S PREFATORY NOTE TO THE SECOND E NGLISH ED IT ION THAT this simple story should have reached its twentieth thousand in America is a fact sufﬁciently

Who Cares t o Read It

Wi l l? Illustrat ion: byO l iver H erford

‘I/zousand

22 Bedford Street , Strand

LO N D O N

AUTHOR’

S PREFATORY NOTE TO THE

SECOND ENGLISH ED IT ION

THAT this s imple story should have reachedits twentieth thousand in America is a fact

sufficiently gratifying to its author but that

i t should have met W i th so quick 8. response

from the E ngl ish public is additional ground

for satisfaction . I f the child Timothy haswon a welcome so far from home

,i t is

,

surely,because in the sweet and common

humanities of l ife there is no national ity ;

and the imperishable child in al l of us

makes strangers kin wherever they may

meet,even if i t be . only between the covers

of a book.

KATE DOUGLAS W IGG IN .

Septeméer, 1892.

SCENE I

FLOSSY MORR ISON LEARN S THE SECRET OF DEATHW ITHOUT EVER HAV ING LEARNED THE SECRETOF LIFE

SCENE I ILI TTLE TIMOTHY JESSUP ASSUMES PARE NTAL RE

SPONSIBILITIES

SCENE III

T IMOTHY PLANS A CAMPA IGN , AND PROVIDENCEASS I STS MATER IALLY IN CARRY ING IT OUT , OR

VI‘CE VERSA

SCENE IV

JABE SLOCUM ASSUMES THE R6LE OF GUARD IAN

PAGE

TIMOTHY’

S QUESTSCENE V

T IMOTHY F IND S A HOUSE IN WH ICH HE TH INKS ABABY IS NEEDED ,

BUT THE INMATES DO NOTE NT IRELY AGRE E W ITH HIM

SCENE VI

T IMOTHY , LADY GAY , AND RAGS PROVE FA ITHFUL

TO EACH OTHE R

SCENE VII

M I STRESS AND MA ID F IND TO THE IR AMA ! EMENTTHAT A CH ILD , MORE THAN ALL OTHER G IFTS ,BRINGSHOPE W ITH IT , AND FORWARD-LOOKI NG

THOUGHTS

SCENE VI I I

JABE AND SAMANTHA E ! CHANGE Hosrn n ms, ANDTHE FORME R SAY S A GOOD WORD FOR THE

LITTLE WANDE RERS

SCENE I!

‘Now THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT IS

CHARITY , OUT OF A PURE HEART

SCENE !

AUNT H I TTY COMES TO ‘MAKE OVER, ’ AND

SUPPLIES BACK NUMBERS TO ALL THEVILLAGEH ISTORIES

PAGE

CONTENTSSCENE ! I

s sVILDA DECIDES THAT Two IS ONE TOO MANY,AND T IMOTHY BREAKS A HUMM ING-BIRD ’S EGG

SCENE ! II

SCENE ! III

PLEASANT RIVER xs BAPTI! ED W ITH THE SP IRIT OF

ADOPT ION

SCENE ! IV

TIMOTHY JESSUP RUNS AWAY A SECOND T IM E , AND ,

LIKE OTHER BLESSINGS, BR IGHTENS AS HE

TAKES HIS FLIGHT

SCENE ! V

LunaALL Docs IN F ICTION , THE FAITHFUL RAGs

GU IDES MISS VILDA TO m s LITTLE MASTER

SCENE ! VI

Tm or uv’s QUEST IS ENDE D, AND SAMANTHA SAYS

COME ALONG, DAVE

x i

PAGE

16 1

SCE NE I

NUMBE R TH RE E , M I NERVA COURTF I RST FLOOR FRON T

F/ossyMorr z'

sm learns t/ze Secret ofDeaf! ; wz’

tfiout

ever hav ing learned flwSecret ofLife

INE RVA COURT ! Veil thyface

,0 Goddess of Wisdom ,

for never surely was thy fair

name so i l l bestowed as when

it was appl ied to this most dreary

place !

I t was a l ittle less than street,a

l i ttle more than al ley,and its only

possible claim to decenéycame from

comparison with the busier thorough

fare out of which i t opened. This was so

much fouler,with its dirt and noise

,i ts

stands of refuse fruit and vegetables,i ts

d ingy shops and al l the miserable traffic

that the place engendered,i ts rickety door

ways blocked with lounging men,i ts B lows

abel las leaning on the window-s i l l s,that the

Court seemed by contrast a most desirable

and retired place of residence.

But i t was a dismal spot,nevertheless

,

with not even an air of faded gentil ity to

recommend it. I t seemed to have no better

6 TIMOTHY’S QUE STdays behind it

,nor to hold within i tself the

possibi l i ty of any future improvement I twas narrow

,and extended only the length

of a city block,yet it was by no means

wanting in many of the luxuries which mark

th is era of modern civi l isation . At each

corner there were groceries,with commo

dious sample-rooms attached , and a smal l

saloon,cal led The Dearest Spot ’

(which i t

undoubtedly was in more senses than one),in the basement of a house at the farther

end. I t was necessary,however

,for the

bibulous native who dwelt in the middle of

the block to waste some valuable minutes in

dragging himself to one of these fountains

of bl iss at either end ; but at the time my

story opens,a W ide-awake phi lanthropist was

fi tt ing up a neat and attractive l ittle bar

room,cal led ‘ The Oasis,

’ at a point equally

d istant between the other two springs of

human joy.

This benefactor of humanity had a vault

ing ambition. He desired to slake the thirst

of every man in Christendom ; but as this

was impossible from the very nature of

things, he determined to settle in some

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

8 T IMOTHY ’S QUE SThanging out of their windows

,gossiping with

their equal ly unkempt and haggard neigh

bours apathetic men sitting on the doorsteps,

in their shirt-sleeves,smoking ; a dul l, dirty

baby or two sporting i tself in the gutter ;while the sound of a melancholy accordion

floated from an upper chamber,and added

its discordant mite to the general desolation.

The sidewalks had apparently never known

the touch of a broom,and the middle of the

street looked more l ike an elongated j unk

heap than anything else. E very evi l smel l

known to the nostri ls of man was abroad in

the air,and several were float ing about wait

ing modestly to be classified,after which they

intended to come to the front and outdo the

others if they could.

That was Minerva Court ! A l i ttle piece

of your world,my world

,God ’s world (and

the Devi l ’s), lying peacefully fal low,await

ing the services of some inspired HorneMissionary Society.

In a front room of Number Three,a

dilapidated house next the corner,there lay

a sti l l,white shape

,with two women watch

ing by it.

TIMOTHY’S QUE ST 9

A sheet covered i t. Candles burned at

the head ; striving to throw a gleam of l ight

on a dead face that for , many a year had

never been i l luminated frorri within ‘

by the

brightness of s el f-forgetting love or kindly

sympathy. I f youhad raised the sheet

,

you would have seen

no happy smile as of

a half remembered,

innocent childhood °

the smile—i s i t ofp e a c e fu l m em o ry

or serene antic ipa

tion ?— that some

times shines on the

faces of the dead.

Such l ife - secretsas were exposed by

Death and written

on that sti l l coun Innocent Ch i ldhood.

tenance in charac

ters that al l might read,were painful ones.

Flossy Morrison was dead. The name‘ Flossy ’ was a rel ic of what she termed

her better days (Heaven save the

10 TIMOTHY’S QUE STfor she had been cal led Mrs. Morrison of

late years Mrs. F. Morrison ,’ who took

children to board,and no questions asked

nor answered. She had l ived forty-five

years,as men reckon summers and winters

but she had never learned,in al l that time

,

to know her Mother,Nature

,her Father,

God,nor her brothers and sisters

,the chi l

dren of the world. She had l ived friendlessand unfriendly

,keeping none of the ten

commandments,nor yet the eleventh

,which

is the greatest of al l ; and now there was

no human being to sl ip a flower into the sti l l

hand,to k iss the clay-cold l ips at the remem

brance of some sweet word that had fal len

from them,or drop a tear and say

,I loved

her ! ’

Apparently, the two watchers did not re

gard Flossy Morrison even in the l ight of‘ the dear remains

,

’ as they are sometimes

cal led at country funerals. They were in

the best of spirits (there was an abundance

of beer), and their gruesome task would be

over in a few hours,for i t was nearly four

o’

clock in the morning,and the body was to

be taken away at ten.

TIMOTHY ’S QUE ST 11

‘ I tel l you one thing,E ttie

,Flossy hasn ’t

left any bother for her friends,

’ remarked

Mrs . Nancy S immons,settl ing herself back

in her rocking-chair. ‘ As she didn ’t own

anything but the clothes on her back,there

won’t be any quarrel l ing over the property

and she chuckled at her del icate humour.No

,

’ answered her companion,who

,what

ever her sponsors in baptism had christened

her,cal led hersel f E thel Montmorency.

‘ I s ’pose the furn iture,poor as it is

,wil l

pay the funeral expenses,and if she ’s got

any debts,why

,folks wi l l have to whistle

for their money,that ’s al l.’

‘ The only thing that worries me is the

children,

’ said Mrs . S immons.‘ You must be hard up for something toworry about

,to take those young ones on

your mind. They ain ’t yours nor mine, andwhat ’s more

,nobody knows who they do

belong to,and nobody cares soon as break

fast ’s over we ’

11pack ’em off to some insti

tution or other,and that ’11 be the end of it.

What did Flossy say about ’em,when you

spoke to her yesterday P‘ I asked her what she wanted done with

12 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STthe young ones

,and she said

,Do what you

l ike with ’em,drat

'em—i t don ’t make no

odds to me ! ’ and then she turned over and

died. Those was the last words she spoke,dear soul ; but, Lor

’

,she wasn ’t more ’

n half

sober,and hadn ’t been for a week.

’

‘ She was sober enough to keep her owncounsel

,I can

'

tel l you that,

’ said the gentle

E thel . ‘ I don’t be l ieve there ’s a l iving soul

that knows where those chi ldren came from— not that anybody cares

,now that there

ain’t any money in ’em .

’

‘Well,as for that

,I only know that when

Flossy was seeing better days and l ived in

the upper part of the c ity,she used to have

money come every month for tak ing care of

the boy. Where it come from I don ’t know ;but I kind of surmise i t was a long distance

off. Then she took to drinking,and got

lower and lower down unti l she came here,

s ix months ago. I don ’t suppose the boy’s

folks,or whoever it was sent the money

,

knew the way she was l iving,though they

couldn’

t have cared much,for they never

came to see how things were ; he was in an

asylum before Flossy took him,

I found that

TIMOTI—IY’

S QUE ST 13

out ; but, anyhow,the money stopped com

ing more than three months ago. Flossywrote twice to the folks

,whoever they were

,

but didn’t get no answer to her letters ; and

she ' told me that she should

t urn the boy out in a week or

two if some cash didn’t turn

up in that t ime ; she wouldn’t

have kept him so long as this

i f he hadn ’t been so handy

tak ingcare of the baby.

’

‘Well,who does the baby

belong to P‘ You ask me too much

,

’

re

pl ied Nancy,taking another

deep draught from the pitcher. ‘ 3 0 handY

Help yoursel f,E ttie

,there ’s plenty more

where that came from .

—Flossy never l ikedthe boy

,and always wanted to get rid of

him,but couldn’t afford to. He

’

s a dreadful

queer,old—fashioned l ittle kid

,and so smart

that he ’

s gettin’ to be a reg’lar nuisance

round the house. But you see he and the

baby—Gabriel le ’s her name,though they

cal l her Lady Gay,or some such trash

,after

that actress that comes here so much- wel l,

14 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STthey are so in love with one another thatwi ld horses couldn’t drag ’ern apart ; and

I th ink Flossy had a kind of a l ik in’ for

Gay,as much as she ever had for anyth ing.

I guess she never abused either of ’em ; she

was too careless for that. And so—whatwas I talkin’ about P—Oh, yes,—I don

’

t

know who the baby is,nor who paid for

her keep,but she ’s goin ’ to be one 0

’ your

high- steppers, and no mistake. She mightbe Queen Victory

’s daughter by the airs she

puts on ; I’

d l ike to keep her myself if she

was a l ittle older,and I wasn ’t goin’ away

from here.’

‘ I s ’pose they ’

11 make an awful row at

being separated,won’t they ? ’ asked the

younger woman.

Oh, l ike as not ; but they’

11 have to have

their row and get over it,

’ said Mrs. S immonseasi ly.

‘ You can take Timothy to theOrphan Asylum first

,and then come back

,

and I ’l l carry the baby to the Home of theLadies’ Relief and Protection Society ; andif they yel l they can yel l

,and take it out

in yellin’

; they won’t get the best of Nancy

S immons.’


SCE NE I I

NUMBE R TH REE, M I NERVA COU RT

F I RST FLOOR BACK

the‘

snores of the two

watchers fel l on the sti l lness

of the death-chamber,with

that cheerful regularity that b e

tokens the sleep of the truly good ,a l ittle figure crept out of the bed

in the adjoin ing room,and closing

the door noiselessly,but with trem

bl ing fingers, stole to the window

to look out at the dirty street

and the grey sky,over which the first faint

streaks ofdawn were beginning to creep.

I t was Little Timothy Jessup (God aloneknows whether he had any right to that

special patronyrn ic), but not the very same

Tim Jessup who had kissed the baby Gay in

her crib,and gone to sleep on his own hard

bed in that room,a few hours before. As

he stood shivering at the'

window,one thin

hand hard pressed upon his heart to stil l i ts

beating,there was a l ight of sudden resolve

in his eyes,a new-born look of anxiety on

his unchildl ike face.

ao T IMOTHY’S QUE ST‘ I wil l not have Gay protectioned and

reliefed,and I wi l l not be taken away from

her and sent to a ’

sy1um ,where I can never

find her again ! ’ and with these defiant

words trembl ing,half spoken

,on his l ips

,he

glanced from the unconscious form in the

crib to the terrible door,which might open

at any moment and divide him from his

heart’s del ight,his darl ing

,his treasure

,his

only joy,his own

,own baby Gay.

What should 'he do ? Run away ; that

was the only solution of the matter,and no

very d iffi cul t one either. The cruel women

were asleep ; the awful Thing that had been

Flossy would never speak again ; and no

one else in Minerva Court cared enough for

them to pursue them very far or very long.

‘And so,

’ thought Timothy swiftly,

‘I

wil l get things ready,take Gay

,and steal

softly out of the back door,and run away to

the truly country,where none of these bad

people ever can find us,and where I can get

a mother for Gay somebody to ’

dopt her

and love her ti l l I grow up a man and take

her to l ive with me.’

The moment this thought darted into


Timothy’s mind,i t began to shape itself in

definite action .

Gabriel le, or Lady Gay, as Flossy cal ledher

,in honour of her favourite stage heroine

,

had been tumbled into her crib half dressed

the n ight before. The only vehicle kept for

her use in the family stables was a clothes

basket,mounted on four. wooden wheels and

cushioned with a d ingyshawl. A yard of clothes

l ine was tied on to one

end,and in this humble

conveyance the Princess

would have to be trans

ported from the Ogre’s

castle,for she was scarcely

old enough to accompanythe Prince on foot

,even

i f he had dared to risk

detection by waking her :

so the clothes-basket must

be her chariot,and Timothy her charioteer,

as on many a less fateful expedition.

After he had changed his ragged n ight

gown for a shabby sui t of clothes,he took

Gay’s one clean apron out of a rickety bureau

‘A shabbysuit ofclothes

22 TIMOTHY’S QUE STdrawer for I can never find a mother

for her if she ’s too dirty,he thought),

her Sunday hat from the same receptacle,and last of al l a comb

,and a faded Japanese

parasol that stood in a corner. These he

deposited under the old shawl that decorated

the floor of the chariot. He next groped

his way in the dim l ight toward a mantel

shelf,and took down a savings-bank—a

florid l ittle structure with ‘ Bank of E ngland stamped over the miniature door

,into

which the jovial gentleman who frequented

the house often sl ipped pieces of si lver for

the children,and into which Flossy d ipped

on ly when she was in a state of temporary

financial embarrassment. Timothy did not

dare to j ingle it ; he could only hope that as

Flossy had not been in her usual health

of late (though in more than her usual

she had not fel t obl iged to break

the bank .

Now for provisions . There were plenty

of‘funeral baked rneats

’ in the kitchen ; so

he hasti ly gathered a dozen cookies into a

towel and stowed them in the coach with

the other s inews of war.


24 T IMOTHY’S QUE ST‘ A kind Lady is goin

’

to Adopt us

i t is a G rate ways off so do not Hunt

good by. TIM.

’

Now al l was ready. No one th ing more.

Timothy had been met in the street by a

pretty young girl a few weeks before. The

love of God was smil ing in her heart,the

love of children shin ing in her eyes and

she led him,a wil l ing captive

,into a mis

s ion Sunday-school near by. So much in

earnest was the sweet l ittle teacher,and so

hungry for any sort of good tid ings was

the starved l ittle pupil,that Timothy ‘ got

rel igion ’ then and there,as s imply and

natural ly as a child takes its mother’s milk.

He was probably in a state of crass igno

rance regarding the Thirty-n ine Articles ; but

i t was the ‘ engrafted word,

’

of which the

Bible speaks,that had blossomed in Tim

othy’

s heart the l iving seed had always been

there,waiting for some beneficent fostering

influence ; for he was what dear Charles

Lamb would have cal led a natural ‘ king

dom-of-heaven ite.

’ Thinking,therefore

,of

T IMOTHY ’S QUE ST 25

Miss Dora’s inj unction to pray over al l the

extraordinary affairs of l ife and as many

of the ordinary ones as possible,he hung

his tattered straw hat on the bed-post,and

knel t beside Gay’s crib with this whispered

prayer :

Our Fat/zer w/zo art in lzeaw fz, please

lzelp me to fi nd a walker for Gay, Me ki nd

mat Me can call M amma,and anotfier onefor

me,if t/zere

’

s enougk , but not unless. P lease

ex cuse me for ta/ez'

ng away Ike clot/zes-basket,

wk z'

cfi does not ex actlyéelong to as ; but if I

do not take i t, clear IzeavenlyFat/zer , how w ill

[ get Gay toMe rai lroad And

if Idon’

t take Me japanese um

érella size w i ll gel freckled’and

nobodyw i ll adopt ller on accoun t

of lzer red flai r . N o more at

presen t, as ] am in agreat flurry.

Amen .

’

He put on his hat,stooped

over the sleeping baby,and took

her in his faithful arms—arms

that had never fai led her yet

She half opened her eyes,and

Safe on T imothy’

s

see i ng that she was safe on Shoul der

26 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STher beloved Timothy’s shoulder

,clasped her

dimpled arms tight about his neck,and with

a long sigh drifted off again into the land

of dreams. Bending beneath her weight,he

stepped for the last time across the threshold,

not even daring to close the door behind him .

Up the al ley and round the corner he

sped,as fast as his trembl ing legs could

carry him . Just as he was within sight of

the goal of his ambition,that is

,the chariot

aforesaid,he fancied he heard the sound of

hurrying feet behind him. To his fevered

imagination the tread was l ike that of an

avenging army on the track of the foe. He

did not dare to look behind. On ! for the

clothes-basket and l iberty ! He would re

l inquish the Japanese umbrel la,the cookies

,

the comb,and the apron— al l the booty

,in

fact—as an inducement for the enemy to

retreat,but he would never give up the

prisoner.

On the feet hurried , faster and faster. He

stooped to put Gay in the basket,and turned

in despair to meet his pursuers,when a l ittle

,

grimy,rough-coated

,lop-eared

,spl i t-tai led

thing,l ike an animated rag-bag

,leaped upon

TIMOTHY ’S QUEST 27

his knees ; whimpering with joy, and im

ploring, with every grace that his s imple

doggish heart could suggest, to be one of

the eloping party.

Rags had fol lowed them !

T imothywas so glad to find i t no worse

that he wasted a moment in embracing the

dog,whose del irious joy at the prospect of

this probably dinnerless and supperless expedit ion was ludicrously exaggerated . Then

he took up the rope and trundled the chariot

gently down a side street leading to the

station .

E verything worked to a charm . They

met on ly an occasional milk (and water)man

,starting on his matutinal rounds

,for i t

was now after four o ’clock,and one or two

caval iers of uncertain gait,just return ing to

their homes,several hours too late for their

own good : but these gentlemen were in no

condition of mind to be over- interested, and

the l ittle fugitives were troubled with no

questions as to their intentions.

Thus they went out into the world to

gether,these three : T imothy Jessup (if i t

was Jessup), brave l ittle knight, nameless

28 T IMOTHY’S QUE STnobleman

,tracing his descent back to God

,

the Father of us al l,and bearing the Divine

l ikeness more than most of us ; the l ittle

Lady Gay,—somebody -nobody— anybody,

—frorn nobody knows where,—destinationequal ly uncertain ; and Rags, of pedigree

most doubtful,scutcheon quite obscured by

blots,but a perfect gentleman

,true-hearted

and loyal to the core —in fact,an angel in

fur. These three,with the clothes-basket as

personal property and a toy Bank of E ngland

as securi ty,went out to seek their fortune ;

and,unl ike Lot’s wife

,without daring to look

behind,shook the dust of Minerva Court

from off their feet forever and forever.

SCE NE I I I

THE RA ILWAY STAT ION

Tz'

motlzyplans a Campaign, and P 7 ow’

a’ence assi sts

materially i n carrying i t out, or vice ven d


3: TIMOTHY ’S QUE STsunl ight fel l upon his earnest face

,the angel

in him came to the surface,and crowded the

boy p art quite out of s ight, as i t has a way

ofdoing sometimes with chi ldren.

How some father heart would have

throbbed with pride to own him,and how

gladly l ifted the too heavy burden from his

childish shoulders

Timothy Jessup,aged ten or eleven

,or

thereabouts—the records had not been kept

T imothy surveying the Si tuation.

with absolute exactness—Timothy Jessup,

somewhat ragged,al l forlorn

,and none too

clean at the present moment,was a poet

,

philosopher,and lover of the beautiful. The

dwellers in Minerva Court had never discov

ered the fact ; for, al though he had l ived in

that world,he had most emphatical ly never

T IMOTHY’S QUE ST 33

been of it. He was a boy of strange notions,and the vocabulary in which he expressed

them was stranger sti l l furthermore, he had

gentle manners,which must have been indi

genous,as they had certainly never been

cult ivated and,although he had been in the

way ofhandl ing pitch for many a day, i t had

been powerless to defile him , such was the

essential purity of his nature.

To find a home and a mother for LadyGay had been Timothy’s secret longing ever

s ince he had heard people say that F lossy

Morrison might die. He had once enjoyed

al l the comforts of a home with a capital H

but i t was the cosy one with the l ittle ‘ h’

that he so much desired for her.

Not'

that he had any i l l treatment to re

member in the excel lent institution of which

he Was for several years an inmate. The

matron was an amiable and hard-working

woman,who wished to do her duty to al l the

children under her care ; but i t would be an

inspired human being indeed Who could givea hundred . and fifty motherless or fatherless

chi ldren al l the education and care and train

ing they needed,to say nothing of the love

C

34 TIMOTHY’S QUESTthat they missed and craved. What wonder

,

then,that an occasional hungry l i ttle soul

starved for want of something not provided

by the management ; say, a morning cuddlein mother’s bed or a ride on father’s knee

in short, the sweet daily jumble of lap

trott ing,gentle caressing

,endearing words

,

twi l ight stories,motherly tucks-in-bed

,good

n ight k isses— al l the dear,simple

,every

day accompaniments of the home with the

l i ttle h.

’

Timothy Jessup,bred in such an atmo

sphere,would have gladdened every l ife that

touched his at any point. Plenty of wistful

men and women would have thanked God

nightly on their knees for the gift of such a

son ; and here he was, s itting on a tin can ,bowed down with family cares

,while thou

sands of graceless l ittle scalawags were slapping the faces of their French nurse-maids

and bullying their parents,in that very ci ty.

—Ah me !

As for the tiny Lady Gay, she had al l the

Winsome virtues to recommend her. No one

ever feared that she would die young out ofsheer goodness. You would not have loved


her so much for what she was as because

you could not help yourself. This feat once

accompl ished,she blossomed into a thousand

graces,each one more bewitching than the

last you noted .

Where,in the name of al l the sacred laws

of heredity, did the chi ld get her sunshiny

nature ? Born in misery,and probably in

sin,nurtured in wretchedness and poverty

,

she had brought her ‘ rad iant morning

vis ions ’ with her into the world. Like

Wordsworth’s immortal'

babe,

‘ with trai l ing

clouds of glory ’ had she come,from God

who was her home and the heaven that l ies

about us al l in our infancy —that Garden

of E den into which we are al l born,l ike

the first man and the first woman— that

heaven lay about her sti l l,stronger than the

touch of earth.

What i f the room were desolate and bare ?

The yel low sunbeams stole through the nar

row window,and in the shaft of l ight they

threw across the dirty floor Gay played

obl ivious of everything save the fl ickering

golde‘

n rays that surrounded her.

