From the Bade farmhouse, a mile below Hemlock Mountain, the road winds
down to Adams' Forge, past Aaron Bade's stony fields. To the north
lies Milford; but to the south lies that enchanting land, blue in the
distance, misty in the sun, which the heart delights to call its home.
It is the land we see from any hilltop. As we gaze at its far off
rises, its hazy, shadowy valleys, we feel within us a longing and a
faint melancholy. There, we think, dwell the friends who would love
us, if we were known to them, and there, too, must be found the beauty
and the happiness that we have failed to discover where we are. It
seems to us that there, in the distance, we should be happier, we
should be more amiable and more dignified.
Aaron Bade, tied to his rocky farm on the slopes above Adams' Forge,
remembered with a feeling of pleasure his one journey as far south as
Attleboro. He had been obliged to return home before he had found the
happiness which he had expected to find. However, once he was home, he
realized that he had left it behind him, in Attleboro, or just a little
further south . . .
Now, at forty, he was neither happy nor unhappy, but turned back in his
mind to the fancies of his youth, and enjoyed, in imagination, the
travels denied him in reality.
He had no love for the farm, which had belonged to his father; an old
flute, on which his father used to play, was more of a treasure to him.
Often in summer, as day faded, and the dews of night descended; when
the clear lights in the valley were set twinkling one by one, leaving
the uplands to the winds and stars, Aaron Bade, perched upon his
pasture bars, piped to the faintly glowing sky his awkward thoughts and
clumsy feelings.
In the morning he took leave of his wife, and with his hoe slung over
his shoulder, made his way down to the cornfield. There, seated upon a
stone, he saw himself in Attleboro again, pictured to himself the
countryside beyond, and before noon, was half way round the world,
leaving friends behind him in every land. Then, with a sigh, he would
go in among the corn with his weeder, only to stand dreaming at every
rustle of wind, seeing, in his mind, the smoke of distant cities,
hearing, in fancy, the booming of foreign seas.
His wife was no longer a young woman. As a girl she had also had hopes
for herself. It seemed to her, when she chose Aaron Bade, that in his
company, life would be surprising and delightful. She expected to see
something of the world--he spoke of it so much. But she was mistaken.
For Aaron's travels were all of the mind. And she soon discovered that
the more he talked, the more there remained for her to do. Thus her
hopes died away; between the stove and the chickens, and what with
cleaning, washing, sweeping and dusting, she rarely found time nowadays
for more than a shake of her head, never very pretty, and at last no
longer young, at the thought of what she had looked for, what she had
meant to find. In short, from hopeful girl, Margaret Bade was,
sensibly enough, turned practical woman; and when, on clear afternoons,
with his work still to do, Aaron would take his flute down into the
fields, she did his chores, as well as her own, with the wise remark
that after all, they had to be done.
Nevertheless, when the dishes were washed--when the shadows of evening
crept in past the lamp, no longer able to exclude them, she began to
feel lonely and sad. And as the notes of Aaron's flute mingled with
the night sounds, the chirp of crickets, the hum of insects, she felt,
rather than thought, "Life is so much spilt milk. And all that comes
of fancies, is Aaron's flute, playing down there in the pasture."
It was to this family that Mr. Jeminy came in the chilly dawn, on his
way, apparently, to the ends of the earth, and, after breakfast, fell
asleep in the hayloft, leaving them both gaping with pleasure and
curiosity. For he came, Aaron had to admit, like a tramp; but spoke,
Margaret thought, like the Gospels. "He's from roundabout," she said;
"I hope he doesn't think to try and sell us anything. Men with
something to sell always talk like the minister first."
But Aaron, with his mind on the far off world across the smoky autumn
hills, was pained at such a suggestion. "You're wrong, mother," he
said solemnly. "No, sirree. He's not from roundabout. And he's no
common tramp either. He's come a distance, I believe."
"Then," said Margaret with regret, "I suppose he'll be going on again."
Aaron Bade stared attentively at one brown hand. "We could use a man
on the farm," he said.
It gave his wife no pleasure to be obliged to agree with him.
"There's plenty still for a man to do, after you're done," she said.
But she smiled almost at once; for like the women of that north
country, crabbed and twisted as their own apple trees, she loved her
husband for the trouble he gave her.
"It's a queer thing," said Aaron; "he has the look of a bookish man.
Like old St. John Deakan down to the Forge, only St. John don't know
anything, for all his looks."
"His talk was elegant," Mrs. Bade agreed. She stood still for a
moment, looking down at her pots and pans. "He's seen a deal of life,
I dare say," she added casually--so casually as to make one almost
think that she herself had seen all she wanted to see.
