Uncle Dan

“ And then she looked mystified, and Pauline discovered that the noise was very fatiguing, and we came away."
For half-an-hour Uncle Dan listened, highly diverted, to the chatter of the girls, and it never once occurred to him to remember the meagreness and paltriness of their condition. After they had left him, he turned to the window, feeling that the dreariness without and within was a very transitory and inconsequent thing. And lo! a change had come. The influx of youth would appear to have put to flight other clouds than those of a morbid mind. ”

“ Uncle Dan'l was another favorite, a kind-hearted, gentle soul, who long after, as Nigger Jim in the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn tales, would win world-wide love and sympathy.
Through that far-off, warm, golden summer-time Little Sam romped and dreamed and grew. He would return each summer to the farm during those early years. It would become a beautiful memory. His mother generally kept him there until the late fall, when the chilly evenings made them gather around the wide, blazing fireplace. ”

“ If others differed from her, all the better. Opposition is a sharpener of the wits; and she found Kenwick invaluable in his character of universal sceptic.
No one but Uncle Dan ever really took her down, and that he did so neatly, that she was never seriously disconcerted by it. Had it been otherwise, Uncle Dan would have held his peace, for he prized the exuberance and unconsciousness of her egotism, which he recognized as the all too fleeting prerogative of youth, and he would not, for worlds, have really checked it. ”

“ Pauline remarked, as Vittorio made his answer to the Signorina.
"Yes"; Uncle Dan replied. "He never slips up on that."
[32] "Where does he get it?"
"A family trait. His father had it when he used to row me twenty-five years ago, and I've no doubt his forbears were all like that. It's a matter of race."
"A matter of race!" cried May. "Why, Uncle Dan, when that Italian in the train the other day stared us out of countenance and we asked you to do something about it, you told us it was the custom of the country!"
"That's only Uncle Dan's way of shirking his responsibilities," Pauline explained. ”

“ Uncle Dan put his hands under his coat-tails and marched out, his beak in the air.
“The trouble is,” he confided to old Sturdivant in the adjutant-general's office, “this younger element that's coming along thinks men like you and I have lost all our ability and influence. They're sally-lavering all over us, telling us how they want us to have an easy job. But it's all a damnation insult—that's what it amounts to.”
“All I have to do is lap sticking-paper and gum up the places where these rolls are torn,” said old Sturdivant. ”

“ Uncle Dan. (She goes over close beside him.) Wasn't it good of Alick? He went away to Ballyannis Post Office to get that telegram sent.
Daniel. A very decent fellow, Alick. (Gratefully.) Very obliging.
Mary (confidingly) . Do you know, uncle, when he went off to send that telegram I was nearly calling him back. I don't care so very much now whether I see that boy you were telling me about or not. Is he—do you think, uncle—is he much nicer than Alick?
Daniel. Nicer? (He looks at his niece, and then [Pg 33] begins to divine the way her feelings lie.) ”

“ Flour, currants—— (She goes over to the workshop door and listens) —raisins— (A sound as of a blast blowing can be heard. Mary becomes intensely interested, and, throwing aside the book, kneels down and puts her head to the keyhole.) He's actually got something to work. (She peeps in.) He has, indeed. (She laughs, knocks loudly at the door, and then runs to the other side of the kitchen. Daniel opens the door and cautiously peeps out.) Uncle Danny! Ha! Ha! Uncle Danny! (Dancing up and down in front of the fireplace.) Uncle Dan's a wonderful man! Uncle Dan's a wonderful man! ”

“ Olivia Tompkins is happy in the love of husband and father and her new-born babe, and she has come to the same conclusion.
To see the happy mingling and general good feeling of those who wore the gray and those who wore the blue, it is hard to think they once were enemies. We had almost forgotten Uncle Dan, who has retired to his cabin on the Twin Mountains, but he is with the others, always the same Uncle Dan, whether hunter, scout, or wedding guest. They sit at [Pg 253] the common table—the soldier of the North and the soldier of the South—as though they were, as they are, of one family. ”

