But to resoom backwards agin. Anna said her Ma had not only acted
dretful cool and distant to her Pa ever since, but kep’ up a cool,
icy demeanor towards everybody who pitied her over Cicero’s fate.
And the thought her idee in givin’ the party wuz to show she could
still keep up and hold her ground, and wuz not such a forlorn
object of pity as they all seemed to think. Well, Tamer did look
queer, her face put me in mind some of our creek before it breaks
up in the spring, sort o’ cold and smooth and ice bound, and as if
you would be apt to slip up if you ventured a foot on it.
Not one of the relations had dasted, so fur as I could make out,
to say one word to her about Cicero, and if relations don’t dast,
then who will! I myself didn’t feel like mentionin’ his name, no,
my feelin’s wuz so deep no plummet might sound ’em in regard to
that boy and his folks. Deep pity, knowledge of first causes, and
prophetic feelings I had as to sure results to spring from dime
novels, cigarettes, etc., made my feelin’s queer as a dog’s, a
black dog’s. And I didn’t feel like sayin’ one word, no, indeed,
I felt I had had my say, and, as I watched Tamer’s icy face, I
thought to myself I didn’t want to be anywhere round when the ice
broke up and the waves of remorse and regret washed tumultous.
Well, she had an elegant dinner and supper, waited on in first
class style by a new girl, and I dassent for my life congratulate
Tamer on her efficient and neat lookin’ handmaid, no, I dassent
bring back any reminiscences of Arabeller, I kep’ still, and,
follerin’ the Scripter, I partook of what wuz set before me and
asked no questions for conscience sake.
Uncle Ichabod, bein’ the oldest perfessor present, asked splendid
blessin’s at both meals, and everything moved on as smooth as
clockwork; the relations visited together and talked about the
news of the day and about the absent relation, as is their wont
to do on such occasions. The old ones settin’ with their heads
clost together tradin’ stories of the past; the middle-aged ones
strollin’ round or gossippin’ together on the porches or lawn,
talkin’ together of the present, their business, their failures and
successes; the young ones playin’ on the pianny, and the children
shoutin’ and laughin’ and havin’ the best time of all.
And Celestine paintin’ away at that landscape and perfectin’ the
feathers of that stork. Two or three times I see little Mary
approach her and snuggle up against her and seem to want some
attention, but every time her Ma wuz too busy to notice her, some
of the tiny feathers on that stork’s legs callin’ for concentrated
attention, and the bulrushes on the bank had to be shaded jest
right, and so she told little Mary to run away, she couldn’t spend
any time with her.
Well, the relations all went home on the evenin’ train and stage,
all but one or two of the business men, who had to go earlier,
them men took their pleasure grudgingly as if they didn’t really
know how to spend in social enjoyment and leisure the time that
should been devoted to pilin’ up treasures on earth. All went but
Celestine and little Mary and my pardner and me. By the urgent
requests of Tamer and Hamen, and the still more urgent pleas of
Anna and Jack, we stayed for several days, Josiah and Hamen goin’
out for two days a-runnin’ to neighborin’ farmers to see the
operations of a new and curiously constructed windmill. Josiah
talks of rarin’ one up to home, and so duz Hamen. So, as Josiah
seemed to be contented and happy, I tried to be the same, though I
felt I wuz confronted by more curious, complicated problems than
any windmill that ever beat the air.
Oh, how Tamer’s cold, icy demeanor chilled my heart! How Anna’s
sweet, patient, submissive air wrung the same almost to burstin’
on’t! How the actions of Hamen and his brother to little Jack,
foolin’ him, deceivin’ him, and Tamer’s scrupulous attention to his
clothes and hair, and paying no attention whatever to his childish
soul needs, how all that wrought on the heart aforesaid!
Von Crank went home on the train the relation took, so there wuz
one queer element less to contend with, and I trust I wuz thankful
for that mercy. After Von Crank left the queerest element that wuz
left I think in our soul atmosphere wuz Celestine’s pictures. They
looked queer, yes, indeed, they did! but her mind wuz all entangled
in their strange scenery, forgittin’ she had a sweet, lovely child
right by her side. And she wuz a lovely child. I realized it more
and more durin’ the days when we wuz so much together, her Ma bein’
on the piazza and not to be disturbed. Mary’s eyes wuz so bright
and big and soft and had the very same look in ’em that Jack’s had
sometimes, they seemed to be lookin’ fur off into mysteries we
couldn’t see. And I spoze they see ’em, too, though in a strange
fashion, too pure and fine to be uttered in our language.