"Well," said Aaron, "that's what schooling does for a man. It gives
him a manner of talking, along with something to say."
Margaret, bent over her work again, plunged her red, wet arms up to the
elbow in hot, soapy water. "You'll never lack talk, Aaron," she
remarked; "or suffer for want of something to say. But it isn't
washing my pots for me, nor bringing in the corn . . ."
"I'm going along now," said Aaron. "If the old man wakes before I'm
back again, don't hurry him off, mother; I'd be glad to talk with him a
bit before he goes."
"Who said anything about hurrying him off?" cried Mrs. Bade. "He can
stay till doomsday, for all I care. He can sit and talk to me, while
you're blowing on your flute. It'll be real companionable."
And she turned back to her pots and pans, a faint smile causing her
mouth to curl down at one end, and up at the other.
Mr. Jeminy awoke in the afternoon. It was the nature of this kind and
simple man to accept without question the hospitality of people he had
never seen before; for he felt friendly toward every one. As he sat
down to supper with the Bades, he bowed his head, and offered up a
grace, with all his heart:
"Abide, O Lord, in this house; and be present at the breaking of bread,
in love and in kindness. Amen."
During the meal, Aaron Bade asked Mr. Jeminy many questions, to
discover what the old man hoped to do. "I suppose," he said, "you've
come a good distance."
"Yes," said Mr. Jeminy gravely, "I have come a good distance."
Aaron Bade gave his wife a look which said plainly, "There, you see,
mother."
"Where is your home, old man?" asked Mrs. Bade kindly.
"I have no home," said Mr. Jeminy.
Aaron Bade cleared his throat. "Are you bound anywhere in particular?"
he asked.
"No," said Mr. Jeminy.
"Then," said Aaron Bade, "we'd admire to have you stay with us, if it's
agreeable to you."
Mr. Jeminy looked about him at the homely kitchen, with its brown
crockery set away neatly on the shelves. "If I stay with you," he
said, "I should like to work in the fields, and help with the sowing
and the harvesting."
"So you may," said Aaron Bade.
Mr. Jeminy looked at Margaret. "And you, madam?" he asked. "Would you
care for the company of a garrulous old man at evening in your kitchen?"
Margaret blushed with pleasure. "Yes," she said.
"Very well," said Mr. Jeminy; "I will stay."
In this fashion Mr. Jeminy settled down at Bade's Farm, as farm hand to
Aaron Bade. At the end of a week he felt that he had nothing to
regret. He was active and spry, and believed himself to be useful. In
fact, he could not remember when he had been so happy. High on his
hill, he heard October's skyey gales go by above his head, and in the
noonday drowse, watched, from the shade of a tree, the crows fly out
across the valley, with creaking wings and harsh, discordant cries. In
the early morning, he came tip-toeing down the stairs; from the open
doorway he marked day rise above the east in bands of yellow light, and
saw the foggy clouds of dawn slip quietly away, rising from the
valleys, drifting across the hills; in the afternoon he labored in the
fields, and at night, his tired body filled his mind with comfortable
thoughts.
On his way to lunch, he stopped at the woodpile to get an armful of
kindling for Mrs. Bade. The sober way she looked at him as he came in,
hid from all but herself the almost voluptuous pleasure it gave her
merely to be waited on, a pleasure she was more than half afraid to
enjoy, for fear at jealous heaven might take it away, and leave her
with all her work to do, and bad habits besides.
Therefore, as she ladled out potatoes, two to a plate, she seemed, to
look at her, busier than ever; and far from being grateful, might have
been used to favors every day of her life, whereas all the while she
was saying ecstatically to herself, "Lord, make me humble."
For she saw in Mr. Jeminy all she had fancied as a girl, and lost hope
in as a woman. Life . . . life was, then, to be had--leastways, a view
of it, a good view of it--was to be heard of, by special act of Grace,
on Bade's Farm, at Adams' Forge--of all places. So she dressed in her
neatest, and was kinder than ever to Aaron, who was missing it. For
she felt it was all just for her; she alone saw Mr. Jeminy for what he
was, a grand, unusual peephole on the world. It was her own private
peep, she thought. But she was wrong. Aaron was peeping as hard as
she, and pitying her, as she was pitying him, for all he thought she
was missing.
As for Mr. Jeminy, he let them think what they pleased. At first he
was silent, out of shame. But later he enjoyed it as much as they did.
"In Ceylon," he would say, "the tea fields . . ."
