Peabody

“ The whole Peabody connection arranged in stately silence in the front parlor, looked on through the open door in wonder and expectation of what was to follow. The children loitered about the door-ways with watering eyes and open mouths, like so many innocent little dragons lying in wait to rush in at an opportune moment and bear off their prey.
And now, all at once there comes a deeper hush—a still more portentous pause—all eyes are in the direction of the kitchen; the children are hanging forward with their bodies and outstretched necks half way in at the door ”

“ Rumors of our strenuous, and somewhat unique, activities spread through our parish to many others, traveling so far (even over seas) that we became embarrassed at our easily won fame. The book was read and people occasionally came to church to see the old Peabody Pew, rather resenting the information that there had never been any Peabodys in the parish and, therefore, there could be no Peabody Pew. ”

“ Then they ring the changes in this way: 'You were always fond of grey, Miss Peabody.' 'You had a great fancy for Moore, in the old days, Miss Peabody: have you outgrown him, or does the 'Anacreontic little chap,' as Father Prout called him, still appeal to you?'... ”

“ William Peabody was about to answer, it was nonsense for a man only sixty and in sound condition of body and mind to think too much of that, when his eye, ranging across the fields, espied in shadow as it were, through the dim atmosphere, the mist clearing away a little in that direction, an old sorrel horse—a long settler with the family and well-known to all its members—staggering about feebly in a distant orchard, and in her wanderings stumbling against the trees.—"Is old Sorrel blind?" ”

“ Uncle Peabody wouldn't stop.
"Water never scares a live fish," he declared with a chuckle as he turned around. "Good-by, Bart."
He hurried away. We pioneers rarely stopped or even turned out for the weather. Uncle Peabody used to say that the way to get sick was to change your clothes every time you got wet. It was growing dusk and I felt sorry for him.
"Come in," said the voice of the schoolmaster at the door. "There's good weather under this roof." ”

“ I’m offering you nothing very well worth having. The Peabody’s an old tank steamer, and rotten as an over-ripe pear. Sometimes I think the rats will put their paws through her bottom afore long. A bad, under-engined, under-manned ship. ”

“ Emerson as being present at a meeting of that resort of Owls, the Radical Club, he too lacked the subtle characteristic and, though he might at times consort with Owls, he was not of them.
The only female Owl I remember was Miss Elizabeth Peabody, called the grandmother of Boston, one of the most guileless human beings that ever lived. Everybody loved Miss Peabody and, loving her so much, everybody talked about her. Some of the things they said were tender, some were funny, but none were slighting, none bitter. ”

“ They dismounted once or twice only, once merely to take breath, and once to visit the building erected to the memory of the great philanthropist, George Peabody, in which is a gold medal and other testimonials that he received in England. Up the long street from Salem through Peabody they pressed, and at last, before a large brick building, they halted.
“Here we are!” cried Mr. ”

“ Mr. Jones [159] would never take any interest in it. He is so busy, you know. Dr. Peabody will be Lafayette."
"I see. Dr. Peabody will be Lafayette. I suppose, of course, that you wish to carry out the pageant with due regard for historical accuracy, correctness of costume, and all that sort of thing?"
"Oh, yes. Certainly! That is what will make it so charming, and interesting, and picturesque, and er—er—educational. Dr. Peabody has picked out his costume already. He has spent hours over it. It is all white satin, high-heeled shoes, a jeweled sword, and a powdered wig. ”

“ I was close upon the rear of the camp when I checked my eager pace and approached on tiptoe. I was going to surprise and frighten my uncle and then embrace him. Suddenly my heart stood still, for I heard him saying words fit only for the tongue of a Dug Draper or a Charley Boyce—the meanest boy in school—low, wicked words which Uncle Peabody himself had taught me to fear and despise. My Uncle Peabody! Once I heard a man telling of a doomful hour in which his fortune won by years of hard work, broke and vanished like a bubble. ”

“ They had no more right to associate with human beings than the ghosts of fable. Uncle Peabody used to call them the "Minervy flowers" because they were a present from his Aunt Minerva. When Aunt Deel returned to the kitchen where I sat—a sorrowing little refugee hunched up in a corner—she said: "I'll have to tell your Uncle Peabody—ayes!" ”

“ If you don't like it you can look for another man."
Aunt Deel and I began to laugh at this good-natured, make-believe scolding of Uncle Peabody and the emotional strain was over. They led me into the house where a delightful surprise awaited me, for the rooms had been decorated with balsam boughs and sweet ferns. ”