I never looked at ’em when they wuz in these moods (alternated
on Jack’s part by loud yellin’ and kickin’ up), I never see that
dreamy, rapt look in their faces without bein’ reminded of the
verse about the children who always behold the face of the Father.
And I believe they did see Him, not in the divine form mebby, but
some mysterious afterglow of the divine brightness.
And they wuz believin’ children, too, trustin’ children naturally,
though Jack, by hard experience, wuz learnin’ to doubt, and how
any one could look into their sweet, believin’ eyes and tell ’em
wrong stories, tryin’ to fool ’em, jest as if their sweet, childish
wisdom wuzn’t milds beyend their poor earthly knowledge, wuz more
than I could see.
But Hamen and his brother had got so in the habit of tellin’ Jack
every story they could think of, would tell the same things to
Mary, and Celestine wuz too took up with her Art to notice. Truly
her pictures seemed to be a necessity of life to her, when, as
it seemed to me, she had more than enough for comfort, she wuz
hurryin’ to produce more. She offered to paint me a calendar, but I
mildly rejected the overtoor. I sez to her that the days and weeks
brought so many strange things as they went on that I guessed I had
jest as soon take ’em plain. I wuz polite to her, but gin her to
understand I wuzn’t sufferin’ for it.
But Tamer wuz enthusiastick about ’em, and Celestine painted her
one with every week, showin’ a new animal kinder sprawlin’ round
it, amongst some strange flowers and things, I couldn’t have stood
it myself to had it round, but Tamer liked it, and Celestine said
she would paint one for the hull family. And, bein’ so wrought up
ornamentin’ the days of the week on paper, she entirely forgot
that the days and years of God held any duty for her, forgot the
sweet little soul he had gin to her charge for weal or woe, forgot
to speak a word to her from mornin’ till night. Why, it wuz worse
than the children mentioned in Scripter when they asked for bread
and got a stun, poor little Mary asked for the bread of love and
got nothin’ but a piece of paper, though there hain’t a stun on
the face of the earth, from Gibrialtar down to a slate stun, that
I wouldn’t ruther had gin to me than to have owned one of them
picters and had to look at it. But she kep’ at ’em.
Well, it wuz the third day we had been there, and it wuz a
beautiful evenin’. I wuz settin’ in my winder overlookin’ the lake,
and, seein’ how bright the stars looked reflected in the smooth
water and how the crescent moon lay down there like a big golden
boat all full and flashin’ with light, and the glowin’ path that
led to it shone so it looked like one of them streets of gold we
read about in the New Jerusalem, it seemed so solid and bright that
it fairly tempted one to walk out on it and set sail in that great
dazzlin’ boat for the golden shores and fairy pinnacles of that
city that lay becalmed in the west.
And as I sot there I heard, with a small part of my brain, the
other part bein’ occupied with my rapt musin’s, little Mary’s voice
talkin’ down under the winder on the stoop with her Uncle Hamen,
she had always lived inland and had never seen such a glorious
show on the water, the nights she had stayed there bein’ cloudy or
stormy, I hearn her say in her earnest way, “What is that light,
Uncle Hamen, way off there on the water? It looks like a great
shinin’ boat.”
And then I hearn, as one who did not hear, Hamen say, “It is a
boat, Mary.”
“Well, what are the little bright lights all round it? Are they
little playhouses for children? They look so small and bright, and
there is such a pretty path to ’em over the water.”
And then I hearn Hamen go on, a little I heard there with my ears
onbeknown to me and a little I hearn afterwards from the lips of
a too late remorse, but ’tennyrate Hamen told her they wuz little
playhouses where good little boys and girls went to play, and asked
if she didn’t want to go and play in one of ’em.
And she told him in her believin’, trustin’ way that she guessed
she would go out and live in one of them with Jack.
And Hamen said it would be a good idee, they could take some dishes
and things and keep house there, and told her to talk to Jack about
it. And she pattered off to find Jack, and Hamen told his brother
about it, and they both tittered and laughed. But that I did hear
afterwards, I am truthful and will not lie even in moments of
excitement and tragedy, I did not hear the titters.
