Sal

“ And then some shambling fellow of a labourer has come along, straw-haired, bent-backed, twisted-kneed, and scarcely enough spirit in him to say, "Marnin t' ye—good marnin t' ye, wench!"'
'You are very independent,' said the sage Nan. 'And that's all very well, as long as your health lasts. But you might become ill. You would want relatives and friends, and a home. And in the coastguard houses you would have a very comfortable home, and a garden to look after; and your husband might get promotion.'
'If ever I marry,' said Sal, shaking her head, 'it won't be one of the man-of-war's men. ”

“ Sal does the housework, the buying of supplies, cares for the chickens, plants the garden, does the sewing, picks up the paint brush when necessary, and does about everything that anyone can do. She is past fifty years of age, most of them hard and bitter years. They have not been the kind of years where the goal has been worth the trials and bitterness. ”

“ Markle and Sal was delicately veiled from the public by the interposition of a bar-keeper and Irish waiter. Only to a few of the former habitués did these ladies appear with their former frankness and informality. There was a public parlour, glittering with gilt framed mirrors and gorgeous with red plush furniture, which usually froze the geniality of One Horse Gulch, and repressed its larger expression, but there was a little sitting-room beyond sacred to the widow and her lieutenant Sal, where visitors were occasionally admitted. ”

“ The hand-made gentleman began to read from a newspaper as follows:
“SPEAKING OF SAL
“Sal is willing; Sal can make the house shine; Sal is a worker—never cross and tired; the best and cheapest hired girl in the country. Cleans silver, glass, metal, and woodwork. Give Sal a chance.
“SAL'S SISTERS
“There are three of them: Sally, the Brick, who cleans knives, forks, pots, and kettles; Sal's Sister, a wonderful laundry soap; also Salome, a clover-scented soap for the toilet. You will find them in all groceries.” ”

“ Walkin' down through Laramie with Snagtooth Sal.
Sal, Sal,
My heart is broke today —
Broke in two forever when they laid you in the clay;
I would give creation to be walkin' with my gal —
Walkin' down through Laramie with Snagtooth Sal.
Bury me tomorrow where the lily blossoms spring
Underneath the willows where the little robins sing.
You will yearn to see me — but ah, nevermore you shall —
Walkin' down through Laramie with Snagtooth Sal.
Refrain: —
Plant a little stone above the little mound of sod ”

“ Who do you say Sally is going to be married to—a Farmer Darton?’
‘Yes—a gentleman-farmer—quite a wealthy man. Far better in station than she could have expected. It is a good thing, altogether.’
‘Well done, little Sal!’ said her brother, brightening and looking up at her with a smile. ”

“ Would you like to engage a servant who will work for you at half a cent a day and board herself? I have one of the name of Sal. Sal cleans woodwork, silver, and all kinds of metal, and never complains.'
“I don't talk as much as I used to. Some way it don't sound honest, and I find out that gentlemen are not apt to be gabby. I try to please and show that I want to earn an honest living, and I get along. ”

“ The lad turned over and, opening his eyes, looked into his father's face.
'Do you feel better now, Willie?' he asked tenderly.
'Yes, dad, all the pain has gone.'
Sal put her hand on his head and smoothed back his hair. 'You will soon be well, Willie,' she said.
'Does Dr Tom say so?' [Pg 33]
'Yes,' answered his father.
'I'm so glad, dad. I want to be a big man and help you. There's no one to look after you but Sal and me. We'll take care of you. I mean to be as good a rider as you are.'
'That's right. ”

“ Sal gave him a brief account of all that had taken place, and when Doonan heard who was the instigator of the outrage he could hardly credit it.
'Rodney Shaw!' he exclaimed. 'A man in his position! He must be mad. Rich man as he is, he shall suffer for it, Sal. He need not think he can do as he pleases, even in this lonely place. I pity him when he gets into Jim Dennis's clutches ”

“ And again, as the wheel stopped whirring, the [Pg 12] old man who had remembered Crazy Sal as a young girl spoke to the knife-grinder; again he asked:
"What and who are you? Are you a wizard that you change a child's tears into laughter, and turn an old half-witted woman back to a young girl, and make of a barren glebe a waving corn-field?" ”