The ‘

raindrops chas ing each other down

36 TIMOTHY’S QUE STthe dingy pane

,the snowflakes melting softly

on the casement,the brown leaf that the

wind blew into her lap as she sat on theslde-walk

,the ch irp of the l ittle beggar

sparrows over the cobblestones,al l these

brought as eager a l ight into her baby eyes

as the costl iest toy. With no earthly father

or mother to care for her,she seemed to

be God ’s very own baby,and He amused

her in H is own good way first by locking

her happiness within her own soul (the

on ly place where it is ever safe for a single

moment), and then by putting her under

Timothy’s paternal min istrations.

Timothy’s mind travel led back over the

past,as he sat among the tin cans and looked

at Rags and Gay. I t was a very smal l story,

i f he ever found any one who . would care

to hear i t. There was a long journey in agreat ship

,a wearisorne i l lness of many

weeks—or was i t months P—when his curl shad been cut off

,and al l hi s memories with

them then there was the Home ; thenthere was Flossy

,who came to take him

away ; then—oh , bright, bright s pot ! oh,blessed t ime l—there was baby Gay ; then ,


worse than all,there was Minerva Court.

But he did not give many minutes to rem in is

cence. He first broke open the Bank of

E ngland,and threw it away

,after finding

to his joy that their fortune amounted to

one dol lar and eighty-five cents. This was

so much in advance of his expectat ions that

he laughed aloud,and Rags

,wagging his tai l

Wi th such vigour that he nearly broke i t in

two,j umped into the cradle and woke the

baby.

Then there was a happy family c irc le,you

may bel ieve me,and with good reason

,too !

A trip to the country (meals and lodginguncertain

,but that was a trifle), a sight of

green meadows,where Timothy would hear

real birds s ing in the trees,and Gay would

gather wi ld-flowers, and Rags would chase ,and perhaps—who knows P— catch, tooth

some squirrels and fat l i ttle field-mice,of

which the country dogs visit ing Minerva

Court had told the most mouth -watering

tales. Gay’s transport knew no bounds.

Her chi ld-heart fel t no regret for the past,

no care for the present,no anxiety for the

future. The only world she cared for was

38 T IMOTHY’S QUESTi n her sight and she had never

,i n her brief

ex pe rience, gazed upon it with more radiant

anticipation than on this sunny June mom

ing,when she had Opened her bright eyes

on a pleasant,odorous bank of oyster-shel ls,

instead of on the accustomed surroundings

of M inerva Court.

Breakfast was first i n order.

There was a pump conven iently near,and

the oyster-shel l s made capital cups. Gay

had three cook ies,Timothy two and Rags

one but there was no statute of l imitations

placed on the water every one had as much

as he could drink .

The l ittle matter of toi lets came next.

Timothy took the dingy rag which did duty

for a handkerchief,and

,cal l ing the pump

again into requis ition,scrubbed Gay’s face

and hands tenderly,but firmly. Her clothes

were then al l smoothed down tidi ly,but

the clean apron was kept for the eventfu l

moment when her future mother should first

be al lowed to behold the form of her adopted

child .

The comb was then brought out,and her

mop of red-gold hair was assisted to fal l in


4o TIMOTHY ’S QUE STand that is the main thing ; besides , hishandkerchief had been reduced to a pulp in

Gay ’s service. He combed his hair,pul led

up his stock ings and tied his shoes neatly,

buttoned his jacket closely over his shirt,

and was just pinn ing up the rent in his hat,

when Rags considerately brought another

suggestion in the shape of an old chicken

wing,with which he brushed every speck of

dust from his clothes. This done,and being

no respecter of persons,he took the family

comb to Rags,who woke the echoes during

the operation,and hoped to the Lord that

the squirrel s would run slowly and that the

field-mice would be very tender,to pay him

for this.

I t was now nearly eight o ’clock , and theparty descended the hi l lside and entered the

side door of the station .

The day’s work had long since begun ,and there was the usual d in and uproar of

rai lroad traffic. Trucks,l aden high with

boxes and barrels,were being driven to the

wide doors. The porters were thundering

and thumping and lurching the freight from

one set of cars into another ; their primary


objects being to make a racket and demol ish

raw material,thereby increasing manufac

ture and export,but incidental ly to load or

unload as much freight as possible in a

given time.

Timothy entered,trundl ing his carriage

,

where Lady Gay sat enthroned l ike a Murray

H i l l bel le on a dog—cart,conscious pride of

Sunday hat on week-day morning exudingfrom every feature and Rags followed close

behind , clean, but with a crushed spiri t,which he could stimulate only by the most

seductive imaginations. No one molested

them , for Timothy was very careful not to

get in any one’s way. Finally, he drew up

in front of a high blackboard,on which the

names of various way-stations were printed

in gold letters.

TIMOTHY’S QUE STCass“

The names get nicer

SAND

“N M and n icer as you read down

REEQiORB the l ine

,and the furtherest

“ fl one of al l i s the very pretBJN C‘HM t iest

,so I guess we ’

ll go

SKAGGSTOW there,

’ thought T imothy,

E SBURY not real is ing that his choice

S CRATCl-LCORNER.was based on most insecure

foundations ; and that, forI' ll t LSIDE aught he knew

,the m i lk of

Mom mwfw human kindness

EUcEWOOD might have more

cream on i t at

PLEASAN Scratch Corner

than Pleasant

Iguess vi e’11go there. ’

River, though the latter name was certainly

more attractive.

Gay approved of Pleasant River, and so


did Rags ; and Timothy moved off down

the station to a place on the open platform

where a train of cars stood ready for start

ing,the engine at the head gasping and

puffing and breathing as hard as if i t had

an acute attack of asthma.

How much does it cost to go to P leasantRiver

,please ? ’ asked Tim bravely of a

kind- looking man in a blue coat and brass

buttons,who stood by the cars.

‘ This i s a freight train,sonny

,

’ repl ied

the man ;‘ takes four hours to get there.

Better wait ti l l ten forty-five ; buy your

ticket up in the station .

’

‘ Ten forty-five ! ’ Tim saw visions of

Mrs. S immons speeding down upon him inhot pursu it

,kindled by Gay’s disappearance

into a tardy appreciation of her charms.

The tears stood in his eyes as Gay clam

bered out of the basket and danced with

impatience,exclaiming, Gay wants to yide

now ! yide now l yide now ! ’

‘Did you want to go sooner ?’ asked the

man,who seemed to be entirely too much

interested in humanity to succeed in the ra i lroad business. ‘Well , as you seem to have

44 T IMOTHY ’S QUESTconsid

’

rab le of a family on your hands, I

guess we ’

ll take you along. J im ,unlock

that car and let these ch ildren in,and then

lock i t up again. I t ’

s a car we ’

re taking up

to the end of the road for repairs,bubby,

so the comp’

ny’

ll give you and your folks

a free ride

T imothy thanked the man in his pol i test

manner,while Gay pressed a piece of moist

cookie in his hand,and offered him one of

her swan ’s-down kisses,a favour ofwhich she

was usual ly as chary as i f i t had possessed

a market value.‘Are you going to take the dog ? ’ asked

the man,as Rags darted up the steps with

sniffs and barks of ecstatic del ight. ‘ He

ain’t so handsome but you can get another

easy enough ! ’ (Rags held his breath in

suspense,and wondered if he had been put

under a roaring cataract,and then ploughed

in deep furrows with a sharp-toothed instru

ment of torture,only to be left behind at

last‘ That ’s j ust why I take him,

’ said Tim '

othy ;‘ because he isn ’t handsome

,and has

nobody else to love him .

’


Not a very pol ite reason,’ thought Rags

but anything to go‘Well

,j ump in

,dog and al l

,and they ’l l

give you the best free ride to the countryyou ever had in your l ife ! Tel l ’em it ’s al l

right,J im ’

; and the train steamed out of

the depot,while the kind man waved his

bandana handkerchief unti l the chi ldren

were out of sight.


SLOCUM had

been down to E dge

wood,and was just re

turn ing to the White Farm

by way of the cross roads and

Hard Scrabble schoolhouse. He was in no

hurry,although he always had more work

on hand than he could leave undone for a

month and Maria also was taking her own

time,as usual

,even stopping now and then

to crop an unusual ly sweet tuft ofgrass that

grew with in smel l ing distance,and which no

mare with a driver l ike J abe could afford to

pass without notice.

Jabe was ostensibly out on an ‘ errant ’

for Miss Avilda Cummins but, as he had

been in her service for six years,she had no

D

50 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTexpectations of his accompl ishing anything

beyond getting to a place and getting back

in the same day,the distance covered being

no factor at al l in the matter.

One need not apply, however, to M iss

Av ilda Cummins for a description of jabe

S locum ’s pecul iari ties. They were al l so

wri tten upon his face and figure and speech

that the wayfaring man,though a fool

,could

not err in his j udgment He was a long,loose

,knock-kneed

,slack-twisted person

,and

would have been ‘ longer yi t i f he hedn’

t

b ed so much turned up for feet ’—so Aunt

H i tty Tarbox said. (Aunt H i tty went fromhouse to house in E dgewood and PleasantRiver

,making over boys’ clothes and as her

tongue flew as fast as her needle,her sharp

speeches were always in circulation in both

vil lages.)Mr. S locum had sandy hair

,high cheek

bones,a pair of kindly l ight blue eyes

,and

a most unique nose ; I hardly know to what

order of architecture this belonged—perhaps

Old Colonial would describe it as wel l as

anything else. I t was a wide,

flat,wel l

ventilated,hospitable edifice

,so pecul iarly

TIMOTHY’S QUE ST 5:

constructed and appl ied that Samantha AnnRipley (of whom more anon) declared that‘ the reason Jabe S locum ketched cold so

easy was that,if he didn ’t hold his head

jess so,i t kep’

a-rain in’ in on him

H is mouth was s imply an enormous sl itin his face

,and served al l the purposes for

which a mouth is presumably intended,save

,

perhaps,the trivial one of decoration . In

short (a lud icrously inappropriate word for

the subject), i t was a capital medium for

exits and entrances,but no ornament to his

countenance. When Rhapsena Crabb, now

deceased,was first engaged to Jabez S locum ,

Aunt H itty Tarbox said it beat her ‘ how

Rhapseny ever got over Jabe’s mouth ;

though she could ’

a’ got intew i t easy ’nough

or raound i t,i f she took plenty 0

’ time.

But perhaps Rhapsena appreciated a mouth

( in a husband) that never was given to

jawin,and which uttered only kind words

during her brief span of married l ife. More

over,there was precious l i ttle leisure for

kissing at P leasant River.

As Jabe had passed the store,a few

minutes before,one of the boys had cal led

52 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STout

,facetiously

,Say shet yer mouth when

ye go by the deepot, Laigs the train’

s comin ’

in l But he only smiled placidly,though it

was an ancient joke,the flavour of which had

just fully penetrated the rustic skul l and

the vil lagers could not res ist titi l lating the

sense of humour with i t once or twice a

month . Neither d id Jabez mind being cal led‘Laigs,

’ the local pronunciation of the word

legs in fact,his good humour was too deep

to be rufiled. H i s c istern of wrathfulnesswas so smal l

,and the supply pipe so unready,

’

that i t was next to impossible to put him

out,so the natives said.

He was a man of tolerable education the

only son of his parents,who had endeavoured

to make great th ings of him,and might per

haps have succeeded,i f he hadn ’t always

had so l ittle t ime at h is d isposal—‘ hadn ’t

been so drove,

’ as he expressed it. He went

to the vi l lage school as regularly as he

could not help,that i s

,as many days as he

could not contrive to stay away,unti l he was

fourteen . From there he was sent to the

Academy,three mi les d istant but his mother

soon found that he couldn ’t make the two


trips a day and be ‘ under cover by candle

l ight ’ ; so the plan of a class ical education

was abandoned,and he was al lowed to speed

the home plough—a profess ion Which he pur

sued with such moderation that his father,

when starting him down a furrow in the

morn ing,used to hang his d inner-pai l on his

arm,and

,bidding him good-bye

,beg him

,

with tears in his eyes , to be back before

sundown.

At the present moment Jabe was enjoying

a cud of Old Virgin ia plug tobacco, and

taking in no more of the landscape than he

could avoid,when Maria

,having wound up

to the top of Marm Berry’s hi l l,in spite of

herselfwalked directly out on one s ide of the

road,and stopped short to make room for

the passage of an imposing procession,made

up of one clothes-basket on wheels,one baby

,

one strange boy,and one strange dog.

-Jabe,who loved chi ldren

,eyed the party

with some placid interest,but with no un

due excitement. Shifting his huge quid,

he inquired in his usual leisurely manner,

‘Which way yer goin ’,bub—t

’ the Swampor t ’ the Fal ls P’

TIMOTIIY ’S QUE ST

Timothy

sounded

thought neither

especial ly inviting,

but,rapidly choosing the lesser

evi l,repl ied

,

‘ To the Fal ls,

SII‘

Naom i ; so’

f gittin ’

over the road ’

s your

objeck ,

’

n’

y’ ain ’t

pertickler’baout the

gait ye travel , ye

can git in ’

n’ ride

a piece. We don ’t

b’

lieve in hurryin’

,

Mariar n me.

S low ’

n’ easy goes

‘ Thy way happens to be

my way,

’

s Rewth said to

Which wayyer goin’

, b ub

fur in a day,

’

s our motto. Can ye git your

folks aboard withaout sp illin’ any of

’em

No wonder he asked,for Gay was in such

a wild state of excitement that she could

hardly be held .

‘I can l ift Gay up , i f you

’

11 please take

her,si r

,

’ said Timothy ‘ and if you ’

re quite

sure the horse wi l l stand sti l l.’

‘ Bless your soul,she ’l l stan ’ al l right ;


56 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STwoods

,th inking what an Arabian Nights’

entertainment he would give the MinervaCourt dogs when he returned

,if return

he ever must to that miserable,squ irrelless

hole.

The meadows on the other side of the

river were gorgeous with yel low buttercups,

and here and there a patch of blue iris

or wi ld sage. The black cherry-trees were

masses of snowy bloom ; the water at the

river’s edge held spikes of blue arrowweed

in its crystal shal lows ; while the roadside

i tself was gay with daisies and feathery

grasses.

In the midst of th is lovel iness flowed

Pleasant River,

‘ Vexed i n all i ts seaward course by bridges, dams, and

m i l ls, ’but finding time, during the busy summer

months,to flush i ts ferti le banks with beauty.

Suddenly (a word that could seldom betruthful ly appl ied to the description of Jabe

S locum’s movement) the reins were ruth lessly

drawn from Lady Gay’s hands and wound

about the whipstock .

‘ Gorry ! ’ ejaculated Mr. S locum,

‘ef I


hain ’t left the widder Foss settin’ on Aunt

H itty’

s hoss-block,’

n’

I promised to pick her

up when I come along back ! That al l comes

0’ my drivin’ by the store so fast on account

0’ the boys hectorin ’ of me

,so ’

t when I got

to the turn I was so k ind of het up I jogged

right along the straight road . Haste makeswaste ’

s an awful good motto. P ile out,young ones ! I t ’s only half a mile from hereto the Fal ls

,

’

n’ you ’

11 have to get there on

Shank ’s mare,for certain

So saying, he dumped the astonished

children into the middle of the road,from

whence he had plucked them,turned the

doci le mare,and with a ‘ Git

,Mariar ! ’ went

four miles back to rel ieve Aunt H itty’

s horse

block from the weight of the widder Foss

(which was no jokeD.

This turn of affairs was most unexpected,

and Gay seemed on the point of tears but

Timothy gathered her a handful of wi ld

flowers,wiped the dust from her face

,put

on the clean blue gingham apron,and estab

lished her in the basket,where she soon

fel l asleep,wearied by the excitements of

58 T IMOTHY ’S QUESTTimothy’s heart began to be a l i ttle

troubled as he walked on and on through

the leafy woods,trundl ing the basket behind

him . Nothing had gone wrong ; indeed ,everything had been much easier than he

could have hoped. Perhaps i t was the weari

ness that had crept into his legs,and the

hol lowness that began to appear in h is

stomach ; but, somehow,although in the

morn ing he had expected to find Gay’s new

adopted mothers beckon ing from every win

dow,so that he could scarcely choose between

them,he now fel t as if the whole race of

mothers had suddenly become extinct.

Soon the vi l lage came in sight,nestled in

the laps of the green hi l ls on both sides of

the river Timothy trudged bravely on,

scann ing al l the dwell ings,but finding none

of them just the thing. At l ast he turned

del iberately off the main road,where the

houses seemed too near together and too

near the street for his taste,and trundled

his family down a shady sort of avenue,

over which the arching elms met and clasped

hands.

Rags had by this time lowered his tai l

T]M THY’S QUEST 59

to half-mast,and kept strictly to the beaten

path,notwithstanding manifold temptations

to forsake it. He passed two cats without

a single insulting remark,and his entire

demeanour was eloquent of nostalgia.‘Oh, dear sighed Timothy disconso

lately ;‘ there ’s something wrong with al l

the places. E ither there ’s no pigeon-house,

l ike in al l the pictures of the country,or no

flower garden,or no chickens

,or no lady

at the window,or else there ’s lots of baby

clothes hanging on the wash—l ines. I don ’t

bel ieve I shal l ever find

At this moment a large,comfortable white

house,that had been heretofore h idden by

great trees,came into view. Timothy drew

nearer to the spotless picket fence,and gazed

upon the beauties of the side yard and

the front garden—gazed and gazed,and fel l

desperately in love at first s ight.

The whole thing had been made as if

to order ; that is al l there is to say about

i t. There was an orchard,and

,oh

,ecstasy !

what hosts of green apples ' There was an

al luring grindstone under one tree,and a

bright blue chair and stool under another ;

60 TIMOTHY’S QUE STa thicket of currant and gooseberry bushes

,

and a flock of young turkeys ambl ing awk

wardly through the barn . Timothy stepped

gently along in the thick grass,past a pump

and a mossy trough,ti l l a s ide porch came

into view,with a woman s itting there sewing

bright-coloured rags. A row of shin ing tin

pans caught the sun ’s rays,and threw them

back in a thousand gl ittering prisms of

l ight ; the grasshoppers and crickets chirped

sleepily in the warm grass,and a score of

tiny yel low b utterfl ies hovered over a group

of odorous hol lyhocks.

Suddenly the person on the porch brokeinto a cheerful song

,pitched in so high a

key and given with such emphasis that the

crickets and grasshoppers retired by mutual

consent from any further competition,and the

b utterflies suspended operations for several

seconds

I ’ll chase the antelope over the plain ,The tiger’s cub I ’ll bind wi th a chain ,And the wi ld gaz el l e wi th the silv’

ryfeet ,I ’ll bring to thee for a playmate sweet. ’

Timothy l istened intently for some mo

ments,not understanding the words

,unless

T IMOTHY ’S QUEST 6 1

the lady happened to be in the menagerie

business,which he thought unl ikely

,but de

l ightful should i t prove true.

H is eye then fel l on a l i ttle marble slabunder a tree in a shady corner of the

orchard.

‘ That must be a country doorplate,

’ he

thought ;‘ yes

,i t ’s got the lady’s name

,

That must be a country doorp late.

’

Martha Cummins , printed on it. Now I ’l l

know what to cal l her.’

He crept softly on to the front s ide of the

house. There were flower beds, a lovable

white cat snooz ing on the doorsteps, and a

lady sitting at the open window knitting

in al l probabil ity Gay’s adopted mother.

62 T IMOTHY’S QUESTAt this vis ion Timothy’s heart beat so hard

against his jacket that he could only stagger

back to the basket,where Rags and Lady

Gay were snuggled together fast asleep. He

anxiously scanned Gay’s face moistened his

rag of a handkerchief at the only available

source of supply scrubbed an atrocious d irt

spot from the tip of her spirited nose ; and

then,dragging the basket along the path

leading to the front gate,he opened it and

went in,mounted the steps

,pl ied the brass

knocker,and waited in chi ld l ike faith for a

summons to enter in and make himself at

home.


EANWHILE ,Miss Avilda

Cummins had left her

window and gone into

the next room for a skein

of yarn. She answered the knock,

however ; and , opening the door,stood rooted to the threshold in

speechless aston ishment,very much as if

she had l seen the shades of her ancestors

drawn up in l ine in the dooryard.

Offwent Timothy’s hat. He had not seen

the lady’s face very clearly when she was

kn itting at the window,or he would never

have dared to knock but it was too late to

retreat. Looking straight into her cold eyes

with his own shin ing grey ones,he said

bravely,but with a trembl ing voice

,Please

—do you need any babies here, if you

please ? ’

(Need any babies ! What an inappropriate

,nonsensical express ion to be

sure as if a baby in a house were something

E

66 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTex qu isitely indispensab le , l ike the breath of

l ife,for instance

No answer. Miss Vi lda was trying to

assume command of her scattered faculties

and find some clue to the situation. Tim

othy concluded that she was not, after al l ,the lady of the house and

,remembering

the marble doorplate in the orchard,tried

again.

‘ Does Miss Martha Cummins l ive

here,ifyou please ? ’

(0 Timothy ! what in

duced you,in th is crucial moment of your

l ife,to touch upon that sorest spot in Miss

Vilda’s memory P)What do you want P she fal tered.

‘I want to get somebody to adopt my

baby,

’ he said ;‘ if you haven’t got any of

your own,you couldn ’t fi nd one half as dear

and as pretty as she is,and she doe sn ’t

freckle so much in the winter time. Youneedn’t have me

,too

,you know

,un less you

need me to help take care ofher.’

You ’

re very kind,

’ Miss Av ilda answered

sarcastical ly,preparing to shut the door upon

the strange chi ld ;‘ but I don ’t think I care

to adopt any babies this afternoon,thank

you . You ’

d better run right back home to


your mother,i f you ’

ve got one, and know

where ’

t i s,anyhow.

’

But I cried poor Timothy,with a sudden and unpremeditated burst oftears at the fai lure of his hopes

,for he was

half child as wel l as half hero. At this j unc

ture Gay opened her eyes and burst into a

wild howl at the unwonted sight of Tim

othy’

s grief while Rags,who was ful l of ex

qu isite sensibi l ity, and quite ready to weep

with those who did weep,l ifted up his woolly

head and added his piteous wai ls to the con

cert. I t was a tableau w'

vafl t.

‘ Samanthy Ann !’ cal led Miss Vilda ex

citedly‘

Samanthy Ann ! Come right in

here and tel l me what to do

The person thus adjured flew in from the

porch,leaving a serpentine trai l of red

,

yel low,and blue rags in her wake. Land

0’ l iberty ! ’ she exclaimed

,as she surveyed

the group.

‘Where ’d they come from,and

what air they tryin’ to act out ? ’

‘ This boy ’s a baby agent,as near as I

can make out he wants I should adopt thisred-headed baby, but says I ain’t obl iged totake him too, and makes out they haven

’t

68 T IMOTHY’S QUE STgot any home. I told him I wan ’t adop tin

’

any babies just now,and at that he burst

out cryin’

,and the other two fol lowed suit.

Now,have the three of ’em j ust escaped

from some asylum , or are they too l ittle to

be lunatics PT imothy dried his tears in order that Gay

should be comforted and appear at herbest

,and said pen itently : ‘ I cried before I

thought,because Gay hasn’t had anything

but cookies to eat s ince last n ight,and

she ’l l have no place to sleep unless you ’

ll

let us stay here just ti l l morning. We

went by al l the other houses,and chose

this one because everyth ing was just what

we wanted.

’

Noth in’ but cook ies sence—Land o’ l ib

ertyl’ ejaculated Samantha Ann

,starting

for the k itchen .

Come back here, Samanthy Don ’t you

leave me alone with ’em,and don’t let ’s have

al l the neighbours runn in’

in. Take ’em into

the k itchen and give ’em somethin’ to eat

,

and we ’

11 see about the rest afterwards.’

Gay k indled at the fi rst casual mention of

food, andtrying to clambe r out of the basket,

T IMOTHY ’S QUEST 69

fel l over the edge,thumping her head smartly

on the stone steps. Miss Vilda covered her

face with her hands,and waited shudder

ingly for another yel l, as the chi ld’s carna

tion stockings and terra-cotta head mingled

wildly in the air. But Lady Gay disen

tangled herself,and laughed the merriest

burst of laughter that ever woke the echoes.

That was a j oke ; her l ife was ful l of them ,

served fresh every day,for no sort of ad

vers ity could long have power over such

a nature as hers. ‘ Come get supper,’ she

cooed,putting her hand

in Samantha’s ; addingthat the ‘ nasty lady

needn’t come,a re

mark that happily es

caped detection,as i t

was rendered in very

u n i n t e l l i g i b l e ‘ e a r l y

E ngl ish.

’

Miss Avi lda tottered

into the darkened s it

ting-room,and sank on

to a black-hair-cloth sofa,while Samantha

ushered the wanderers into the sunny kitchen ,

In the Kitchen.