Well, it wuzn’t long after that that Jack come into my room, and I,
bein’ so wropped round with my reverie, didn’t notice anything in
particular, but remember thinkin’ in a dreamy way that he looked
dretful buttoned up as if he wuz ready to start off somewhere, and
his pockets seemed kinder bulgin’ out, but if I thought anything,
I thought it wuz some of his and little Mary’s play, they played
keepin’ house and doctorin’ and visitin’ and everything. Well, he
come to me and asked me if folks ever lived in the stars?
And I sez, “Sometimes I have thought so, Jack.”
“You’re always sure nuff, Aunt Samantha, and that is why I asked
you. Do you spoze they are playgrounds where folks that are tired
out, wore out with folks here, can go with somebody they love and
have a good time?”
I declare for’t I had been thinkin’ them very thoughts as I sot
there lookin’ at the stars and their bright reflections in the
water. I had been thinkin’ of how sweet it would be for them who
are unhappy, seperated by some cruel chance from them they love,
how sweet it would be if them shinin’ worlds wuz indeed restful,
lovely playgrounds where they could wander together like happy
children full of the delight and wonder of readin’ new truths and
new happiness in each other’s eyes.
I had jest been thinkin’ of this when Jack come to me, and I
rousted up partly from my reverie some like one half asleep. But
even in the hours of meditation and reverie I cling to the apron
string of truth, and when he sez:
“Do you spoze, Aunt Samantha, the stars are playgrounds?”
I spozein’ he meant after this life instead of the present,
spozein’ he referred to the Over World, the Beautiful Hereafter
that is the groundwork of all my thoughts, no matter what set
flowers of reality is painted on it, I spozed he meant that, and I
sez half sadly, half hopefully:
“I have thought it wuz, Jack, a place of beautiful play and
beautiful work.”
And as I looked out agin on the lovely cloudy surface of the water,
gemmed by them gleaming orbs, sunthin’ like a sad life lit by a
glowin’ love and hope, I added:
“Sometimes I have been sure of it.”
And Jack sez, “Do you spoze there will be anybody there to answer
questions?” And I, thinkin’ of the strange riddles of this life,
and how much we need heavenly light on ’em, sez:
“Yes, I am sure of that, Jack.”
“Well, I sot for a spell longer lookin’ out dreamily and never took
particular notice of his warm kiss as he left me, he wuz always
kissin’ me, except thinkin’ mekanically it wuz a long and sticky
one, as they often wuz, owin’ to love and molasses candy. And it
wuzn’t more’n a spell after that before I ondressed and went to
bed, Josiah havin’ been reposin’ on his peaceful piller for some
time. And I, too, fell asleep. When all of a sudden I hearn steps
runnin’ round and excited talk goin’ on below, my first thought wuz
of burglars, but as the excitement seemed to increase I thought of
a conflagration and rousted up my companion, and sez:
“Sunthin’ is the matter, Josiah Allen, you will have to git up and
see about it.”
“Which is it to-night, Samantha,” sez he, in a sarcastick axent
that I despise, “is it a mouse or a burglar!”
I looked witherin’ at him, and he sez, “I merely asked you so I
should know how to prepare to meet the foe, with a mouse trap or a
sord.”
I deny that I git him up very often to tend to such things, not
oftener than once in a while, not oftener than the common run of
wimmen do. But the excitement continued to rain, and finally he
hearn it rain himself, and he sez:
“Well, I guess there is sunthin’ the matter.”
And jest then we hearn a rap on our door, and Josiah sez, “Who is
there? What is the matter?”
And a voice answered, “Jack and Mary can’t be found!”
And I riz right up and dressed me, and so did Josiah, I forebodin’
all the time, a shadder of the great Onknown seemin’ to fall over
my mind and heart, as if preparin’ me for what wuz to come.
When we got downstairs Tamer wuz in highstericks, and Celestine,
forgittin’ her art, wuz rushin’ round to and fro with a white
wrapper on and a whiter face, callin’ on little Mary in axents so
pitiful it almost seemed it would roust up a dead baby, let alone
a lovin’, livin’ child. Where wuz them strange animals in that
hour? They had walked clean away and left her in agony and despair.
