Among the rest was Deacon Scott, who was almost as much averse to
"new-fangled" notions as was Mr Fleming. But he engaged the machine
for the next day, and paid a good price for it--which was all clear
gain, Mr Hemmenway admitted to Davie in confidence. Going about from
field to field for a few days in a neighbourhood was the company's way
of advertising. If it did not pay this year it would next, for half the
farmers in the country would have a machine by another year.
"And I don't say it is any way among the impossibles that we should
conclude to give your little town a lift, by establishing a branch
factory in it. You've got a spry little stream here, and some good
land, and there'll be some handsome fields for the Eureka to operate
upon when the stumps get cleared out. But you are considerably behind
the times in the way of implements. You want to be put up to a dodge or
two, and we are the folks to do it, in the way of machinery," and so on.
Two more days of the Eureka at Ythan laid low the grass in every field,
and within eight days of the time when Mr Hemmenway made his appearance
there, all the hay was well made and safely housed, without a drop of
rain having fallen upon it.
Davie was tired, but triumphant. "Providence is ay kind," said grannie
softly, and grandfather's assent, though silent as usual, was pleased
and earnest, and he was "in better heart" than he had been for a while.
Davie had some good hard work in other hay-fields in return for the help
they had had at Ythan, and it was done gratefully and heartily.
And when most of the hay-fields in Gershom were bare and brown, waiting
for the showers that were to make them green and beautiful for the fall
pasture, in the short "resting-spell" that usually comes in this part of
Canada between the hay and grain harvest, thoughts of pleasure seemed to
take possession of young and old in Gershom.
It would be impossible to say to whom was due the honour of originating
the idea of assembling for a grand pleasure party of some sort, all the
people of Gershom "and vicinity." A good many people claimed it, and it
is probable they all had a right to do so. For so natural and agreeable
a plan might well suggest itself to several minds at the same time. It
took different forms in different minds, however. All were for
pleasure, but there were various opinions as to how it could best be
secured.
The young people generally were in favour of an expedition to Hawk's
Head, or to the more distant, but more accessible wonders of Clough's
Chasm, where in a sudden deep division of the hills lay a clear, still
lake, whose depths it was said had never yet been sounded. Others
approved rather of some plan that would allow a far larger number to
participate in it, than such an expedition would allow. And while this
was being discussed in a manner that threatened the falling through of
the whole affair, it was taken up by that part of the community who
considered themselves chiefly responsible for the well-being of the body
politic, and who considered themselves also, on the whole, eminently
qualified to perform the duties which the responsibilities implied. And
by them it was declared that a great temperance demonstration was at
this time desirable.
Such a demonstration would do good in many ways. It would revive the
drooping spirits of those who were inclined to despond as to the
prosperity of the cause. It would rouse from slumber the consciences of
some who had once been its active friends, and it would strengthen the
hands of all faithful workers; it would bring on the field all the best
speakers of the country, and give an impulse to the cause generally.
All this was said with much energy and reiteration, and a good deal of
it was believed; at any rate, all other plans for pleasure were made to
give way before it. It did not so much matter what might be made the
occasion of the gathering, so that folks got together to have a good
time, said the young and foolish, who thought much of whatever would
give enjoyment for the time, and little of anything else. As to
listening to speech-making--there need be no more of that than each
might choose; so in the end almost all fell in with the idea of the
great temperance demonstration, and notice was given to the country at
large accordingly.
But it is only as far as two or three people concerned themselves with
it that we have anything to do with the matter, either as an occasion
for amusement or as a demonstration of principle. Davie brought home to
Katie the news of all that was intended, and added a good deal as to his
opinion of it, which he acknowledged he would have liked to give at a
meeting called to make arrangements, which he and Ben had just attended.
"You should have heard them, grannie, and then you would shake your head
at them and not at me."
And Davie gave them a specimen of the remarks that had been made and the
manner of them, that made even his grandfather smile. There had been a
great deal of inconsequent talking, as is usual on such occasions, and
the chances were that the meeting would have come to an end without
having definitely settled a single point which they had met for the
purpose of settling, if it had not happened that Clifton Holt--at home
for his vacation, he said--strayed into the school-house toward the end.
