Our Hero Falls in Love.
It had only been three or four years since Jervis Whitney and his wife,
Elster, had left their old home beyond the Alleghenies to find a new
home here in the perilous wilds of green Kentucky, where they had built
the cabin they lived in, and cleared the ground they tilled. Among their
household goods, they had brought along with them quite a curious medley
of such little notions as fancy ribbons and kerchiefs, books, big wood
engravings, odd pieces of ware--china, silver and glass--odd pieces of
family jewels, strings of bright-colored beads, and the like. Among the
rest, were several locks of hair, some of which were gray, the others
black or brown, golden-yellow, or flaxen, or white, as the case might
be; locks of hair in those simple times being viewed pretty much in the
same light that photographs now-a-days are, and, perhaps, even more
highly prized and tenderly preserved.
As you have already anticipated, these little notions were gifts for
dear remembrance sake from the loved ones they had left so far behind
them and whom they were to meet no more for long, long years--perhaps,
forever. Precious relics, which the lonely young pair took out, from
time to time, to look at them; when, with a smile and a tear, they would
tell of the sweet recollections, which this lock of hair, or that piece
of chinaware, this book or that old picture was conjuring up from out
the lights and shadows of such days as no land but brave old
Virginia--happy old Virginia--ever knew.
Now, in this same pack, along with these odds and ends of dear
remembrance, there chanced to be an old show bill, which Jervis and
Elster had brought along with the rest just to keep them in mind of the
happy, happy day, when they two had united their hearts and fortunes for
life. On that self-same day they had gone to the show, which was blazed
by this self-same show bill; and the occasion made their bridal tour as
complete a thing of its kind as nothing short of a centennial could make
in these latter days do for the like excursions. On the show bill, in a
variety of fancy colors, such as we sometimes see in pictures of Daniel
in the den of lions, and the like, were the representations of the
animals which were to be seen at the show; and more, you may be sure,
than were seen there on that day, or ever had been seen in the land, or
ever shall be seen in the world, unless, indeed, what African travelers
tell us, backed by Barnum and the man in the moon, should some day turn
out to be true. To lend their rustic home a more genteel and civilized
appearance, as well as to keep them in mind of the
ever-to-be-remembered day just mentioned, Elster had tacked the show
bill to the rough log wall of their best room, and against this, for a
background, had hung their only looking-glass, with a comb case on one
side and Jervis' jolly-faced silver watch on the other; while crowning
the glass was a bunch of magnificent eagle feathers--a trophy of her
husband's skill as a marksman.
Now, these pictures, flashy, extravagant and out of all nature, though
they might seem to our age of chromo, crayon, perfection, had for this
many a day been the delight of Sprigg's young eyes. But the one that
charmed his fancy more than all the others was that of an Indian boy,
apparently about his own age, riding a Shetland pony at a dashing
gallop, with the right foot tip-toe on his charger's back, the left
amusing itself in the air, the left hand holding the bridle-reins, the
right hand flourishing aloft a savage little tomahawk. In the browband
of the pony's bridle was stuck the staff of a small red flag, while the
gallant young horseman himself was rigged out in leggins and hunting
shirt of the fairest of buckskin, trimmed with the blackest of bearskin,
a hat of gay feathers upon his head, and upon his feet a magnificent
pair of red moccasins.
There was scarcely a day in the week, not even excepting Sunday, that
Sprigg did not go and, planting himself before the old show bill, take a
long look at the Indian boy and his Shetland pony. And more than a few
times, after thus feasting his eyes, had he gone to his mother, where
she would be plying her loom in the kitchen, when something like the
following confab would take place between them:
"Mam, I do wish that I had a pair of red moccasins, such as the Indian
boy in yonder has on!"
"And a red cap, too, such as Jack Monkey in yonder has on!" would his
mother rejoin, as she paused in her work. Then resting her arm on the
breast beam of the loom and regarding her rising hope with a half-fond,
half-ridiculous smile, she would add:
"Still harping on the same old tune! Still hankering after the red
tomfooleries! Well, suppose if a civilized white boy should happen to
have a pair of red moccasins, what could he do with them?"
"I could wear them to quiltings and to log-rollings and to
house-raisings and to shooting matches and to weddings--yes, and to
church, too."
