Hjalmar H. Boyesen

“ I have paid off the mortgages, and I mean to make a settlement on the old chap for life."
Kate's capricious regard for Gideon had, somehow, made him appear to all a dignified and interesting person; and by common consent they drove on past the house toward the field where they expected to find him. Paul, with an anticipation of pleasure which did honor to the suppressed side of his nature, hauled three bulky volumes from the depth of his valise, tied his horse to the fence, and stood for a moment breathing luxuriously the mellow autumn air. ”

“ His pleased laugh again appealed to the young man for sympathy, and the latter's curiosity at last conquered his disinclination to made railroad acquaintances. An Indiana farmer who had taught himself Greek, or even aspired to such heights of knowledge, must he indeed an extraordinary character; and it was, moreover, soothing to Tallcott's wounded pride, after all the rebuffs he had had to endure, to find some one who professed an interest in the accomplishments upon which, in great part, he based his self-respect. ”

“ Cynthia, apparently, was also apprehensive of some demonstration on her brother's part, for she gazed at him with undisguised anxiety, until he seemed to divine her meaning.
"What is your line of business, Mr. Tallcott?" he asked, a little gruffly. "If you will tell me, perhaps I might find a job for you."
"I am a college graduate," Tallcott answered, flushing to his ears. To be patronized by a young man in a machine shop was a little more than he could endure. ”

“ I am a rickety old chap, I don't mind tellin' ye that. I am like Socrates' nag, as needed the flies to bite him afore he would stir his creaky old j'ints. Mind ye. I don't say as no horse needs them kind o' flies: but I reckon I do; and Paul and Cynthy, they air good enough gadflies for me."
He came out from the stall, and seating himself on an inverted barrel, began a long and vivid discourse on the improvements he meant to make on the farm; with a truly Socratic delight in the mere process of thought and speech, he evolved a brilliant vision of future prosperity. ”

“ It was only during the time which she devoted to her household duties that he felt at liberty to talk, and it was touching to see the eagerness with which he then pounced upon his guest, keeping all the while an anxious eye upon the door, lest he should be caught discoursing concerning the Greek philosophers.
"Cynthy, she don't take no stock in Socrates and his gang," he said, confidentially, just as Cynthia closed the door. "She is powerful smart, Cynthy is, and powerful sot in her ways. But I kin never be a-studyin' Plato when she is hangin' around. ”

“ The old man, however, before he had finished, became faintly aware of its awkwardness, and the nervous manner in which he moved his head and his hands while he spoke nearly brought tears to Tallcott's eyes, it seemed so indescribably pathetic.
"I reckon Paul has been a-workin' hard fur his luck, though," Cynthia threw in, rather irrelevantly.
"Harder nor you ever worked since the day you was born, pop," Paul asseverated, with emphasis.
"Waal, waal, Paul, it ain't fur me ter conterdict ye," retorted the old man, humbly, "though I hain't been as back'ard as ye think, now. ”

“ After the insight he had just acquired into the affairs of the family, Tallcott could not doubt but that this severe-looking payer of mortgages would view him with the eyes of hostile criticism, and he resolved, in order to save his host from unpleasantness, to betake himself away before another day had passed. ”

“ Old Socrates, he says, in his defence before the jury, 'Ef death,' says he, 'is a kind er heavy sleep, then I ain't afeard of it, fur I like sleepin' mighty well, and when I think back, it ain't often I hev ben as comfertable as when I hev ben asleep. But,' says he, 'ef I kin count on bein' awake when I am dead, an' ef I kin hev a chance ter talk with old Homer and Hercules and all the other big chaps as hev died, why, then ye kin bet yer life I ain't afeard o' passin' in my chips. ”

“ The said Gideon Tarbox, of the State of Indiana, and the county of ——, do hereby promise that I will swear off all heathendom and philosopherin', and particular the readin' in the furrer of the plough of the books of the aforesaid Plato, so help me God! and be up smart and early in the mornin' to attend to the folks, an' to sell chickens an' vegetables in town, and not to be cheated by nobody in buyin' an' in sellin' things off of the farm. ”

“ He talks about them old Greeks, an' I reckon they was a mighty shiftless lot, fur pop says they loafed most of the time in the woods, an' talked about the soul an' the life ter come. If they was married folks, as I reckon they was, they hadn't no business ter be loafin' in work hours. An' pop loafs jest because Socrates loafed, an' he says them Bible Jews couldn't never hold a candle ter Socrates fur smartness."
The distress in the girl's face, in spite of her uncouth vocabulary, appealed to Tallcott's sympathies. ”

“ The girl, though appearing not to notice the gesture, found in another minute an excuse for going to the kitchen. Old Gideon, as soon as he had convinced himself that the door was closed, heaved a sigh of relief, and went straight to his bookcase.
"Them is powerful smart childer I hev got," he remarked, casually, and without a shadow of bitterness; "powerful smart—powerful smart," he repeated, half absently, while he seated himself near the lamp and turned the soiled leaves of his Plato. ”

