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SHAWN OF SKARROW
SHAWN OF SKARROW
BY
JAMES TANDY ELLIS
Author of "Sprigs O' Mint," "Kentucky Stories,"
"Awhile in the Mountains," etc.
[Illustration]
THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
COPYRIGHT, 1911,
THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO.,
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece Shawn and Coaly
Page
"You'll be a great fisherman, some day, Shawn" 24
Burney begin to take out the shells 36
"De Prodegale Son" 52
"I'll give you ten dollars to set us over" 62
"You and the doctor got your birds" 82
They were nearing the last hundred yard flag 90
"W'y, Jedge, you know my name" 106
The Cabin of the American fell with a crash 126
Lallite ran up to Shawn, giving him both her hands 139
[Illustration: Shawn and Coaly.]
SHAWN OF SKARROW
CHAPTER I
"Oh Shawn!"
It was a shrill voice calling from the bank above the river.
"You can holler till dark, but I ain't goin' to answer you while a
blue-channel cat is nibblin' at this line."
Through the short and chubby fingers a stout sea-grass line was running
out to the accumulated driftwood in the eddy below the wharf-boat.
Suddenly there came a spasmodic jerk of the line.
"He bluffed that time."
The front finger tapped the line, as an expert telegraph operator taps
his key.
"He's coming back for that crawfish tail now." The line went taut. The
freckled arms executed a series of lightning-like movements and the
catfish lay on the shore, a five-pounder, beating the sands with his
flashing tail.
"Oh Shawn!"
"I'm a-comin' now; come on, Coaly." The little brown dog wagged his tail
and got up from his resting place in the sand. They went up the hill
toward the little frame building on the bank.
The boy's mother met him at the door. She was a frail-looking woman,
upon whose face was a sorrowful and melancholy expression.
"Shawn, Mrs. Alden has sent for you, and wants you to come up to the big
house; get on your cottonade pants and wash your face and comb your
hair, and when you go up there, don't scratch your shins together, and
don't forget to say _yes mam_."
It was a matter of but a few moments for Shawn to array himself in his
best clothes. As he turned to go, his mother wearily took his face
between her hands and kissed him on the lips. The black eyes beamed
tenderly upon her, and over the sun-tanned features flashed a smile of
cheerfulness and love.
"Take that fish to Mrs. Alden, Shawn."
"It's for you, mammy."
"No, take it to her."
Shawn climbed the hill and went up through the alley, going around to
the side entrance of the Alden home. There was something about the great
house which always filled him with a spirit of awe, and as he glanced
over toward the long garden and orchard, there came into his heart a
yearning such as he had never known before.
A servant opened the door, and Shawn held up his fish: "This is for Mrs.
Alden; she sent for me." The servant took the fish and said, "You will
find Mrs. Alden in the next room. Leave your dog outside." Shawn walked
into the room. A woman with a sweet spiritual face sat in an invalid's
rolling-chair.
Extending her thin white hand to Shawn, she bestowed upon him a smile of
tenderness.
"I am glad you came, Shawn; take that chair." Shawn was striving hard
to remember his mother's parting injunction in regard to his shins.
"How old are you, Shawn?"
"Yes, mam, fourteen past in March."
"How long have you attended school?" The black eyelashes fell and the
smile vanished. "I went to old 'fesser Barker up to Christmas twice."
"Why did you stop?"
"I put red pepper on his plug tobacker!"
"Did you go to any other school?"
"Yes, mam, I went to Miss Julie Bean six months."
"Did you quit that school?"
"Yes, mam, I put cuckle burrs in her bonnet."
"Weren't you sorry for it?"
"Yes, mam, but too late."
"You spend a good part of your time fishing, don't you?"
"Yes, mam, but I catches them."
"Isn't there anything you would rather do than fish?" A long silence
followed, then the eyes suddenly brightened:
"Yes, mam."
"What is it?"
"I'd rather blow up hog bladders with a quill and bust 'em!"
"Shawn, have you ever thought of what you would like to do in life; what
you would like to make of yourself as you grow to manhood?"
"Yes, mam, I'm goin' to be a doctor!"
"Indeed!"
"Yes, mam, indeed, I help doctor Hissong roll pills now, and he helps me
in my books more than I learned at school."
"Shawn, I am going to ask you to begin with the term of school which
opens soon. I will furnish you with books and tuition and will help you
in every way."
"Will it help me to be a doctor?"
"It will help you in everything."
"Could I take Coaly with me?"
"I hardly think so."
Shawn gazed out of the window. The fleecy clouds were moving
majestically above the river, along the old haunts he loved so well, but
something in the kind blue eyes of the good woman sitting there with
folded hands, touched his innermost being, and he arose and turning
squarely to face his benefactress, said: "I'll do it, Mrs. Alden."
"I thank you, Shawn."
"Yes, mam, but I did not ketch that fish I brought you for niggers to
eat; they never told you I brought it."
Mrs. Alden rolled her chair near him, and placing her hand on his
shoulder, said, "I appreciate your bringing it very much and will
remember it."
As Shawn left the porch he turned to his little dog and said, "Oh, Lord,
Coaly, we're goin' to school!"