70 T IMOTHY’S QUE STmuttering to herself ‘Wall

,I vow ! travelin

over the country all alone,

’

n’ not knee-high

to a toad They ’

re sendin ’ out awful young

tramps th is season,but they shan’t go away

from thi s house hungry,not if I know it.’

Accord ingly she set out a plenti ful sup

ply of bread and butter,gingerbread

,pie

,

and milk , put a tin plate of cold hash in the

shed for Rags, sweeping him out to it witha corn broom

,violently

,as is the manner

in that section,and

,tel l ing the children

comfortably to cram their ‘everlastin

’ l i ttle

bread-baskets ful l ,’ returned to the s ittingroom.

‘ Now,whatever makes you so pan icky

,

Vi ldy? Didn ’t you never see a tramp before,

for pity’s sake ? And if you ’

re scar ’t for

fear I can ’t handle ’em alone,why, Jabe

’

ll

be comin’ along soon. The prospeck of git

tin’ to bed ’

s the only thing that ’

11make him’

n’ Maria hurry ;

’

n’ they ’

11 both be cal’

latin’

on that by this time‘

Samanthy Arm,the first question that

that boy asked me was,i f Miss Martha

Cummins l ived here. Now,what do you

make of that ? ’


72 TIMOTHY’S QUE STme ; now, don

’t go s’

posin’ any more things.

You ’

te makin ’ out one o’ them yellow

covered books,sech as the summer boarders

bring out here to read always chock ful l of

doin’

s that never would come to pass inthis or any other Christian country. Youjest lay down and snuff your camphire

,an

’

I ’l l go out an’ pump that boy drier ’

n a

sand-heap ! ’

Now Miss Avi lda Cummins was unmarried

by every impl ication of her being,as Henry

James would say : but Samantha Ann Ripley was a spinster purely by accident. Shehad seldom been exposed to the witcheries

of chi ldren,or she would have known long

before this that,so far as she was personal ly

concerned,they would always prove irre

sistib le . She marched into the kitchen l ikea general resolved upon the extinction of the

enemy. She walked out again,half an hour

later,with the very teeth of her resolve

drawn,but so painlessly that she had not

been aware of the operation ! She marchedin a woman of single purpose she came out

a doubl e-faced diplomatist, with the seeds of


sedition and conspiracy lurk ing,al l unsus

pected, in her heart.

The cause ? Nothing more than a dozen

trifles l ight as air.

Timothy had sat

upon a l ittle wood

en stoo l at her feet

had rested his arms

on her knees and

looked up into her

k ind,rosy face with

a pair of l iquid

eyes l ike grey-blue

lakes,eyes which

seemed and were

the very windows

of his soul. He had sat there tel l ing his

wee bit of a story ; j ust a vague, shadowy,plaintive

,uncomplain ing scrap of a story

,

without beginn ing,plot

,or ending

,but every

word in it set Samantha Ann Ripley’s heart

throbbing.

Gay,who knew a good thing when she saw

it,had cl imbed up into her capacious lap

,

and,not being den ied

,had cuddled her head

into that ‘ gracious hol low ’ in Samantha’s

Tunothy te l l ing his Story.

74 T IMOTHY’S QUE STshoulder that had somehow missed the pres

sure of the chi ldish heads that should have

lain there. Then Samantha’s arm had finallycrept round the wheedlesome bit of soft

humanity,and before she knew it the old

flag-bottomed chair was swaying gently to

and fro,to and fro

,to and fro ; and the

wooden rockers creaked more sweetly than

ever they had creaked before,for they were

singing their first cradle-song

Then Gay heaved a great s igh of unspeak

able satisfaction,and closed her lovely eyes .

She had been born with a desire to becuddled

,and had had precious l i ttle e x peri

ence of i t. A t the sound of this happy sigh

and the sight of the chi ld’s flower face,with

the upward curl ing lashes on the pink cheeks,

the oval snow-drift of the chin,the moist

tendri l s of hair on the white forehead,and the

helpless,unaccustomed

,cl inging touch of the

baby arm about her neck,I cannot tel l you

the why or wherefore,but old memories and

new desires began to stir in SamanthyAnn

Ripley’s heart. In short,she had met the

enemy,and she was theirs

Presently Gay was laid upon the old


fashioned settle,and Samantha stationed her

self where she could keep the fl ies off her

by waving a palm- leaf fan.

Now,there ’s one thing more I want you

to tel l me,

’ said she,after she had possessed

herselfof Timothy’s unhappy past,uncertain

present,and stil l more dubious future ;

‘ and

that is,what made you ask for Miss Marthy

Cummins when you come to the door ?‘Why

,I thought it was the lady-of-the

house’s name,

’ said Timothy ;‘ I saw it on

her doorplate.’

‘ But we ain ’t got any doorplate,to begin

with.

’

‘ Not a si lver one on your door,l ike they

have in the c ity ; but isn’t that white

marble piece in the yard a doorplate ? I t ’sgot Martha Cummins, aged on it. Ithought may be in the country they had

them in their gardens ; only I thought i twas queer they put their ages on them

,

because they ’

d have to be scratched out

every l ittle whi le,wouldn ’t they ? ’

‘ My grief!’ ejaculated Samantha : ‘ for

pity’

s sake, don’t you know a tomb stun

when you see i t P’

76 T IMOTHY s QUE ST‘What is a tomb stun ?‘ Land sakes ! what do you know

,any

way ? Didn’t you never see a graveyard

where folks is buried P'

I never went to the graveyard,but I

know where i t is,and I know about people’s

being buried . Flossy is going to be buried.

So the white stone shows the places where

the people are put,and tel ls their names

,

does it ? Why, i t i s a kind of a doorplate,after a l l, don’t you see P—Who is MarthaCummins

,aged I 7 P

She was Miss V i ldys sister that went to

the ci ty, and then come home and died here,long years ago. Miss Vi ldy set great store

by her,and can’t bear to have her name

spoke ; so remember what I say.—Now

,this

Flossy “ you tel l me about (of all the fool

names I ever hearn tel l of,that beats al l

sounds l ike a wax doll,with her clo’es sewed

on l), was she a young woman P‘ I don ’t know whether she was young ornot

,

’ said T im,in a puzzled tone. She had

young yel low hair,and very young shiny

teeth,white as china ; but her neck was

crackled underneath,l ike Miss Vilda’s. I t

had no kissing-places in it l ike Gay’s i


Well,you stay here in the kitchen a spell

now,

’

n’ don’t let in that rag-dog o

’ yourn

ti l l he stops scratchin’

,i f he keeps i t up ti l l

the crack 0’ doom —he ’

s got to be learned

better manners. Now,I ’l l go in

’

n’ talk to

Miss Vildy. She may keep you over n ight’

n’ she may not ; I ain ’t noways sure. Youstarted in wrong foot foremost.’


AMANTHA went intothe sitting-room and told

the whole story to Miss Avil

da ; told i t simply and plainly,for she was not given to ara

b esques in language, and then waited

for a response.

Well , what do you advise doin’

P

asked Miss Cummins nervously.

‘ I don ’t feel comp’tent to advise,

Vi lda ; the house ain’t mine

,nor yet the

beds that ’

s in it,nor the victuals in the

butt’ry ; but as a professin’

Christian and

member of the Orthodox Church in good

and reg’lar standin’,you can ’t turn them

children ou’

doors when i t ’

s comin’ on dark

and they ain ’t got no place to sleep.

’

‘ Plenty of good Orthodox folks turned

their backs on Martha when she was in

trouble.’

82 T IMOTHY’S QUE ST‘There may be Orthodox hogs

,for al l I

know,

’ repl ied the blunt Samantha,who fre

quently cal led spades shovels in her search

after absolute truth of statement,

‘ but that

ain’t no reason why we should copy after’em ’

5 I know of.’

‘ I don ’t propose to take in two strangechildren and saddle mysel f with ’em for days

,

or weeks,perhaps

,

’ said Miss Cummins

coldly,

‘ but I tel l you what I wil l do. Supposing we send the boy over to SquireBean ’s. I t ’

s near hayin ’ time,and he may

take him in to help round and do chores .

Then we ’

11 tel l h im b efore he goes that

we ’

11 keep the baby as long as he gets a

chance to work anywheres near. That wil l

give us time to look round for some place

for ’em and find out whether they ’

ve told

us the truth .

’

And i f Squire Bean won ’t take the

boy P asked Samantha,with as much in

difference as she could assume.

Well,I suppose there ’

s nothing for i t

but he must come back here and sleep. I ’

11

go out and tel l him so,—Ideclare I feel as

weak as if I ’

d had a spel l of s ickness


Timothy bore the news better than Sa

mantha had feared. Squire Bean’s farm didnot look so very far away his heart was at

rest about Gay he fel t that he could hnd a

shel ter for himself somewhere,and anything

was better than a home W i th a capital H .

Now,how ’

11the baby act when she wakes

up and finds you ’

re gone P’ inquired Miss

Vilda anxiously,as Timothy took his hat

and bent down to kiss the sleeping chi ld.

Well,I don’t know exactly

,

’ answered

Timothy,because she ’s always had me

,

you see. But I think she ’

ll be al l right,

now that she knows you a l ittle,i f I can see

her every day. She never cries except oncein a long while when she gets mad ; and if

you ’

re careful how you behave,she ’

11hardly

ever get mad at you .

’

Wel l I vow exclaimed Miss Vilda with

a grim glance at Samantha, ‘ I guess she ’l l

have to do the

So Timothy was shown the way across the

fields to Squire Bean ’s. Samantha accom

pan ied him to the back gate, where she gave

him three doughnuts and a sneaking kiss,

watching him out of sight under the pretence

84 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STof tak ing the towel s and napkins off the

grass.

I t was nearly n ine o’clock and qu ite darkwhen Timothy stole again to the l i ttle gateof the White Farm . The feet that hadtravel led so courageously over the mile walk

to Squire Bean’s had come back again slowlyand weari ly ; for i t i s one thing to be shod

with the sandal s of

hope,and quite an

other to tread upon the

leaden soles of d isappointment.

He leaned upon the

white picket gate l is

tening to the chirp of

the frogs and looking

at the fireflies as they

hung their gleaming

lamps here and there in the tal l grass. Then

he crept round to the side door,to implore

the k ind offi ces of the,mediator before he

entered the presence of the judge,whom he

assumed‘

to be sitting in awful state some

where in the front part of the house. He

T imothygoes to Squire Bean's.


l ifted the latch noiselessly and entered . Oh,

horror ! Miss Avi lda herself was spr inkl ing

clothes at the great table on one side of the

room.

There was a moment of si lence.

He wouldn’t have me,

’ said Timothy

simply,

‘ he said I wasn ’t big enough to be

any good. I offered him Gay, too, but hedidn’t want her either

,and if you please

,I

would rather sleep on the sofa so as not to

be any more trouble.’

You won ’t do any such thing,

’

responded

Miss Vilda briskly.

‘ You ’ve got a royal

welcome this time,sure

,and I guess you can

earn your lodging fast enough. You hearthat P’ and she opened the door that led into

the upper part of the house.

A piercing shriek floated down into the

kitchen,and another on the heels of that,

and then another. E very drop of blood in

Timothy’s spare body rushed to his pale face.

I s she being whipped P ’ he whispered , with

set l ips.‘ No ; she needs it bad enough , but we

ain’t savages. She ’s only got the pretty

temper that matches her hair,just as you

86 T IMOTHY ’S QUESTsaid. I guess we haven ’t been behavin’ to

su i t her.’

‘ Can I go up ? She ’l l stop in a minute

when she sees me. She never went to bedwithout me before

,and truly

,truly

,she isn ’t

a cross baby

Come right along and welcome ; j ust so

long as she has to stay you ’

re invited to

visi t with her. Land sakes the neighbours

wi l l think we ’re k i l l in ’ pigs ! ’ and Miss

Vilda started upstairs to show Timothy the

way.

Gay was si tting up in bed,and the faithful

Samantha Ann was seated beside her witha lapful of bribes—apples

,seed-cakes

,an

i l lustrated B ible,a thermometer

,an ear of

red corn,and a large stuffed green bird

,the

glory of the keeping room mantelpiece.

The bribes were al l useless. A whole

aviary of h ighly coloured songsters would not

have assuaged Gay’s woe at that moment.

E very effort at conci l iation was met with

the one plaint : ‘ I want my T im fy ! I wantmy T imfyA t the first sight of the beloved form

,Gay

flung the sacred bird into the furthest corner


88 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STI ’

d rather have some other stint.’

To be sure i retorted Samantha vigorously. I never see anybody yet that d idn ’twant to pick out her own stin t ; but mebbe

if we got just the one we wanted i t wouldn ’t

be no stint —Land 0’ l ibe rty

,what ’s that

There was a crash of fal l ing tin pans,

and Samantha flew to investigate the cause.

About ten minutes later she returned,more

heated than ever,and threw herself for the

second time into the high-backed rocker.

That dog ’s been givin me a chase,I can

tel l you He clawed and scratched so in the

shed that I put him in the wood-house thenhe went and cl im’ up on that carpenter’s

bench,and pitched out that l ittle winder at

the top,and fel l on to the mi lk-pan shel f and

scattered every last one of ’em,and then

upsot al l my cans of termatter plan ts. But

I couldn ’t find him,high nor low. All at

once I see by the dirt on the floor that he ’

d

squirmed himsel f through the skeeter-nettin ’

door int’ the house,and then I surmised

where he was. Sure enough,I crep

’

up

stairs and there he was,layin’ between the

two children as snug as you please. He was


snorin’ l ike a pirate when I found him, but

when I stood over the bed with a candle Icould see ’

t his wicked l ittle eyes was wide

open,and he was jest makin’ b ’

lieve sleep in

hopes I ’

d leave him where he was . Well, Iyanked him out qu icker

’

n scat, n locked

him in the old chicken-house,so I guess

he ’

11stay out,now. For folks that claim to

be no i b lood relation,I declare him ’

n’ the

boy ’

n’ the baby beats anything I ever come

across for bein’ fond of one ’nother

There were dreams at the White Farm

that n ight. Timothy went to sleep with a

prayer on his l ips a prayer that God would

excuse him for speaking of Martha’s door

plate,and a most imploring postscript to

the effect that God would please make MissVilda into a mother for Gay thinking as he

floated off into the land of Nod,

‘ I t ’l l beawful hard work

,but I don ’t suppose He

cares how hard ’

t i s

Lady Gay dreamed of driving beautiful

white horses beside sparkl ing waters

and through flowery meadows. And

great green birds perched in al l the trees

and flew towards her as i f to peck the

90 TIMOTHY’S QUE STcherries ofher l ips but when sh e tried to

beat them off they al l turned into Timothys,

and she hugged them close to her heart.

Rags’ visions were gloomy,for he knew

not whether the Lady with the Firm Handwould free him from his prison in the mom

ing,or whether he was there for al l t ime.

But there were intervals of bl iss when

his fancies took a brighter turn when

Hope smiled and he bit the white cat’s

tai l and chased

the infant turkeys

and found

sweet,ju icy

,del i

cious bones in un

expected places

and even in

haled,i n exquis ite

antic ipation,the

RagS'

Dm m ' fragrance of one

particularly succulent bone that he had

hidden under Miss Vi lda’s bed.

S leep carried Samantha so many yearsback into the past that she heard the bl i the

d in of carpenters hammering and sawing on

a l ittle house that was to be hers,his

,t/zez

'

rs.


92 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STwhen she reached their summits

,and always

enacting the same scene. At last she

cried in despair,

‘ Ask me no more,for I

have not strength enough even for my own

needs " And the child said,

‘ I wil lhelp you ’ and straightway crept into her

arms and nestled there as one who would notbe denied and she took up her burden

and walked . And as she cl imbed,the

weight grew l ighter and l ighter,ti l l at length

the cl inging arms seemed to give her peace

and strengt h and when she neared the

crest of the highest mountain she fel t new

l ife throbbing in her veins and new hopes

stirring in her heart,and she remembered

no more the pain and weariness of her jour

ney. And suddenly an angel appeared

to her and tracing the letters of a word upon

her forehead,took the child from her arms

and disappeared. And the angel had the

lovely smile and sad eyes of her dead s ister,

Martha and the word she traced on Miss

Vilda’s forehead was Inasmuch l

SCE NE VII

THE OLD HOMESTEAD

M i stress and Maid fi nd to thei r Amaz ement tlzat

a Chi ld, more t/zan all other Gifi s

, bri ngsHopewi ll; i t

,am lforward loo/az

'

flg Tlzoug/zts


96 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTstate of dazzl ing puri ty ;

‘as if,

’ the neighbours

declared, S

’

manthy Ann Ripley went over’em every morn ing with a dust-cloth.

’

I t was merely an accident that the car

riage and work horses chanced to be white,and that the original white cats of the family

kept on having white kittens to decorate the

front doorsteps. I t was not acc ident,how

ever,but design

,that caused Jabe S locum

to scour the country for a good white cow

and persuade Miss Cummins to swap of? the

old red one,so that the ‘ cri tters ’ in the

barn‘

should match the rest of the establ ishment.

Miss Avi lda had been born at the White

Farm her father and mother had been taken

from there to the old country churchyard,

and Martha,aged poor

,pretty

,wilful

Martha,the greatest pride and greatest

sorrow of the family, was lying under the

apple—trees in the garden .

Here also the l ittle Samantha Ann Ripleyhad come as a child years ago

,to be play

mate,nurse

,and companion to Martha

,and

here she had stayed ever since, as friend ,adviser

,and ‘ company-keeper to the lonely


Miss Cummins. Nobody in Pleasant River

would have dared to - think of her as any

body’s ‘ hired help,

’ though she did receive

bed and board,and a certain sum yearly for

her services ; for she l ived with Miss Cum

mins on equal terms,as was the custom in

the good old New E ngland vil lages, doing

the l ion ’s share of the work,and marking

her sense of the situation by washing the

dishes while Miss Avi lda wiped them,and

by never suffering her to feed the pig or go

down cel lar.

Theirs had been a dul l sort of l ife,in

which l ittle had happened to make them

grow into sympathy with the outside world.

Al l the sweetness of Miss Avilda’

s nature

had turned to bitterness and gal l after

Martha’s disgrace,sad home-coming

,and

death. There had been much to forgive, and

she had not had the grace nor the strength to

forgive i t unti l i t was too late. The mystery

o i‘ death had unsealed her eyes

,and there

had been a moment when the sad and bitter

woman might have been drawn closer to the

great Father-heart,there to feel the throb of

a Divine compassion that would have sweet

G

98 T IMOTHY’S QUESTened the trial and made the burden l ighter.

The minister of the parish proved a sorry

comforter and adviser in these hours of trial .

The Reverend Joshua Beckwith,whose view

of God ’s un iverse was about as broad as i f

he had l ived on the ins ide of his own pork

barrel,had cheri shed certain strong and un

relenting opin ions concern ing Martha’s final

destination which were not shared by Miss

Cummins. There was a long and heated

argument in the parlour,in the course of

which the Family B ible,the Concordance,

and Barnes’s Notes were l iberal ly drawn

upon by the parson . A t i ts close M iss

Avilda announced her intention of having

nothing more to do with church members.

Martha, therefore, was not laid with the

elect,but was put to rest in the orchard

,

under the kindly,untheological shade of the

apple- trees,that scattered their tinted blos

soms over her l i ttle white headstone,shed

their fragrance about her quiet grave, and

dropped their ruddy fruit in the h igh grass

that covered it,j ust as tenderly and respect

ful ly as i f they had been regulation wil lows.

The Reverend Joshua thus succeeded in dry ~


100 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STThere had always been a family feud

between the Ripleys and the Mil l ikens ; so

when the young people took i t into their

heads to fal l in love with each other in spite

of precedent and prejud ice,they found that

the course of true love ran in anything but

a true channel . I t was,in fact

,a sort of

vil lage Montague and Capulet affair ; but

David and Samantha were no Romeo andJul iet. The cl imate and general conditions

of l ife at Pleasant River were not favourable

to the development of such exotics. The old

people interposed barriers between the young

ones as long as they l ived ; and when they

died,Dave Mil l iken ’s spiri t was broken

,and

he began to annoy the val iant Samantha bywhat she cal led his ‘

meechin” ways. In

one of h is moments of weakness he took a

widowed sister to l ive with h im,a certain

Mrs. Pettigrove, of E dgewood , who inherited

the Mil l iken objection to Ripleys,and who

widened the breach and brought Samantha tothe po int of final and decisive rupture. The

l as t straw was the statement,sown broadcast

by Mrs. Pettigrove,‘ that Samanthy Ann

Ripley’s father never would ’

a’ died if he ’

d


ever had any doctorin’ but ’t was the gospel

truth that they never had nobody to ’tend him

but a hom ’

pathyman from Scratch Corner,who

,of course

,bein’ a hom ’

path, didn’t know

no more about doctorin ’ ’

n Cooper’s cow.

’

Samantha told David after this she didn ’t

want to hear him open his mouth again,

nor none of his folks she was through with3the whole lot of

’em forever and ever,

11

she wished to the Lord she ’d had sense

enough to put her foot down fifteen years

ago,

’

n’ she hoped he ’

d enjoy bein ’ trod

underfoot for the rest of his natural l ife,

’

n’

she wouldn’t speak to him again i f she met

him in her porridge dish.

’ She then slammedthe door and went upstairs to cry as i f she

were sixteen,as she watched him out of

sight. Poor Dave Mil l iken ! j ust sweet and

earnest and strong enough to suffer at being

worsted by circumstances,but never quite

strong enough to conquer them .

I t was to this household that Timothy hadbrought his child for adeption.

When Miss Avilda opened her eyes the

morning after the arrival of the children,

102 T IMOTHY ’S QUESTshe tried to remember whether anything had

happened to give her such a strange feel ing

of altered conditions . I t was Saturday,bak

ing day— that couldn ’t be i t— and she gazed

at the l i ttle dimity-curtained window and at

the picture of the Death-bed of Calvin,and

wondered what was the matter.

Just then a chi ld ’s laugh,bright

,merry

,

tuneful,infectious

,rang out from some dis

tant room,and it al l came back to her

as Samantha Ann Opened the door and

peered in .

‘ I ’

ve got breakfast ’bout ready,

’ she said

but I wish,soon ’

s you ’

re dressed,you ’

d step

down ’

n’ see to i t

,

’

n’ let me wash the baby. I

guess water was skerse where she come from

They ’

re awake,are they P

Awake ? Land 0 ’ l iberty ! As soon as ’

t

was l ight,and before the boy had opened

his eyes,Gay was up ’

n’

poundin’ on al l the

doors,

’

n’

hollerin’

S’

manfy (beats al l how

she got bol t 0 ’ my name so quick l), so’

t I

thought sure she’d disturb your sleep. See

here,V ildy, we want those chi ldren should

look respectable the few days they ’

re here.

I don ’t see how we can rig out the boy, but


104 T IMOTHY ’S QUESTand slatting tin pails about furiously to keep

up an ostentatious show of i l l-humour Shetried her best to grunt with displeasure when

Gay,seated in a wash-tub

,crowed and beat

the water with her dimpled hands,so that i t

spl ashed al l over the carpet but al l the time

there was such a joy tugging at her heart

strings as they had not fel t for years.When the bath was over

,clean petticoats

and ankle-ties were chosen out of the old

leather trunk,and finally a l i ttle blue-and

white lawn dress. I t was too long in thesk irt

,and pending the moment when Saman

tha should ‘ take a tack in it,

’ i t antic ipated

the present fashion,and made Lady Gay

look more l ike a disguised princess than ever.

The gown was low-necked and short-sleeved,

in the old style,and Samantha was in de

spair ti l l she found some l ittle embroidered

musl in capes and ful l undersleeves,with

which she covered Gay’s pink neck and arms.

These things of beauty so wrought upon the

chi ld ’s excitable nature that she could hardly

keep sti l l long enough to have her hair

curled ; and Samantha, as the shin ing ringsdropped off her horny forefinger, was wrest

T IMOTHY ’S QUE ST 16 5

l ing with the E vi l One in the shape of a l ittle

box of jewel lery that she had found with the

clothing. She knew that the wish was avicious one

,and that such geegaws were out

of place on a l i ttle pauper j ust taken in forthe night ; but her fingers trembled with

desire to fasten the

l ittle gold ears of

corn on the shoul

ders,or tie the strings

of coral beads around

the chi ld ’s pretty

throat.

When the toi let

was completed,and

Samantha was emptying the tub

,Gay

cl imbed on the bureau and imprinted sloppy

kisses of s incere admiration on the radiant

reflect ion of herself in the l ittle looking

glass ; then , getting down again , she seized

her heap of Minerva Court clothes before

the astonished Samantha could interpose,

and flung them out of the second-story

window,where they fel l on the top of the

l ilac bushes.

Gay’s toilet.

166 TIMOTHY ’S QUEST‘ Me doesn ’t l ike nasty old dress

,

’ she

explained,with a dazzl ing smile that was a

justification in i tself‘ me l ikes pretty new

dress ! ’ and then,with one hand reaching

up to the door-knob and the other throwing

disarming‘

kisses to Samantha,—‘By

-by'

Lady Gay go circus now ! S’

manfy come

take Lady Gay to circus

There was no time for d iscipl ine then,and

she was borne to the breakfast-table,where

Timothy was already making acquaintancewith Miss Vilda.

