Melville Davisson Post

“ Talbott took his saddle on his arm, and, leading the young horse, returned to his home.
His little farm, with its thin, inhospitable soil, lay beside the river. Here in the early autumn there was some pasture, and he turned the horse into the field. That night, before the fire, alone in his house, he began to review the incidents of the trade. Why had the gipsy been so willing to give him this twenty-dollar bonus? These men were proverbially excellent judges of a horse; this one must have known that the young animal was superior to the older one for which he had exchanged it. ”

“ And in his aspect the man will come to carry this egotism. Talbott rode with his legs thrust out, his chin depressed, and his face in repose. Those things which he had wrung from the soil, and the esteem in which he was held by his neighbors, had endowed him with a feeling of security.
When Talbott turned out of the wood at the foot of the hill, he saw a man standing in the road, and beside him, drawn up on the sod, was a horse and wagon. The wagon was covered with a tarpaulin drawn over wooden bows, and within sat a woman, wrapped in a bed-quilt. Talbott knew these persons for gipsies. ”

“ The unrestraint of his speech and his violent and erratic manner assured him an audience. On this day the grove before the church was filled with horses; every seat in the church was occupied, and persons stood along the wall. Talbott sat on the first bench before the pulpit. He had made up his mind about what he intended to do, and when the man called upon him to take up the collection, he put the twenty-dollar bill into his hat.
The minister rose and began to speak to the congregation while the collection went forward. ”

“ Here were incidents of the family of those tales: the thing was a piece of money, and he had got it from a gipsy.
He returned to his bed, but ho did not sleep. The suggestion remained, and he continued to regard it. The man's austere religion, rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, accepted certain ancient legends that comprehended this idea. The ruin of men, innocent of wrong, of women, of children, of whole tribes and cities, had followed the possession of articles in themselves harmless, but charged with an evil influence. ”

“ As he approached, in the last team he saw his old horse that he had traded to the gipsy. He stopped. The man walking beside the wagon ran over, and, lifting the foot of Talbott's horse, began to examine it.
"He's got well," he said, "the young horse. I have sorrow to trade him." Then he rose. "But a child was to be born and I must get to my own people then." ”

“ When a man advances against difficulties that beset him, in whatever avenue of life, he takes on a certain feeling of security. In him, in spite of the humility engendered by religion, there develops a deep and abiding belief that the human mind is master over the mysterious and unknown agencies with which it is forced to contend. ”

“ A man's sometimes disappointed about layin' his hands on money to pay for a thing, an' that's excusable. If he's got the money an' he won't stand up to his bargain, that's different. Now, I'd say that, if Talbott had the money on him, he'd be no man to back out. ”

“ This man represented life maintained against a mean soil that would hardly support it. But industry, a painful economy, and an exact, accurate knowledge of conditions had enabled him to advance. He owned a little farm of some fifty acres, and he was Out of debt. His habit of purchasing only those things which he actually required, and paying for them in cash, and his extreme care in contracting about what he would do, had in the end established his reputation for integrity. ”

“ Talbott continued to consider this extraordinary trade. All day in the field, about his labors, he subjected it to a certain method of exclusion after the manner in which he had examined the horse for a defect. And one by one he dismissed those theories which seemed the less likely to contain the truth. By virtue of this proceeding he finally arrived before the suggestion that probably the twenty-dollar bill which the gipsy had so easily paid over was not good money. ”

“ And Talbott promised to bring him the money before that day.
On Friday evening Talbott went with the twenty-dollar bill to the village. The evenings were a bit chill, and there was a crowd about the stove when he entered the store. It was baiting the storekeeper. The topic of conversation was a traveling circus, advertised to visit the village, and some one was saying:
"You've got to look out for that set, Andy; they always leave their plugged half—dollars with the country storekeeper." ”

“ And the oldest explanation in the world to account for the evil potentiality of incidents otherwise slight and trifling occurred to him—that by virtue of supernal powers, and through the agency of vicious persons, petty things were sometimes charged with an influence that compelled one to an evil destiny. ”

“ The storekeeper did not continue. He went around the counter to his desk and began to write a note countermanding his order. He knew that if Talbott had not the money, it was useless to insist; such a man could not be persuaded to incur a debt. ”

“ And it was arranged that on Friday the school-teacher should come with an assignment of the subscriptions and receive the money.
In a small country community everything is known. A few days later, when Talbott entered the village on his way to the post-office, the storekeeper stopped him. ”