Dixie

“ I'm talking plain, Dixie, but me and you are good, true friends, and I want you, anyway, to understand my fix. I used to watch her taking walks all by herself in the woods, always in her thick, black veil, and bowed over like, as if she was under a heavy load. I reckon no woman the Lord ever constructed is quite as attractive to the eye uncovered as she is partly hid, for we are always hunting for perfection, and so nothing under the sun seemed to me to be so good and pure and desirable as Hettie did. I even gloried in the attention she paid his mammy and daddy. ”

“ Dixie shook her red-gold head. “Not ’zactly heard, Miss Bayley,” she replied, “but most likely ’twas the year of the big strike over at Silver City. My dad said that over-night, almost, these lonely, silent mountains were swarmed with men from everywhere, and they climbed all about with their pickaxes, hunting for other veins, but they didn’t find them. Maybe it’s selfish, but I’m glad, glad they didn’t.”
“So am I, Dixie,” the girl-teacher agreed, “for they would have dug ugly holes in these mountains and cut down the wonderful old pines. ”

“ Perhaps you have seen a gentleman, Doctor, a fearless man, avoid a quarrel thrust upon him by a low fellow, and avoid it quietly and without loss of dignity. This was Dixie’s behavior.
“We were not a pleasant party on that schooner. I had come to detest Deshay, and he knew it; Lentz would no longer speak to him; the old fellow simply grunted when Deshay addressed him, as if he considered the captain a swine and able to understand the language. Claud did not hate him; he simply loathed him, and yet was dominated by him, and the same was true of Dixie. ”

“ When they were home again, Dixie declared: “There now, Ken, you said this morning that you couldn’t think of anything to celebrate about, and just see what a wonderful day we’ve had. It’s always that way, I do believe. When a person feels gloomy, if he’d just up and prepare to celebrate, even if there’s nothing to celebrate about, something will turn up, certain-sure.”
“You’re right, Dix. You always are,” her brother declared warmly. “Two things turned up, the pig and Miss Bayley.” ”

“ At first he saw nothing but his grazing horses and mules, some of Dixie's sheep and lambs, and then he descried a purplish blur against the living green, and recognized it as the girl's sunbonnet, the back part of which was turned toward him. Across the uneven ground, his feet retarded by creeping earth-vines and furrows where grain had grown and ripened, [Pg 333] he strode, his doubt and awkwardness increasing with every step. ”

“ He knows your true worth, and I've knowed men even as bad as he is to be reformed by loving a good girl."
"I ain't in the reforming business," Dixie laughed. "I'd rather fight crab-grass and pussley weeds, and I'm off now. You go back in the house and set down and don't talk about the picnic. I sha'n't even think about it. I never bother about anything when I get warmed up."
Without a word further the two parted. Mrs. Hart stood on the little porch, and Dixie crossed the stretch of green meadow-land and climbed over the rail-fence of her cotton-field. ”

“ When he didn’t go, the other three children had to take turns staying at home with him, and when one only went to school two days out of every three, one couldn’t make as much headway as one desired, that is, not if one were as ambitious as Dixie. With a sigh that would have been perfectly audible had any one been awake to hear it, the dimes and nickels were replaced, the sock again knotted, and Dixie was about to put it under the mattress when she suddenly held it close to her, and, looking up at the sky, she sobbed under her breath: “Oh, Dad! Dad! ”

“ But Dixie did not lose her smile.
"Maybe I'd accept you," she suggested with a roguish twinkle, and once more he gazed into her eyes to read there if she was his friend. But a woman's eyes are deceptive, and hers spoke of many things—she smiled, the old dazzling smile, but there was mischief in the depths. He sighed and drew away. ”

“ Dixie’s eyes were wide. “Ken Martin, I hope you didn’t get right into that pen where an angry old sow was. Don’t you know they will turn on a boy just as quick as anything?”
Ken nodded, and then looked down at his overalls that plainly showed that he had not escaped without a muddying.
“Yes, I know,” he said, “but I took a chance, and I’m glad I did, for now we own a pig. I’ve always wanted one, and, oh, Dix, I’m almost glad we didn’t sell the apples.” Then, as he held the squealing little creature up to be admired, the boy added, “I’ve named him already.”
Carol sniffed. ”