“ As he appeared indisposed to say more on the subject she asked: "Did you sail with Captain Wegg?"
"Partly, miss. Dan's already now. Don't jerk the bit, fer his mouth's tender an' it makes him balky. Ef he balks jest let him rest a time, an' then speak to him. Dan ain't vicious; he's jest ornery."
She climbed into the dilapidated old buggy and took the reins. Dan groaned and ambled slowly around to where Uncle John stood awaiting his niece.
"Let me drive, Uncle," she said; "I understand Dan." ”

“ Tompkins, with a sigh, "he has been a close student, and perhaps that was what turned his head."
"Does he ever git rantankerous?" asked Uncle Dan.
"No; he is always mild and harmless."
"Have you seen my father?" Joe now asked. "He has long white hair and snowy beard."
"No, youngster; I ain't got a sight o' the old man fur some time," said Uncle Dan.
"Potiphar resembles my father, but my father must be dead," and he sank into a chair, with a sad look of despair, and, burying his face in his hands, groaned as if in pain.
"He does that way a dozen times a day," Abner whispered to Uncle Dan. ”

“ Every one can bring his things, and have a place for them; and Dan is to be the head man, because he knows most about such matters, and it will be quiet, pleasant work for him now that he can't knock about much."
"Won't that be jolly?" cried Nat, while Dan smiled all over his face and had not a word to say, but hugged his book, and looked at Mr. Laurie as if he thought him one of the greatest public benefactors that ever blessed the world. ”

“ Her voice is like the ripple of a woodland brook and her slender form is matchless in its symmetry. (DAN: “That’s Valeria’s way of putting it, but Uncle Roger says she don’t show her feed much.” FELICITY: “Dan! if Uncle Roger is vulgar you needn’t be!”) Her hands are like a poet’s dreams. She dresses so nicely and looks so stylish in her clothes. Her favourite colour is blue. Some people think she is stiff and some say she is stuck-up, but she isn’t a bit. It’s just that she is different from them and they don’t like it. She is just lovely and we adore her.)
CECILY KING. ”

“ Poor little girl!—Dan'l was much too small and thin. Old man Daniel gazed down at her anxiously.
“Jest as soon as the nice fall weather comes,” said he, “uncle is going to take you down to the village real often, and you can get acquainted with some other nice little girls and play with them, and that will do uncle's little Dan'l good.”
“I saw little Lucy Rose,” piped the child, “and she looked at me real pleasant, and Lily Jennings wore a pretty dress. Would they play with me, uncle?”
“Of course they would. You don't feel quite so hot, here, do you?” ”

“ Indeed, I look after all the financial part of my uncle's business."
"Is it a business, or a whim--a hobby?" inquired Dan respectfully, for, being frivolous, he was struck with awe at the multitude of Miss Vincent's employments. "Well, more of the last than the first perhaps," said Mildred smiling at his respectful expression. "Uncle Solomon really doesn't care for publicity. All his aim is to construct a perfect machine, and he is always inventing, and improving, and thinking of new ways in which to obtain the mastery of the air." ”

“ But we've always had a feeling in our family that some of the Kenwicks were not quite our own kind";—an expression of opinion on Uncle Dan's part which owed its careful moderation to the fact that he had accepted and still treasured the poppy sketch. ”

“ He'll pull through. Dan will never die of a fall on his head. He's got nine lives, and not lost half of them yet.'
'If you go, uncle, mayn't I go with you? I'm just spoiling for a journey; and it would be such larks to go out there with you, and see the mines and Dan, and hear all about it, and help. I can nurse. Can't I, Rob?' cried Teddy, in his most wheedlesome tones.
'Pretty well. But if mother can't spare you, I'm ready if uncle needs anyone,' answered Rob, in his quiet way, looking much fitter for the trip than excitable Ted. ”

“ Uncle Salters, returned the night before with Penn, from Pamlico Sound, received him suspiciously.
"Hain't your folk gone yet?" he grunted. "What are you doin' here, young feller?"
"O ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever!"
"Hain't he good right?" said Dan. "He's bin there, same as the rest of us." ”