“ He has two mortgages on the farm, an' he couldn't pay the interest if my brother Paul, as is in a machine shop in Cincinnatter, did not send him half his earnin's, jest to keep him afloat. An' it ain't right fur pop ter do that, makin' the pore boy slave from mornin' till night, an' then eat up his savin's. We air gittin' porer an' porer every year, an' yit pop, he is as cheery an' chipper as if nothin' didn't bother him a bit. ”

“ She looked up at him with a quick, incredulous glance. "Ye don't mean that yerself?" she said.
"Indeed I do mean it. Your father, with his tastes and ambitions, could have risen to a high position in the world, if he had had educational advantages in his youth." ”

“ Pop, he sets mighty store by them Greeks, and they have made a heathen of him, and turned him away both from God and man. The neighbors, they think he is cracked, fur he don't never go ter church, and he has said many a time in their hearin' that Socrates knowed a heap more things than Jesus Christ. ”

“ I don't want ter be hard on the old feller, but I reckon he warn't no jedge of horseflesh. This yere story about the gadfly as stimmerlated the horse, that won't hold water; for the fly is a pesterin', bothersome customer, and she don't never stimmerlate the horse worth a cent, as Socrates says ”

“ Tallcott stammered, his haughty reserve again possessing him, "but I couldn't possibly accept your hospitality."
"All right, young feller; no offence," the farmer replied, cheerfully. "An' thar is my darter Cynthy come fur her daddy with the wagon. Ef ye ever come to southern Indiany agin, don't ye forgit ter ax fur Gideon Tarbox. No chile in this yere county but kin show ye the way ter Gideon. An' now good-by ter ye." ”

“ She was exultantly aware that Tallcott acknowledged her, and though she had never feared that he would not, the sight of Kate's magnificence had suddenly suggested the awful possibility. She took her place at his side on the back seat of the wagon, while Kate, putting a, miraculous boot on the hub of the wheel, swung herself, with Paul's aid, into the front seat.
"How is the old man, Cynthy?" asked Paul, seizing the reins, and whipping up the drooping big-bellied horse.
"I reckon he's afield," Cynthia answered. "He was tremenjious cut up about them heathen books," she added, after a pause ”

“ The latter, thinking that his presence might be embarrassing, walked toward the door.
"Hold on, I want ye fur a witness," Paul called after him. "Ye have heard so much now, ye had better hear the rest."
"Very well," Tallcott replied, returning to his former seat; "I am at your service."
"I have taken them books away from pop," Paul began, in a tone as if he were addressing a jury, "because they ain't doin' him no good. They air makin' him shiftless and tricky, and he lets the farm go to rack and ruin. ”

“ If you had been in the iron business, now, I might have helped you."
"Paul, is a mighty forternate 'coon," observed his father, admiringly. "He's scarce turned five-and-twenty, an' now he's got a foreman's place in a big machine shop in New York. He will be a-makin' a smart lot o' money thar, you jest bet yer boots on that; fur Paul ain't the kind er chap ter be a-layin' off on account er laziness or drunks or disserpation."
The latter half of this eulogy was addressed to Tallcott, but uttered chiefly with a view to its conciliatory effect upon its subject. ”

“ If he will look after things like a decent man and bother no more about them pesky heathen, I'll pay off the eight hundred dollar mortgage inside of a year, and t'other of eleven hundred I reckon he can carry fur a couple of years more, if he'll go into the farmin' business again, and give up heathen philosopherin'. ”

“ Cynthia, who still clung to his arm, was evidently afraid to leave him alone for fear of his making more compromising revelations. Therefore, as soon as Tallcott withdrew his gaze, she dragged him to the door, and pushed him out into the kitchen.
"I reckon ye know, both of ye," she said, turning to the two men, "that my father hain't got good sense. He don't mean no harm," she added, in a voice through which the tears trembled ”

“ Tallcott, who had discovered a forgotten cigar in his breast pocket, vouchsafed no reply, and the old man probably did not expect any. He pulled out, with much deliberation, a pair of big brass-rimmed spectacles, adjusted them carefully upon his nose, and was soon deeply absorbed in the conversations of Socrates.
"Look a-yere," he said, after a while, glancing up with his fine, absent-minded smile ”

“ It is jest his way ter be queer, and he can't help it; but it ain't no fun ter be the darter of a queer man, pertiklar when he is a heathen, and when ye can't help keerin' for what the folks say about him. ”

“ But they might hev swallowed his keepin' still about the fire and brimstone ef he hadn't taken to boomin' the heathen."
"Booming the heathen?"
"Yes, booming the old chaps as lived afore Christ come to save 'em. Mr. Clapp, he had a notion that Socrates and Plato and all their gang was a mighty good lot o' fellers; and as fer their bein' born afore Christ come to save 'em, why, that was mighty hard on 'em, to be sure; but he couldn't, howsomever, see how the Almighty could make out His case agin 'em, allowin' as they hadn't been axed when they wanted ter be born. Mr. ”