Forrest Crissey

“ And always he had stood and watched the weather-beaten wagon, with its camel-like hump of rags at the back, rattle down the road—watched the watering-pail swinging from the rear axle like a pendulum, and thought that when he grew to be a man he would travel far and wide and know as much of the great world of traffic as Old Peddler Walker—only he hoped that his face would not look so sour and leathery as Old Walker's. ”

“ Let this death be a solemn admonition to all—but especially to the young—that Death may pass the aged and lay his hand upon the child. The youth may be nearer the grave than those full of years; he must make his peace with God and accept mercy while it is offered to-day—or death may overtake him in his sins!"
Ezra drifted out with the ebbing tide which filled the aisles—so dazed that his mother pushed him gently forward, in a perfunctory way, as she exchanged nods of recognition with those about her. ”

“ A lamp like a great spreading mushroom shed a soft flood of light upon an old carved table. A smaller light flooded a picture of a woman whose bare shoulders were so warm and lifelike that Danny quickly looked away. The face was the face of a lady. She seemed about to speak, disdainfully.
Guiltily, timidly, Danny reached into his pocket—the encompassing multitude of books and the haughty lady in the painting bearing witness to his shame—and took out the mortgage that he had secured from the bank at the close of business. He handed it to Rose. ”

“ As Mrs. Dart went out the door she smiled at what the banker's wife would say at the incidental statement that: "My Hester is taking luncheon to-day with Mrs. Jack Dowling. Yes; they're great friends. Why, Mrs. Dowling calls Hester 'my little playmate.'"
The eager, humble, almost worshipful solicitude of her helper was eloquent of the abjectness of Nell's defeat; but the shining face of the one-time "Little Tag-tail" held no hint of any thought save of the wonderful joy that had come to her. ”

“ Then she arose and walked with him towards the factory road.
When they reached the fence he paused a moment in embarrassment, his thumbs caught awkwardly in his pocket slits and his cheeks flushing hotly as he struggled to contrive words in which to express his gratitude. But before he could speak she laid her hands on his shoulders, and looking tenderly into his upturned eyes, said:
"No one will ever know from me what you have told me. Now, Ezra, remember that I understand you and love you, and that your sin, as you call it, is all a mistake. ”

“ Danny hesitated. "She's an educated— woman—isn't she?"
"Yes; and I always thought her a lady until—" And then Rose placed two long hatpins between her lips and stood before the glass, arms uplifted to the brim of that tilting creation that Danny could hardly believe was the work of human hands.
In their brief walk Danny offered no word of explanation. Somehow the great, steady fire of hate had suddenly burned out into dull ashes. He was tired. He wished—oh, how he wished!—that Rose could know how lonely he felt. ”

“ Again the father's eyes rested on the sullen, defiant face of the big stone, and again his laugh rang out on the soft air. But the boy was already at the lane and leaping towards the house with the spring, the elasticity, which hope, purpose, enterprise, put into the fickle, whimsical legs of small humans on the childhood side of adolescence. ”

“ No circus ever broke camp in an inland town with so unanimous attendance of the male population as witnessed the departure of Clint, the relic-dealer, and the splendid red wagon. The boy's heart burned with a fury of triumph. ”

“ The reading class recited in droning tones, and even Miss Albright seemed inoculated with the dreamy indolence of the day, for she listened with a far-away look in her eyes and was strangely indifferent to the blundering singsong rendering of "The Queen of the May."
But instead of lulling Ezra to peace, the day awakened his sensibilities to a painful extreme. The stillness seemed tense and oppressive—surcharged with some tremendous, mysterious excitement. What could be about to happen so great that the earth must hold its breath? What if the world should come to an end? ”

“ And you won't be, either—never! never! never! When you grow up there'll be somebody to know how it feels and to understand that 'little' girls can want to go to picnics an' things as much as girls that have just let down their dresses, an' that giggle and whisper about boys an' . . ."
But Hester's assertive motherings suddenly ended in a startled "Oh!"—and she found herself looking up into the azure, smiling eyes of a young woman who stood hesitatingly in the gap of the hedge, holding up the skirt of a flowing morning dress of wonderful fabric and fashion. ”

“ The presence among them of a man standing knee-deep in a grave which he was digging gave the child a keen shock. Death! And on such a morning as this! At all times terrible, its shadow on the peace of this Sabbath morning made him shiver. He counted the shovelfuls of earth the sexton threw upon the slowly growing mound at his side.
How many shovelfuls would it take to empty the grave? Who were they going to put in that black hole? Was it one who had died a Christian? When would they dig his—Ezra Rue's—grave? Was he a Christian? And all the time he counted the shovelfuls of earth! ”

“ He was going away with the relic man in the most beautiful and marvellous wagon that had ever visited Coral Corners—going with the envy of every boy in the village!
In those days of trailing dusty roads along the river courses of Ohio, Clint explored every drawer and locker in the wagon excepting two—one close behind the relic man's seat and the other underneath the wagon-box. These and their contents still remained mysteries. Early in their pilgrimage he won the goodwill of his employer by building a contrivance which served as a turtle-trap at night and a chicken-coop by day. ”