“ Sal. (hunting round for axe.) Hain’t ye got no axe, Hez.?
57Hezekiah. ’Taint no use, Sal. Them irons can’t be broke.
Sally. You git out, Hez. You jest show me where they keep the axe.
Hezekiah. They don’t leave no axes round here. If ye had one, ye’d get up such a noise, old Hood and the whole coop would be down here whoopin’.
Sally. I got the whole caboodle asleep with opium.
Hezekiah. ’Taint no use, Sal. That Keele Brightly said we was spies, and we’re goin ter get shot at daylight. (Sally speechless with astonishment.)
Barney. The thafe. (Sally drops on her knees sobbing.) ”

“ Hezekiah. I know how’ yer heart is, Sal, but ye can’t do us no good. Jest git out as fast as ye can, and save yourself.
Barney. And tell Gineral Halcom about it, and divil a bit but he will bat that spalpeen in the mornin’.
Sally. (Springing to her feet and wiping eyes.) I have it. (Dashes for the door.) I know what I’ll do.
Hezekiah. Say, Sal. (She turns back.) Perhaps I shan’t never see ye again. (Sally falls on his breast sobbing.) Tell mother she ain’t got nothin’ to be ashamed on about me, except I’m rough, and can’t talk so fine as some folks. ”

“ Sal happened to have hold of a rope at the time, and up she went into the air, scootin’ like a rocket. Sal was a plucky critter. Shoot me, if she wasn’t as full of grit as a sandstone. She could have let go that rope, but she wouldn’t; she wanted 39to fetch the consarn down agin, and was bound to cling to her until she did. Blow me, if I didn’t think for a while I was goin’ to lose the old woman. Thar she was a-hangin’ on to the end of the rope, hollerin’ like a hull regiment chargin’ a battery, and trailin’ and swingin’ about without any notion of lettin’ go. ”

“ All right, my prooshian blue, thinks I, there'll be a 'pothecary's bill for some family in this here deestrict: but I won't say who's to pay it at present. I jest waited to see the feller try to put his nose into Sal's face, and then I stretched to my feet, and sez I: 'This here pasture wants a little mashin' down to make it fruitful, and it's my impreshun that I can do it.' Sal see that I was bound to make somebody smell agony, so she jist ripped away from Bob, and marveled for the house, screaming 'fire,' like a scrumptious fire-department. ”

“ Whatever conjecture might have arisen with others, there was no time to think of, much less to discuss it—the boats were already within a few yards of the vessel.
"Steady, men—silence," commanded Gerald in a low tone: "Since Sal has failed us, we must depend upon ourselves. ”

“ I have been interested in some girls, but they happened to be children: and I could count them with the fingers of one hand and have a finger or two left over. Let me see," said Hartman, with his odd smile. "First there was Sal's Kid."
"Sal's Kid?" echoed the minister, who had never heard the name before, but thought it a very eccentric one.
"Yes, Sal's Kid—a wild-eyed, elf-locked, olive-skinned little imp, nameless, but nicknamed Sal's Kid, who lived in a gutter called Rat Alley, down by the water-side in New [82] York. ”

“ Kindly inform her that Sal cleans silverware, glassware, gold, brass, and pewter; removes dirt from woodwork, and makes the home bright and beautiful. If you've any old silver I'd like to show ye what it 'll do.”
The maid brought him a tarnished tea-pot, and McCarthy went to work and soon made it glow like a drop of dew in the sunlight. The maid took it to her mistress, and returned presently with fifty cents to be invested in Sal.
“I just wanted to show ye what Sal can do,” said Mr. McCarthy, as we went away. “Ye got to believe what ye say or ye can't sell anything. ”

“ Indeed, in his youthful pride he had the strong wish to become, if possible, a man such as he recalled his own father once to have been, a man of substance and of rational and successful conduct of his life. Sali was really very much as his father knew himself to have been at his own age, and a queer remnant of respectability urged the father to treat his son well. In honoring him he seemed to honor his old self. ”

“ These were the aspirations of his gigantic mind, as he sat, on last Monday morning, like a simple mortal, in a striped-cotton dressing-gown and drab slippers, over a cup of weak coffee. (We love to be minute on great subjects.) The door opened, and a female figure—not the Tragic muse—but Sally, the maid of-all-work, entered, holding in a corner of her dingy apron, between her delicate finger and thumb, a piece of not too snowy paper, folded into an exact parallelogram. ”