"And it must be acknowledged that Clif has a head," said Davie
discontentedly. "He is a conceited fellow but he is smart. In ten
minutes they had decided on the place, the grove above Varney's place,
and had appointed committees for all manner of things. And he made them
all believe that the meeting had settled the whole and not himself. You
should have heard John McNider `moving,' and Sam Green `seconding,' and
Jim Scott `suggesting,' and every one of them believing that he was
doing it out of his own head. It is a good thing that Clif thinks
Gershom too small a place for him. He'd play the old squire in a new
way. He's got more gumption in his little finger than Jacob has in his
whole body;" and remembering that his grandfather was present, he
paused, and then added: "He'll make a spoon or spoil a horn, will Clif.
And, grannie, I'm hungry."
"Well, there is milk and bread in the pantry. Bring it to your brother,
Katie, as he's tired. And we'll hope, Davie lad, that the spoon will be
made and the horn no' spoiled. You're over ready with your judgments, I
doubt."
When Katie brought the bread and milk she ventured to ask some further
particulars as to arrangements.
"Oh, you'll hear all about it. You are on two or three committees at
least. No, I don't remember what they are. Setting tables, I think.
You'll hear all about it, and if you don't, then all the better," said
Davie shortly.
"And what have they given you to do? Surely they didna neglect the
general interest so far as to overlook you."
For when Davie took that line with Katie, grannie considered that he
needed to be put down a bit. Davie laughed. He understood it quite
well.
"No, grannie dear, I'm on two or three of their committees as well as
Katie--and so is half the town for that matter. And they think they are
doing it for `the cause,'" added Davie, laughing. "Grannie, I would
give something if I could write down every word just as it was spoken.
I never read anything half so ridiculous in a book."
"My lad, things are just as folk look at them. I daresay your friends
Ben, and Sam and Jim Scott saw nothing ridiculous about it till you made
them see it. And the master was there, and John McNider--"
"But the master didna bide long; and as for John--if you give him a
chance to make a speech, that is all he needs--"
"Whisht, Davie lad, and take the good of things. It is a good cause
anyway."
"Oh, grannie, grannie! as though the cause had anything to do with it,
at least with the most of them!"
"Well, never mind. You can take the good of the play without making
folk think it's for the cause. And you'll need to help the
preparations. As for Katie, I doubt I canna so well spare her--except
for the day itself."
The last few words had been between these two when the others had gone
out of the room. Grannie had a little of the spirit of which Katie had
a good deal. She was sociably inclined, and, though it troubled her
little that she or those belonging to her should be called odd, she know
it troubled Katie, and she wanted her to have the harmless enjoyment
that other young girls had, and to take the good of them. And she
desired for Davie, also, that he should be able to do and to enjoy
something else besides the work of the farm, which was certainly his
first duty. But she knew that his grandfather's desire to keep him from
evil companionship might keep him also from such companionship as might
correct some faults into which he was in danger of falling, being left
too much to himself, and might do him good in other ways. So, whenever
a fair opportunity occurred to give the young people a taste of
amusement which seemed harmless and enjoyable, she quietly gave her
voice in favour of it. And in her opinion this was one of the
occasions.
"If we are to refuse to put a hand to any good work till all who wish to
help are models of discretion, we'll do little in this world, Davie lad.
And you'll do what you can to make the occasion what it ought to be for
the honour of the town, since it is to be in Gershom."
"Oh, grannie, grannie! What would folk say to hear you? As though the
whole town werena agog for the fun of it, and as though I could make a
straw's difference."
"You can make a difference to your mother and Katie and the bairns. And
I dinna like to hear you laughing at folk, as though you didna believe
in them and their doing. We canna all be among the wise of the earth,
and I would like Katie to get the good of this--she who gets so little
in the way of pleasure."
"Oh, Katie! She's better at home than holding sham committee meetings
with a parcel of idle folk. There's plenty to do it all without her."
"Oh, as to committee meetings, I doubt she could be ill spared to many
of them, but for the day itself, to hear the speaking and see the show
like the rest. And you are not to spoil it to her beforehand, Davie."
"Well, I winna, grannie. It will be great fun I dare say."
