After the early supper of stale bread, saltless butter, dark dried
apple sauce, and chippy cake had been disposed of, Lemuel returned to
his rocking chair by the stove, Aunt Sabrina and Isabel took seats, each
at a window, and read by the fading light, and Albert put on his hat,
lighted a cigar, and went out. His brother John stood smoking a pipe
in the yard, leaning against the high well-curb, his hands deep in his
pantaloons pocket, and his feet planted far to the front and wide apart.
Seth was coming from the barns toward the well, with a bucket in his
hand. Albert walked across to the curb, and the three brothers were
alone together for the first time in years.
“It does one good to be out of doors such an evening as this,” said
Albert. “It seems to me it would be better if father would get out in
the open air more, instead of sitting cooped up over that stove all the
while.”
“When a man’s been out in the open air, rain or shine, snow or blow,
for fifty years, he ought to have earned the right to stay inside, if
he wants to. That’s about the only reward there is at the end of a
farmer’s life,” answered Seth, turning the calfbucket upside down beside
John, and sitting on it. Seth had his old clothes on once more, and
perhaps there was some consciousness of the contrast between his apparel
and that of his black-clad brethren in the truculent tone of his reply.
John had nodded at Albert on his approach, and thrust his feet a trifle
further forward. He still stood silent, looking meditatively at the row
of poplars on the other side of the road through rings of pipe smoke.
“So you don’t think much of farm work, eh?” said Albert.
“Who does?” replied Seth, sententiously.
A considerable period of silence ensued. Albert had never had a very
high idea of his younger brothers’ conversational qualities, and had
rarely known how to talk easily with them, but to-night it seemed a
greater task than ever. He offered them cigars, in a propitiatory way.
Seth accepted and lit one; John said “Thanks, I prefer a pipe,” and
silence reigned again.
It was twilight now, and in the gathering dusk there was no sign of
motion about, nor any sound save the tinkle of a sheep-bell in the
pasture opposite.
John’s pipe burned out, and Albert pressed a cigar upon him again.
“I _want_ you to try them,” he said, almost pleadingly, “I’m sure you’ll
like them. They are a special brand the steward at the Union League gets
for me.”
This time John consented, and he seemed to feel that the act involved a
responsibility to talk, for he said, with an effort at amiability as he
struck a match:
“Your wife seems to be looking very well.”
“Yes, Isabel’s health is perfect, and it always benefits her to get out
in the country. That’s a kind of Irishism isn’t it? I mean it makes her
good health more obvious.”
“Good health is a great thing,” John answered.
The conversation was running emptings again, almost at the start. Albert
made a heroic effort to strengthen it.
“Well, this is a regular quakers’ meeting,” he said, briskly. “We see
each other so seldom, we are almost strangers when we do meet. I want to
be frank with you, come now, and you should be frank with me. You have
something on your minds, I can see. Isn’t it something I ought to know?”
Seth spoke again: “Perhaps on the evening of one’s mother’s funeral it
isn’t to be expected that even brothers should feel chatty.”
The village journalist felt the injustice of this comment from the
youngster.
“No, Seth,” he said, “Don’t snap Albert up in that fashion. I dare say
he feels the thing, in his own way, as much as the rest of us. You are
right, Albert; there _is_ something, and I’ll tell you plainly what it
is. Do you see those poplars over there? In the morning their shadows
Come almost to our front door. Father planted them with his own hands.
When I was a boy, I used to play over there, and climb up on to the
bolls, and pretend I was to build houses there, like in Swiss Family
Robinson. Well, that land passed out of our hands so long ago--it’s been
an old story for years. Do you see the roof of the red school-house over
back of the hill?” turning toward the South. “Or no, the light is too
poor now, but you know where it is. When I used to cut ’cross lots to
school there, I went the whole way over father’s land. Now, if I wanted
to go there, how many people would I trespass on, Seth?”
“Ferguson owns the clover meadow, and Pratt has the timothy meadow, and
what we used to call the berry patch belongs to Sile Thomas; he’s begun
to build a house on it.”
“Precisely. Why even the fence close to where mother’s grave is, divides
ours from another man’s land now.”
“Sabrina spoke to me about all this this afternoon,” said Albert
hesitatingly, “and I tried, as I often have before, to make her
understand that that must be the natural course of affairs, so long as
the East tries to compete with the West in farming.”
“Well that may be all right, but Elhanan Pratt seems to manage to
compete with the West, as you call it, and so do the Fergusons and all
the rest of them. We are the only ones who appear to get left, every
time. Of course, it’s somebody’s fault. Father’s been a poor manager,
no use of denying that. But that doesn’t make it any the easier to bear.
Father hardly knows which way to turn for ours from another man’s now.
