shoes that it seemed as if the baby must wake up; for Morocco was the
shoe closet, and there were so many pairs of old shoes in the place that
it reminded one of a cobbler's shop. There were little shoes and big,
slippers and rubber-boots, patent leathers and copper toes, high-heeled
shoes and no-heeled shoes; there were blacking and brushes and
shoe-strings and button-hooks and dirt. And as Morocco walked in, every
shoe and boot and slipper and brush was in a most frolicsome mood,
jumping hither and thither, knocking the sides of the closet, and
raising a great dust. The Judge's wife looked from Pride to Vanity, then
from Ophir to Morocco. As the clothes shook and rustled, as the silver
and the old-fashioned jewelry jingled, as the foot-gear banged and
rattled, Ruth began to sing and dance, and the lady nodded her head to
keep time; and then the Judge caught the movement and beat time with his
foot, and whistled an old tune; and then the baby woke up, clapped his
hands, and cooed with delight.
But time was passing very quickly, and there was a great deal to do
before midnight came or the east wind arose. So Ruth hurried the closets
along in their march before the guests.
"'Valentine,' 'Argentine,' 'Serpentine,' 'Clementine,' and 'Turpentine,'
come along with you," she shouted urgently. These were the five closets
which belonged to the Judge's library. Valentine had nothing but broken
furniture in him; Argentine was loaded down with old and useless silver
(plated ware) and like stuff; Serpentine contained aged newspapers and
magazines; Clementine was pretty well filled with a variety of dolls,
and they played merrily as the closet came into the room, and stood
first on one foot and then on the other; Turpentine brought a good deal
of dust with him. He used to hold the Judge's private papers. They were
dry as dust. The Judge was so interested in the baby that he paid no
attention to the closets.
"I'm going to call the closet with the skeleton in it," whispered Ruth.
"We named him the 'Wandering Jew;' we've never seen him, you know.
Somebody told us that the key was lost, and then the keyhole, and
finally the closet itself, and it must be so; for where that closet was
in your day there isn't anything now." During this remark Mrs. "Judge"
looked very restless and sorrowful. "I just want to see what a skeleton
in the closet is like. I've heard that every family has got one, but
they keep them out of sight. Wandering Jew, Wandering Jew," whispered
Ruth with suppressed excitement; and almost on the instant the lost
closet walked into the room from nowhere. He was quite small; as he
walked something rattled in him. The child shivered. Was it the
skeleton? and would she see it? Then she remembered that the key and the
keyhole were both lost.
"What's in it?" whispered Ruth. And then she noticed for the first time
that the lady was weeping. There was a strange silence. Mrs. "Judge"
put her hands upon Ruth's head, and looking down pathetically into her
eager eyes said gently, "I would rather not put any questions to the
Wandering Jew, or try to make him say anything. Let him pass along out
of my sight." And Ruth, who was quite awed by the grief of Mrs. "Judge,"
told the closet to hurry out of sight as soon as possible. So she never
knew whether it was blasted hopes or withered love, or the ghost of a
chance or the dry bones of scholarship, or something else that was
locked in that strange little haunted room.
And now the closets were hurried along as fast as Ruth could name them.
But Mrs. "Judge" seemed to have lost her interest. The closet with a
skeleton in it had thrown her off her balance. She had little or nothing
to say to any of the others; and Ruth herself grew tired, so that she
was very glad when they had all made their bows and said their short
say, and something else might be done for the entertainment of her
company.
III.
THE PROCESSION OF
GOAT,
DOG,
CAT,
BICYCLES,
PORTRAITS,
RUTH,
AND
THE "LITTLE JUDGE."
III.
THE PROCESSION OF GOAT, DOG, CAT, BICYCLES, CLOSETS, PORTRAITS, RUTH,
AND THE "LITTLE JUDGE."
"[Illustration: I] THINK it would be real nice for us to take a little
ride about the town, don't you?" Ruth was speaking to the Judge and his
wife.
"Yes, I think I am rested enough to go a short way," was the lady's
reply. "But what shall we do with the Judge and the baby?"
"Why, take them along with us!" Ruth was always ingenious, and she had
plans for every occasion.
"I think we might take a ride in the closets."
"What!" exclaimed Mrs. "Judge."
"I am going to hitch up the closets and have a procession," exclaimed
Ruth. "You leave it to me and it'll come out all right. I'll call the
cat and the goat and 'Turk,' and tell them to get out the bicycles and
fasten them to the closets, all in a row, and then they shall take us to
ride." On any other occasion or under other circumstances this would
have appeared a curious arrangement, but to-night it was quite in
keeping with all that had happened.