“ He found that his mother and Phyllis had gone into Robertson Street to do some shopping, and Dan was at work on Uncle Robert’s portrait.
Dan threw down his brushes in an ecstasy of delight when he heard the news.
“Of course I will go!” he cried. “What do you think! The chance of my lifetime! I shall get Miss Le Breton for my Madonna yet!”
Uncle Robert got up and stretched himself, yawning noisily.
“Of course you will paint her!” he said to Dan, “and get a thumping sum for the work too. Old Alvin is as rich as a Jew.” ”

“ All but Myrtle and Dan'l followed her.
Below the window was a jungle of cactus, with hundreds of spines as slender and sharp as stilettos sticking in every direction.
"H-m; this room is burglar proof," muttered Uncle John, with marked disappointment.
"It also makes an excellent prison," added Patsy. "But I suspected something of this sort when I saw they had left the window open. We can't figure on getting out that way, you see."
"Id vould be suiciding," Dan'l said, mournfully shaking his head. "If dese fiends were as goot as dey are clefer, dey vould be angels." ”

“ Michael Daragh, I'm up in my cunning little room with its heaving ceiling and its braided mats and patchwork quilt, and I can look down on the corner of the graveyard and see Dan'l and his dog waiting for Uncle Robert. He is not a real postman but he drives down for his own mail every day and "stops by" with the Gillespies'. (Not that they ever have any!) He's the old man who got down on his rusty black stomach to peek into the culvert and call "Come, pup, come, dear!" He's the sweetest old thing with Dan'l. ”

“ The girls pitied the old man and, recognizing in him a fellow prisoner, sought to comfort him.
"If the dance depends upon us, there will be no dance," said Patsy, firmly.
"I thought you advised submitting to the whim of these ruffians," said
Uncle John in surprise.
"Only to gain time, Uncle. And the scheme has succeeded. Now is our time to plot and plan how to outwit our enemies."
"Goot!" cried Dan'l approvingly. "I help you. Dey are vermin—pah! I vould kill dem all mitout mercifulness, unt be glad!"
"It won't be necessary to kill them, I hope," said Beth, smiling. ”

“ Say you won't dance if dey wear de refolfers—unt den we win de schweepstakes!"
Patsy looked at him critically, in the instant catching a part of his idea.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Dan'l explained, while they all listened carefully, absorbed in following in thought his unique suggestions.
"Let's do it!" exclaimed Beth. "I'm sure the plan will succeed."
"It's leaving a good deal to chance," objected Uncle John, with a touch of nervousness.
"There is an element of chance in everything," declared Patsy. "But
I'm sure we shall escape, Uncle. Why it's a regular coup!" ”

“ The boys were too much surprised by the question to reply, and Dan continued, earnestly: "This goose is Crippy, an' I've had him ever since he was a baby, an' got his leg broke. We come in here to find uncle Robert so's he could tell mother not to kill poor Crip, an' now we can't find him, an'-an'- well, we're jest two as lonesome fellers as you ever saw, an if you knew jest how we did feel you wouldn't stand there, pokin' fun at us. ”

“ Uncle John asked Dan'l what had brought him to this deserted, out-of-the-way spot, and the old man told his story in a manner that amused them all greatly.
"I haf been," said he, "much famous in my time, unt had a individualness pointed out whereeffer I went. I vas orchestra leader at the Theater Royal in Stuttgart, unt our king haf complimented me many times. But I vas foolish. I vas foolish enough to think that ven a man iss great he can stay great. I married me to a clefer prima donna, unt composed a great opera, which vas finer as anything Herr Wagner has efer done. ”

“ You must introduce me to your aunt."
"I suppose it's the way of the world," thought Dan. "It is lucky that there are some true friends who stick by us through thick and thin."
Mrs. Mordaunt had an experience similar to Dan's. Her old acquaintances, who, during her poverty never seemed to recognize her when they met, gradually awoke to the consciousness of her continued existence, and left cards. ”

“ But he's only calling to his big black-and-white mate, or the two little Dagger Bills they hatched out in the spring."
"What does he do?" asked the Babe.
"I don't know much about that fellow," answered Uncle Andy. "Now you see him, and now you don't. Mostly you don't; and, when you do, as likely as not it's only his snaky black head, with its sharp dagger of a bill, stuck up out of the water to keep track of you. He's most unsociable. If anyone tells you he knows all about a loon, you wink to yourself and pretend you are not listening. ”