John Habberton

“ Both my nephews were sitting up in bed, Budge looking as sullen as an old jail-bird, and Toddie with tears streaming all over his face.
"Boys," said I, "don't be angry with each other—it isn't right. What do you suppose the Lord thinks when he sees you so cross to each other?"
"He don't think noffin'," said Budge; "you don't think he can look through a black sky like that, do you?"
"He can look anywhere, Budge, and he feels very unhappy when he sees little brothers angry with each other." ”

“ No rumbling of wheels tormented me, nor any of the thousand noises that fill city air with the spirit of unrest, and I fell into a wonder almost indignant that sensible, comfortable, loving beings could live in horrible New York, while such delightful rural homes were so near at hand. Then Alice Mayton came into my mind, and then a customer; later, stars and trademarks, and bouquets, and dirty nephews, and fireflies and bad accounts, and railway tickets, and candy and Herbert Spencer, mixed themselves confusingly in my mind. ”

“ A look of inquiry was speedily followed by Toddie's own unmistakable preparations for weeping; and as I did not want his eyes dimmed when his mother looked into them I hastily exclaimed:—
"Put them on, then—put on the mantle of rude Boreas if you choose; but don't go to crying."
"Don't want no mantle-o'wude-baw-yusses," declared Toddie, following me phonetically, "wantsh my own pitty cozhesh, an' nobody eshesh."
"O Uncle Harry," exclaimed Budge, "I want to bring mamma home in my goat-carriage!"
"The goat isn't strong enough, Budge, to draw mamma and you." ”

“ For hours I paced the piazza and consumed cigars; when at last I retired it was with many ideas, hopes, fears, and fancies which had never before been mine. True to my trust, I looked into my nephews' room; there lay the boys, in postures more graceful than any which brush or chisel have ever reproduced. Toddie, in particular, wore so lovely an expression that I could not refrain from kissing him. ”

“ It was no florist's bouquet, composed of only a few kinds of flowers, wired upon sticks, and arranged according to geometric pattern. I used many a rare flower, too shy of bloom to recommend itself to florists; I combined tints almost as numerous as the flowers were, and perfumes to which city bouquets are utter strangers. Arranging flowers is a favorite pastime of mine, but upon this particular occasion I enjoyed my work more than I had ever done before. Not that I was in love with Miss Mayton; a man may honestly and strongly admire a handsome, brilliant woman without being in love with her ”

“ I replied, "I'll carry you out there under an umbrella after lunch, and you may play with that goat all the afternoon, if you like."
"Oh, won't that be nice?" exclaimed Budge. "The poor goat! he'll think I don't love him a bit, 'cause I haven't been to see him to-day. Does goats go to heaven when they die, Uncle Harry?"
"Guess not—they'd make trouble in the golden streets I'm afraid."
"Oh, dear! then Phillie can't see my goat. I'm so awful sorry," said Budge.
"I can see your goat, Budgie," suggested Toddie.
"Huh!" said Budge, very contemptuously. "You ain't dead." ”

“ Then came a shout of—"Uncle Harry!" in a voice I recognized as that of Budge. I made no reply: there are moments when the soul is full of utterances unfit to be heard by childish ears. "Uncle Harray!" repeated Budge. Then I heard a window blind open, and Budge exclaiming:—
"Uncle Harry, we want you to come and tell us stories." ”

“ I am sure that I mentally forgave all my enemies as I dropped off into a most delicious doze, but the sudden realization that a light hand was passing over my cheek roused me to savage anger in an instant. I sprang up, and saw Budge shrink timidly away from my bedside.
"I was only a-lovin' you, cos you was good, and brought us candy. Papa lets us love him whenever we want to—every morning he does." ”

“ You don't need to be told that no woman alive has more of these very qualities.
"Bless your dear old heart, Harry,—you deserve to be shaken to death if you're not the happiest man alive. I must hurry home and see you both with my own eyes, and learn to believe that all this wonderful, glorious thing has come to pass. Give Alice a sister's kiss for me (if you know how to give more than one kind) , and give my cherubs a hundred each from the mother that wants to see them so much.
"With love and congratulations,
"Helen." ”

