarmed at the prospect but let me tell you you can t do it has all the help he wants and if that is what you come for you can move on as fast as you please i guess i will see him added quietly no use no harm in seeing him as he spoke he took up a book that lay on the counter and began to turn over the leaves put that book down said the amiable mr i won t hurt it replied who had just fixed his eye upon some very pretty in the volume put it down repeated mr in a loud imperative tone certainly i will if you say so said who the of bright though not much by the harsh tones of the clerk did not know the rules of the store and deemed it prudent not to i do say so added mr and what s more you d better mind me too had minded and probably the stately little clerk would not have been so bold if he had not some people like to threaten after the danger is over then our visitor from the country some little blank books lying on the counter he had already made up his mind to have one in which to keep his accounts and he thought while he was waiting that he would purchase one he meant to do things so when he picked up one of the blank books it was with the intention of buying it put that book down said mr encouraged in his intentions by the previous of our hero i want to buy one no you don t put it down what is the price of these asked resolutely none of your business now or never ob is that the way you treat your customers asked with a little in his looks and tones i say i want to buy one put it down but i will not i say i want to buy it no you don t what is the price of it i twenty five cents growled which was just four times the price twenty five cents that s high put it down then is that your lowest price asked who was as cool as a yes it is and if you don t put it down i ll kick you out of the store will you then i won t put it down mr took this as a stump his ire was up and he walked round from behind the counter to execute his threat i must say i think was a little forward and i would have my young readers a little more with small men like there are always men enough in the world who are ready and willing to the a bright quarrel on any provocation and it is always best not to provoke them even if they are and insolent as mr certainly was hold on a minute before you do it said with the same provoking coolness i want to bu this book and i am willing to pay a fair price for it but i happen to know that you can buy them up in where i came from for six cents no matter exclaimed the indignant clerk seizing by the coat collar for the purpose of him you shall find your way into the street now as i have before intimated was an american citizen and the act of mr seemed like an invasion of his rights no time was given him to make a formal declaration of rights in the premises so the instinct of self preservation was allowed to have free course mr pulled and at his coat collar and hung back like a mule and for an instant there was quite a spirited scene what does this mean said a voice at which the little clerk instantly let go his hold ob ob chapter viii in which mb is astonished and in chestnut it was mr he had finished his business with the gentleman by his side and hearing the noise of the | 36 |
had come to learn the occasion of it this impudent young wouldn t let the books alone began mr i threatened to turn him out if he didn t and i meant to make good my threat i think he meant to steal something was astonished and shocked at this bold but he wished to have his case judged on its own merits so he turned his face away that mr might not recognize him i wanted to buy one of blank books added picking up the one he had dropped on the floor in the struggle the of all stuff ejaculated he is an impudent obstinate in my opinion he meant to steal that book i asked him the price and told him i wanted to buy it added still his face well i told him and he said it was too high he asked me twenty five cents for it is this true asked mr sternly no sir i told him replied boldly by gracious what a exclaimed startled out of his propriety by this monstrous lie he said twenty five cents and i told him i could buy one up in where i came from for six cents can you deny that it s a lie protested said mr are you from boy yes sir i am and if you will look on your book you will find my name there bless me i am sure i have seen that face before exclaimed mr as he grasped the hand of now ob ok much to the astonishment and consternation of mr you are robert bright sir my brave little fellow i am heartily glad to see you and the shook the hand he held with hearty good will i was thinking of you only a little while ago this fellow calls me a liar said pointing to the astonished mr who did not know what to make of the cordial reception which was receiving from his employer well robert we know that he is a liar this is not the first time he has been caught in a lie your time is out the clerk hung his head with shame and mortification i hope sir you will he began but pride or fear stopped him short don t be hard with him sir if you please said i suppose i him mr looked at the gentleman who stood by his side and a smile of approbation lighted up his face the of bright generous as he is noble butler this is the boy that saved indeed he is a little giant replied mr butler grasping s hand even glanced with something like admiration in his looks at the youth whom he had so lately despised perhaps too he thought of that scripture wisdom about entertaining angels unawares he was very much abashed and nothing but his silly pride prevented him from acknowledging his error and begging s forgiveness i can t have a liar about me said mr there may be some mistake suggested mr butler i think not robert bright couldn t lie so brave and noble a boy is incapable of a falsehood besides i got a letter from my friend squire lee by this morning s mail in which he informed me of my young friend s coming mr took from his pocket a bundle of letters and selected the squire s from among them opening it he read a passage which had a direct bearing upon the case before him ob ob i do not know what s faults are the letter said but this i do know that would rather be whipped than tell a lie he is noted through the place for his love of truth that is pretty strong testimony and you see that s what the squire calls you your reputation has preceded you blushed as he always did when he was praised and mr was more abashed than ever did you hear that who is the liar now said mr turning to the forgive me sir this time if you turn me off now i cannot get another place and my mother depends upon my wages you ought to have thought of this before he me sir so that i wanted to pay him off as to that he commenced upon me the moment i came into the store but don t turn him off if you please sir said who even now wished no harm to his he will do better hereafter won t you the of bright thus appealed to though he did not relish so direct an inquiry and from such a source was compelled to reply in the affirmative and mr graciously the sentence he had passed against the offending clerk now robert you will come over to my house and dine with me will be delighted to see you thank you sir replied i have been to dinner referring to the luncheon he had eaten at but you must go to the house with me should be very glad to do so sir but i came on business i will stay here with mr till you come back the truth is he had heard something about the fine houses of the city and how the people were d he had some about venturing into such a strange and scene as the parlor of a boston merchant indeed you must come with me would never forgive you or me if you do not come i would rather rest here till you return replied now or ok still willing to escape the fine and the fine folks i walked from sir and i am rather tired walked exclaimed mr had you no money yes sir enough to pay my passage but dr says that a penny saved is a penny earned and i thought i would try it i shall get rested by the time you | 36 |
return but you must go with me go and get a carriage obeyed and before mr had finished asking how all the people in were the carriage was at the door there was no out now and our hero was obliged to get into the vehicle though it seemed altogether too fine for a poor boy like him mr and mr butler whom the former had invited to dine with him seated themselves beside him and the driver was directed to set them down at no chestnut street where they soon arrived though my readers would no doubt be very much amused to learn how carefully trod the velvet the of bright carpets how he stared with wonder at the curtains at the tall the elegant and the shaped chairs and tables that adorned mr s parlor the length of our story does not permit us to pause over these trivial matters when was informed that her little was in the house she rushed into the parlor like a school girl grasped both his hands kissed both his rosy cheeks and behaved just as though she had never been to a boarding school in her life she had thought a great deal about since that day and the more she thought of him the more she liked him her admiration of him was not of that silly sentimental character which young ladies cherish towards those young men who have saved them from drowning in a horse pond pulled them back just as they were tumbling over a precipice two thousand five hundred feet high or rescued them from a house seven stories high bearing them down a ladder seventy five odd feet long the fact was was a boy of thirteen now ob ob and there was no chance for much sentiment so the young lady s regard was real earnest and said a great many very handsome things but i am sure she never thought of such a thing as that he would run away with her in case her papa was obstinate she was very glad to see him and i have no doubt she wished might be her brother it would be so glorious to have such a noble little fellow always with her managed the dinner better than he had anticipated for mr insisted that he should sit down with them whether he ate any thing or not but the passed our hero found that he had a pretty smart appetite and did full justice to the set before him it is true the silver forks the the finger and other articles of luxury and show to which he had been entirely him not a little but he kept perfectly cool and carefully observed how mr butler who sat next to him handled the spoon fork what he did with the and the finger bowl so that i will venture to say not one in ten would have suspected he had not spent his life in the parlor of a mil the of bright dinner over the party returned to the parlor where unfolded his plan for the future to make his story intelligible he was obliged to tell them all about mr the old wretch exclaimed mr but robert you must let me advance the sixty dollars to pay squire lee no sir you have done enough in that way i have given my note for the money said mr butler and i shall soon earn enough to pay it no doubt of it you are a lad of courage and energy and you will succeed in every thing you undertake i shall want you to trust me for a stock of books on the strength of old acquaintance continued who had now grown quite bold and felt as much at home in the midst of the costly furniture as he did in the living room of the old black house you shall have all the books you want i will pay for them as soon as i return the truth is mr i mean to be independent i didn t want to take that thirty five dollars though i now ob never j ok don t know what mr would have io us if i hadn t said i ought to have given you a hundred and i think so myself i am glad you didn t too much money makes us fat and lazy mr laughed at the easy self possession of the lad at his big talk though big as it was it meant something when he proposed to go to the store he told he had better stay at the house and rest himself no sir i want to start out to morrow and i must get ready to day you had better put it off till the next day you will feel more like it then now or never replied that is my motto sir if we have any thing to do now is always the best time to do it dr says never put off till to morrow what you can do today right robert you shall have your own way i wish my clerks would adopt some of dr s wise i should be a great deal better off in the course of a year if they would the of bright chapter ix in which opens accounts and wins his i now i understand your plan said mr when they reached the store but the details must be settled where do you intend to go i hardly know sir i suppose i can sell books almost any where very true but in some places much better than in others mr mentioned a large town about eighteen miles from the city in which he thought a good trade might be carried on and at once decided to adopt the suggestion you can make this place your head quarters for the week if books do not sell well | 36 |
right in the village why you can go out a little way for the country in the vicinity is peopled by intelligent a oft farmers who are well off and who can afford to buy books i was thinking of that but what shall i take with me sir there is a new book just published called the which is going to have a tremendous run it has been advertised in advance all over the country so that you will find a ready sale for it you will get it there before any one else and have the market all to yourself the i have heard of it myself you shall take fifty copies with you and if you find that you shall want more write and i will send them but i cannot carry fifty copies you must take the cars to b and have a trunk or box to carry your books in i have a stout trunk down cellar which you shall have i will pay for it sir never mind that and you will want a small or carpet bag to carry your books from house to house i will lend you one you are very kind sir i did not mean to ask the adventures of any of you except to trust me for the books until my return all right mr called the porter and ordered him to bring up the trunk in which he directed mr to pack fifty now how much will these books cost me apiece asked the price is one dollar the price is one third off and you shall have them at what they cost me sixty seven cents added that will give me a profit of thirty three cents on each book just so perhaps mr will sell me one of those blank books now for i like to have things down in black and white will furnish you with something much better than that and mr left the counting room in a moment he returned with a handsome pocket book which he presented to the little merchant now ob ob but i don t like to take it unless you will let me pay for it said hesitating never mind it my young friend now you can sit down at my desk and open your accounts i like to see boys and there is nothing like keeping accounts to make one accurate keep your books posted up and you will know where you are at any time i intend to keep an account of all i spend and all i receive if it is no more than a cent right my little man have you ever studied book keeping no sir i suppose i haven t but there was a page of accounts in the back part of the i studied and i got a pretty good idea of the thing from that all the money received goes on one side and all the money paid out goes on the other exactly so in this book you had better open a book account first if you wish i will show you how thank you sir i should be very glad to have you and opened the book and seated himself at the desk write book account at the top of the pages the adventures of bright one word on each very well now write to fifty copies of at sixty seven cents on the left hand page or side of the account lam not much of a writer said you will improve now each day you will credit the amount of on the right hand page or credit side of the account so when you have sold out the balance due your side will be the profit on the lot do you understand it thought a moment before he could see through it but his brain was active and he soon managed the idea now you want a personal account and mr explained to him how to make this out he then instructed him to enter on the side all he spent for travel board freight and other charges the next was the profit and loss account which was to show him the net profit of the business our hero who had a decided taste for accounts was very much pleased with this employment and when the accounts were all opened he regarded them with a great deal of satisfaction he longed to com now or never or his operations if it were only for the pleasure of making the in this book one thing i forgot said he as he seized the pen and under the cash account entered to cash from mother now i am all right i believe i think you are now the cars leave at seven in the morning can you be ready for a start as early as that asked mr o yes sir i hope so i get up at half past four at home very well my small is at the house but i believe every thing else is ready now i have some business to attend to and if you will amuse yourself for an hour or two we will go home then i shall want a lodging place when i am in the city perhaps some of your folks can direct me to one where they won t charge too much as to that you must go to my house whenever you are in the city law sir you live so grand i couldn t think of going to your house i am only a poor boy from the country and i don t know how to behave myself among such nice folks the adventures of bright you will do very well would never forgive me if i let you go any where else so that is settled you will go to my house now you may sit here or walk out and see the sights | 36 |
the of the morning and if caesar or napoleon had stood before him then he would not have a hair much less in the presence of no greater than the of b good morning colonel i hope you ate well this beautiful morning began i must confess i think this was a little too familiar for a boy of thirteen to a gentleman of fifty whom he had never seen before in his life but it must be remembered that had done a great deal the week before that on the preceding night he had slept in chestnut street and that he had just sold four copies of the he was inclined to be smart and some folks hate smart boys the frowned his cheek with anger but he did not condescend to make any reply to the smart speech i have taken the liberty to call upon you this now oa or morning to see if you did not wish to purchase a copy of the a new book just issued from the press which people say is to be the book of the season my young readers need not suppose this was an speech for had studied upon it all the time was coming from boston in the cars it would be quite natural for a boy who had enjoyed no greater advantages than our hero to consider how he should address people into whose presence his calling would bring him and he had prepared several little addresses of this sort for the several different kinds of people whom he expected to encounter the one he had just got off was designed for the upper crust when he had delivered the speech he approached the indignant frowning and with a low bow offered him a copy of the boy said colonel raising his arm with majestic dignity and pointing to the door boy do you see that door looked at the door and somewhat replied that he did see it that it was a very the op handsome door and be would inquire whether it was black or only painted in imitation thereof do you see that door thundered the swelling with rage at the cool impudence of the boy certainly i do sir my is excellent then use it thank you sir i have no use for it probably it will be of more service to you than to me will you clear out or shall i kick you out gasped the enraged of b i will save you that trouble sir i will go sir i see we have both made a mistake mistake what do you mean by that you young you are a little impudent scoundrel that s your mistake sir i took you for a gentleman sir and that was my mistake ha ha ha laughed a sweet musical voice and at that moment a beautiful young lady rushed up to the angry colonel and threw her arms around his neck the muttered he i have caught you in a passion again uncle now or ok and the lady kissed the old gentleman s anger cheek which seemed to restore him at once to himself it was enough to make a minister swear said he in apology no it wasn t uncle the boy was a little it is true but you ought to have laughed at him instead of getting angry i heard the whole of it said to himself what the does she mean by that very well you little i will pay the penalty come here master said the lady to bowed approached the lady and began to feel very much embarrassed my uncle she continued is one of the best hearted men in the world ain t you uncle go on you i love him as i would my own father but he will sometimes get into a passion now you provoked him indeed ma am i hadn t the least idea of saying the of any thing pleaded i studied to be as polite as possible i dare say you were too important too for a boy to an old gentleman like uncle who is really one of the best men in the world now if you hadn t studied to be polite you would have done very well indeed ma am i am a poor boy trying to make a little money to help my mother i am sure i meant no harm i know you didn t so you are selling books to help your mother yes ma am she inquired still further into the little merchant s history and seemed to be very much interested in him in a a few days before learned from her colonel had agreed to pay any penalty she might name the next time he got into a passion now young man what book have you to sell asked the lady the how many have you in your now ob never or eight very well now uncle i decree as the penalty of your that you purchase the whole stock i submit the promises to be an excellent book and i can name at least half a dozen persons who will thank you for a copy uncle colonel paid eight dollars who left the contents of his on the centre table and then departed astounded at his good fortune and fully resolved never to be too smart again the adventures of bright chapter xi in which strikes a balance and m turns to hero had learned a lesson which experience alone could teach him the consciousness of that something within him inclined him to be a little too familiar with his elders but then it gave confidence in himself and imparted courage to go forward in the accomplishment of his mission his interview with colonel and the gentle but plain rebuke of his niece had set him right and he realized that while he was doing | 36 |
a man s work he was still a boy he had now a clearer perception of what is due to the position and dignity of those upon whom fortune has smiled wanted to be a man and it is not strange that he should sometimes fancy he was a man he had an idea too that all men are born free and ob never ok equal and he could not exactly see why a was entitled to any more respect and consideration than a poor man it was a lesson he was compelled to learn though some folks live out their without ever finding out that tis wealth good sir makes honorable men some people think a rich man is no better than a poor man except so far as he himself better it is strange how stupid some people are had no notion of to any man and he felt as independent as the declaration of independence itself but then the beautiful lady had told him that he was and forward and when he thought it over he was willing to believe she was right colonel was an old man compared with himself and he had some faith at least in theory in the virtue of respect for the aged probably the of b would have objected to being treated with respect on account of his age and would have been equally unwilling to acknowledge that he treated him with peculiar respect on account of his wealth or position perhaps the little merchant had an instinctive per the adventure of bright of that he should sell more books by being less familiar at any rate he determined never again to use the speeches he had arranged for the upper crust he had sold a dozen books and possibly this fact made him more willing to compromise the matter than he would otherwise have been this was after all the great matter for and with a light heart he hurried back to the railroad to procure another supply we cannot follow him into every house where his calling led him he was not always as fortunate as in the instances we have mentioned sometimes all his arguments were and after he had spent half an hour of valuable time in setting forth the merits of the he was compelled to retire without having effected a sale sometimes too he was rudely hard were applied to him old men and old women worried out by the continued calls of sneered at him or shut the door in his face but was not he and did not allow these httle trials to or him now or ob by one o clock on the first day of his service he had sold eighteen books which far exceeded even his most sanguine expectations by this time he began to feel the want of his dinner but there was no tavern or eating house at hand and he could not think of leaving the harvest to return to the railroad station so he bought a sheet of and a piece of cheese at a store and himself near a brook by the side of the road he bolted his simple meal as boys are very apt to do when they are excited when he had finished he took out his account book and entered dinner cents his business he disposed of the remaining six books in his by the middle of the afternoon and was obliged to return for another supply about six o clock he entered the house of a just as the family were sitting down to tea he recommended his book with so much energy that the wife of the took a fancy to him and not only purchased one but invited him to tea accepted the invitation and in the course of the meal the good lady drew from him the details the adventures of bright of his history which he very modestly related for though he sometimes fancied himself a man he was not the boy to boast of his exploits his host was so much pleased with him that he begged him to spend the night with them had been thinking how and where he should spend the night and the matter had given him no little concern he did not wish to go to the hotel for it looked like a very smart house and he reasoned that he should have to pay pretty for there these high prices would eat up his profits and he seriously whether it would not be better for him to sleep a tree than pay fifty cents for a lodging if i had been there i should have told him that a man loses nothing in the long run by taking good care of himself he must eat well and sleep well in order to do well and be well but i suppose would have told me that it was of no use to pay a quarter extra for sleeping on a gilded since the room would be so dark he could not see the gilt even if he wished to do so i could not have said any thing to such a powerful argument so i am now ok never j ob very glad the s wife set the matter at rest by offering him a bed in her house he spent a very pleasant evening with the family who made him feel entirely at home they were so kind and so plain spoken before he went to bed he entered under the book account by twenty six sold this day he had done a big day s work much bigger than he could hope to do again he had sold more than one half of his whole stock and at this rate he should be out of books the next day at first he thought he would send for another lot but he could not judge | 36 |
which sundry persons and pays op his note now tell me how you have made out said mrs bright as the little merchant seated himself at the supper table you cannot have done much for you have only been gone five days i have done pretty well mother replied mysteriously pretty well considering that i am only a boy didn t expect to see you till to morrow night sold out and had to come home that may be and still you may not have done much don t pretend that i have done much how provoking you are why don t you tell me what you have done wait a minute mother till i have done my the adventures of bright supper and then i will show you the in my your yes my i keep a now you are a great man mr robert bright laughed his mother i suppose the people took their hats off when they saw you coming not exactly mother perhaps the governor came out to meet you when he heard you was on the road perhaps he did i didn t see him however this apple pie tastes natural mother it is a great luxury to get home after one has been travelling very likely no place like home after all is done and said who was the fellow that wrote that song mother i forget the paper said he spent a great many years in foreign parts my sake one would think by your talk that you had been away from home for a year it seems like a year said he as he transferred another quarter of the famous apple pie to his plate now ok ok i miss home very much i don t more than half like being among strangers so much it is your own choice no one wants you to go away from home i must pay my debts any how don t i owe squire lee sixty dollars but i can pay that it is my affair you see if it is your affair then i owe you sixty dollars no you don t i calculate to pay my board now i am old enough and big enough to do something you have done something ever since you was old enough to work not much i don t wonder that miserable old of a me about it by the way have you heard any thing from him not a thing he has got enough of us i reckon you mustn t insult him if you happen to bee him never fear me you know the bible says we must love our the adventures op enemies and pray for them that use us and us i should pray that the old nick might get him no i hope you haven t forgot all your sunday school lessons i was wrong mother replied a little moved i did not mean so i shall try to think as well of him as i can but i can t help thinking if all the world was like him what a desperate hard time we should have of it we must thank the lord that he has given us so many good and true men such as squire lee for instance added as he rose from the table and put his chair back against the wall the squire is fit to be a king and though i believe in the constitution and the declaration of independence i wouldn t mind seeing a crown upon his head he will receive his crown in due time replied mrs bright the squire the crown of rejoicing i mean now or never or just so the squire is a nice man and i know another just like him who mr they are as near alike as two peas i am dying to know about your journey wait a minute mother we clear away the supper things and took hold as he had been accustomed to help remove and wash the dishes you needn t help now yes i will mother some how our hero s visit to the city did not seem to produce the usual effect upon him for a great many boys after they had been abroad would have scorned to wash dishes and wipe them a week in town has made many a boy so smart that you couldn t touch him with a ten foot pole it them up so stiff that sometimes they don t know their own mothers and deem it a piece of condescension to speak a word to the in a blue frock who had the honor of supporting them in childhood was none of this sort we lament that he the adventures of bright bad a habit of talking big that is of talking about business affairs in a style a little beyond his years but he was modest to a fault as it may seem he was always blushing when any body spoke a pretty thing about him probably the circumstances of his position elevated him above the sphere of the mere boy he had spent but little time in play and his attention had been directed at all times to the wants of his mother he had thought a great deal about business especially since the visit of the boy who sold books to the little black house some boys are born merchants and from their earliest youth have a genius for trade they think of little else they play shop before they wear and drive a trade in tops and fishing lines long before they get into their they are shrewd even then and obtain a taste for commerce before they are old enough to know the meaning of the word we saw a boy in school not long since give the value of eighteen cents for a little boys have a taste for raw strange as it may seem undoubtedly | 36 |
he had no talent for trade and now ob ob would make a very indifferent tin our hero was shrewd he always got the best end of the bargain though i am happy to say his integrity was too to let him cheat his fellows we have made this so that my young readers may know why was so much given to big talk the desire to do something worthy of a good son turned his attention to matters above his sphere and thinking of great things he had come to talk great things it was not a bad fault after all boys need not necessarily be frivolous play is a good thing an excellent thing in its place and is as much a part of the boy s education as his grammar and it not only his muscles but his mental capacity it not only fills with excitement the idle hours of the long day but it the judgment and helps to fit the boy for the active duties of life it need not be supposed because had to turn his attention to serious things that he was not fond of fun that he could not or did not play at a game of round ball he was u lucky fellow who secured him upon his side for the same energy which the adventures op bright made him a useful son rendered him a desirable hand in a difficult game when the supper things were all removed the dishes washed and put away drew out his pocket book it was a beautiful article and mrs bright was duly astonished at its gilded leaves and the elegant very likely her first impulse was to her son for such a piece of reckless extravagance but this matter was set right by s informing her how it came into his possession here is my mother he said handing her the book mrs bright put on her spectacles and after a careful scrutiny upon the book turned to the accounts fifty books she exclaimed as she read the first entry yes mother and i sold them all fifty dollars but i had to pay for the books out of that to be sure you had but i suppose you made as much as ten cents a piece on them and that would be let me see ten times fifty now ob ok but i made more than that i hope how much the proud young merchant referred her to the profit and loss account which exhibited a balance of fifteen dollars gracious three dollars a day just so mother now i will pay you the dollar i borrowed of you when i went away you didn t borrow it of me but i shall pay it mrs bright was astonished at this unexpected and gratifying result if she had discovered a gold mine in the cellar of the little black house it could not have afforded her so much satisfaction for this money was the reward of her son s talent and energy her own scarcely ever amounted to more than three or four dollars a week and a boy of thirteen had come home with fifteen for five days work she could scarcely believe the evidence of her own senses and she ceased to wonder that he talked big it was nearly ten o clock when the widow and her son went to bed so deeply were they interested in discussing our hero s affairs he had intended to the adventures of bright call upon squire lee that night but the time passed away so rapidly that he was obliged to it till the next day after breakfast the following morning he hastened to pay the intended visit there was a tumult of strange emotions in his bosom as he knocked at the squire s door he was proud of the success he had achieved and even then his cheek burned under the anticipated which his generous friend would bestow upon him besides would be glad to see for she had expressed such a desire when they parted on the monday preceding i don t j think that cherished any silly ideas but the sympathy of the little maiden fell not coldly or upon his warm heart in coming from the house he had placed his copy of the under his arm for was fond of reading and on the way over he had pictured to himself the pleasure she would derive from reading his book of course he received a warm welcome from the squire and his daughter each of them had bestowed more than a thought upon the little wanderer as he went from house to house and more than once they had conversed together about him now ok never or well how is trade in the book line asked the squire after the young pilgrim had been cordially greeted pretty fair replied with as much indifference as he could command though it was hard even to seem indifferent then and there where have you been travelling fine place books sell well there very well in fact i sold out all my stock by noon yesterday how many books did you carry fifty you did well i should think you did added with an enthusiasm which quite upset all s assumed indifference fifty books yes miss and i have brought you a copy of the book i have been selling i thought you would like to read it it is a splendid work and will be the book of the season i shall be delighted to read it replied taking the proffered volume it looks real good she continued as she turned over the leaves the of bright it is first rate i have read it through it was very kind of you to think of mc when you have so much business on your mind added she with a smile i shall never have so much | 36 |
