James Renfew

“ At noon, when James was in the schoolhouse, and his enemies outside, one boy would shout to another so as to be heard all over the schoolhouse,—“I say, John Edmands, do you know how to pick oakum?”
“No.”
“Well, then ask Redemptioner. He learned the trade in the work’us, and he’s a superior workman.”
Did James leave the schoolroom at recess, half a dozen snowballs flung by nobody would hit him. When at night he had his books under his arm going home a volley of balls would cover his books with snow. ”

“ Just after wheat harvest, James received a letter from Bertie, saying that if he would come to Swatara in his birch, himself and Ned Conly would return with him, and bring his sheep.
“I know what they want,” said James; “they want to come in the birch, and see the rough side of life, and that’s the reason they want to come now, while we are in the camp; but I wish we had a good house for them.”
“I don’t. They wouldn’t have half so good a time; they want to see just what beginning in the woods is, and what they must come to if they take it up, and perhaps it will sicken them.” ”

“ There was no time to be lost, as the journey was long, and James began instantly to make his preparations.
“Father,” said Bertie, “the colt is too young for such a journey with a heavy load, it will spoil him. Why don’t you let James take old Frank? He’ll be 249back by the time we want to plough, and Frank is good for anything.”
“I will, if you and Peter think you can part with Frank.” Mr. Whitman gave his father’s rifle to James, a most excellent piece. ”

“ In that respect James is different from any boy I ever saw; he has not a particle of conceit about him; is always willing to take advice, and generally asks it.”
“There is not much danger of your redemptioner’s leaving you, at least not till after the potatoes are dug, and they are never known to leave in the fall, as then they begin to think of winter quarters.” ”

“ James wrote Bertie to thank his father and mother and Peter, and to ask his father to put in a tongue suitable for cattle to work, as he should move with oxen.
He now went to the mill and sold his wheat for ninety cents, and carried it down in the birch; it measured sixty bushels. He brought back some flour, cornmeal, a grindstone, pork, and a keg of molasses.
“This is better than living on the Monongahela,” said James to himself; “there wheat won’t pay to carry over the mountains or down the Ohio, but it will pay to carry it yourself in a birch down a creek.” ”

“ He then told James of the letter he had received from his brother, and put it in his hand. When James had read the letter, he said,—
“There is nothing I so much desire as to own a piece of land. Working out by the month on a farm is a very slow way of getting money to buy it with, as in the winter a man can earn but little more than his board, and the winters are long here; in England the plough goes every month in the year. ”

“ This is your home just as much as it is ours; we won’t let you go, will we, Pete?”
“Of course we won’t.”
“Father,” said Bertie, at dinner, “do you know that James’ time is out next fall?”
“Yes.”
“But you said he and we might have three crops 246off that burn. If he goes away he’ll lose his crop.”
“He won’t go away. I’ll hire him and let him have his crop to boot. I suppose he’ll work for me, won’t you, James?”
“Work for you, Mr. Whitman. I’ll gladly work for you a year without wages, and then I shall be altogether in your debt, for coming here has been my salvation, both for soul and body.” ”

“ While at work on his barn, James hired Litchfield to clear three acres of land, and paid him in pork, wheat to sow, wheat flour to eat, and by letting him have his cattle to plough. That autumn James dug a cellar and stoned it, and in the winter hauled the logs to build the walls, and hewed them on two sides; hauled bricks from the mouth of the creek to build a chimney and put them in the hovel, which now made an excellent storehouse for the materials to build the house. ”

“ During the forenoon they had been preparing the ground to plant corn, they had been working four horses, putting James’ colt in with Dick, in the absence of his mate.
“Father,” said Peter, “hadn’t we better plough that piece of burnt land, and not wait for James?”
Mr. Whitman was about to reply, but his voice was drowned in a loud neigh that penetrated every cranny of the dwelling, and took precedence of all other sounds, and was instantly followed by a most vigorous response from the four horses in the barn, in which the tones of Dick were the most prominent. ”