"And as it's a leisure time, you must do what you can to help with the
rest, and all the more as I canna spare Katie. And she will have
preparations to make at home. But we'll hear more about it, it is
likely."
"Plenty more, grannie. Oh, yes; I'll help. It is to be a grand
occasion."
"But the preparing beforehand is the best of all, they say," said Katie.
But even her grandmother was as well pleased that Katie should have
nothing to do with general preparations. All sorts of young people were
to help, and it could hardly be but that some foolish things should be
said and done where there was so much to excite and nothing to restrain,
and her Katie's name was as well to be kept out of it all. But she put
no limit as to the preparations that were to be made at home in the way
of cakes and tartlets and little pats of butter, for it was to be a
great occasion for Gershom.
There had been demonstrations of this kind before in Gershom and the
vicinity. Indeed, this was a favourite way of promoting the cause of
temperance, as it has more recently become the favourite way of
promoting other causes in Canada. In some spot chosen for general
convenience a great many people assembled. The greater the number the
greater the good accomplished, it was supposed. The usual plan was for
parties of friends to keep together, and either before or after the
speech-making--which was supposed to be the chief interest of the day--
to seek some suitable spot in field or grove for the enjoyment in common
of the many nice things stored in the baskets with which all were
supplied.
But Gershom folk aimed at something beyond the usual way. In Finlay
Grove, which had been chosen as the place of meeting, tables were to be
set up and covered for--
"Well--we'll say five hundred people," Clifton Holt suggested at one of
the meetings for the settling of preliminaries. "And let us show them
what Gershom can do."
Of course he did not know in the least what he was undertaking for
Gershom in this off-hand way, nor did any one else till it was too late
to change the plan. Not that there was any serious thought of changing
it. The honour of Gershom was at stake, and "to spend and be spent" for
this--to say nothing of "the cause"--seemed to be the general desire.
Davie Fleming did his part well. He drew loads of boards from the
saw-mill, and loads of crockery from the various village stores. He
helped to fix the tables and many seats, and to build the platform for
"the speakers from a distance," vaguely promised as a part of the day's
feast. Indeed, he distinguished himself by his zeal and efficiency, and
was in such request that he was obliged to promise that he would be on
the ground early in the morning of the day to help about whatever might
still have to be done.
He had got quite into the spirit of it by this time. It was great fun,
he said, and he was a little ashamed of the part he had taken in keeping
Katie out of it all. So he proposed that she should go with him that
morning and stay for an hour or two. She could go quite easily, he
said, for he could put her over the river on a raft which he had made
for his own convenience, to save the walk round by the bridge. But
Katie could not be spared. The children were all expected to go with
the Scott's Corner Sunday-school to the High-School, from thence to walk
with several other Sunday-schools in procession to the Grove, and Katie
must help to get them ready and see them off. When Davie came back at
noon he had some news to give her.
"The squire and Miss Elizabeth have come home, and they have company at
Jacob's--friends of Mr Maxwell's, they say; but it is likely they would
be staying at the parsonage if they were. They have come at a good
time. They'll see folks enough in their meeting-clothes for once."
Davie had come home to put on his own "meeting-clothes," and declined
his dinner in his hurry to get away again. Katie took it more quietly.
In her joy at the prospect of seeing Miss Elizabeth again, the prospect
of seeing so many people "in their meeting-clothes" seemed a secondary
matter, and this was too openly acknowledged to please her brother.
"Katie," said he discontentedly, "I think the less we have to do with
the Holts to-day the better."
"Jacob and his wife, you mean," said Katie, laughing. "Oh, I shall have
nothing in the world to do with them."
"I mean Jacob and his wife and all the rest of them. However, there
will be so many there to-day for Clif to show his fine clothes and his
fine manners to, that he'll have no time for the like of you."
"But I'll see his fine clothes and his fine manners too, as well as the
rest. And there are some things that look best a little way off, you
know."
"That's so. And if it's Holts you want, you'd better stick to Betsey."
"Yes, and Ben," said Katie, laughing.