“ When I forget all else in my life, I shall still see Sally sitting motionless, like a painted figure, in the faint, reddish glow of the night-lamp, while above her, and above the little waxen face on her knee, the shadow, of the palm-leaf fan, waved by Aunt Euphronasia, flitted to and fro like the wing of a bat. ”

“ Sali followed this advice, and went at once up the steep path that led to the hill where the busy world seemed so far away and where the soul expanded, to the undulating fields that stretched out far on both sides, where the brooding July sun shone and the drifting white clouds sailed overhead, where the ripe corn in the gentle breeze bobbed up and down, where the river below glinted blue, and all these scenes of past happiness filled his soul after a long dearth with peace and gentle joy, and his griefs and fears were left below. ”

“ Sally rose. “We'd better have the next reel in the dining saloon,” she suggested. “Dad hates people to be late.”
Bill found he was to sit on Sally's right, and the discovery cheered him, particularly as Henry Frost was on the other side of her—an arrangement that couldn't be improved upon. His spirits rose rapidly. A moment before plunged in the depths of despair, he had emerged triumphant and all was right with the world. What a lot of difference somebody's shirt had made! ”

“ This farmyard, so much more picturesque than prosperous, lay somewhat apart from its neighbors, and therefore was not exposed so much to their inspection. But for the moment as Sali stared and watched nothing human at all was visible. Sali thus was undisturbed in his reflections as he leaned with his back against the barndoor, about thirty paces away, and studied with attentive mien the deserted yard. He had been doing this for some time when Vreni at last appeared under the housedoor and gazed calmly and thoughtfully before her as if thinking deeply of only one matter. ”

“ Presently some one whistled loud and shrill on his fingers, and a voice called out—
"Why, Sally Frenche—Sally—where the devil are you, and all your people, Sally?"
"Massa Jacob Twig, sure as can be," cried Sally, and again the hysterical laugh seemed to carry her beyond herself. "All my friend come on me at one time. ”

“ And as Saul and those who were with him were journeying along the road from the city of Jerusalem to the city of Damascus, a light from heaven shone upon him, and he fell upon his face on the ground, and he heard a voice which said unto him, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me? It is bad for thee to kick against sharp goads.” ”

“ At that moment Sally came in with the beer, and, having poured out a glass for Philip, went to the other side of the table to pour some out for her father. He put his hand round her waist.
"Did you ever see such a handsome, strapping girl? Only fifteen and she might be twenty. Look at her cheeks. She's never had a day's illness in her life. It'll be a lucky man who marries her, won't it, Sally?" ”

“ My poor Sally is no less a true penitent because her thoughts turn for a few moments to the days that are gone. 'Tis a fault in your religion, sir, that it is all gloom. Your Master took a kinder view of life, and was indulgent to human affections as He was pitiful to human pains. Sally has made her peace with God, and believes in a happy world where her sins will be forgiven, and she will wear the white robe of innocence, and hear the songs of angels round the heavenly throne. ”

“ Often Sally wanted to fly at him, beat with her fists on his chest. But she never did.
You can't warm a stone by slapping it, Sally. You'd only bruise yourself. A stone is neither cruel nor tender. You've married a man of stone, Sally.
He hasn't missed a day at the office in eight years. She'd never visited the office but he was always there to answer when she phoned. "I'm very busy, Sally. What did you say? You've bought a new hat? I'm sure it will look well on you, Sally. What did you say? Tommy got into a fight with a new boy in the neighborhood? You must take better care of him, Sally." ”

“ Sladen assembled Sala and the other chiefs, and distributed salt, cloth, and some yellow silk handkerchiefs, which were highly prized. Sala delivered a public exhortation, enjoining fidelity on all; in private he communicated the necessity of propitiating the nats, and requested our attendance at a ceremony which was to take place that night, for the purpose of ascertaining the will of the demons, by the medium of a meetway, or diviner. ”

“ And she fell on his neck, but then they both looked at one another, and they shouted: "How poorly you look!" For Sali was as pale and sorrowful as the girl herself. Forgetting everything she drew him to her on the hearth, and questioned him: "Have you been ill, or have you also fared badly?"
"No, not ill," said Sali, "but longing for you. At home things are going fine. My father now has rare guests, and as I believe, he has become a receiver of stolen goods. And that is why there are big doings at our place, both day and night, until, I suppose, there will come a bad end to it all. ”