[Illustration]
"Here Billy, Billy, Billy, Turk, Turk, come Kitty, come Kitty," cried
Ruth; and the goat appeared on the minute, and with him Satan the black
cat and with him "Turk," the bird-dog. "You must hitch up the bicycles,
and hitch on the closets, and take us a-riding," ordered Ruth. Now,
Billy was an obliging goat, although his taste was not of the best; for
when one of the neighbors died, and crape and flowers were hung on the
front door, he went over and climbed up to the interesting objects, and
ate both the cloth and the wreath. He lacked taste, but he did enjoy
running up and down the street. Satan, the black cat, was very fond of
Ruth, and would do anything she told him when he didn't want to do
anything else, and he knew what she was talking about. Turk was always
on hand ready for a frolic.
So Billy, Satan, and Turk got the bicycles fastened together; and then
Ruth called out the names of the closets, beginning with the very
smallest in the house. The goat and the cat took a spool of red
cotton-thread, and tied all the closets in a row or a tow (just as you
see boats in a row and a tow when a tug pulls them up the river). When
all was ready, Billy and Satan and Turk took their places at the head of
the procession, and stood waiting for their passengers.
"I think we had better put the baby in the first closet," said Ruth.
"That is the smallest, you know, and he will fit in like a bug in a
rug."
"What have you got to put around him?" inquired the lady. There had been
a slight fall of snow in the evening, and then it had turned cold. "I'm
afraid he will get chilly, you know."
"Oh! I'll wrap him up in an envelope. Paper is very warm, I've heard.
I'll just put him into the envelope, and then cut two holes for his
eyes, and then seal him up like a letter." So the "Little Judge" was
fixed. But it occurred to Mr. Judge at this point that his wife was not
prepared for winter. She was a delicate person, and she wore the same
clothes that she had on when her portrait was painted. The cap with
frilled border was very pretty, but it was not warm.
"My dear," said the Judge to his wife, "you are not properly clad for a
ride."
"I've got plenty of clothes and things in my pocket," said Ruth. "Now,
here is a nice postage-stamp with a picture of the queen upon it. That
will do for a bonnet. I'll stick it on tight." And she did. "Here is a
lot of red crinkly paper that we use to make lamp-shades. I'll do her up
like a bundle from the store. There, doesn't she look well?" And the
child wound the bright paper all about the matronly form of Mrs.
"Judge," and fastening it under her chin with a big safety pin, stood
off and admired the brilliant result. "There won't any cold creep in
through that red stuff," exclaimed Ruth. "Isn't she pretty?" But the
Judge only smiled and looked interested.
"Now you must be fixed," and Ruth turned toward the Judge. "I'll tie
this handkerchief over your head, and use a piece of red thread for a
muffler. And here is a nice white canton-flannel bag in my pocket that
Herbert has used for his marbles. You jump into that, and I'll tie you
up."
"But how shall we get down into the closets?" The Judge seemed
perplexed.
"Fall down, of course," exclaimed the child. "And I'm going to wear
mother's feather-bed. Then, if it 'thunders and lightens' I won't be
afraid." So at length everything was ready, and they stood on the weight
of the clock, and went down to the door which swung open into the west
parlor; and then they tumbled out into the room, and made their way to
the front piazza like boys engaged in a bag-race. And there before the
house stood the procession of the closets.
"What's become of the old portico?" asked the lady. "You must have made
it into this long sitting-place." She glanced up and down the roomy
piazza. "What color do you call this?" she asked, referring to the brown
paint upon the house. "We always had it white."
"This color doesn't show the dirt," said Ruth. "All the dust of the
town flies this way, mother says." At that moment there was a rumbling,
hissing, and flashing in the distance. The house shook and the sky
brightened. Was it an earthquake, or what?
"My dear," whispered Mrs. "Judge," "I feel a little timid. I think it's
because I've been in the picture so long. I'm shaking all over. It seems
to me as if something dreadful was going to happen. What is that awful
noise; and I see strange flames of pale blue light shoot into the sky."
"Oh, don't be scared!" said Ruth; "that's nothing but the trolley. See,
there it comes!" Down the street towards them swept a thing of light,
shaking the very earth beneath, and speeding past into the night like
some meteor. It was several seconds before the lady was able to speak.
"Child, what did you say it was?" and she trembled with fright.
