Isla May Mullins

“ Steve bounded forward at first with joy, and then as scream after scream followed, with the unmistakable agony of fear in the cry, forgetting his deadly weariness he ran swiftly in the direction of the sound, dropping the fox skin as he ran. In a breathless moment he came in sight of a good sized tree, and hanging from a high limb by the skirt of her dress was a little girl, head downward.
Steve saw in an instant that she could not help herself, and that she might fall to her death any moment. ”

“ Evening brought Raymond again to the Follet porch, and after a little music and general talk, turning to Mrs. Follet he said:
“Mother Follet, won’t you let us children, Miss Nancy and me, go for a little walk together? It is so hard for us to sit still.” He said it with mock childishness that was irresistible, and without waiting for Mrs. Follet’s consent, he laughingly grasped Nancy’s hand and made off with her, whether or no.
Steve could not see the laughing but real protest in Nancy’s face, and his lips set firmly as he watched her white frock swaying gently up the long, straggling street. ”

“ As Steve grew to young manhood Mr. Polk asked him as often as studies would permit in summer to go down to the office. He liked to give the boy a taste of the financial whirl, and it was intensely interesting and exciting to Steve. He felt something of the same tremor of wonder and delight over the inner whirl of gigantic machinery moving railroad systems which stirred him when he felt the first rush of a passing railroad train, and there was a certain eager desire to be a part of it all. ”

“ The big, wooden wheel had fallen from its place and the old mill itself was fast dropping into complete decay, but the trees in fresh summer green still hung affectionately over it. Just beyond the mill nestled the gray log cabin with its porch across the front; and, yes, there was Tildy pacing back and forth at her spinning-wheel just as she used to do when Steve and Nancy were children. She was of the thrifty type of mountain women, always cleanly, always busy, making the most of the meagre means at hand. ”

“ Fortunately the moon was up in its full glory and Steve could see plainly what he was about. He crept up close to the two snoring men and across the feet of the tall one lay his fox skin.
“I must git that anyways,” said the boy to himself, “for it belongs to the man in the city.”
Slowly, cautiously he lifted it from the big heavy feet, and there was not a stir. Then he stood, his heart almost bursting with longing for his watch. It was in the big man’s pocket he was sure, and he stooped close a minute, reaching out a hand,––but he didn’t dare. ”

“ Did the tender mother-arms reach down and draw her boy near to the heart of God? At any rate he grew quiet. He remembered vaguely that he had heard how God is everywhere, and with a new strange sense of companionship with the great Creator, which comes to souls in extremity, he fell asleep and did not waken until the sun, bursting forth with new brilliance after the day of rain, had lit up the mountain tops and set the birds to singing.
He enjoyed the breakfast of very hard corn pone and bacon, and took out his beloved watch. ”

“ The mountain blood in 207 Mr. Follet would never forget or forgive. He must leave the place forever. He was adrift again in the world. There would never be tender home ties for him,––he could never love another, no one could be a part of his very self like little Nancy. He dropped down upon a little seat which he had fixed there for her in the old days, and was lost in depressed thought, taking no note of how long he remained.
The stillness of the wood quieted him finally, as it had always done, and he remembered his old friends the Greelys. ”

“ Follet, “and that’s the point of view of man’s rights. Why, it won’t be long till a man can’t milk his own cow without the government standing round to watch her switch her tail and tell him how to do it,––all ready to grab the money if he sells a little to a neighbour!”
“Well, Mr. Follet,” said Steve, looking steadily but kindly in the enraged eyes of his opponent, “there is one thing that we do agree upon, and that is, every man has a right to his own opinion,” and the kindness in Steve’s eyes merged into his sudden smile, which stemmed a little the rising tide of Mr. Follet’s wrath. ”

“ He had lain for two hours or more in the stillness when suddenly Tige lifted his head and gave a sharp bark, then came the sound of voices, strange voices Steve at once knew them to be, and as he caught the tones more clearly, recognized that one at least was of a kind which he had never heard before. Keeping Tige quiet with a firm hand, he lifted his head and listened with ear and soul, then into view stepped a man of medium height with a clean, fine face, clothes of a sort unknown to the boy, and an easy, alert stride totally foreign to the mountaineer’s slouching gait. ”

