WE ARRIVE AT SARATOGA.
We arrived at Saratoga jest as sunset with a middlin’ gorgeous dress on
wuz a walkin’ down the west and a biddin’ us and the earth good-bye.
There wuz every color you could think on almost, in her gown and some
stars a shinin’ through the floatin’ drapery and a half moon restin’ up
on her cloudy foretop like a beautiful orniment.
(I s’pose mebby it is proper to describe sunset in this way on goin’ to
such a dressy place, though it haint my style to do so, I don’t love to
describe sunset as a female and don’t, much of the time, but I love to
see things correspond.)
Wall, we descended from the cars and went to the boardin’ place
provided for us beforehand by the look out of friends. It wuz a good
place, there haint no doubt of that, good folks; good fare and clean.
Ardelia parted away from us at the depo. She wuz a goin’ to board to a
smaller boardin’ house kep’ by a second cousin of her father’s
brother’s wife’s aunt. It wuz her father’s request that she should get
her board there on account of its bein’ in the family. He loved “to see
relations hang together;” so he said, and “get their boards of each
other.” But I thought then, and I think now, that it wuz because they
asked less for the board. Deacon Tutt is close. But howsumever Ardelia
went there, and my companion and me arrove at the abode where we wuz to
abide, with no eppisode only the triflin’ one of the driver bein’
dretful mistook as to the price he asked to take us there.
I thought, and Josiah thought, that 50 cents wuz the outlay of
expendatur he required to carry us where we would be; it wuz but a
short distance. But no! He said that 5 dollars wuz what he said, that
is, if we heard anything about a 5. But he thought we wuz deef, and
dident hear him. He thought he spoke plain, and said 4 dollars for the
trip.
And on that price he sot down immovible. They arged, and Josiah Allen
even went so far as to use language that grated on my nerve, it wuz so
voyalent and vergin’ on the profane. But there the man sot, right onto
that price, and he had to me the appeerance of one who wuz goin’ to sot
there on it all night. And so rather than to spend the night out doors,
in conversation with him, he a settin’ on that price, and Josiah a
shakin’ his fist at it, and a jawin’ at it, I told Josiah that he had
better pay it. And finally he did, with groanin’s that could hardly be
uttered.
They argued
Wall, after supper (a good supper and enough on’t), Josiah proposed
that we should take a short walk, we two alone, for Ardelia wuz afar
from us, most to the other end of the village, either asleep or a
writin’ poetry, I didn’t know which, but I knew it wuz one or the other
of ’em. And I wuz tired enough myself to lay my head down and repose in
the arms of sleep, and told my companion so, but he said:
“Oh shaw! Let old Morpheus wait for us till we get back, there’ll be
time enough to rest then.”
Josiah felt so neat, that he wuz fairly beginnin’ to talk high learnt,
and classical. But I didn’t say nothin’ to break it up, and tied on my
bonnet with calmness (and a double bow knot) and we sallied out.
Soon, or mebby a little after, for we didn’t walk fast on account of my
deep tucker, we stood in front of what seemed to be one hull side of a
long street, all full of orniments and open work, and pillows, and
flowers, and carvin’s, and scallops, and down between every scollop
hung a big basket full of posys, of every beautiful color under the
heavens. And over all, and way back as fur as we could see, wuz
innumerable lights of every color, gorgeousness a shinin’ down on
gorgeousness, glory above, a shinin’ down on glory below. And sweet
strains of music wuz a floatin, out from somewhere, a shinin’
somewhere, renderin’ the seen fur more beautiful to all 4 of our
wraptured ears.
And Josiah sez, as we stood there nearly rooted to the place by our
motions, and a picket fence, sez he dreamily,
“I almost feel as if we had made a mistake, and that this is the land
of Beuler.” And he murmured to himself some words of the old him:
“Oh Beuler land! Sweet Beuler land!”
And I whispered back to him and sez—“Hush they don’t have brass bands
in Beulah land.”