“ The tears sprang into the eyes of James. He exclaimed,—
“Grandfather, don’t talk so; I can’t bear to hear you talk in that way. You will live a good many years to make us all happy.”
“That’s impossible according to the course of nature. I have lived to see all my children settled 232and making a good living, and what is more, giving evidence of grace, though Jonathan and Alice have not as yet seen their way clear to come forward, and I am ready to go; but I would like to see you and Peter, Bertie and Maria, rejoicing in the Lord.” ”

“ James Brings down an Owl. Page 175.
177“What shall we do with James, mother?” said Peter, as he and Bertie were preparing to go to Mr. Conly’s. “What shall we do with him when he comes? We don’t want him to sit all the evening and look straight into the fire, and never open his mouth, and Ned won’t either, and he’ll be frightened half to death.”
“I’ll tell you what to do,” said the grandfather; “ask him questions that he cannot answer by yes and no; he’ll have to answer them, and after he hears the sound of his own voice a few times he’ll gain courage.” ”

“ James, as usual, made directly for his seat; but they all surrounded and crowded him along to the fireplace, and instantly the Wood boys, the Kingsburys, the Kendricks, Stillman Russell, and all the girls, got round him, shook hands with him, told him he did just right, the day before, that those boys had always domineered over the smaller scholars, set them on to mischief, and made trouble in school, and with the master when they could. ”

“ James has so good a memory, and is as willing to apply himself as you have represented, he will very soon begin to excel his mates, because the mind of a boy of that age is more mature than the mind of a child, and he is capable of more application. ”

“ I’m most always here stormy days in the winter, come in and practise with the tools, and I’ll show you. If, as I trust you will, you should have a piece of land, it will be a great thing in a new settlement to be able to handle tools.”
Scarcely had the old gentleman and James left the shop, than Peter, Bertie, and the Edibeans came in, replenished the fire to heat the chimney, and taking some skins from the wagon, ascended to the loft above, and seated themselves for consultation, evidently with something of great weight upon their minds. ”

“ A quart of oats every night, and potatoes, Sunday morning, with plenty of hay, made the animal grow finely.
This winter James so excelled in writing that the master employed him to set the copies. Everything passed along pleasantly in the school; James mingled freely with the scholars in their diversions, and even Morse, Riggs, and Orcutt forgot the old grudge, or pretended they had. ”

“ The colt would follow James like a dog; and sometimes when Frank would take a notion not to be caught James would call the colt to him and start for the barn, and the old horse would follow them right into the stable.
Mr. Whitman had an offer for wheat at a high price, and kept Mr. Conly and hired another man (as he had two barn floors) to help thresh, threshing being then all done with the flail, or else the grain was trampled out by cattle. The evenings were now getting to be quite long. James therefore began to study, and Mr. Conly assisted him and heard him recite. ”

“ I had rather give him a chance to help himself,” and with that view he gave him twenty-seven dollars a month for the summer, and also half an acre to plant or sow, and Bertie and Peter the same.
James sent on his money and received a deed of the land, and through Mr. Creech, the landlord with whom he had put up, made arrangements with Prescott, his nearest neighbor, to fell the trees on an acre of land. ”

“ Whitman this summer, trap with William next winter, and if Mrs. Chadwick takes me up, go on to the place in the spring or early in the fall. If she won’t 297sell, I shall by that time have sufficient, by the blessing of God,—as grandfather, if he was living, would say,—to buy a place in this region equally good. There are always people enough who are unfortunate or fickle-minded, who want to sell.”
James slept but very little that night, for his heart was set upon getting that land, and more especially since he saw that his companion was equally desirous of making it her home. ”

“ James was so much delighted with this as to overcome his usual diffidence, and show it to Mr. Whitman.
When school was half done, Mr. Conly put James into the class with Bertie, who no longer instructed James in reading, spelling, or writing at home, as the latter could read nearly as well as his former teacher; and write much better than any boy in the school, or even the master. ”