"Why, it's the trolley-car. We ride on it. It runs by electricity, the
same as lightning." And Ruth popped her head in and out of the
feather-bed as she replied, the feathers sticking to her hair and
fluttering about her face in a most comical way.
"I think we'd better start before another car comes, for Billy and Satan
might run away. Sometimes they're afraid."
"Yes, let us get right into our places," said the Judge, who was sorry
to see his wife distressed. So the baby rolled into the little closet
next to the seven bicycles, and Ruth jumped into the next one, and the
Judge and his wife shuffled into the third.
"I think we must make a real funny show," exclaimed Ruth, as she lifted
her head out of the feathers again, and gave orders to Billy and Satan
and Turk.
[Illustration]
"Get up there, boys!" she said to this remarkable team. And then they
were all in motion,--the billy-goat and the black cat and the dog, the
seven bicycles, the little closet with the baby in the blue envelope,
the second closet with Ruth in a feather-bed, the third closet with the
Judge in a white flannel-bag and a handkerchief over his head, and Mrs.
"Judge," done up in red paper, wearing a postage stamp for a bonnet,
followed by fifty-seven closets of all shapes, sizes, patterns,
conditions. There was a banging of wood, a slamming of doors, a creaking
of windows, a dancing of shoes, a rattling of dishes, a rustling of
clothes (starched clothes), a fluttering of sermons, a pounding of pots
and kettles and pans, a rolling about of fruit glasses and jelly jars
and canned food, a falling of hams, and a rising of flour, and a decline
in vegetables simply frightful.
"This is a very fine road," observed the Judge. "It's just as smooth as
a floor. What an improvement over the roads in our day!"
"Yes," answered Ruth as she peered out from her feathers, "we are very
proud of our roads. They are--what is it you call them? Adam, cadam, oh!
I've got it now, macadam roads. They cost thousands of dollars. But
we've some very good men in town, just the kind you are, I suppose, and
they've given us miles and miles of it. You ought to see how we skim
along the road now on a bicycle. It would fairly make your head swim."
"My head does swim," whispered Mrs. "Judge." "It's so long since I took
a ride in the fresh air, and I've staid such a time in the picture and
become so stiff, that the motion makes me dizzy. I think we'd better
stop for a few minutes."
"What is this?" exclaimed the Judge. They had gone only to the corner
of the Green. There was a very thin covering of fluffy snow on the
ground. Suddenly the clouds broke away, and the moon flooded the scene
with light. And there, standing distinct and stately against the black
background, glistening and shimmering in the mild radiance, was the
church.
"Where is the old meeting-house?" and the Judge rubbed his eyes, and got
the handkerchief loose upon his head; and Mrs. "Judge" in her agitation
dislocated the postage-stamp that served for a bonnet so that she felt a
cold draught in her left ear.
"Why, Judge, we aren't here, are we? We must be somewhere else." Then
Ruth uncovered her head, and let a few feathers fly back in the face of
her guest and laughed merrily.
"That's the new church. Our new stone church. Isn't it lovely? Did you
ever see anything like it? Whoa, Billy and Satan and Turk! Wait a
minute! We want to take a look at things."
"You don't mean to say you have another meeting-house, do you? What's
become of the old one?"
"Oh! that was set on fire. You ought to've seen it burn. Father said it
was the saddest, beautifulest sight he ever saw. It was like a church
built of fire; and it blazed away,--walls, roof, floor, all glorious
without and within, and then it was caught up into heaven, so father
says. It made us think of Elijah going up in his flaming chariot. And
then we built this stone church. Don't you like it? Why, of course you
do; why, I heard father say that you wanted a stone church, and gave
something for one."
"Like it, child, of course we like it! And we did want a stone church,
and we tried to get the folks to build one, but they thought they
weren't rich enough. Like it! why this is one of the happiest moments of
my life. What a striking building it is!"
"Yes; and there is some of your money in it, for I've heard father say
so. They got pay for the old church when it burned, and that went right
into the new. And it was an English company that had to pay the
insurance; and folks said it was no more than right that the English
should pay it, for they burned down the one in 1779 when they burnt up
the town, you know."
"You know a great deal about history and things, don't you?" It was Mrs.
"Judge" that made the pleasing remark.
"Yes, I know many things. It's because I ask so many questions, I
suppose. But mother says I lack 'capacity.' I don't know what she means;
it's something dreadful, I suppose. Perhaps I'll make it up when I get
big. Wouldn't you like to stop at the church and go inside? I've got a
key right here in my pocket. Samuel and I carry keys to about
everything."