business on my mind that i cannot think of my friends replied so gallantly and so that it astonished himself i was just thinking what i should read next i am so glad you have come never mind her all she wanted was the book interposed squire lee laughing now pa then i shall bring her one very often you are too bad pa said who like most young ladies just entering their resented any upon the of human love or human friendship i have got a little money for you squire lee continued thinking it time the subject was changed he took out his gilded book whose elegant appearance rather startled the squire and from its treasury department extracted the little now oe never ok roll of bills representing an of ten dollars which he had carefully reserved for his never mind that replied the squire you will want all your capital to do business with i must pay my debts before i think of any thing else a very good plan but this is an exception to the general rule no sir i think not if you please i insist upon paying you ten dollars on my note o well if you insist i suppose i can t help myself i would rather pay it i shall feel so much better you want to it on the note i suppose that was just what wanted on the note was the idea and our hero had often passed that expression through his mind there was something gratifying in the act to a man of business integrity like himself it was a sacred obligation he had already come to deem it a sacred duty to pay one s debts and as the squire wrote the across the back of the note he felt more like a hero than ever before the adventures of j as you go is an excellent idea john ran called it the philosopher s stone added squire lee as he returned the note to his pocket book that is what i mean to do just as soon as i can you will do the young merchant spent nearly the whole at the squire s and declined an invitation to dinner only on the plea that his mother would wait for him now or ob chapter xiii in which a and visits b again dinner performed his saturday afternoon as usual he split wood enough to last for a week so that his mother might not miss him too much and then feeling a desire to visit his favorite in the vicinity he concluded to go a fishing the day was favorable the sky being and the wind very light after digging a little box of worms in the garden back of the house he shouldered his fish pole and certainly no one would have suspected that he was a distinguished travelling merchant he was fond of fishing and it is a remarkable coincidence that daniel and many other famous men have manifested a decided passion for this exciting sport no doubt a fondness for is a peculiarity of genius and if being an expert the of bright makes a great man then our hero was a great man he had scarcely seated himself on his favorite rock and dropped his line into the water before he saw tom approaching the spot the bully had never been a welcome companion there was no sympathy between them they could never agree for their views opinions tastes were always conflicting had not seen tom since he left him to crawl out of the ditch on the preceding week and he had good reason to believe that he should not be regarded with much favor tom was malicious and and our hero was satisfied that the blow which had him in the ditch would not be forgotten till it had been for he was prepared therefore for any disagreeable scene which might occur there was another circumstance also which rendered the bully s presence decidedly unpleasant at this time an event that had occurred during his absence the particulars of which he had received from his mother tom s father who was a poor man and to now ob ob had lost ten dollars he had brought it home and as he affirmed placed it in one of the drawers the next day it could not be found for some reason was satisfied that tom had taken it but the boy stoutly and persistently denied it no money was found upon him however and it did not appear that he had spent any at the stores in centre the affair created some excitement in the vicinity for made no secret of his suspicions and publicly accused tom of the he did not get much sympathy from any except his pot companions for there was no evidence but his bare and statement to the grave accusation tom had been in the room when the money was placed in the drawer and as his father asserted had watched him closely while he deposited the bills under the clothing no one else could have taken it these were the proofs but people generally believed that had carried no money home especially as it was known that he was on the night in question and that the alleged was only a to satisfy certain the adventures of bright every body knew that tom was bad enough to steal even from his father from which my readers can understand that it is an excellent thing to have a good reputation knew that he would lie and use profane language that he spent his sundays by the river or in through the woods and that he played from school as often as the fear of the rod would permit and the boy that would do all these things certainly would steal if he got a good chance our hero s judgment therefore of | 36 |
doubt a journal of s daily life would be very interesting to my young readers but the fact that some of his most stirring adventures are yet to be related me to hasten forward more rapidly on monday morning bade adieu to his mother again and started for boston he fully expected to encounter tom on the way who he was afraid would persist in accompanying him on his tour as before he stopped at squire lee s to bid him and good by the little maiden had read the more than half through and was very enthusiastic in her expression of the pleasure she derived from it she promised to send it over to his house when she had now or never or finished it and hoped he would bring his stock to so that she might again her library thought of something just then and the thought brought forth a harvest on the following saturday when he returned when he had shaken hands with the squire and was about to depart he received a piece of news which gave him food for an hour s serious reflection did you hear about tom asked squire lee no sir what about him broken his arm broken his arm gracious how did it hap pen exclaimed the more astonished because he had been thinking of tom since he had left home he was out in the woods yesterday where boys should not be on sundays and in climbing a tree after a bird s nest he fell to the ground i am sorry for him replied musing so am i but if he had been at home or at church where he should have been it would not have happened if i had any boys i would lock them up in their chambers if i could not keep them at home sundays the adventures of poor tom mused recalling the conversation he had had with him on saturday and then wishing that he had been a little more with him it is too bad but i must say i am more sorry for his poor mother than i am for him added the squire however i hope it will do him good and be a lesson he will remember as long as he lives bade the squire and adieu again and resumed his journey towards the railroad station his thoughts were busy with tom s case the reason why he had not joined him as he expected and feared he would was now apparent he pitied him for he realized that he must endure a great deal of pain before he could again go out but he finally dismissed the matter with the squire s reflection that he hoped the calamity would be a good lesson to him the young merchant did not walk to boston this time for he had come to the conclusion that in the six hours it would take him to travel to the city on foot the profit on the books he could sell would be more than enough to pay his fare to say nothing of the fatigue and the expense of shoe leather now ob ob before noon he was at b again as busy as ever in driving his business the experience of the former week was of great value to him he visited people belonging to all in society and though he was occasionally or treated with he was not conscious in a single instance of offending any person s sense of propriety he was not as fortunate as during the previous week and it was saturday noon before he had sold out the sixty books he carried with him the net profit for this week was fourteen dollars with which he was abundantly pleased mr again commended him in the warmest terms for his zeal and mr was even more civil than the last time and when asked the price of s poems he actually offered to sell it to him for thirty three per cent less than the price the little merchant was on the point of it when mr inquired what he wanted i am going to buy this book replied s poems yes sir the of mr took from a glass case an bound copy of the same work full gilt and handed it to our hero i shall make you a present of this are you an admirer of no sir not exactly that is i don t know much about it but lee does and i want to get the book for her s cheeks as he turned the leaves of the beautiful volume putting his head down to the page to hide his confusion lee said mr with a smile i see how it is rather young her father has been very good to me and to my mother and so has for that matter squire lee would be a great deal more pleased if i should make a present than if i made him one i feel grateful to him and i want to let it out some how that s right always remember your friends wrap up this book protested with all his might but the book now or never ob insisted that he should give this beautiful edition and he was obliged to yield the point that evening he was at the little black house again and his mother examined his with a great deal of pride and satisfaction that evening too another ten dollars was on the note and received that elegant copy of s poems the adventures of bright chapter xiv in which s air castle is upset and tom takes to the woods during the next four weeks visited various places in the vicinity of boston and at the end of that time he had paid the whole of the debt he owed squire lee he had the note in his book and the fact | 36 |
that he had achieved his first great purpose afforded him much satisfaction now he owed no man any thing and he felt as though he could hold up his head among the best people in the world the little black house was paid for and was proud that his own exertions had released his mother from her obligation to her hard mr could no longer insult and abuse her the apparent results which had accomplished however were as nothing compared with now oh never ob the real results he had developed those energies of character which were to make him not only a great business man but a useful member of society besides there was a moral grandeur in his humble achievements which was more worthy of consideration than the mere worldly success he had obtained motives determine the character of deeds that a boy of thirteen should display so much enterprise and energy was a great thing but that it be displayed from pure unselfish devotion to his mother was a vastly greater thing many great achievements are morally insignificant while many of which the world never hears mark the true hero our hero was not satisfied with what he had done and far from his interesting and profitable employment his ambition suggested new and wider fields of success as one ideal brilliant and glorious in its time was reached another more brilliant and more glorious presented itself and demanded to be achieved the little black house began to appear rusty and inconvenient a coat of white paint would improve its appearance a set of nice paris green blinds would make a palace of it and a the of bright neat fence around it would positively the place into a paradise yet was audacious enough to think of these things and even to promise himself that they should be obtained in conversation with mr a few days before that gentleman had suggested a new field of labor and it had been arranged that should visit the state of the following week on the banks of the were many wealthy and important towns where the intelligence of the people created a demand for books this time the little merchant was to take two hundred and be absent until they were all sold on monday morning he started bright and early for the railroad station as usual he called upon squire lee and informed that he should probably be absent three or four weeks she hoped no accident would happen to him and that his journey would be crowned with success without being sentimental she was a little sad for was a great friend of hers that elegant copy of s poems had been gratefully received and she was so fond of the bard s beautiful and touching now or oh that she could never read any of them without thinking of the brave little fellow who had given her the volume which no one will consider very remarkable even in a little miss of twelve after he had her and her father adieu he resumed his journey of course he was thinking with all his might but no one need suppose he was wondering how wide the river was or how many books he should sell in the towns upon its banks nothing of the kind though it is enough even for the inquisitive to know that he was thinking of something and that his thoughts were very interesting not to say romantic bob shouted some one from the road side was provoked for it is sometimes very uncomfortable to have a pleasant train of thought interrupted the imagination is ethereal and poor mortals up to the stars sometimes it was so with he was building up some kind of an air castle and had got up in the clouds amidst the fog and and that voice brought him down slap upon the adventures of bright he looked up and saw tom seated upon the fence in his hand he held a bundle and had evidently been waiting some time for s coming he had recovered from the illness caused by his broken arm and people said it had been a good lesson for him as the squire hoped it would be had called upon him two or three times during his confinement to the house and tom either truly for his past errors or lacking the opportunity at that time to manifest his evil had stoutly protested that he had turned over a new leaf and meant to keep out of the woods on sunday stop lying and swearing and become a good boy commended his good resolutions and told him l e would never want friends while he was true to himself the right side he declared was always the best side he quoted several instances of men whose lives he had read in his sunday school books to show how happy a good man may be in prison or when all the world seemed to him tom assured him that he meant to reform and be a good boy and told him that when any one meant to turn over a new leaf it was now or never now ob never or if he put it off lie would only grow worse and the longer the good work was delayed the more difficult it would be to do it tom agreed to all this and was sure he had for these reasons had come to regard tom with a feeling of deep interest he considered him as in some measure his and he felt a personal responsibility in encouraging him to in his good work nevertheless was not exactly pleased to have his fine air castle upset and to be tipped out of the clouds upon the cold earth again so the first greeting he gave tom was not as cordial as it might have been tom he replied rather coolly been waiting for you this half | 36 |
hour have you yes ain t you rather late no i have plenty of time though none to spare answered and this was a hint that he must not detain him too long come along then where are you going tom asked a little surprised at these words the adventures of bright to boston are you i am that s a fact you know i spoke to you about going into the book business not lately but i have been thinking about it all the time what do your father and mother say o they are all right have you asked them certainly i have they are willing i should go with you why didn t you speak of it then i thought i wouldn t say any thing till the time came you know you fought shy when i spoke about it before and notwithstanding the interest he felt in his companion was a little disposed to fight shy now tom had or had pretended to do so but he was still a raw and our hero was somewhat fearful that he would run at the first fire to the good and true man life is a constant battle temptation him at almost every point perils and him at every step of his mortal or never or so that every day he is called upon to on his and fight the good fight was no poet but he had a good idea of this every day strife with the foes of error and sin that crossed his path it was a practical conception but it was truly expressed under the of a battle there was to be resistance and he could comprehend that for his of took of the suggestion he was to fight and that was an idea that stood him in better stead than a whole library of judging tom by his own standard he was afraid he would run that he wouldn t stand fire he had not been heretofore when temptation beset him he had yielded without even a struggle and fled from the field without firing a gun to go out into the great world was a trying event for the raw he lacked too that of success which is worth more than numbers on the field of battle tom had chosen for himself and he could not send him back he had taken up the line of march let it lead him where it might the adventures of bright march on in death and sin impatient wait thy conquering hand the foe without the foe within thy youthful arm must both withstand had great hopes of him he felt that he not well get rid of him and he saw that it was policy for him to make the best of it well tom where are you going asked after he had made up his mind not to object to the companionship of the other i don t know you have been a good friend to me lately and i had an idea that you would give me a lift in this business should be very willing to do so but what can i do for you just show me how the business is done that s all i want your father and mother were willing you should come were they not had some doubts about this point and with good reason too he had called at tom s house the day before and they had gone to church together but neither he nor his parents had said a word about his going to boston now or never or when did they agree to it last night replied tom after a moment s hesitation all right then but i cannot promise you that mr will let you have the books i can fix that i reckon replied tom confidently i will speak a good word for you at any rate that s right bob i am going down into the state of this time and shall be gone three or four weeks so much the better i always wanted to go down that way tom asked a great many questions about the business and the method of travelling which s superior intelligence and more extensive experience enabled him to answer to the entire satisfaction of the other when they were within half a mile of the railroad they heard a carriage driven at a rapid rate approaching them from the direction of tom seemed to be uneasy and cast frequent glances behind him in a moment the vehicle was within a the adventures of short distance of them and he stopped short in the road to the persons in it by jolly exclaimed tom my father what of it asked surprised by the strange behavior of his companion tom did not wait to reply but springing over the fence fled like a deer towards some woods a short distance from the road was it possible tom had run away from home his father had not consented to his going to boston and was to find that his hopeful had been lying to him ever since they left but he was glad the cheat had been exposed that was tom with you wasn t it asked mr as he stopped the foaming horse yes sir but he told me you had consented that he should go with me replied a little disturbed by the angry glance of mr s fiery eyes he lied the young villain he will catch it for this i would not have let him come with me only for that i asked him twice over if you were willing and he said you were ob ob you ought to have known better than to believe him interposed the man who was with mr had some reason for believing him the fact that tom had ought to have entitled him to some consideration and our hero | 36 |
in the beginning that f won t go with a fellow who has run away from his father and mother what s the use of talking in that way tom was evidently disconcerted by this decided stand of his companion he knew that his of now ob ok firmness was well developed and whatever he said he meant you had better return home tom boys that run away from home don t often amount to much take my advice and go home added to such a home as mine said tom gloomily if i had such a home as yours i would not have left it got a further idea from this remark of the true state of the case and the consideration moved him tom s father was a man and the boy had nothing to hope for from his or his example he was the child of a and as much to be pitied as blamed for his vices his home was not pleasant he who presided over it and who should have made a paradise of it was its evil genius a demon of who its flowers as fast as they tom had seemed truly penitent both during his illness and since his recovery his one great desire now was to get away from home for home to him was a place of torment suspected all this and in his great heart he pitied his companion he did not know what to do the op i am sorry for you tom said he after he had considered the matter in this new light but i don t see what i can do for you i doubt whether it would be right for me to help you run away from your parents i don jt want you to help me run away i have done that already but if i let you go with me it will be just the same thing besides since you told me those lies this morning i haven t much confidence in you i couldn t help that yes you could couldn t help lying what could i do you would have gone right back and told my father well we will go up to mr s store and then we will see what can be done i couldn t stay at home sure continued tom as they walked together my father even talked of binding me out to a trade did he stopped short in the street for it was evident that as this would remove him from his unhappy now or never or home and thus effect all he professed to desire he had some other purpose in view what are you stopping for bob i think you better go back torn not i i won t do that whatever happens if your father will put you to a trade what more do you want i won t go to a trade any how said no more but determined to consult with mr about the matter and tom was soon too busily engaged in observing the strange sights and sounds of the city to think of any thing else when they reached the store went into mr s private office and told him all about the affair the decided that tom had run away more to avoid being bound to a trade than because his home was unpleasant and this decision seemed to all the more just because he knew that tom s mother though a s wife was a very good woman mr further decided that ought not to permit the to be the companion of his journey he also considered it his the of duty to write to mr informing him of his son s arrival in the city and clearing from any agency in his escape while mr was writing the letter went out to give tom the result of the consultation the received it with a great show of emotion and begged and pleaded to have the decision reversed but though he would gladly have done any thing for him which was consistent with his duty was firm as a rock and positively refused to have any thing to do with him until he obtained his father s consent or if there was any such trouble as he asserted his mother s consent tom left the store apparently a more in sorrow than in anger his nature seemed to be cast out and could not but feel sorry for him duty was imperative as it always is and it must be done now or never during the day the little merchant attended to the packing of his stock and to such other preparations as were required for his journey he must take the steamer that evening for bath and when the time for his departure arrived he was attended to the wharf now ok ob by mr and with whom he had passed the afternoon the assisted him in his ticket and berth and gave him such instructions as his demanded the last bell rang the were cast off and the great wheels of the steamer began to turn our hero who had never been on the water in a or indeed any thing bigger than a on the river at home was much interested and excited by his novel position he seated himself on the deck and watched with wonder the boiling waters of the steamer how powerful is man the author of that mighty machine that bore him so swiftly over the deep blue waters was a little philosopher as we have before had occasion to remark and he was decidedly of the opinion that the was a great institution when he had in some measure conquered his amazement and the first ideas of which the steamer and the sea were calculated to excite in a poetical imagination he walked forward to take a closer survey of the machinery after all there was something rather | 36 |
in the affair the steam the of and and the great walking beam kept flying up and down and the sum total of s philosophy was that it was funny these things should make the boat go so like a race horse over the water then he took a look into the pilot house and it seemed more funny that turning that big wheel should steer the boat but the wind blew rather fresh at the forward part of the boat and as s philosophy was not proof against it he returned to the deck which was sheltered from the severity of the blast he had got reconciled to the whole thing and ceased to bother his head about the big wheel the steam and the walking beam so he seated himself and began to wonder what all the people in were about all them as hasn t paid their fare please walk up to the cap n s office and s e t t e shouted a colored boy presenting himself just then and furiously ringing a large hand bell i have just settled said alluding to his comfortable seat but the allusion was so indefinite to the colored now ok never ob boy that he thought himself insulted he did not appear to be a very amiable boy for his fist was doubled up and with sundry big oaths he threatened to the little merchant for his insolence i didn t say any that need offend you replied i meant nothing you lie you did he was on the point of a blow with his fist when a third party appeared on the ground and without waiting to hear the merits of the case struck the negro a blow which had nearly him some of the passengers now interfered and the colored boy was prevented from vengeance on the strike that fellow and you strike me said he who had struck the blow tom exclaimed astonished and at the presence of the the of bright chapter xvi in which finds it an ill wind that blow no one any good a gentleman who was sitting near when he made the remark which the colored boy had misunderstood interfered to free him from blame and probably all unpleasant feelings might have been saved if tom s zeal had been properly directed as it was the waiter retired with his bell vengeance upon his how came you here tom asked when the excitement had subsided you don t get rid of me so easily replied tom laughing called to mind the old that a bad penny is sure to return and if it had not been a very remark he would have said it i didn t expect to see you again at present he observed hardly knowing what to say or do now os never ob i suppose not but as i didn t mean you should expect me i kept out of sight only for that you wouldn t have found me out so soon i like you bob in spite of all you have done to get rid of me and i wasn t a going to let the you you only made matters worse that is all the thanks i get for him for you lam sorry you hit him at the same time i suppose you meant to do me a service and i thank you not for the blow you struck the black boy but for your good intentions that sounds better i meant well bob i dare say you did but how came you here why you see i was bound to go with you any how or at least to keep within hail of you you told me you know that you were going in the and after i left the shop what should i see but a big picture of a on a wall it said bath and on the bill and i knew that was where you meant to go so this afternoon i round and finds the i thought i never should have found it but here i am the adventures op what are you going to do going into the book business replied tom with a smile where are your books down stairs in the cellar of the or whatever you call it where did you get them bought em of course did you where well i don t remember the name of the street now i could go right there if i was in the city though would they trust you tom hesitated the lies he had told that morning had done him no good had rather injured his cause and though he had no principle that forbade lying he questioned its policy in the present instance i paid part down and they trusted me part how many books you got twenty dollars worth i paid eight dollars down you did where did you get the eight dollars ok ob remembered the money tom s father had lost several weeks before and immediately connected that circumstance with his present ability to pay so large a sum tom hesitated again but he was never at a loss for an answer my mother gave it to me your mother yes sir replied tom boldly and in that peculiarly bluff manner which is almost always good evidence that the boy is lying but you ran away from home that s so but my mother knew i was coming did she to be sure she did you didn t say so before i can t tell all i know in a minute if i thought your mother consented to your coming i wouldn t say another word well she did you may bet your life on that and your mother gave you ten dollars who said she gave me ten dollars asked tom a little sharply the adventures bright that was just the sum his father had lost and | 36 |
had hinted his suspicion you must have had as much as that if you paid eight on your books your fare to boston and your fare must be two dollars more i know that but look here bob and tom took from his pocket five half dollars and exhibited them to his companion she gave me thirteen dollars notwithstanding this argument felt almost sure that the lost ten dollars was a part of his capital i will tell you my story now bob if you like you condemned me without a hearing as jim said when they sent him to the house of for getting drunk go ahead the substance of tom s story was that his father so hard and was such a tyrant in the house that he could endure it no longer his father and mother did not agree as any one might have suspected his mother encouraged by the success of thought that tom might do something of kind and she had provided him the money to buy hi stock of books vow ob ob had not much confidence in this story he had been deceived once besides it was not consistent with his previous narrative and he had not before hinted that he had obtained his mother s consent but tom was eloquent and protested that he had and meant to do well he declared by all that was good and great should never have reason to be ashamed of him our little merchant was troubled he could not now get rid of tom without actually quarrelling with him or running away from him he did not wish to do the former and it was not an easy matter to do the latter besides there was hope that the would do well and if he did when he carried the profits of his trade home his father would forgive him one thing was certain if he returned to he would be what he had been before for these reasons finally but very reluctantly consented that tom should remain with him however that if he did not behave himself he would leave him at once before morning he had another reason when the steamer got out into the open bay was sea the of bright sick he retired to his berth with a dreadful headache as he described it afterwards it seemed just as though that great walking beam was up and down right in the midst of his brains he had never felt so ill before in his life and was very sure in his that something worse than mere him he told tom who was not in the least affected how he felt whereupon the round got the steward and the captain into the cabin and was very sure that would die before morning if we may judge by the fuss he made the captain was angry at being called from the pilot house for nothing and threatened to throw tom overboard if he didn t stop his noise the steward however was a kind hearted man and assured that passengers were often a great deal than he was but he promised to do something for his relief and tom went with him to his state room for the desired remedy the was nothing more nor less than a table of brandy which who had conscientious scruples about drinking ardent spirits os ob at first refused to take then tom argued the point and the sick boy yielded the dose made him yet and nature came to his relief and in a little while he felt better tom behaved like a good nurse he staid by his friend till he went to sleep and then turned in upon a beneath his berth the boat pitched and tumbled about so in the heavy sea that did not sleep long and when he woke he found tom ready to assist him but our hero felt better and entreated tom to go to sleep again he made the best of his unpleasant situation sleep was not to be and he tried to pass away the dreary hours in thinking of and the dear ones there his mother was asleep arid was asleep and that was about all the excitement he could get up even on the home question he could not build castles in the air and castle building do not agree the gold and purple clouds would be black in spite of him and the structure he to build would pitch and tumble about for all the world just like a in a heavy sea as often as he got fairly into it he was violently rolled the adventures of bright out and in a twinkling found himself in his narrow berth awfully he went to sleep again at last and the long night passed away when he woke in the morning he felt tolerably well and was thankful that he had got out of that scrape but before he could dress himself he heard a terrible on deck the steam whistle was shrieking the bell was and he heard the hoarse of the captain it was certain that something had happened or was about to happen then the boat stopped rolling heavily in the sea tom was not there he had gone on deck was beginning to consider what a dreadful thing a wreck was when tom appeared what s the matter asked with some appearance of alarm fog replied tom it is so thick you can exit it with a is that all that s enough where are we that is just what the pilot would like to know now ob ok they can t see ahead a bit and don t know re we are went on deck the ocean rolled beneath them but there was nothing but fog to be seen above and around them the lead was heaved every few moments and the steamer crept slowly along till it was | 36 |