Money; he might have scraped through the year if hops had had a good
season, but at nine cents a pound it was hardly worth while to take them
to the depot. You can’t clear expenses at less than eleven cents. And
then if he does have a fairly decent year, his hop-pickers are always
the most drunken, idle gang of them all, who eat their heads off, and
steal more fruit and chickens than they pick boxes, and if anybody’s
hops are spoiled in the kiln, you can bet on their being Fairchild’s,
every time. And three years ago, it was the hop merchant who failed,
just at the opportune moment, and let Father in for a whole years’
profit and labor. Of course, it’s all bad luck, mismanagement, whatever
you like to call it, and it can’t be helped, I suppose. But it makes a
man sour, and it broke poor mother’s heart. And then here’s Seth.”
“Oh, never mind me, I can stand it, I guess, if the rest can. I’m not
complaining” came from the figure on the bucket--only dimly to be seen
now, in the shadow of the curb, and the increasing darkness.
“Here’s Seth,” continued John, without noting the disclaimer. “You and
I had _some_ advantages--of course, mine were not to be compared with
yours, but still I was given a chance, such as it was and I don’t know
that I would trade what I learned at work during college years for a
college education--but this poor boy, who’s thought about him, who’s
given him a chance to show what’s in him? He’s been allowed to come up
as he could, almost like any farm laborer. His mother tried to do her
little, but what spirit did she have for it, and what time did the
drudgery here give him? Thank God! He’s had the stuff in him to work at
education himself, and he’s got the making of the best man of us three.
But it’s no thanks to you. And _that’s_ why we feel hard, Albert. Nobody
supposes you could make a good farmer and manager out of father; nobody
blames you for a bad hop season, or the dishonesty of Biggs. But I do
say that of us three brothers there’s one who frets and worries over
the thing, and though he’s a poor man, does all he can afford to do, and
more too, to help make it better; and there’s another, young, ambitious,
capable, whose nose is held down to the grindstone, and the best years
of whose life are being miserably spent in a hopeless wrestling with
debt and disaster; and there’s a third brother, the oldest brother,
rich, easy, enjoying all the luxuries of life, who don’t give a damn
about it all! _That’s_ what I say, and if you don’t like it, you
needn’t!”
The silence which ensued was of the kind that can be felt. The two
cigars at the corners of the old curb glowed intermittently in the
darkness. John’s had gone out during his speech, and as he re-lighted
it, the glare of the match showed an excited, indignant face. There was
no room for doubt, after the momentary exhibit which the red light made,
that John was very much in earnest.
Albert was thinking laboriously on his answer. Meantime, he said, to
fill the interval “Do you like the cigar?”
“Yes; a fifteen center, isn’t it?”
Albert had it in his mind to say truthfully that he paid $180 per
thousand, but the fear of invidious comparisons rose before him in time,
and he said “About that, I think.”
He waited a moment, still meditating, and threw out another stop-gap:
“It’s curious how the rhetorical habit grows on a man who writes leading
articles. I noticed that you used three adjectives every time, the
regular cumulative thing, you know.”
“Maybe so; it would be more to the purpose to hear what you think about
the spirit of my oration; the form doesn’t matter so much.”
“Well, I will tell you, John,” said Albert, slowly, still feeling his
way, “to speak frankly, no doubt there’s a good deal in what you say. I
feel that there is. But you ought to consider that it isn’t easy for a
man living in a great city, immersed in business cares, and engrossed in
the labors of his profession, to realise all these things, and see them
as you, who are here on the ground, see them. It’s hardly fair to attack
me as heartless, when you present these facts to me for the first time.”
“For the first time! You ought to have seen them for yourself without
presenting. And then you said Sabrina had often discussed the subject
with you.”
“Oh, but her point of view is always family dignity, the keeping up of
the Fairchilds’ homestead in baronial state, and that sort of thing. You
should have heard her this afternoon, telling me how her fathers name
used to be coupled with Dearborn County, just as Silas Wright’s was with
Dutchess--either Dutchess or Delaware, I forget which she said--but it
was very funny.”
“Sabrina and I haven’t spoken for I don’t know how long, and we’re not
likely to again in a hurry, but for all that I’m bound to say I wish
some others of the family had as much pride as she’s got,” said John.
“Whatever else she may be, she’s as loyal and as faithful to the family
idea, as jealous of the family’s name, as any old Spanish grandee. And
I confess the Silas Wright thing doesn’t seem funny to me at all--any
fellow with the right kind of a heart in him would feel that it was
deucedly pathetic--the poor old maid clinging through the shipwreck to
that one spar of support--the recollection of a time when her father was
bigger than his county. Such things oughtn’t to be laughed at.”
Albert lost his patience. “Confound it, man, do you want to force me
into a quarrel--this night of all others! By George, was there ever such
a brace of brothers! I come out here to get you by yourselves, to talk
over with you some plans that have occurred to me for setting things
right here--and I haven’t had a civil answer yet from either of you.
First it’s the youngster who scowls and snarls at me, and then you read
me lofty lectures on my behavior, and then both together in concerted
condemnation. No wonder I come rarely to the farm! It’s enough to sicken
any man of family ties, to be bullyragged in this way. I’ve a good mind
to tell you you can all go to the devil, and be hanged to you!”