"I think we might take a little rest here," said the Judge. "Do you
think the team will stand?" And his eyes twinkled curiously as he looked
out upon Billy and Satan and Turk.
[Illustration]
"Oh, yes! they'll be all right. If they get tired of waiting they can
take a short run on the bicycles. Go up there to the front door.
'Whoa!'" This was said to the team. When they came to a stop Ruth
tumbled out first, then the Judge and his lady followed, scuffing along
as best they could. They unlocked the door; and Ruth rolled back to the
first closet, picked up the envelope with the baby in it, tucked him
into the feather-bed by her side, and returned to the vestibule. They
observed that the church was all lighted and warm. So Ruth slipped off
the feather-bed, although a thousand feathers stuck to her, making the
child appear like a new kind of overgrown fowl. The Judge took the baby
on his arm, for he had also slipped out of Herbert's marble bag, and
then Ruth led them through the building. Every part was explained,--the
windows, the organ, the gaslights, the carved pillars, the glass screen,
the chapel, the piano, the library, the parlor, the furnaces; everything
was noted.
"Why, how lovely it is to be warm in meeting," said Mrs. "Judge." "You
know we used to have foot-stoves, or hot baked potatoes, or a piece of
stone. That was all."
"You don't mean to say that they gave you hot baked potatoes with butter
in meeting, and that was the way you kept warm?"
"Oh, we didn't eat them!" interrupted Mrs. "Judge." "We held them in our
hands, or put them to our feet. But the little stoves were better. And
then finally we had stoves, big stoves, in the meeting-house. I thought
I should faint dead away when they first used them. It seemed to me so
hot and stuffy in the room. And then I remember that my husband laughed
at me when I drove home (I always had to ride, child; I wasn't able to
walk so far for many years); for he said there hadn't been any fires
kindled yet in the new stoves. But I got used to them after a time, and
they were real comfortable. But I should certainly faint away to see the
heat coming right up out of the floor, and think that underneath me was
a raging fire."
"Why that's the way we warm the parsonage," said Ruth. "Didn't you see
the registers?"
"Have you got one of those fires in the cellar?" asked Mrs. "Judge."
"Dear me, Judge, I shall never feel safe again so long as we hang on the
east parlor wall. Why, we shall be liable to burn up any moment. Think
of having one of those awful things, full of fire, right under your
feet. I'm so sorry that I know anything about it."
"Oh, you'll get used to it! You have got used to it, haven't you? There
has been a furnace in the parsonage ever so many years." They were all
seated in the minister's pew in church at this time. The Judge was bowed
in thought.
"He looks as if he was going to pray," whispered Ruth, somewhat
awe-struck by his expression and the stillness of the place as well as
the solemnity of the occasion. But it was hard for her to keep from
asking questions. "Did you see the man in the moon as we came into
church?" she turned to Mrs. "Judge."
"The man in the moon!" exclaimed the lady; "he's the very person that I
want to speak to. I think it's years since I've seen him."
"Well, he's out to-night in great style. It must be because it's
Christmas Eve. Did you hang up your stocking when you were a little
girl?"
"Do what?" inquired the lady.
"Hang up your stocking, to be sure, for Santa Claus to fill it with
presents." The Judge's wife looked with astonishment upon the child by
her side. It was impossible for her to imagine what was meant.
"I never heard of such a thing," she replied. Then Ruth enlightened her.
"You know that Jesus was born on the twenty-fifth of December?"
"Yes, my child."
"And you know God gave him to the world?"
"Yes."
"Well, don't you think it's nice for us to give things to each other on
that day? and don't you believe that Santa Claus comes down the chimney
and brings us lots of presents?"
"Why, I never thought of it." And the dear old lady began to think a
good deal about it.
"We keep it right here in church too. We have a Christmas-tree, and sing
carols, and all the children get presents and candy, and ever so many
nice things; and everybody is just as happy as can be. Don't you think
that is a nice way to remember the coming of Jesus and God's gift to all
of us?"
"Well! well! well! and so to-night is the very night, is it? Judge, did
you know that our folks now keep Christmas in their churches and their
homes? Do you think there is any sin in it?" He was startled out of his
reverie by the question, and Ruth was obliged to explain to him what she
had said to his wife. Then he thought upon it for a little time, and
replied to Mrs. "Judge." It pleased him. He wished to see what it was
like. "Why, I think, my dear, that it might be made a very happy,
helpful festival. Why couldn't we have one over at the house to-night?"