Samantha entered,and Vilda

,glancing at

her nervously,perceived with rel ief that she

was ‘ tak ing things easy.

’ Ah ! but i t was

lucky for poor David Mil l iken that he could

not see her at that moment. Her wholeface had relaxed her mouth was no longer

a thin,hard l ine

,but had a certain curve and

fulness,borrowed perhaps from the warmth

of innocent baby kisses. Embarrassment

and stifled j oy had brought a rosier colour to

her cheek ; Gay’s vandal hand had ruffled

the smoothness of her sandy locks,so that a

few stray hairs were absolutely curl ing with

amazement that they had escaped from their


108 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTi n which she looked so bewitching

,even with

a milky crescent over her red mouth,that she

would have melted the heart of the most pre

destinate old misogynist in Christendom.

Timothy was not so entirely at h is ease.

H is eyes had looked into l ife only a fewmore summers

,but their ‘ radiant morning

visions ’ had been dispel led ; experience had

tempered joy. Gay, however, had not arrived

at an age where people’s motives can besuspected for an instant. I f there had beenany possible plummet with which to sound

the depths of her unconscious philosophy,

she apparently looked upon hersel f as a

guest out of heaven,

flung down upon this

hospitable planet with the s ingle responsi

b ilityof enjoying its treasures.

0 happy heart of childhood ! Your simplecreed is rich in faith

,and trust

,and hope.

You have not learned that the children ofa common Father can do aught but loveand help each other.

SCE NE V I I I

THE OLD GARDE N

jabe and Samantlza ex cfiange and tile

Former says a Good Word for 1116 Li ttle

Wanderers


112 T IMOTHY’S QUE STseed just as they l iked

,these being the only

duties required of them . Two splendid

groups of fringed ‘ pin ies,

’ the pride of Miss

Av ilda’

s heart,grew just inside the gate,

and hard by the handsomest dahl ias in the

vil lage,quil led beauties l ike carved rosettes

of gold and coral and ivory. There was

plenty of feathery ‘ sparrowgrass,

’ so handy

to fill the black and yawning chasms of

summer fireplaces and furn ish green for‘ bouquets.’ There was a stray peach or

greengage tree here and there ; and if a plain ,wel l-meaning carrot chanced to l ift i ts leaves

among the poppies,why

,they were al l the

chi ldren of the same mother,and Miss Vilda

was not the woman to root out the invader

and fl ing i t into the ditch. There was a bed

of yel low tomatoes,where

,in the season

,a

hundred tiny golden bal l s hung among the

green leaves and just beside them,in friendly

equal ity,a tangle of pink sweet-will iams

,

fragrant phlox,del icate bride ’s-tears

, Canter

bury bel ls blue as the June sky,none

so-pretties,gay cockscombs

,and flaunting

marigolds,which would insist on coming up

al l together,summer after summer

,regardless


of colour harmonies. Last, but not least,there was a patch of sweet peas

,

‘ou t iptoe for a flight,

Wi th wings ofgen tle flush o’

er del icate white.These dispensed their sweet odours so gener

ously that it was a favourite d iversion among

the vil lage chi ldren to stand in rows outside

the fence,and

,elevating their bucol ic noses

simultaneously ‘ sniff Miss Cummins’ peas.

The garden was large enough to have l ittle

hi l ls and dales of its own,and its banks

510ped gently down to the river. There was

a gnarled apple-tree hidden by a luxuriant

wi ld grapevine,a fit bower for a lov

’

d Cel ia ’

or a ‘ fair Rosamond.

’ There was a spring,

whose crystal waters were ‘ cabined,cribbed

,

confined,

’ within a barrel sunk in the earth

a brook singing its way among the alder

bushes and dripping here and there into

pools,over which the blue harebel ls leaned

to see themselves. There was also a summer

house on the brink of the hil l a weather

stained affair,with a hundred names carved

on its venerable lattices—names of youthsand maidens who had stood there in the

moonl ight and pl ighted rustic vows .

H

114 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STI f you care to feel a warm glow in the

region of your heart,imagine l i ttle Timothy

Jessup sent to play in that garden—sent to

play for almost the first time in h is l ife !

Imagine it,I ask

,for there are some things

too sweet to prick with a pen-point. The

boy stayed there fifteen minutes,and runn ing

back to the house in a state of intoxicated

del ight went up to Samantha,and laying an

insistent hand on hers,said excited ly

,

‘ Oh,

Samanthy, you didn’t tel l me—there is

shining water down in the garden ; not so

big as the ocean,nor so sti l l as the harbour

,

but a kind of baby river running along by

itself with the sweetest noise. Please,Miss

Vi lda,may I take Gay to see it

,and wil l i t

hurt i t i f I wash Rags in i t ?”‘ Let ’em al l go,

’ suggested Samantha ;‘ there ’s Jabe dawdlin’ along the road

,and

they might as wellb e out from under foot.’

‘ Don ’t be too hard on Jabe this morning,

Samanthy,—he ’s been to see the Baptist

min ister at E dgewood you know he ’

s going

to be baptized some time next month .

’

‘Well,he needs it i But

,land sakes ! you

couldn ’t make them S locums pious ’

f you


1 16 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STwas inside

,

’

n’ say

,

“ Wall,better luck next

time : slow an’ sure ’s my motto ! ”—Good

mornin’

,Jabe had your d inner ?

‘ I ain ’t even hed my breakfast,

’ responded

Mr. S locum easi ly.

Blessed are the lazy folks,for they always

git their chores done for’em

,

’ remarkedSamantha scathingly

,as she went to the

buttery for provisions.‘Wall

,

’ said Laigs, looking at her with hi s

most irritating smile,as he sat down at the

kitchen table,

‘ I don ’t find I git thru anymore work by tumbl in’ out o’ bed ’

t sun-up’

n’ I dew ’

f I lay a spel l ’

n’ let the univarse

git het up ’

n’

runn in’ a leetle mite. “ S low

’

n easy goes fur in a day,

” ’

s my motto.

Rhapseny, she used to say she should think

I’

d be ashamed to lay abed so late. Wall,

I b e,

”5’

I,but I’

d ruther be ashamed ’

n

git up i” But you ’

re an awful good cook,

Samanthy, if ye air al lers in a hurry, ’

n’

i f

yer hev got a sharp tongue‘ The less you say ’bout my tongue the

better snapped Samantha.‘ Right you are

,

’ answered Jabe with agood-natured grin

,as he went on with his


breakfast. He had a huge appetite,another

grievance in Samantha’s eyes. She alwayssaid ‘ there was no need of his being so

slab-sided ’

n’ slack-twisted ’

n’ knuckle-jointed

—that he ate enough in al l conscience,but

he wouldn ’t take the trouble to hnd the

victuals that would fat him up ’

n’

hll out

his bag 0’ bones.’

Just as Samantha’s wel l -cooked viandsbegan to disappear in Jabe’s capacious mouth

(healwaysate precisely

as if he were stoking

an engine) his eye

rested upon a strange

object by the wood

box,and he put down

his knife and ejacu

lated,

‘Well,I swan !

Now when ’

n’ where ’

d

I see that baby-shay ?

Why,

’

t was yesterday.

Wel l,I vow

,t h em

young ones was comin ’

here,was they P

‘What young ones ? ’

asked Miss Vilda,exchanging astonished

glances with Samantha.

We l l, I swan l’

1 18 T IMOTHY ’S QUE ST‘And don ’t begin at the book 0

’ Genesis’

n’

go clean through the Bible,’

s you gen’

ally

do. S tart right in on Revelations,where

you belong,

’ put in Samantha ; for to see aman unexpectedly loaded to the muzzle with

news,and too lazy to fire i t off

,was enough

to try the patience of a saint ; and even

David Mil l iken would hardly have appl ied

that term to Samantha Ann Ripley.

‘ Give a fel ler time to think,wil l yerP

’

expostulated Jabe,with his mouth ful l ofpie.

E verything comes to him as waits ’

d be

an awful good motto for you ! Where ’

d Isee ’

em P Why,I fetched ’em as fur as the

cross- roads myself.’

Well,I never ! ’ ‘ I want to know cried

the two women in one breath.

‘ I picked ’em up out on the road,a l ittle

piece this s ide 0 ’ the station.

’

T was at the

top o’ Marm Berry’s hi l l

,that ’

s jest where ’

t

was. The boy was trudgin’ along draggin

’

the baby ’

n’ the basket

,

’

n’ I thought I’

d

give him a l ift,so 5

’

I,

“ Goin ’

t’ the Swamp

or t ’ the Fal ls ? ” 5’

I. To the Fal ls,

”5’ ’

e.

G1t i n”s’

I,

“ ’

n’ I ’l l give yer a ride

,

’

f y’

ain’

t in no hurry,”s I. So in he got,

’

n’ the


126 TIMOTHY’S QUE ST‘ I haven ’t decided yet. The boy says

they haven ’t got any folks nor any home ;and I suppose i t ’s our duty to find a placefor ’em. I don’t see but we ’

ve got to go to

the expense of takin ’ ’em back to the c ity

and puttin’ ’em in some asylum .

’

How ’

d they happen to come here P‘ They ran away from the c ity yesterday

,

and they l iked the looks of this place ; that’

s

al l the satisfaction we can get out of ’em,and

I dare say it ’s a pack of l ies.’‘ That boy wouldn ’t tel l a l ie no more ’

n

a seraphim said Samantha tersely.

‘ You can’t judge folks by appearances,

’

answered Vilda. ‘ But anyhow,don ’t talk

to the neighbours,Jabe and if you haven’t

got anything special on hand to-day,I wish

you ’

d patch the roof of the summer-house

and dig us a mess of beet greens. Keep the

children with you , and see what you make

of ’em they ’

re playin’ in the garden now.

’

‘ All right. I ’l l si ze ’em up the best Iken . Mebbe i t ’11 hender me in my work

some,but time was made for slaves as the

molasses said when they told i t to hurryup in winter time.’

TIMOTHY ’S QUE STTwo hours later, Miss Vilda looked from

the kitchen window and saw Jabez S locumcoming across the road from the garden .

Timothy trudged beside him,carrying the

basket of greens in one hand,the other

locked in Jabe’s huge paw,his eyes up

turned and shining with pleasure,his l ips

moving as if he were chatter

ing l ike a magpie. Lady Gaywasjust where you might have

expected to find her,mounted

on the towering height of

Jabe’

s shoulder,one tiny hand

grasping his weather-beaten

straw hat,while with the other

she whisked her wi l l ing steed

with an alder switch which had

evidently been cut for that

purpose by the victim himself.‘ That ’s the way he ’

s s iz in ’

of’em up ,

’ said Samantha,

leaning over Vilda’s shoulder

with a smile. ‘I

’l l bet they ’

ve s ized him

up enough sight b etter ’

n he has them

Jabe left the children outside,and came

in with the basket Putting his hat in the

HerWill ing Steed.

122 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STwood-box and hitching up his trousers im

pressively,he sat down on the settle.

‘ Them ain ’t no children to be wanderin ’

about the earth afoot ’

n’ alone

,same ’

s H i ttywent to the beach nor they ain ’t any com

mon truck ter be put inter ’

sylum s’

n’ poor

farms. There ’s some young ones t hat ’s so

everlastin’ chuckle-headed ’

n’

homb ly’

n’ con

trairy that they ain’t hardly wuth savin ’ but

these ain ’t that k ind. The baby,now you ’

ve

got her cleaned up , i s han’

somer’

n any baby

on the river,

’

n’ a reg’lar chunk o

’ sunshine

besides ; I’

d be wil l in ’ ter pay her a l ittle

suthin’ for l ivin ’ alongside. The boy—wel l

,

the boy is an extra-ordinary boy. We got on

tergether’

s sl ick as i f we was twins. That

boy ’s got idees,that ’s what he ’

s got ;’

n’

he ’

s l ikely to grow up into—well,

’most

anything.

’

If you think so highly of’em

,why don’t

you adopt ’

em P’ asked Miss V ilda curtly.

‘ That ’s what they seem to think folks ought

to do.

’

‘ I ain ’t sure but I shal l,

’ Mr. S locumresponded unexpectedly. If you can ’t find

a better home for ’em somewheres,I ain ’t


124 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTshame in a Christian country. I don ’ b ’

lieve

they ever see the inside of a schoolhouse !

I ’

ve learned ’em more this mornin’

’

n they ever hearn tel l of before,

but they ’

re’

s ignorant ’s Cooper’s

cow yit,spite 0

’ what I’ve done

for’em . They don ’ know tansy

from sorrel,nor slip

’

ryel lum from

pennyroyal,nor burdock from pig

weed they don ’ know a dand’

lion

from a hole in the ground they

don’ know where the birds put

up when it comes on n ight they

never see a brook afore,nor a

bul l-frog ; they never hearn tel l o’

cat-o’-n ine-tai ls

,nor jack-lanterns,

nor see-saws. Land sakes ! We

got ter talkin bout so many thingsthat I clean forgot the summerhouse roof. But there ! th is won’t

do for me,I must be goin ’ ; there

ain ’t no rest for the workin’-man

in this country.

’

I f there wan ’t no work for him,he ’

d be

wuss off yet,

’ responded Samantha.Right ye are, Samanthy ! Look here

,


want that box you give me to

wanted i t before hayin ’,but I s ’pose

any time before Thanksgivin’ ’

11 do,seein

’

i t ’s you.

’

‘What ’

s wuth doin t al l ’

s wuth takin’

time over,

’

s my motto,

’ said Jabe cheerfully,‘ but seein’ i t ’s you

,I ’l l wrassle round ’

n’

nai l that cover on ter n ight or bust l’


T was Sunday morning,and

the very peace of God was

brooding over P leasant River.

Timothy,Rags

,and Gay were

playing decorously in the orchard.

Maria was hitched to an apple

tree in the side yard,and stood

there serenely with her eyes half closed,

dreaming of oats past and oats to come.

Miss Vilda and Samantha issued from themosquito-netting door

,clad in Sunday best ;

and the children approached nearer, that

they might share in the excitement of the

Gay,who clamoured

to go—entirely on general principles,as she

had not the sl ightest desire for spiri tual lnstruction

,being dec idedly of the earth

,earthy

,

—was pacified by the gift of a rag dol l thatSamantha had made for her the evening before. I t was a monstrosity

,but Gay dipped

it instantly in the alembic ofher imagination

and it became a beautiful,responsive l ittle

departure for meeting.

130 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STdaughter

,which she clasped close in her arms

,

and on which she showered the tenderest

tokens of maternal affection .

Miss Vilda handed Timothy a l ittle green

paper-covered book,before she cl imbed into

the buggy. That ’

s a catechism,

’ she sa id‘ and if you ’

ll be a good boy and learn thefirst s ix pages and say ’em to me this after

noon, Samantha

’

ll give you a top that you

can spin on week-days.’

‘What is a catechism ? ’ asked T imothy,

as he took the book.

I t ’

s a Sunday-school lesson .

’

‘ Oh, then I can learn i t,’ sa id T imothy,brighten ing ;

‘I learned three for Miss Dora

,

i n the city.

’

‘Well,I

’

m thankful to hear that you ’

ve

had some spiritual advantages ; now,stay

right here in the orchard ti l l Jabe comes ;and don ’t set the house afire

,

’ she added,as

Samantha took the reins and raised them forthe mighty slap on Maria’s back which was

necessary to wake her from her Sundayslumber.

Why would I want to set the house afire P’

T imothy asked wonderingly.


132 T IMOTHY’S QUE STstrips along the l ittle-travelled road. The

morn ing had been damp,though now the sun

was shin ing bri l l iantly. The spiders’ webs

sti l l covered the fields,gossamer laces of

moist,spun si lver

,through which shone the

pink and l i lac of the meadow grasses . The

wood was a quiet place,and more than once

Miss Vilda and Samantha had discussedmatters there which they would never have

mentioned at the White Farm.

Maria went ambl ing along serenely through

the arcade of trees,where the sun went

wandering softly,

‘ as with his hands before

his eyes overhead,the vast blue canopy of

heaven under the trees,the soft brown leaf

carpet,woven by a thousand autumns.’

‘ I don ’t know but I could grow to l ikethe baby in time

,

’ said Vilda,

‘ though it ’

s

my opin ion she ’

s goin’ to be dreadful trouble

some ; but I’

m more ’

n half afraid of the

boy. E very time he looks at me with those

searchin’ eyes of his

,I mistrust he ’

s goin ’

to say something about Marthy—al l on

account of his giving me such a turn when

he came to the door.’

He ’d be awful handy round the house,


though, V ildy that is,if he is handy

pickin’ up chips,’

n’ layin’ fires

,

’

n’ what not

but,’

s you say,he ain ’t so takin ’ as the baby

at first sight. She ’s got the same winnin ’

Waywith her that Marthy hed

Yes,’ said Miss Vilda grimly and Iguess it ’s the devi l ’s own way.

’

Well , yes, mebbe’

n’ then again mebbe ’

t

ain ’t. There ain ’t

no reason why the

devi l should own al l

the han ’some faces’

n’ tunesome laughs

,

’

t I know of. I t doosseem ’

s ifbeautywas

turrib le m isleadin’

,

’

n’ I ’

ve ben glad Beg i nn ing 16 56 116 6 2 111112.

sometimes the Lord didn ’t resk none of i t on

me,for I was behind the door when good looks

was give out,

’

n’ I ’

m wil l in ’ t ’ own up to i t

but,al l the same

,I l ike to see putty faces

roun ’ me,

’

n’ I guess when the Lord sets his

mind on it He can make goodness ’

n’ beauty

git along comf’

tably in the same body.

When yer come to that,homb ly folks ain

’t

al lers as good ’

s they might be,

’

n’ no com

fort to anybody’

s eyes,nuther.

’

134 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STYou think the boy ’

s al l right in the upper

story, do you ? He ’s a strange kind of achi ld

,to my

‘I ain ’t so sure but he ’

s smarter ’

n we

be,but he talks queer

,

’

n’ no mistake. This

mornin’ he was pul l in ’ the husks off a young

ear 0’ corn that Jabe brought in,

’

n’

s’ ’

e,

“ S’

manthy,I think the corn must be the

happiest of al l the veg’

tab les. How youtalk ! ” 3

’

I;“ what makes you think that

way ? Why,because

,

”5’ ’

e,God has h id

den i t away so safe,with al l that shin in ’ s ilk

round i t first,

’

n’ then the soft leaves wrapped

outside 0 ’ the si lk. I guess i t ’

s God’s fav ’

rite

veg’

tab le don ’t you, S

’

manthyP”s’ ’

e . And

when I was showin’ him pictures last n ight,

’

n’ he see the crosses on top some 0 ’ the c ity

meetin’-houses

,s’ ’

e,They have two sticks on

’most al l the churches,don’t they

, S’

manthyP

I s ’pose that ’

s one stick for God,and the

other for the people.” Well,now

,don ’t you

remember Seth Pennel l,o

’

Buttertown,how

queer he was when he was a boy ? We thought

he ’

d never be wuth his sal t. He used to

stan ’ in the front winder ’

n’ twirl the curtin

tossel for hours to a time. And don ’t you


136 TIMOTHY’S QUE ST’

n’

fruit n graven images out 0 ’ her churn in’

s.

You ’

ve hearn tel l 0 ’ that piece she carried

to the Centennial ? Now,no sech doin ’

s’

s

that ever come into my head. I’ve went

on mak in ’ round bal ls for twen ty years ;’

n’

,

massy on us,don’t I remember when my old

butter stamp cracked,

’

n’ I couldn’t get

another with an ear 0’ corn on i t

,

’

n’ hed

to take one with a beehive,why

,I was that

homesick I couldn’t bear to look my butter’

n the eye ! But that woman would have

had a new picter on her bal ls every day,I shouldn’t wonder ! (For massy’s sake

,

Maria,don ’t stan ’ stock-sti l l ’

n’ let the fl ies

eat yer right up i) No, I tel l yer, i t takesal l k inds 0 ’

folks to make a world. Now,I

couldn’t never read poetry. I t ’

s so dul l,i t

makes me feel ’s i f I ’

d been trottin’ al l day

in the sun ; but there’s folks that can stan ’

i t,or they wouldn ’t keep on turnin

’ of i t

out. The chi ldren are nice chi ldren enough,

but have they got any folks anywhere,’

n’

what kind of folks,

’

n’ where ’

d they come

from,anyhow ? that ’

s what we ’

ve got to fi nd

out,

’

n’ I guess it ’

11 be consid’

ab le of achore ! ’


I don ’t know but you ’

re right. I thoughtsome of sendin ’ Jabe to the city to-morrow.

’

‘

Jabe P Well, I s ’pose he ’

d be back by’nother spring but who ’

d we get ter shovel

us out this winter,seein

’ as there ain ’t more ’

n

three men in the whole vil l age ? Aunt H i ttysays twenty-year engagements ’

s goin’ out

0’ fashion in the big cities

,

’

n’

I’

m glad if

they be . They ’

d’

a’ never come ln

,I told her

,

if there ’

d ever been an ex tryman in theseparts

,but there never was. If you got holt

0’ one by good luck

,you had ter keep holt ,

i f ’t was two years or twenty-two,or go with

out. I used ter be too proud ter go withoutnow I

’ve got more sense,thanks be ! Why

don’

t you go to the city yourself, V i ldy?

Jabe S locum ain ’t got sprawl enough to find

out anythin’

wuth

‘ I suppose I could go,though I don ’t l ike

the prospect of i t very much . I haven ’t

been there for years,but I’

d ought to look

after my property there once in a while.

Deary me ! i t seems as i f we weren ’t ever

going to have any more peace.’

Mebbe we ain’

t,

’ said Samantha,as they

wound up the meeting-house hil l but ain’t

138 T IMOTHY’S QUESTwe hed ’bout enough peace for one spel l ?

If peace was the best thing we could get in

this world,we might as wel l be them old

cows by the side 0’

the road there. There

ain’

t nothin ’ so peaceful as a cow,when you

come to that

The two women went into the church more

perplexed in mind than they would have

cared to confess. During the long prayer

(the minister could talk to God at much

greater length than he could talk about

H im ), Miss Vi lda prayed that the Lord would

provide the two l ittle wanderers with some

more su itable abiding-place than the White

Farm ; and that, fai l ing this, He would in

form H is servant whether there was anyth ing

unchristian in sending them to a comfortable

publ ic asylum. She then reminded Heaventhat she had made the Foreign Miss ionary

Society her residuary legatee,a deed that

establ ished her claim to be inga zealous mem

ber of the fold,so that she could scarcely be

blamed for not wishing to take two orphan

children into her peaceful home.

Well,i t i s no great wonder that so faul ty

a prayer d id not bring the wished-for l ight at


146 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STher face

,but s i lent and l ifeless. And

through the glass of the spectacles,as they

lay on the printed page,Vilda had read the

words,

‘ For a bird of the air shal l carry the

voice,and that which hath wings shal l tel l

the matter ’ ; had read them wonderingly,and marked the place with reverent fingers.

The swal low flew in again,years after

ward She could not remember the dayor the month

,but she could never forget

the summer,for i t was the last bright one

of her l ife,the last that pretty Martha ever

spent at the White Farm . And now

here was the swal low again ‘ For a

bird of the air shal l carry the voice,and that

which hath wings shal l tel l the matter. ’

Miss Vi lda looked on the book and tried to

fol low the hymn ; but passages of Scripture flocked into her head in place of good

Dr. Watts’ verses,and when the l ittle melo

deon played the interludes she could only

hear‘ Yea

,the sparrow hath found her an

house and the swal low a nest where she may

lay her young, even Thy altars, O Lord of

Hosts,my King and my God.’

TIMOTHY ’S QUE ST 14 1

‘As a bird that wandereth from her nest,so is a man that wandereth from his place .

’

‘ The foxes have holes and the birds of

the air have nests,but the Son of Man

hath not where to lay H i s head .

’

And then the text fel l on her bewildered

ears,and roused her from one reverie to

plunge her in another. I t was chosen,as it

chanced,from the First Epistle of Timothy

,

chapter first,verse fifth :

‘ Now the end of

the commandment is charity,out of a pure

heart.’

‘ That means the Missionary Society,

’

said M iss Vilda to her conscience doggedly

but she knew better. The parson,the text

,

—or was it the b ird P—had brought themessage ; but for the moment she did not

lend the hearing ear or the understanding

heart.


NT H ITTY,otherwise Mrs.

S i las Tarbox,was as cheery

and loquacious a person as

you could find in a Sabbathday’s journey. She was armedwith a substantial amount of

knowledge at almost every

conceivable point ; but if an un

expected emergency ever did arise,

her imagination was equal to the

strain put upon it and rose superior

to the occasion . Yet of an even ing,

or on Sunday,she was no vil lage gossip i t

was only whe n you put a needle in her hand

or a cutting-board in her lap that her memory

started on its interminable journeyings

through the fi elds of the past. She knewevery biography and every ‘ ought-to-be

ography’ in the county

,and could tel l you

the branches of every genealogical tree in

the vi l lage.