found the water rapidly when the captain ordered the men to let go the anchor there they were the fog was as obstinate as a mule and would not lift hour after hour they waited for the captain was a prudent man and would not risk the life of those on board to save a few hours time after breakfast the passengers began to display their uneasiness and some of them called the captain very hard names because he would not go on almost e ery body grumbled and made themselves miserable nothing to do and nothing to read growled a nicely dressed gentleman as he yawned and stretched himself to manifest ms sensation of nothing to read eh thought we will soon supply that want v calling tom they went down to the main deck where the baggage had been placed the op now s our time said he as he proceeded to one of the trunks that contained his books now or never i am with you replied tom catching the idea the books of the latter were in a box and he was obliged to get a hammer to open it but with s assistance he soon got at them buy the said when he returned to the saloon and placed a volume in the hands of the yawning gentleman best book of the season only one dollar that i will and glad of the chance replied the gentleman i would give five dollars for any thing if it were only the comic others were of the same mind there was no present prospect that the fog would lift and before dinner time our merchant had sold fifty copies of the tom whose books were of an inferior description and who was inexperienced as a disposed of twenty which was more than half of his stock the fog was a to both of them and they a rich harvest from the occasion for almost all the passengers seemed willing how ob ob to spend their money freely for the means of occupying the heavy hours and driving away that dreadful which supreme in a fog bound steamer about the middle of the afternoon the fog blew over and the boat proceeded on her voyage and before sunset our young merchants were safely landed at bath the adventures of bright chapter xvii in which tom has a good time and meets with a terrible misfortune bath afforded our young merchants an excellent market for their wares and they remained there the rest of the week they then proceeded to where their success was equally flattering thus far tom had done very well though had frequent occasion to remind him of the he had given to conduct himself in a proper manner he would swear now and then from the force of habit but invariably when checked him he promised to do better at tom sold the last of his books and was in possession of about thirty dollars twelve of which he owed the who had furnished his stock this money seemed to burn in his pocket he had the means of having a good time and it went now ob never ok hard with him to along as did careful v to save every penny he could come bob let s get a horse and chaise and have a ride what do you say proposed tom on the day he finished selling his books i can t spare the time or the money replied decidedly what is the use of having money if we can t spend it it is a first rate day and we should have a good time i can t afford it i have a great many books to sell about a hundred you can sell them fast enough i don t spend my money foolishly it wouldn t be foolishly i have sold out and i am bound to have a little fun now you never will succeed if you do business in that way why not you will spend your money as fast as you get it we can get a horse and chaise for the afternoon for two dollars that is not much considerable i should say but if you begin the of bright there is no knowing where to leave off i make it a rule not to spend a single cent foolishly and if i don t begin i shall never do it i don t mean to spend all i get only a little now and then persisted tom don t spend the first dollar for nonsense and then you won t spend the second besides when i have any money to spare i mean to buy books with it for my library your library yes my library i mean to have a library one of these days i don t want any library and i mean to spend some of my money in having a good time and if you won t go with me i shall go alone that s all you can do as you please of course but i advise you to keep your money you will want it to buy another stock of books i shall have enough for that what do you say will you go with me or not no i will not enough said then i shall go alone or get some fellow to go with me how ob never on consider well before you go pleaded who bad sense enough to see that tom s proposed good time would put back if not entirely prevent the reform he was working out he then proceeded to reason with him in a very earnest and feeling manner telling him he would not only spend all his money but completely unfit himself for business what he proposed to do was nothing more nor less than extravagance and it would lead him to and ruin to day i am going | 36 |
to send one hundred dollars to mr continued for i am afraid to have so much money with me i advise you to send your money to your employer catch me doing that i am bound to have a good time any how at least send the money you owe him i ll bet i won t well do as you please i have said all i have to say you are a fool bob exclaimed tom who had evidently used as much as he wished and no longer cared to speak soft words to him the adventures of bright perhaps i am but i know better than to spend my money upon fast horses if you will go i can t help it i am sorry you are going astray what do you mean by that you young monkey said tom angrily this was tom the bully it sounded like him and with a feeling of sorrow resigned the hopes he had cherished of making a good boy of him we had better part now added our hero sadly i m willing shall leave this afternoon for the towns up the river i hope no harm will befall you good by tom go it i have heard your preaching about long enough and i am more glad to get rid of you than you are to get rid of me walked away towards the house where he had left the trunk containing his books while tom made his way towards a livery stable the boys had been in the place for several days and had made some acquaintances so tom had no difficulty in a companion for his proposed ride ob ok our hero wrote a letter that afternoon to mr in which he all the particulars of his journey his relations with tom and the success that had attended his labors at the bank he procured a hundred dollar note for his small bills and enclosed it in the letter he felt sad about tom the had done so well had been so industrious and shown such a spirit that he had been very much encouraged about him but if he meant to be wild again for it was plain that the ride was only the beginning of sorrows it was well that they should part by the afternoon stage our hero proceeded to passing through several smaller towns which did not promise a very abundant harvest his usual success attended him for wherever he went people seemed to be pleased with him as squire lee had declared they would be his pleasant honest face was a capital recommendation and his eloquence seldom failed to achieve the result which eloquence has ever achieved from down to the present day our limits do not permit us to follow him in all his from town to town and from house to the adventures op house so we pass over the next fortnight at the end of which time we find him at he had sold all his books but twenty and had that day eighty dollars more to mr it was wednesday and he hoped to sell out so as to be able to take the next steamer for boston which was advertised to sail on the following day he had heard nothing from tom since their parting and had given up all expectation of meeting him again but that bad penny proved true once more for as he was walking through one of the streets of he had the misfortune to meet him and this time it was indeed a misfortune shouted the as familiarly as though nothing had happened to disturb the harmony of their relations ah tom i didn t expect to see you again replied not very much rejoiced to meet his late companion i suppose not but here i am as good as new have you sold out no not quite how many have you left ob never ok about twenty but i thought tom you would have returned to boston before this time no and tom did not seem to be in very good spirits where are you going now i don t know i ought to have taken your advice this was a concession and our hero began to feel some sympathy for his companion as who does not when the their faults i am sorry you did not i got in with some pretty hard fellows down there to continued tom rather and spent all your money added who could readily understand the reason why tom had put on his humility again not all how much have you left not much replied he i don t know what i shall do i am in a strange place and have no friends s sympathies were aroused and without the of reflection he promised to be a friend in his extremity i will stick by you this time bob come what will i will do just as you say now our merchant was a little flattered by this display of confidence he did not give weight enough to the fact that it was alone which made tom so humble he was in trouble and gave him all the he could ask for his future good behavior he could not desert him now he was in difficulty you shall help me sell my books and then we will return to boston together have you money enough left to pay your employer tom hesitated something evidently hung heavily upon his mind i don t know how it will be after i have paid my expenses to boston he replied his face was perplexed by this answer but as tom seemed so reluctant to go into details he reserved his inquiries for a more convenient season now tom you take the houses on that side of the street and i will take those upon this side you shall have the profits on | 36 |
all you sell now ok ok you are a first rate fellow bob and i only wish i had done as you wanted me to do can t be helped now and we will do the next best thing replied as he left his companion to enter a house tom did very well and by the middle of the afternoon they had sold all the books but four the had been liberally advertised in that vicinity and the work was in great demand s heart grew lighter as the volumes disappeared from his and already he had begun to picture the scene which would upon his return to the little black house how glad his mother would be to see him and he dared believe how happy would be as she listened to the account of his journey in the state of wouldn t she be astonished when he told her about the about the fog and about the wild region at the mouth of the beautiful poor the brightest dream often ends in sadness and a greater trial than any he had been called upon to endure was yet in store for him as he walked along thinking of and its the adventures of bright loved ones tom came out of a store where he had just sold a hook here is a ten dollar bill i believe i have sold ten books for you said tom after they had walked some distance you had better keep the money now and while i think of it you had better take what i have left of my former and tom handed him another ten dollar bill noticed that tom seemed very much confused and embarrassed but he did not observe that the two bills he had handed him were on the same bank then you had ten dollars left after your he remarked as he took the last bill about that and tom glanced uneasily behind him what is the matter with you tom asked who did not know what to make of his companion s embarrassment nothing bob let us walk a little faster wo had better turn up this street continued tom as with a quick pace he took the direction indicated began to fear that tom had been d ing now ob ob something wrong and the suspicion was confirmed by seeing two men running with all their might towards them tom perceived them at the same moment run he shouted and the action to the word he took to his heels and fled up the street into which he had proposed to turn did not run but stopped short where he was till the men came up to him him said one of them and i will catch the other the man and in spite of all the resistance he could make dragged him down the street to the store in which tom had sold his last bo k what do you mean by this asked his blood boiling with indignation at the harsh treatment to which he had been subjected we have got you my hearty replied the man his hold no sooner was the grasp of the man removed than who determined on this as on former occasions to stand upon his rights bolted for the adventures of the door and ran away with all his speed but his was too fleet for him and he was immediately to make him sure this time his arms were tied behind him and he was secured to the counter of the shop in a few moments the other man returned dragging tom in triumph after him by this time quite a crowd had collected which neatly filled the was confounded at the sudden change that had come over his fortunes but seeing that r would be vain he resolved to submit with the best grace he could i should like to know what all this means inquired indignantly the crowd laughed in derision this is the chap that stole the i will be bound one pointing to tom who stood in surly silence awaiting his fate he is the one who came into the store replied the i haven t stole any protested who now understood the whole affair the names of the two boys were taken and war now ob ob procured for their they were searched and upon tom was found the lost and upon two ten dollar bills which the was willing to swear had been in the the evidence therefore was and they were both sent to jail poor the of a prison the law took its course and in due time both of them were to two years imprisonment in the state reform school was innocent but he could not make his innocence appear he had been the companion of tom the real thief and part of the money had been found upon his person tom was too mean to him and even had the to over his misfortune at the end of three days they reached the town in which the reform school is and were duly committed for their long term poor the adventures of chapter xviii in which takes french and in the woods the intelligence of s misfortune reached mr in boston by means of the newspapers to the country press an item is a matter of considerable importance and the alleged offence against the peace and dignity of the state of was duly to the inquiring public as a daring robbery the who furnished the facts in the case for publication was not entirely devoid of that essential of the country item writer a lively imagination and was obliged to dress up the particulars a little in order to produce the necessary amount of wonder and indignation it was stated that one of the two young men had been about the place for several days for the purpose of selling books but really with | 36 |
the intention now ob never ob of stealing whatever he could lay his hands upon it was suggested that the boys were in league with an organized band of robbers whose purposes would be defeated by the arrest of these young the paper hinted that further would probably be discovered and warned people to beware of strolling about the country in the guise of the writer of this thrilling paragraph must have had reason to believe that he had discharged his whole duty to the public and that our hero was duly as a desperate fellow no doubt he believed was an awful monster for at the conclusion of his remarks he introduced some severe on the of the magistrate because he had made the t two years instead of five which the writer bought the crime deserved but then the justice differed from him in politics which may account for the severity of the article mr read this precious paragraph with mingled grief and indignation he understood the case at a glance tom had joined him and the little merchant had been involved in his crime he the adventures op bright was sure that had had no part in stealing the money one so noble and true as he had been could not steal he reasoned it was contrary to experience contrary to common sense he was very much disturbed this intelligence would be a severe blow to the poor boy s mother and he had not the courage to destroy all her bright hopes by writing her the terrible truth he was confident that was innocent and that his being in the company of tom had brought the upon him so he could not let the matter take its course he was determined to do something to procure his liberty and restore his reputation squire lee was in the city that day and had left his store only half an hour before he discovered the paragraph he immediately sent to his hotel for him and together they devised means to effect s the squire was even more confident than mr that our hero was innocent of the crime charged upon him they agreed to proceed immediately to the state of and use their influence in obtaining his pardon the was a man of influence in the community and was as well ob ob known in as in bat to make their application the he procured letters of introduction from some of the most distinguished men in boston to the governor and other official persons in we will leave them now to do the work they had so generously undertaken and return to the reform school where and tom were confined the latter took the matter very coolly he seemed to feel that he deserved his sentence but he took a malicious delight in seeing the companion of his he even had the to remind him of the blow he had struck him more than two months before telling him that he had vowed vengeance then and now the time had come he was satisfied you know i didn t steal the money or have any thing to do it said some of it was found upon you though sneered tom t you know how it came there if no one else does of course l o but i like your company too well to get rid of you so easy the of bright the lord is with the innocent replied and something tells me that i shall not stay in this place a great while going to run away asked tom with interest and suddenly dropping his malicious look i know i am innocent of any crime and i know that the lord will not let me stay here a great while what do you mean to do bob made no reply he felt that he had had more confidence in tom than he deserved and he determined to keep his own counsel in future he had a purpose in view his innocence gave him courage and perhaps he did not feel that sense of necessity for submission to the laws of the land which age and experience give he prayed earnestly for from the place in which he was confined he felt that he did not deserve to be there and though it was a very comfortable place and the boys as well as he wished to fare still it seemed to him like a prison he was detained and he not only prayed to be delivered but he resolved to work out his own at the first opportunity sow ok never ob knowing that whatever he had would he taken from him he resolved by some means to keep possession of the twenty dollars he had about him he had always kept his money in a secret place in his jacket to guard against accident and the officers who had searched him had not discovered it but now his clothes would be changed he thought of these things before his arrival so when he reached the entrance and got out of the wagon to open the gate by order of the officer he slipped his twenty dollars into a hole in the wall it so happened that there was not a suit of clothes in the store room of the institution which would fit him and he was permitted to wear his own dress till another should be made after his name and description had been entered and the had read him a lecture upon his future duties he was permitted to join the other boys who were at work on the farm he was sent with half a dozen others to pick up stones in a neighboring field no officer was with them and was struck with the apparent freedom of the institution and he so expressed himself to his companions the adventures of bright not so much freedom as you think for | 36 |
said one in reply i should think the fellows would clear out not so easy a matter there is a standing reward of five dollars to any one who brings back a they must catch him first no fellow ever got away yet they always caught him before he got ten miles from the place this was an important suggestion to who already had a definite purpose in his mind like a skilful general he had surveyed the ground on his arrival and was at once prepared to execute his design in his conversation with the boys he obtained the history of several who had attempted to escape and found that even those who got a fair start were taken on some public road he perceived that they were not good and he determined to profit by their mistake a short distance from the institution was what appeared to be a very extensive wood beyond this many miles distant he could see the ocean glittering like a sheet of ice under the setting sun ob or he carefully observed the hills and obtained the bearings of various prominent objects in the vicinity which would aid him in his flight the gave him all the information in their power about the of the country they seemed to feel that he was possessed of a superior spirit and that he would not long remain among them but whatever they thought they kept their own counsel behaved well and was so intelligent and prompt that he obtained the confidence of the who began to employ him about the house and in his own family he was sent of errands in the neighborhood and conducted himself so much to the satisfaction of his that he was not required to work in the field after the second day of his residence on the farm one afternoon he was told that his clothes were ready and that he might put them on the next morning this was a disagreeable announcement for saw that with the uniform of the institution upon his back his chance of escape would be very slight but about sunset he was sent by the s lady to deliver a note at a house in the vicinity the op now or never said to himself after he had left the house now s my time as he passed the gate he secured his money and placed it in the secret of his jacket after he had delivered the letter he took the road and hastened off in the direction of the wood his heart beat wildly at the prospect of once more meeting his mother after nearly four weeks absence lee would welcome him she would not believe that he was a thief he had been four days an of the reform school and nothing but the hope of soon his liberty had kept his spirits from drooping he had not for a moment of getting away he reached the entrance to the wood and taking a cart path began to penetrate its hidden depths the night darkened upon him he heard the owl his dismal note and the whip poor will chant his cheery song a certain sense of security now pervaded his mind for the darkness concealed him from the world and he had placed six good miles between him and the prison as he considered it he walked on however till he came to what now ob ob seemed to be the end of the wood and he hoped to reach the blue ocean he had seen in the distance before morning leaving the forest he emerged into the open country there was here and there a house before him but the aspect of the country seemed strangely familiar to him he could not understand it he had never been in this part of the country before yet there was a great house with two by the side of it which he was positive he had seen before he walked across the field a little farther when to his astonishment and dismay he beheld the lofty of the state reform school he had been walking in a circle and had come out of the forest near the place where he had entered it as the reader has found out by this time was a philosopher as well as a hero and instead of despairing or wasting his precious time in vain regrets at his mistake he laughed a little to himself at the blunder and turned back into the woods again now or never muttered he it will never do to give it up so for an hour he walked on with his eyes fixed on the adventures of a great bright star in the sky then he found that the cart path crooked round and he discovered where he had made his blunder leaving the road he made his way in a straight line still guided by the star till he came to a large sheet of water the sheet of water was an effectual barrier to his farther progress indeed he was so tired he did not feel able to walk any more he deemed himself safe from immediate pursuit in this secluded place he needed rest and he foresaw that the next few days would be with fatigue and hardship which he must be prepared to meet was not nice about trifles and his habits were such that he had no fear of taking cold his comfortable bed in the little black house was to the cold ground even with the forest for a chamber but circumstances alter cases and he did not waste any vain regrets about the necessity of his position after finding a secluded spot in the wood he the dry leaves together for a bed and offering his simple but fervent prayer to the great guardian above he lay down to rest the owl screamed his dismal note and the whip poor | 36 |
will ob ob still repeated his monotonous song but they were good company in the solitude of the dark forest he could not go to sleep for a time so strange and exciting were the circumstances of his position he thought of a thousand things but he could not think himself to sleep as he was wont to do at last nature worn out by fatigue and anxiety conquered the circumstances and he slept the of chapter xix in which has a e cape and goes to sea with sam bay was kind to the little pilgrim in his extremity and kept his senses sealed in grateful slumber till the birds had sung their song and the sun had risen high in the heavens woke with a start and sprang to his feet for a moment he did not realize where he was or remember the exciting incidents of the previous evening he felt refreshed by his deep slumber and came out of it as vigorous as though he had slept in his bed at home rubbing his eyes he stared about him at the tall pines whose foliage his bed and his identity was soon restored to him he was bright but bright in trouble he was not the little merchant but the little fugitive from the prison to which he had been doomed now ob ob it did not take him long to make his toilet which was the only advantage of his primitive style of lodging his first object was to examine his position and ascertain in what direction he should continue his flight he could not go ahead as he had intended for the sheet of water was an barrier leaving the dense forest he came to a marsh beyond which was the wide creek he had seen in the night it was salt water and he reasoned that it could not extend a great way inland his only course was to follow it till he found means of crossing it following the direction of the creek he kept near the margin of the wood till he came to a public road he had some doubts about trusting himself out of the forest even for a single moment so he seated himself upon a rock to argue the point if any one should happen to come along he was almost sure of furnishing a to his future movements if not of being immediately captured this was a very strong argument but there was a stronger one upon the other side he had eaten nothing since dinner on the preceding day and he began to feel faint for the want of food on the the adventures of bright other side of the creek he saw a pasture which looked as though it might afford him a few and he was on the point of taking to the road when he heard the of a wagon in the distance his heart beat with apprehension perhaps it was some officer of the institution in search of him at any rate it was some one who had come from the vicinity of the reform school and who had probably heard of his escape as it came nearer he heard the of bells it was the baker how he longed for a loaf of his bread or some of the precious he carried in his cart hunger tempted him to run the risk of exposure he had money he could buy cakes and bread and perhaps the baker had a kind heart and would him in his distress the wagon was close at hand now or never thought he but this time it was not now the risk was too great if he failed now two years of were before him and as for the hunger he could grin and bear it for a while now or never but this time it was escape now or never and he permitted the baker to pass without him how ox ob he waited half an hour and then determined to take the road till he had crossed the creek the danger was great hut the pangs of urged him on he was sure there were in the pasture and with a timid step carefully watching before and behind to himself against surprise he crossed the bridge but then a new difficulty presented itself there was a house within ten rods of the bridge which he must pass and to do so would expose him to the most imminent peril he was on the point of retreating when a man came out of the house and approached him what should he do it was a trying moment if he ran the act would expose him to suspicion if he went forward the man might have already received a description of him and arrest him he chose the latter course the instinct of his being was to do every thing in a straightforward manner and this probably prompted his decision good morning sir said he boldly to the man morning where are you travelling this was a hard question he did not know where he was travelling besides even in his present difficult position he could not readily resort to a lie the of b eight down here a piece he replied travelled far to day not far good morning sir and resumed his walk i say boy suppose you tell me where you are going and the man came close to him and deliberately surveyed him from head to foot i can hardly tell you replied courage for the occasion well i suppose not added the man with a meaning smile felt his strength desert him as he realized that he was suspected of being a from the reform school that smile on the man s face was the of hope and for a moment he felt a flood of misery roll over his soul but the natural of his spirits soon came | 36 |
to his relief and he resolved not to give up the ship even if he had to fight for it i am in a hurry so i shall have to leave you not just yet young man perhaps as you don t know where you are going you may remember what your name is continued the man good now ob never ob there was a temptation to give a false name but as it was so strongly beaten into our hero that the truth is better than a falsehood he held his peace excuse me sir i can t stop to talk now in a hurry well i dare say you are i suppose there is no doubt but you are master robert bright not the least sir i haven t denied it yet and i am not ashamed of my name replied with at good deal of spirit that s honest i like that honesty is the best policy added that s cool for a rogue any how you ought to thought of that afore i did and stole the money i didn t i never stole a penny in my life come i like that it is the truth but they won t believe it over to the reform school laughed the man they will one of these days perhaps you are a smart but i don t know as the of i can make five dollars any easier than by taking you back where you come from yes you can replied promptly yes how by letting me go eh you talk flush i suppose you mean to give me your note when the up cash on the nail replied you look like a man with a heart in your bosom stole this passage from the i reckon i have the time hasn t come yet when sam i ay could see a fellow creature in distress and not help him out but to help a thief off u we will argue that matter interposed i can prove to you beyond a doubt that i am innocent of the crime charged upon me you don t look like a bad boy i must say but mr ray i m hungry i haven t eaten a since yesterday noon thunder you don t say so exclaimed sam i never could bear to see a man hungry much o never ob more a boy so come along to my house and get something to eat and we will talk about the other matter afterwards sam ray took to the little old house in which he dwelt and in a short time his wife who expressed her sympathy for the little fugitive in the warmest terms had placed an abundant upon the table our hero did ample justice to it and when he had finished he felt like a new creature now mr ray let me tell you my story said i don t know as it s any use now you have eat my bread and butter i don t feel like being mean to you if any body else wants to carry you back they may i won t but you shall hear me and proceeded to deliver his plain tale when he had but a little way in the narrative the noise of an approaching vehicle was heard sam looked out of the window as almost every body does in the country when a carriage passes by thunder it s the reform school wagon exclaimed he this way boy and the good the of hearted man thrust him into his chamber bidding him get under the bed the carriage stopped at the house but sam a direct reply and the for it was he proceeded on his search heaven bless you mr ray exclaimed when he came out of the chamber as the tears of gratitude down his cheeks o you will find sam ray all right said he warmly pressing s proffered hand i ain t quite a heathen though some folks round here think so you are an angel not exactly laughed sam our hero finished his story and confirmed it by exhibiting his account book and some other papers which he had retained sam ray was satisfied and vowed that if ever he saw tom he would certainly him for his sake now i like you i will be sworn you are a good fellow and i mean to help you off so just come along with me i make my living by round hunting fishing a little and doing an odd now ok never or job now and then you see i have got a good boat down the creek and i shall just put you aboard and take you any where you have a mind to go may heaven reward you cried almost overcome by this sudden and unexpected kindness o i don t want no reward only when you get to be a great man and i am dead sure you will be a great man just think now and then of sam ray and it s all right i shall remember you with gratitude as long as i live sam ray took his gun on his shoulder and the box of provision which mrs ray had put up and they left the house at the bridge they got into a little and sam took the oars after they had passed a bend in the creek which concealed them from the road felt secure from further sam pulled about two miles down the creek where it into a broad bay near the head of which was a small now my hearty nothing short of uncle sam s whole navy can get you away from me said sam as he pulled alongside the the adventures of bright you have been very kind to me all right now tumble aboard jumped upon the deck of the | 36 |
