Homer Greene

“ Then, in spite of protests from the occupants of the house, he and Dannie started out to face the storm on foot; the one with the mail-bag flung over his shoulder, the other bearing no burden save the ever present, ever growing fear that he would reach Mooreville too late to fully accomplish his still resolute and unyielding purpose. Had it not been a self-imposed task, it would have been a cruel one for either man or boy.
Hour by hour the storm grew fiercer, the drifts deeper, the journey more desperate. ”

“ When Nicholson once started in to talk, it was of no use trying to interrupt him till he was through.
“Yes,” replied Charlie, sadly, “he recovered; he went home with his grandfather.”
Nicholson stood for a moment in deep thought.
“Look here, Pickett!” he exclaimed finally. “I don’t want to uncover any family secrets; but what I can’t make out is why in the world, if you own such a boy as that, he don’t know it. And, why in all the worlds, if you’ve got a right to have the company of a human being, with his intelligence [177] and conscience and grit and grace, you don’t avail yourself of it.” ”

“ No one in the house went to bed. Gabriel, in the kitchen hallway, stood ready for instant service, as he had stood for days—and nights. Even Max, lying by the sitting-room fire, never took his sleepless eyes from the door that led to Dannie’s room. The hush that tells of the near approach of man’s last enemy lay heavy on the house and all its inmates. There came a time when even those who were nearest and dearest to the sick boy could no longer bear the strain of watching at his bedside. ”

“ Nicholson would be triumphant. His friend, the engineer of the night survey, would be made the subject of jest and ridicule. His grandfather would most likely be held to his agreement to sell a right of way through the graveyard, and sooner or later the soil of that sacred place would be torn and trampled with the ploughs and picks and spades of a score of swarthy and unfeeling workmen. And then, after it was known, to meet the looks and words of those who had known and loved him,—Gran’pap, Aunt Martha, the engineer, Gabriel, even Max, the dog. ”

“ Gabriel recalled, with startling distinctness, that night on his employer’s porch, when the old man declared with such terrible emphasis that no person could do a better deed than to pull out all the stakes and throw them into the brook. And there was Abner Pickett now, sitting on the front bench, head and shoulders above the crowd, piercing him through with those clear blue eyes. ”

“ If Abner Pickett had set his heart on anything, it was that Charlie should follow in his footsteps as manager and eventually owner of one of the largest and best farms in Meredith County, in which, like his father, he should take a just and pardonable pride. That Charlie did not develop a fondness for the farmer’s life was a sore trial to the old man, but he hoped that, with advancing years and larger wisdom, the boy, grown to manhood, would yet take kindly to the toil and triumphs of the farm. ”

“ That Abner Pickett’s graveyard was dear to him, and that the memory of Charlie’s wife was one of the tenderest spots in his heart, no one who knew the old man ever had reason to doubt.
But alas for Charlie! The life on the old homestead, which had been irksome enough at its best, grew suddenly unbearable. The ancient farmhouse, lit up temporarily by the brightness and sweetness of the young life so quickly and pathetically ended, grew tenfold more dark and forbidding than ever. It contained one jewel, indeed, his baby, Dannie ”

“ He was good to you, Gran’pap, an’ to those in the graveyard, an’ to all of us.”
But Abner Pickett stood speechless, with stony eyes and rigid face. Charlie turned to the tipstaff and the doctor.
“Will you kindly leave us alone together?” he asked. “It is a family matter I wish to settle. Gabriel, please close the door and guard it.”
Then they were alone together in the room; three generations, the same blood running in their veins, the same family pride swelling their hearts, the same will and grim determination shaping every act of their lives. ”

“ Much as it went against Dannie’s inclination to eat, he found himself, after having partaken of his hurried meal, stronger and in better spirits than at any time since his arrival at Mooreville.
The conductor on the branch train could not promise them that they would reach Port Lenox that night. Indeed, it seemed, a dozen times, as though the cars would be stalled in the huge drifts of snow that were piled across the rails. ”

“ And yet she felt, in her heart, that her “sometime” would not be until Abner Pickett’s tongue was forever still.
“Why did he go away? Was Gran’pap unkind to him? Tell me that, Aunt Martha.”
“Oh, no! I can’t tell you that. I can’t set myself up as a judge between those two. But it’ll all come out right in the end, Dannie; I’m sure of that; it always does. It’s for you and me to do just the very best we can, and not worry ourselves about things we can’t help. Try to do that, Dannie. You’re a brave boy, and I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you, Aunt Martha!” ”

“ He turned aside to consult with his foreman. Nicholson, the engineer, observing the situation from a distance, hurried back with his men. The laborers had already congregated about their employer. Abner Pickett, with grim determination stamped upon every line of his face and every muscle of his body, still sat upon the wall holding his gun in readiness for action. Dannie, white faced and fearful, but with never a thought of desertion, sat beside his grandfather, while Gabriel, standing near by, gripped two cobblestones tightly in his hands. ”

“ Long before he had finished there was not an unprejudiced person in the court room who was willing to believe, for a moment, the insinuation made by Nicholson that the D. V. & E. stakes had been removed under Pickett’s direction for the benefit of the T. & W. And when, on cross-examination, he was pressed to give his reason for going around instead of across the Pickett graveyard, he was content to reply simply that he understood that the right of eminent domain, conferred by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania upon railroad corporations, did not include the right to occupy burial-places. ”

“ Chubbuck was the only man in the world, under whose condemnation Abner Pickett would sit quietly with no show of resentment. The old man believed in him, trusted him, and relied on him in everything. There was only one topic that he would not permit him to mention, and that was the estrangement between him and his son.
Notwithstanding the doctor’s skilful treatment, and Aunt Martha’s tender nursing, Dannie grew steadily worse. He did not suffer great pain, but he was growing constantly weaker, and there was no abatement of the fever. He often wandered in his mind. ”