"We are going to have one there in the morning," exclaimed Ruth. "We all
get up bright and early, and our stockings are filled, and there is a
little tree, and candles, and oranges, and shiny balls, and beautiful
things; and we dance around, and sing, and have oh! such a happy, happy
time. I wish you would stay and see it."
"My dear," the Judge was now speaking to his wife, "don't you think you
could get up a little party for the children to-night? We can't stay
until morning, you know. We must go back into the pictures. And the
east wind may rise at any hour."
[Illustration]
"Judge, I'll step out a moment and speak with the man in the moon. He's
out to-night, Ruth says, and perhaps we can arrange something. I'll be
back very soon." So she walked down the aisle, and passed into the
vestibule with all the liveliness of a young dame.
"I think this must be the very spot where I used to sit in the meeting."
The Judge was talking to himself as much as to Ruth. "I wonder what they
did with the old box pew that belonged to me? How times have changed!
But this is very rich and dignified, and satisfies me." As this was
said he surveyed the chaste and elegant interior with approving eye. "I
am glad to see it. But I wish it had been in my day. There are some
ideas that I should like to have embodied in stone on this spot. Strange
world this." And then he bowed his head in thought again.
"I'm going to meet Mrs. 'Judge,'" said Ruth, "unless you will stand up
and make a speech to me. Do you think you are as good and wise and great
as people say? I've heard father tell how you could speak better'n any
minister or lawyer in New England. Could you? Because I'd like to hear
you if you could." The Judge blushed to hear such praise.
"I'm out of practice," he replied. "I believe my voice has lost itself.
It's very trying on the vocal organs to hang in a picture for a hundred
years or so. But I will say a few words." Then the Judge walked up into
the pulpit, made a very graceful bow, and began to recite psalms. His
voice was remarkably rich and sympathetic. He put so much soul into the
words that Ruth sat perfectly still, a thing she had never been known
to do before in all her life. Had it not been for the floating about of
feathers as she breathed, and drove them hither and thither, she would
have appeared like one dead. When the Judge finished he came down from
the pulpit, and Ruth was so overcome that she didn't say one word for as
much as a minute and one half. Then the spell was broken. Mrs. "Judge"
came hastily in, saying that she was ready to go, and the team had just
returned from their run on the bicycles; then they all came out of
church, and the organ played, and the bell rang, and the gas fixtures
jingled, and when the company was fixed in their closets they continued
on the ride.
"Did you see the man in the moon?" inquired Ruth.
"Oh, yes!" replied Mrs. "Judge"; "I've made all the arrangements; and
when we get back the house will be ready, and we'll wake up the
children, and it will be our first real Christmas party. I am going to
invite only the closets and the children. I want to get the closets all
filled up again for once; and then I want to see every one of you
children so full of happiness that you'll run over and make other people
happy too."
[Illustration]
As they were passing the Town Hall the Judge was again reminded of old
times; for that was the very place where he had argued many of his
cases, and won some of his greatest victories.
"My dear," he said, "I could almost imagine we were set back to the War
of 1812, and I was going over to the Court House to express my views to
our citizens."
"It looks as though they'd done something to the building," remarked the
lady. "How they change everything these days!" And then they swung down
Beach Lane, and came to the old cemetery.
"Look at that!" exclaimed Ruth. "Isn't it fine?" She referred to the
thick, solid, stone wall enclosing the grounds, and the beautiful
lich-gate that stood over the entrance.
"We're right up to the times here," continued the child. "The Daughters
of the American Revolution and some of our ladies did that. We can sit
on those stone seats hot summer days, and it's just as cool as cool can
be. And it's such a nice place to play 'hide-and-seek' behind the
grave-stones and the wall among the trees."
"Now, this is what I love to see," observed the Judge. "This shows the
true spirit of reverence. I am proud of these good Daughters. What did
you say they were called? Daughters of the American Revolution? Why,
they must all be dead by this time."
"Oh, no!" explained Ruth; "these are their daughter's daughters, you
know. And they have such good times. Why, mother is going to their
meetings a good deal of the time. They talk about the Revolution and
things, and wear flags and pins, and have refreshments and papers, and
elect officers, and get up plays, and go to Washington, and keep
inviting each other somewhere, and all the while say ever so much about
Washington's Birthday and the Fourth of July and the Battle of
Lexington. Why, we children know so much about history that it seems
sometimes as if we'd lived all through the whole fight, and seen the
town burned, and helped drive the British away. Don't you think we're
smart?"