I t was dusk at the White Farm,and a late

K

146 TIMOTHY ’S QUE ST

supper was spread upon the hospitable board.

Aunt H i tty was always sure of a bountifulrepast. If one were going to economise one

would not choose for that purpose the day

when the vi l lage seamstress came to sew ;especial ly when the aforesaid lady served

the community in the stead of a local news

paper.

The children had eaten their bread and

milk,and were out in the barn with Jabe

,

watch ing the mi lk ing. Aunt H i tty was in acheerful mood as she reflected on her day ’s

achievements. Out of Dr. Jonathan Cum

mins’ old cape coat she had carved a pair of

brief trousers and a vest for Timothy out of

Mrs. Jonathan Cummins’ waterproof, a ser

v iceab le j acket ; and out of Deacon Abijah

Cummins’ l inen duster an additional coat and

vest for warm days. The owners of these

garments had been dead many years,but

nothing was ever thrown away,and

,for that

matter,very l i ttle given away

,at the White

Farm,and the anc ient habi l iments had finally

been d iverted to a useful purpose.‘ I h0pe I shal l rel ish my vittles to-n ight

,

’

said Aunt H i tty,as she poured her tea into


148 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTNew Haven . She ’

s married into one of the

first famil ies 0’

Connecticut, Lobel ia has,’

n’

she puts ona good many airs. She ’

s rigged

out her mother’s parlour with lace curtains ’

n’

one th ing ’

n’ ’other

,

’

n’ wants i t cal led the

drawin’-room . Did ye ever hear tel l such

fool ishness ? D rawin’-room s

’ I to S i ;what ’

s i t goin ’ to draw ? Nothin ’ but flies,

I guess l ikely '” (No more, thank you, my

cup ain ’t out yet.) Mis Pennel l’

s got a new

girl to help round the house—one o’ them

p indlin’ l ight-complected Smith girls

,from

the Swamp— look ’s i f they was nussed

on bonny-clabber. She ’s so homb ly I sh’

d

think’

t would make her back ache to carry

her head round. She ain ’t very smart,

neither. Her mother sent word she ’d pick

up ’

n’ do better when she got her growth.

That made Mis Pennel l hoppin’ mad. Shesaid she d idn ’t cal ’late to pay a girl threeshillin

’

s a week for growin’

. Mis Pennel l ’s

be ’n feelin ’

consid’

ab le sl im,or she wouldn ’t

’

a’ hired help i t ’s j ust l ike pul l in’ teeth for

Deacon Pennel l to pay out money for any

thing l ike that. He watches every mouthful

the girl puts into her mouth,

’

n’ i t ’s made

TIMOTHY ‘ S QUEST 149

him’

bout down sick to see her fleshin’ up

on his vittles. They say he has her put the

morn in’

coH'

ee-groun’

s to dry on the winder

si l l,’

n’ then has ’em scal t over for dinner ;

but, there I don ’ t

know ’

s there ’

s a mite o’

truth in it,so I won ’t re

peat i t. They went to

him to git a subscription

for the new hearse the

other day. Land sakes !

we need one bad enough.

I thought for sure,at

the last funeral we had,

that they ’

d never git

Mis S trout to the graveyard safe and sound. Ikep’

as think in’ al l the way how she 'd a

took on,i f she ’d be ’n al ive. She was the

most t imersome woman ’

t ever was. She wasa Thomson

,

’

n’ al l the Thomsons was scairt

at their own shadders. Ivory Strout ridright beh ind the hearse

,

’

n’ he says h is heart

was in his mouth the hul l durin’ time for

tear’t would break down ’

n’ spil l poor Ann

E li zy out. He d idn’t git much comfort out

Gossip.

150 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STthe occasion

,I guess Wan ’t he mad he hed

to ride in the same buggy with his mother

in- law ! The min ister planned it al l out,’

n’

wrote down the order 0’ the mourners

,

’

n’

passelled him out with old Mis Thomson . Iwas stan ’in ’ close by,

’

n’ I heard him say he

s’

posed he could go that way if he must, but’

t would spi le the hul l blamed thing for him 1

Well,as I was sayin ’

,the seleckmen

went to Deacon Pennel l to get a contribution

towards buyin ’ the new hearse ; an’ do you

know he wouldn ’t give ’em a dol lar ' He

told em he give five dol lars towards the

other one more ’

n twenty years ago,

’

n’

hadn ’t never got a cent’s worth 0’ use out of

i t. That ’s Deacon Pennel l al l over ! As S isays

,if the grace 0

’ God wan ’t given to al l

of us without money ’

n’ without price

,you

wouldn’t never hev ketched Deacon Pennel l

ex periencin’

rel igion ! He puts an awful

sight of energy into it when he sings I ’

m

glad salvation ’

s free 1”and it would have to

be a free gospel that would convict him 0’ s in

,

that ’s certain They say Seth Thatcher ’

s

married out in Iowy. H is mother ’s tickled’most to death. She heerd he was settin ’


152 TIMOTHY ’S QUE ST‘ Joel Whitten’s widder ’s just drawed his

pension along 0’ his bein’ in the war 0’

1812.

I t ’s took ’em al l these years to fix it. Massy

sakes ! don’t some folks have their luck but

tered in this world ? She was his fourthwife

,

’

n’ she never l ived with him but thir

teen days ’fore he up ’

n’ died. I t doos

seem ’s if the guv’

ment might look after

things a l i ttle mite closer. Talk about

Joel Whitten ’s be in ’ in the war 0’

1812 !

E verybody knows Joel Whitten wouldn ’t

have fit a Skeeter ! He never got any

further’

n Scratch Corner, anyway, ’

n’ there

he cl im a tree or hid behind a hen-coop some

wheres t il l the regiment got out o’ sight

Yes : one,two, three, four,—Huldy was his

fourth wife. H i s first was a Hogg,from

Hoggses Mil ls. The second was Dorcas

Dool ittle,aunt to Jabe S locum ; she d idn ’t

hardly know enough to make soap,Dorcas

didn’t. Then there was Del ia Weeks,

from the Lower Corner. She didn’tl ive long. There was somethin

’ wrong

with Del ia. She was one o’

the thin

blooded, white-l ivered kind. You couldn ’t

get her warm,no matter how hard you tried.


She ’

d set over a roarin’ fire in the cook

stove even in the prickl iest o’ the dog-days.

The mil l-folks used to say the Whittens

burnt more cut-roun ’

s’

n’

stickens’

n any three

fam’

lies in the vil lage. Well,after Del ia

d ied,then come Huldy

’

s turn,

’

n’ i t ’

s she,

after al l,that ’s drawed the pension.

Huldy took Joel’s death consid

’able hard,

seein’ as she never had him but thirteen

days,but I guess she ’l l perk up, now she

’s

come int’ this money.

She ’s awful leaky-minded,

Huldy is, but she’

s got tender

feelin’

s. One day she

happened in at noon-time,’

n’

set down to the tab le with S in

’

I. All of a suddent

she bust right out cryin’ when

S i was offerin’ her a piece 0 ’

tripe,

’

n’ then it come out

that she couldn ’t never bear

the sight 0’ tripe,i t reminded

her so of Joel ! I t seemstripe was a favourite dish 0’

Joel’s. All his wives cooked

it first - rate. (Don’t you The Ti°k°f ~

154 T IMOTHY’S QUE STtrouble to give me another plate

,Samanthy.

I’ve eat pretty close

,and I can take my pie

right on this one ’

n’ save washin ’ now you ’

Ve

got such a big family.)‘ Jabe S locum seems to set consid

’

ab le

store by them chi ldren,don ’t b e ? I

guess he ’l l never ketch up with his work,

now he ’

s got them hangin’

to his heels

He doos beat al l for slowness Slocum ’

s a

good name for him,that ’

s certain. An’ ’

s i f

that wan ’t enough,his mother was a Sti l l

well,

’

n’ her mother was a Dool ittle !

The Dool ittles was the slowest tam ’ly in

Lincoln County. (Thank you, I’

m wel l

helped, Samanthy.) Old Cyrus Dool ittle was

slower’

n a toad funeral . He was a carpenter

by trade,

’

n’ he was twenty-five years b u ild in’

his house,

’

n’ i t warn ’t no great

,either

The stagin’

was up ten or fifteen years,11 he

shingled it four or five t imes before he got

roun ’

,for one patch 0

’ shingles used to wear

out ’

fore he got the next patch ou. He’

n’

Mis Dool ittle l ived in two rooms in the L

There was elegant banisters,but no stairs

to ’em ,

’

n’ no entry floors. There was a tip

top cel lar, but there wa’

n ’t no way 0’

gi ttin’


156 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTJabe was most down to the bottom of the

hil l,they was struck al l of a heap to see h im

break into a kind of a jog trot ’

n’ run down

the balance 0 ’ the way. Well , then , they fel l

to quarrellin’ for 0’ course the Pleasant River

folks said Aaron Peek was the

laziest,

’

n’ the E dgewood boys

declared he hedn’

t got no such

record for laziness ’s Jabe Slo

cum hed '

an’ when they was

e x plain in of it,one way ’

n’

’nother,E lder Banks come

along,’

n’ they asked him to be

the j udge. When he heerd tel l

how ’

t was,he said he agreed

with the Edgewood folks that

Jabe was laz ier ’n Aaron.

Coul dn' t 2211 2116 1116 1 Well,I snum

,I don’t see how

1116 256 1:you make that out

,

” says the

Pleasant River boys for Aaron walked

down,

’

n’ Jabe run a piece 0 ’ the way

,

’

t any

rate.” “ IfJabe S locum run,

”says the E lder,

as impressive as if he was preachin’

,i f

Jabe S locum ever run,then ’

t was because

he was too doggoned’lazy to lzola

’

back 1 an’

that settled it ! No,I couldn’t eat


another mossel,Miss Cummins I

’ve madeout a splendid supper. You can’t gitsuch pie ’

n’ doughnuts anywhere else in the

vil lage,

’

n’ what I say I mean . Do you

make your riz doughnuts with emptin ’s ? Iwant to know S i. says there ’s more faculty

in cook in’ flour food than there is in meat

victuals,

’

n’ I guess he ’

s’bout right.’

I t was bed-time,and Timothy was in h is

l i ttle room carrying on the most elaborate

and compl icated plots for reading the future .

I t must be known that Jabe S locum was asful l of s igns as a Farmer’s Almanac

,and he

had given Timothy more than one formula

for attain ing h is secret desires—old,wel l

worn recipes for l uck,which had been tried

for generations in P leasant River,and which

were absolutely certain in their resul ts. The

favourites were

S tar br ight , star l ight ,First star I ’ve seen to-n ight ,

Wish I may, wish I m ight ,Get the wish I wish to-nightand one sti l l more impressive

Four posts upon mybed,Four corners overhead

158 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STMatthew,

Mark , Luke , and John ,Bless the bed I lay upon .

Mat thew, John , Luk e, and Mark ,Gran t mywish and keep i t dark .

’

These rhymes had been chanted with great

solemnity,and T imothy sat by the open

window in the sweet darkness of the summer

night,wishing that he and Gay might stay

for ever in th is shel tered spot. ‘ I ’l l make

a sign of my very own,

’ he thought ‘ I ’l l

get Gay’s ankle-tie,and put i t on the win

dow-sil l,with the toe pointing out Then

I ’l l wish that i f we are going to stay at the

White Farm,the angels wi l l turn i t around

,

“ toe in,

” to the room,for a sign to me ;

and if we ’

ve got to go, I ’l l wish they may

leave i t the other way and,oh dear

,but

I’

m glad it ’

s so l i ttle and easy to move ;then I ’l l say Matthew

,Mark

,Luke

,and

John,four times over

,without stopping

,as

Jabe told me to,then I ’l l say my prayer

and what I can remember of the catechism,

then I ’l l see how i t turns out in the

morn ing ’

But the incantation was more soothing

than the breath of Miss Vilda’s scarlet


1 66 TIMOTHY’S QUE STbed

,and lo

,a miracle ! Timothy’s angels

had interpreted his signs in their own

way. The woodbine clung close to the wal l

beneath his window. I t was tipped withstrong young shoots reaching out their in

nocent hands to c l ing to any support that

offered ; and one baby tendri l that seemed

to have grown in a single n ight,so del icate it

was, had somehow been blown by the sweet

n ight wind from its drooping-place on the

parent vine,and

,fal l ing on the window-s i l l

,

had curled lovingly round Gay’s fairy shoe

and held i t fast !

SCE NE ! I

THE HONEYSUCKLE PORCH

Vi lda deci des t/zat Two i s One 100 many,and

Tz'

mol/zy érea/cs a Humm ing-Bz

’

rd’s Egg



ground sparrows were aware that

i t probably was al l up' with their

l ittle summer residences, for

haying- time was at i ts height,and the Giant

,mounted on the

Avenging Chariot, would speed

i ly make his appearance ; butter

cups and daisies,tufted grasses

and blossoming weed s,must al l

bow their heads before him,and

if there was anything more

valuable hidden at their roots,

so much the worse

Supposing a bird or mousehad been especial ly far-sighted

and had located his family near

a stump fence on a particularlyuneven bit of ground

,why there

was always a walking Giant

going about the edges with a

gleaming scythe, so that it wasno wonder, when reflect ing on

these matters after a day’s palpi

tation,that the l ittle denizens

of the fields thought i t very natural that

there should be N ihil ists and Social ists in

,TIMOTHY ’S QUEST 165

the world,plotting to

overturn monopol ies

and other gigantic

schemes for crushing

the people.

Rags enjoyed the

excitement of haying

immensely. H is l ifewas one long hol iday

now,

'

and the close

quarters,scanty fare

,

and wearisome mo

notony of Minerva

Court only vis ited h is

memory dimly when

he was suffering the

pangs of indigestion .

In the first few weeksof his l ife at the White Farm

,before his

appetite was satiated,he was wont to eat al l

the white cat’s food as wel l as his own and

as this highway robbery took place in the

retirement of the shed,where Samantha Ann

always swept them for their meals,no human

be ing was any the wiser,and

'

only the angels

saw the white cat getting whiter and whiter

166 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STand thinner and thinner

,while every day

Rags grew more corpulent and alderman ic

in his figure ; although as his stomach was

more favourably located than an alderman ’s ,he could sti l l see the surrounding country,and he had the further advantage of pos

sessing four legs,instead of two

,to carry i t

about

Timothy was happy,for he was a dreamer,

and this quiet l ife harmonised well with the

airy fabric of his dreams. He loved every

stick and stone about the old homestead

already,because the place had brought h im

the only gl impse of freedom and joy that

he could remember in these last bare and

anxious years and if there were other and

brighter years,far

,far back in the misty

gardens of the past,they only yielded him a

secret sense of having been,

’ a memory that

could never be captured and put into words.

E ach morning he woke fearing to find his

present l ife a vision,and each morn ing he

gazed with unspeakable gladness at the sweet

real ity that stretched itself before h is eyes

as he stood for a moment at his window

above the honeysuckle porch .


168 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STtion of three summers (every egg acquired in

the most honourable manner,as he explained)

had al l passed into Timothy’s hands that

very day,in consideration of various services

wel l and conscientiously performed. What

a del ight it was to handle the prec ious bits

of things,l ike porcelain in their daintiness !

—to sort out the tender blue of the robin,

the speckled beauty of the sparrow to

put the peewee’s and the thrush ’s each in

i ts place,with a swift throb of regret that

there would have been another l ittle soft

throat bursting with a song,i f some one had

not taken this pretty egg. And there was,

over and above al l,the never-ending marvel

of the on e humming-bird ’s egg that lay l ike

a pearl in Timothy’s slender brown hand .

Too tiny to be stroked l ike the others,only

big enough to be steal th i ly kissed. So tiny

that he must get out of bed two or three

times in the n ight to see i f i t is safe. So

tiny that he has horrible fears lest i t should

sl ip out or be stolen,and so he must take

the box to the window and let the moonl ight

shine upon the fleecy cotton , and hnd that itis stil l there

,and cover i t safely over again

TIMOTHY’S QUEST 169

and creep back to bed,wishing that he might

see a thumb’s bigness ofburn ished plumage

sheltering i t with her speck of a breast.

Ah ! to have a l i ttle humming-bird ’s egg to

love,and to feel that i t was his very own

,

was something to Timothy,as i t is to al l

starved human hearts ful l of love that can

hnd no outlet.

Miss Vilda was knitting,and Samantha

was shel l ing peas on the honeysuckle porch .

Several days had passed s ince Miss Cumminshad gone to the city and come back no wiserthan she went

,save that she had made a

somewhat exhaustive study of the slums,and

had acquired a more intimate knowledge of

the ways of the world than she had ever

possessed before. She had found MinervaCourt

,and designated it on her return as a

‘ sink of iniqu ity,

’ to which Afric’s sunny

fountains,India’s coral strand

,and other

tropical local i ties frequented by missionaries

were virtuous in comparison .

‘ For you don ’t expect anything of black

heathens,

’ said she ;‘ but there ain ’t any

question in my mind about the accountabil i ty

of folks l ivin ’ in a Christian country,where

176 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTyou can wear clothes and set up to an air

tight stove and be comfortable,to say nothin’

of meet in’-houses every mile or two

,and

Bible Societies and Young Men ’s and YoungWomen ’s Christian Assoc iations, and the

gospel free to al l with the exception of pew

rents and contribution boxes,and those

omitted when it ’s necessary.

She affi rmed that the ladies and gentlemen

whose acquaintance she had made in Minerva

Court were without exception , a‘ mess o

’

malefactors,whose only good point was

that,lack ing al l human qual ities

,they did

not care who she was,nor where she came

from,nor what she came for ; so that, as a

matter of fact,she had escaped without so

much as leaving her name and place of resid

ence. She learned that Mrs. Nancy S immons had sought pastures new in Montana ;that Miss E thel Montmorency sti l l resided in

the metropol is,but did not choose to disclose

her modest dwel l ing-place to the casual in

quiring female from the rural districts ; that

a couple of chi ldren had d isappeared from

Minerva Court,if they remembered rightly

,

but that there was no disturbance made


172 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTremarked Samantha.

‘ Not that I could afound out anything more ’

n you did,for I

guess there ain ’t anybody thereabouts that

knows more ’

n we do,and anybody ’

t wants

the chi ldren won’t be troubled with the rela

tion But I’

d l ike to give them bold- faced

j igs n hussies a good piece 0’ my mind for

once ! You ’

re too t imersome,V ildy ! I

b’

lieve I ’l l go some 0’ these days yet

,and

carry a good stout umbrel la in my hand too.

I t says in a book somewhars that there ’s

insults that can only be wiped out in blood .

Ketch ’em hintin ’ that I’

m the mother of

anybody,that ’s al l ! I declare I don ’ know

what our Home Missionary Societies ’

s doin’

not to regenerate them places or exterminate’em one or t’ other. Somehow our rel igiondon t take hol t as i t ought to. I t takes aburn in’ zeal to clean out them slum places

,

and burn in’ zeal ain ’t the style nowadays.

As my father used to say,Religion ’

s putty

much l ike fish ’

n’

pertetters if i t ’

s hot,i t ’

s

good,

’

n’

if i t ’

s cold ’

t ain ’t wuth a —well,a

short word came in there,but I won ’t say it.

Speak in’

0’ rel igion

,I never had any ex peri

ence in teachin’

,but I didn ’t s

'

pose there


was any knack ’bout teachin’ rel igion,same

as there is ’bout teachin’ read in ’ ’

n’ ’ri th

metic,but I hed hard work makin’ Timothy

understand that catechism you give him to

learn the other Sunday. He was al l upsot

with doctrine when he come to say his lesson.

Now you can’t scare some chi ldren with doc

trine,no matter how hot you make it, or

mebbe they don ’t more ’

n half bel ieve i t ;but Timothy ’s an awful sensitive creeter

,

’

n’

when he come to that answer to the question

What are you then by nature ? An enemy

to God,a chi ld of Satan

,and an heir ofhel l

,

he hid his head on my shoulder and bust

right out cryin’

. How many Gods is there ?

s’ ’

e,after a spell . Land thinks I

,I knew

he was a heathen,but if he turns out to be

an idolater,whatever shal l I do with him ! ”

Why,where ’

ve you be’n fetched up ? 5’

I;

there ’s only one God,the H igh and Mighty

Ruler of the Un ivarse,

”s’

I.“ Well

,

”3’ ’

e,

“ there must be more ’

n one,for the God in

this lesson isn’t l ike the one in Miss Dora’s

book at al l Land sakes I don ’t want to

teach catechism agin in a hurry,nor til l I

’vehed a l i ttle spiritual instruction from the

174 T IMOTHY’S QUE STminister. The fact is

,Vildy,

that our b ’

liefs,

when they ’

re picked out o’ the Bible and set

down square and sol id ’thout any soften ing

down ’

n’

e x plain in’ that they ain ’t so bad as

they sound,i s too strong meat for babes.

Now,I

’

m Orthodox to the core ’

(here she

lowered her voice as if there might be a stray

deacon in the garden), but’pears to me if

I was makin’ out lessons for young ones Iwouldn’t fill ’

e in so plumb ful l 0 ’

b rimstun.

Let ’em do a l ittle suthin’ to deserve it ’fore

you scare ’em to death,say I.

’

‘ Jabe explained i t al l out to him after

supper. I t beats al l how he gets on withchildren.

’

‘ I’

d ruther hear how he explained it,

’

answered Samantha sarcastical ly. He ’s

great on ex poundin’ the Scripters jest now.

Well,I hope it ’11 last. Land sakes ! you ’

d

think nobody ever experienced rel igion afore,

he ’

s so set up ’bout it. You ’

d s’pose he

kep’ the latch-key o’ the heavenly mansions

right in his vest pocket,to hear him go on.

He couldn ’t be no more stuck up ’bout i t i f

he was the only sinner that ever repented.

I notice he took plaguey good care to git


176 TIMOTHY’S QUE STAnd been a great s ight better off

,

’ inter

polated Miss Vi lda.‘ Now don’t talk that way

,V ildy. Who

knows what lays ahead 0’ that child ? The

Lord may be savin’ her up to do some great

work for H im,

’ she added,with a wild fl ight

of the imagination .

She looks l ike i t,don ’t she P asked Vilda

with a grim intonation but her face softened

a l ittle as she glanced at Gay asleep on the

rustic bench under the window.

The picture would have struck terror to

the sad-eyed aesthete,but an art ist who l iked

to see colours burn and glow on the canvas

would have been glad to pain t her ; a l i ttle

frock of buttercup cal ico,bare dimpled neck

and arms,hair that put the yel low cal ico to

shame by reason of i ts t inge of copper,skin

of roses and milk that dared the microscope,

red smil ing l ips,one stocking and ankle-tie

k icked off and five pink toes cal l ing for some

si l ly woman to say,This l i ttle pig went to

market ’ ; a great bunch of nasturtiums in

one warm hand , the other buried in Rags,who was bursting with the white cat’s d inner

,

and in such a state of snoring bl iss that


his tai l wagged occasional ly,even in his

dreams.

She don’t look l ike a missionary at thisminute

,i f that ’s what you mean

,

’ said Sa

mantha hotly.

‘ She may not be cal led ’

n’

elected to traipse over to Africywith a Test’

ment ' in one hand ’

n’

a sun umb reller in

the other,savin’ souls

by'

the wholesale ;but ’

t ain ’t no mean

service to go through

the world steal in ’ in

to folks’ hearts l ike

a ray 0’ sunshine

,

’n

’

lightin up every place

you step foot in‘ I ain ’t sayin ’ anything against the chi ld

,

SamanthyAnn you said yourself she wan ’t

cut out for a ShakerNo more she is

,

’ laughed Samantha,

when her good-humour was restored . She ’

d

l ike the s ingin’ ’

n’ dancin ’ wel l enough

,but ’

t

would be hard work smoothin’ the k ink out

of her hair ’

n’

fix in’ i t under one 0

’ their

white Sunday bunnets. She wouldn ’t l ikel ivin ’ al together with the women-folks nuther.

M

Gay asleep .

178 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STThe only . way for Gay ’

ll be to fetch her

right up with the men-folks,

’

n’ hev her see

they ain ’t no great things,anyway. Land

sakes ! i f ’

t warn ’t for dogs ’

n’ dark n ights

,

I shouldn ’t care if I never see a man ; butGay has ’em al l on her string a’ready

,from

the boy that brings the cows home for J abe

to the man that takes the butter to the city.

The tin peddler give her a dipper this morn in,

’

and the fish-man brought her a l ive fish in

a t in pail. Well , she makes the house a great

s ight brighter to l ive in,you can ’t deny that

,

Vildy.

’

‘ I ain’t denyin’ anything in part ic’

ler.

She makes a good deal of work,I know that

much. And I don ’t want you to get your

heart set on One or both of’em

,for ’

t won ’t

be no use. We could make out with one of’em

,I suppose

,i f we had to

,but two is one

too many. They seem to set such store

by one another that ’

t would be l ike partin ’

the S iamese twins ; but there, they ’

d pine

a whi le,and then they ’

d get over it. Any

how,they ’

ll have to try.