“ Your grandfather will never yield to argument, nor to pleading. But I still have faith to believe that some time, in some way, the good God will bring about a reconciliation.”
“Thank you, Aunt Martha! I shall hope for [191] it, and pray for it, and work for it, too, every day and all day until it comes.”
“And may it speedily come. There, now, you are very tired; go to sleep. Try to forget everything and go to sleep! You will feel better to-morrow. Good night!”
“Good night, Auntie!”
But when the morning came Dannie did not feel better. He slept late, yet he was not refreshed by his sleep. ”

“ So, with gentle words, she led him to his room, gave him a tender good-night, and then went about her duties, one of those sweet souls that love to smooth out the hard places on life’s pathway for the tender feet of others. Thank Heaven that they live!
Dannie went to bed, but not to sleep. He could not forget his grandfather’s mighty anger; and the old man’s declaration, made with such [47] terrible emphasis, kept ringing in his ears, “No better deed could be done by any one than to pull their accursed stakes from the ground and fling ’em, one and all, into the water of the brook.” ”

“ They were obliged to break down fences and go through fields to avoid deep drifts in the roadway. Many a time it seemed as though the horses, exhausted by their efforts, would never be able to break through the huge banks of snow that enveloped them. And constantly, driving into their faces, blinding their eyes, chilling them to the bone, the storm beat down upon the travellers. ”

“ Gabriel, his face glowing with exultation at the lad’s spirit, pulled his old horn from his pocket, thrust it to his lips, and gave a tremendous blast. The engineer stopped in the middle of a record, looked the boy over again from head to foot, and then burst into a hearty laugh.
“You’ll do!” he exclaimed. “Stand right where you are as long as you want to. If you don’t own this farm some day, it won’t be because you don’t deserve to. ”

“ The reconciliation was complete. That which even Dannie’s death could not have brought about was accomplished in one instant by the announcement that he would live. Joy will sometimes crush the heart that sorrow cannot touch. ”

“ No better selection could have been made, for Charlie Pickett was familiar with every foot of the ground. By his own unaided effort through thirteen years he had risen through the various positions of axeman, chainman, flagman, rodman, and leveller, until now, as transitman, he was intrusted with the most careful and critical work of one of the youngest and most vigorous of the railroad corporations of Pennsylvania. ”

“ With her handkerchief she was alternately wiping the perspiration from his forehead and the tears from her own eyes.
“There’s but one thing to do, Dannie. Go to those who have been harmed or prejudiced by what you have done and tell them everything—everything.”
“And the punishment?”
“Take it like a man, whatever it may be. But they will not punish you cruelly; have no fear of that.”
“And then, when it’s known and settled that the D. V. & E. was first in the gap, they’ll build their railroad; they’ll cut a way through the graveyard, and we can’t stop ’em.” ”

“ Gabriel left the chair in which he was sitting next his employer, and went down and seated himself on the porch steps. Abner Pickett took his pipe from his mouth, and, grasping it firmly in the fingers of his right hand, looked questioningly from one member of the group to another.
“Well,” he said at last, “why don’t somebody speak? Are you all struck dumb? What is it about the railroad, Dannie?”
“Why, Gran’pap, they—the surveyors you know—they—they—”
“Well?”
“Whacked their stakes in regardless—” broke in Gabriel, in his intense anxiety to help Dannie out. ”

“ He shall stay with you. It is right, it is just. Some day, when I am old and alone and need him, as you [165] do now, I will call and he will come to me. Go with him, Dannie. Be good to him, as he has been to you. Good-by! Good-by, my lad,—good-by!”
He lifted the boy from the bench, clasped him to his breast, kissed him once and again, and then gently placed him at his grandfather’s side. He turned to the door, unclosed it and held it wide open, standing with bowed head and trembling lips and tear-dimmed eyes, while the old man and his grandson, hand in hand, passed out into the corridor. ”

“ By this time they had reached the western opening into the glen.
“Here,” said the man, pointing to a stake at the roadside, “here is where we come in, and there,” indicating the curve with a sweep of his arm, “is where we cross the brook, crowd the foot of the ledge opposite the graveyard, and strike a tangent that carries us in a straight line for more than fifteen hundred feet.”
“I’m so glad you didn’t touch the graveyard!” said Dannie.
“My boy, if this railroad is not built until I run a line for it through that burial-place, you will never live to see the first tie laid. ”

“ The bitterness in the old man’s heart forced itself again to his lips.
“They might ’a’ taken my land, an’ my road, an’ my stream, an’ my gap, an’ all, if they’d only ’a’ let my graveyard alone. I can’t stand that. I won’t stand that. I’ll fight that. I’ll show ’em that imposin’ on the livin’ is one thing an’ insultin’ the dead is another. I’ll make ’em—”
He stopped suddenly, his gaze fixed on the line of stakes as it skirted the shore of the brook and then crossed to the other side of the stream opposite the graveyard.
“Dannie!” he exclaimed, “look! There they go across the brook. ”

“ Dannie repeated the question.
“I say has your railroad got a right to run through my gran’father’s land if he don’t want it to?”
The man evidently decided to reply.
“Yes,” he said snappishly, “got a right to run plumb through his house; and I’m not sure but we shall if he does any kicking.”
“An’ have you got a right to run through that graveyard down yonder?”
“Oh! graveyards don’t count when there’s a railroad to be built. Come! you’re right in my line of sight. Get over in the road there if you want to see. Hadn’t you better run home, anyway, and tell the old man to look out for his cattle? ”