“ Dixie laughed, impulsively. "You are getting like a ripe old toper who is [Pg 27] always begging whiskey for somebody else. You let that coffee-pot alone. The last time you tried your hand at it you put in a double quantity of corn-meal and couldn't understand why it didn't have a familiar smell as it was boiling."
"I believe a body does become a slave to the habit," the old woman agreed. "The other day you was over at Carlton, and left enough already made for dinner, I accidentally spilled it, and me and Mandy went nearly crazy. ”

“ If Dixie had hoped that Carol would say that she would far rather live in the log cabin with them, she was doomed to disappointment, for Carol’s pretty face glowed joyfully, and, clapping her hands, she cried: “Oh, Dix, how wonderful that will be! Just think of the pretty clothes I’ll have. That old ruffly dress of Jessica Archer’s will look like poor folks by the side of the dresses I will wear. Why, Sylvia Clayburn had on a pink-silk dress at the fair. I’d be the happiest girl on earth, Dix, if I could have a silk dress and have Jessica Archer see me wearing it.” ”

“ Jessica Archer, with another toss of her corn-yellow curls, seated herself, feeling that she was not being treated with the respect that was due the daughter of a sheep-king. She was suspicious, and that was why she lingered so long after school, rubbing imaginary marks from her reader, washing off the top of her desk with unusual care, and all this time, while the teacher was preparing examples for the following day, Dixie Martin sat on the bench outside of the little log schoolhouse, happily waiting. ”

“ Ken did the reading now, in memory of his father.
When Carol was sure that Sylvia was asleep, she crept from bed, and, kneeling in the moonlight, she said the little bedtime prayer that Dixie had taught her, and then asked a blessing for each of the three who were in the log-cabin home over in the mountains.
Then she crawled back into bed, feeling somewhat comforted, but she never, just never, could forgive Mrs. Clayburn; she was sure of that. Suddenly she sat up, thinking. What was it that Dixie had taught her? Never to let the sun go down on her wrath. ”

“ Now Dixie, she rides around anywhere, speaks to all the women, says 'Howdy' to all the men, and, I declare, when I hear her talking with these cowboys I wonder if she's my own daughter! They have such common ways of expressing themselves, although I must say they are always polite enough—but what I really object to is their familiar attitude toward Dixie. No matter what their class or station, they always seem to take it for granted that they are perfectly eligible, and that she is sure to marry one of them, and that even the commonest has a kind of gambler's chance to win her hand. ”

“ She listened breathlessly until she heard the name that Dixie announced. “It’s Mr. Edrington, as sure as anything!” she called in delight. Although the young engineer was Ken’s particular friend, the other three Martins loved him dearly.
[348]
The young man threw his knapsack to the ground and held out both arms to receive all four of them. Even Dixie, unconscious of the mixing-spoon that she held, ran down the trail to meet him. The young teacher alone stayed within the cabin.
“Oh-ee, Uncle Ed, but we’re glad you’ve come home,” Carol said. ”

“ A line having been drawn, to bound "Dixie's Land," the players cross the frontier with the challenge:
On Dixie's land I'll take my stand,
And live and die in Dixie.
The king of Dixie's Land endeavors to seize an invader, whom he must hold long enough to repeat the words,
Ten times one are ten,
You are one of my men.
All so captured must assist the king in taking the rest.
The word "man" seems to be used in the ancient sense of subject, as in the Scotch formula, where one boy takes another by the forelock (a reminiscence of serfdom) , saying,
Tappie, tappie, tousie, will you be my man? ”

“ Most cats become more sedate as they grow older, but Dixie became more playful. When she was a barn cat, she never played, and she would gaze with the utmost gravity and a dignified air of indifference and surprise if any one tried to tempt her to run for a ball. Now, however, she was always ready for a game. She played with everything,—with a table leg, a corner of a rug, or the hem of Lady’s dress. She played with the dry leaves on the ground. When it snowed, she played with the snowflakes. Sometimes she caught them in her paw and held them up to examine them more closely. ”

“ We don't keep a man now. Dixie is the only horse we own, and Alec does all the feeding and rubbing-down that Dixie gets. Poor little Dixie, rattling around in one of the big box stalls, can't give the place the proper air. ”

“ Take me back to dear old Dixie,
That's the only li'l ol' place for li'l ol' me.
Old times there are not forgotten,
Whuppin' slaves and sellin' cotton,
And waitin' for the Robert E. Lee
⁠ (It was never there on time) . ”