’

Oh,yes you can git over the smal l-pox ,

but you ’

ll carry the scars to your grave most


186’ T IMOTHY ’S QUE ST

I was only givin ’ you my V iews ’bout partin’

them children,that ’s al l

Wel l,all I can say is,’ remarked Miss

Vilda obstinately, that those that ’s desi rous

of takin ’ i n two strange children , and board

in’ and lodgin

’ ’em ti l l they get able to do it

forthemselves , and runn in’ the resk of their

turnin’ out heathens and malefactors l ike the

folks they came from,—can do i t i f they want

to. I f I come to see that '

the baby is too

young to send away anywheres I may keepher a spel l

,but the boy has got to go, and

that ’s the end of i t. You ’

ve been crowdin’

me into a com er about him for a week,and

now I ’

ve said my say

Alas ! that t iny humming—bird ’s eg g was

crushed to atoms—crushed by a boy’s slender

hand that'

had held i t so gently for very fear

of breaking it. Poor l ittle Timothy Jessup

had heard his fate for the second time,and

knew that he must move on again,for there

was no room for him at the White Farm .

SCE N E

THE V ILLAGE

Lyn’n’

y P ellz'

gro'ue

’s Funeral


184 TIMOTHY ’S QUE ST‘ which would be a s in and a shame

,but

jest as l ikely as not,though she was wel l off

and didn’t need i t no more ’

n a toad would

a pocket-book,and couldn ’t bear the sight 0 ’

Lyddy besides,’—and whether Mr. Petti

grove’s first wife’s relations would be asked

to the funeral,

‘ bein ’ as how they hadn ’t

spoke for years,

’

n’ wouldn ’t set on the same

side the meetin’-house

,but when you come

to that,i f only the folk s that was on good

terms with Lyddy Pettigrove was asked tothe funeral

,there ’d be a sl im attendance

,

’

and—so on.

Aunt‘H i tty was the most important per

son in the vi l lage on these occasions. I twas she who assisted i n the last solemn pre

parations and took the last solemn stitches.

When al l -was done,she hung her l i ttle

reticule on her arm,and started to walk

from the house of bereavement to her own

home,where ‘ S i ’ was anxiously awaiting

his n ightly draught of gossip. No royal

herald could have been looked for with greater

interest or greeted with greater cordial i ty.

Al l the housewives that l ived on the direct

road were on their doorsteps,so as not to


l ose a moment,and al l that l ived off the road

had seen her from the upstairs windows, and

were at the gate to waylay her as she passed .

A t such a moment Aunt H itty’

s bosom

swel led with honest pride, and she humbly

thanked her Maker that she had been bred

to the use of scissors and needle.Two days of this intox icating popularity

had just past the funeral was over,and she

ran in to the Wh i te Farm on her way home,

to carry a message and to see with her own

eyes how Samantha Ann Ripley was comporting herself.

‘ You didn ’t git out to ' the fun’

ral,did ye ,

Samanthy?’ she asked

,as she seated her

self cosily by the kitchen window.

No,I didn’t. I never could see the

propriety o’ goin’ to see folks dead that

you never went to see al ive.’

How you talk That ’

s one way 0 ’

puttin’

i t Wel l , everybody was lookin’ for you

,and

you missed a very pleasant fun ’

ral. David’

n’ I arranged everything as neat as wax

,

and it al l went off l ike clockwork,i f I do

say so as shouldn ’t. Mis rPettigrove made

a beautiful remains. ’

186 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTI ’

m glad to hear it. I t ’s the first beautiful th ing she ever d id make

,I guess

How you talk ! Ain ’t you a leetle hard

on Lyddy, Samanthy? She warn ’t sech a

bad neighbour,and she couldn ’t help bein ’

kind 0’ sour l ike. She was born with her

teeth on aidge, to begin with, and then she’

d

be’n through seas o’ trouble with them Petti

groves.’

Like enough ; but even i f folks has be’n

through seas o’ trouble

,they needn ’t

be everlastin’

ly sp itt in’ up sal t brine.

Passin ’ through the valley of sorrow

they make it ful l 0’

fountings”; that

’

s

what the Psalms says ’bout bearin ’

trouble.’

‘ Lyddy warn’t much on fountings,

’

said Aunt H itty contemplatively ;‘ but there

,we hadn ’t ought to speak

nothin’ but good 0’ the dead. Land

sakes ! You ’

d oughter heard E lder

Weekses remarks ; they was splendid .

We a in ’t hed better remarks to any fun’

ral

here for years. I shouldn ’t ’

a’ suspic ioned

he was preachin’ ’bout Lyddy, though. Our

minister ’

s s ick abed,you know

,

’

n’ warn ’t

lder Weeks.


188 T IMOTHY’S QUE STdoor, and sweep down a cobweb that was

lodged up in one o’ the corners over the

mantelpiece l We al l looked at one’nother

,

’

n’

I’

thought for a second somebody’

d laugh,

but nobody dassed,

’

n’ there -wam

’

t a sound

in the room ’

s Aunt Beccy sot down agin’

without movin ’ a muscle in her face. J ust

then the minister drove in the yard with his

horse sweat in’ l ike rain but behind time as

he was,he never sl ighted things a mite. H i s

prayer was twenty-three minutes by the

clock. Twenty-three minutes is a leetle

mite too long this k ind 0’ weather

,but i t

was an al l-embracin ’ prayer,

’

n’ no mistake !

S i said when he got through,the Lord had

H is instructions on most any p ’int that was

l ikely to come up durin’ the season . When

he got through his remarks there warn’t a

dry eye in the room . I don ’t s’pose it made

any odds whether he was preachin’ ’bout

Mis Pettigrove or the woman on the Blueb ’

ry

road—it was a movin’, elevatin’ discourse

,

’

n’

that was what we went there for.’I t wouldn ’t ’

a’ be ’n so elevatin

’ i f he ’

d

told the truth,

’ said Samantha ; ‘ but there;I ain’t goin ’ to spi t no more spite out.


LyddyPett igrove’

s dead,

’

n’ I hope she ’s in

heaven,and al l I can say is, that she

’l l be

dretful busy up there ondoin’ al l she done

down here. You say there was a good many

out ? ’

Yes we ain ’t hed so many out for years,

so Susanna Rideout says,and she ’

d ought to

know,

“

for she ain’t,

missed a fun ’

ral sence

she was n ine years old,and she ’

s eighty-one,

come Thanksgiv in’

,ef she holds out that

long. She says fun ’

rals‘

i s ’bout the only

recreation she has,

’

n’ she doos git a heap

o’ satisfaction out of ’em

,

’

n’ no mistake.

She’

lli

go early, afore any 0’ the comp

’

ny

assembles. She ’l l say her clock must ’

a’

be’n fast,

11 then they ’

11 ask her to set

down ’

n’ make herself to home. Then she ’

11

choose her seat accordin’ to the way the

house is planned. She won ’t git too furfrom the remains

;because she ’l l want to see

how the fam ’

ly appear when they take their

last look,but she ’l l want to git 0pp

’

site a

door,where she can peek into the other

rooms ’

n’ see whether they shed any tears

when the minister begins his remarks. Sheal lers takes a l ittle gum camphire in her

196 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTpocket

,so ’

t if anybody faints away during

the long prayer she ’s right on hand . Bein ’

near the doo r,she can hear al l the min ister

says,

’

n’ how the order 0

’ the mourners is

cal led,

’

n’

ef she ain ’t too fur from the front

winders she can hev a good view of the

bearers and the mourners as they get into the

kerridges. There ’

s a sight in knowin’ how

to manage at a fun ’

ral i t takes faculty,same

as anything else.’

‘ How does David bear up P’ asked Miss

Vilda.‘Oh, he

’

s calm. David was always calmand resigned

,you know. He shed tears

durin ’ the remarks,but I s’pose

,mebbe

,

he was wishin ’ they was more appropriate.

He ’s about the forlornest creeter now you

ever see in your l ife. There never was any

self-assume to David Mil l iken . I declarei t ’s enough to make you cry jest to look at

him . I cooked up victuals enough to lasthim a week

,but that ain’t no way for men

folks to l ive. When he comes in at noon

time he washes up out by the pump,

’n

’ then

he steps int’ the butt’ry ’

n’ pours some cold

tea out the teapot ’

n’ takes a drink of i t

,

’

n’


T IMOTHY ’S QUESTSamantha got up suddenly and went to

the sink window.

‘ I t ’s ’bout time the men

come i n for their d inner,

’ she said ; and

although Jabe was mowing the mil lstone h i l l,

in a flaming red flannel shirt,she could not

see him because of the tears that bl inded

her eyes.

SCE NE ! I I I

THE V ILLAGEP leasan t River i s bafi tz

’

z ed wi th tlze Spir i t ofAdoplz

'

on

N


196 TIMOTHY’S QUE STHe set there so quiet with a book in front

of him I clean forgot he was in the room,

’

said Aunt H i tty apologetical ly.

‘ Land !

I ’

m so tender-hearted I can ’t set my foot ona June bug,

’

n’ ’

t ain ’t l ikely I’

d hurt any

body’s feelin’

s,but as I was sayin ’

,I can ’t

find nobody that wants the boy,but the

Doctor’s wife thinks p’

raps she’l l be wi l l in ’

to take the baby ’

n’ board her for nothin’

,

i f somebody else’

ll pay for her clothes. A t

least she ’l l try her a spel l’

n’ see how she

behaves,

’

n’ whether she ’s good comp

’

ny for

her own l ittle girl that ’

s a reg’lar l imb o’

Satan anyway,

’

n’

consid’

ab le worse sence

she ’

s had the scarlit fever,

’

n’ deet as a post

too,tho’ they ’

re b listerin’ her

,

’

n’ she may

git over it. I told her I’

d bring Gay over

to-n ight as I was comin ’ by,bein ’ as how she

was worn out with sickness ’

n’ house-clean in ’

’

n’ one thing ’

n nother,

’

n’ couldn ’t come to

git her very wel l herself. I thought mebbeyou ’

d be wil l in’ to pay for her clothes ruther’

n hev so much talk’bout i t ,

'

tho’ I ’ve told

everybody that they walked right in to the

front gate,’

n’ you "

n’

Samanthy never set

eyes on ’em before ,’

n’ didn ’t know where

they come from .

’

T IMOTHY’S QUEST 197

Samantha wiped her eyes surreptitiously

with the dishcloth,and turned a scarlet face

away from the window. Timothy was get

ting his ‘

passle of chips.’ Gay had spied

him ,and toddl ing over to his side, hold ing

her dress above the prettiest pair of feet that

ever trod clover,had sat down on him (a

favourite pastime of hers), and after jolting

her fat l i ttle p erson up and down on his

patient head; rol led herselfover and gave him

a series of bear-hugs. T imothy looked pale

and langu id,Samantha thought

,and though

Gay waited for a frol ic with her most ador

able smile,he only l ifted her coral necklace

to kiss the place where it hung, and tied on

her sun-bonnet soberly. Samantha wishedthat Vilda had been looking out of the win

dow. Her own heart d id not need soften ing,but somebody else’s d id

,she was afraid.

‘ I’

m much ob liged ,to you for takin ’ so

much interest in the children,

’ said M iss

Vilda primly,

‘ and partic’

lerly for clearin’

‘our characters,which everybody that l ives

i n th is vi l lage has to do for each other’bout

once a week,and the

‘

rest 0’ the time they

take for spoi lin’

of’em . And the Doctor’s

198 T IMOTHY’S QUE STwife is very kind

,but I shouldn ’t th ink 0

’

sendin’ the baby away so sudden whi le the

boy is sti l l here. I t wouldn ’t be no kindness

to Mrs. Mayo, for she’

d have a reg’lar French

and Indian war right on her premises. I twas here the chi ldren came, just as you say,and it ’

s our duty to see ’em settled in good

homes,but I shal l take a few days more

to think ’

bout it , and I ’l l let her know by

Saturday n ight what we ’

ve decided to do

That ’s the most meddlesome,interferi n ,

gossip in’ woman in th is county

,

’ she added,

as Mrs. S i las Tarbox closed the front gate,

‘ and I wouldn’t have her do another day’s

work at this house if I d idn ’t have to. But

i t ’s worse for them that don ’t have her than

for them that does. Now there ’s the Bap

t ist minister driv in’ up to the barn . What

under the canopy does he want ? Tel l h im

Jabe ain ’t to home,Samanthy. No

,you

needn’t,for he ’

s hitched,and seems to be

comin ’ to the front door !‘ I never could abide the looks of him

,

’

said Samantha,peering over Miss Vilda’s

shoulder. "T ain’t his doctrines I object toso much

,though bein ’ a good Congrega


200 TIMOTHY’S QUE STnor there. Brother S locum has so . interested

u s that mywife (who‘

i s'

leadingthe Woman’s

A'

ux i l iary Praying ?Legion this afternoon or

she would h ave come h erself) wishes .me

to say that she would l ik e to i ece ive one

of these—a—l ittle waifs into our family on

probation,as it were

,and if satisfactory. to

both part ies, to bring i t up—a—somewhat

as our own i n the nurture and admonition

of the Lord.

Samantha -waited in . breathless s uspense.

Miss Vilda never would fl ing away an oppor

tunityt tof putting a nameless; homeless chi ld

under the '

roof of a min ister of the zGospel,

even i f he was . a Baptist twith a chiny blue

eye. At th is exc iting juncture there was a

clattert of smal l feet ; the door burst open ,and the unfortunate waifs under considera

tion raced across the floor to the table where

Miss Vilda and Samantha were seated . Gay’s

sun z bonne t tra iled behind . her,every hair on

her head curled separately,and she held her

rag—dol l upside down with entire absence of

decorum . Timothy ’s paleness,whatever \ the

cause,had disappeared for the :moment, and

his eyes shone l ike stars.

TIMOTHY ’S QUEST 26 1

‘Oh,M iss Vi lda he cried breathlessly ;

‘ dear Miss Vilda and Samanthy, the grey

hen d id want to have chickens, and that is

wh at made her so

cross,and she is set

t ingf and we’

ve found

her nest i n the alder

bushes by the pondhen’s net in

er buttes by er pond,sung Gay

,l ike a

.Greek chorus .)And we sat down

softlybeside thepond,

but Gay sat into it .

’ ‘ We’

ve found 116 1 116 11:Gay sat wite into i t

,an

’ dol ly dot her dess

wet,but Gay n ite ittle dirl ; Gay didn

’t det

wet .

And by and by the grey hen got off to

get a drink ofwater

To det a dink 0’ water

And we counted the eggs,and there were

thirteen big ones

Fir-teen drate bid ones‘So that the darl ing thing had to s-w-el l

out to cover them up

262 TIMOTHY ’S QUEST

(‘ Darl in ’ fin ser-wel led out and turveved

’em up said Gay,going through the same

operation .

‘ Yes,

’ said Miss Vilda,looking covertly

at Mr. Southwick (who had an eye forbeauty

,notwithstand ing Samantha’s stric

tures),‘ that ’s very n ice

,but you mustn ’t

stay here now we are talkin’ to the min ister.

Run away,both of you

,and let the settin’

hen alone.—Well , as I was goin’ to say, Mr.

Southwick , you ’

re very kind and so ’

s your

wife,and I’

m sure Timothy,that ’s the boy ’s

name,would be a great help and comfort to

both of you,if you ’

re fond of children,and

we should be glad to have him near by, for

we feel k ind of responsible for him though

he ’

s no relation of ours. And we 11 th ink

about the matter over night,and let you

know in the morning.

’

Yes,exactly

,I see

,I see ; but i t was the

young child,the -a— female child

,that my

wife desired to take into her family. Shedoes not care for boys

,and she is parti en

larly fond of girls,and so am I

,very fond of

girls— a— ln reason .

’

Miss Vilda al l at once made up her mind


204 T IMOTHY’S QUE STany children . If they ’

d carry their theories’bo.ut immers ion ’

s fur as their clo ’es,

’

t

wouldn ’t be no harm .

’

‘ You needn ’t give me any compl iments .

I don ’ know as I’

d have agreed to keep

either of’em ef the whole vi l lage hadn ’t

intefered and wanted to manage my business

for me,and be so dretful charitable al l of a

sudden,and dictate to me and try to show

me my duty. I haven ’t had a minute’s peacefor more ’

n a fortn ight,and now I hope

they ’

11 let me alone. I ’l l take the boy to the

city to-morrow,i f I l ive to see the l ight

,and

when I come b ack I ’l l t ie up the gate and

keep the neighbours out ti l l th is n ine days’

wonder gets crowded out 0 ’ their heads by

somethin ’ new.

’

You ’

re goin ’ to take Timothy to the c ity,

are you P asked Samantha sharply.

‘ That ’s what I ’

m goin ’ to do .and the

sooner the better for e verybody concerned.

—Timothy,shut that door and run .out to

the barn,and don ’t you let me see you again

t i l l supper-time do you here m e P

‘And you ’

re goin’ to put him in one o’

them Homes ? ’


‘ Yes,

"I am . You see for yourself we

can ’t find any place fer him hereabouts .’

‘Well,I ’ve be ’

n waitin’

for days to see

what you was goin ’ to do,and now I ’l l tel l

you what I’

m going to do, i f you’

d l ike to

kn ow. I’

m goin’ to keep Timothy myself;

to have and to hold‘

from this time forth

and for evermore,as the B ible says. That ’s

what I’

m goin ’ to do

Miss Cummins gasped with astonishment."I

‘ mean what I

say,

-V i ldy. I ain ’t ~

so wel l‘

off as some,

but I ain ’t a pauper,

not by“

no ' means . ,

Iwe b’en layin ’ by a

l ittle every year for

twenty years,

’

n’ you

know ' wel l enough

what for ; but that’

s al l over for ever ‘ and

ever,amen

,thanks be l And I ain ’t got

chick nor chi ld,nor blood relation in the

world,and if I choose to take somebody to

d0 '

for,why

,i t ’s nobody ’s affairs but my

Hard to melt.

‘ You can ’t do it,and you sha’n ’t do it ! ’

266 T IMOTHY’S QUESTsaid Miss Vilda excitedly.

‘ You ain’t goin’to make a fool of yourself

,if I can help it.

We can ’t have two chi ldren clutterin’ up

this place and eatin’

us out of house and

home, and that’

s the end of i t.’

‘It ain ’t the end of it

,V ildy Cummins ,

not by no manner 0’ means ! I f we can ’t

keep both of ’em,do you know what I th ink

’bout i t ? I th ink we ’

d ought to give away

the one that everybody wants and keep the

other that nobody does want,more fools

they ! That ’s rel igion,accord in

’ to my way

0’

think in’

. I love the baby,dear knows

but see here. Who planned this thing al l

out ? Timothy. Who took that baby up in

his own arms and fetched her out 0 ’ that den

0’ thieves ? Timothy. Who stood al l the

resk of gittin ’ that innocent lamb out 0 ’ that

sink of in iquity,and hed wit enough to bring

her to a place where she could grow up

respectable ? Timothy. And do you ketch

him sayin ’ a word ’bout himself from fust to

last ? Not by no manner 0’ means . That

ain’t Timothy. And what doos the lovin’

gen’

rous,faithful l ittle soul git ? He gits his

labour for his pains. He hears folks say


268 TIMOTHY’S QUESTnor yit a concordance to tel l me he

'

was. He

didn ’t know there was plenty ’

n’ to spare

inside this gate ; a great empty house’

n’

ful l

cel lar,

’

n’ hay ’

n’ stock in the barn and

cowpons in the bank ,’

n’ two lone

,m i s able

women inside,

'

with noth in ’ to'

do but keep

fl ies out in summer—time,

’

n’ pile wood on in

winter time,ti l l they got so withered up n’n

gnarly they warn ’t hardly wuth getherin’

in t’ the everlast in’ harvest ! He didn ’t

know it,I say

,but the Lord d id ;

’

11 the

Lord ’s intention was to give us a chance to

make our cal l in ’ ’

n’ election sure

,

’

n’

°

we

can ’t do that by turn in’

our backs on H i smessenger

,and putt in

’

of him ou*doors !

The Lord intended them children ' should

stay together or He wouldn ’t ’a" started ’em

out that way ; now that’

s as plain as‘

the '

nose on my face,

’

n’

that ’s consid’

ab le plain

as I ’ve be ’n told afore now,

’

n’

can see for

myself in the glass without any help from‘

anybody,thanks be

‘ E verybody’

ll laugh at us for a couple of“

soft-hearted fools,

’ said Miss Vilda feebly,

after a long pause. ‘We ’l l be a spectacle

for the whole vi l lage.’


‘What ifwe be ? Let ’s

be a spectacle,then 1 said

Samantha stoutly. We ’l l

be a spectacle for the

angels as wel l as thevil lage

,when you come to

that ! When they look

down ’

n’ see us gittin’ out

s ide this door yard ’

n’ doin’ A Spectacle for Angela

one o’ the Lord ’s chores for the first time

in ten or fifteen years,I guess they wil l be

consid’

ab le excited ! But there ’s no use in

talkin ’,I ’

ve made up my mind,V ildy. We ’

ve

l ived together for thirty years ’

n’ ain’t hardly

hed an ugly word,

’

n’

dretful dul l it hez be’

n

for both of us,

’

n’ I sh ’an ’t l ive nowheres

else without you tel l me to go ; but I ’ve

got lots 0’ good work in me yit

,

’

n’

I’

m

goin’ to take that boy up ’

n’ give him a

chance,

’

n’ let h im stay alongside o’ the thing

he loves best in the world. And if there

ain’t room for al l of us in the fourteen rooms0

’ th is part 0 ’ the house,T imothy ’

n’ I can

l ive in the L,as you ’

ve al lers intended Ishould if I got married. And I guess thisis ’bout as near to gittin ’ married as either

0

210 T IMOTHY’S QUE STof us ever

’

ll git now,

’

n’

consid’

ab le nearer’

n’ I ’ve expected to git lately. And I ’l l

tel l Timothy this very n ight,when he goes

to bed,for he ’

s grievin’ himself in to a fit 0

’

s ickness,as anybody can tel l that ’s got a

glass eye in their heads


T was almost dusk,

and Jabe S locum wasstruggl ing with the

n ightly problem of

getting the cow from

the pasture without any ex

penditure of personal effort .

Timothy was nowhere to be found,or he

would go and be glad to do the trifling service

for his kind friend without other remunera

tion than a cordial ‘ Thank you.

’ Fail ing

Timothy there was always Bil ly Pennell,

who would not go for a‘ Thank you

,

’ being

a boyof a sordid and miserly manner ofthought

,but who would go for a cent and

chalk the cent up ,which made it a more

reasonable charge than would appear to the

casual observer. So Jabe l ighted his corn

cob pipe,and extended himsel f under a

wil low-tree beside the pond,singing in a

cheerful fashion,

T IMOTHY’S QUESTTrembl ia’ sinner

,calm your fearsJesus is always ready.

Cease your sin and dryyour tears ,Jesus is always readyI

‘ And dretful l ucky for you He is ! ’

muttered Samantha,who had come to look

for Timothy.

‘ Jabe ! Jabe ! Has Timothygone for the cow P

‘ Dunno. Jest what I was goin’ to askyou when I got roun ’ to i t.’Well

,how are you goin ’ to find out P

‘ Find out by see in’ the cow i f he hez

gone,an

’ by not

see in’ no cow if he

hain ’t. I’

m com

f’table either way

it turns out. One

0’ them writ in

’

0fel lers that was

1262 S ing i ng.up here summerm ’

said , They also serve who’

d ruther stan’ ’

n’

wait d be a good motto for me,

’

n’ he ’

s

about right when I ’ve be ’n hayin’. Look

down there at the shiners,ain ’t they coolP

Gorry ! I wish I was a fish ! ’‘If you was you wouldn ’t wear your fins

out , that’

s certain


216 T IMOTHY’S QUE ST‘

Oh, yet. I yike to l ive here if T im fydoin’ to l ive here too. I yike 00

,I yike

Samfy, I yike Dabe , I yike white tat ’

n’

white tow ’

n’ white bossy ’

n’ my boofely

desses ’

n’ my boofely dol ly

’

n’

er day hen’

n’ I yikes evelybuddy.

’

‘ But'

you’

d stay here l ike a n ice l ittle

girl i f Timothy had to go away, wouldn’t

you P’

‘ No,I won’t tay l ike n ite ittle dirl i f

T imfydo’way. I f T imfy do ’way

,I do too.

I’

s Timfy’

s dirl.‘ But you ’

re too l i ttle to go away with

Timothy.

’

Ven I ky an’ keam an

’ kick an’ hold my

bwef—Is ’ow you how‘ No

,you needn ’t show me how

,

’ said

Vilda hasti ly.

‘Who do you love best,

deary, Samanthy or me P

‘ I yuv Timfy bet. Lemme twy rit-manpoor-man-bedder-man-fief on your buckalins

,

pease.‘ Then you ’

ll stay here and be my l ittle

girl,will you P

‘ Yet,I tay here an

’ be Timfy’

s i ttle dirl.