“ While in Miss Mayton's presence the imps had preserved perfect silence, but now their tongues were loosened.
"Uncle Harry," said Budge, "do you know how to make whistles?"
"Unken Hawwy," murmured Toddie, "does you love dat lady?"
"No, Toddie, of course not."
"Then you's a baddy man, an' de Lord won't let you go to heaven if you don't love peoples."
"Yes, Budge," I answered hastily, "I do know how to make whistles, and you shall have one."
"Lord don't like mans what don't love peoples," reiterated Toddie. ”

“ As the table talk of myself and nephews was not such as could do harm by being repeated, I requested Maggie, the servant, to wait upon the children, and I accompanied my request with a small treasury note. Relieved, thus, of all responsibility for the dreadful appetites of my nephews, I did full justice to the repast, and even regarded with some interest and amusement the industry of Budge and Toddie with their tiny forks and spoons. They ate rapidly for a while, but soon their appetites weakened and their tongues were unloosed. ”

“ But what's the reason we can't ever see anybody through the cracks, Uncle Harry?"
"I don't know—old fellow,—I guess it's because it isn't cracks in heaven that look so bright,—it's a kind of fire that the Lord makes up in the clouds. You'll know all about it when you get bigger."
"Well, I'll feel awful sorry if 'tain't anything but fire. Do you know that funny song my papa sings 'bout:—
"'Roarin' thunders, lightenin's blazes,
Shout the great Creator's praises?'"
I don't know zactly what it means, but I think it's kind o' splendid, don't you?" ”

“ I was so glad that his burn had been slight that I forgave the insult to my handkerchief and called up Budge, so that I might at once get both boys into bed, and emerge from the bondage in which I had lived all day long. But the task was no easy one. Of course my brother-in-law, Tom Lawrence, knows better than any other man the necessities of his own children, but no children of mine shall ever be taught so many methods of imposing upon parental good nature. ”

“ While returning to the house and preparing for church I entered into a solemn agreement with Budge, who was usually recognized as the head of this fraternal partnership. Budge contracted, for himself and brother, to make no attempts to enter my room; to refrain from fighting; to raise loose dirt only with a shovel, and to convey it to its destination by means other than their own hats and aprons; to pick no flowers; to open no water-faucets; to refer all disagreements to the cook, as arbitrator, and to build no houses of the new books which I had stacked upon the library table. ”

“ If I seem to speak extravagantly, I beg to refer you to Alice Mayton for collateral evidence. Don't come home at all—everything is just as it should be—even if you come, I guess I'll invite myself to spend the rest of the summer with you; I've changed my mind about its being a bore to live out of town and take trains back and forth every day. Ask Tom to think over such bits of real estate in your neighborhood as he imagines I might like.
"I repeat it, the boys are angels, and Alice Mayton is another, while the happiest man in the white goods trade is
"Your affectionate brother
"Harry." ”

“ The dreaded ending of my vacation did not cause me as many pangs as I had expected. Helen wanted to know one evening why, if her poor, dear Tom could go back and forth to the city to business every day, her lazy big brother couldn't go back and forth to Hillcrest daily, if she were to want him as a boarder for the remainder of the season. Although I had for years inveighed against the folly of cultivated people leaving the city to find residences, Helen's argument was unanswerable and I submitted. ”

“ I—I—when I loves anybody, I kisses them."
Miss Mayton gave a little start, and my thoughts followed each other with unimagined rapidity. She did not turn the conversation—it could not be possible that she could not. She was not angry, or she would have expressed herself. Could it be that——
I bent over her, and acted upon Budge's suggestion. As she displayed no resentment, I pressed my lips a second time to her forehead, then she raised her head slightly, and I saw, in spite of darkness and shadows, that Alice Mayton had surrendered at discretion. ”

“ Dear Toddie! for years we might sit at one table, careless of each other's words, but the casual mention of one of thy delights has suddenly brought our souls into that sweetest of all human communions—that one which doubtless bound the Master himself to that apostle who was otherwise apparently the weakest among the chosen twelve. ”

“ After allowing a few moments for the usual expressions of dissent, I staggered up—stairs with Toddie in my arms, and Budge on my back, both boys roaring in refrain of the negro hymn:—
"I'm a rolling through an Unfriendly World." ”