little craft and sam followed him after making fast the to the s in a few minutes the little vessel was standing down the bay with a fresh wind and a flowing sheet who had never been in a sail boat before was delighted and in no measured terms expressed his admiration of the working of the trim little craft now where shall we go asked sam as they emerged from the bay into the broad ocean i don t know replied i want to get to boston perhaps i can put you aboard of some bound there that will do nicely i will head towards boston and if i don t any thing i will take you there myself is this boat big enough to go so far she ll stand any thing short of a west india you ain t are you o no i like it how ob ob the big waves now tossed the little vessel up and down like a feather and the huge seas broke upon the bow her deck with floods of water had unlimited confidence in sam ray and felt as much at home as though he had been upon the deep there was an excitement in the scene which accorded with his nature and the perils which he had so painfully pictured on the preceding night were all born into the most lively joys they ate their dinners from the provision box sam lighted his pipe and many a tale he told of adventure by sea and land felt happy and almost dreaded the idea of parting with his rough but friend they were now far out at sea and the night was coming on now you had better turn in and take a you didn t rest much last night i am not sleepy but there is one thing i will do and drew from his secret his roll of bills put them up said sam want to make you a present of ten dollars you can t do it the of m nay but to please me no sir well then let me send it to your good wife you can t do that replied sam gazing earnestly at a lumber laden ahead of him you must your good heart made you lose five dollars and i insist upon making it up to you you can t do it i shall feel bad if you don t take it you see i have twenty dollars here and i would like to give you the whole of it not a cent i ain t a heathen that ahead is bound for boston i reckon i shall be sorry to part with you mr ray just my sentiment i t seen a afore for many a day that i took a fancy to and i hate to let you go we shall meet again i hope so please to take this money no and sam shook his head so resolutely that gave up the point as sam had the lumber was now or ok bound to boston her captain readily agreed to take our hero on board and he sadly bade adieu to his kind friend good by mr ray said as the filled away take this to remember me by it was his but sam d d not discover the ten dollar bill which was shut beneath the blade till it was too late to return it did not cease to wave his hat to sam till his little craft disappeared in the darkness the adventures of bright chapter xx in which the clouds blow over and is himself again fortunately for the wind began to blow very heavily soon after he went on board of the lumber so that the captain was too much engaged in working his vessel to ask many questions he was short handed and though our hero was not much of a sailor he made himself useful to the best of his ability though the wind was heavy it was not fair and it was not till the third morning after his parting with sam ray that the arrived off boston light the captain then informed him that as the tide did not favor him he might not get up to the city for twenty four hours and if he was in a hurry he would put him on board a pilot boat which he saw standing up the channel thank you captain you are very kind ob ob it would give you a great deal of trouble said none at all we must wait here till the tide turns so we have nothing better to do i should be very glad to get up this morning you shall then and the captain ordered two men to get out the jolly boat i will pay my passage now if you please that is paid paid i should say you had worked your passage you have done very well and i shall not charge you any thing i expected to pay my passage captain but if you think i have done enough to pay it why i have nothing to say only that i am very much obliged to you you ought to be a sailor young man you were cut out for one i like the sea though i never saw it till a few weeks since but i suppose my mother would not let me go to sea i suppose not mothers are always afraid of salt water the adventure op bright by this time the jolly boat was alongside and bidding the captain adieu he jumped into it and the men pulled him to the pilot boat which had come up into the wind at the captain s hail was kindly received on board and in a couple of hours landed at the wharf in boston with a beating heart he made his way up into washington street he felt strangely | 36 |
his cheeks seemed to for he was aware that the of was fastened upon him he could not doubt but that the story of his alleged crime had reached the city and perhaps gone to his friends in how his poor mother must have wept to think her son was a thief no she never could have thought that she knew he would not steal if no one else did lee would she ever smile upon him again would she welcome him to her father s house so gladly as she had done in the past he could bring nothing to establish his innocence but his previous character would not mr frown upon him would not even be tempted to forget the service he had rendered her f had thought of all these things before on now or never or his cold damp bed in the forest in the watches of the night on board the but now when he was almost in the presence of those he loved and respected they had more force and they nearly overwhelmed him i am innocent he to himself and why need i fear my good father in heaven will not let me be wronged yet he could not overcome his anxiety and when he reached the store of mr he passed by to face the friend who had been so kind to him he could not bear even to be suspected of a crime by him u now or never said he as he turned round u i will know my fate at once and then make the best of it all his courage he entered the store mr was not there so he was spared the of any ill natured remark from him exclaimed the gentlemanly whose acquaintance he had made on his first visit good morning mr replied with as much boldness as he could command the adventures of bright i didn t know as i should ever see you again you have been gone a long while longer than usual answered with a blush for he considered the remark of the as an allusion to his imprisonment is mr in he is in his office s feet would hardly obey the of his will and with a faltering step he entered the private room of the mr was absorbed in the perusal of the morning paper and did not observe his entrance with his heart up in his throat and almost choking him he stood for several minutes upon the threshold he almost feared to speak the severe frown with which he expected to be received suspense however was more painful than condemnation and he brought his resolution up to the point mr said he in faltering tones exclaimed the dropping his paper upon the floor and jumping upon his feet as though an electric current had passed through his frame how ob ob grasping our hero s hand he shook it with so much energy that under any other circumstances would have thought it hurt him he did not think so now my poor i am delighted to you continued mr burst into tears and sobbed like a child as he was the unexpected kindness of this reception completely overwhelmed him don t cry i know all about it and the tender hearted wiped away his tears it was a stroke of misfortune but it is all right now but could not help crying and the more mr attempted to console him the more he wept lam innocent mr he sobbed i know you are and all the world knows you are i am ruined now i shall never dare to hold my head up again nonsense you will hold your head the higher you have behaved like a hero i ran away from the state reform school sir the of i was innocent and i would rather have died than staid there i know all about it my young friend now dry your tears and we will talk it all over and a little more but finally he composed himself and took a chair by mr s side the then drew from his pocket a ponderous document with a big official seal upon it and exhibited it to our hero do you see this it is your free and pardon sir why it will all end well you may depend was amazed his pardon but it would not restore his former good name he felt that he was as a it was not but justice that he wanted truth is mighty and will prevail continued mr and this document your reputation i can hardly believe that can t you hear my story then when i read in one of the papers the account of your misfortune i felt that you had been wronged now ob ob you were coupled with that tom who is the most little villain i ever saw and i understood your situation ah your only mistake was in having any thing to do with that fellow i left him at because he began to behave badly but he joined me again at he had spent nearly all his money and did not know what to do i pitied him and meant to do something to help him out of the scrape generous as ever i have heard all about this before indeed who told you tom himself tom asked completely yes tom you see when i heard about your trouble squire lee and myself squire lee does he know about it he and you may depend upon it he thinks more highly of you than ever before he and i immediately went down to to inquire into the matter we called upon the governor of the state who said that he had seen you and bought a book of you adventures of bright of me exclaimed startled to think he had sold a book to a governor yes | 36 |
you called at his house probably you did not know that he was the chief magistrate of the state at any rate he was very much pleased with you and sorry to hear of your misfortune well we followed your route to where we ascertained how tom had conducted in a week he established a very bad reputation there but nothing could be found to you the squire to your uniform good behavior and especially to your devotion to your mother in short we procured your pardon and hastened with it to the state reform school on our arrival we learned to our surprise and regret that you had escaped from the institution on the preceding evening every effort was made to you but without success ah you managed that well they didn t look in the right place replied with a smile for he began to feel happy again by the permission of the squire now ob ob lee and myself examined tom he is a great rascal perhaps he thought we would get him out go he made a clean breast of it and confessed that you had no hand in the robbery and that you knew nothing about it he gave you the two bills on purpose to you in the crime we wrote down his statement and had it sworn to before a justice of the peace you shall read it by and by may heaven reward you for your kindness to a poor boy exclaimed the tears flowing down his cheeks again i did not deserve so much from you mr yes you did and a thousand times more i was very sorry you had left the institution and i waited in the vicinity till they said there was no probability that you would be captured the most extraordinary efforts were used to find you but there was not a person to be found who had seen or heard of you i was very much alarmed about you and offered a hundred dollars for any information concerning you i am sorry you had so much trouble i wish i had known you were there i the op how did you get off briefly related the story of his escape and mr pronounced his skill worthy of his genius sam ray is a good fellow we will remember him added the when he had finished i shall remember him and only that i shall be afraid to go into the state of after what has happened i should pay him a visit one of these days there you are wrong those who know your story would sooner think of giving you a public reception than of saying or doing any thing to injure your feelings those who have suffered are always but no one will know my story only that i was sent to prison for stealing there you are mistaken again we put articles in all the principal papers stating the facts in the case and establishing your innocence beyond a go to now and you will be a lion now ok never ob i am sure i had no idea of getting out of the scrape so easily as this innocence shall triumph my young friend what does mother say asked his countenance growing sad i do not know we returned from only yesterday but squire lee will satisfy her all that can worry her as it has worried me will be her fears for your safety when she hears of your escape i will soon set her mind at ease upon that point i will take the noon train home a word about business before you go i discharged about a week ago and i have kept his place for you by gracious exclaimed thrown completely out of his propriety by this announcement i think you will do better in the long run than you would to travel about country i was talking with about it and she says it shall be so s salary was five hundred dollars a year and you shall have the same five hundred dollars a year ejaculated amazed at the of the sum the of very well for a boy of thirteen i was fourteen last sunday sir i would not give any other boy so much but you are worth it and you shall have it probably mr s gratitude had something to do with this offer but he knew that our hero possessed abilities and energy far beyond his years he further informed that he should have a room at his house and that was delighted with the arrangement he proposed the gloomy threatening clouds were all rolled back and floods of sunshine streamed in upon the soul of the little merchant but in the midst of his rejoicing he remembered that his own integrity had carried him safely through the night of sorrow and doubt he had been true to himself and now in the hour of his great triumph he realized that if he had been to the light within him his laurel would have been a crown of thorns he was happy very happy what made him so not his dawning prosperity not the favor of mr not the handsome salary he was to receive for all these things would have been but now ob os if he had sacrificed his integrity his love of truth and he had been true to himself and unseen angels had held him up he had been faithful and the consciousness of his fidelity to principle made a heaven within his heart it was arranged that he should enter upon the duties of his new situation on the following week after settling with mr he found he had nearly seventy dollars in his possession so that in a pecuniary point of view if in no other his eastern excursion was perfectly satisfactory by the noon train he departed for and in two hours more he | 36 |
was folded to his mother s heart mrs bright wept for joy now as she had before wept in misery when she heard of her son s misfortune it took him all the afternoon to tell his exciting story to her and she was almost beside herself when told her about his new situation after tea he hastened over to squire lee s and my young readers can imagine what a warm reception he had from father and daughter for the third time that day he his adventures in the east the adventures of and declared they were better than any novel she had ever read perhaps it was because was the hero it was nearly ten o clock before he finished his story and when he left the squire made him promise to come over the next day now os on chapter xxi in which steps off the stage and must finish now ob the few days which remained at home before entering upon the duties of his new situation were agreeably filled up in calling upon his many friends and in visiting those pleasant spots in the woods and by the river which years of association had rendered dear to him his plans for the future too occupied some of his time though inasmuch as his path of duty was already marked out these plans were but little more than a series of fond in short little more than day dreams i have before hinted that was to castle building and i should pity the man or boy who was not who had no bright dream of future achievements of future usefulness as a man so is he the tells us and it was the pen of inspiration the adventures of bright which wrote it what a man pictures as his ideal of that which is desirable in this world and the world to come he will endeavor to attain even if it be no higher aim than the possession of wealth or fame it is good and worthy as far as it goes it fires his brain it nerves his arm it him to action and action is the soul of progress we must all work and this world were cold and dull if it had no bright dreams to be realized what napoleon dreamed he labored to accomplish and the of europe trembled before him what wished to be he labored to be his ideal was beautiful and true and he raised a throne which will endure through eternity dreamed great things that bright picture of the little black house transformed into a white cottage with green blinds and surrounded by a pretty fence was the nearest object and before mrs bright was aware that he was in earnest the and the painters were upon the spot now or never replied to his mother s remonstrance this is your home and it shall be the spot upon earth if i can make it so how ob ob then lie had to dream about his business in boston and i am not sure but that he fancied himself a rich merchant like mr living in an elegant house in chestnut street and clerks and to do as he bade them a great many young men dream such things and though they seem a little silly when spoken out loud they are what wood and water are to the steam engine they are the of action some are st enough to dream about these things and spend their time in idleness and waiting for the good time coming it will never come to them they are more likely to die in the or the state prison than to ride in their carriages for constant exertion is the price of success enjoyed himself to the utmost of his capacity during these few days of from labor he spent a liberal share of his time at squire lee s where he was almost as much at home as in his mother s house read s poems to him till he began to have quite a taste for poetry himself in connection with tom s continued absence which had to be explained s trials in the east the of country out and the consequence was that he became a hon in the minister invited him to tea as well as other prominent persons for the sake of hearing his story but declined the polite invitations from sheer he had not brass enough to make himself a hero be sides the remembrance of his journey was any thing but pleasant to him on monday morning he took early train for boston and assumed the duties of his situation m mr s store but as i have carried my hero through the period of his life i cannot dwell upon his subsequent career he applied himself with all the energy of his nature to the discharge of his duties early in the morning and late in the evening he was at his post mr was his mend from the first and gave him all the instruction he required his intelligence and quick perception soon enabled him to master the details of the business and by the time he was fifteen he was competent to perform any service required of him by the advice of mr he attended an evening school for six months in the year to acquire a now or or knowledge of book keeping and to for tlie opportunities of which he had been necessarily deprived in his earlier youth he took dr for his model and used all his spare time in reading good books and in obtaining such information and such mental culture as would fit him to be not only a good merchant but a good and true man every saturday night he went home to to spend the sabbath with his mother the little black house no longer existed for it had become the little | 36 |
d j suppose there is not another book in the world which children like to read so well as this if is the story of a man who was wrecked on an island far away from the main land and on which no human being lived the book tells how robinson lived on the island what he had to eat and how he obtained it how je he built a boat and could not get it into the water and then built another and did get it into the water about his dog and his cat and his and his man friday the poor man alone for us hav his robinson and none of them could understand him robert gray didn t think so he read the book through in two or three day after he received it and thought robinson must have had a nice time of it with his cat and his and his man friday he was even silly enough to wish himself on a lonely island away his father and ing of ft sea shell t he r the like robinson island far away from other people have you read robinson said robert gray to frank lee as they were walking home from school one day yes three times replied frank and his eyes sparkled as he thought of the pleasure which the book had afforded him well i ve read it twice and i think it is a first rate book so do i and i mean to read it again some time how should you like to live like robinson all alone on an island by yourself asked robert very gravely well i don t know as i should like it i should want some of s and apple who cares said robert with a sneer i do for one well i don t i would just as have and fish and grapes and such things without any butter sugar or i could get along without them then there would be great robinson je storms and you would get wet and be cold i wouldn t mind that suppose you should be sick have the the cough or the fever who would take care of you then i would take care of myself perhaps you could but i think you would wish your mother was on the island with robinson you in that case said frank with a laugh i don t believe i should at any rate i should like to it it is all very pretty to read about but i don t believe i should like to try it what would you do robert when the indians came to the island i would do just as robinson did i would robinson shoot as many of them as i could i would catch one of them and make him be my man friday suppose they should happen to shoot you instead and then you for their supper don t you think you would make a dainty dish to set before the king i am certain that i could get along just as well as robinson did robinson perhaps not every one don t get out of a scrape as easily as robinson did i know one thing i shall not go on any desolate island to live as long as i can help it i think i should have a first rate time on one said robert as he turned down the street which led to his father s house the next week the long robinson summer began and robert read robinson through again from beginning end he spent almost all his time in thinking about the man alone on the island and i dare say he very often dreamed about the the cat the and man friday he used to lie for hours together under the great elm tree behind the house fancy robinson ing what a famous he would make and wishing he could be cast upon a lonely island and there live in a cave with a cat and a it was certainly very silly of him to spend the greater part of his time in dreaming about such things when he ought to have b en thankful for his comfortable and pleasant home and the com of his parents and his brothers and sisters and for all the good things which god had given him off for the robinson ii robert gray wanted to be a and he actually went so far as to form a plan by which he could on an island sleep in a cave and have companions but a dog and an old cat of course he did not tell any body about this famous robinson plan for fear his friends might find it out and prevent him from becoming a but he went to work and got every thing ready s fast as he could he was a smart boy as i have said before and his plan was very well laid for a child he meant to be robinson but he was not quite willing to go upon the island without any tools to work with or any thing to eat after he arrived i think if he could he would have made sure of most of the comforts of life mr gray hop was only a short distance from the river the little brook in which robert placed his water wheel into a pretty large stream near the shop here mr intended to build a which should bear him to the lonely island robinson near the middle of the great pond which mj young friends will find described in the young there wa a small island robert had chosen for his future home and where he was to be monarch of all he surveyed after frank lee s unfortunate down the river robert had some doubts about being able to reach the island robinson but these did | 36 |
not prevent him from trying to carry out his plan he might perhaps get wrecked as joe had been but if he did it would be so much the more like robinson only a rock with the water knee deep upon it was not a very good place to be monarch of all he surveyed robert s father and mother had gone to visit his uncle in robinson the state of j york and were to be absent two weeks this seemed like a good time for his great enterprise as his oldest sister was the only person at home besides himself and she was too busy to watch him very closely he worked away on his for two days before he finished it for he did not mean to go to sea as he called it to himself in such a shabby craft as robinson that in which joe had been wrecked he had tools from the shop a hammer and plenty of nails and he made the strong and safe it was raised above the water so that the top was dry he stood upon it and to make it more secure he put a uttle fence all round it to prevent him from off if the craft should strike upon a rock then he made two oars with which he could move and steer the he also nailed a box upon the platform upon which he could sit when this queer ark was done he pushed it out into the stream and made a trial trip as far as the river and rowed it back to the place from which he started from the barn he took two i horse blankets for his bed on the island and placed them robinson on the he got a tin cup and a kettle from the house as well as several other things which he thought he might need a small and some nails from the shop completed his all these articles were secured on the just before dark and the next morning he intended to start for the island robert was so tired after the hard work he had done b n upon the that he slept like a rock au night and did not wake up tiu his sister called him to breakfast se had intended to start very early in the morning but this part of his plan had failed after breakfast he took twenty cents which he had saved towards buying a book called the family which frank lee told him was something like b robinson and went to the store to buy some provisions he bought a sheet of some and a piece of cheese and ran across the fields with them to the brook he was very careful to keep away fi om the house so that his sister should not see him having placed these things in the box on the so that they would robinson be safe he went back to the house once more said he and presently the old black cat came and up to him and rubbing her head against his legs poor had not the least idea that she was destined to be the companion of a robinson so she let him take her tip in his arms if she had only known what a scrape she was about to get into i am sure she would not have let mr put one of his fingers upon her trip trip trip come here trip said he to the dog that was sleeping on the door mat trip had no more idea than of the famous plan in which he was to play a j art so he up and followed his young master i don t believe trip had any taste for life and he would have to know where his beef and bones were to come from for he was not very fond of and if didn t smell a rat when they reached the it was because there was no rat for her to smell but she showed a very proper spirit and by her scratching and showed that she did not like the idea of sailing down the river on a robert did not heed her objections and what do you think he did with poor why he put her in the box with the and and cheese trip having a decided taste for the water did not object to going upon the yet judging from the way he looked up into his master s face he wondered what was in the wind and what big thing was going to be done is ow trip we are all ready for a start said as he stepped upon the you needn t scratch an cry so i is going to hurt you trip looked up in his face and his tail and a scratched and howled and refused to be comforted but trip had the advantage of very much in one respect for when he became sick of the adventure he could jump into the water and swim ashore robert however gave little thought or heed at this moment to the wishes or comfort of his two companions for his mind was wholly robinson je taken up with the preparations for the grand departure all was now ready robert pushed off the and it floated slowly down the stream f i m water wheel robinson t iii the river was broad and deep but was not t hm been on the peal for a little boy and sure that was strong enough to i a pretty rd knock upon th kept up a constant in the box and robinson once in a while she scratched with all her might against the sides she could not get out trip behaved himself much better but he gazed up in his young master s face all the time and did not know what to make of | 36 |
this very singular voyage robert was much pleased with his success thus far and was satisfied that he should robinson make a very good robinson the worked quite well and with the great oar at the stern he could steer it as easily as though it had been a real boat he had not yet reached the dangerous part of the river which was called the i this was the place where joe u ch had been wrecked he had doubts about being able to pass with safety be robinson je the rocks which here rose above the surface of the water but he was a bold brave boy and he was almost sure that if any thing happened he could swim ashore as he thought of the being dashed to pieces against a rock he wondered what would become of poor he did not want to drown her so he decided to give her a fair chance to save her life in case of any accident he opened the box and was glad enough to get out as she jumped from the box robert saw that she had made a sad mess of the provisions he had obtained for use on the island she had scratched open the papers and the was broken into a hundred pieces the cheese was all up and robinson ground in with the and the whole mass was well mixed with black hairs from the cat s back robert was so angry when he saw the wreck within the box that he was tempted to throw overboard for the mischief she had done but the thought that it was not the cat s fault saved her from a cold bath it was not of her own will robinson that she had taken lip her quarters in the box she did not want to go in there or stay there after she was in and all the mischief had been done by her efforts to be free was even more astonished at the prospect around her than the dog and she jumped from one end of the to the other a dozen times seeking to find some way to escape she was no robinson sailor on the one hand and did not hke her position in the midst of the waters and she did not like the idea of her soft black coat by swimming ashore on the other hand when she found there was no way to get ashore without taking to the water she took her stand next to trip and began to in a most sorrowful manner the dog robinson looked at her and bow two or three times as much m as to what are you afraid of don t you see i m not scared robert went to work upon the contents of the box to save some of his food if he could the and the nails were covered with soft cheese and it took him some time to put things in order again robinson while he was busy at the box he did not pay much attention to the and it kept turning round and round as it floated with the current down the river while the httle was thus engaged the against something and sprang to his feet the craft had run up against the shore and got this did not hurt the any but who had kept both of her sharp eyes fixed upon the land all the time no sooner saw the vessel touch than she improved her chance and jumped ashore called robert when he saw that one of his companions had given him the it was of no use to call her for she was away robinson as fast as her feet would carry her in the direction of home she had no idea of sharing the fortunes of mr robinson on his lonely island that s real mean isn t it trip said he as he turned to the dog but it was very clear that trip did not think it was mean for he was in the very act of springing ashore v here trip come here sir cried he as he tried to get hold of the dog s collar trip did not stop to hear any argument on the subject but with a long leap placed himself on the shore he did not run off as had done but stood on the bank of the river and with all his might the had now floated off a short distance and robert robinson took his oars and rowed it to the shore for he could not think of such a thing as losing both of his friends and before he landed on the island come here trip poor come here sir said he and patting his knees to the dog to him pushing the up a little distance upon the shore he stepped on the beach to catch fir robinson the dog as he did so the by the removal of his weight off and went to sea again on its own hook as the loss of his vessel seemed to be a greater misfortune than the loss of the dog he turned from the latter to recover the former the floated out about a rod from the shore and began to go down stream the robinson water was quite shallow and robert in till he got hold of the craft but in attempting to jump upon the platform he and went au over into the water his courage was good however and he managed to pick himself up and climb upon the the did him no harm but the day was cool and his wet clothes did not add to his comfort pulling to the shore again he fastened the to a tree with a rope he had brought for the purpose taking off all his clothes he wrung them as dry as he could and put | 36 |