"Bairns," said grannie gravely, "you're no quarrelling, I hope. Are you
ready, Katie? And, Davie lad, are you sure it's quite safe for your
sister to go over the river on your raft? And will she no' be in danger
of wetting her clean frock? It would save her a long walk, and the day
is warm, if you are sure it's safe."
"It has carried me safe enough, grannie dear, and Ben Holt and more of
us. I ken Katie's precious gear beside me, to say nothing of her frock.
But it's safe enough."
"Well, go away, like good bairns, and dinna be late in coming home."
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
A TEMPERANCE SPEECH.
Both Katie and her frock got safely over the river on Davie's raft,
which was a very primitive affair. They had a field or two to cross
from the landing-place, and at the opening made in the fence for the
people from the village to pass through on their way to the Grove, she
found the squire and Miss Elizabeth. They were sitting in Miss
Elizabeth's low carriage, at a loss what to do, because they had been
told that the committee had decided that no carriage was to be admitted
within the grounds, and Miss Elizabeth did not like to set rules and
regulations at defiance, but neither did she like that her father should
have to walk up the hill to the Grove. In this dilemma she appealed to
Davie.
"Oh, never mind the committee, Miss Elizabeth. Go ahead up the hill;
and, besides, I'm on that committee, and I'll give you a pass," said
Davie, appreciating the situation.
Miss Elizabeth laughed, and so did Katie; but when Miss Elizabeth
proposed that he should take her place in the carriage and drive her
father up to the stand where he was to sit, Katie laughed more than the
occasion required, Davie thought. Of course he could not refuse, and
yielded with a good grace.
The field was none of the smallest, and the carriage moved slowly, so
that Elizabeth and Katie reached the neighbourhood of the speakers'
stand almost as soon as the squire. They were in time to see Clifton
help his father up the steps to his place on the stand, where a good
many other gentlemen were seated. Then they saw him hand into the
carriage a very pretty young lady, a stranger, and drive away with her.
Davie looked after them with a grimace.
"That is cool! Holts indeed."
"I hope my brother is not committing an indiscretion," said Miss
Elizabeth gravely.
"Oh, I guess she likes it. And he is one of the managers; he may do as
he likes."
"I am not so sure of that," said Miss Elizabeth.
"But who is she?" asked Katie; "I think she is the prettiest girl I ever
saw--and such a pretty dress!"
"Yes, she is very pretty. She is Miss Langden. She and her father came
last night. They are staying at my brother's. They are friends of Mr
Maxwell's, I hope Clifton has not done a foolish thing in taking her
away."
The little carriage was making slow progress round the grounds, with
many eyes fixed upon it, and certainly the handsome young couple sitting
in it were a pleasant sight to see. Many a remark was passed upon them
by friends and strangers alike; admiring remarks generally they were,
and though they did not reach the ears of the young people, Clifton
could very easily imagine them. He enjoyed the situation, and if his
companion did not, as one observing lady remarked, "her looks belied
her." By and by they came round to the stand again and stopped to speak
with Elizabeth.
"I am glad you brought the carriage, Lizzie," said her brother. "It is
a sight well worth seeing, and one gets the best view in going all the
way round."
It was a sight worth seeing. There were already many hundreds of people
on the ground. It was a large grassy field, sloping down gradually
nearly to the river. The Grove, where the speakers' stand had been
placed, and where many long tables were spread, was toward the upper
part of it, but there were trees scattered through all the field, and
groups of people were sitting and walking about here and there through
the whole of it, and more were arriving every moment.
There was a good deal of bright colour about the "meeting-clothes" of
some of them, and the effect at a distance was pleasing. In the lower
part of the field toward the right, where there were trees enough for
shade, but an open space also, many children were running about, and
their voices, possibly too noisy for the pleasure of those close beside
them, came up the hill with only a cheerful murmur that heightened the
effect of the scene.
"I consider myself fortunate in being permitted to witness such a
gathering," said the young lady in the carriage. "You must feel it to
be very encouraging to see so many people showing themselves to be on
the right side."
"Yes, there is a very respectable gathering. There are a great many
from neighbouring towns," said Elizabeth; "I am very glad we have so
fine a day."
"We can make room for you, Miss Holt," said Miss Langden.