"Why, Sprigg, a church is the last place in the world where so
outlandish a thing as a pair of red moccasins ought to be seen. How the
old people would frown and shake their heads at you! How the young
people would titter and point at you; and some would say: 'Just look
yonder at Sprigg, strutting about in a pair of red moccasins, as if he
were thinking himself so much finer than our bare-footed boys--the young
monkey!' And, Sprigg, would you like to be called a monkey? I rather
think not. You'd rather take a whipping any day than to be laughed at
and ridiculed."
"No, but they wouldn't laugh; nobody would think of laughing. The boys
would envy me and the girls would admire me, and everybody would say:
'Just look yonder at Sprigg! But isn't he fine? Oh, how beautiful! So
beautiful in his red moccasins.'"
And the vain boy would fall to dancing and skipping about the earthen
floor of the kitchen, as if the very thought of the moccasins had made
him tipsy.
"Dandy Jim, of Caroline, might say all that of dandy monkey at a show,"
would Elster answer, "and dandy Jim might say as much of dandy Sprigg at
church, but nobody else would--count on that! So, just leave the red
tomfooleries to Indians and monkeys, my boy; and just make up your mind
to be satisfied, and more than satisfied, too, with the nice boots,
which pap has promised to bring you when he goes to our old home next
spring."
But, let his mother picture him in whatever color she might, the vain
boy would go on hankering after the red moccasins all the same; till, by
and by, they took such hold on his fancy that his thoughts by day and
his dreams by night assumed the same complexion, and became, so to
speak, as red as the reddest of leather. Indeed, there were moments when
it did seem to Sprigg as if he would be willing to part with one of his
legs for a pair of red moccasins.
Now, you are thinking such a whim, out of all nature and reason, absurd,
and I fully agree with you; yet, have I known a few grown-up children
in my day, of high reputation for judgment, who in some of the fancies
they have cherished, and in some of the bargains they have made, have
exhibited not a whit more judgment than poor Sprigg. Distinguished
personages, who, from the solid and dignified outward appearance they
showed to the eyes of the world, would give you the impression that they
had never entertained a foolish fancy, or mistaken the shadow for the
substance in all their lives, I have known women who have given their
hands--sacrificed the best of their hearts--to put their heads in other
women's bonnets; and I have known men who have sold their very souls to
set their feet in other men's shoes.
So, time went lagging by; lagging, perhaps, because his feet were not
shod with a pair of red moccasins; or, it may be, because he was not
mounted on a Shetland pony. At last, one night in April, as they were
all sitting around a roaring log fire, Sprigg's dreams took a definite
shape, as well as color. Jervis had sat for some time smoking his pipe
in thoughtful silence, when he turned to his wife and thus addressed
her:
"So, Elster, I am to set out on my long tramp for the Old Dominion; and
with what a light heart I could do it, too, could I but take you and our
boy along with me. But, as it is, I am beginning to feel already quite
out of sorts at the very thought of leaving you behind me for so long,
and I would give up the trip altogether were it not for the business,
which no one else can attend to but myself."
Sprigg was sitting directly in front of the fire, gazing with a fixed
and dreamy look into the glowing embers before him; and, observing this,
his father said to him:
"Come, Sprigg, let us have some of the pictures you are drawing there in
the fire-coals! You can beat any boy of your size at that sort of
headwork that ever I saw. What do you see in the coals?"
"I see," answered the boy, in a musing way, "I see an Indian boy
standing tip-toe on the back of a Shetland pony, riding at full gallop,
his head all waving with feathers, his feet so fine with red moccasins,
and he is showing off before a great crowd of people, who seem to be
waving their hats, as if they were shouting: 'Hurrah! Hurrah! Splendid!
Splendid!' Oh, how I wish that I were an Indian boy, and had a Shetland
pony; then might I travel from town to town and show off before the
people, and be somebody, and so happy!"
Then, with a start, as if a bright thought had flashed out to him from
the fire-coal, he exclaimed:
"Oh, pap! won't you get me a pair of red moccasins while you are gone,
please?" And coming over and laying his hand on his father's shoulder,
he repeated his request--all in the softest, winningest way you can well
imagine. For, whenever he had an object near at heart, and knew he could
gain it by a little palaver, Sprigg could appear as soft and winning as
any young tom-cat you ever saw.
"But, Sprigg, why not the boots, which I have been promising you for a
year or more? Black boots, with fair tops and brass heel-taps, that will
make a gentleman of you as soon as you put them on."