“ I am not sure that going myself to work among my people is the best way, but I simply feel it should be tried first. If I should remain here a while, I know I would never go there, and if I find that I am wrong in going, at the end of two years I will gladly return to you for business.”
“If you go, Steve Langly, contrary to my advice and better judgment, you go for good,” said Mr. Polk sternly, pausing in his striding and emphasizing with a stamp of his foot.
Mr. Polk with his gentleness had always had a hot-headed, unreasonable side to his nature. ”

“ Several days passed during which Miss Grace and Steve had been constantly with the prisoner, then his injured back was sufficiently restored to permit of his being raised in bed to a sitting posture, and Miss Grace felt it was time she tried to win his consent to Steve’s remaining at school. With woman’s intuition she divined the best method of approach. Steve was not there and she told with simple pathos of the boy’s love for his mother. Jim Langly had loved his wife with all the mountain man’s lack of expression, but the natural portrayal of the boy’s affection did not displease him. ”

“ Jim Langly’s prejudice was even stronger than that of the average mountain man of this type, for it had been a matter of contention between himself and his wife in the early days of their married life. She had always longed to see what was beyond the mountains and besieged him to go till the subject could no more be mentioned between them.
Steve soon climbed to his bed in a corner of the room with a very heavy heart. If city folks weren’t to be depended on then he would never get that watch, and all the beautiful visions of learning to do things in a wonderful new world grew dim and uncertain. ”

“ As the horses went leisurely back along through the wood, Steve and Nancy talked gently of the two old people with their wondrous mountain combination of barest poverty, dense ignorance, keen intelligence, simple kindliness and gentle dignity,––qualities which the young folks were now prepared to recognize.
“It is curious how like two people grow from constant association,” said Steve at last, musingly. ”

“ The penetrating gaze was returned, but with a puzzled, groping inquiry for his benefactor’s full intent.
“Yer mean I mus’ larn as much as you know?” he asked at last.
“More,––infinitely more,” said Mr. Polk with energy. “I have half-way climbed the mountain of knowledge and success in life,––I have even stopped less than half-way,” he corrected a little bitterly, “but,” rousing himself, “I want to begin life over again in you, and nothing but the very top of the mountain of success will ever satisfy me!” ”

“ Steve and Nita, as the only children, spent the evening together, roaming about the house, Steve finding new interests everywhere. He looked around at the rich furnishings and beautiful floral decorations with appreciative eyes, seeming not at all out of place in such surroundings. A feeling of awkwardness and timidity might have possessed so poor a boy reared anywhere else, but mountain-born as he 112 was, he accepted man’s magnificence with the same tranquil spirit that he did the shimmering silver of a mountain sunrise or the gorgeous colour-triumph of its sunset. ”

“ But Nancy was already out of the room flying for the stable. There was no thought of riding habit or saddle. Throwing a bridle over Gyp’s head, she sprang upon his back and like the wind the two rushed forth into the midnight stillness. Would she be in time to save him? It had been so long since he left the house. Oh, would she be too late? She urged Gyp wildly on and on, along the road directly towards the Greely woods, where she would find the moonshiners, and perhaps,––oh, perhaps! God only knew what else she might find. ”

“ Steve looked afar again, as he had twice before when his fate was about to be settled for him, and Mr. Polk stirred impatiently. But the younger man turned at once, this time with that sudden smile upon his face, and said ingratiatingly:
“Mr. Polk, I am afraid I haven’t any head for business,––I love books far better. I feel a premonition that I shall be stupid in business.”
“Nonsense,” said Mr. Polk, with quick irritation. “I don’t believe it. You have never been stupid about anything.”
“I do not know,” Steve replied, serious again. ”