“ And the mill with its booming—the great chestnut tree under which they played at house—their own little river, the Ripple, where the banks seemed like home, and Tom was always seeing water-rats while Maggie gathered the purple plumy tops of the reeds which she forgot, and dropped afterwards—above all, the great Floss, along which they wandered with a sense of travel, to see the rushing spring-tide, the awful Eagre, come up like a hungry monster, or to see the Great Ash which had once wailed and groaned like a man—these things would always be just the same to them. ”

“ The PIPER sounds a few notes; then lifts his hand and listens, smiling.—Uproar in the distance.—A great harking of dogs;—shouts and cheers; then the high, sweet voices of the Children.
The piping is drowned in cries of joy. The sun comes out, still rosy, in a flood of light. The crowd rushes in. Fat burghers hug each other, and laugh and cry. They are all younger, their faces bloom, as by a miracle.
The Children pour in. Some are carried, some run hand-in-hand. Everywhere women embrace their own. KURT has his sons.—CHEAT-THE-DEVIL comes, with a daisy-chain around his neck, all smiles. ”

“ He looks down at them. He looks up at the houses. Then he signs to them, with his finger on his lips; and begins, very softly, to pipe the Kinder-spell. The old CLAUS and URSULA in the windows seem to doze.
The children stop first, and look at him, fascinated; then they laugh, drowsily, and creep closer,—JAN always near. They crowd around him. He pipes louder, moving backwards, slowly, with magical gestures, towards the little by-streets and the closed doors. The doors open, everywhere. ”

“ Shouts of delight greet the end of the show, a Noah's Ark miracle-play of the rudest; and the Children continue to scream with joy whenever an Animal looks out of the Ark.
Men and women pay scant attention either to JACOBUS, when he speaks (himself none too sober) —from his doorstep, prompted by the frowning KURT,—or yet to ANSELM, the priest, who stands forth with lifted hands, at the close of the miracle-play. ”

“ Soon we found an entrance to the fields—our own fields not far from the house—where Uncle Peabody walked ahead and picked out the best wading. After we got to the barn door at last he went to the house and lighted his lantern and came back with it wrapped in a blanket and Aunt Deel came with him.
How proud it made me to hear him say:
"Deel, our boy is a man now—made this jumper all 'lone by himself an' has got through all right." ”

“ Out come the children: little ones in night gowns; bigger ones, with playthings, toy animals, dolls. He pipes, gayer and louder. They pour in, right and left. Motion and music fill the air. The PIPER lifts JAN to his shoulder (dropping the little crutch) and marches off, up the street at the rear, piping, in the midst of them all. ”

“ Enter ANSELM the priest, with a little acolyte,—the two bearing a large illuminated Gospel-book. ANSELM, eyeing the PIPER gravely, opens the book, which the boy supports on his head and shoulders.
PIPER
Ho, 't is too heavy! Come, you cherub-head,
Here's too much laid upon one guardian angel!
[Beckons another small boy, and sets the book on their two backs.
Well?—well? What now?
[He looks in frank bewilderment at the eager crowd.
CROWD
Read, read!
KURT
He cannot read.
PIPER
[to ANSELM]
Turn—turn—there's nothing there.
[ANSELM turns pages. PIPER looks on blankly]
. . . ”

“ Time sped and efforts increased, but the Dorcases were at length obliged to clip the wings of their desire and content themselves with carpeting the pulpit and pulpit steps, the choir, and the two aisles, leaving the floor in the pews until some future year.
How the women cut and contrived and matched that hardly-bought red ingrain carpet, in the short December afternoons that ensued after its purchase; so that, having failed to be ready for Thanksgiving, it could be finished for the Christmas festivities! ”

“ Little white cats! . . . He wears a golden collar . . .
And sometimes— [Aside] —I'd forgot about the dogs!
Well, dogs must suffer, so that men grow wise.
'T was ever so.
[He turns to give JAN a piping lesson]
CHILDREN Oh, what a funny dream!
[Suddenly he lifts his hand. They listen, and hear a dim sound of distant
chanting, going by on some neighboring road. The PIPER is puzzled; the
Strollers are plainly depressed.
JAN
What is it?
PIPER
People; passing down below,
In the dark valley.
[He looks at the Children fixedly]
Do you want to see them? ”