them on again e ow come here trip said he to the dog which had been watching all his movements now we will try again you needn t try to off for you are go robinson with me to the island any how after some he got near enough to trip to seize hold of his collar to which he tied the rope that fastened the i didn t think you be so mean as to run away and leave me as did said robert as he dragged trip upon the once more but you shall go with me robinson on the voyage whether you like it or not having secured his prisoner he pushed off again and the floated slowly down the river he passed the in safety though the got two or three pretty hard upon the rocks when he reached the pond he had to take his oars for the current would not carry him to the island where he robinson wished to go he had to work very hard for as much as an before he could bring the to the island but at last he reached it and began to feel that he was monarch of all he surveyed s tha iv is ow trip we have arrived at our future home we must go to work and put things to rights said robert as he released the dog and fastened the to a tree trip his tail and jumped upon the land as though he entered heartily robinson the spirit of the adventure but i think if trip could have spoken and had had the courage to utter his whole mind he would have said young master you are a fool what do you want to come here for where there isn t any body or any thing you were a great deal better off at home and i think you q ce a real fellow but as trip could not speak he t say a word and i am afraid his actions did not express his real feelings for he looked happy and contented robert s first step after he landed was to explore the island just as robinson senior had done his domain he pushed his way followed by trip through the bushes that covered the island je he wanted to find a cave but there was not even a rock to be found well trip i don t see what we shall do for a house said he when he returned to the landing place there is certainly no cave here what shall we do trip the dog his tail and as though he understood the question but he did not mention any way to je s j overcome the difficulty instead of trying to help his master to a plan he leaped upon the and seated himself on the box i dare ay this was trip s notion of their next move that robert should get upon the and make his way home as fast as he could we won t do any thing of the sort trip do you think i m going home again o sir i m robinson bow trip which being interpreted undoubtedly meant do come along master let us go home you don t said robert wouldn t the fellows laugh at me if they should find me coming back now i ll tell you what we ll do trip we can take the boards in the and use them to build a house that is just the idea we won t stop to think about it either but go to work and do the job at once for we want the house to sleep in to night robert then carried the box and the various articles with which the was load ed to the shore and placed them near the spot where he intended to build his house robinson this was just the kind of work that pleased robert and he was as excited as though he were going to europe or to do some other great thing throwing off his coat he seized the and went to work with a zeal that promised soon to give him a house the was torn in pieces and the boards and of which it was made carried robinson to the site of the new dwelling robert had hardly finished this part of the job before a thought struck him at the most his stock of food would not last him more than two or three days and in his survey of the island he had seen neither grapes nor upon which he had expected to live when the and were all gone robinson as this thought struck him he sat down upon the ground and began to look quite sad he had destroyed the which it had taken him two days to build he was acting like a man who locks himself into a prison and then throws the key out the window i don t know but we are getting into a bad scrape trip said he as the dog robinson seated himself in front of him and looked up into his face as if to ask him what he meant to do next trip his tail and did not seem to be at all concerned about the future no doubt he felt able to swim to the main shore but i m not going to back out now i can tell you trip i m going to have a time of it any how when i get robinson back if i ever do go back i i want to tell the fellows i enjoyed it first rate and then they can t laugh at me it was now nearly noon and he decided to dine before he began to work on the house opening the box he took out some and cheese and while he ate himself he gave | 36 |
thirty yes i will bring them by the little merchant david was so glad lie hardly knew what to do with himself he ran home and told his mother what he had done and she was as glad as he was when she thought what a smart son she had and how anxious he was to help her monday came david was at the railroad station when the train came and mr field gave him the papers david took them imder his arm by the little merchant how his heart beat with fear lest he should not be able to sell them but he meant to work very hard and he felt almost sure that he should sell them there were two dozen papers they cost fifteen cents a dozen or thirty cents for the whole at two cents each they would come to forty eight cents this would leave david a profit of di by the little merchant cents and this would do very well for a start what have you got there boy said a gentleman the journal sir two cents each replied david taking one of the papers from under his arm give me one and the man handed him two cents thank you sir i want one every day yery well sir i shall be by the little merchant glad to sell you one every day you may leave it at my house he pointed out his house to david and he told him he would leave one there every day the httle merchant was cheered by this sale it was a good start and he felt sure that almost every man in the place would want a paper by the little merchant pretty soon he came to the store and he went in to follow up his good luck there were six or seven men in the shop besides the keeper buy the journal sir only two cents got all the news in it said david showing the paper to the is that you david asked the man by the little sir don t you want a paper i do i am very glad to get one and the man handed him two cents and took a thank you sir said david for his mother had told him he must be polite to all with whom he had dealings ton have gone into business have you david added the man with a smile by the little merchant yes sir i am trying to do something to help my mother that s a good boy you will find plenty of people to buy your papers for they all want them david sold five papers in the store and with a light heart he ran over to the great shoe shop on the other side of the road a great many men were at work there and by the little merchant when the little merchant told them he was selling papers to help mother nearly every one of them bought a paper and he had only six left when he went out of the shop five of these were sold in a short time and he had only one left he felt sure that lee s father would want one and he saved this one for him he found by the little merchant in the garden playing with the great dog and he told her what he had been doing she felt a deep interest in the little hero and when he had told his story she led him to her father mr lee took his last paper and wished him to bring him one every day how happy david was then he had sold out and had made eighteen cents by the little merchant but he was an honest and he went at once to mr field s to pay for his papers and to speak for some more the next day the express man said he had done well after he had told his story and thought he could sell as many as four dozen papers the next day david ran home and told his mother all about it she was as glad as he was at his by the little merchant success she was pleased not only because he had made some money but he had tried so hard to do something for her eighteen cents is a very small sum it is true but the poor widow could think of a great many little comforts which it would buy but if her son could earn this sum every day it would be a real blessing to her for it would by the little merchant supply the whole family with good clothing d you wonder that mrs white was proud of her son f d by by joe in trouble by the little merchant i iv the next day david sold twice as many papers as he had sold the day before he carried thirty six cents home to his mother that night this was as much money as his mother had earned and he was as proud as a lord of what he had done david now found himself by the little settled in the business and in a few weeks his mother bought him a suit of clothes with the money he had earned they had a great many nice things at the cottage which they had not had since mr white s death but the httle merchant did not always have such good luck as on the first days when he sold all his papers one day and had calls for by the little merchant more than he could supply he asked mr field to bring him six dozen then he could not sell them and this caused a loss there were a few bad boys in and david had some trouble with them one day when he was running across a field with his bundle of papers under | 36 |
his arm joe stopped him he was a bad boy and did by the little merchant not like david because the little merchant was a good boy and would not idle away his time with him how many papers have you sold david asked joe about twenty replied david give me one wiu you i can t give them away i have to pay for them what if you do can t you give me one d by the little merchant if i liave any left i give you one said david then he tried to get away from the bad boy but joe tripped him up and he fell at full length on the ground david did not care for the fall but all the money in his pocket came out and was scattered about in the grass joe was a good deal larger than david and our little hero was afraid of him so by ic the little merchant he did not dare to say any thing though he felt very bad indeed he had a stout t but he felt very much like crying this would do no good so he began to pick up the cents the bad boy said he would help him and began to look in the grass with david but he did not give him any of the money he found the httle merchant after he had by ic the little merchant looked a long while found only one half of what he had lost he felt very bad at the idea of losing ten cents but he did not say any thing about his loss and ran on to leave a paper at the house on the other side of the field david shouted joe what do you want david by the little merchant do you mean to say i have got any of the money i didn t say so cause if you do i ll whip you i didn t say so yes you did david did not answer him again but ran with all his might to the house when he got to the door he could not control his feelings any longer and burst into tears by ic the little merchant what is the matter david asked john gray the farmer s son as he gave him a paper i lost my money in the field sobbed david joe was with you wasn t he yes and he tripped me up and when i fell the money all came out of my pocket and i lost ten cents you go back and ask by ic the little merchant joe if he has any of it i know he has got some of it i don t hke to do that joe will whip me if i do you go and ask him and i will be there in a minute david did not like to do so but john gray said so much that at last he agreed to go when he reached the field again joe was leaving j by the little merchant it but he called after him and he stopped did you find any of my money joe asked david who spoke in a very civil manner i did not do you me n to say i got any of it if you do i ll whip you i don t say so yes you do joe doubled up his fist ind moved towards by the little merchant our little merchant walked away from him but just then john gray came to the spot he says i ve got some of his money said joe as john joined them haven t you got some of it js o turn out your pockets and let me see said john i don t want to do that by ic the little merchant but i haven t got any of his money replied joe the bad boy then tried to run away but john caught him and turned his pockets out for him in one of them he found eight of the david had lost john gave them to david and told joe if he touched him again he would put him in prison for stealing david was very glad to get by ic the little merchant his again and while john held joe he ran off to sell the rest of his papers joe was afraid of being put in prison for what he had done so he did not dare to whip david for telling john about it this was only one of david s trials he told his mother about it when he got home she said e must not mind it and that he must by the little merchant have nothing to do with joe for he was a very wicked she told him he must not heed these troubles for every body in the world has to meet them david kept on selling papers for several years and the money he earned in this way helped his mother very much and no mother could be more happy in having such a good son i hope all by ic the little merchant my little friends will do all they can to help their mothers if they cannot sell papers they can do a great many things they can at least be good boys and girls and this will help their mothers a good deal and make life very pleasant to them d by the cast thy bread upon the waters and thou shalt find it after many days many years ago there lived in boston a carpenter whose name was john he was very far from being a rich man and though he re fair wages for his labor by the he had a wife and four children to support one saturday evening as he was going down to the market a little boy of about ten | 36 |
the door these ladies were all of them so that they would not speak in company and and n had to do all the talking for them but they used to make the talked and this did just as well they used to say just such things as the ladies did who called on mrs green and and i never left without being urged to stay longer and also to call again which they always promised to do on the whole they were very wonderful at least they were until lady jane came and she was such a fine lady with her white silk dress and her real hair that none of them could shine after that lend and i ii one day lee came to see i green and to spend the afternoon with her it was in the month of november and the weather was too cold to permit them to play in the garden so they said they would have a good time in the house green had to go away and i and could not play with them was very sorry for this for she not only to have her sister with her but she also wanted the company of lady jane she told how sorry she was and they agreed that it was too bad e ty had to go away for she was older than they and could help them a great deal in their plays besides they wanted j and i one fine among the for they had a certain play which required just such a person y i wish i had brought miss with me i guess she is fine enough said i wish you had but as you have not we can t help it now i dare say miss will do i ll teu you what you can do s and i what you can just ask to lend you her we won t hurt her a you know we wiu use just as if she were made of glass did not know what to say she did not like to ask to let her play with lady jane for she knew how her sister was of her fine lady and she did not like to t ll her thoughts and i lest she should think her sister was selfish she did not like to have any one think hard of her sister we must have lady jane i don t see how we can get along without her added a little puzzled by the silence of n i don t like to ask said s at last why not she will let you have her of course she and i will let you have her added warmly i don t think she will you know we might break her neck or lose off her legs or arms or we might dirty her white silk di ess but we will be very careful let us go and ask her it won t do any harm to ask her you know she can t do any more than refuse i did not like to be and i refused and she tried to prevent from going any farther in the matter she was sorry to have it appear that her sister was selfish and she thought more of this than she did of being said so much that at last she thought might let her have the and they ran down stairs to the sitting room to have the matter settled and i will you lend us your asked and the tones of her voice showed how doubtful she was of the result of the question what do you mean asked your wax lady jane i am very sure i shall not replied we will be very careful of her added we won t and i t let her be hurt a bit you may depend on that i m not going to let you have my to break and spoil i m sure i shall not said who even seemed to be angry because she was asked but don t i say we won t hurt it a bit continued and when you come over to my house you shall have my just as long as and i you want her and her house too and all the chairs and tables and things i don t want them do please to let us have lady jane i we want her ever so much and i know she won t get broken or dirty please to lend her to us i shan t do any such thing j so it s no use to me why don t you play with your and i own i won t lend lady jane that s flat felt so bad she could not help crying not because she could not have the doll but because her sister was so harsh and unkind she would not have cared so much if had not been there for she did not like to have her see her sister behave in this manner poor wanted to cry and i too when she saw how badly is felt but she tried to be brave and placed her arm round her friend s neck as if to let her know that she would be kind to her come let s go up stairs again we won t any thing more about it said and she led her out of the room i ow you won t like after this replied is and i i wiu would have lent us the only aunt jane gave it to her and she is afraid it will be broken if it hadn t been for this she would have lent us lady jane i know she would added i wiping away her tears i dare say she would but we won t think any thing more about | 36 |
by preface thb i a to thb boy and traces the career of jack as an officer from the naval academy to his promotion to the rank of the hero is not an ideal being he has hundreds of in our gallant navy he is brave but no than thousands of others who have lived to see the great rebellion crushed out by their devoted efforts he is true to god and himself but he is only what hundreds of others have been who have passed through the fiery ordeal of temptation and have come forth the incidents of the story are those which have occurred on the ocean and on the and rivers of the south common in the experience of all our naval officers who have been employed during the war as in its so as the work is historical the best authorities have been consulted the author is again indebted to his friend francis l not only for verbal details but for the use of and works relating to the navy the text books of the naval academy have been constantly at hand during the preparation of the volume again we submit jack or rather mr to our readers young and old we have intended to by ic preface make him a noble and christian young man and we have left his daily life to the lesson of christian fidelity and patriotism without any attempt to enforce the moral by an occasional page of dry which are yery likely to be omitted in the reading if the moral cannot readily be seen it is not worth looking for the author ever grateful for the kindness of his the fourth volume of the a mi and with the hope that it will be found worthy of the favor which has been bestowed upon it t mass october by contents i hb ii a his m mb iv an v ok night duty vi to an vii sent upon active on the ix the man with the thin face i x the united states xi mb in xiii mb becomes bloody minded xiv latitude sixty two xv the and xvi mb to the in sound xviii in the fog and n xix the in xx keeps his wide open again xxi by contents meets with an m a shot from the m xxiv in the cabin of the xxv the and its sentence xxvi the cotton glad an enterprise which ends in an explosion the last of in command xxx miss by the yankee cf by by ic the yankee ob the adventures of a naval officer chapter i and f the boat why my dear madam you forget that i served five years in the united states navy and that i know every rope in the ship said mr philip himself with the boat hook he held in his hand i know you are a good sailor but and mrs did not seem to be inclined to give further expression to the thought which was in her mind there had been a very pleasant party at the old fort on the rocks it was a and the company had enjoyed themselves to the full extent that a sea breeze in august with choice and cool can produce enjoyment mrs and her fair daughter were of the party by the yankee or and had attended under the escort of mr philip an engagement in the evening obliged the lady and her daughter to return to in advance of the rest of the company she had come down to the water s edge where the gentleman had hauled up the boat in readiness for her to the lady seemed to be perplexed with a serious doubt for though her husband was a in the navy she had a womanly respect for salt water especially ba in the present instance when the wind and the waves were violently with each other thereby waking up the sleepy tide and creating a pretty heavy in shore sea the lady did not like the looks of the waves that beat upon the ragged rocks they were suggestive of wet dresses and more of an involuntary bath and still more of a commission to a fashionable the craft was a well and strongly built boat with a single sail worn on a cat the best in the world for rapid movements mrs was the wife of a sailor and knew a safe and boat when she saw one it was by no means dangerous weather it did not yet blow even half a gale it was only a jolly fresh breeze still she was perplexed with a doubt and the longer she gazed upon the gentleman in charge of the boat the larger and more formidable became the doubt by the adventures of a naval officer if the had been conducted on purely principles it is quite probable that the lady would not have been disturbed by a single doubt for certainly it would not have been consistent for the wife of a to be afraid of a fresh breeze and a sea we are sorry to be obliged to say that a certain wrung from the grapes on the plains of france or from the apples on the plains of new we not with intricate questions had been freely among the ladies and gentlemen the party at the same time we are happy to add that most of those who used their worldly discretion to a degree which saved them from scandal mr philip was not of this number he boasted that he had punished an entire bottle of the sparkling and action and re action being equal as well in as in the bottle in its was him and so far as the observation of the lady was concerned the bottle was decidedly having | 36 |
evident from the troubled expression on her face that she was ill at ease there is not the slightest danger i assure you madam added i am troubled about the charge you have made against me if there is anything madam which is vile and in a gentleman it is a condition my dear madam to which i have never been what will say what will my excellent foster father say when such an accusation is fastened upon me i don t propose to mention the matter of course replied mrs indeed it was a mistake on my part and i am sorry i uttered a word thank you madam you are very kind to acknowledge your error and you remove a heavy load from my mind by your considerate words madam if i could so far forget myself as to get while taking charge of ladies and especially of mrs and her lovely daughter that will do in that direction interposed if i had been guilty of such an i could never forgive myself i would jump overboard and drown myself the moment i realized the degrading fact by the ot a officer that is all very pretty mr but i will thank you to mind your said as the boat fell off a little and under the impulse of a fresh gust of wind till she took in a small quantity of water over her lee rail i m all attention miss it is very rough out here in the channel but i pledge you my word and honor there is not a of danger replied the i am not afraid if you will only mind your i am all attention and the young man glanced ahead at the white waves which dashed against the bows of the boat mrs watched him and watched the course of the boat with deep interest and anxiety the condition of the did not improve as the danger increased he seemed to become more unsteady in his movements and to pay less attention to the she found it necessary to caution him frequently and declared if he did not keep a hand at the she should steer herself it s very rough out here in the channel repeated he when the boat was off fort distant about a mile very rough indeed and you cannot be too careful no man can be more careful in a boat than i am by ic ob protested he i intended to go to the northward of goat island ladies but i think i will go to the southward where she will be in water under the lee of the land as he spoke he let out the sheet and put the up taking the wind the ladies scrambled hastily up to the weather side for had not let out the sheet fi r enough to permit the boat to go easily on her new course you will certainly upset us said mrs now actually alarmed by the uncertain movements of the boat ton my word and honor as a gentleman and a sailor i will not i exclaimed as he the sheet and it off a little she is doing splendidly madam and i assure you again there is not a of danger mr philip attempted to look easy confident and he was trying with all his might to disguise or conceal certain movements of his own which he was conscious were not entirely regular the last of champagne he had taken seemed now to be struggling for expression in his words and actions his estimate of and distances was very uncertain and when he intended to move the a very little he threw the boat up into the wind or put her before it now when he the sheet which by the by ic tbe adventures of a if officer way ought not to have been at all in such a as that one of his of distance caused him to lose his grasp upon the rope he thought he had hold of it when it was a foot from his hand consequently he missed his grasp and the strong breeze acting on the sail jerked it out of his reach of course the sail violently and the long boom beat the water in the most savage manner to the ladies it looked very much like a desperate situation especially as the boat having lost the influence of the sail began to roll heavily in the of the sea still there was no particular danger as long as the little craft was handled mr philip saw that his reputation for and was in imminent peril and his first impulse was to save the from a premature explosion unfortunately for him and the his judgment by the of the champagne was not sharpened by the emergency and instead of putting the down and allowing the wind to carry the boom aft he leaped from his place in the stem and sprang forward to grasp the the boat was very unsteady under him and mr was very unsteady over it and as he stepped upon the to catch the boom a heavy roll pitched him into the water and he disappeared from the view of the anxious ladies b thb yankee ob chapter ii a in his element the scene described in the preceding chapter was taking place a boat similar in size and to that occupied by mr and party put out from the pier at fort it contained but two persons one of whom was the and the other a young man dressed in the uniform of a of the united states navy as the man in charge of this boat had drank no champagne or other he handled his with skill and good judgment the young gentleman with the four on his coat collar had been sent down to deliver an important message to the officer in command | 36 |
at the fort and having discharged this duty he was now on his return to the naval academy though he was a he had a conscience and did not propose to waste a single moment of his time in about the bay and therefore he requested the to make his best time back to the landing place at the boat by ths adventures of a naval officer made one short tack out into the channel to get an but when she was ready to come about the doubtful movements of mr s boat attracted the attention of the there s some in that boat he don t know how to handle her said the that s plain enough and that s a pretty heavy sea out there for a fellow who don t know how to manage his craft she has two ladies aboard added the scared half out of their wits np doubt i don t blame them much the boat about as though she were half full of water shall i come about a the of the which had been put upon him to lose no time no not just yet i m afraid there will be trouble out there and the ladies may want some assistance just my sentiments exactly and if you say so i ll stand on towards the boat do so if you please we can go to the northward of the light without losing much time just as you say sir do you know the people in that boat can t make em out yet but i know the boat and there isn t a better one in the bay when she is well handled replied the taking a careful survey of the craft as she labored in the heavy sea by the or he has changed her course he is going to the southward of the island the will swamp her i exclaimed the now much excited by the perilous situation of the little craft that he will there now he has off the sheet and she is all right again by this time the two boats were near enough to the to see the faces of the parties in the other craft i know who they are said he still gazing at the ladies who are they that s mrs and her daughter there has been a over to the old fort and they are just coming home but who is the man in charge of her that s the fellow they call they say he is the s daughter but i don t know about that she is a desperate smart girl and i reckon she is too good for such a fellow as he is well he is no whatever else he may be added the with emphasis no but he ought to be if he isn t he s a passed in the navy that is to say he was a passed and resigned when the war broke out o he is a is he by the ad of a naval officer they say not somebody told me he resigned because they promoted some other fellow over his head he was no great loss to the navy if he can t handle a boat any better than that i reckon you re more n half right said the laughing as he watched the movements of the craft i don t exactly see how a man so loyal and true as should permit an officer who at the beginning of the war to hang round his daughter continued the musing on what seemed to him to be a very obvious there s a reason for that and it so happens that i know all about it i took him and another young buck down to s the other day and i heard him tell the whole story i m afraid he will swamp the boat and duck the ladies before you can finish it i m afraid he will but the story is a short one you know is a man his father old general is living now and is worth a of money the young chap says hard on to half a million i don t know nothing about that of course the s mother died some years ago and the old general married a young widow by the name of in fact this young chap s mother by yankee or is the old general the s father a man now asked the well as near as i make it ont from what this young chap said the old fellow don t care a straw which side wins so long as thej don t take his from him he is no such man as his son then that s a feet the goes in all over for the old flag go on with your story if there is any more of it the old general took a liking to his young wife s and treated him as if he had been hi own he got him into the navy and it was generally understood that he intended to divide his money equally between young and his he is a lucky fellow then said the perhaps he would have been if he had behaved himself well the young chap owned up that he had been going it too fast and rather got the old general s back up against him then when he gave up his situation in the navy the old fellow was as aad as and said right up and down that he wo t give him a sixpence then he has away his chances well he is kind of making it up with the old man now that s about all i heard the young chap say but i of guessed at the rest of it i reckon the young by the of a naval officer buck means to many | 36 |
one half of the old general s fortune in case the other should slip through his fingers the appeared to be deeply interested in the recital of mr philip s and prospects but it was simply as a story for he had no acquaintance with any of the persons mentioned except that he knew as a and loyal man who had stood by the flag of his country without wavering and without the shadow of turning though he had many southern connections who were identified with the rebellion but the interest of the story did not permit the to withdraw his gaze from the boat even for a single instant at the conclusion of the narrative the two boats were within a hundred yards of each other and the countenances of the ladies could be distinctly seen there i shouted the jumping up in his seat the has let go his sheet put your down cried the as he saw the gentleman leap out of his seat and run forward to secure the rope but his voice was not above the dashing of the waves and probably it would not have been if it had been heard steady shouted the again as the neglected craft over to steady or you by yankee ob will swamp her he repeated highly excited by the dangerous situation of the boat and her fair passengers scarcely were the words uttered when mr philip made his unfortunate and went over the side disappearing beneath the angry waves he is overboard as sure as fate exclaimed the mrs uttered a faint scream of terror as she saw the young man go down and realized that she and her daughter were then at the mercy of the stormy waves which were every moment increasing in fury port your a little and run for the boat said the in tones so full of energy and that the did not venture to disregard his words will you let the poor fellow drown said he no run down under the stem of that boat and i will jump on board of her you can save the man and i will take charge of the boat with the ladies all right replied the deeply impressed by the vigor and energy of his young companion and with a feeling that he was bom to command the boat in which the ladies were seated by the sail was rolling violently in the of the sea so violently that at each motion she took in a large quantity of water it was fully evident to the and his passenger that without immediate she by by off the page by adventures of a naval officer would be and perhaps the worst fears of the mother realized now steady as she is said the energetic as he placed himself in the bow of the boat in another instant for the boat darted like a she was within six feet of the other craft up with your shouted the as he gathered up his light and form and sprang towards the stern sheets of the storm tossed bark it was a long leap to make from one unsteady object to another and the enthusiasm of the had well nigh played him as ugly a trick as the champagne had played upon mr but he had hb wits about him which the other had not and when he realized that he had made a he did the next best thing that is when his feet failed him he used his hands he succeeded in grasping the rail of the boat and though he was subjected to the discomfort of a complete his was not thereby diminished he held on with his hands till the boat on the opposite side and then with surprising scrambled over the rail into the boat the did not even stop to shake himself but turned his attention at once to the safety of the boat seizing an oar he heaved the boat s head up into the wind which brought the boom in board and enabled him to recover the stray she t with this rope at com by the ob the boat was soon brought under perfect con having performed this work of necessity he directed his thoughts to the man who had fallen overboard it was his purpose to go about and assist in the rescue of the unfortunate but the boat had so much water that she was in no condition for such a service will be drowned i exclaimed mrs when she saw that her own safety and that of her daughter were provided for i hope not madam replied the this boat has so much water in her that it would be hardly safe to go about the has got hold of him and is pulling him out of the water said with breathless eagerness he is safe mother thank heaven gasped the lady if we only get ashore i will never trust myself in one of boats again i beg your pardon ladies but where do you wish to land asked the polite anywhere anywhere if you will only put me on the dry land again replied mrs with emphasis that shall be done very soon madam if you will tell me where you wish to go on shore i don t care where if i only get on the land once more by the of a officer i believe i have the honor of addressing mrs continued the young officer as he touched his cap and i presume you wish to land in the vicinity of long wharf i am mrs and you may land me anywhere you please i am very grateful to you young gentleman for what you have done and i shall never forget your gallant conduct i thank you madam for your kind words though i assure you i could not possibly have done any less k you please | 36 |