She seemed to know from the first on’t that sunthin’ dretful had
happened, and so did Tamer. There are awful secrets that mothers
learn down in the Valley of Death where they go to claim their
babies, they learn things there and keep ’em in their inmost nater,
so clost that art or literatoor, however lurid, can’t dislodge ’em.
They felt what they couldn’t explain, hence the highstericks,
shriekin’, etc.
Hamen and John, though lookin’ dretful troubled, kep’ on sayin’
they wuz hid somewhere, they would be found, all right, they wuz
safe, but goin’ round at a good jog, nevertheless, tryin’ to find
’em. But it wuz my own pardner and myself that found them babies.
Alas, for the awful sight! alas, for the woeful sight! Yes, we
found ’em.
There wuz a certain place quite a good ways from the house where
I knew the children often went to play at keepin’ house. An old
gnarled willow tree hung over the water, and in its crooked trunk
wuz a holler place where they kep’ their little dishes and things,
and one or two old dolls for children. Sunthin’ told me to look
there, and, follered by my faithful pardner, I went to the little
holler jest out of sight of the house.
And there, with the moonlight fallin’ as sorrowful as if some
weepin’ angel of compassion wuz holdin’ down a lantern to light us
in our search, we found ’em.
Jack had held up little Mary till his arms had fairly froze into
that poster of heroism, so she hadn’t been in the water nigh so
long. We knew he had tried to save her till his strength gin way
and his faithful little arms could no longer do the biddin’ of his
generous, lovin’ heart. Little hero! Many a man standin’ up above
the multitude on top of a monument did not die half so glorious a
death as you did.
And, whether Jack went in after Mary to save her or whether he,
too, believed the story of the shinin’ playgrounds (alas! alas!
confirmed by me onbeknown to myself) and sot out for ’em with her,
we shall never know. All she could remember, sweet little soul! wuz
that she sot out to go to them happy playgrounds and sunk down,
down into blackness and night.
But for half an hour little Mary’s soul wuz gone away, I wonder
where it wuz, anyway, it wuzn’t here. No, her white, cold body
didn’t have any tenant in it, no sign of one, there wuz no fire in
it, the light wuz blowed out, she wuz gone.
The sweet little soul had gone away visitin’, and I would give--oh!
I don’t know what I wouldn’t give to know where it had gone. It
couldn’t be the Great Home we move into when our life lease ends
here on our earthly property. No, for when we once move out of this
earthly body we don’t move back into it agin, that is one of the
conditions of the transfer. No, it wuzn’t there, and where then
wuz it? I don’t know, nor Josiah don’t. But after a long, long time
it come back slowly, lingerin’ly, as if it hated to come.
Celestine hung over her with a look on her face that made me
believe that if she ever did come back she would come into a new
world where love and care rained instead of art exclusively. Yes,
she come back agin, but Jack, dear little boy, he had gone away for
good. Yes, I say that word a-purpose, he had gone for good, good
for him, but for them who loved him so, what shall we say?
I wonder if he wuz permitted to look forward and see what wuz to
be in the future; Tamer and Hamen brung together by the awful hand
of Grief and mutual remorse, Hamen a different, more Christian
man. Tamer’s icy, cold mean broke up and pulverized by the hand of
Grief, the flood of awakened remorse sweepin’ away on its current
old foolish ambitions, pride and self-will. Anna left free to
marry the man of her choice, Tamer and Hamen rousted up to good
deeds and the performance of duty, so layin’ up a store of blessed
remembrances to replace the old wretched ones. Cicero comin’ home
repentant to begin a new life under the guardianship of a new
father and mother, all this and more.
But yet, oh, my poor Jack! that your dear little ice cold form wuz
to be the centre from which such blessed events should flow out!
Icy cold forehead with the brown curls layin’ on it like gleams of
gold, not warmin’ it up any; roses heaped in the tiny cold fingers
that did not close on what they loved so; tears falling on the
sweet face onnoticed and in vain.
Good-by, dear little Jack--good-by!