Now 00 p’ay by your own seff ittle while,

TIMOTIIY’

S QUEST 2 17

Mit Vildy,pease

,coz I dot to det down an

’

hnd Samfy an’ put my dol ly to bed coz she ’s

defful seepy.

’

I t ’s half-past eight,

’ said Samanthacoming into the kitchen

,and Timothy ain’t

nowheres to be found,and Jabe hain ’t seen

him sence noon-time.’

‘ You needn’t be scared for fear you ’

ve

lost your bargain,

’ remarked Miss Vilda

sarcastical ly.

‘ There ain’t so many places

Open to the boy that he ’

11 turn his back on

this one,I guess

Yet,though the days of ch iv

alrywere over, that was prec isely

what Timothy Jessup had done.

Wilkins’ Woods was a quiet

stretch of timber land that lay

along the banks of Pleasant

River ; and though the natives ,for the most part

,would never

have noticed if i t had been paved

with asphalt and roofed in with

o il-cloth,i t was

,nevertheless

,

the most tranqui l bit of loveli

ness in al l the country round .

2 18 T IMOTHY’S QUE STFor there the river twisted and turned and

sparkled in the sun,and bent itsel f in grace

ful courtesies of farewel l ’ to the hil l s i t was

leaving and kissed the velvet meadows that

stooped to drink from its brimming cup ; and

lapped the trees gently,as they

hung over i ts crystal m irrors the

better to see their own fresh beauty.

Here i t wound about and in andout

,

’ laughing in the morning sun

l ight,to think of the tiny streamlet

out of which it grew,pal ing and

shimmering at even ing when it

held the stars and moonbeams in

i ts bosom ; and trembl ing in the

n ight wind to think of the great unknown

sea into whose arms i t was hurrying.

Here was a quiet pool where the rushesbent to the breeze and the quail d ipped her

wing there,a wind ing path where the cattle

came down to the edge,and having looked

upon the scene and found i t al l very good,

d ipped their sleek heads to drink and drink

and drink of the river’s nectar. The first

pink m ayflowers pushed their sweet heads

through the reluctant earth here,and there


220 TIMOTIIY’

S QUE STcapable. That he knew precisely what he

was leaving behind,or what he was gomg

forth to meet,would be saying too much .

One th ing he did know Miss Vi lda had said

d istinctly that two was one too many,and

that he was the objectionable unit referred

to. In addition to th is he had more thanonce heard that nobody in Pleasan t River

wanted him,but there would be plenty of

homes open to Gay, i f he were safely out of

the way. A little al lusion to a Home,which

he caught when he was j ust bringing in a

four-leaved clover to show to Samantha,com

pleted the stock of ideas from which he

reasoned. He was very clear on one point ;that he would never be taken al ive and put

in a home with a capital H . He respected

Homes,he approved of them

,for other boys

,

but personal ly they were unpleasant to h im,

and he had no intention of dwel l ing in one

if he could help it. The s ituation did not

appear utterly hopeless in his eyes. He had

his original dol lar and eighty-five cents in

money Rags and he had supped l ike kings

off wild blackberries and hard gingerbread ;and

,more than all

,he was young and merci


ful ly bl ind to everyth ing but the immediate

present. Yet even in taking the most commonplace possible view of his character i t

would be fol ly to affirm that he was anything

but unhappy. H is soul was not sustainedby the consciousness of having done a self

forgetting and manly act for he was not old

enough to have such a consciousness,which

is something the good God gives us a l ittle

later on,to help us over some of the hard

places .

Nobody wants me ! Nobody wants me

he sighed,as he lay down under the trees .

Nobody ever d id want me,—I wonder

why | And everybody loves my darl ing Gay

and wants to keep her,and I don’t wonder

about that But,oh

,i f I only belonged to

somebody ! (Cuddle up close, l i ttle Ragsy ;we ’

ve got nobody but j ust each other,and

you can put your head into the other pocket

that hasn ’t got gingerbread in it,i f you

please 1) I f I only was l ike that l i ttlebutcher’s boy that he lets ride on the seat

with him,and hold the reins when he takes

meat into the houses,—or i f I only was

that freckle-faced boy with the straw hat that

222 T IMOTHY’S QUE STl ives on the way to the store ! H is motherkeeps coming out to the gate on purpose to

kiss him . Or i f I was even Bi l ly Pennel l 'He ’s had three mothers and two fathers in

three years, Jabe says. Jabe l ikes me,I

think, but he can’t have me l ive at his house

,

because h is mother is the kind that needs

plenty of room,he says—and Samanthy

has no house. But I did what I tried to do.

I got away from Minerva Court and found alovely place for Gay to l ive

,with two mothers

instead of one ; and maybe they’

11 tel l her

about me when she grows bigger,and then

she ’

11 know I didn’t want to run away fromher

,but whether they tel l her or not

,she ’s

only a baby,and boys must always take care

of girls ; that’

s what my dream-mother

whispers to me in the n ight,—and that ’s

what I’

m always

Come ! gentle sleep, and take this friend

less l ittle knight-errant in thy kind arms !

Bear him across the rainbow bridge, and lul l

h im to rest with the soft plash of waves and

sighing of branches ! Cover him with thy

mantle ofdreams, sweet goddess, and give , 1im

in sleep what he hath never had in waking !


224 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTout a roof to his head ! Read it out,

’

n’

see

what kind of a boy we ’

ve showed the door

to ! ’

Dere Miss vilder and sermanthy. i herd

you say i cood not stay here enny longer

and other people sed

nobuddy wood have

me and what you sed

about the home but

as i do not l ike homes

i am going to run

away if its al l the

same to you. Please

give Jabe back his

birds cgs with my

love and i am sorry i broak the humming

bird’s one but it was a nax iden t. Pleas take

good care of gay and i wi l l come back and

get her when I am ri tch. I thank you verymutch for such a happy t ime and the white

farm is the most butifull plase in the whole

whirld. TIM .

p . s. i wood not tel l you if i was going to

stay but bil ly penel thros stones at the white

The Letter.

cow witch i fere wi l l get into her m ilk so no

more from T IM .


p. s . i am sorry not to say good by but i

am afrade on acount of the home so i put

them here.

The paper fel l from Miss Vilda’s trembl ing

fingers, and two salt tears dropped into the

kissing places.‘ The Lord forgive me ! ’ she said at

length—it was many a year since any one

had seen her so moved.

‘ The Lord forgive

me for a hard-hearted old woman,and give

me a chance to make it right. Not one

reproachful word does he say to us about

showin’ partial ity—not one ! And my heart

has kind of yearned over that boy from the

first,but j ust because he had Marthy

’

s eyes

he kept bringin ’ up the past to me,and I

never looked at him without rememberin’

P

226 TIMOTHY’S QUE SThow hard and unforgivin

’

I'

d be’n to her,and think in

’

if I’

d petted and humoured

her a l ittle and made l ife pleasanter, per

haps she ’d never have gone away. And

I ’ve scrimped and saved and laid up money

ti l l i t comes hard to pay it out,and when

I thought of bringin’ up and schoolin’

two

children I cal’lated I couldn ’t afi‘b rd it ; andyet I ’ve got ten thousand dol lars in the

bank and the best farm for miles around.

Samanthy, you go fetch my bonnet and

shawl,—Jabe

,you go

and hitch up Maria,

and we ’

11 go after

that boy and fetch

him back if he ’

s to

be found anywheres

above ground ! And

i f we come across

any more 0’ the

same family tramp in’

around the country,

we ’

11 bring them along home while we ’

re

about it,and see ifwe can ’t get some sleep

and some comfort out 0 ’ l ife. The Mission

ary Society wil l have to look somewheres

Melted.


SCE NE ! V

WILKI NS’ woons

Like all Dogs i n F z’

ctz‘

ozz, tlze Faz'

tlzy’ul Rags gui de:M iss Vz/a

’a 10 hi s Li ttle Master


232 T IMOTHY’S QUE SThis mouth to an alarming extent. ‘Oh,

there,I can ’t hold in ’nother minute. I shal l

bust if I don’ tel l somebody ! Set down onthat nai l kag

, Samanthy,’

n’ I ’l l let you hev

a leetle sl ice 0’ this joke—if you ’l l keep it

to yourself. You see I know—’bout—whar

to look—for this here—runaway‘ You hevn’

t got h im stowed away any

wheres,hev you ? If you hev

,i t ’11 be the

last joke you ’

11 play on V ildy Cummins, Ican tel l you that much

,Jabe S locum .

’

No,I hain ’t stowed him away

,but I can

tel l putty n igh whar he ’

s stowed hi sself

away,and I’

m ready to die a-laffin’ to see

how it ’s al l turned out jest as I suspicioned ’

t

would. You see, SamanthyAnn , I thought

’bout a week ago ’

t would be wel l enough to

kind 0’ create a demand for the young ones

so ’

t they ’

d hev some kind of a market value,

and so I got E lder Southwick ’

n’ Aunt H i tty

kind 0’ started on that tack. I t worked out

sl ick as a whistle,for they didn ’t know I was

usin ’ of ’em as innercent instruments, andAunt H i tty don’t need much encouragementto talk ; i t

’

s a heap easier for her to drizzle’

n i t i s to hold up ! Well , I ’ve be ’

n sur


misin’ for a week that the boy meant to run

away,and to-day I was dead sure of i t for

he come to me this afternoon,when I was

restin’ a spel l on account 0’ the hot sun,and

he was awful low-sperrited,’

n’ he asked me

every namable kind of a question you ever

hearn tel l of,and al l so S imple-minded that I

jest turned him inside out ’thout his knowin’

what I was doin’. Well,when I found out

what he was up to I could ’

a’ stopped him

then ’

n’ there

,tho’ I don’ know’s I would

anyhow,for I shouldn’t l ike l ivin’ in a ’

sylum

any better ’

n he doos ; but thinks I to myself

,thinks I

,I

’

d better let him run away,

jest as he ’s a-

plann in’—and why ? ’

Cause

i t ’11 show what kind 0’ stuff he ’

s made of,

and that he a in’t no beggar layin’ roun ’ wharhe ain ’t wanted

,but a self-respectin

’ boy

that ’s wuth l ookin ’ after. And thinks I,

Samanthy n I know the wuth of him

a’ready,but there ’s them that hain ’t waked

up to i t yit,namely, Miss VildyTrypheny

Cummins ; and as Miss Vildy Trypheny

Cummins is that k ind 0’ cattle that can

’

t be

drove,but hez to be kind 0

’ coaxed along,mebbe this runn in

’-away b iz ness

’

ll be the

234 T IMOTHY ’S QUESTthing that ’11 fetch her roun’ to our way 0

’

thinkin.

’ Now I wouldn ’t deceive nobodyfor a farm down E ast with a pig on i t

,but

thinks I,there ain ’t no deceiv in’ ’bout this .

He don ’ know I know he ’s goin’ to run

away,so he ’

s al l square and he never told

me nothin’ ’bout h is plans,so I’

m al l square ;and Miss V i ldy

’

s good as eighteen-karat gold

when she gets roun ’ to it,so she ’l l be al l

square ; and Samanthy’

s got her bl inders on’

n’ don ’t see nothin ’ to the right nor to the

left,so she ’s al l square. And I ain’t inter

ferin’ with nobody. I’

m jest lettin’

th ings

go the way they’

ve started ,’

n’ stan ’in’ to one

side to see whar they ’

11fetch up , kind 0’ l ike

Providence . I’

m leav in’ Miss V i ldy a free

agent,but I’

m shapin’ circumstances so ’

5 to

give her a chance. But, land ! i f I’

d fi x ed

up the thing to suit myself I couldn’t ’

a’

managed it as T imothy hez,

’thout knowin ’

that he was managin’ anything. Look at

that letter b iz ness now ! I couldn ’t ’

a’ writ

that letter better myself And the sperrit o’

the l ittle fel ler,jest takin ’ his dorg ’

n’

lightin’

out with noth in ’ but a perl i te good-bye !

Well , I can ’t st0p to talk no more ’bout i t


236 T IMOTHY’S QUESTand colourless l ife. Now,

under the magic spel l of

tender l i ttle hands and inno

cent l ips,of l uminous eyes

that looked wistful ly into

hers for a welcome and the

touch of a groping helpless

ness that fastened upon her

strength , the woman in her

woke into l ife,and the beauty

and fragrance of long-agosummers came back again as in a dream .

Transformed .

After having driven three or four m iles,

they heard a melancholy sound

in the distance ; and as they

approached a huge wood-pile

on the left s ide of the road,

they saw a smal l wool ly form

perched on a l i ttle ri se of

ground,howl ing most melod i

ously at the August moon, that

hung l ike a bal l of red fire in

the cloudless sky.

‘ That ’s a sign of death in

the family,ain ’t it

, Jabe P’

whispered Miss Vilda faintly. Howlmg at 1112 Moon.


‘

So they say,

’

he answered cheerful ly,

but if ’

t i s I can ’count for i t,bein’ as how I

ferti l ised the pond l i l ies with a mess 0 ’

four

white kittens this afternoon and as Rags

was with me when I done i t,he may know

what he ’

s bayin’ ’bout

,—if ’

t i s Rags,

’

n’ it

looks enough l ike him to be him,—’n ’ i t i s

him,by J iminy

,

’

n’

T imothy ’s sure to be

somewheres near. I ’l l get

out ’

n’ look roun’ a l ittle.’

‘ You set right sti l l,Jabe °

I’

ll get out myself,for if I

find that boy I ’ve got some

thing to say to him that 1

nobody can say for me.’ H° knew M2112.

As Jabe drew the waggon up beside the

fence,Rags bounded out to meet them. He

knew Maria,bless your soul

,the minute he

clapped his eyes on her,and as he approached

Miss V ildy’

s congress boot his quivering

whiskers seemed to say,

‘ Now,where

have I smelled that boot before ? If Imistake not

,i t has been appl ied to me more

than once. Ha l I have it ! Miss VildaCummins of the White Farm , owner of the

white cat and hash-pan,and companion of

238 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STthe lady with the firm band

,who wields

the broom ! ’ whereupon he leaped up on

Miss Cummins’ black alpaca skirts , and

made for her flannel garters in a way that

she particularly disl iked.

‘ Now,

’ said she,

‘ i i he ’s anyth ing l ike

the dogs you hear tel l of,he ’

11 take us right

to T imothy.

’

‘Wall,I don ’ know

,

’ said Jabe cautiously ;‘ there ’s so many kinds 0

’ dorg in him you

can ’t hard ly tel l what he wil l do. When

dorgs is mixed beyond a certain p’int i t kind

0’ muddles up their instincks

,

’

n’ you can’t

rely on ’em . S ti l l you might try him . Holdstil l

,

’

n’ see what he ’

11do.

’

Miss Vilda ‘ held sti l l,

’ and Rags jumped

on her skirts.

Now,set down

,

’

n’ see whar he ’

11go.

’

Miss Vi lda sat down,and Rags went into

her lap.

‘ Now,make bel ieve start somewheres

,n

mebbe he ’

11 get ahead ’

n’ put on the right

track.

’

Miss Vi lda did as she was told,and Rags

fol lowed close at her heels.‘ Gorry ! I never see sech a fool l—or


246 T IMOTHY’S QUE STl ips

,as if his dream-mother had rocked him

to sleep in her arms . Rags stole away to

Jabe (for even mixed dogs have some del i

cacy), and Miss Vilda went down

on her knees beside the sleeping

boy.

imothy, Timothy, wake up

No answer.

T imothy,wake up I

’

ve come

to take you home

Timothy woke with a sob and

a start at that hated word,and

seeing M iss Vilda at once j umped to con

clusions.

‘ Please, please, dear Miss V ildy, don’

t

take me to the Home,but find me some other

place,and I ’

11never,never run away from it

‘ You blessed child,I ’ve come to take

you back to your own home at the White

Farm .

’

I t was too good to be l ieve al l at once.‘ Nobody wants me there

,

’ he said hesi

tatingly.

E verybody wants you there,

’ repl ied Miss

Vilda,with a softer note in her voice than

anybody had ever heard there before.

A dog 's de l icacy.


Samantha wants you,Gay wants you

,and

Jabe is waiting out here with Maria,for he

wants you .

’

‘ But i t ’s your house and you don ’t want

me fal tered the boy.

‘ I want you more than al l of ’em put

together, Timothy I want you,and I need

you most of al l,

’ cried Miss Vilda,with the

Alle luja.

tears coursing down her withered cheeks ‘ i i

you ’

11only forgive me for burtin’ your feelin ’

s

and makin’ you run away, you shal l come to

the White Farm and be my own boy as long

as you l ive.’

Oh, Miss V ildy, darl ing Miss Vildy!

are we both of us adopted,and are we truly

going to l ive with you al l the time and never

have to go to the Home P’ Whereupon ,

0\2

242 TIMOTHY’S QUE STthe boy flung his loving arms round Miss

Vi lda’s neck in an ecstasy of gratitude ;and in that sweet embrace of trust and

confidence and joy,the stone was rol led

away, once and for ever, from the sepulchre

of Miss Vi lda’s heart,and E aster morning

broke there.


ABE SLOCUM ! Do

you know it ’s goin ’

on seven o ’clock ’

n’

not a single chore

done P’

Jabe yawned,turned

over,and l istened to

S am an th a ’s u nwe l

c om e vo i c e,wh i ch

(considerably louder

than the voice of conscience) came from

the outside world to disturb his del icious

morning slumbers.

jabe S locum ,I say ! Do you hear me P

’

Hear you P Gorry ! you ’

d wake the

seven sleepers if they was anywhar within

ear-shot ! ’

Wall,wil l you git up P’

Yes,I ’l l git up i f you ’

re goin ’ to hev a

brash ’bout it, but I wish you hedn’

t waked

me so awful suddent. “ Don ’t ontwist the

morn in’ glory

,

”’

s my motto. Wait a spel l’

n’

246 T IMOTHY ’S QUE STthe sun

’

ll do it,

’

n’ save a heap o

’ wear n

tear besides. Go’long I ’

ll git up .

’

‘I

’ve heerd that story afore,

’

n’ I won ’t

go’long tel l I hear you step foot on the

floon’

Scoot I tel l yer I ’l l be out in a J i ffy.

’

Yes,I th ink I see yer.

Yourjifii es are consid ’

ab le l ike

golden opportun ities,there

ain ’t time for more ’

n one of’em in a l ifetime ! ’ and having

shot this Parthian arrow,

Samantha departed as onehaving done her duty in thathumble sphere of action to

which i t had pleased Provi

dence to cal l her. These were

beautiful autumn days at the

White Farm . The orchards

were gleaming,the grapes

hung purple on the vines,and

the odour of ripening fru it was

in the hazy air. The pink

spiraea had cast its feathery petal by the grey

stone wal ls,but the welcome golden-rod

bloomed in royal profusion along the brown


248 TIMOTHY ’S QUESTcan ’t kick the cat

,though she ’s more ever

lastin’

ly under foot’

n ever,’

n’ pretty soon I

sha’n’t even have sprawl enough to jaw Jabe

S locum. Ib’

lieve i t ’s noth in ’ in the world

but them children !

They keep a-runn in’

after me,

’

n’ i t ’s dear

Samanthyhere,’

n’ dear

Samanthythere, jest as

if I warn ’t a homb lyold maid ’

n’ they take

bol t 0’ my hands on

both s ides 0’ me

,

’

n’

won’t stir a step ti l l Igo to see the chickens

with ’em,

’

n’ the pig

,

’

n’

one thing ’

n’ ’nother

,

’

n’

clapp in’ their hands

when Imake ’emginger

bread men,and kissin’ ofme when I give ’em

pond l i l ies to smel l of. And that reminds me,

I see the school-teacher goin ’ down along this

mornin’

,

’

n’ I run out to see how Timothy was

gittin ’ along in his studies. She says he ’

s the

most ex-tra-ord inary scholar in this deestrick .

She says he takes holt of every book she

Going to see the Ch1ckens.


gives him jest as if ’

t was reviewin stid o’

the first time over. She says when he speakspieces

,Friday afternoons

,al l the rest 0’ the

young ones set there with their jaws hangin ’,

’

n’ some of ’em laughin

’ ’

n’

cryin’ ’

t the same

time. She says we ’

d oughter see some of

his comp’

sit ions’

n’ she ’l l show us some as

soon as she gits ’em back from her beau,

that works at the Waterbury Watch Factory,

and they ’

re goin ’ to be married ’

s quick as

she gits money enough saved up to buy her

weddin’ clo’es,

’

n’ I told her not to put it off

too long or she ’d hev her clo

’es on her hands,

’stid ofher back ShesaysT imothy

’

s at the

head ofthe hul l class,but

,land ! there ain

’t

a boy in it that knows

enough to git his

clo ’es on right side

out. She ’s a splen

did teacher,Miss‘

Boothby is ! She T1 “ Pm

tel ls me the seeleck men hev raised her pay

to four dol lars a week’

n’ she to board her

self,

’

n’ she ’s wuth every cent of it. I l ike

256 T IMOTHY’S QUE STto see folks well paid that ’s got the patience

to set in-doors ’

n’ cram information inter

young ones that don’t care no more ’bout

learnin’ ’

n a skunk-blackbird. She give meTimothy’s writ in’ book for you to see what

he writ in i t yesterday,

’

n’ she hed to keep

him in ’

t recess ’cause he didn ’t copy Go to

the ant,thou sluggard , and be wise, as he

’

d

oughter. Now let ’s see what ’

t i s. My

grief i t ’s poetry sure ’

s you ’

re born . I cantel l i t in a minute ’cause i t don’t come out to

the aidge o’ the book one side or the other.

Read it out loud,V i ldy.

’

Oh theWhit e Farm and the White Farm 1I love i t wi th all myheartAnd I’

m to l ive at the White Farm ,

Til l death i t do us part.”Miss Vi lda l ifted her head

,intoxicated

with the melody she had evoked. Did you

ever hear anything l ike that P she exclaimed

proudly.

Oh the White Farm and the Wh ite Farm I

I love i t w i th all myheartAnd I ’

m to l ive at the White Farm ,

Til l death i t do us part .”

J ust hear the sent’

ment of it, and the

way i t s ings along l ike a tune . I’

m goin’

to


252 1 11101 s QUE STBut

,alas ! the younger and fresher and

happier Samantha looked,the older and

sadder and meeker David appeared,ti l l al l

hopes of his ‘ spunking up’ died out of the

vil lage heart and,i t might as wel l be stated ,

out of Samantha’s also. She always thoughtabout it at sundown

,for i t was at sundown

that al l their quarrels and reconcil iations had

taken place,inasmuch as i t was the only

leisure time for week-day courting at Pleasant

River.

I t was sundown now ; Miss Vilda andJabez S locum had gone to Wednesday evening prayer-meeting

,and Samantha was look

ing for Timothy to go to the store with her

on some household errands. She had seenthe chi ldren go into the garden a half—hour

before,Timothy walking gravely

,with his

book behind him,Gay blowing over the grass

l ike a feather.

She walked towards the summer-house ;T imothy was not there

,but l ittle Lady Gay

was having a party al l to herself,and the

scene was such a pretty one that Samanthastooped behind the lattice and l istened.

There was a table spread for four,with

1 11101 s QUE ST 253

bits of broken china and shel ls for dishes,

and pieces of apple and gingerbread for the

feast. There were several dol ls present,

notably one without any head,who was not

l ikely to shine at a dinner-party ; but Gay’s

first-born sat in her lap. Only a mother

could have gazed upon such a battered thing

The D inner-Party.

and loved it . Gay took her pleasures madly,and this faithful creature had shared them

al l but not having inherited her mother’s

somewhat rare recuperative powers,she was

now fit only for a free bed in a hospi tal

a state of m ind and body which she did not

in the least endeavour to conceal . One of

her shoe-button eyes dangled by a l inen

254 T IMOTHY’S QUESTthread in a blood -curdl ing sort of way. Hernose, which had been a pink glass bead , was

now a mere spot,ambiguously located. Her

red worsted l ips were sadly ravel led,but that

she did not regret,

‘ for i t was k issin’ as

done it ’ Her yarn hair was attached toher head with safety-pins

,and her internal

organs intruded themselves on the publ ic

through a gaping wound in the side. Never

mind ! if you have any curiosity to measure

the strength of the ideal,watch a chi ld with

her oldest dol l. Rags sat at the head of the

dinner-table,and had taken the precaution

to get the headless dol l on his right,with a

view to eating her gingerbread as wel l as his

own—doing no violence to the proprieties inthis way

,but rather conceal ing her defects

from a carping publ ic.‘ I tel l you sompfin’

,ittle Mit V ildyTum

mins,

’ Gay was saying to her battered off

spring.