mrs i will out the boat and then you will be more comfortable what a nice young man i said as she took the place assigned to her by the new who proceeded to out the boat with one hand while he held both the and the sheet with the other the young man blushed up to his eyes as he listened to this gay remark from one i ho had so recently been in extreme peril he could not determine what she meant whether the words were intended as a compliment or whether she was making fun of him he cast a single glance at her but without the question though he did not solve that question he did solve another one of no little importance to foolish young men passing out of their that miss was a very pretty girl perhaps this fact had something to do with the deep that his by ic tbe om cheek as the for it is hard to be made the sport of any young lady and doubly hard if she happens to be pretty i said you were a nice young man repeated apparently enjoying the confusion of the gallant fellow and you are as speechless as an infant i was by the remark don t you think you are a nice young man persisted the fair really miss i have given the question so little consideration that i am not prepared to give a definite answer replied the under the effect of what seemed to be the young lady s sarcasm may i ask you to give the subject an earnest and patient examination with the favor of a definite reply within three weeks i will endeavor to with so reasonable a demand thank you i dare say you have been reading some vile yellow covered novel indeed i have not i have no to as you suggest then you must be a natural bom hero no doubt you have been longing for years for an opportunity to rescue some forlorn from a watery grave or a fiery furnace your patience has at last been rewarded and i am the victim by ic the of a naval officer what an ungrateful girl jou ate i vm ashamed of you exclaimed the mother isn t it ridiculous that i should become the heroine of a stupid drama like this pray sir may i ask your name john at your service promptly replied the by the yankee or chapter iii mb p e name and fame of mr had gone before him for both mrs and her daughter had heard of the distinguished young gentleman his gallant conduct on the southern coast and the exploits of which he was the hero had been duly reported at he had been examined by the board of medical officers and by the board and was not only pronounced physically fit to serve his country in the navy but had been admitted to the second class in the institution it is true some wise and prudent people said that his admission was not altogether regular but it was certain that he was admitted entirely on his own merits whatever influence might have been used in breaking through arbitrary forms that were invaluable in times of peace but which the of the times could very properly vary but we do not intend to discuss the red in the career of our hero and we can only say that he was a member of the naval academy in by the of a naval officer high standing in his class and in excellent with the officers and professors of the institution we imagine his admission was no more irregular than the departure of the two upper classes when their services were needed in the active duties of their chosen profession it was said that commander had more influence in washington than some officers of equal rank and this devoted and patriotic man was s warm friend our had studied with a zeal which was worthy of success before he entered the institution he had improved every moment of time and even the greater portion of his thirty days had heen spent in the solitude of his chamber over and general he had with honor in the high school of and was therefore in condition to take advance rank in the academy after he had added to his early the results of six months earnest and devoted study had not been satisfied to meet the of the institution but had used his spare hours to promote the great object of his present existence his constitution was strong and his health vigorous so that he did not break down under this pressure and ih result was evident to his teachers though they were not clearly aware of the means by which he made such by the ob progress in liis studies at the june examination he had not a single recorded against him and his general merit roll placed him near the head of the class he was trusted and respected not only for what he had done but for what he was when entered the institution he was an able seaman and had an excellent practical knowledge of and working a ship while his were studying and what he was competent to teach devoted himself to branches of study in which he had made less progress our young readers therefore must not suppose that he got his learning by instinct for he obtained his position only by the labor and the most self denying sacrifices he knew nothing of the gay of the brilliant in which he resided and did not even witness the which in that luxurious society during the fashionable season his only visitor during the summer was lieutenant of the navy whom he had saved from being washed overboard during a gale on his passage home from key west this gentleman was fully alive | 36 |
to the merit of our and freely expressed his desire to have him with him in the to which he had been appointed and having informed our readers who and what the was we will return to the boat where we left him with the ladies by the of a officer mr exclaimed mrs when the young gentleman had given his name i have heard of you before mr repeated i have heard of you before and you must know that i regard it as a very distinguished honor to be rescued from a watery grave by such a remarkable as mr don t you be so remonstrated her mother i am not mother my heart with gratitude to the distinguished young gentleman for the signal service he has rendered us replied with a merry laugh the boat was now under the lee of island where the water was comparatively smooth and the confidence of both the ladies was completely restored the other boat with mr philip as a passenger was about half a mile of her had out the water and taken a in the sail miss was comfortable and could afford to be she was an to the it was not possible after the good service he had rendered to her and to her mother that the young lady intended to ridicule him it was her humor and as she was very beautiful she could afford to say and do almost anything which would have been fatal to a less favored by the yankee or you are positively impudent added her mother on the contrary mj dear mother i am using the strongest language i can find to express my admiration of the gentleman s gallant conduct and my high appreciation of his efficient service to you and me spare me miss said with a blush and a smile i will not spare you you deserve praise and praise you shall have to the farthest verge of my capacity to commend you i have heard my father say that you rescued commander from a watery grave i beg you will not say watery grave again replied i am afraid you have been reading novels miss i was only trying to speak a language which you can understand the only thing that me is that i should become one of your the victim of your insane desire to make a knight of yourself pray did you ever read don i never did read it by all means at the first opportunity i am afraid i have you miss added not only seriously tou knight use strong language i propose by the adventures of a naval officer don t do it yet young man even don would not have been so hasty pray hear me out i could not possibly listen to anything of that kind now laughed the merry girl i was only going to propose don t do it mr spare me if you please i was only going to offer to correct the mistake i have made what mistake mr i have been so unfortunate as to save you in your own choice language from a watery grave it now appears that this was a grievous blunder on my part exactly so you are infinitely more sensible than i supposed a could be i propose to correct my mistake do by all means you will impose upon me a debt of gratitude which will last me the rest of my lifetime and which would soon be then if you were left to your own efforts in the heavy sea off the that is quite smart with your leave i will endeavor to remedy the mischief i have done after landing mrs i propose to return to the channel and leave you exactly as i found you by the yankee or excellent idea i will be your mend for life then thank you for your kind consideration though our friendship would be short and sweet like angels visits positively you are growing brilliant in spite of your wet jacket but seriously mr don t you think i am to be pitied i do i with you from the depths of my heart here i am an unfortunate maiden of seventeen who without any fault of my own and without the indulgence of a single sickly sentiment such as you find embodied in novels have been subjected to the peril of being drowned just at this moment one of these little of appears upon the stage and me from my impending fate don t you think it is ridiculous certainly it is and i cannot express how deeply i regret my agency in the affair had i known your sentiments it is possible that i might have saved your mother without with you i will not listen to this impudence any longer said mrs excuse me madam but i assure you i enjoy it as much as she does added you are determined to make yourself ridiculous in by ic the adventures of a naval officer spite of all my exertions to save you from your own folly continued and this time for some reason which we cannot explain there was a blush upon her cheek she does not mean what she says added mrs she is really as grateful to you as i am and i feel that i owe my life and hers to your gallant conduct i should think you had been reading novels too mother of course i am grateful to mr for his jacket in my behalf he has my thanks and i shall ask father to make an admiral of him as soon as he comes back from new york thank you miss and for your sake i should probably accept the situation if it were offered to me for my sake you are almost as impudent as our last do you expect me to a | 36 |
for your lofty brow mr and like the of romance blush whenever your name is mentioned i should certainly wear the if your fair hands it and it would afford me pleasure to learn that you blushed at the mention of my name you are more impudent than i haven t the pleasure of mr s by the ob ance but i believe i am indebted to him for the honor of this unexpected interview the same accident that removed me from his protection placed me under yours i did not submit to his impudence and i shall not to yours i am victim b ut i beg jou will use your advantage as mildly as possible i will we are approaching the wharf and as it is not probable that we shall ever meet again permit me to say that the pleasure of my brief acquaintance with you amply for the discomfort of a wet jacket dear me i declare you are a philosopher as well as a so my used to call me which a remarkable of opinion between you and them what tremendous long words you use mr they are all in the dictionary miss and all by the best usage doubtless they are i will look them out when i get home if i remember rightly you just now observed that we were about to part to meet no more in the language of the sentimental probably by accident possibly i protest against any such conclusion mr interposed mrs i hope to meet you often and to have an opportunity to express over and by the adventures of a naval officer over again my gratitude to jou for the kind service you have rendered mother has been reading novels i declare i well it is perfectly safe for her she isn t just seventeen now if you don t join me in inviting mr to spend the evening at our house i shall be offended with you certainly will join you mother mr let not the hero and heroine of this adventure be thus rudely let not the cloud come between them on the very of their acquaintance let not the of a genial friendship take care the boom miss said as the boat rounded in at the landing place a plague upon the boom you spoil a very sentence mr pardon me but i had to up or the boat against the wharf the passed the painter through a ring and secured the boat at the wharf the sail was lowered and the voyage was ended but the ladies preferred to remain in their seats till the arrival of the other boat with mr in spite of the remarkable nature of the conversation the young had enjoyed it to the utmost and even forgot the of his wet clothing ih his estimation by the yankee or miss ate was positively fascinating and he regretted that the should so soon be as thej sat in the boat mrs tried in vain to have a little serious conversation with her but s spoiled her good intentions the conversation of the latter continued to be laden with merry impudence till the other boat touched the wharf when assisted mrs to land without waiting for any help leaped lightly upon the wharf after serious reflection mr said she as he stepped on the wharf i we had better not part to meet no more for in spite of your i rather like you here is my hand mr you will call and see us won t you took the offered hand and felt a slight tion to be silly the fair girl was sincere and sensible now and as he pressed the little hand he an emotion which was new to him but decidedly pleasant to remember you must excuse me miss but i am so constantly employed that i and no time to go into replied then you are angry with me because i have talked lightly of the service you rendered me far from it i have enjoyed your conversation more than i can describe by the of a naval officer then you will call at our house if you do not i shall believe you are offended and shall never forgive myself for my idle words i am not offended it would be impossible for me to be offended with one no matter i will not say it you would accuse me of stealing the rest of the sentence from a novel promise that you will call then i will do so if possible i will content myself with that for i know it will be possible here is the lady very gracefully introduced mr and mr the former had completely recovered from the effect of his furnishing another proof that cold water is the best for the malady with which he had been afflicted mr i am happy to make your acquaintance said as he grasped the young man s hand you are a brave fellow and i shall cultivate your friendship if you wiu permit me and he proceeded to give in minute detail the particulars of the accident which had thrown him into the water though he did not even to the champagne which had been at the bottom of the mischief the party then separated and hastened up to the academy to report on his mission to fort by the yankee ob chapter iv an la ass the word for mr said the captain of the crew to which that young gentleman belonged at the close of the in the afternoon of a day about a week after the events detailed in the last chapter mr presented himself you will report to the forthwith added the captain of the crew repaired at once to the office of the much wondering for what he could be wanted there this was the way in which were sometimes summoned for and | 36 |
he tried to think what wicked thing he had done for which he could be called to the bar of the august of the institution he had not failed in his studies he had not been late at any muster he had not staid out after hours and he had not broken a absence he was not conscious of being guilty of any real or and he therefore came to the conclusion that he was to be detailed for some special duty by the of a officer into the presence of the mighty man of the academy he went with some doubts but no fears for a clear conscience is the best assurance which a young man can have in the hour of trial there was an expression on the face of the which he could not as he removed his cap and reported himself as he had been ordered there was an appearance of severity but there was something else which modified it and could not tell whether he ought to expect a or an order for special duty mr began the your has been so uniformly that i am very much surprised to find you under censure at the present time under censure exclaimed his face turning as red as a blood i was not aware sir that i had any rule of the institution if i have i am very sorry for it you have sir replied the but there was something which looked very much like a smile on his fine countenance i was not conscious of it sir perhaps not but i must hold you responsible nevertheless and you to make au the in your power wiu you be kind enough to inform me what rule i have disregarded asked encouraged by the by the yankee or that still about the mouth of the officer certainly mr that rule which requires the naval to conduct themselves according to the rule of politeness and good breeding in au their relations with their fellow beings outside as well as inside of the institution really sir i was not conscious that i had been wanting in this respect in any duty i owe to my you made the acquaintance of mrs and her daughter under rather remarkable circumstances and you partially promised to call upon the family you have not done so though a week has elapsed since the event i have not yet abandoned the intention of calling upon the family but your delay looks very much as though you intended to disregard the invitation mr cannot afford to slight the invitation of a s lady i did not mean to slight it i suppose not if it had been any other gentleman in the institution i should have been applied to for leave of absence six times within that week why have you not been mr i wished to go very much indeed nothing could by the of a naval officer have afforded me more pleasure than to accept the invitation then why the sun didn t you go you were sure of your leave of absence for you have never asked a favor since you have been here i am not exactly on an equality with the s lady and daughter and i concluded that my going to see them would look very much like an intention on my part to remind them of the trifling service i had the good fortune to render them you are too modest by half and you wrong the people of whom you speak now i happen to know that the young lady is much grieved at your and fully believes that she has deeply offended you that is far from the truth i don t think we have any young gentlemen who can afford to be offended with the s daughter she is a little wild and is sometimes rather in her ways but she is pure gold i think you have not done quite right and i feel compelled to give you leave of absence till ten this evening with orders to report at s house the playful manner of the assured that his was not very desperate and he retired to put himself in order for obeying the we feel compelled to add that his heart was all in a by tee yankee or flutter at the prospect of spending an evening in the presence of the s beautiful daughter he dressed himself with the most extraordinary care and laid every lock of his fine curly hair in the best possible position we cannot say that he looked much better after he had for half an than when he began but nature had done so much for mr that it was hardly necessary to improve upon her it was no merit of his that he was an exceedingly good looking fellow when he had completed his toilet he hastened to the residence of the the distance was short not half long enough to enable him to recover his of which sundry queer thoughts had completely deprived him his confusion was so great that when he reached the house he had not the courage to ring the bell was still a boy and as as a in spite of himself he walked straight past the door stealing only a hasty glance at the front windows through the comer of his eye he walked half a mile beyond the house until he thought he had brought his courage up to the sticking point when he ventured to turn around and his steps again he reached the house and again the tremendous idea of standing in the presence of miss so him that he passed the house with a speed which must have led inquisitive people to think by the of a naval officer he was after the doctor who lived a few squares beyond began to grow desperate and the more desperate he became | 36 |
the more rapid was his pace this time he actually walked down to the wharf where he had parted with the a week before the remembrance of her almost his cheek but it glowed again when he recalled the kind words with which they had parted and the eagerness with which she attempted to from him a promise to call under the influence of this last reflection he his steps again but when he reached the door of the fair one s home his courage once more failed him she will call me a thought he and i shall sink through the floor it was true he had given some smart answers before but he might not be able to do so again he bolted past the door as though he had been a from a hundred what a fool i am said he to himself after he had galloped off about a mile i will either go in or give it up this time i haven t any more pluck than a wooden man why should i be afraid of that girl s tongue i can talk as big as she can if i have a mind to do so and i will too thus thinking and thus muttering his thoughts he came about as as though he had been on parade and darted down the street again i am going in this time muttered he as he ap by ic the yankee or the house i will charge on the battery if i die for it thus musing he increased his pace but when he reached the house a stolen glance at the window disclosed to him the fair face of he looked down upon the doubled his speed and passed the house for the fourth time there where bound said a familiar voice him as he bolted down the street towards the i thought i saw you leave for s an hour ago you did sir candidly replied with a hasty glance at the face of the of for he was the person who had hailed him o you have been there n no sir i haven t been there yet indeed where have you been i have been taking a little walk i should think you had why i supposed from your pace that miss had a fit and you were running for the doctor no sir i haven t been there yet isn t it rather early sir early no they expect you and will wait tea till you come expect me certainly they do i told them you would come and by the adventures of a naval officer you have been wasting a whole hour of the most valuable time ever allotted to mortal man laughed the for he ventured to smile occasionally on the favorite of the academy come with me for i am bound there the die was cast now he did not wish to abandon the chase and was rather pleased to find his want of pluck had not defeated his good intentions while they walk up the hill at a more moderate pace than had descended it we must pause to rescue our little volume from the of being a love story we solemnly assure our readers old and young that mr had no more idea of falling in love than he had of falling overboard he was a youth of eighteen and of course there was no room in his head or his heart for such a silly notion if any stronger phenomena than this appear to the experience of those in such matters we can only assure them that they were simply strokes of nature a school boy may be afraid of the pretty girl who sits at the desk near his own without having his common sense and we pledge our word that mr s case was not a whit more desperate the rang the bell at s house with a firmness of purpose and a of nerve which excited the envy of his young companion he would have given his prospect of prize money for the by the yankee or next year if he could have that bell without a trembling of the limbs and a sinking of the heart the bell had been rung and the was passed they were ushered into the drawing room where quite a large party were seated why mr i am delighted to see you exclaimed rushing up to him and extending her hand which had the courage to take though the floor beneath seemed for a moment to be composed of very material i was afraid you intended to deprive me of the romantic pleasure of being the heroine of an novel i am delighted to see you i thank you i called to invite you to sail with me on the first stormy day that i may have an opportunity to undo the mischief done the other day i will not go after careful reflection i have decided to submit to the destiny in store for me and be a willing victim being rescued by a of a ought to reconcile any lady to such a fate well miss whenever you are disposed to rebel at your destiny i will cheerfully afford you an opportunity to join the and sport in the of the mighty deep how poetical there is no limit to your i beg your pardon there is at least one limit by the of a naval officer pray what is that to look unmoved upon one so fair so witty and so wise as miss you are an impudent little in spite of all your accomplishments i am afraid impudence is laughed worse and worse by this time mr had to be presented to the rest of the company he had found his tongue now and having faced the heaviest battery first he was prepared for any other that could come his mr philip | 36 |
was there and treated mr with the most distinguished consideration was there and with much emotion thanked him for what he had done for his wife and daughter mrs was as kind and as though the tie of blood had connected her to the young gentleman in spite of the courage and vigor with which faced the sarcasm of he was reduced to the condition of blushing a dozen times before the party sat down to tea for very much to the disgust of such a modest youth he was the lion of the occasion sarcastic as miss was disposed to be she kept constantly at her side o they were excellent nothing more we again feel compelled to by the yankee ob assure our readers he sat by her side at the table and if he ventured during the evening to wander from her chair by some of those delicate arts best understood by young ladies she contrived to bring him back entire us to say that did not regard this imprisonment as a punishment or if it was he submitted with most patience to the continued to be sarcastic and to make au manner of fun of the of a but we are happy to inform our interested friends that retorted with grace and spirit always but never the laughed till his sides ached as he listened to this exciting and it is quite certain that mr lost nothing in his good opinion for the vigor and spirit with which he used his tongue at nine o clock the party was broken up by the departure of a portion of the guests and the others decided to follow their example though urged to remain longer did not deem it prudent to accept the invitation but he promised with the prompt of the of to repeat the visit at an early date left the house alone for the had another engagement he had walked but a few steps towards the academy when he was joined by mr by the adventures of a naval offices ah glad to meet u i gain whither now home replied is your leave out no not tiu ten walk up the street then you are a good fellow and i should be happy to know you better thank you replied as took his arm and they walked towards the ocean house by the yankee or chapter v goes on night duty r philip was a man of the world and was perfectly familiar with all the phases of fashionable his knowledge of the vices of society was profound and intricate there was no game of cards no turn of the by which money changed in which he was not an even simple as he was in worldly arts did not for an instant suppose that mr philip and himself had met by accident the brilliant young gentleman had probably waited for the and thrown himself in his path in a careless manner that no purpose or intention on his part might be apparent he had an object in view though was too innocent to suspect him of any improper motives the latter had been a lion in the party had been treated with high favor by the and other naval officers present mrs had been very kind to him and had his attentions during the entire by ic the of a naval officer evening very likely mr s brain was turned by the consideration which had been to him very likely he considered himself a person of no little consequence it was quite natural that mr philip should seek to cultivate his acquaintance we cannot positively say that mr passed all these things through his mind but the notice of was only a of what had been going on all the evening it did not seem strange therefore that the man of the world should take his arm and invite him to a stroll up the street it is possible that the felt flattered by the notice of so brilliant a person as mr they walked up to the ocean house and sauntered with him through the various halls and public apartments and saw what of fashion and the season had left behind in the course of their about the extensive establishment they visited the saloon but did not know the first thing about the game and they finally came to a halt in front of the bar with the of a man of the world called for a and asked his young companion what he would have in a tone which seemed to indicate that a to drink was not to be expected politely but firmly refused to and persisted to the last in declining to join his accomplished by the yankee or friend even to the extent of a glass of perhaps he was over fastidious in refusing to partake of a harmless but he had a perfect horror of a public bar and all mr s eloquence was to change his purpose if had object in view he was utterly and defeated as they passed out of the bar room made an explanation but it was not an apology only an open straightforward statement that it was against his principles to taste drinks i il took the explanation very kindly and for pressing the point as far as he had done he supposed all young men drank and nothing but a could have induced him to extend so offensive an invitation to one whose principles were opposed to the practice at half past nine they separated and returned to the academy with a very high regard for mr that gentleman had treated him with the most marked attention and extended to him many which a man of the world does not often bestow upon a young but after au the kindness and consideration of did not employ many of his leisure moments in thinking of him his | 36 |
took her offered hand and was rather surprised to receive a gentle pressure into which her interest in the suffering officer had probably surprised her confound that young i muttered mr philip as he witnessed this little incident good night he added stepping forward and offering her his hand perhaps with the intention of applying a test to the feelings of the young lady good night replied she apparently not seeing the hand he extended at least not taking it he went his way grinding his teeth with and disappointment a few rods from the s house he was saluted by an elderly man whose even the darkness of the night could not wholly conceal well mr i have been trotting up and down here for a full hour waiting for you said the man it is not twelve yet replied business before pleasure is my motto growled the stranger you must be off for boston by the steamer at three o clock if you are going to do this job hush up man don t open your mouth here said in low but earnest tones we must have an hour s talk together before you go added the hard man in a more cautious tone by the yankee ob not in the street anywhere you please hut don t lose any more time where shall it be at your hotel no the very walls have ears walk down to the wharf at the foot of the street and i will meet you there in fifteen minutes if you are not there in fifteen minutes i will not wait said the stranger i will be there replied as he turned and walked towards the house of e the company had not all left and was still in the hall making her to the departing guests said he stepping up to her with extended hand i am going away in the morning and i may not see you again for weeks perhaps months and you refused to shake hands with me at parting refused i protest that i did nothing of the kind there is my hand if you are going away said she the act to the words you seem to rejoice in my going sighed he where are you going you didn t say you were going i was afraid the intelligence would be too welcome v what put such a thought as that into your silly head laughed the maiden who seemed to be determined to repress any exhibition of sentiment on the part by the adventures of a naval officer of the elegant young gentleman but you have not told me where you are going i am going to you will return some time of course possibly well i see you if you do do you wish to see me again what a foolish question mr used up his fifteen minutes in a vain attempt to win a word of regret at his going from but the girl whatever she thought and felt refused to gratify him he took leave of the rest of the family and hastened down the street in no frame of mind confound that young he muttered several times and even his exclamations with some stronger expressions which it would our page to write in the mean time had gone down to the wharf the school boat hoisted the sail and hauled her in by the landing steps the and the lady did not yet appear just as he had completed his preparations it began to rain we have before intimated that our was a philosopher he did not believe in being uncomfortable even for a single moment when duty did not require the sacrifice it was a mild evening and the appearance was that the rain was by the yankee ob only a shower which would soon be over a wet jacket might keep him uncomfortable for several hours and true to his philosophy he cast about him for the means of avoiding this unpleasant prospect the forward part of the school boat was over though there was no bulk head to separate the covered portion from the rest of the space he crawled in beneath this deck and himself away on some old coats and pieces of sail cloth in such a position that he could see his passengers when they arrived he had scarcely himself up in his narrow quarters before he heard voices on the wharf but they were not those of the and the lady and he did not leave his covert two men stepped down the stairs into the boat next to the one occupied by are we safe here asked one of the men if any one comes we can push off from the wharf replied the other i don t much like the idea of being out in the rain the rain won t hurt you said the first man it will soon be over this thing is treason for me but we must make a good job of it continued the second speaker in whom recognized mr by of a naval officer chapter vi to an interesting conversation was on the point of coming out from his for he was too high spirited to play the part of a listener when he heard mr acknowledge that the thing was treason he was not with curiosity but when his elegant friend pleaded guilty of against his government he felt it to be his duty to hear more and understand the thing better he was shocked to find that was not a loyal and true citizen and he was quite sure that the family of had no suspicion of his dangerous now mr before we do any business you must show me your commission as a lieutenant in the navy said the stranger you know that all the business we have done thus far has been based upon the fact that you had one do | 36 |