“ The Strollers huddle together, with looks of renewed anxiety and wretchedness.—Their laughter at the Children breaks out forlornly now and then.—The PIPER shepherds the Children, but with watchful eyes and ears toward the entrance always. —His action grows more and more tense. ”

“ How did Saint Willibald prevail with the rats?—
That would I like to know. I, who ha' made
Of strong wrought traps, two hundred, thirty-nine,
Two hundred, thirty-nine.
REYNARD [calling] And so would I!
HANS the Butcher
So please your worships, may it please the Crier,
Now we be here,—to cry the Piping Man—
PETER the Cobbler
A stranger-man, gay-clad,—in divers colors!
Because he, with said piping—
HANS the Butcher
—Drave away
The horde of rats!
PETER the Cobbler
[sagely]
To our great benefit;
And we be all just men. ”

“ Endymion dreamed such beautiful dreams as come only to happy poets. Even when he woke, life held no care for him, but he seemed to walk in a light that was for him alone. And all this time, just as the Sun-god watched over the sheep of King Admetus, Diana kept the flocks of Endymion, but it was for love's sake. ”

“ Like fire-flies! Will-o'-the-wisps!
And make believe we're hiding, all the way,
Till we come out into a sunny land,—
All vines and sunlight, yes, and men that sing!
Far, far away—forever.
[Gives ILSE a bowl to feed the other children]
[JAN pipes a measure of the Kinder-spell, brokenly. The PIPER turns.
So! Thou'lt be
My master, some day. Thou shalt pipe for me.
JAN [piping] Oh, wasn't that one beautiful?—Now you! ”

“ Hearken.—You, Michael, on to Rudersheim—
MICHAEL
And leave her here? No, no!
PIPER
Then take the girl.
BARBARA
To Rudersheim? No, never, never!
PIPER
Well . . .
Hearken.—There is the hermit, over the hill.
[Apart, wildly]
But how—suppose she will not marry him?
I will not take her where the children are.
And yet—
[An idea strikes him. To her]
Hark, now;—hark, now, and tell me truly;
Can you spin cloth?
BARBARA [amazed] I? Spin?
PIPER [eagerly] Can you make shoes? ”

“ One is a Bear (inhabited by MICHAEL-THE-SWORD-EATER) ; one is a large Reynard-the-Fox, later apparent as the PIPER. Close by is the medieval piece of stage-property known as 'Hell-Mouth,' i.e. a red painted cave with a jaw-like opening into which a mountebank dressed in scarlet (CHEAT-THE-DEVIL) is poking 'Lost Souls' with a pitchfork. ”

“ Tower set square to the storms of air and change of season that blooms and glows,
Wall and roof of it tempest proof, and equal even to suns and snows,
Bright with riches of radiant niches and pillars smooth as a straight stem grows. ”

“ Begging her to listen, Pan followed; and Syrinx, more and more frightened by the patter of his hoofs, never heeded him, but went as fast as light till she came to the brink of the river. Only then she paused, praying her friends, the water-nymphs, for some way of escape. The gentle, bewildered creatures, looking up through the water, could think of but one device.
Just as the god overtook Syrinx and stretched out his arms to her, she vanished like a mist, and he found himself grasping a cluster of tall reeds. Poor Pan! ”

“ Look when one might, in the hottest sunshine or the heaviest rain, there sat the bird quite up out of the nest, head erect and eyes eagerly watching for intruders. The pewee, for all his tender and melancholy utterances, has a fiery spirit. He hesitates not to clinch with a brother pewee, interpolates his sweetest call into the hot chases, and even when resting between encounters, spreads his tail, flutters his wings, and erects his crest in a most warlike manner. The little dame was not a whit less vigilant than her spouse. ”

“ Beckoning others, he and KURT go into the Rathaus, followed by all the men. Exit ANSELM with the Holy Book into the Minster.—The children play Mouse, to and fro, round about the PIPER.—The women, some of them, spin on the doorsteps, with little hand distaff's, or stand about, gossiping. ”

“ These sorrows rising from the Dark
Where still they starve, and strive and die,
Who bear each heaviest penalty
Of humanhood;—nor grasp, nor guess,
The garment's hem of happiness!—
The spear-wound throbbing in my song,
It throbs more bitterly than wrong,—
It burns more wildly than despair,—
The will to share,
The will to share! ”