“ Yes, Rose was a lady, and he—well, he was a brick-mason, and ignorant and rough by contrast. There was no dodging that. But hadn't he already rebuilt himself so well that the sharp-eyed lawyer had called him a wonder? And with Rose right in his home for him to watch and see how she did things, couldn't he keep on rebuilding until he was at least a brick-veneer gentleman? He would never let up on that job—never!—not so long as he had Rose!
"It's Saturday night," he said, when dinner had ended, "and I ought to see Boyle. He's a good boss-carpenter and knows how to get work out of men. ”

“ The boy watched Buck standing in the rattling, bouncing lumber-wagon driving at a keen trot across the uneven ground of the field, and knew that all the torments which the ingenious mind of the hired man could devise would be his portion until the incident of the big stone was at an end. ”

“ I caught sight of her face the other day as she was driving past in her car, and I must say that I thought her lovely. I couldn't believe that a woman with that sort of a face would be snobbish or stuck up."
"Well," remarked Mrs. Dillingham, as she drew on her gloves, "there are some women in Strawberry Point that pretend they're not interested in whether Mrs. Jack Dowling calls on them or not; but they're the very ones that rush to the window every time they hear an automobile. They'd lie down in the street and let Barbara Dowling drive right over them if she'd only ring their door-bells!" ”

“ These words made Ezra gasp. Yet, as he turned towards the horse-sheds, he felt a dim comfort in the thought that in hell he would have the companionship of so brave a soul as Chet.
He hoped that the Sunday-school would last a long time—for he dreaded the thought of the long, still day at the farmhouse, diet would not be back until milking-time; and even if he were to be there throughout the afternoon, the recollection of his terrible words of defiance against the preacher's God would have kept Ezra from companionable intercourse with him. ”

“ Not until they were inside the little flat and Danny was turning the night-latch of the door did Rose speak again. Then her muff suddenly dropped to the floor, and her slender arms closed impulsively about Danny's neck.
"Danny," she said, "you think of me as an educated lady. I know you do. But I'm a woman and a wife first. And I'm glad I've married a man who can love and hate and forgive—and lay bricks! You're something of a wonder, Danny—and you're a man!" ”

“ I'll tell you a secret: sometimes I lock my door and get out all my doll things and, down on the floor, where nobody can see, I have a perfectly splendid time. Isn't it stupid of folks to think that just because one's grown up a little—and perhaps wears long dresses and is married—that it's a shame to play with dolls? If you'd wait, and would like to have me"—her voice was almost pleading—"I'd run back to the house and get my Doris, and we could have just a beautiful time here."
In her amazement Hester could only smile shyly and nod her head. ”

“ Across the factory road, beyond the cemetery, were the Big Woods whose deep shadows had vanquished the grass and brought forth ferns and mosses. In these still depths the partridge reared her speckled brood and foxes burrowed among the roots; and here, in the cool dampness, the groundnuts expanded their delicious bulbs and the crumpled joints of bitter crinkle-root ran their zizgag fingers through beds of buried leaves. She was annoyed at the sight of the intrusive picnic tables and benches and deserted lemonade-bunks a little distance beyond her. ”

“ Yes, he'd do it; although things were going a bit better at home, and there had been moments of happiness—something like those he had dreamed of when he felt so sure of Rose and of the way she would always feel toward him. Then the fires of his hate had burned low. In those moments he could almost see the situation with the English woman's eyes: he was Irish, and she was English! He was ignorant in that he was not an educated man. He had carried the hod and handled the trowel and the mortar-board—in short, he was a brick-mason, a laboring man. ”

“ To "get all worked up over nothing" was to betray an undignified weakness in the code of this capable, reticent woman.
When it came to the rise of ground near the house, progress was more difficult—but the goal was nearer!—and the pushing, straining trio fought the way, inch by inch, and held the ground gained by keeping the blocking tight against the barrel. Then, as the way grew still steeper, the tackle was brought from the field, more spikes driven into the barrel, and the leverage of the pulleys again applied. ”

“ There was terror in the eyes of the old English sheep-dog, a fierce suspicion of his doom.
"He's a good watch-dog," admitted the farmer, "but folks 'round here accuse him of killing sheep. But they've never caught him with the wool in his teeth. It was a case of fight the neighbors or kill the dog, so we had to come to it." As the man handed the lead-rope to Clint he said, "His name's Caper."
Suddenly it occurred to Clint that he had not stopped or even thought to ask the permission of Mr. Heizer. "They say he's a fine watch-dog," pleadingly ventured the boy. ”

“ Jack Dowling, the American Beauty, the Chum of the Duchess,' could turn a town topsy-turvy in the way that the old General's daughter has. But I tell him that a young woman with all her wealth and brains and beauty who has made London and Paris and New York take notice can do most anything with Strawberry Point."
And Hester, picking up scraps about the trimming-table, listened with a glowing and secret joy that she could not wholly keep from her earnest face. Her mother's hand reached out and smoothed back the loose coils of black hair that swung forward about her face as she stooped. ”

“ Ezra could now barely see the plumes of Miss Albright's hat above the organ and was watching eagerly for some movement which would give him another view of her face, when the preacher arose and read the text:
"Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." ”

“ He had waited almost as long as he could remember for his father to "get through" with that watering-trough and discard it for one built at the lumber yard with planks and rods.
Anyhow, spring had come again, and even if he had to wait and work and wait a long time—perhaps until he was almost a man—before he had enough to send away for the printing-press, it was good to have spring here again and feel the strange movings which its return always stirred within him. ”