The autumn was coming on. The cholera had abated. The air was cool and
fresh. The country was taking fire from the colors of the changing year.
And I was feeling more rugged than I had ever felt in my life.
As I have said, a college had already been founded in Jacksonville.
Indeed, some years before my coming the one brick building on the campus
had been constructed; and before that the log hut, also on the campus,
in which the young president and his pretty wife had spent their first
winter here in 1829. Reverdy told me that he had helped to hew and place
the logs. I had become acquainted with Mr. Sturtevant, the president;
for he was eager to hear of England, and Oxford and Eton. I was
fascinated with this experiment of a college in the wilderness. He
loaned me many books; and I often spent an evening at his house.
In September I decided to go out to the farm and live with the Engles.
I had many plans for the spring which could be better attended to on the
ground; and then I was getting ready to build me a house. Reverdy knew
where to find the logs, how to prepare them. He knew where to get men to
help him, and I was glad to leave these things to him. Mr. Brooks had
already commenced proceedings to settle the title to the land, dividing
it between Zoe and me. This was off my mind. I had men building fences,
plowing. I was buying horses, cattle, hogs. In all these things Reverdy
was an incalculable help. I could not have succeeded without him. He
knew horses and he helped me to honest dealers.
One day I was walking over my land. I came to a beautiful grove of trees
by the brook. And there in the midst of it was a log hut. I pushed the
rude door open and entered. There was but one room. It had a fireplace
needing repair. I saw a ladder in the corner, climbed it through a loft
hole and looked into the loft. The rafters were rough and crooked, made
only of undressed poles. I could see daylight through the shingles. The
floor was of hewn planks. But I was elated. Why not come here to live? I
did not like the Engle children. They were too numerous. I had no
privacy there. But here! I could be to myself. I could make myself more
comfortable than I was at the Engles'. I could have what food I wanted.
I could kill game, for the country was full of it. I could bring my
books. I could be a lord.
I hurried back to town to tell Reverdy; to ask him to help me to mend
the fireplace, and to put the house in condition for the coming winter.
Reverdy looked at me in astonishment. How could I stand the loneliness?
Did I know what I was getting into? Could I take care of myself
entirely? What if I fell ill again and in the middle of the winter,
when the ways were snowbound?
I thought of Zoe. Why not take her with me? I could teach her. She could
run the house. Reverdy looked at me with a certain dubiety. Sarah would
hate to part with Zoe. Perhaps there were other things; but he did not
express them. However, nothing could deter me.
Zoe was delighted with the plan. She wanted to get away, to be with me,
since I wanted her. Besides, Reverdy and Sarah were to be married in a
few days. He was coming to the house to live and that would make a
difference in the conveniences. And Mrs. Spurgeon, as far as I could
judge, was not averse to Zoe's departure. Thus it was to be as I wished.
Reverdy left off the work on my new house to help me repair the hut. We
had to make a hearth. For this I found stones by the brook. We stopped
the chinks between the logs with heavy, tough clay. We mended the holes
in the roof. We repaired the floor. I bought beds and bedding, utensils
for cooking, a rifle, an ax, and some other tools. I stocked the house
with provisions. And in a week I was installed, listening at night to
the cry of the wild animals, wolves and foxes and owls; and the song of
late whippoorwills when an access of lingering summer warmed the
midnights. I chopped my own wood. I killed quails and squirrels, and
roasted them. I tried my hand at making cornbread. And I awoke in the
delicious mornings, exuberant and happy. Zoe had not come to me yet,
for she was staying on at Mrs. Spurgeon's until Sarah was married. And
at last the wedding was celebrated.
I shall never forget that night. It was unlike anything of which I had
ever heard. The town minister performed the ceremony. Mr. and Mrs.
Sturtevant were present. Douglas had been invited; but whether he failed
to get the message, or whether his new duties of teaching at Winchester
prevented him from coming I do not know. We missed him greatly. An
emergency arose in which his courage and gift of speech might have been
of use. I can imagine how he would have handled the crowd that assembled
outside while the wedding was in progress. In short, we were treated to
a shivaree, or _charivari_.
No sooner had the clergyman pronounced the final words than the most
unearthly noise broke loose right at the door. There was the sound of
tin pans, kettles, horns, drums; and this pandemonium was punctuated by
the firing of shots and the throwing of stones at the door and gravel
upon the window panes. Sarah, already flushed from excitement, took on
an expression of alarm. I thought that we had been attacked by a band of
Indians bent upon massacre. The clergyman, however, smiled. And Reverdy
left the side of his bride and went to the door.
He flung it open. And there burst upon my vision the wildest assemblage
of faces I had ever seen. Some were blacked to resemble the negro. Some
were painted to look like the Indian on the warpath. They were dressed
fantastically, in a variety of colors, with feathers in their hair or
hats or coon caps. They leered, grinned from ear to ear. They yelled,
and again began to beat their pans and kettles and to fire their rifles.
Sarah put her fingers to her lips in a gesture of terror, of violated
privacy. But after all this was but the frontier's hymeneal chant, the
festivities of the uninvited wedding guests. To quiet them it was
necessary to ask them to partake of the wedding delicacies.
They pushed and writhed into the room. Some of them were half drunk.
They trod upon each other. What they might have done if Reverdy had not
managed them out of the kindness of his heart and with a certain
adroitness is past conceiving. It seemed to me that a riot was on the
point of breaking loose at any minute. But having satisfied themselves,
they began to file out. Some lingered to wish the bride and groom a
happy life. Reverdy spoke with each one in such friendliness of voice
and manner, in which there was neither nervousness nor resentment. He
took it all as a matter of course. But Sarah was visibly distrait. I
could see that she was relieved as they began to depart. A few yells, a
few intermittent shots marked their going away. Then all was silent. The
guests now began to leave. And as I was going back to my hut for the
night I came to Reverdy and Sarah to bid them God-speed. I had never
seen Sarah look so charming. Her bridal dress was made of striped
calico. She had a bonnet to match. Reverdy had a new suit of blue jeans.
He looked handsome and strong. And he turned his eyes upon Sarah with a
look of protecting tenderness. I took their hands in mine to emphasize
my blessing with the closeness of affectionate contact. Sarah kissed me
on the cheek; and I left, bestriding my horse at the gate, and riding
through the darkness to my hut.
Zoe was to come to me the next morning.