“ Steve spent a week in the crowded but hospitable cabin of his latest friends resting the swollen foot. It was not seriously sprained and would have given him no trouble but for the long tramp upon it the night before and his general fatigue.
He had an interesting time with this family on the roadside. They were of the most shiftless type of mountain folk. Life was a long holiday to them, every meal a picnic. There were too many to gather about the table in the little log lean-to, so the elders only sat down at meal times. ”

“ Steve soon followed, going to his room with a sense of desolation that was akin to the desolation of his boyhood in the wilderness. He felt that he must leave New York at once, for he could not stay longer with self-respect under the roof which had been home to him for so many years. What “little mother,” as he had come to call Mrs. Polk, would 127 say he did not know, but his heart warmed when he thought of her, and comforted at last by the feeling that she at least would not misunderstand him, he fell asleep towards morning. ”

“ Mirandy, having a precious gilded trinket, was better posted on the colour and value of metals than Steve, though she made a slight error in her next statement.
“This hern is silver; that’s the next thing to gold,” and the bright nickel of the Waterbury twinkled in the spring sunshine as though trying to measure up to its admirers’ estimate.
“A silver watch,” said the stranger after he had heard the story of that autumn day with its promise of a watch which was just now fulfilled––“wal, you air a lucky boy, shore.” ”

“ Miss Grace had a bubbling, contagious enthusiasm, and Steve followed her expressive gestures as she pointed out each detail of perfection with answering admiration.
“Steve!” She turned suddenly and bent her eyes upon him with still more radiant emphasis. “I want you to be just such a grand specimen of a man! Big and strong and well developed,––pushing up into the sky further than all the rest about you, getting more sunshine than any one else––making little 97 plants to grow and blossom all about you and drawing to you the sweetest and best in life!” ”

“ The next day Steve had a long talk with Mrs. Polk. She had heard of the trouble from Mr. Polk, and had done all in her power to bring about a change in his state of mind. Failing utterly and knowing his tenacity when an idea was once fixed, she could not encourage Steve with the hope of any immediate change. Neither could she urge the young man to abandon his purpose, for she felt that he alone must decide his future, and though in her heart she approved his course, so deeply was she grieved over the alienation between him and Mr. Polk that she held it in restraint. ”

“ As Steve followed her with admiring eyes and sincere regard, he could not help seeing most clearly that she could never fit into the mountain landscape. He thought whimsically of Mr. Polk’s dreams for her and himself and knew that though he could have remained 154 in her world and found happiness, she could never have come into his. His early intuition had not been at fault; she would never touch the height, breadth and depth of universal womanhood with its vision and its sympathy. ”

“ Nothing has ever touched and interested me so much as some supply work I have done for our school,” she added, a light upon her face, which thrilled Steve’s heart anew. What a help she could be to him in his chosen work!
“I am so glad you have felt the appeal of mountain need,” said he, struggling to keep the thrill out of his voice. And then he told her of his hopes and plans, of the dream he had of a new school within reach of Hollow Hut, a region to which new possibilities were about to come, he had learned at the county seat, through a projected railroad line. ”

“ Polk halted reluctantly, but finally joined them.
Before a word could be exchanged a tall, lank, grim mountaineer slouched forward and laid a horny hand upon Steve’s shoulder. The startled boy looked up to see his father standing beside him!
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The Kentucky mountain product, unlike any other so-called shiftless man in the world, may idle his days away with pipe and drink, but let a wrong, real or fancied, be done him or his and in his thirst for vengeance he is transformed. His energy, his perseverance, his intelligence, his fury become colossal. ”

“ Steve laughed in reply with as good grace as he could, and soon followed Mrs. Follet to bed as one of the “old folks” before the “children” returned.
It was evident enough that he did not count with anybody except the Greelys as a possible suitor for Nancy, and his sturdy heart chafed in almost bitter protest. Again sweet memories played truant in the small attic chamber. “And little Nancy has musical aspirations,” he thought. “With the life I have chosen I could never gratify her. It is absolutely hopeless for me,––I have nothing to offer her. ”