Judkins

“ As they separated, cook looked at Judkins—with great significance, and Judkins—who didn't at all approve of having his rest broken thus—looked with equal significance at her; but he passed her in silence: nor did she even bid him good night. On returning to her room, however, she said, in strict confidence to Mary, "Now I'll tell you what it is: you know, it's all perfect nonsense about our dreaming—that's of course stuff: I know I heard footsteps, and so did you, and so there can be no mistake about that. ”

“ In all this, they are immeasurably inferior to us who have had Christian teaching. But in one thing they beat us. They always know how to maintain their personal dignity.
Look at my friend and partner Judkins, as he stands with his hands in his trousers pockets at the door of our house in Friday Street. What can be meaner than his appearance? He is a stumpy, short, podgy man; but then so also was my Arab friend at Suez. Judkins is always dressed from head to foot in a decent black cloth suit; his coat is ever a dress coat, and is neither old nor shabby. ”

“ When Mary and cook—who had followed their mistress closely, for then they would not have lost sight of her for the world—heard these awful words uttered, they felt quite convinced that, whatever mistake the ghost might have made, he was then in the room with Judkins. ”

“ When Judkins went into the stable that morning, he found Snorter steaming and bleeding at the mouth; and feeling indignant at the idea of his being thus treated, he declared he'd give a crown if the horse could but speak.
'What devil's tricks have they been up to now?" he enquired of the animal. " What have they been doing with you? What have they been after? What do they want to spit their spite upon you for? Come out, old boy—come, and let's have a look at you. They've guv you a benefit this time, that's certain!" he added, on finding the horse in a worse plight than before. ”

“ Out rushed Judkins with a gash across his throat—for at the moment the first shriek was uttered, he was endeavouring to improve the characteristic respectability of his appearance by shaving—and out rushed Mary, with her hair dishevelled; but their mistress on coming to the door, without leaving her room, demanded to know what was the matter.
"Oh! ma'am," replied cook, "it's a mercy, ma'am, we haven't all been murdered! The door's as wide open as ever it can stick!" ”

“ Judkins’s leg and the others exchanged knowing looks.
“Goin’ ter leave us, eh?” asked the storekeeper, trying to appear unconcerned.
“Yes,” replied Pashley listlessly, spinning his hat. “I shouldn’t have stayed as long as I have if it hadn’t been for Mrs. Pashley.”
This frank avowal caused Mr. Judkins to prod Jessup with the sugar-scoop, while my host remarked, “An’ ye want me ter find a purchaser fer th’ place. Wal, I guess it can be done. Every one ain’t that anxious ter leave No. 6.” ”

“ As the thunder succeeds the lightning's flash, so did a roar on this occasion succeed every sentence that was uttered, whether witty or not; but as men cannot even laugh for ever, they at length became sufficiently worn out to sit down in a state of comparative tranquillity.
Legge then explained to them what he had suggested, and they then saw, with perfect distinctness, that a quarrel between Judkins and cook had been the origin of it all. ”

“ Wally, but he merely said, ‘Get out, Judkins; I’m not on duty!’ and rolled over. So I concluded, in Katty’s words, that ‘his resht was more to him,’ and came away.”
“He’ll wake up presently and be very pleased to find it; it won’t matter to him at all if it’s stone-cold,” said Jim. “Queer chap, Wal. I prefer tea with the chill off it, myself. Judkins has hard times getting him up in time for early parade. Luckily Judkins is an old regular soldier, and has a stern, calm way with a young officer.”
“Who bullies you into getting up, may I ask?” demanded Miss de Lisle. ”

“ Away flew Mary to the Crumpet and Crown, and the moment Legge had ascertained what had been discovered, he rushed, without looking for assistance, to the cottage, in a state of mind bordering on enthusiasm, before cook had had time to explain to her mistress what she really meant.
"Do you mean to say you've got 'em?" said Legge, as he entered.
"They're now in that room," replied Judkins, "safe."
"We'll have 'em out!—we'll soon see who they are.—Why they've locked themselves in!" he added, on trying the door.
"Who's there?" demanded the reverend gentleman. ”