The figure on the bucket rose to its feet with a spring, so
energetically that there seemed a menace in the action. The village
editor restrained this movement with a quiet hand, and a whispered “Keep
cool, Seth.” Then he said with exaggerated calmness of voice:
“Personally, perhaps I shouldn’t mind much if you did. But there are
others to look after, and so, before you do, it might be worth while to
learn what the fine alternative was to have been. It would be a great
pity to not even to hear these noble plans with which you were primed,
you say, when you came out.”
“But you must admit, John, that you and Seth tonight have been enough to
try the patience of a saint.”
“Oh, yes, we admit that. Go on!”
“Well, you’ve made it a little difficult for me to develop my
plans--they were scarcely formed in my mind. In a general way, I wanted
to consult you about freeing the farm, perhaps buying back some of the
original land that has gone, putting the house in shape again, improving
the stock, placing Father and Sabrina beyond the chance of ever being
embarrassed again--and--and--doing something for Seth.”
“Nobody wants you--” began the impatient Seth.
“Youngster, _you_ shut up!” said John, again using the quieting hand.
“Do you really mean all this, Albert?”
“I should scarcely have spoken in detail as I have, otherwise,” answered
the lawyer loftily.
“Well, this--” said John, “this takes a fellow’s breath away.”
“If you hadn’t been in such haste to impute bad motives and convict me
without judge or jury, perhaps the effect of my plans might not have
been so overpowering.”
“Yes, we did you an injustice, Albert, clearly we did. We were full of
the idea that all these troubles rolled off you like water off a duck’s
back. It seems that was our mistake. But--what’s your scheme?”
“Definitely, I have none, except to do all I can, in the way we may
decide will be best all around. I have been thinking some of coming to
live here myself, say from May to November of each year, and taking the
farm into my own hands.”
“H’m--m! That might have its advantages, perhaps--_but_----”
“Oh, I know what you mean. If I do, everybody’s rights shall be
respected. We’ll fix that beyond question, to your satisfaction, before
a thing is done.”
“I don’t care about myself, particularly; you know that: but then
there’s Seth, you know--we’ve always figured on the farm as his. It’s
true he don’t want to be a farmer, that he hates the whole thing, but
still that represents all his capital, so to speak, and--”
“My dear John, that shall all be arranged. I am a childless
man--probably always shall be. As long as Father lives the farm shall
remain in his name. Either his will can be in my favor, or I can manage
the farm as a trustee for all three of us, after he’s gone. In either
case, you shall both be protected in turn by my will--absolutely
protected. Meantime, what do you want me to do for Seth? What does he
want to do?”
“Nothing needs to be done for me,” began Seth, “I can--”
“Now, youngster, _will_ you be quiet!” said John, in mock despair. “I’ll
tell you what you can do for Seth, and do easily. Get him a place on
some decent newspaper, in New York or one of the larger cities of the
State, and let him have money enough to eke out a small salary at first,
so that he can begin at editorial work instead of tramping up through
the reporter’s treadmill, as I had to. That’s all Seth’ll ask, and it
will be the making of him.”
“Begin at editorial work--Seth? Nonsense!”
“No nonsense about it. For two years back Seth has been doing some of
the best work on my paper--work that’s been copied all over the State.”
“Bless my soul, what a literary family we are!” said the lawyer. “Does
Aunt Sabrina write, too? Perhaps those love poems you have on the last
page are hers.”
John continued without noticing the interjection. “Do you remember
that long article on Civil Service Reform we had in the _Banner_ last
January?”
“I don’t think I do, John. To be frank, although we enjoy having you
send us the _Banner_ immensely, occasionally it happens that the stress
of professional duties compels me to miss reading a number.”
“Well that article was reprinted in all the big papers, from Boston to
Chicago. I never knew any other thing from a little village paper to
travel so far, or attract so much attention. I had lots of letters about
it, too. That article was Seth’s--all his own. I didn’t change a word in
it. And he’s hardly seen any thing of the world yet, either.”
The lawyer was heard chuckling, when John’s voice died away in the
darkness. The cigars had long since burned out, and the men could with
difficulty see one another. The two younger brothers waited, the one
surprised, the other increasingly indignant, to learn the cause of
Albert’s hilarity.
“Do you realise, John,” he said at last, with merriment still in his
voice, “what a delightful commentary on Civil Service Reform your words
make. The best article on that doctrine is written by a youngster who
has never left the farm, who doesn’t know the difference between a
Custom House and a letter-box on a lamp-post! Ho, ho, I must tell that
to Chauncey when I see him.”
An hour later, John and Seth still leaned against the mossy curb,
smoking and talking over the words of their elder brother, who sometime
before had gone in to avoid the dew-fall.
“I wonder if we _have_ misjudged him, after all,” said Seth. “I’m almost
ashamed to accept his favors, after the way I pitched into him.”
“I wonder what his scheme really is,” mused the more experienced village
editor.