“ James also knew that they still continued to instigate Chuck Witham and other boys to annoy and insult him. He occupied a side seat near one of the back corners of the schoolhouse, and his head, when bent over his book, was on a level with a crevice between two logs, that was stuffed with clay and moss. One night after school, Chuck Witham bored a small hole through this clay, and filled the hole with cotton, for fear James would feel the draft and observe it. The next day he brought to school, half an ox-goad, with a long brad in it, made of a saddler’s awl. ”

“ THE SCHOLARS SUSTAIN JAMES. The next morning Peter, Bertie, John, and Will Edibean, the Nevins boys, and Edward Conly, by pure accident, entered the schoolroom at the same moment with James, and some little time before the master came. ”

“ His nearest neighbor, Prescott, had been ten years on his clearing and kept a large stock of cattle. 305His family consisted of three strong, active boys, Dan, the eldest, being nineteen, which enabled him to work for others when disposed. James had engaged with Prescott the previous spring to cut all the grass to be found in the field pasture and openings in the woods, and to fell in the course of the summer an acre of trees; upon looking around he found the work all done, and the felled trees in just the right state to burn. ”

“ This brought out the tavern-keeper, and the dispute came near ending in a downright brawl, and was only prevented by the drover proposing to “treat all hands and drop it.”
The elder Whitman was so much gratified with the progress made by James that he resolved to make him aware of it. The next day proved stormy, and after breakfast he brought out an axe that had been ground, and said,—
“James, that axe of yours is not fit to chop with. It is not the best of steel, nor is it made right to throw a chip, and the handle is too big and stiff; it’s just the handle to split, not to chop with. ”

“ The hovel was much larger and higher than the dwelling, which would not have admitted a horse, being too low, and boasted a good bark roof; it was of sufficient size to contain six head of cattle and considerable hay.
It was already far past noon and they sat down by 293the spring to quench their thirst, bait their horses and partake of a luncheon.
“It is,” said James, “idle for us to think any more of the other place at present, as it is beyond my means, and I will not run in debt, my only object in looking at it was to compare prices. ”

“ As the result of the singing school there was formed a new choir, which Peter, Bertie, and James joined, also Emily Conly, Jane Gifford, Sarah Evans, Maria Whitman, and Prudence Orcutt.
When the boys came to harvest their corn they found an opportunity to sell it in the ear to an agent who was buying corn and shelling it at the mill with a machine that was moved by water-power, and shared forty-nine dollars and fifty cents each. James also obtained eighteen dollars and some cents for that raised on the same piece that he had before planted with potatoes. ”

“ It is you, and the likes of you, who have given redemptioners a bad name, and taken the bread out of a great many honest people’s mouths on the other side, who might have found good homes in this country.”
Blaisdell was a burly fellow, and ugly enough, but he had seen somewhat of James’ strength on the 199passage over, and had received unmistakable evidence that he was no longer the discouraged being who could be abused with impunity. ”

“ The weather is getting cooler, and we burn a good deal more, but I am afraid it will hurt his feelings if anybody else cuts wood for the fire, as he considers that his work.”
“I can arrange that. I’ll tell him in the morning that I want James to learn to handle an axe; that he undertook at Hanscom’s tavern to cut some wood and stuck the whole bitt of the axe in his leg the second clip, and ask him if he won’t grind an axe for him and take him to the wood-pile with him, and teach him, and see that he does not cut himself.” ”

“ No sooner was breakfast despatched than, having ground an axe, he proceeded with James to the wood-pile.
89The old gentleman set his chopping-block on end near a pile of oak and maple limbs cut eight feet in length, and said to his pupil,—
“Now, Jeames (he held on to the old pronunciation) I’ll hold these sticks on the block and I want you to strike just there,” pointing with his finger, “where they bear on the log, because if you don’t, you’ll jar my hands.” ”