"But I would not care for the boots half so much; and, if you will just
only bring me the moccasins I won't say one word about anything else you
have been promising me. I won't even ask you to get me the fur hat, nor
the red waistcoat, nor the little hunting knife, nor the little
tomahawk--nothing but the red moccasins."
The artful young rogue made this spreading display of self-denial merely
to jog his father's memory, knowing perfectly well that he was running
no risk of being taken at his word, and that by his offer of release he
should be all the more certain of receiving what had been promised him.
"Then, red moccasins shall you have, my boy!" cried the fond father,
giving his son a chum-like slap on the back. "Let me but find them in
the Old Dominion, and the red moccasins shall you have--yes, and the
boots to boot."
Of course, it never once entered Jervis Whitney's mind that so fantastic
a thing as a pair of red moccasins was to be found in the Old Dominion,
or anywhere else outside of a monkey show, though he might search the
world, with a will-o'-the-wisp, from Big Bone Lick to the Land of Nod.
So, in saying, "let me but find them, and you shall have them," he
thought he was hazarding his word no more than were he to say: "Let the
man in the moon but give me the moon, and the moon, my boy, is yours."
"Yes, pap, get him the red moccasins--do, by all means!" here put in
Elster, who had a vein of mocking pleasantry, in which she was wont to
indulge, especially whenever, as now, her fingers were busy with yarn
and knitting needles. "With a little practice he could play Indian every
whit as well as Jack Monkey, if not better; and we ought to do all we
can to bring out his talent, so that he may make a monkey of himself,
and, as he says, 'be somebody, and so happy.' So you furnish the
moccasins and the tomahawk and I will get up the rest of the rigging. I
will trim his new buckskin breeches and hunting shirt with bearskin, and
take those plumes from over the looking-glass up there, and make him as
fine a feathered hat as ever grandmother Pocahontas fixed up for
brothers. Nor shall the war paint be forgotten. I will streak and stripe
and spot his face till he looks as savage and fierce as Big Foot, the
Wyandot giant--scary enough to scare a scare-crow. Then, having so
bedaubed and bedizened him that his own looking-glass couldn't tell him
whose son he was, we will take him out, and, mounting him upon old Blue
Blaze, witness him make his maiden effort. To be sure, old Blue Blaze is
not exactly what you might call a Shetland pony, but by that time she
will have a colt a month or two old, so that while our monkey is up
there, playing Big Injun on the old mare's back, coltie can trot along
behind and play Little Shetland. Meanwhile, we must be making all the
noise we can, clapping our hands and shouting: 'Hurrah! hurrah!
splendid! splendid!' Should our demonstrations fall short of the desired
effect, and we should happen to hear some of our red neighbors shouting
and yelling over there in the woods, we will call them in to help us
out. They will make noise enough to slack his thirst for applause, I
warrant you. They will be so delighted with his performance that nothing
will satisfy them short of taking him home with them--Blue Blaze, coltie
and all--to old Chillicothe, where he shall be kept all his days to play
Big Paleface for the reds, just as Jack Monkey is kept in the Old
Dominion to play Dandy Nigger for the whites.
"Yes, pap, get him the red moccasins. Let him make a monkey of himself,
and 'be somebody and so happy.'"
Now, you must know that our hero, though tough to reproof, was keenly
sensitive to ridicule--a jimson weed to that, a snap dragon to this.
Having discovered his weakness, his mother was much in the habit of
playing upon it, as the only means of persuasion or dissuasion within
her command which was likely to make any impression upon his knotty
young rind. So, while she was spinning out her rigmarole, Sprigg was
making a great show of amusing himself with Pow-wow, slapping him over
the muzzle with his coonskin cap, or setting that ornament in divers
ways on the old dog's head; now with the tail over the right ear, then
over the left, or over the nose; the young sauce-box the while keeping
up, in a confidential undertone to his four-footed chum, a running
commentary on his mother's burlesque of himself, for every word of which
he should have received a sounding spank.
"Some folks think they are monstrous smart, don't they, Pow-wow?"
"You could bark tip a tree and do better than that, couldn't you,
Pow-wow?"
"Funny enough to make a dog laugh, isn't it, Pow-wow?"
"Some folks ought to be told what fools they are, oughtn't they,
Pow-wow?"
"Ding-dong bell, when the fools are all dead,
Then we will have plenty of butter and bread,
won't we, Pow-wow?"