‘You ’s doin ’ to have a new ittle

sit-ter to -mowowday, i f you’

s a dood ittle

dirl an’ does to seep n ite an’ k ick

,you ser

weet ittle VildyTumm ins (All th is punc

tuated with ardent squeezes fraught with

del ic ious agony to one who had a wound in


256 TIMOTHY ’S QUE STnature

,Samantha walked back to the gate

,

and met Timothy as he came out of the

orchard. She knew then what he had beendoing. The boy had certain quain t thoughtsand ways that were at once a revelation and

an inspiration to these two pla i n women,

and one of them was to step softly into the

side orchard on pleasant even ings,and with

out a word , to lay a nosegay on Martha’s

l i ttle white doorplate. I fMiss Vi lda chanced to be

at the window he would

give her a quiet smi le,

much as to say,

‘We

have no need of words,

we two ! ’ And Vilda,

l ike one of old,hid all

these doings in her heart" ”

of hearts,and loved the

boywith a love passingT imothy'

s Thoughtfulness.

knowledge .

Samantha,with Timothy by her s ide

,

walked down the hil l to the store. Yes,

David Mil l iken was s itting al l alone on the

loafer’s bench at the door,and why wasn

'

t

he at prayer-meet in’

,where he ought to be ?


She was glad she chanced to have on herclean purple cal ico

,and that Timothy had

insisted on pinning a pink Ma’

thyVVashing

ton geranium in her col lar,for i t was just

as wel l to make folks ’ mouth water whether

they had sense enough to eat or not.‘Who is that sorry- looking man that always

s its on the bench at the store, SamanthyP

‘ That ’

s David Mil l iken .

’

Why does he look so sorry,SamanthyP

‘ Oh, he’s al l right. He l ikes i t fust

rate,wearin

’ out that hard bench settin ’ on

it n ight in ’

n’ n ight out

,l ike a bump on a

log ! But,there

,Timothy

,I ’ve gone ’

n’

forgot the whole pepper,

’

n’ we ’

re goin ’ to

pick le seed cowcum b ers to-morrer. Youtake the lard home ’

n’ put it in the cold

room,

’

n'

ondress Gay ’

nf git her to bed,for

I ’ve got to cal l int’ Mis Mayhew’s goin ’

along back .

’

I t was very vexatious to be obl iged topass David Mil l iken a second time ‘ though

there warn ’t no sign that he cared anything

about i t one way or ’nother,bein ’ blind as a

bat,

’

n’ deet as an adder

,

’

n’ dumb as a fish,

’

n’ settin ’ stocksti l l there with no coat on

,

R

258 TIMOTHY’S QUE ST’

n’ the wind b lowin’ up for rain

,

’

n’

four 0

the Mi l l ikens layin’ in the churchyard with

gallopin’ consumption.

’ I t was in this frameof mind that she purchased the pepper

,

which she could have eaten at that moment

as calmly as if i t had been marrow-fat

peas and in this frame of mind she might

have continued to the end of time had

it not been for one of those unconsidered

trifles that move the world when the great

forces have given up trying. As she came

out of the store and passed David,her

eye fel l on a patch in the flannel shirt that

covered his bent shoulders. The shirt was

grey,and (oh , the pity of i t the patch was

red ; moreover, i t was laid forlom ly on

outside,and held by straggl ing st itches of

carpet thread put in by patient,clumsy

fingers. That patch had an irresistible pathos

for a woman

Samantha Ann Ripley never exactly knewwhat happened . E ven the wisest of New

E ngland virgins has emotional lapses once

in a while,and this one confessed afterwards

that her heart riz right up inside of her l ike

a yeast cake. Mr. Berry,the postmaster

,


St ran

TO THE KIN G’

S HEN CHMAN .

’

nber the Spell of”(She jflet

be i tsEntitled originally ‘King or Knave .

’

A Tale of the Huguenot Days and Henryof Navarre.

ByW i lliam He n ry J oh nson]

Crown Illus/ralea’

, clot/z gill, 6/cotsman Mr. Johnson has chosen for the them e of his story th

great king' s hot and un scrupulous wooing of Gabrielle d ’

E stréesprosecuted w it h reckless audacity at the very t im e when he wafighting his wayto the crown of France. The sto ry 0Gabrielle d ’

E strées i s a moral t ragedy impressively told .

”

pectalor : Chicfly concerned wi th the amorous adventures of Henr

of Navarre and not lacking in cleverness.”

( She 1113101136 JBubbbaBy Cora Li n n Dan ie ls

Crown gi ll, é/The Bron z e Buddha” i s an oriental and myst ical tale, the elemen

mysterybeing a st rong quahty of the book . Notwithstanding th.

a i acter of the story, i t s period IS the presen t t ime, and the events ocenN ew York.

Pub lished by

GAY and BIRD

2 2 Bedford S t reet ,

London , W .C .

E be miracles of ElnttcbrtBy S e lm a Lage rlof

Aut ho r i s ed T rans lat ion by P . B. Flac h

Crown 800, 010111 gzlt, 6/W . L. COURTNEY concludes m ore than a column not ice in

Da i ly Telegrap/z by saying A book tha t i s alike remarkin i ts style , i ts language, and i t s thoughts.”Cosmopoli s

—“ A masterpiece of the highest order. A clzef (fatwhich places the young author in the fron t rank of the li teart ist s of her day.

"

Scotsman :—“A work of m uch power. i t demands ea1

attent ion .

”

Dai ly Chron icle Undoubtedly a masterpiece . I t possessesveryhigh degree li terary cha rm and grace.”Tr ai l: A rea l ly cha rm ing and charm ingly-translated Swedish n01

Bookman M i ss Lagerlof is a gifted and unique writer.”

Gbe W ings of S i lenceBy G eo rge Coss i ns

A alhor of Isban Israel.”

Crown 800, 010112 gi lt , élLloyd

’s Week ly A really excel len t piece of fict ion.

Dai ly Telegv'

aph .

‘ Tales of personat ion and t reasure-t rove,vi

symmetr ical ly const ructed and brightly wri t ten,seldom b i

vain for public favour, and Mr. Cossins’

s new story, bem inen tlyat t ract ive in bo th these respect s,wi l l probably acb

con side rable popula ri ty.

Bookman A thri l l ing tale in Haggardesque manner,

of

adventures of Austral ian gold-seekers . I t i s a lively, cland readable book .

GlasgowHerald Wel l writ ten and ful l of interest."Scotsman A capi tal storyof Austral ian m in ing life.Weekly Tim es One of the best stories we have read for a long t 'Slzcjfi eld Telegrap lz : Wings of Si lence ’ i s a capi ta l st

cleverlyconceived and effectivelywri t ten .”Dundee A dverti ser A splendid storyof Austral ian life .

i s th roughout an absorbing story.

”

A bcfm journal —“It i s one of the most fascinat ing storie

adventure ever w ri tt en .

”


By S e lm a Lage rlof

Aut hor i s e d Tran s lat ion by P . B . Flac h

Crown 800, lzana’

somely bound , é/Another t ranslat ion has simultaneously appeared i n London

,b u

s eight chapters om i t ted and i s pronounced an infen or t ran sla t ion .

heDai ly Chron icle—“ It i s unl ike anyth ing that has yet appearei n Scandinavian li te rature. Bubbl ing over w ith enthusmsm fothe beaut iful and heroic , in st inct W i th a juven ile freshness anvigour, giving the freest play to an ex hub erant fancy and

world-w ide imagi nat ion , and abounding w ith wondrous adven tureand masterly descriptions presented in a style of singular pu ri tand nobility. I t at once d ivided l iterarySweden into two host i lcam p s, and has been the bone of crit ical contention in thecountryever since. M 153 Flach knows Swedish m uch better thaM iss Tudeer

,and her E ngl i sh 15 infini tely superior ."

he P all Mall Gaz elle .

‘ Gosta Berlmg’

s i s a subtle and complecharacter, st range in i ts i ssues , yet compelling you to feel tha t i t ione of the root characters of human i ty ; certain ly a t riumphportra1ture

—not rest rained , but never inart istic . A thinof beauty i n it s way and Keats has told us what tha t sign ifies.

( the Sworb of 3usticeBy S h e p p a rd S teve n s

A u llzor of“ l am 1120Ki ng .

”

Crown 800. clollz gi ll , 6/A sti r ring romance drawn from the period of the 'French and Spanisst ruggle for supremacy in F lorida.

N 1 1111. PRE SS.

D an ie l lb errickA R O M A N C E -O F A N E W S W R I T E R

By s id ney He rb e rt Bu rc h e ll

athor oj TheDuke’

s Servants’

and ‘In theDays ofKi ngjam e:

Crown 800, 010112gi ll, élThe P lot i s laid in the t im e of Charles I I.

N THE Patzss .

( the lb ouse of theA

!

TALE OF THE DAYS OF H ENRY V I I I .By M . Im lay Taylor

A u thor of Ou the Red S tazrcase,’

( 9 7 .

Crown 800, cloth gz'

ll , 6/So closelykni t are the love story and the historic scenes tihe reader wi l l not readi lydecide whether the fortunes of the high-spi rit

Bet ty, or the vigorous port raiture of K ing Hal ’s rapidly changing con

fiords m ost pleasure.”

”

(Huber the (Eactus f lagA S T O R Y O F L I FE IN M E ! I C O

“ By No ra A rc h i b a ld S m i t h

oi nt A u thor wi th her sz'

cfer , ”17‘s. Wiggi n ,of

‘Chi ldrm’sR ight

‘ S tory H our,’

(9 0.

Crown 800, E z’

ghl Illustrations, clo/h ex i ra , 507m

'

flg Post—“ The work is brightly wri tten and the in terestthe reader i s well sustained throughout . There are som e goi l lustration s.

cotsman“ It i s full of fresh and charm ing pictures of the count

and of the ways and character of the M exicans, g iving in the

ample evi dence that i t s studies have been made from nature.

i t ( tent of (BraceBy A d e lina Coh nfe ldt Lust

Crown 800, gill, 6/

fied ator : I t pain t s wi th remorseless real ism the t reatm en t of tJews in Germanyhalf a centuryago.

”

cotsman“ The heroine of A Ten t of Grace i s as in terestingstoryof a gi rl as curren t fiction contain s . She i s a fine exam ;

of the influence of environm en t . There i s much gowork in the romance , while the character of the heroine is depictw i th great power. The author is possessed of a fi

dramat ic in st inct , and wri te s with a grace and ease which bespeaa wel l stored m ind .

”

lhenw’ um I t i s smoothly wri tten and contains som e pleasicharacters .”

OIIJIII'

C oman

By Charle s W. C he s nutt

Crown 800. clolh gi ll, pr i ce

Stories of negro humours and superst i t ions . Told byUncle Juliusa second Uncle Remus .

E be Thing’

s lb encbmanCIH RO N IC L E O F T H E S I ! T E E N T H C E N T U R

Brought to light and edi ted

By W i lliam He n ry J oh nson

Crown 800, cloth gilt, gilt top ,6

eclalor As a novel i t i s a di st inct success . As a picture of thCourt ofNavarre and of the sold1e rings andgal lan t ries of the now1s

impeccable champion of French P rotestant ism ,noth ing bet ter hebeen recen tlypublished , at least in this coun try. H e 1s

deft art ist , his work i s delicat ely fini shed, and his port rai ts , bothH enryand Catherine,are excellen t .”

them m :—“ Henri IV. m ust have served the pu rpose of the romancewr i te r pret tynearlyif not quite as often as Buonaparte h im self. Ithe hands of Mr. W. H . Johnson

,the author of The Ki n

Henchman,

’ he i s as l ifel ike and gayand gallan t a figure as in ahofhis previous appearances in fict ion,

which is no smal l complim cr

to paya novel is t who appears to have published no previous worThe story i s adm i rably told , and is well worth reading. Th

author wri tes as one who has a practi sed as well as a na tural!excellen t style at his command . The book is full ofprom isand revea ls except ional l i teraryquali ty.

misman The reader i s car ried along from one adventure to anothfwi th unflagging in terest to the closing page .”

lasgow Herald :—“ The book i s wel l-wri t ten,

and the in terethoroughly su stained from start to finish.

”

d urday Rev iew Goes wi th a very creditable swing from statto finish.

”


n the Bags of 1Ring Same

omances of 1 0110011 in the ®IbenmmBy S id ney He rb e rt Bu rc he ll

Crown tastefully bound, 6]This volum e consists ofthree stories—“

The Goldsm i th ofCheape .

“ The K ing’s P rerogat ive .” The A ldgate,” and at the end wi ll band manyval uable historical notes .thenamm The stories are well wri tten

,readable romances

,showin

careful workmanship and scruphlous composi t ion.”irm z

'

ngham P ost .

‘ One seem s almost to be reading some om ittechapters of SirWalter Scot t ’s Fortunes of N igel . ’hefi

‘ield Telegraph —“ Grips the reader’s interest from the first

,an

holds i t to the end.fedsM en

‘mjl: Lovers of historica l romance will find In the Da)of K ing Jam es a book of vi vid pictures of the drama of life undthe first of the Stuart K ings.”

harch Tim es The background of his narrat ives is Old Londonthe pe riod of Jam es I.

,and wi thout any strain ing aft er archa

efl'

ect he enables the reader to live as i t were for the t im e in t i

earlydays of the ! VI I. Centu ry. We found the volurrquite fascinat ing.

”

anchesler Guardian H istoryand ficti on are skilfullyblended.lasgow. Herald:—“ Gives evidence of ability and of hard

,hone

work.”lasn Dai lyMai l There is no lack of inciden t and stirrm

adventure to keep the reader ’s attent ion fix ed on the story.

”

otes and Qum'

es Mr. Burchell knows a good dea l concerninli terature and the life in the epoch wi th which he deals.

E he 1hanb of 1ht8 JBrotheror, Galahab

'

s 5 111By Ed i t h C . Ke nyon

A uthor of The Squ i re of Lonsdale,”etc.

Crown cloth gi lt, 6/

orld .

° Some of the characters are well d rawn Much credii s due to the author for havi ng made an ob v10us storyso attractiv

as thi s " 716 i r I t is very c lever.”

lpenelope’

s E xper iences

in fi cotlBy Kate Douglas Wigg i n

Sz'

x /h E dzltz'

on [42 710’

T Crown 800

app roprz'

alely bound , 6/

Li terary World “The reader is kept entertained in the

fashion throughou t . A t rue hum orist.”[Vethodi st Times The most charm ing hol idaybook possib lDundee Couri er This is a delightful book.

A berdeen F ree P ress The book i s al together amost delightWeekly Sun I t is a book the fascinat ion ofwhich grows upSketch One of the verybest hol idaybooks.Dai lyMai l i Deal of bright 11111116 111.Glasgow H erald z-

“ So gen ial and jol ly a book abou t Seseldom wri t t en .

World z A delightful book , full ofdain tyhumour and picturesqThe Spectator : Sure ofa heartywelcome on both sides of theMust conten t ourselves with a cordial recommendthis gen ial volum e.”Graphi c:—“ She i s what i s always and everywhere rare—a real hu

‘

D emdee A dver lz'

ser z Penelope,Francesca, and Salem ina lea

O’Rell far behind , and m ight take the pri z e for innocen t i

from Mr. Jerom e . Thei r quips and cranks are lighter aspon taneous and healthy than those of Mr. H ichens iGreen Carnat ion , ’ and, besides, they have much more of

to t e ll. So here is a book to b uyand to give hea rty thanGlasgow Dai ly [Vai l I rresistiblyfunny.

”

Dai ly Telegraph A lways a pleasure to read M rs. Wiggin ’sPall Mall Gaz ette Mrs. Wiggi n has a fund of genuine andhumour that i s simply i rresist ible .”Church 7 imes I t i s seldom that we have read a more delighhumorous book than thi s."

By Kate Douglas Wi gginSecond E cli lz

'

on . Crown cloth, 6/

al o 'l -de Buoh Worms : It is a story told wi th that rare combinat iof hum our and pathos that 15 gen ius. ”N ews “ I s unsurpassed by anything i t s gifted authoress hye t w ri tten . For E ngl ish readers who have not yet ma

our authoress’s acquain tance there i s a p l easure in store . M i

Kat e Douglas Wiggi n ' s humour and pathos are as pure andt rue as any that America i s producing nowadays.”

( the vi llage”

(Llllatchs ttowerBy Kate Douglas Wiggin

Second E dzlzon . Crown cloth , 3 b

(l i ly lVews“ E very l i tt le story is the work of an art ist , who a

make the joys and sorrows she depicts the reader ’s own for tt ime being.

”

hri stz’

an World The book i s a m ine of character, of amuseme

and pathos.Be t ter workmanship it were impossible to ask.book is a l itt le masterp iece .’

eeds Mercury—“ These six stori es are remarkable .

i lera iy World We have read i t th ree t imes wi th growi r

adm i ration .

El Gatheoral Gourtshtpanb p enelope

’

s E nglish E xperienceBy Kat e Douglas Wiggi n

P opular E di tion . Crown illustrated , ( loll),z ,

’é

allyN ews —“ Both stories are idyll s. From thefirst 1the last the vo lume is ful l of l ife , humour and co lour .”m ch “ There i s only one word that wi ll fittingly describe

Cathedral Courtship .

’ I t i s delightful.rolsm em :—“ The book is in everywaydelightful.


n mperta overBy M . Im lay Taylor

A uthor of“ Oh the Red S tai rcase.

Second E d i tion . Crown 800, cloth gzll, o/

A thrilling storyof the t im e of Peter the Great ; love , in t rigue a

ven ture abound , together wi th many remarkable sc enes from ti vat e life of the great Cz ar.cotsm an The im perial lover is Peter the Great , and M . Iml

Taylor ’s s tory is one of the manyand tortuous intrigues in Moscc

wh ich ended in the Livonian peasan t gi rl , Catherine Shavronsascending ‘ the path of am bit ion that was to lead her up the b loostained steps of a throne . ’ The tal e i s put i nto the m outh of

Ambassador E xt raordinaryof the K ing of France to the RussiCourt in the year 1703. N o m ore nee d here be sa idthe developm en t s than that Peter the Great prove s him s elfthe end a man of m ore tender heart than the Peter of historM . Taylor gi ves us a picturesque and in terest ing sketch ofMoscc

societyduring an em inen t ly in terest ing period , and tells a capitstory.

pectator Mr. Taylor who gave u s a real i st ic pic tu re of the boyhoof Peter the Great in his previous novel , ‘Ou the Red Staircasassign s the t i t le-rOle of ‘An Im perial Lover ’ to the sam e truculeSovereign . The narrator i s a F rench Am bassador

,the Vicom

de Brousson,despat ched to Moscow i n 1703, whose secretary,

gal lan t young F rench officer, fall ing i n love w i th a b eautii

Russian lady, huds a form idable rival in the Cz ar. Najine’s fam inatura l lyfavour the Imperial su itor , but in the long run the Frendiplomat ist—a m odel of tact and resourcefulness—aided by t

ambit ion of Cathe rine Shavronsky, the in t rigues of he r partisarand above all the con stancyofNajin e , succeeds i n foi l ing the C2and fulfilling the heart’ s desi re ofh i s young compat r iot The nox

not on ly show s careful and intel ligen t studyof the per iod,but i t

skilfully constructed , wel l wri t ten , and thoroughly in terest ing.

”

—“ This i s a remarkably i n terest ing story of the reign of thsavage man, or brute , of geniu s, Peter the Great , in which M .

Brousson, Marshal l of France. being sen t to Moscow to t ran sasom e delicate diplomat ic busin ess wi th the Cz ar, finds him scpit ted against the gift ed tyran t on beha lfof his coun tryman

,M .

Lam bert,a fi nely drawn repre sen tat ive of French chival ry a

grand manners under the old reg im e. The story i s ful l of0010and l ife, and the successful m oves by which M . de Brousscon trives to get from Peter orders which fulfil the purpose of tMarshal l and defeat that of the Monarch are adm i rably clever.”

®n the 1Reb S ta ircaseSlT 0 ~

R Y O F T H E T I M E O F P E T E R T H E G R E ABy M . Im lay Taylor

s th E clztz'

oiz . Crow” 010111 gi lt, o]otsman A remarkable tale of the sea of intrigues and tumult whiosurrounded in Moscow the boyhood of Peter the Great .I t i s both valuable and in tensely interest ing because of the cleaand powerful Sidelight which i t throws upon Russian societyat tht im e. ‘Ou the Red Stai rcase ’ of the Krem l in the narratow itnesses som e of the m ost t ragi c of the inmden ts of those terri b ldays—act s byan infuriated m ob

, in st igated bycraftyleaders, wh orem ind one of the worst of the scenes of the Days of the T erroin Pan s . The novel i s dist inguished by art ist ic realis

and picturesq ue details .”ecta/or A realist ic picture of the boyhood of Peter the Great .or la

’A str ik ing novel .

3 am the 1RingEING IAN ACCOUNT OF SOME HAPPENlNGS IN THE L IFE OF

GODFREY DE BERSAC. CRUSADER-KN IGHTBy S he p p ard S teve ns

Crown handsomely bound ,

heetator A pleasan t tale .er Guard i an Quite in terest ing.

tterary W'

orla'

The who le storyis spir ited and told w ith adm irab lbrevity.

”

cotsm an An an imated picture both of the rude l ife at hom e and o

the fighting in the HolyLand in the t im e of Richard Coeur dLeon ; and differs from the common run of books of i t s k ind ishow ing a good deal more scholarship in the an tiqui t ies of th

eriod.

i teralt

j

u f’

e : A gracefully v'

ritten romance in which Richard of th

Lion Heart and the Great Saladm are two of the characters .”

( the Gun of ( tremb l ingBy Mary Halloc k ‘

Foote

Crown cloth gi ll, fi/

ai l) ! Ch ron i cle z Redeemed from m ere horrors by many humatouches and considerable l i t e rarysk 1ll."

1Rate’

8"

1111122 W omanBy C lara Lou i s e Bu rn ham

Crown 010th gi lt , 67’

ueen I t i s a pret ty, heal thy story, wri t ten in the old-fashione

breezy style .”IllMall Gaz ette An excel len t story. I t is t ru e to na ture an

n icely.w ri t ten.

he Bags of Seanne E’

ElrBy M ary Hartw e ll Cat h e rw ood

Crown 800. Frontz'

spz’

eee. Cloth gilt, é/om i ng Post Rare ly have the simplic i tyof the peasan t maidethe single-m inded devot ion of the in spired gi rl, been so wel l redered . The author makes us for a t im e live wi th hpeople .

ablet z—“ The author of th i s charm ing work of fiction based upohistory is to be heart ilycongratulated on having produced a volumof absorbing in terest as a tale

, and t rue to history i n the pictuidrawn of the heroine , Joan of Arc.

Seban=3sraelA SOUTH AFR ICAN STORYBy G eorge Coss i ns

Crown attractive cloth cover ,

ally Telegraph Isban-I srael i s a thril l ing storyofadven ture andiscovery in South Africa.

”

lasgow Record —“ Were the t itle-page torn out the reader woulunhes itat ingly put down the book as com ing from the penMr. Haggard .

flharionettesBy J u lie n Gord on

Crown cloth ,

thena’um The book i s so excellen t . The m inor characte

are adm i rably done. The dramat ic abrup tness and clearnes


By J u lie n Gord on

Crown cloth , 5/az

'

ly Telegraph“An ingenious and even tful storyof ‘

a man ’ sand repen tance brightlyw ri t ten throughout , and abouin clever word-sketches of Am erican character and so

Observances.

fi unset 1131188 or,1111111119 the (Bauntlet through Elpache I

By Cap ta i n Cha rle s Ki ngCrown 010th ,

thefl dmm A well-told storyof adven ture,w i th all the freshness

Am erican W i ld l ife in the West .”

( the SugglerBy Ch a rle s Egb e rt Q radd oc k

A uthor of The P rophet of the Great SmokyMountai ns,

Down the Ravi ne,”etc.

8000726! E di tion . Crown tastefu lly bound i n art 010th,

peetator Of the cleverness of t he novel s which issue from theof the Am erican ladywhowrit es under the pseudonym of ‘

CharEgbert Craddock ’ there can be no doubt . 1. M i ss Murf

has both insight in to character and a sense of the picturesque acombines the elem en t s of m elodrama and analysis in a fashiwhich lends her books a unique at t ract ion .

he Darleys of D ingo 23tBy J . C . MacCa rt ie

Popular E di tion ,crown

A story of modern Australian country life.(l i ly Telegraph To the above nam es (M rs. Cam pbell Praed , R

Boldrewood,and E . W. Hornung) as assoc iated wi th vivid a

fasc inating description of latter-day l ife in Austral ia,m ust now

added that of J . C. MacCartie , whose novel The DarleysD ingo D ingo,

’ i s sim plydel ightful reading throughout .”thenw'

um Manyof the characters in t roduced are cleverlydrawn ,

V.R.—Should there be rw yd 'fiicultym ob fm m n q any of thes e books of you r booksellc

the p ublishers c ull be p leased to send t/ wm p os t j ? se on reca p ! of ndvertwsed pm

Pri nted at THE CHANDOS PRESS , 170, b t J ohn S tree t , London , E C. D ec. 1. 50

Documents

S PREFATORY NOTE TO THE SECOND E NGLISH ED IT ION THAT this simple story should have reached its twentieth thousand in America is a fact sufﬁciently