"Yes, Lizzie, come; we will drive round again. You can have a far
better idea of the numbers when you see the whole field."
But Elizabeth declined. Indeed, she ventured to express a doubt whether
it were the right thing to do. But Clifton only laughed, and asked her
who she supposed would be likely to object.
"All the same; I would rather not do what others are not permitted to
do," said Elizabeth gravely.
"All right, Lizzie," said her brother.
The young lady at his side made no movement.
"Shall we take another turn round the field?" said Clifton. "Oh, yes,
Lizzie, we shall be back before the speech-making begins. We would not
lose a word of that for a great deal," said Clifton, laughing.
Elizabeth stood looking after them, with a feeling of some discomfort.
It was very foolish for Clifton to make himself so conspicuous, she
thought, and then she turned at somebody's suggestion to go and look at
the tables before they were disturbed. Here she fell in with Katie
again, and with her cousin Betsey, and they all went together round the
tables.
They were twelve in number, and were capable of seating not quite five
hundred, but a great many people, and they were loaded with good things
of all sorts. The speakers' table was splendid with flowers and glass
and silver. The good and beautiful from all baskets, or a part of
whatever was best and most beautiful, had been reserved for it, and
Katie hoped that the stranger young lady had got a good view of it. The
other tables were leaded also. There did not seem to be a full supply
of plates and knives and things on some of them, but that would
doubtless be considered a secondary matter as long as the good things
lasted; and there seemed little chance of their failing.
The supply reserved for the second tables, and even for the third and
fourth tables, seemed to Miss Elizabeth to be inexhaustible. Baskets of
cookies and doughnuts, and little cakes of all kinds; great trays of
tartlets and crullers, boxes of biscuits, and buns and rolls of all
shapes and sizes, fruit-pies, and crackers, and loaves of bread: there
seemed to be no end of them.
"End of them! If they hold out, we may be glad," said Miss Betsey.
"Every child on the field is good for one of each thing, at least,
biscuits and cookies and all the rest, and there are hundreds of
children, to say nothing of the grown-up folks. They've been all
calculating to have the children come in at the last, but two or three
of us have concluded to fix it different."
The speaking was to come before the eating, and as the crowd who would
wish to hear would leave no room for the children, Miss Betsey's plan
was that they should have their good things while the speaking was going
on, at a sufficient distance to prevent their voices from being
troublesome, and that the tables should be left undisturbed. Some
dozens of young people were detailed to carry out this arrangement, and
Davie and Katie were among them. Miss Elizabeth would have liked to go
with them; but she was a little anxious about her father, who had been
made the chairman of the occasion, and did not wish to be far away from
him.
The children's tea was the best part of the entertainment, David said
afterward. There was some danger that the third, or even the second
tables would have little to show, for it had been agreed by those who
served the children that while any of them could eat a morsel, it should
be supplied. And it was a good deal more than Miss Betsey's "one apiece
all round" of everything. The quantity that disappeared was amazing.
Miss Betsey came out wonderfully in her efforts in behalf of the young
people. Miss Elizabeth had been rather surprised to find her in the
Grove at all, and had quite unintentionally allowed her surprise to
appear. It was not like her cousin Betsey to take part in this sort of
thing, on pretence of its being a duty, and her thought was answered as
if she had spoken it.
"I told mother I wasn't going to set up to be any wiser than the rest of
the folks this time. It's a good cause, and if we don't help it much,
we can't do much harm. I mean the children shall have a good time as
far as victuals are concerned." And so they did.
Betsey sacrificed her chance of hearing some good speaking, which was a
greater disappointment to her than it would have been to some others,
and Katie stayed with her. But when the children were at last
satisfied, they turned their faces toward the stand, still hoping to
hear something. They passed along slowly, for there was a great crowd
of people, not half of whom were listening to what was said. At one
side of the stand, a little removed from it, but yet near enough to hear
if they cared to listen, they saw Miss Elizabeth and her brother, and
Miss Langden. Katie pointed her out to Miss Betsey.
"How pretty she is, and such a pretty dress, and everything to match!
Look, Miss Betsey. Did you ever see anything prettier?"
"Why, yes. I don't know but I have. The dress is well enough," said
Betsey.