+-------------------------------------------+
| =A FEW FROM HUNDREDS OF PRESS NOTICES OF |
| |
| Around the World with Josiah Allen’s Wife |
| |
| By MARIETTA HOLLEY= |
+-------------------------------------------+
“The persons who do not love quaint Josiah Allen’s wife have
something serious the matter with them. A more original and
delightful character does not exist. The homely old philosopher,
with her rugged sense, her quick wit, her unfailing humor, and
her lively faculty of observation, will make her old friends
more steadfast than ever and gain a host of new ones, by her
latest adventures. It is a rare privilege to read a book which
combines so happily the qualities of being both amusing and
wholesome.”--_Albany Times-Union._
“The author besides having a marked talent for humor, possesses
an effective capacity for pathos, and this book, besides being
excellent fiction, is an instructive geographical excursion.”--_New
York Evening Telegram._
“Josiah Allen’s wife is a familiar character in households all
over this broad land. Her doings in the past have been so closely
watched that she has secured a place at the family hearth, which
cannot be shaken. Her doings have been related and read aloud in
the family circle and when ‘the end’ was reached there has ever
been a sigh of regret.”--_Albany Evening News._
“A good many readers are acquainted with Josiah Allen’s wife
and have laughed with her as she philosophizes her smiling
way about this country. In this last book Josiah Allen’s wife
extends her territory and broadens her views as she covers the
ground.”--_Seattle Post-Intelligencer._
“True pathos, as well, is not lacking in Samantha’s reflections
upon what she sees and hears that is sad, and her true insight
into the springs of human action is often expressed in kindly and
humorous ridicule.”--_Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin._
“Pathetic and humorous incidents tumbling over each other in rapid
succession is the best the author has given to the public.”--_St.
Louis Mirror._
“Samantha has had her admirers these many years. Her humor has
caught the fancy of the people far and wide, while they have
been moved by her pathos at times. Samantha in this book is as
wise and witty in her own shrewd way as ever. She is entirely an
American character and one needs only to know her to appreciate
her.”--_Philadelphia Press._
“Provides you with a view of the universe through homely
spectacles, and stands by the while uttering good housewifely
philosophies calculated to make you laugh.”--_St. Louis Republic._
“Those who have enjoyed the discursive descriptions of Samantha’s
experiences at the great expositions and under other and varied
circumstances, will without doubt also enjoy this new book, ‘Around
the World with Josiah Allen’s Wife.’”--_New York Tribune._
“The best of her books.”--_Albany Press._
“One of the ‘classics’ of literary comedy.”--_Toledo Blade._
=A large, handsome Volume, profusely illustrated and beautifully
bound in cloth. Price, $1.50=
=G. W. DILLINGHAM CO. Publishers, NEW YORK=
=TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE=
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the
text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when
a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Frontispiece: ‘_Frontispiece. Page 18._’ replaced by
‘_Frontispiece_.’
Illustrations Page: ‘_Frontispiece_ 18’ replaced by
‘_Frontispiece_’.
Pg 91: Removed duplicate line ‘young man I ever set. He wuz
good’.
Pg 123: Removed duplicate lines ‘relations; I don’t think it the
right thing to do. But I can’t help sayin’ that I did see
lots of things that’.
Pg 133: ‘Beatious Ballet Girl’ replaced by ‘Beauteous Ballet Girl’.
Pg 133: ‘hosuehold money’ replaced by ‘household money’.
Pg 141: ‘It it were’ replaced by ‘If it were’.
Pg 153: ‘it stand to’ replaced by ‘it stands to’.
Pg 183: ‘that the children’ replaced by ‘than the children’.
Pg 209: ‘right into our our’ replaced by ‘right into our’.
Pg 213: ‘in not in Anna’ replaced by ‘is not in Anna’.
Pg 230: ‘told me atferwards’ replaced by ‘told me afterwards’.
Pg 230: ‘it took sights’ replaced by ‘It took sights’.
Pg 241: ‘he stood still’ replaced by ‘she stood still’.
Pg 258: ‘there is wuz’ replaced by ‘there it wuz’.
Pg 263: ‘after twelve P.?’ replaced by ‘after twelve P. M.?’.
Pg 270: ‘after Arabella’ replaced by ‘after Arabeller’.
Pg 273: ‘cothes all muddy’ replaced by ‘clothes all muddy’.
Pg 275: ‘“Nell,” sez Tamer’ replaced by ‘“Well,” sez Tamer’.
Pg 276: ‘lighter that’ replaced by ‘lighter than’.