And he sez, “How do you know what they have in Beuler?”
“Wall,” sez I, “’taint likely they do.”
But I don’t know as I felt like blamin’ him, for it did seem to me to
be the most beautiful place that I ever sot my eyes on. And it did seem
fairly as if them long glitterin’ chains and links of colored lights, a
stretchin’ fur back into the distance sort a begoned for us to enter
into a land of perfect beauty and Pure Delight.
And then them glitterin’ chains of light would jine onto other golden,
and crimson, and orange, and pink, and blue, and amber links of glory
and hang there all drippin’ with radiance, and way back as fur as we
could see. And away down under the shinin’ lanes the white statues
stood, beautiful snow-white females, a lookin’ as if they enjoyed it
all. And the lake mirrowed back all of the beauty.
Right out onto the lake stood a fairy-like structure all glowin’ with
big drops of light and every glitterin’ drop reflected down in the
water and the fountain a sprayin’ up on each side. Why it sprayed up
floods of diamonds, and rubys, and sapphires, and topazzes, and
turkeys, and pearls, and opals, and sparklin’ ’em right back into the
water agin.
And right while we stood there, neerly rooted to the spot and gazin’
through extacy and 2 pickets, the band gin a loud burst of melody and
then stopped, and after a minute of silence, we hearn a voice
angel-sweet a risin’ up, up, like a lark, a tender-hearted,
golden-throated lark.
High, high above all the throngs of human folks who wuz cheerin’ her
down below - up above the sea of glitterin’ light - up above the
bendin’ trees that clasped their hands together in silent applaudin’
above her, up, up, into the clear heavens, rose that glorious voice a
singin’ some song about love, love that wuz deathless, eternal.
Why it seemed as if the very clouds wuz full of shadowy faces a bendin’
down to hear it, and the new moon, shaped just like a boat, had glided
down, down the sky to listen.
If the man of the moon was there he wuz a layin’ in the bottom of the
boat, he wuzn’t in sight. But if he heard that music I’ll bet he would
say he wuzn’t in the practice of hearin’ any better. And Josiah stood
stun still till she had got done, and then he sort a sithed out:
“Oh, it seems as if it must be Beuler land! Do you s’pose, Samantha,
Beuler land is any more beautiful?”
And I sez, “I haint a thinkin’ about Beulah.” I sez it pretty middlin’
tart, partly to hide my own feelin’s, which wuz perfectly rousted up,
and partly from principle, and sez I, “Don’t for mercy’s sake call it
Beuler.”
Josiah always will call it so. I’ve got a 4th cousin, Beulah Smith (my
own age and unmarried up to date), and he always did and would call her
Beuler. Truly in some things a pardner’s influence and encouragement
fails to accomplish the ends aimed at.
Wall, it wuz after some words that I drew Josiah away from that seen of
enchantment - or he me, I don’t exactly know which way it wuz - and we
wended onwards in our walk.
The hull broad streets wuz full of folks, full as they could be, all on
’em perfect strangers to us and who knew what motives or weapons they
wuz a carryin’ with ’em; but we knew we wuz safe, Josiah and me did,
for way up over all our heads, stood a big straight soldier, a
volunteer volunteerin, to see to the hull crew on ’em below, a seein’
that they behaved themselves. His age wuz seventy-seven as near as I
could make out but he didn’t look more’n half that. He had kep’ his age
remarkable.
The soldier
Wall, it wuz, if I remember right, jest about now that we see a
glitterin’ high up over our heads some writen in flame. I never see
such brilliant writin, before nor don’t know as I ever shall ag’in.
And Josiah stopped stun still, and stood a lookin’ perfectly
dumfoundered at it. And finally he sez, “I’d give a dollar bill if I
could write like that.”
I see he wuz deeply rousted up for 2 cents is as high as he usually
goes in betted. I see he felt deep and I didn’t blame him. Why,” sez
he, “jest imagine, Samantha, a hull letter wrote like that! how I’d
love to send one back to Uncle Nate Gowdey.