“ Toddie clutched it, his whole face lighting up with affectionate delight, and he screamed:—
"Oh, dare is my dee dolly: tum to your own papa, dolly, an' I'll love you."
And that ridiculous child was so completely satisfied by his outlay of affection that my own indignation gave place to genuine artistic pleasure. One CAN tire of even beautiful pictures, though, when he is not fully awake, and is holding a candle in a draught of air; so I covered my nephews and returned to my own room, where I mused upon the contradictoriness of childhood until I fell asleep. ”

“ Lunch-time, and after it the time for Toddie to take his nap. Poor Budge was bereft of a playmate, for the doctor's little girl was sick; so he quietly followed me about with a wistful face, that almost persuaded me to take him with me on my drive—our drive. Had he grumbled, I would have felt less uncomfortable; but there's nothing so touching and overpowering to either gods or men, as the spectacle of mute resignation. At last, to my great relief, he opened his mouth.
"Uncle Harry," said he, "do you s'pose folks ever get lonesome in heaven?" ”

“ Your children are angels—you've told me so yourself, and I've my own very distinct impression on the subject, but they don't study to save their uncle's appearance. The figures that unfortunate man has cut several times—well, I won't try to describe them on paper, for fear he might some day see a scrap of it and take offense. But he always seems to be patient with them, and devoted to them, and I haven't been able to keep from seeing that a man who could be so lovable with thoughtless and unreasonable children must be perfectly adorable to the woman he loved, if she were a woman at all. ”

“ I could hardly have done it just then, though, for Mike solicited an audience at the back door, and reported that Budge had given the carriage-sponge to the goat, put handfuls of oats into the pump-cylinder, pulled hairs out of the black mare's tail, and with a sharp nail drawn pictures on the enamel of the carriage-body. Budge made no denial, but looked very much aggrieved, and remarked that he couldn't never be happy without somebody having to go get bothered; and he wished there wasn't nobody in the world but organ-grinders and candy-store men. ”

“ Even the chickens stood about in dejected attitudes, and stray roosters from other poultry-yards found refuge in Tom's coop without first being subjected to a trial of strength and skill by Tom's game-cock.
But no man in my condition of mind could be easily depressed by bad weather. I would rather have been able to drive about under a clear sky, or lounge under the trees, or walk to the post-office in the afternoon by the road which passed directly in front of Mrs. Clarkson's boarding-house; but man should not live for himself alone. ”

“ Delays are only cowardly."
A slight trembling at my side,—an instant of silence that seemed an hour, yet within which I could count but six footfalls, and Alice replied:—
"Yes; if the parlor happens to be empty, I'll ask her if she won't go in and see you a moment." Then there came a look full of tenderness, wonder, painful solicitude, and then two dear eyes filled with tears.
"We're nearly there, darling," said I, with a reassuring embrace.
"Yes, and you sha'n't be the only hero," said she, straightening herself proudly, and looking a fit model for a Cenobia. ”

“ Women like Alice Mayton do not thus give themselves unreservedly away, except when their trust is born of knowledge as well as affection, and the realization of all this changed me on that afternoon from whatever I had been, into what I had long hoped I might one day be. ”

“ I could think of no possible way to turn the conversation; stranger yet, Miss Mayton could not do so either. Something MUST be done—I could at least be honest, come what would—I would be honest.
"Miss Mayton," said I, hastily, earnestly, but in a very low tone, "Budge is a marplot, but he is a truthful interpreter for all that. But whatever my fate may be, please do not suspect me of falling suddenly into love for a holiday's diversion. My malady is of some months' standing. I—"
"I want to talk SOME," observed Budge. "You talk all the whole time. ”

“ SUCH a cook!"
"And such children," said I, glaring suggestively at the imps, and rescuing from Toddie a handkerchief which he had extracted from my pocket, and was waving to the breeze.
"Why, they're the best children in the world. Helen told me so the first time I met her this season! Children will be children, you know. We had three little cousins with us last summer, and I'm sure they made me look years older than I really am."
"How young you must be, then, Miss Mayton!" ”