_Monday Noon._
Yesterday morning I accompanied my boys to Sunday-school in the village.
They showed a good deal of restlessness before the service was
over,--not surprising considering that only two had ever heard of a
Sunday-school before.
After dinner I undertook to cheer and entertain them by reading Robinson
Crusoe, out in our yard, beginning in the thick of the story, where the
hero is in sight of his island. What was my chagrin to see one pair
after another of bright, roving eyes dull and close, one head after
another roll over in the grass, Nucky Marrs holding out longest, and
murmuring wearily, as his head settled back against a tree, "Didn't he
never get into no fights, or kill nobody?"
Discouraged, I sat for a long while gazing upon the twelve sleepers, and
wondering what if anything would be the proper literary milk for my
babes.
[Illustration: "I sat wondering what if anything would be the proper
literary milk for my babes."]
When the boys at last awoke from their naps, I gave them permission to
play mumble-peg very, very quietly--the heads had told me to keep them
quiet on Sundays--and they made a desperate effort to do so. But
probably behavior so far had been impossibly good, and this was the last
straw. At any rate, when we were gathered in the sitting-room after
supper for ten minutes of Sunday-school lesson, the storm broke. Nucky
kicked Killis on the shin; Killis called him a smotch-eyed polecat; the
two grappled; Philip flew to Nucky's assistance, Joab to Killis's;
Keats, Hen and Moses rushed in on the Marrs side, Taulbee, Zachariah and
Iry on the Blair, little Jason flew joyously into the fray,
impartially attacking both sides, and Geordie prudently retired under
the table.
It all happened in a flash,--before I could catch my breath the table
was overturned, chairs were flying, bedlam had broken loose. In vain I
commanded, implored, threatened,--I might as well have spoken to the
raging sea.
[Illustration: "The table was overturned, chairs were flying, bedlam had
broken loose."]
Dreadful moments followed, during which I could only dodge chairs and
wring my hands wildly. Worse was to come, however,--when I saw Killis
grab the shovel, Nucky the poker, and Keats the tongs, while Philip
wrested off a table-leg, and Taulbee and others either smashed chairs to
pieces for weapons, or seized remaining table-legs, then indeed I felt
that death was imminent for all concerned, and, running to the door,
shrieked for Howard and the big boys over the workshop. Returning, I
plucked the broom from Iry, and rushed with it, straw end foremost, into
the thick of the fight. I was lammed on the head by a shovel, on the
shoulder by a table-leg, on the elbow by something,--it is not safe to
say what might have been the outcome had not Howard opportunely arrived,
snatched the broom from me, and, with the handle-end, beaten and whacked
the boys mercilessly until they finally surrendered their weapons and
retired, bloody but happy, from the "battle."
I lay long awake last night, not from fleas, but nursing bruises and
reconstructing theories. I see now that love and gentleness need to be
backed up by good muscle, and that to be a success in my undertaking
here I require, not the small body I actually possess, but the physique
of an Amazon. Of course it is all a mistake, and I must give it up, even
sooner than I had anticipated. But I am sorry,--the boys are most
attractive, and time spent with them passes with lightning
swiftness,--incredible as it seems, for seven whole days I have not had
a chance to think of myself, my grief, my loneliness. Undoubtedly this
is the Lethe I need,--but if its waves buffet me to bits, what then?
_Later._
Inspiration came when I visited the loom-house this morning, and saw
Cleo Royce, the head-weaving-girl, at her work. She is so large and
handsome and strong,--a young Juno, with glorious muscle. The heads are
to let her come to the cottage and occupy a cot in my room,--I am
determined to stay out my month.
_Wednesday._
For two days I have taken away their scanty playtime from the boys in
punishment of their fighting Sunday night. Yesterday I talked to them
very solemnly on the subject. "Why, it's just an accident you didn't
kill one another or me," I said, "and then how should you have felt?"
"I'd hate right smart to kill a woman," replied Nucky Marrs; "but gee, I
wouldn't mind laying out a few boys. I got to begin somewheres,--a man
haint nobody till he's kilt off a few!"
To-night when I announced that regular twice-a-week baths must begin at
once, and that four of the boys must get ready to wash themselves, a
shout of delight went up, "Whoopee! We git to go in the creek,--git to
go in Perilous!"--and every boy demanded to be one of the lucky four.
When I explained that I did not mean go in the creek, but that they must
heat water in the kettles in the yard, and carry it to the tubs in the
wash-house, and bathe there, howls of indignation succeeded. "We haint
no women!", "I'll go home first!", "Dad burn if I'll do it!", "Creeks is
for men!", and Philip remarked scathingly, "Nobody but quare women would
wash in a house when there's a creek handy!" It was only by Cleo's
splendid strength that four were finally corralled in the wash-house.
_Friday._
This has been an anxious week. The ice once broken by the fight Sunday
night, every boy has felt free to be himself again. Nucky has fought
every boy of his size and larger at the cottage, and, I hear, most of
the hundred day-school boys; Killis, though not so aggressive, is quite
as warlike; and the others, with the sole exception of Geordie, are not
much behind. It is almost impossible for me to get garden-work done, so
much of my time must be spent breaking up fights.
Even at meals (fortunately the boys and I have a table to ourselves in
the dining-room at the big house) behavior is far from being what it
should. Tuesday at breakfast, when Geordie undertook to instruct the new
boys in table manners, and informed Killis it was not proper to eat with
his knife, he was silenced by a jab of the knife in his direction and a
threat to cut out his liver; at dinner Wednesday, when Philip snatched a
corn-dodger from Keats's plate, he received a spoonful of "sop" (gravy)
full in the face; yesterday when Taulbee made disparaging remarks about
Trigger Branch, Nucky plunged the prongs of a steel fork so deeply into
his scalp that he had to receive attention from the trained nurse. It is
difficult to eat with one's mind so distracted; but distraction is far
better than desolation.
V