you doubt my word demanded when i do business i want to know what i am about added the stranger i don t want any by the yankee or v thing left to chance which can be just as well reduced to a certainty i told you i had a commission as a lieutenant in the navy and that ought to satisfy you but that does not satisfy me i want to see the document you young fellows talk a great deal of don t insult me insult you that kind of won t go down with me we are talking about business now and you had better put your fine sentiment on the shelf of course i don t carry my commission in my pocket it is in my trunk at the hotel very well then i will see it before we part in the morning i did not expect to have my word doubted said nobody doubts your word mr but all our operations are based on that commission and i must satisfy myself that everything is regular i have fitted up the steamer at a cost of twelve thousand pounds and she will be ready for you next thursday she has a good crew on board who have an idea of the work in which they are to engage when you get the vessel into you can select your own officers where is the all imder the cargo where no one can find it by the adventures of a naval offices bat i want to use the before we go into no none of that the parties of whom i purchased the vessel refused to sell her unless i would agree that she should go into a port before she was fitted up as a man of war i may have a chance to capture a dozen vessels before i reach said the ambitious man of the world you must not do it is the steamer fast she makes twelve knots under favorable circumstances she ought to make fourteen for the business that make fourteen knots are rather scarce she is as fast as seven of the yankee she will do you are going with me are you not no but i shall join you on the way join me on the way replied evidently much surprised at his answer yes join you on the way that s possible isn t it answered i have a venture on board of an old in new york which i intend to put into your vessel something that will pay better than anything else we have what is it by yankee or caps the bulk is small but they are worth their weight in gold in the states but where will you board the steamer you will leave on thursday about saturday morning you will be in latitude where you will till i join you i don t like the plan very well said after a momentary silence then some other man will carry it out the first officer of the has orders to sail on thursday morning if you are not on board at that time we can get along without you mr if you don t choose to in the venture i thought i was doing you a favor instead of r doing me one for which i am to pay half the expense sneered k if you ever anything to pay with added you have my bond for forty thousand dollars to be paid when general dies and you come into possession of one half his property which may never happen a jew wouldn t take such security you are sure of your money not very sure especially as the general has turned you out of the house or done about the same thing we are good friends now how comes on the other speculation when we by adventures of a naval met last you were sure of marrying one half of the general s property if you failed to get the other half how does that speculation look just now did not hear mr grind his teeth at this question but it was only because he was not near enough but he was appalled to hear that was to be made the subject of a heartless speculation and had no suspicion that he was himself regarded as an obstacle in the carrying out of the operation you don t answer said with a low chuckle everything is right there or at least it will be in due time answered carelessly then there is a there perhaps you can help me out a little perhaps i can but i don t like to with such matters a young of a stands directly in front of me just now o ho laughed then the value of my bond is going down in the market not at all the young is the son of a poor man and when he is sent to sea will forget all about him and i shall be all right again if you could contrive some way to bring this fellow off to the in your perhaps it would add something to the value of your bond perhaps it would and perhaps it wouldn t la a by the yankee or word mr i don t attach much importance to your speculations in the matrimonial line general i happen to know has made a will in your favor if he don t alter it i am all right so am i but i am determined to marry the girl if it is only to punish her for her impudence i hate this young of a and i would rather get him on board the than capture a ship couldn t you contrive some way to have him as a passenger in your perhaps i could if it would accommodate you very much i am very much obliged to you thought and | 36 |
i will hold you in affectionate remembrance for your kind intentions i will give you ten thousand dollars for him in bonds laughed from my first prize money that s worth thinking about if we get the into the government will pay us more than she cost and i shall be in funds then i will look the matter over thank you said to himself when you get me i shall be there mr then proceeded to give a very minute description of the young of a by the of a naval officer man with some particulars of his past history and even ventured to suggest a plan by which he could the young gentleman on board of the but was a practical man and rejected the plan without a thought indicating the point at which it would inevitably fail i have a better method than that said hush said mr as he seized the oars of the boat somebody is coming saw a carriage stop on the wharf from which a lady and gentleman alighted before they reached the landing stairs had pulled off out of sight in the darkness and the listener was deprived of the satisfaction of hearing s plan for getting him on board of the steamer he was greatly disappointed for his curiosity was deeply roused to learn the notable method by which the plot was to be carried out mr i called the here sir replied he springing from his place of concealment is your patience all gone added the as he handed the lady into the boat o no sir i have been well occupied all the time i had some difficulty in finding the lady which detained me longer than i expected off mr a distant church clock struck one as the boat gathered by thb yankee ob way before a light breeze as the reader will have no difficulty in believing was intensely excited by the plot to which he had listened the conspiracy against himself personally caused him no uneasiness but the mischief which an armed steamer might do the cause of the country demanded prompt action the presence of the lady passenger on board the boat prevented him from saying anything to the but as soon as they had the transport steamer he related to him the conversation which he had overheard mr was incredulous and when told him he had crawled under the half deck to keep out of the rain he thought he must have been asleep and dreamed the whole story mr was understood and believed to be a loyal man and his relations to the family of rendered it necessary to proceed with the utmost caution after the had seen the sick man it was decided to leave the sister with him and return to the shore i think you must have been asleep mr and dreamed this thing said the as the boat pushed off i am very confident sir that i was wide awake i don t often go to sleep when on duty mr has been trying to get back into the navy he has offered his services and would have been accepted but some question about his relative rank by tbe of a naval officer he cannot be a traitor he is on the best of terms with miss is he not i believe he is she would have him if there had been any suspicion against him i only know what i have heard sir i think there must be some mistake though i cannot see where it is i will call at the hotel and see mr i am certain you will find it as i have stated sir replied confidently they soon reached the wharf and after the boat had been properly secured mr attended by proceeded to the hotel where had a room the night porter said the gentleman had retired was there any one with him when he came in asked the no sir he was alone mr looked at and smiled significantly the young man was confused and confounded to find his statement of so little value in the eyes of the and was almost sorry that he had said anything about the affair as it was he had not mentioned that portion which related to himself the incredulity of the almost shook his own faith in the reality of the events which had at the wharf mr decided to visit the room of ken by the yankee or and they found that gentleman in bed and apparently asleep i heard you were going away in the morning mr said the aft r for disturbing the indeed i who told you so demanded mr rubbing his sleepy eyes i heard so after we left the s did tell you so no it was some other person i only wanted to ask you when you return for there may be a commission for you soon it was only a joke i played off on said mr laughing as though he enjoyed the recollection of the jest i am not going away at present i thought not excuse me for breaking your and i will see you in the morning said mr as he retired from the chamber why don t you examine his trunk sir asked more confused than before examine his trunk laughed the that would be a serious matter now mr i don t doubt your sincerity but i believe you have been mistaken if you didn t dream you put a wrong construction on what you heard if mr plots treason he don t do it in an open boat within hail of the wharf i will look into the matter still further in by the adventures of a naval offices the morning j you will show me mr that will be a point gained i should not know him it was pitch dark and hard when they came on board of | 36 |
the boat they returned to the academy where almost convinced that he made a blunder wrote down such particulars of the conversation as he could recall particularly the name of the steamer which was to run the and then be sold to the government and the latitude and in which she was to be in waiting for the in the morning it was found that mr had departed bag and baggage and mr s credit as a witness rose high in the estimation of the he was given a day s leave of absence to enable him to hunt up who would be another link in the chain of evidence but it was almost a hopeless task for he knew nothing about the man except the sound of his voice whether he was young or old tall or short spare or stout he knew not he visited all the hotels that were open listened to the voice of every stranger but without coming any nearer to the solution of the problem was an mystery and was likely to remain so unless in attempting to carry out the benevolent wishes of mr he should make himself known to our hero after dinner called at by tee yankee om ton s not only to inform that the wounded officer had died just before the transport sailed but also to learn what he could about the sudden exit of told him he had announced his intended departure to her but beyond this there was no information to be gained left the house but little wiser than he entered it it was patent to the as well as to him that had told deliberate lie when he denied his intention to leave our had no particular as a and he was tired of the job which he had been ordered to perform hopeless of success he strolled up to the and sat down upon a seat in the grounds to think over the events of the last twenty four hours while he was musing a gentleman seated himself at the other end of the bench fine day after the rain said the stranger when they had sat there a short time splendid day replied i see by your uniform that you are a naval continued the stranger do you have a good time there yes very good but plenty of hard work i suppose but the country wants you as fast as you can get ready we are ready now laughed by thb of a naval officer very likely you all think so i am a stranger here and i should like mr if i am not mistaken said when he was satisfied that the voice was a familiar one that s my name but i do not remember to have met you before replied the stranger with no little confusion evident in his features i cannot tell where i have met you but i have seen you before added by s ths ob chapter vii sent upon w some time spent in fruitless efforts to determine where they had met expressed w his desire to visit the naval academy and told him how he could gain admission all this of course was simply to make talk the stranger in his own estimation was playing a deep game and he certainly managed the affair with great so that without the advantage which he had obtained the night before would have felt highly honored by the pleasant words which his companion so freely uttered as it was the was amused and gave his polite friend all the rope he wanted the interview ended with an invitation on the part of for to visit him at his hotel which the latter promised to do when his duty would permit he had obtained the name of the stranger s hotel which was all he had been waiting for and taking leave of the inquiring gentleman he hastened to report to mr the result of his day s work it was very satisfactory by ic ad of a naval and the obtained more credit for his skill than he deserved or would have been to him if he had told the part of the story which related to himself mr i have what i suppose will be pleasant intelligence to u said the with a smile after he had listened to the young gentleman s report you have been ordered to sea with your friend mr who goes out in command of the it is indeed good news to me sir though my residence in has been very pleasant replied the is a fine of about two hundred tons and a very fast mr is an excellent officer and you will find yourself well situated on board of her of course you will not neglect your studies for you will still be a and a member of the naval academy i certainly shall not neglect my studies i have too great a dread of to do that sir that s a very wholesome dread i know all about it myself from bitter experience it drives one to be faithful to his duties but you must go to new york to morrow night for the may be ordered off at any moment this was rather short notice and immediately wrote a letter to his family at home informing them of by ic the yankee ob the fact that he had been detailed for duty leave of absence was given to him during the remainder of hia stay and of course he did not neglect to make a final visit at the house of received him with a smile as she always did i am glad you have come for i have a of for you to hold while i wind it i thank you for the honor you propose to confer on me replied as he held out his hands to receive the truly it is an | 36 |
honor which is not conferred on every little that himself like a in the morning sun are useless beings as a rule and i feel that i am doing a benevolent act when i redeem one from idleness even for a single moment your benevolence deserves a monument but i am happy to inform you that i shall not much longer be a proper subject for the exercise of your beneficent genius and why so asked she looking up into his face i am going to work am saved from the miseries of idleness pray what can such a useless fellow as you do not much i am ordered to duty what i am going to sea immediately i leave for new york to morrow night by ic tbe adventures of a naval officer stopped winding the and looked f ill in the face do you mean so certainly i do i am ordered to the now ready for sea at new york i haven t the least idea that you can be of any use on board the but i suppose the government wants to keep some of the out of mischief said but even could not help seeing the crimson on her cheek and being aware now that his eyes had been opened by the kindly revelations of mr that she was not at all pleased with the idea of his departure she tried hard to conceal what was really passing in her mind and heart but she not wholly succeed she was less during the remainder of the evening and even became quite sober and before nine o clock she was a little absent minded and several times failed to answer the questions which her mother put to her well mr i am really sorry that you are going for i shall have no one to make fun of said she when the young gentleman rose to depart there are plenty of in but very few among them i am sorry to go but i am very thankful that i have had the grace to contribute in a humble degree to by ic d b ob amusement perhaps mr may return and u can make fun of him perhaps he may she replied rather i am going to one more promise from you before you go i promise in advance don t be rash should never be rash i know that i may safely promise anything which miss can ask that s very gallant even for a but i am not going to demand anything very serious i knew you not and therefore i gave my promise in season you are going to sea and you are a you have already done deeds fit to be put in school histories for little children to y and very likely you will do something again possibly i may laughed who had long since ceased to his own merit when she at him probably you will i want you to promise if you do any great things that you will write me a letter and tell me about them but mind you are not to write unless you do something that is decidedly splendid continued but somehow there seemed to be less heart in her than usual i promise but i can assure you before i go that by the of a naval my in on this account will be veiy small how sir do you mean to break promise in tbe same breath that you make it i mean to keep my promise but you ordered me not to write unless i shall have done something that is decidedly splendid you shall be your own judge of the quality of your great deeds i do not expect to perform any great deeds miss i declare the has some modesty after all i said with a feeble laugh perhaps my ship may do something worthy of record may i write to you when she herself i don t care a straw for your ship then i am afraid i shall have no opportunity to write to you what a silly you are i thought you were a good scholar and knew an elephant from a basket of exclaimed provoked that he did not promise without making any or exceptions thank you i am always stupid in your presence just as the stars are invisible when the sun shines well upon my word you need some refreshment after such an effort as that remark must have cost yoa let me bring you a glass of cold water by the yankee ob thank you i am not at all exhausted by it i could do the same thing right over again then you will not write to me certainly i will with the greatest if you will remove the you imposed upon me what that i should write only when i had done some big thing well you shall use your own judgment departed almost with the belief that had good reason for his hatred he was not conscious however of anything more than a very pleasant friendship such as boys and girls sometimes get up among themselves and was utterly unable to realize that he was the slightest obstacle in the way of s matrimonial speculation the following day was spent in making his preparations for sea he left the academy with the kindest wishes of all the officers and professors and with the good will of nearly all the young gentlemen for there were a few who envied his fair fame and resented his bright example in the afternoon as he was returning from s where he had been to take his final leave for these things have to be done over several times in particular cases he met who it was apparent from his movements had been on the for him by thb adventures of a naval officer ah mr i hear that you are | 36 |
should like to sail in such a craft as that i should be happy to have you but i suppose that would be impossible at the present time have you a crew on board no and her are locked up the man in charge of her is on board of this old replied pointing to an old vessel near the i shall have to go on board of her for the keys concluded that this old was to be the bearer of the rich venture to the he could not understand how the keeper of the should be on board of this and he did not think it worth his while to investigate the mystery directed the to pull up alongside of the old vessel this belongs to me too said as he stepped over her rail i will not detain you above a minute he disappeared for a moment but presently returned with an invitation to to go on board and take a cup of coffee which would not detain them five minutes though fully aware that a plot for his by the yankee ob capture bad been by and did not to step on tbe deck of tbe he bad a perfect contempt for as a power and a confidence in bis own ability to take care of besides be was so intent upon obtaining valuable information for tbe government tbat be almost forgot tbat be was an object of s he stepped down into tbe cabin and drank a of coffee to bim by tbe steward i used to be tbe of vessel in my young days said as be gazed about tbe cabin indeed i you are a sailor o yes was my state room i bad it put up myself be added opening tbe door of tbe little apartment just look in and see bow convenient it is for a man of small desires did look in did more be went in was in tbe door was suddenly closed upon bim and locked apparently mr s notable bad been entirely successful but tbe d man was yet to be beard from by the of a naval officer chapter viii on the ow make sail as fast as you can u said in excited tones when he had l locked the door of the state room i don t know about this business captain replied shaking his head as he glanced towards the state room you don t know about it why what do you mean by that demanded the polite friend of our though he was not now quite so as he had been that wasn t in the bargain added the doubtful of the for such was the position filled by what wasn t in the bargain why don t you speak out if you have anything to say added impatiently s kind friend did not appear to be aware that he was engaged in a business in the slightest degree irregular he looked virtuous and indignant at the by tes or scruples of companion in treason and bore himself as as though he had been a loyal man on the deck of a loyal ship of war carrying that officer off in this kind of way is something hither different from running a cargo of into a port i don t like the looks of the thing and fm not paid for doing a job of that sort good then you shall be paid for it you shall have a thousand dollars if we put him safe on board of the that the case captain i thought it would replied contemptuously i reckon we have no time to spare but the young will get out of that state room drop the dead light and fasten it down he will be safe enough then added as he led the way to the deck where proceeded to get the under way without the loss of another moment said to the man who had pulled them off from the shore we have concluded to remain on board and you may go back here is a dollar for you thank you sir what will i do with the young gentleman s bag throw it on deck i will your honor replied the as he tossed the bag on the deck by the adventures of a naval officer see here my man the young fellow got into a little over in the city last night and to keep out of sight for a few days here s another dollar for you and don t mention to anybody that you have seen him god bless your honor for a as ye are but i won t of it to any living not even to and that s me wife long life to her the dead light was fastened down leaving the prisoner in total darkness the was hoisted the anchor up and in less than half an hour the old craft was making her way down the harbor in the direction of sandy hook and the map with the thin face had not been heard from yet while the for that was the classic name of the craft is sailing down the bay we will take a look at if the state room is not too dark for such an operation mr was so and sincere that our hero did not suspect any immediate foul play he knew but in his eagerness to obtain valuable information for the government officers he had not kept it uppermost in his mind that he was expected to be an involuntary passenger in the venerable of which had been in his earlier days he had a revolver in his pocket ready for instant use but with so amiable a person as friend such an instrument had appeared to be entirely unnecessary and it hardly occurred to him that he had it by f ic the yankee or | 36 |
with the information had of the intentions of the we must say that he was careless to venture on of the but we feel more inclined to excuse his want of caution when we her that he had been impelled to do so by the desire to serve his government and defeat the purposes of when he looked into the state room he expected to find it stored full of caps or some other of war which fact he intended to use as evidence against the he fully expected to obtain such proofs of the character of the vessel and of her intended voyage as would justify captain in seizing her when he should impart the information it would be a good thing for the new captain of the to do a prompt act for the government service and add to his credit at washington these considerations had caused to forget his own relation to the he was angry with himself for his when the state room door closed upon him and he realized that had actually made him his victim he had been guilty of an which was more painful to him than the fact of his imprisonment with the future he did not yet trouble himself the present was too fuu of doubt and mortification to allow him to withdraw his thoughts from it i can t stand this said he ready to cry with by ic the adventures of a naval offices tion as he bis folly in getting into such a scrape what are you going to do about it a voice seemed to reply from the thick gloom around him a voice which appeared to in mocking tones the spirit of the who had been the cause of his misfortunes i am going to fight my way out of this scrape as fast as i can muttered in audible tones as though he were speaking to the obstacles which surrounded him he took hold of the handle and shook the door to test its strength it was a thick strong piece of s work and the trial did not a very encouraging prospect of making his way through it he applied his shoulder but with no better result he then examined the stem window he could open the but the dead light was carefully secured on the outside for the present emergency the was so thick and solid that concluded the captain s state room had been made for a room while everything looked thus hopeless the unhappy prisoner him of an expedient which afforded a slight prospect of he had his revolver and plenty of in his pocket placing the of the pistol near the bolt of the lock he fired and repeated the process several times hoping to by the yankee ob rate tlie wood until it gave way perhaps this experiment might have been crowned with success if the smoke of the burnt powder had not become so overpowering that he was compelled to operations fire away shouted from the cabin with a hearty laugh either real or forced which harshly on the ear of the prisoner open the door or i shall cried go ahead and replied the brute if you don t know any better than to fire a pistol in a close room like that you ought to will you open the door i will if you desire it very much replied but mr you are a brave man and i dare say you are a discreet one my friend captain said you were as prudent as you were brave chuckled as he uttered this remark and heard his step as he moved towards the door of the state room he was tempted to fire again and wipe out his from the face of the earth if he could hit him but the chances of making a good shot through the door were so few that he was discreet enough not to risk it now mr i to tell you before i go any further that i have a pistol in my hand if you yours i shall use mine in a word if you don t behave yourself you are a dead an what do you say by ic tee adventures of a naval officer open the door that s all i have to say replied in savage tones if that s all i won t open it and you can amuse yourself firing at a mark in the dark was almost by the dense mass of powder smoke in the little apartment and he was not in a condition to be ery haughty open the door if you please said he after he had upon the matter for a while say that you will behave yourself like a man and i will i will behave myself like a man replied who interpreted this promise as including the right to make a gallant and manly strike for his freedom if the circumstances would permit such an attempt you are a sensible fellow now added as he turned the key and opened the door a couple of inches the fresh air which came in through the gave the prisoner a new life and he the precious blast with grateful eagerness now pass your pistol out and i will open it wider said i can t spare my answered all right said as he closed the door and locked it what do you say now did not know what to say the room was stiu too full of smoke to enable him to breathe with by the yankee or comfort while he was confined the pistol was a useless piece of furniture and the chances outside were better without the pistol than they were inside with it i will give up the pistol said he sensible again replied as he opened the door and took the pistol there mr you have now fully your reputation for bravery and | 36 |
prudence you have fired half a dozen shots into that wooden door which proves that you are a brave fellow and you have given up your pistol which proves that you are a prudent one i honor you and deem it a privilege to become acquainted with such a distinguished young gentleman your success has not your politeness answered rather not at all i was brought up as a gentleman and i intend to be one till the last day of my life i leave a letter of thanks for the who me to be delivered to him if he does his work well you had better write that letter very soon then for you will be introduced to a before you are much older my dear that is a very suggestion i was bom a gentleman as i just now remarked and i intend to die like a gentleman were you a gentleman in your earlier days when you commanded this old tub said who was by the adventures of a naval officer amused in spite of himself at the and of his gentlemanly friend my dear fellow that was an amiable fiction of mine intended to assist in your nerves before you took up your quarters in that state room you may come out now if you desire to do so but i trust you will not attempt to leave this cabin for that would reduce me to the disagreeable necessity of shooting you and thus save your friend from any further uneasiness on my account ah exclaimed starting back with astonishment at this obvious knowledge on the part of his prisoner of what no one was supposed to know you are wiser than the law allows young men of your age to be i know why i am here added do you indeed undoubtedly i do and wise as your age and experience have made you i could tell you a dozen things that are worth knowing perhaps you will oblige me by doing so sneered the hard man perhaps i will and then again perhaps i won t don t be unkind my dear young friend confidence is a jewel between such friends as we are you can sit there and crow over me but my time will come by and by said as he stepped out of the state room and sat down opposite his by the yankee or crow over you my dear fellow i have been treating you with the most distinguished consideration you may think all your plans are crowned with success but i assure you they will all fail added fearfully by the tones of you have got almost to the end of your rope in a double sense that is my plans will fail and i shall be hung for my politeness to you exactly so this old tub will never reach latitude forty one sixty two sprang to his feet and his h u d turned as red as blood his politeness suddenly deserted him and he clutched the pistol in his hand with energy neither will you ever pocket ten thousand dollars for handing me over to added young man it is evident that you know more of me than i had supposed and will never invite you to his wedding with miss continued who could not resist the temptation to pour in one more hot shot i am afraid you know too much for your own safety young man said with difficulty his emotions too much for your safety you mean for both if that suits your humor better by ic the of a naval officer perhaps i do and i assure you the best thing you can do will be to put me on shore at the earliest possible moment and make your ten thousand dollars in a more respectable and gentlemanly way i shall not do that you and i will hang together for the present we shall be separated at the final hanging which cannot much longer be delayed mr i hold a pistol in my hand and i will thank you not to indulge in any useless impudence our was prudent enough to take this broad hint and permitted to do the talking for some time without venturing to make a reply there was not much however that the amiable gentleman could say for had taken the wind all out of his sails by exhibiting his knowledge of the mysteries he was exceedingly troubled and he could no longer conceal from his prisoner his anxiety and uneasiness he made several efforts more or less direct to ascertain where had obtained his information but the latter was too well satisfied with the change which had come over his to his bewildered mind captain there is a steamer coming down the bay which acts very strange i reckon she is after us said at the companion way nonsense exclaimed it is some by the yankee or the men on board of her keep looking at us through their glasses all right said with emphasis hoping and believing that the information he had given mr was now to save him from a rebel prison the man with the thin face was beginning to make himself felt by ic the of a naval officer chapter ix the man with the thin face r i will trouble yon to remain in this cabin said again assuming the polite manner which had distinguished him in more prosperous hours i will stay here with the greatest pleasure i shall make no attempt to escape mr for i am too much interested in the results of this adventure to be voluntarily deprived of the pleasure of seeing the conclusion of the whole matter replied with a bland smile and a courteous bow don t flatter yourself just yet my dear young friend continued as he rose from his seat and walked towards the companion way you and i will not | 36 |