“ Remain here: now, don't stir an inch from the door."
"Not a ha'porth, sir: not if I know it," said Jones; and his reverend friend approached the table and anxiously felt for the key; and while he was thus engaged, Judkins, Cook, and Mary, came into the hall, and having stationed themselves at the door listened with very great intensity."
"They're here, sir," said Jones. "They're ony jist outside. I hear 'em now plain."
"Hush!" said the reverend gentleman. "If they hear us talking they'll be off." ”

“ The Juddikins went out into the snow-covered garden calling, “Mutt, Mutt, Mutt.” They went up and down Whippoorwill Road hunting and calling and searching. But he was gone and they sat around the fire, Mr. Juddikins and Mrs. Juddikins and Jerry, with terror and ache in their hearts. Even the baby looked sad as she slept in her high chair.
Then, all at once, as they sat there, they heard steps up the walk; not dog steps but human steps, a big, long stride like a man’s and a little short hippety-hop like a girl’s. ”

“ When Judson did his planting was a mystery—probably about daylight; but he had got in the way of coming over the wall, and I would no sooner be at work than there would appear Judson at the wall, waving his hand in greeting. I think I shall make a gate there if he does not object. It is hard for an old man to climb walls.
And I wondered at the apparent defection of my friends; for they came seldom, so that Eve made some progress with her doll’s wardrobe. ”

“ Fathers have to have jobs, it seems, to keep families going, and Mr. Juddikins didn’t have one, so his family wasn’t kept going very well. It scared Mr. Juddikins half to death sometimes to think that the whole family depended on him like this. Mrs. Juddikins, Jerry Juddikins, the baby Juddikins, Mutt—all had stomachs to fill, all had bodies to be warmed at the fire, and this not to mention Mr. Juddikins, who was hungry and cold himself all the time.
Every morning Mr. Juddikins would start out to look for a job. First he would rise early and call everybody. “Get up, mother! Get up, Jerry! ”

“ Anne had her doubts as to the deliciousness of anything so spidery-looking as those strange fish, but she said nothing.
"Is there anything Perkins can't do?" she asked Judy, as Perkins went on ahead, bearing the great basket of crabs, and the net.
"I don't believe there is," laughed Judy. "He is supposed to be grandfather's butler, but he won't let any one do a thing for grandfather, and he plays valet and cook half the time when the other servants don't suit him." ”

“ Aren't you, Anne?"
But Anne had been trained in the way she should go. "I—I haven't thought of being hungry," she hesitated. "I never eat before I go to bed."
"Oh, I do," said Judy, scornfully. "And dancing makes me ravenous."
"But Perkins has retired, and Mary, and everybody—" expostulated the
Judge.
"Who cares for Perkins?" asked Judy with her nose in the air.
"Well," said the Judge, who was hopelessly the slave of his servants, "he might not like it—"
"Judge Jameson," said Judy, shaking a reproachful finger at him, "I believe you are afraid of your butler." ”

“ Besides, she was really afraid of, as she said, “upsetting” Judith by another outcry, so she only moaned in a low, miserable voice about what was to become of her and her poor children, though after all, what with the parish, Judith’s help, and John’s earnings, she would be no worse off than was common with her. Jem was supposed to “keep himself,” and only Judy was really on her hands.
She would hardly let her son go up and see Judith. “Now, you’ll be terrifying of her, and she’ll be upset again and holler, and go into a fit.”
However, he took off his boots and went up softly. ”

“ Judson glared at the speaker. "I'd like to hear 'em. I'd like to see somebody get fresh. Why, SAY!"—he clenched his powerful hands—"I'd fill their hospitals until they bulged." After a moment he continued: "I s'pose it's natural for you to worry, since you're responsible for her being here, in a way, but—" His tone changed, he relaxed and lay back in his hammock. "Oh, well, you're about the only man I can't hate." ”