“How Uncle Nate’s eyes would open, and he wouldn’t want no spectacles
nor nothin’ to read it with, would he? I wonder if I could do it,” sez
he, a beginnin’ to be all rousted up.
But I sez, “Be calm,” for so deep is my mind that I grasped the
difficuties of the undertaken’ at once. “How could yon send it, Josiah
Allen? Where would you get a envelop? How could you get it into the
mail bag?” Sez I, “When anybody would send a letter wrote like that,
they would want to write it on sheets of lightnin’, and fold it up in
the envelopin’ clouds of the skies, and it should be received by a
kneelin’ and reverent soul. Who is Uncle Nate that he should get it? He
has not a reverent Soul and he has also rheumatiz in his legs.”
And then I thought, so quick and active is my mind when it gets to
startin’ off on a tower, I thought of what I had hearn a few days
before, of how the secret had been learnt by somebody who lived right
there in the village, of floatin’ letters up at sea from one ship to
another, sigualin’ out in letters of flame -
“Help! I’m a sinkin’!” or “Danger ahead! Look out!”
And I thought what it must be to stand on a dusky night on a lone deck
and see up on the broad, dark; lonesome sky above, a sudden message, a
flash of vivid lightnin’, takin’ to itself the form of language. And I
wondered to myself if in the future we should use the great pages of
the night-sky to write messages from one city to another, or from sea
to land, of danger and warnin’; and then I thought to myself, if souls
clog-bound to earth are able to accomplish so much, who knows but the
freed soul goin’ outward and onward from height to height of wisdom may
yet be able to signal down from the Safe Land messages of help and
warnin’ to the souls it loved below.
The souls a sailin’ and a driftin’ through the dark night of despair -
a dashin’ along through fog and mist and darkness aginst rocks. What it
would be to one kneelin’ in the lonesome night watches by a grave, if
the dark sky could grow luminous and he could read, - “Do not despair!
I am alive! I love you!”
Or, in the hour of the blackest temptation and dread, when the earth is
hollow and the sky a black vault, and the only way of happiness on
God’s earth seems down the dangerous, beautiful way, God-forbidden,
what would it be to have the empty vault lit up with “Danger ahead! We
will help you! be patient a little longer!”
Oh how fur my thoughts wuz a travellin’, and at what a good jog, but
not one trace did my companion see on my forward of these thoughts that
wuz a passin’ through my foretop: and at that very minute, we came up
nigh enough to see that right back of the glitterin’ language overhead,
went a long line of big, glowin’ stars of glory way up over our heads,
and leadin’ down a gentle declivity and Josiah sez, “Let’s foller on,
and see what it will lead us to, Samantha.”
“Wall,” sez I, “light is pretty generally, safe to foller, Josiah
Allen.” And so we meandered along, keepin’ our 2 heads as nigh as we
could under that long glitterin’ chain of golden drops that wuz high
overhead. And on, and on, we follered it dilligently; till for the
land’s sake! if it didn’t lead us to another one of them openwork
buildin’s, fixed off beautiful, and we could see inside 2 big wells
like, with acres of floor seemin’ly on each side of ’em, and crowds of
folks a walkin’ about and settin’ at little tables and most all of ’em
a drinkin’.
The water they drinked we could see wuz a bubblin’ up and a runnin’
over all the time, in big round crystal globes. And up, up on a slender
pole way up over one of the wells hung another one of them crystal
bowls, a bubblin’ over with the water and sparklin’.
And ag’in Josiah asked me if I thought Beuler land could compare with
it?
And I told him ag’in kinder sharp, That I wuzn’t a thinkin’ about
Beuler, I didn’t know any sech a place or name. I wish he would call
things right.
Wall, he wuz so dead tired by this time, that we sot sail homewards;
that is, my feet wuz tired, and my bones, but my mind seemed more
rousted up than common.
Josiah