One day, a week after his arrival, Mr. Jeminy took the plow horse,
Elijah, to the village to be shod. There the fragrance of wood fires
mingled with a sweeter smell from barns and kitchens. As it was the
hour when school let out, the yard in front of the schoolhouse was
filled with children on their way home; laughing and calling each
other, their voices rose in minor glees along the road, like the
squabble of birds. And Mr. Jeminy, in front of the smithy, watched
them go by, while his thoughts as follows:
"There," he said to himself, "its arms of texts, goes the new world.
Within those careless heads and happy hearts we must look for courage,
for wisdom and for sacrifice. Yet I believe they have the same
thoughts as anybody else. That is to say, they suppose it is God's
business to look after them. Yes, they are like their parents: they
are carried away by what they are doing, which they do not believe
could be done otherwise. One can see with what coldness, or even
blows, they receive the advances of other little children, who wish to
play with them. Well, as for those others, they go off at once, and
play by themselves. One of them, whose hat has been taken by the rest,
is digging in the earth with a bent twig, sharpened at one end.
Possibly he is digging for a treasure, which will be of no value to
anybody but himself. When he is older, he will be sorry he is not a
child again."
At this point, Elijah being shod and ready, he ceased his reflections
and went call for Aaron at the post-office. As the rode home together,
the old schoolmaster, sunk in reverie, remained silent. But Aaron
wanted to talk, now that he had some one to talk to.
"We'll get around to the wood to-morrow, and lay in another cord or
two."
"As you like."
"They're saying down to the store that feed will be higher than ever
this winter. I suppose we'd better lay in a store. I can't sell a few
barrels of potatoes, though I did want to save them."
Mr. Jeminy roused himself with an effort. "I had the horse shod all
around," he said.
Aaron nodded. "I guess it's just as well," he replied. "Did you ask
about fixing the harrow?"
"It will take a week," said Mr. Jeminy. "I said to go ahead, figuring
that we had the whole winter before us."
"We could do with a new harrow," said Aaron, "only there's no way to
pay for it."
Mr. Jeminy shook the reins over Elijah's back. "I have a little
money," he began, "laid away . . ."
"You're very kind," said Aaron, "but I don't figure to take advantage
of it. Still, living's hard; so much trouble. Take me; here I am
bound down to a farm's got as many rocks in it as anything else. I've
been as far south as Attleboro, but I've never had a view of the world,
like you've had. I'll die as I've lived, without anything to be
grateful for, so far as I can see."
"You've had more to be grateful for than I ever had," said Mr. Jeminy
simply, "and I'm not complaining."
"Go along," said Aaron; "you're speaking out of kindness. But it
doesn't fool me any. I know you've led a wandering life, Mr. Jeminy.
But I'd admire to see a little something of the world myself."
Above them the smoke from Aaron's chimney, thin and blue, rose bending
like an Indian pipe in the still air. And Mr. Jeminy gazed at it in
silence, before replying:
"You have had the good things of life, Aaron Bade."
"Have I?" said Aaron bitterly. "I'm sure I didn't know it. What are
the good things of life, Mr. Jeminy?"
"Love," said Mr. Jeminy, "peace, quiet of the heart, the work of one's
hands. Perhaps it is human to wish for more. But to be human is not
always to be wise. Do you desire to see the world, Aaron Bade? Soon
you would ask to be home again."
"Well, I don't know about that," said Aaron.
"Ah," said Mr. Jeminy, "love is best of all."
And once again he relapsed into silence. In the evening he drove the
cows in. High up on Hemlock, Aaron, among his slow, thin tunes,
thought to himself: "There go the cows. Mr. Jeminy understands me;
he's a traveled man." And he played his flute harder than ever,
because Mr. Jeminy, who had seen, as Aaron thought, all Aaron had
wanted to see, breathed the airs of foreign lands, and sailed the seven
seas, was setting Aaron's cows to right, in Aaron's tumbled barn.
In the kitchen, Margaret, going to light the lamp, smiled at her
thoughts, which were timid and gay. She was happy because Mr. Jeminy,
who had seen so many elegant women, helped her with her apple jellies,
and brought her kindlings for the stove.
When the cows were milked, Mr. Jeminy came out of the barn, and stood
looking up at the sky, yellow and green, with its promise of frost. "A
cold night," he said to himself, "and a bright morning." He could hear
the wind rising in the west. "Winter is not far off," he said, and he
carried the two warm, foaming milkpails into the kitchen.
As he was eating his supper, a wagon came clattering down the road and
stopped at the door. "There's Ellery Deakan back from Milford," said
Margaret at the window. "I wonder what he wants at this time of night.
Looks to be somebody with him. Go and see, Mr. Jeminy. I've the
pudding to attend to."