Uncle Isaac

“ Amy wanted to know.
"Uncle Isaac himself told us," resumed Grace, after a pause. "As for how it happened we don't know yet. Uncle Isaac is on his way now to give us some particulars. He just telephoned to mamma, and that is what upset us all. I have sent for papa to come home from the office. He will be here to meet Uncle Isaac I hope. Oh, isn't it dreadful!"
"But perhaps it is only some boyish prank," suggested Betty hopefully. "What are the particulars? Perhaps he has only gone off with some friends, and will come back again, just as he did the—other time." ”

“ It would have been a comfort to me to have seen Isaac once more; but you must tell him that his Uncle Isaac did not forget him in his last hours. I have been a strong and a tough man in my time. I never was thrown, seldom pulled up; very few could lift my load, plan work better, or bring more to pass with an axe or scythe. I never saw but one man who could outdo me in trapping game or with a rifle, and that was a Penobscot Indian, and my foster-brother, John Conesus. ”

“ I’ll begin to-morrow; that is, if father can spare me.”
“I’ll paint her, and make the spars and sails. Uncle Isaac wants you to build him one: he would build one himself, but he can’t get the time. He expects to go over to Wiscasset, to work on spars, and is driving on to get his work at home done.”
“Does he want her the same dimensions as this one?”
“Yes; but he is in no hurry for her; you’ll have boats enough to build, Charlie; so you had better lay out for it.”
“I shouldn’t dare to build a boat for Uncle Isaac.” ”

“ A man with some poetry and philosophy would have seen in the darkening notch where the hills gave way, to let the road pass through, an approach to the beautiful gate through which wife and children and old [139] comrades had passed on, to wait for him beyond the hills. But Uncle Isaac was cursed with that curiosity which is the torture of the deaf—he saw the hired man up on the hill talking to the neighbor’s boy, and his burning desire was to know what they were talking about as they stood in the twilight. ”

“ This, however, was not sufficient to please the old gentleman. Everybody, in the south, wants the privilege of whipping somebody else. Uncle Isaac shared the common passion of his country, and, therefore, seldom found any means of keeping his disciples in order short of flogging. ”

“ I’ll tell Uncle Isaac about that bear, and we’ll have her, cubs and all.”
He now picked up some dead wood, and making [249] a fire, cooked his coot, took a drink of water from the brook, anchored the boat in the middle of the cove, and wrapping himself in the sails, was soon fast asleep.
With the break of day he weighed anchor, and made sail for Uncle Isaac’s. He arrived there just as they were eating breakfast.
“You’ve come in a good time, Charlie; sit down with us.” ”

“ I’ve seen Indians cut half to pieces, scalded, and burnt, and get well, and I never saw any salve among them. Now,” continued Uncle Isaac (who, though one of the193 kindest-hearted men alive, was but little given to sentiment, and entirely practical in all his views) , “we can do no more good here; let us bring the furniture into the house for Ben, and then I want to finish that burn; we’ll set it on fire at the other end; it will be fun to see it come down before the wind. It can do no harm, for there are enough of us to take care of it. ”

“ Aunt Grenertsen wasn’t like Uncle Isaac; far, far from it!
Suppose, for instance, that he went to her house for a little call, as he often did, for Mother liked him to go—and Aunt Grenertsen sometimes had exceedingly good cakes which she called “half moons”; and just now there were these delicious ripe apples. During such calls she could be remarkably disagreeable. “What is the weather today?” she would say; and before he could answer, would add “Oh, well! No use asking you. Children never notice the weather.” Or, “What kind of fish is there nowadays at the wharf?—but you wouldn’t know that.” ”

“ At ten that night Nan May reckoned her profit for the day at ninepence farthing, including the bricklayer’s sixpence; and she was sick with waiting and faint with fear. At half-past ten Uncle Isaac turned up.
“Ah hum,” he said; “bin paintin’. Might ’a’ laid it on a bit evener. There’s right ways o’ layin’ on paint, an’ there’s wrong ways, an’ one way ain’t the same as the other.” He raised his finger at Johnny instructively. “Far from it and contrairy, there’s a great difference.” Uncle Isaac paused, and no further amplification of his proposition occurring to him, he turned to Mrs. May. ”