“ But Judson and Old Goodwin met and enjoyed the meeting mightily; and sat upon their boxes and talked until I thought they would never have done. So Eve and I left them there, sitting upon their boxes. And presently they rose and wandered [231] over into Judson’s place and I saw Old Goodwin no more that day.
And, again, we went to the woods, and saw them breaking forth into leaf. For the leafing of the woods is a little later than the leafing of a tree which grows in the open. And I saw the seed-pods lifting on their dry stems, but they were few and the pods were empty ”

“ Judson endured patiently, thought of his wife’s sufferings as gems in her crown, wrote cheerful letters, and toiled indefatigably, without breaking down, but he was never the same man again. Amherst was probably unhealthy, for several of the Rangoon converts died there, among them one of the little Burmese girls who had been with Mrs. Judson throughout her troubles. Those who died almost always spoke with joy of their hope of seeing Mamma Judson in heaven. “But first,” said one woman, “I shall fall down before the Saviour’s feet, and thank Him for sending us our teachers.” ”

“ And Judith came. She plunged straight into the struggling group, and hammered at it indiscriminately with two small fists. She caught at a waving coat sleeve, and pulled it—Willard's, and it tore in her hands. She spotted Eds white sweater, and beat at it fiercely, with all her strength.
"That's me, Judy. Cut it out!"
"Then let him go. Three to one is no fair. Let him go!" They did not hear her, or care which side she was on, or take the trouble to drive her away. Judith drew back and stood and looked at them, breathless and glowing and undefeated, for one long minute. ”

“ Judson was alone, until the arrival of Jonathan Price, who had wisely qualified himself to act as a physician, and no sooner did a report of his skill reach Ava, than the King sent for him; and as he had no time to learn the language, Judson went with him as interpreter. Dr. Price says, “The King is a man of small stature, very straight, steps with a natural air of superiority, but has not the least appearance of it in conversation. He wears a red, finely-striped silk cloth from his waist to his knees, and a blue-and-white handkerchief on his head. ”

“ I looked up and Guinea stood there, looking back, listening to her mother. And thus she stood a long time, I thought, and yet she must have known that I was in the room. Mr. Jucklin spoke to her and she came in, walking very slowly. Her face was pale, with a sadness that smote my heart. She sat down and looked out of the window. Mrs. [222] Jucklin called the old man, and when he was gone I told Guinea that I had left Alf in a convulsive joy; and, still looking out of the window, she said: "You are the noblest man I ever met." ”

“ But Judith, her eyes aflame, whirled upon Lee, her voice like a whip as she said: "Lee, you keep out of this. The sooner you learn who's running things here the better for you."
"Maybe so," said Lee quietly. "But don't you fool yourself you can ride Prince. There's not a man on the job except me that can ride him." It was not boastfully said, but with calm assurance. "He's an outlaw, Miss Judith. ”

“ Judson determined, so soon as he should have finished his dictionary of the language, to proceed to Ava, the residence of the emperor.
Mrs. Judson met every Sabbath a society of fifteen or twenty females, to whom she read the Scriptures, and talked about God. They were attentive, and willing to ask and answer questions, but for a long time experienced no abiding convictions of sin or of duty. Some were willing to serve Christ if they could do it without renouncing dependence on their own merits. Others would serve God, if they might serve Gaudama also. ”

“ Judd had never seen, even in pictures. After looking more carefully at the miniature and then up into the eyes that were watching hers, she found the same square forehead and sensitive mouth, and the same dark melancholy, heavily fringed eyes, by far the most beautiful she had ever seen. The picture in her hand was a truthful portrait of himself. As she looked from the portrait into the face before her she felt it was perhaps fortunate this mother was ignorant of the changes that already had turned the current of his life. ”

“ Mr. Judson preached every Sabbath; all the materials for building a brick house were procured, and the masons had made considerable progress in raising the building.
“On the 23d of May, 1824, just as we had concluded worship at the doctor’s house, the other side of the river, a messenger came to inform us that Rangoon was taken by the English. The intelligence produced a shock, in which was a mixture of fear and joy. Mr. Gouger, a young merchant residing at Ava, was then with us, and had much more reason to fear than the rest of us. ”