“ At last Dixie suggested that the lean-to shed, which was back of the kitchen, should be occupied by the three hens, the small pig, and the goat.
“Topsy and the two kittens can come in with us. I always make her a bed back of the stove when the winter storms come,” the little mother explained to Sylvia.
[303]
“But what shall you do with Pegasus?” that small maiden asked.
That was indeed a problem. “We didn’t have our burro last winter,” Dix said. Then she added, “What shall we do with him, Ken? ”

“ What I want to know is why you'd rather hoe cotton in weather like this than go with me to a jolly picnic. Why, Dixie, you don't begin to know your power; you could do as you like in this world, if you only would. You are the best-looking girl in the county, and you grow prettier every day. The blood of life is in your veins; you haven't got the sickly, palish look that the girls have who stay indoors half the time. You've got a clear eye, a good figure, and a complexion that society women would give big money for. ”

“ I wonder why God tears a human soul to pieces like this. If Joe is taken to-night I don't think I could ever get over it. Oh, Alfred, my heart yearns over him. At this minute I could ask for nothing better than to be allowed to work for that child all the rest of my life." Tears stood in her wonderful eyes, and her breast, under its thin covering, rose and fell tumultuously.
"You are a sweet, good girl, Dixie." Henley's voice sounded new to himself. "You are the noblest woman that ever drew the breath of life. As the Lord is my Redeemer, I'd give all I possess on earth to help you to-night." ”

“ He met her as, with the pail on her arm, she had turned toward the cottage.
"I'm too big a fool to ever understand you, Dixie," he gulped, as they paused face to face. "Since me and you parted the—the other day I—I've been plumb crazy. I got to thinking things that are too far off—too nigh the gates of heaven to be possible—things that made all my troubles fly away, but now I see it was just in my imagination. I'm going to be sensible from now on if it kills me. You can't keep on in the miserable way you are living. ”

“ We mustn't keep a horse. I shall have to get rid of Dixie."
It isn't a nice figure, but at that last announcement I gulped up all that I had tried to swallow before.
"O Alec," I interrupted, "poor little Dixie! Please, please, please don't sell Dixie!" I pleaded. "Please don't sell our home," I cried. "Why, where [88] shall we live? Don't send Nellie away. Don't! Don't! I'll do anything! I won't buy a stitch for myself. And I'll work—I'll work my hands to the bones! I can earn something. But oh, don't sell dear, poor little Dixie." ”

“ Five minutes later the two boys, hand in hand, went outdoors to feed the “live-stock,” which consisted of a goat, Pegasus, the burro, Topsy and her kittens, the three little hens, and Blessing, the pig. As soon as the door closed behind them, Dixie went across the room and placed her hand on the bent head. “Sylvia,” she said kindly, “won’t you come to the table and have some breakfast?” ”

“ Dixie certainly understood some of this at least, for when Lady hurried down cellar to look for a box and brought excelsior and a piece of blanket from the attic to line it with, Dixie followed, no longer moaning, but watching closely every motion. “We’ll put it into this quiet room off the kitchen,” Lady explained to Dixie; and she lifted the little cat and laid her into the soft, warm nest. Cats are not often willing to let People choose nests for them, but Dixie was happy and grateful, and she lay down at once. ”

“ Lawrence and the boundary of the South the Rio Grande, and Mason and Dixon's Line is forever blotted from the map of our beloved country, and the nation has grown color-blind to blue and gray, it is with peculiar pleasure that we welcome here to-night a distinguished and typical representative of that noble people who live in that part of the present North that used to be called Dixie, of whom he has himself so beautifully and so truly said, 'If they bore themselves haughtily in their hour of triumph, they bore defeat with splendid fortitude. ”

“ DANIEL DECATUR EMMETT
DIXIE.
I wish I was in de land ob cotton,
Old times dar am not forgotten,
Look away! Look away! Look away!
In Dixie Land where I was born in,
Early on a frosty mornin’,
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Den I wish I was in Dixie,
Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land, I’ll take my stand,
To lib and die in Dixie,
Away! Away!
Away down south in Dixie.
Old Missus marry “Will-de-weaber,”
Willium was a gay deceaber;
Look away! Look away! Look away! ”

“ Then Ken had an inspiration. “I say, Jimmy-Boy,” he began, leaning over and peering into the tear-wet face that was half hidden on Dixie’s shoulder, “if you’ll eat every spoonful of your milk and porridge, Big Brother will let you ride on Pegasus and hold the reins all by your very own self.”
The dearest desire of the small boy was to reach that age when he would be considered old enough to sit, unsupported, upon the back of the gentle, jogging creature, hold the reins, and drive alone. ”