part company to day hoped they would and expected that such would be the result of the excursion down the bay he was satisfied that mr had used the information he had given him and it was hardly possible that the authorities would permit a vessel with important military supplies to leave the harbor by the yankee or went on deck polite and easy as his bearing was he was sorely tried by the difficulties of his situation he was amazed and confounded at the information in possession of his prisoner and he felt very much as though he stood on a in process of there s the steamer said as stepped on deck and if tm not greatly mistaken she s after us what makes you think so asked uneasily in the first place there are not less than twenty men on her deck and it appears to me that about one half of them have spy glasses in their hands and are watching this vessel i think you are right replied more nervously where did you our cargo under the do you think they will find the nothing to prevent their finding them if they look far enough you have your and other papers all right all right and straight captain i fixed everything just as you told me by this time the was ofi the which is the strait connecting new york and the steamer that caused and his companion treason so much anxiety was half a mile distant the wind which was tolerably fresh was from the south by the adventures of a naval officer ward and the old was close hauled lying as near the wind as she could which however was not within eight points of her course the steamer was headed due south knowing that the must presently tack and stand out into the middle of the bay again the steamer will us in fifteen minutes more said as he glanced up the we can t expect to run away from a steamer in this old craft replied there are only two things that we can do not more than that answered with a grim smile we can take our chance in being examined or run up the and take to the boat which shall we do there isn t much chance any way said but i think we had better run up the do so then what are you going to do with that young in the cabin i have a mind to throw him overboard he knows too much for his own comfort and mine he will blow on us the moment the officers come on board we must get rid of him before any of them come added as the fell off and stood up the strait we shall know now whether the steamer is looking for us or not by the or ay there goes her over to port and she is headed this way said i am afraid it is all up with us replied as he went down into the cabin well mr how goes the battle demanded with abundant good nature you see i am taking it very coolly everything works right but my young friend as i have now shown you my and exhibited my to you i think it is about time for you to join your ship said with an effort to assume his former easy air thank you for your considerate regard for my welfare then you have concluded not to put me on board of the i am sorry that i shall be obliged to disappoint our friend mr i will trouble you now to go on deck where i shall take the liberty to transfer you to a shore boat don t give yourself any further trouble on my account i prefer to remain where i am do you you shall be gratified but i shall have to ask you to resume your place in the i shall be just as comfortable where i am replied you will be too comfortable said producing by ic the of a naval officer his pistol this is the only argument i can offer ft r your consideration at the present time o well if you are in earnest i will enter the and not doubting that he should be released in a few moments obeyed the polite order the little room had been thoroughly and was now quite comfortable he sat down to abide the issue fully satisfied that before noon he should grasp the hand of lieutenant on board the went on deck again he was nervous and uneasy and occasionally glanced at the pursuing steamer as a condemned criminal looks at the gallows on which he is to be hung captain if you are going to stand an examination i reckon we have made a blunder in coming into this channel said it s no use to run away in a place like this put your down and come to anchor under the weather shore of the creek replied down with your i said to the man at the let go the anchor added he when the had been hauled down here are captain when they come on board just say that we found the wind ahead and concluded to anchor in this place till we could get a little i understand answered the intelligent by the yankee or the came up to her anchor with her patched fore and main sails flapping in the wind sat down on the rail lighted his pipe and looked as as though he had been a loyal to a loyal port went aft and busied himself in gazing up the creek apparently unconscious that any great event was about to take place the steamer ran her bows alongside the while the crowd including the man with the thin face carefully the old craft there shouted suddenly springing up as though he had | 36 |
just seen the steamer for the first time hard a port your or you will run me down what are you about do you mean to me in the steamer s people made no reply to this warning but as her bow came up with the s side one of the deck hands passed a small through one of her channel plates and the man with the thin face leaped on board of the he was followed by several other men who appeared to be officers though none of them were dressed in uniform what are you about now demanded the innocent of the what are you all coming aboard of this craft for we have business here replied the man with the thin face v by of a o have you i have who is the captain of this vessel i am for the want of a better said as he sat down again and proceeded with the utmost deliberation to his pipe but you are not the person i want said the man with the thin face who was a officer he had been sent on from new york to work up the case of and after mr had the information obtained by then you don t want to see the captain of this vessel replied where is the other man demanded the officer what other man the one that came on board just before you sailed two of them for that matter where is the elderly man well i reckon he isn t a great way off he stood on the a few moments ago do you mean me said now coming up from the cabin where he had gone as the steamer was making fast to the to satisfy himself that his prisoner was not his affairs i mean you answered the you are the man i want what do you want of me asked with as much simplicity as so artful a man could assume by yankee or there is a room in fort ready for use replied the man with the thin face what do you mean it s a plain case but i think we will your cargo a little before we go any farther i reckon you will find it all right said perhaps we shall we can tell better after we have examined it a dozen men were set at work in the hold within an hour they had brought to light a number of cut nails which were found upon further examination to contain articles of war and to prove that the was a lie exactly so exclaimed the when the were open the facts correspond with the information just what the want most said a loyal member of the boarding party mr you are my prisoner continued the where is the other man what other man asked with genuine surprise the young fellow in false colors wearing the uniform of a he s down below answered actually in spite of his own misfortunes at the blunder of the officer i want him too by the of a naval offices what do you want of liim i don t like to separate two such loving as jou are and i think they can find a room in fort big enough to hold both of you he is down in the cabin come with me and i will show you where to find him added i can find him without any assistance from you continued the with highly caution perhaps you can said doubtfully the went below but the young fellow wearing the uniform of a was not visible to the naked eye where is he called the officer who did not immediately discover the state room followed by a couple of the s party went below and turning the key of the state room which he did in such a manner that the movement was not seen by his he threw open the door you are my prisoner said the man with the thin face on the shoulder as he stepped out of his narrow quarters your what demanded the young officer astonished beyond measure at this unexpected demonstration my prisoner my gallant little fellow you understand english don t you i don t understand you sir i can t stop to explain just now but you will by lis tbe or understand it bj the time a find yourself comfortably in replied the as he handed both of his prisoners over to his associates in fort exclaimed filled with horror at the bare mention of the place in connection with his own name the officer in charge of the party hastened on deck without paying any further attention to the complaint of the young gentleman the anchor of the was up and she proceeded up he bay in tow of the steamer well my dear young mend we are not to be rudely separated after all said in mocking tones as he seated himself between the two officials who were charged with his safe keeping i presume i am indebted to you for this insult replied bitterly for being put under arrest for was the trial which he had yet been called to endure he was not as patient as he might have been under this new misfortune and he at once concluded that he was indebted to for it he believed that the malicious traitor had accused him to the officer of being his keep cool my dear fellow continued our mutual mend captain assured me you were by of a naval officer the young man lie had ever known but i must confess that present appearances do not confirm his good opinion of you was disgusted with and disgusted with the results of the adventure and he made no reply to the of his companion in misery he seated himself in a comer of the cabin and maintained a savage silence | 36 |
till the steamer and her prize reached east where the latter was under the guns of the which had just hauled out into the stream now gentlemen if you will step on board of the steamer we will give you comfortable quarters behind a thick stone wall said the polite thank you replied with forced indifference i should like a few moments private conversation with you before you go any farther said rising heavily from his seat i can t spare the time then you will make a great mistake if you arrest me for i assure you i am guilty of no crime am as loyal to the government as you are i can t stop to discuss these questions now it isn t my business to try the case hurry up if you please you will injure your credit if you go on with this matter if you save your own credit young man i will take care of myself replied the official laughing by the ob i gave the first information which led to the of this vessel whispered come come my lively little bird tongue is a useful member to you but it won t do you any good in the present instance very well if you won t hear me will you as a favor send a man to inform captain of the that you have arrested of his vessel on a charge of i don t make any charges young man i leave that for a court martial to do i found you in company with men engaged in caps out of new york i can explain why i happened to be on board of this vessel you came from with this man you were on intimate terms with him and you slept in his state room do you know captain of the continued the who seemed to be considering whether there might not after all be some mistake i know him well and am ordered to duty on board his vessel i send for him thank you sir replied now assured that he should soon be discharged from arrest by thb of a naval chapter x the united states f on t a be kind to inform captain that i am here also interposed as the boat with the messenger was about to off is he a mend of too demanded the officer as a momentary doubt his thin face but the mocking smile on the countenance of assured one so well in the expression of the human face that the remark was a one and he paid no attention to the real traitor while the messenger was absent and the officer compared notes in regard to the trip from and the was pretty well satisfied that the young man spoke the truth in less than half an hour the well timed stroke of a man of war boat was heard near the up went the oars and captain leaped on the deck of the old by tbe or morning mr the captain as he grasped the hand oi his young friend good morning i never was so glad to see a mend in my life as i am at this moment what is the matter laughed captain who seemed to regard the whole matter as an excellent joke nothing in particular only i am arrested for run goods out the port is that i have been watching this for two days and followed him from mr has been his constant companion most of the time and occupied the same state room with him on the passage i found him in bad company and i concluded he was one of the said the man with the thin face in tones well i know nothing whatever about this matter replied captain but i will for the loyalty of mr against any charges that can be presented you may be mistaken as well as i suggested the he was on board the going down the harbor and occupying the only state room in the vessel tes and i was locked in added i was a prisoner there by the adventures of a that may be bat he seems to be on excellent terms with this man whom i was set to watch i will take mr on board of my vessel and will be responsible for his safe keeping said captain the officer who had no orders in regard to was satisfied with this proposition and promised to inform himself forthwith in relation to the man s with the transaction he had been working up captain perhaps you will be kind enough to do me the same favor added who was determined to maintain his self possession to the end i haven t the honor of acquaintance replied the commander of the rather coldly my particular mend mr will for me do you know this man asked the captain as they went on deck never saw him in my life till three days ago if you please sir i will tell you all about this affair when we get on board a few strokes of the placed the l at alongside the whose fair lines and beautiful proportions mr was now for the first time in condition to appreciate the side was and captain was received with the customary as he went on deck he repaired by tbe ob to his cabin to which his companion was invited though had been very cautious in speaking about i tl information he had obtained at in the presence of his or where it could possibly do any harm he felt at liberty to tell mr the whole matter not even excepting the part which was purely personal it was entirely satisfactory to his partial and explained the m f of his being on board the though mr could not help the young man s want of prudence the man with the thin face went | 36 |
over to the city the telegraph instruments a few times and mr was from any connection with and indeed the telegraph was so obliging as to inform the intelligent that the suspected person had communicated the information which led to the arrest of the thin faced man went on board of with the answers he had obtained and made t happiest man in the vessel by acknowledging truth of e ry statement he had made he in the manner for his mistake but with becoming moderation assured him he had only done his duty now mr you have removed the last of a stain upon your good name and you may go to by ic of a naval officer your duty i will introduce you to the officer and i doubt not we shall all be friends by the way i have an old acquaintance of yours on board indeed who is he one tom is it possible i the old man brought me up and made a sailor of me he is a splendid man he is the of the just now that is he is a s mate acting as i am very glad to hear of it for he is one of the best men in the service i should like to see him a full you may before long when we get into a bigger ship than this was then introduced to mr the officer by whom he was duly presented to mr the second lieutenant mr the third lieutenant and mr brown the sailing master the actual rank of the officers of the did not correspond with that which they held on board of the vessel mr was a lieutenant but being in command of the he was called captain by courtesy the three were and held the office of first second and third according to the dates of their the earliest taking the highest rank the sailing master was also an and the junior officer in the ward room by or oar had not reached the dignity of being a ward room officer and he treated the with the most respectful consideration his and equals were mr whose warrant was two years older than his own and two masters mates who had just received their was the son of a naval officer had been relieved for obvious reasons the mates had been officers of merchant vessels and had acting which would be when the demand for their services ceased to exist the two and the two masters mates the a snug little apartment with only room to contain four and a small table at which they were to take their meals examined this place with the deepest interest for it was to be his home for some months at least it was a veiy small room for four persons but our never grumbled at manifest destiny and the character of his companions was a matter of more consequence but the place was well fitted up and looked comfortable in spite of its narrow proportions having been duly introduced to his in the went on deck to take a view of the vessel she was a splendid craft in every sense of the word and satisfied every of a critical seaman she had been built for a by a wealthy by the adventures of a naval gentleman who intended to take a np the in her bnt the war had interrupted his tions and he had sold her to the for war purposes she had been completely for her present use and lieutenant had obtained the command of her in preference to a small steamer whidi had been available at the same time her crew consisting of fifty two hands had been on board of her several days and when reported for duty everything on board was in working order the officers and men had been assigned to their stations and the was ready to go to sea at a moment s notice she was only waiting for her orders which were expected to arrive when reached the deck he looked about him for the familiar form and face of tom and it was with no slight emotion that he identified the old man as he aft to greet him my blessed i exclaimed tom as he rushed forward to grasp his hand in of all traditions of navy discipline i am glad to see you tom exclaimed as he grasped the hand of the it does me good to meet you again and be in the same ship with you thank you mr returned ihe acting recovering himself far enough to touch his hat as he remembered what required of him tou by ths ob are as as the cap n s monkey on the fourth of july and you look well in your new i have worn these a long time tom and they are an old story with me i suppose so hut i calculate you are the same chap that you used to he the and in the little said tom stepping hack a pace as the fact that was now an officer more real to him the same person tom tm sorry we don t mess together in this craft hut you ll he an admiral one of these days added tom rather sadly we shall be good friends as we always were tom i am in the second lieutenant s watch and my station is forward where i shall have a chance to see you thank ye jack pardon mr said the touching his hat as he corrected the mistake never mind tom when you are and i call you tom instead of mr you will forgive me for it i will my dear it took an hour to discuss the events of the past year and to recall those of the memorable of the up the river the little steamer in which they had both | 36 |
about the ship that i despise it is a fellow who claims to be the captain s favorite continued mr i have made no such claim actions speak louder than words mr you expect under favor of the captain to your share of duty and bear off all the honors when there are any to be borne off i despise such a fellow well mr you needn t waste any more breath on that subject for whether you despise me or despise me not will not keep me awake one moment at night or cause me to miss any portion of my you mean to say that my opinion is of no consequence growled mr beginning to feel that he had made some progress in getting up a quarrel on the question at issue precisely so mr do you hear that added appealing to one of the master s mates who happened to be in the mess room i hear it replied with indifference what should you say to that nothing mind my own business so should i said k you think that being the captain s favorite makes you chief of the mess you are mistaken by the of a naval officer i have never assumed any such position mr yes you have y u carry it in your looks and manner one can see that you look down upon the rest of us and expect to bear off all the honors replied who was not to be checked by any minor obstacles as to the honors let every tub stand on its own bottom sir i roared jumping off the stool on which he sat now being a most young man had no more idea of making a than he had of making a quarrel and he did not realize that he had done so till the flushed face of his brother assured him of the fact gk od said with a low inward chuckle which assured his companions that he was listening in spite of his determination to remain do yoa mean to insult me mr growled i had no such intention then you shall with pleasure for what for the remark you made then every tub should not stand on its own bottom is that satisfactory no sir i it is not by yankee os well i have put it both ways and you are not content with either will you or not demanded mr striking the table violently with his fist i am not conscious of having done anything for which i should you intended to insult me i have already assured you that i did not intend to insult you you made an use of my name i simply quoted a and i did it without any reference whatever to your name that is all i have to say about this matter mr replied as he took a book from his berth and seated himself near the door that will not do mr you can t insult a gentleman and then refuse to give him satisfaction found his place in the book do you hear me sir began to read mr i demand satisfaction finished a short paragraph you have insulted me you have made fun of the honored name i bear and i will not submit to it roared mr began another paragraph you are a mean cowardly you can by ic the adventures of a naval officer to the captain and put on airs among the men bat you can t insult a gentleman i do you hear me sir finished the paragraph will you answer me or shall i kick you thought he had better not but he finished the second paragraph without making any reply we have come to a pretty pass in the service when common sailors are made and put in with gentlemen shut up stop your noise i said who rarely uttered two sentences without stopping to rest do you apply that language to me mr demanded the shut up was all the master s mate would venture to reply or all he had breath to utter the service is going to ruin when such brutes are on bo rd a man of war stop your noise replied in low and feeble tones as though he had already exhausted himself by the long speeches he had made was so much amused by the cool indifference of the master s mate to the abuse of the that he could not repress a laugh and he did laugh without considering what the might be upon the stormy little monster mr said boiling with fury as he by the yankee or threw himself on a stool opposite the object of his anger mr replied with great good nature you cannot insult a gentleman i never tried you insulted me i am no gentleman is that what you say no you said it laughed mr i know you i i know who you are and what you are you have insulted me and i will pay you off for it if it costs me my life and mr still foaming with wrath rushed out of the me room and went on deck mad said without looking up from the book he was reading he acts like a crazy man replied look out for him said with a tremendous effort for more than three words were a trial to him and he never exceeded that number except on extraordinary occasions i am not afraid of him by any means i can t imagine what him i haven t done anything to offend him that p know of added the mate that was an accident i did not intend to insult or to cast any reflections upon the honored name he bears and i told him o means mischief by ic the adventures of a naval officer well it is all a to me he commenced almost as soon as | 36 |
i came on board hates yon i don t know of reason he i certainly never did him any injury pass the word for mr said the master and the obeyed the call leaving mr alone with his books and to the silence in which he seemed to eight bells through the vessel which was along slowly before a very light breeze the s whistle up the first watch and presently everything was as quiet on board as in a pass the word for mr said the officer of the deck and the order went from one mouth to another till it reached the s berth where mr and mr were seated at the table reading by the dull light of a ship s lamp mr is not here replied mr as as though he had been the tenderest lamb in the fold mr who was on duty was sent to find mr he went to every place where a might be supposed to exist but he was not to be found and he so reported it so happened that it was the captain who wanted as a zealous and devoted by the yankee or j officer he had hardly ceased for a single moment since he opened his orders to think of the difficult mission which had been committed to him some point in regard to the which mr might possibly settle had come to his mind and he had sent for him in order to have another conference captain was duly and properly surprised when it was reported that the young gentleman could not be found the was not large enough to rd many hiding places there was plenty of room outside oi her in the broad ocean but very little within her wooden walls and mr could not be far off the captain ordered a more careful search to be made which was done with no better result he then went on deck somewhat alarmed at the non appearance of his young friend strict inquiries were mr had not seen him neither had mr nor mr he had been with the captain after he had been relieved at eight bells in the afternoon watch mr said he was in the mess room at one bell in the first dog watch the captain began to be very nervous and feared that some accident had happened to the but it was hardly possible that he could have fallen overboard in broad daylight without being seen none of the officers had assigned him to any special duty and none of them had seen him for two hours and a half by the adventures of a naval officer where is mr brown demanded the captain below sir send for him i mr brown the sailing master presented himself he had sent mr down to open the after hold but the keys had been returned to him within ten minutes after the order was given this was a little later news than any which had yet been furnished in regard to the but it did not solve the mystery another and still more careful search was made mr said as they walked forward together well what do you want replied the with more than he was in the habit of using you know added significantly know what asked the innocent where is i haven t the least idea where he is do you suppose i should be looking for him if i knew where he was yes upon my word and honor as a gentleman i haven t seen him since we parted in the mess room protested stuff don t you believe me when i give you my word and honor added the indignantly by the yankee r no the of s sentences for what they lacked in length and had no difficulty for the want of words in his meaning it s of no use to talk to one who don t believe what you say row in the mess that t my fault lie do you mean to tell me i lie yes somehow could not get up steam as readily as he had done in the afternoon and he did not resent even the lie given him as might have been expected from one of his high notions and fiery temperament in fact he was comparatively tame perhaps because he was aware that the master s mate regarded him with supreme contempt he insulted me then and i am not the man to submit patiently to an insult tell the captain tell him what said rather appalled at the idea of having the captain know what had happened in the mess room bow well if you choose to tell him about that you can of course but i don t know where is any more by ic the of a officer than you do the certain would blame me punish me when i am not to blame serve you right if has fallen overboard and got drowned it is not my fault villain i gasped as he seized by the collar the master s mate had probably read the story of the dog and the fox and come to the conclusion rather that the young wretch had pushed the missing officer overboard i don t say he has fallen overboard protested and i don t believe he has let go of me will you don t say anything to the captain and i will make it all right with you where s i don t know upon my life i haven t the least idea the little row we had it would make things look bad against me if you said anything about it a call from the officer of the deck caused to release his hold upon who was careful not to go too near him again the mate was questioned about the and he cautiously acknowledged that there had been some dispute between and | 36 |
in the mess room was then called up by the captain who was too mi ch interested in the search to permit the first by the yankee or ant to carry on the investigation the malignant little wretch presented himself but he stuck to his former text that he knew nothing about mr and had not seen him since he left the at one bell in the dog watch you had a dispute with him said the captain a little replied what was it about about putting on airs i believe or something of that kind mr was present sir mr was appealed to but he had all that about exposing his to punishment even if guilty which among sailors and school boys he did not deny mr s statement but he was fully resolved on his own account to bring the to justice if did not soon appear were there any hard words passed between you demanded the captain no hard words but there was some rather strong language used by both of us k mr had any further information he would not impart it the master was examined once more he was positive the keys of the after hold had been returned to him by mr within ten minutes after he took them it was useless therefore to examine the hold and the search was sorrowfully abandoned but there were some sleepless eyes in the that night by ic the adventures of a naval officer r chapter xii in darkness he keys of the hold are the especial charge of the master it is never opened except in presence of a suitable officer who is responsible for any neglect or carelessness of which the party taking out stores may be guilty had been sent down to attend to this duty he had delivered the stores or rather seen them delivered and in order to be sure that everything was right he had stepped within the door to make a careful survey of the place he had scarcely done so when the door was suddenly upon him he was in total darkness for he had left the lantern outside that he might the better detect any appearance of fire within the store room his way back to the door but found that it was locked of course he was greatly annoyed and astonished at the blunder some one had made but it was a mistake which must shortly be corrected he concluded that mr brown the sailing master had come below himself and finding the store room open had by the yankee om closed it and gone on deck to find the officer who had thus neglected his duty he would soon return and an explanation would make the matter all right mr brown did not return no one came to release him from his dark prison house the mistake began to appear unaccountable to him he made some experiments with his voice which however seemed to be as they did not bring the needed relief from above it was no use to fret about his situation which he i as by no means desperate at the worst he co d only spend the night there and some one would release him in the morning if a call happened to be made for stores it was a dark disagreeable place in which to spend the night but as that was the best which could be done he decided to content himself with the situation the hours wore away very slowly but imagined himself in holding a of for and his fancy easily changed the gloomy apartment into the pleasant parlor of from there he went to and sat for an hour in the kitchen talking with his father and mother about the and wondering how he could contrive to tell them about the fair young lady who always called him a but after all the dark hold was neither the parlor at nor the kitchen at and in spite of his vivid fancy he was occasionally brought to a sense that he by the adventures of a naval officer was surrounded by boxes and bags and at an early hour he made his bed on the floor and in due time went to sleep his sublime philosophy enabled him to accomplish this feat without any very severe exertions the bed was very hard and he had not been accustomed to it on a plank so he up several times during the night but a careful consideration of his position each time he went to sleep again on the whole he passed a tolerably comfortable night though he would have preferred to be in his berth in the or with his watch on deck he did not regard himself as a martyr and did not make any set statement of his sufferings wherewith to his after his escape morning came though in the deep gloom of the hold was not conscious of the fact he had slept all he could and being a resolute he concluded from this fact that it must be daylight but after hour passed away and no one came for stores and the darkness frowned upon him as savagely as ever he could not hear the bells on deck though the occasional footstep of an officer in the ward room was audible in the mean time captain was greatly distressed about the absence of his young officer on one occasion had saved his life and he was as grateful as one man could be to another for this service in by the yankee or addition to this fact the was a splendid fellow in his estimation and for this reason alone he could not afford to lose he had not slept half as well in his comfortable cabin as had on the soft side of the pine plank which formed his bed a careful consideration of all the circumstances and a careful weighing of all | 36 |
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