“ Breeze asked.
“De cooter was in de corn-field, son.”
“An’ whe’ was Uncle Isaac?”
“E was in de corn-field too, choppin’ grass.”
“Did de cooter bite his toe off?”
“No, you wait now an’ le’ me tell em my way.”
“When Uncle Isaac was young e used to run round a lot at night instead o’ being’ home ’sleep, like he had business to be. E used to catch a nap in de daytime whilst he was hoein’. Plenty o’ people can stand straight up in de field an’ lean on dey hoe an’ sleep good. I never could, but a lot o’ people can. Well, Uncle Isaac was gwine long hoein’ a spell, den dozin’ a spell. ”

“ Joe Griffin in the Honey Pot. Page 139.
139 “It makes my heart ache, Joseph,” said Uncle Isaac, “to see a young man in your situation in such an unreconciled frame of mind; we never should do wrong to others because they have done, or would do, wrong to us. So far from manifesting any contrition, you justify yourself in your evil courses. ”

“ Richard, sitting opposite to him, stretched out his legs luxuriously to the warmth of the crackling wood fire, and, removing his pipe p. 205from his lips, gazed contentedly round the familiar kitchen, which was now looking its best in the homely radiance.
‘It is good to come back to the dear old place and to find everything exactly the same as ever. You don’t seem to have grown a day older, Uncle Isaac—nothing is changed. ”

“ The horrors of Indian massacre were still fresh in the recollections of older people. Smullen’s first wife and old Mr. Yelf’s father were both killed by the Indians; and there was nothing more attractive to the youth of that day. No marvel, then, that a romantic interest mingled in the minds of the boys with the affection they entertained for Uncle Isaac.
It is frequently said, one boy is better than two boys, and that three is just no boy at all ”

“ Then I wrote that letter to dad and threw it but of the car window. From then on I've lived a dog's life. I've been a regular slave. Many a time I'd have given anything to be back, even with Uncle Isaac. ”

“ Isaac, then moved, declared that his dwelling should be the fatness of the earth, even though he should serve his brother,—that he should live by the sword, and finally break the yoke from off his neck. This was all Esau could wring from his father. He hated Jacob with ill-concealed resentment, as was to be expected, and threatened to kill him on his father's death. Rebekah advised Jacob to flee to his uncle, giving as an excuse to Isaac, that he sought a wife in Mesopotamia. This pleased Isaac, who regarded a marriage with a Canaanite as the greatest calamity. ”

“ Not keeping that amount of money at the shop in war times, the bill could not be changed, and the stranger persisted in going to the house for it. Knowing a timid woman would be frightened by the appearance of such a looking stranger, Uncle Isaac accompanied him, with his hammer in his hand. ”

“ A boy or man, who never thinks of anybody’s comfort or happiness but his own, is a pretty mean sort of an affair, and ought not to be allowed round. There’s Pete; he’s no credit to his Maker, and only a plague to the neighborhood, and swears awful; yet God feeds and clothes him.”
“No, he don’t, Uncle Isaac ”

“ The boy, then but ten years old, begged his father to take him out of school and let him work on the farm, telling him that he could no longer study; that he could not learn his lessons. But the father refused, not realizing the son’s condition, and bade him go back to school and study what he could. Isaac then went to his uncle Nathaniel, who owned the Cochichewick woolen mills, situated two miles below the farm, and obtained his permission to work in the factory for a year. ”

“ I shall have hard work to keep myself to begin with.’
‘Come, come, we mid be able to manage summat. I’ve a notion in my head. Ye be a-goin’ to take up farm-work agen, ye tell me; well, an’ as I says to you: Why not work on the farm where ye was brought up, and why not take wage from your own flesh and blood instead of lookin’ to strangers for ’t?’
‘There’s no one I should like to work for better than you, Uncle Isaac—you know that.’
‘I do know it, Richard. I d’ know it very well. “But,” says you to me, “I must have somewheres to live,” says you.’
‘No, I don’t, Uncle Isaac! I say nothing p. ”

“ His son was a engineer in yer own trade, Mr. Butson,—fitter at Maidment’s. ’E left my niece a widder, cons’kence of a coat-tail in a cog wheel. What does Mr. May do? Why ’e shows ’is nachralness. ’E brings ’er an’ ’er children down ’ere on ’is own free’old residence, an’ cons’kently—’ere they are. Look at that!”
It was a principle with Uncle Isaac to neglect no opportunity of reciting at large the excellences of any p. 22person of the smallest importance with whom he might be acquainted ”

“ Mr. Cottam grunted. He had met Uncle Isaac twice before.
“Lord!” Uncle Isaac went on, gazing at the uneasy Hicks with steadfast admiration, “Lord! If ’e was on’y ambitious’ ’e might be anythink! What a ornament ’e ’d be to a Diplomatic Corpse! Talk about Enterprise! Why at Enterprise an’ any sort o’ circumventions ’e’s—’e’s—why there, as I alwis say, ’e might be Ambashador to ’er Majesty’s possessions!”
p. 273The shower flagged, and men came out on the quays. Mr. Cottam rose from the coil he had been sitting on, took his gaze out of space, and fixed it on the wall over Uncle Isaac’s head. “Mr. ”

“ Mr. H. Wallace gave Uncle Joe a note, with instructions to deliver it and Isaac into the hands of Mr. James Mansfield, jr. He arrived there about eight o’clock that night, a distance of three miles, when I for the first time saw my new master. His wife was named Mary. They had two children—a girl and a boy; the former was about five years of age and the latter three years. He was a cabinet-maker by trade and worked with his father who followed the same business. He very soon bought his father out, taking the business into his own hands, and began to thrive very rapidly. ”

“ His uncle Moses, a distinguished teacher, settled in Nashville, Tenn., visited West Point this fall; and his father writes, “Your uncle Moses speaks of your acquirements in rather extravagant terms.”
During the winter his father’s health was poor, and he suffered much from his injured leg. Oliver alone remained at home. Hannah was in Haverhill, attending school, and supporting herself by her needle; Sarah was in Lowell, working in a factory; Elizabeth was at Belfast, Maine, visiting an aunt, and attending school; Mary was at Methuen; and Susan was attending school at the South Parish. ”

“ My uncle said it took his pains away.” Repeating thus his sorrows, Isaac shows } That he, repenting, feels the debt he owes,} And from this source alone his every comfort flows. } He takes no joy in office, honours, gain; They make him humble, nay, they give him pain; “These from my heart,” he cries, “all feeling drove; 400 They made me cold to nature, dead to love.” He takes no joy in home, but, sighing, sees A son in sorrow, and a wife at ease; He takes no joy in office—see him now, And Burgess Steel has but a passing bow ”

“ During his boyhood he was affected with excessive diffidence, or bashfulness. With characteristic resolution and good sense, he set himself to overcome this weakness. He made it a point always to address any one whose presence inspired this awkward feeling, but, he said, it was years before he overcame it.
After a year and four months of this severe application, Isaac completed his course at Phillips Academy. He wished to study law with Mr. Hazen, but that gentleman discouraged the idea. At this juncture his uncle, William Stevens, suggested West Point, and wrote to Mr. ”

“ There is not the slightest evidence that any Hebrew ever sold a slave; and any provision contemplating that was unknown to the constitution of the Commonwealth. It is said of Abraham that he had “servants bought with money;” but there is no record of his having ever sold one, nor is there any account of its ever having been done by Isaac or 118Jacob. The only instance of a sale of this kind among the patriarchs is that act of the brothers of Joseph, which is held up to so strong reprobation, by which they sold him to the Ishmaelites. ”

“ Be lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, And blessed be every one that blesseth thee.
30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 And he also made savory food, and brought it unto his father. And he said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.
32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? ”

“ My father, said Isaac; it was a melting word, which, one would think, would strike deeper into the breast of Abraham than his knife could into the breast of Isaac. He might have said, or thought, at least, "Call me not thy father who am now to be thy murderer; can a father be so barbarous, so perfectly lost to all the tenderness of a father?" Yet he keeps his temper, and keeps his countenance, to admiration; he calmly waits for his son's question, and this is it: Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb? See how expert Isaac was in the law and custom of sacrifices. ”